Caprica 1.04 “Gravedancing” Recap

Caprica was all over the place tonight, but not in a bad way. Sorta. Story lines and character arcs took turns to the extreme and downright delectable, but I am still a bit thrown away about all of the similarities to our own Earth culture, which was a catch-22 tonight in my view. The reason? The Caprican culture has very little to add to shock value when it comes to human relationships, but the flip side of that coin reveals that is why the show works in some areas. It shows that no matter where and when, the human race is just one big race of punks who need to get their crap straight. Caprica, as I said before, is a mirror to our own culture and tonight’s episode, “Gravedancing”, splattered Windex all over the surface so we could get a better look at ourselves. And boy are we ugly…

Onto the recap…

Agent Duram vs. Sister Clarice and The S.T.O

After an early morning bombing of an empty holo-cafe, Agent Duram adamantly thinks it is S.T.O. related, but his superior thinks it is copycat related since no one was hurt. But Agent Duram doesn’t want to wait and has already got the warrants needed to search Zoe’s home and locker for any S.T.O. paraphernalia to pin on her. But this warrant also comes with the ability to search other students lockers as well and the press to show up at every location searched. While the situation is serious, Duram is being overtly ridiculous and he is on my Ish List for the season, if not the rest of the series.

Meanwhile, Clarice wakes up to Nestor, Olaf Willow (guest star Panou), and another woman in a big ass bed. Seems like they had a long, loving night and are ready for a morning pick me up, but Clarice receives a phone call that upsets her to the point of taking a rain check on the quad-nookie. She is next seen walking briskly through the morning pedestrians and bumps into a guy, who covertly hands her a e-sheet, which she then uses to send a mass email warning of GDD’s impending search. Whoa! Who the hell is the mole in the GDD?!?!?

Keon along with other teen S.T.O. members get the message and get rid of the evidence before GDD arrives at the school. Theysearch lockers while the press snaps away hungrily. I am disgusted.

Later, Sister Clarice breaks down after telling the kids she is sorry for what happened and to go home. So Keon actually knows what’s up with Sister Clarice. My question now is why hasn’t Lacy been filled in?

The GDD doesn’t stop at the school. They BARGE into The Graystone home unannounced, cameras flashing, and Agent Duram hamming it up for the press. Daniel isn’t there, but Amanda is and she is rightfully appalled. Duram throws the warrant in her face and sends his “hounds” to look for evidence. He tells Amanda that they are only looking for evidence of who converted Zoe into joining a terrorist organization, but we all know he wants to pin everything on Zoe to clear his own frak-up. The investigators find the Infinity pendant that Amanda had, which she tells them she put there herself. Seeing the fervor in Duram, Amanda asks did he lose anyone in the attacks. He responds that he lost everyone in the attack and that if it takes to tear down Zoe’s life to find answers then he (and the GDD) will do it. Did anyone get that on film?

After the search turns up nothing, Duram declares that the Graystones and the school kids hid anything incriminating. Well, one part of that equation is right… His superior still thinks Duram is being a little zealous, but gives him clearance to the students e-sheets and phone records. Later after getting said clearance, Duram gets frustrated and lashes out at Agent Youngblood for letting Ben go. After a truce, the two comes to agreement that whoever is converting kids to killers should be stopped. I agree, but crucifying the wrong person is not the answer, dumbasses.

Meanwhile, Lacy tries to get through to Keon, who claims that he can’t be seen with her. This further solidifies that Ben acted on his own and against the S.T.O.’s wishes for Keon to be scared to be seen with Lacy. But then again, these are teens we are talking about and popularity could play a role in this, but I highly doubt it. After winning Keon over by helping him fix a motorcycle, Lacy is told by Keon that he will try to set up a meeting with a guy named Barnabus on helping her get to Gemenon.

I smell a trap…

The Zoe 2.0/Philomon Hokey-Pokey

Zoe 2.0/U-87 logs into the V-Club, but is brought out by Philomon wanting to play with the machine, but I am starting to think he wants to have sex with it as well. He starts remarking on the machine’s beauty and what not, before running diagnostics, which included dancing. This leads to one of the most ungodly sights of the entire TV season as Philomon dances like an idiot with the robot. At least Zoe 2.0 had some moves, but this was just unbearable.

“They’re Creepy and Their Cooky… The Adama Family! Snap! Snap!”

After busting Willie for not being in school, Ruth doesn’t punish him after Willie lies that he was with Sam. Ruth seems to accept this since Joseph has been snapping recently whenever he is home. Ruth then asks Willie what does he want to be now, not when he grows up. The kid responds that he wants to be a work in the pyramid locker room where other students work, but thinks that he can’t do it since Joseph has a dislike for Daniel Graystone now. Ruth assures Willie that his Uncle Sam has ways of working things out. Um… excuse me?

Meanwhile, Sam is posted up outside the Graystone’s mansion, watching the couple’s every move. He keeps getting calls from Joseph anxiously asking if Sam has done the deed yet.It is clear that Joseph is more borderline on this act than he was last week.

Later we find out through Ruth that Joseph got rid of all of Willie’s electronics, which Ruth replaced with jacks made from the bones of chicken feet. Joseph and Ruth sees a promo for Daniel’s appearance on Baxter Sarno’s TV show and he tells his mother-in-law that things will be taken care of. Ruth comments that the dead don’t die until their death is avenged and that their daughters are caught in limbo. Did I mention that Ruth is chopping up meat while this scene goes down?

Later as the Graystones appear on the Baxter Sarno show, Ruth watches and says that she could kill Amanda and sleep every night after wards. Whoa… Joseph is wondering why the hell Amanda is on stage around security and not dead. But have no fear, Sam is there. He even gets on the set by showing off his tatt to a fellow Tauran, who gives him her stage pass. Oh, boy…

Joseph later tries to stop the hit, but isn’t getting any answer from Sam. Oh, and Ruth watches from behind him and she is not amused…

The Graystones vs. Society

Daniel preps for his appearance on Baxter Sarno’s show with Pryah and Cyrus, but Amanda is not amused. She voices her concern when they are alone, but Daniel says that if it wasn’t for her own impromptu television appearance then they wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with. Daniel really doesn’t want to drag his daughter in the mud no more than Amanda does and shows divo (male diva) type antics on the set to calm his nerves. Pyrah and Cyrus give Daniel talking points to follow during the interview, but Sarno’s Oprah-like mission to castrate him in front of the worlds overshadows any attempt to get his point of view out. Amanda shows up unannounced and watches from backstage, but Sarno’s constant gravedancing when it comes to Zoe propels her to take the stage again and the stakes go through the roof.

Amanda says that both of the men have the wrong outlook on Zoe’s life and says that Zoe wasn’t crazy, but she was angry, as is every other teenage girl. Daniel picks up after Sarno tries to shoot that down by saying that Zoe was “morally blank” by saying that Zoe would have agreed with Sarno’s ‘argument’, which is that the Virtual world is not a good teacher for teenagers. I think Sarno is blowing smoke up everybody’s asses for ratings, but that’s just me.

After saying his peace, Daniel lets slip that he created an avatar of Zoe to figure out her motivations into why she “did” what she did. He then asks what parent wouldn’t? But Sarno thinks that they are back at square one and asks is technology the problem. This prompts a “maybe” answer from Daniel, who checkmates Sarno by declaring to a worldwide audience that he will not make a profit from v-world licensing and holobands, due to people hacking into the system and creating morally challanged places for debauchery and the such. Also to stop the S.T.O. from recruiting lost souls who venture there. Well played, Daniel. Well played. But I still think he sold out a bit.

But the drama doesn’t stop there as Sam approaches Amanda after the show as a driver of Baxter’s. He offers to take her home. She foolishly accepts.

On the way “home”, the ride is quiet and suspenseful. Amanda breaks the silence with asking about Sam’s tattoos. He is pretty much straightforward with her about them. The conversation turns to plastic surgery then to the fact that Amanda notices that Sam is not driving her home. He says that a wreck happened and he is taking a short cut through little Tauron. Sam continues by mentioning Shannon and Tamara’s death in the train bombing and also mentions balancing out things. Amanda is clearly scared now and so am I…

Conclusions

– Joseph awakes to same washing up after the “hit”. Joseph looks mortified as Sam describes the incident in every little detail, but soon has a breath of relief when he realizes that Sam is pulling his leg for bailing at the last minute. Sam mentions that he got all of Joseph’s messages, but wanted to make him sweat.

– Clarice watches the interview with the Graystones again and Nestor notices, but Clarice says that the Graystones interest her. Oh and did I mention that she is rewatching the scene where Daniel mentions the Zoe avatar?

– Amanda and Daniel talk about the interview, which Daniel says that they need to be a little bit more careful from now on. Amanda then marvels that Daniel made an avatar for Zoe. She asks why and he says simply that he missed her. I wonder how much of that is true? The both of them then agrees that they miss her very much.

The Caprican

– The scene with Baxter Sarno and the line from Duram about tearing down Zoe’s life to get answers correlate so well with each other and the way we as a society crucify people in an attempt to understand the unknown. The interview between Sarno and Daniel reminded me of horrible interviews with people like Larry King, Jon Stewart, and ultimately, Oprah Winfrey and celebrities who are called out on wrong doing on national television. The way Sarno spoke down to Daniel was more like “Hey, Caprica! Look! I am giving him a good ribbing! I am on YOUR side!!!!”, which is like Oprah did when she found out that James Fry semi-lied to her (despite the book making a killing under Oprah’s Book Club moniker). It was brutal, embarrassing and uncalled for. The viewer tuned in to see and hear what the guest had to say for themselves, not what you had to say. You could barely hear or digest what Daniel was trying to say due to Sarno interjecting every five minutes and that, my friend, is how we act. It was an ugly Mirro, Mirror trick that was right on the money and well played by everyone. It’s also quite a happenstance to note that this episode aired the same day that Tiger Woods gave his apology to a world who sneered their dislike for a) him in general and b) apologizing now. Again, this is where Caprica works. It shows the ugliness of today’s society and the stink the exudes from the BS we are spouting or digesting on a daily basis. Oh and Baxter’s line to Daniel about keeping face come time when he has to face the board of directors? You can flip that and say that people tend to say one thing to keep up appearances, but really stand by something else. No, not just politicians or celebrities, but everyday “normal” people, who are scared to speak their mind and stick with it. It’s a juvenile act that is still being done in adulthood and it’s sickening.

– Speaking of ugly, the Adamas are taking a turn for the worse. Ruth is really creeping me out. She will kill and sleep soundly the next night? Not someone I want looking over my son. But Joseph is not any better nor is William for that matter. What’s the deal? Are all Taurons deep in the gangster lifestyle? I was shocked that the stage crew member just handed over her badge like that, because it was like every Tauron I have seen so far is crooked or semi-crooked, which is not a good thing to hold as a shield of honor. Sam at least showed a sense of shock last week at Joseph’s request, which leads me to believe that he wasn’t going to kill Amanda to begin with and only toyed with Joseph cause he knew his brother wasn’t going to go through with the hit. But that Ruth is something else… I wonder now if she will respect Joseph less for not going through with Amanda’s death, which seemed to have been something the entire family was on. Jeez…

– I am starting to think that Willow’s family are not S.T.O. members. Nestor, maybe, but no one else. If so wouldn’t she have let them in on a lot of things that’s happening? Speaking of which, why hasn’t Lacy been brought into the fold? I know the most common feeling is that Lacy is connected to the bombers, but it seems that Lacy was involved from gate. Only Ben and Zoe knew about the others so why not Lacy? I think the S.T.O. have different factions and that they might have a civil war on their hands soon.

– The GDD. This is another example of society run amok. Instead of taking the heat and admitting to having Ben in custody before the bombings, Duram is looking for a scapegoat and Zoe is his number one candidate. Why not infiltrate the Stark family? Everyone knows that Ben was on the train as well. Why not ask where his parents were at? What is Duram’s problem with Zoe? Why just focus on her? What happened to looking at all angles? The mirror trick here? Law enforcement is just as human and corrupted like the rest of us and it takes a few bad apples to ruin the whole barrel.

– I think Daniel sold out a little bit in terms of his ‘voice’ and identity. Daniel always seemed to be a laid back stand up guy who did differed from regular people. The audience got what they wanted, but they didn’t get what they needed. They needed to understand that Daniel and Amanda are not at fault for the advancement of technology that Sarno thinks is the cause of the train bombings and they didn’t get that. Instead they got a false sense of retribution that is still not going to fill the void that was left by the deaths of those lost in the bombings. There are still going to be hackers and others populating the V-Club and from what I saw during Zoe’s short time there this episode, business is booming; despite people claiming to boycott holobands to show their contribution to the ’cause’. Another fact that the audience didn’t get? It is their kids, loved ones, and themselves who make the V-Club possible. Shock of Horrors!!!!! So I really wished Daniel had of taken a tougher stand and pointed the finger to society for their contribution to the bombings, but if that happened then we wouldn’t have the destruction of man that is impending so…

– The Zoe 2.0/u-87 and Philomon dance scene. Why?

I will see you all next week. After you read this, will you keep the same ideals or change them come Monday morning? Think about it.