The latest episode of Caprica was a mixed bag in the sense that it started out being somewhat of a filler episode, but quickly evolved into either a ‘game-changer’ or just another huge piece to the ever growing puzzle that is becoming the Caprica universe. Either way, I am so ready and strapped for the rest of the ride.
Do NOT Frak With Daniel Graystone…
After announcing to the worlds that Graystone Industries will not be gaining profit from their Holobands, Daniel faces opposition from the board of directors of his company. I stress “his” company. The group of punks want to vote Daniel from being the CEO of his own company and he gets a heads up on the shenanigans from Cyrus. When asked if he has the votes to maintain his position, Cyrus simply looks worried and walks off.
Daniel, feeling like his world is slipping through his fingers no matter what he does or say, gets a motivational boost from Amanda who reminds Daniel that he is one of the most oratorically, astutely business men that she has ever known who doesn’t let small things cloud his overall vision and beliefs. In short, she pretty much says that Daniel is basically Bill Gates, but the next scene suggests that maybe he is a hybrid of Gates and Steve Jobs.
As Cyrus and Pryah try to fight off the members of the board, Daniel walks into the boardroom with U-87/Zoe 2.0. He explains to his board members that the Holoband is a hollow sinking ship and that they need to let it go and focus on the future. And what does the future entail?
The Cylon.
As the scene cuts between U-87 and Zoe 2.0, who mocks the board members, Daniel explains that while U-87 is aware of things like a human would be, it can serve man without any questions or hookups (rights, pay grade, employment, etc…). When Daniel commands for the machine to rip it’s arm off to prove his point, Zoe 2.0/U-87 both look as if Daniel lost his damn mind, but does it anyway. Daniel, meanwhile, reminds the board members that they were about to have a vote on whether he is competent enough to run his own company.
Daniel gets his votes, but Cyrus warns him that he better be right. Oh, man how ‘right’ Daniel will be…
Tamara in Wonderland
Tamara has been wandering throughout the V-World and making a name for herself as “the girl who can’t get out”, which is like pathetic to most V-avatars. But Tamara got a tip that someone named Vesta (Camille Mitchell), who can help her “wake up”.
After witnessing a warped version of Russian roulette, Tamara wants a try at the game when she finds out that the losers of the game de-res and wake up in the real world. But when Vesta shoots Tamara, she doesn’t wake up, she just simply lies there in pain. This freaks everyone in attendance out, but Vesta’s mind starts calculating up a scheme. Uh-oh.
Vesta thinks that Tamara is a mythical legend in the V-World called a “Sleeper”, someone who either fell asleep with their Holoband on and can’t wake up. Vesta barters with Tamara that if the girl plays a game for her then she will help Tamara get home. She pairs Tamara with one of her followers/co-players, whose name wasn’t given so we will call him “Gamer”, who fills Tamara in on the deal at hand. The game is called New Cap City, a virtual-version of Caprica that is a mix of Grand Theft Auto, The Godfather, and Blade Runner all in one. The game is a noir mystery with the elements of 1940s Earth as the backdrop. The object of the game? Finding out the object of the game. I’m as confused about that bit as the next person, but the jist is that Vesta wants to use Tamara as a ruse to steal the virtual cubics from THE best player in the game, Cairon. The only downside of the game is that if you die in the game you can NEVER return to it, which sucks even for me and I am not playing the game. In the midst of this we find out that not only has Tamara been lost in the V-world for a month, but that she has NO clue at all that she is dead.
So tragic.
The heist goes as planned and Tamara and Gamer manages to cop Cairon’s avatar, which is more valuable alive than dead, because Gamer can manipulate the code to his liking and mask himself as Cairon to use in the heist. Gamer tells Tamara that this game means a lot to him, because it gives him a purpose and a chance to be something. Tamara remarks that maybe if he didn’t spend so much time in the V-World then he could probably “be something” in the real world and she quickly becomes my favorite Adama family member.
The heist goes as planned with Gamer disguised as Cairon to gain access to the cubics. But some guards spot them and start shooting and this is when things get really interesting… Tamara, who can be shot and heal herself, shields Gamer and takes the barrage of bullets. But instead of falling down and crying, she eradicates the guards’ avatars! As if she was the New Cap City version of Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’.
The duo makes their way back to the club that Cairon ruled and where Vesta has taken up shop. She asks for the money, but Tamara demands to go home in exchange of the cash. Vesta then drops the bombshell of Tamara being dead and that she can’t go home. Gamer feels bad Tamara, but she snaps and shoots away all the guards Trinity-style before telling Gamer to find her dad and tell him that she is still in there. Gamer doesn’t want to leave the game, but Tamara tells him to be somebody on the outside and that he can return whenever. Gamer signs out and Tamara makes her way to Vesta who is cowering on the floor. Vesta asks Tamara, “What are you?” And Tamara, a new favorite character on Caprica, simply responds:
“I’m awake.”
Then she shoots Vesta, whose game is soooooo over.
Nature vs. Nurture vs. The Tauron Way
If only the Adamas would take a lesson from their dearly departed daughter, then I would maybe be able to look at them with disdain and eye-rolling.
Sam shows up at Joseph’s to find him passed out on the couch and Willie playing computer games when he is supposed to be in school. Sam berates Willie for not being in school and gets even more in Joseph’s ass for not being a good father, which I think is a crock of crap coming from Sam, even though his statement is true. Later Joseph gets a call from the school about Willie’s “sick days” and he goes straight to the bar where Sam has Willie working. When Joseph demands for Willie to leave with him, Willie defies him until Sam gives him the OK. Sam comments that Willie is lost and that on Tauron, when someone loses something in the desert and someone else finds it, then it belongs to the new owner. So Sam, Willie is an object now that you own now? What the hell?
While working on his books, Joseph comes across a photo that he, Shannon, Willie, and Tamara took while on a fishing trip. He gets an idea. He takes an extremely reluctant Willie to the same place to play father, but Willie isn’t having it, especially since people are taunting them from afar for being Tauron. When one of the other kids gets bold and starts screaming racial slurs at them, Willie takes a rock and knocks the hell out the kid before beating the crap out of him.
Later, Willie is being a little brat and Joseph doesn’t know what to do. Sam stops by with his husband and they both tell Joseph that Willie needs closure and so does Joseph. The only way they can achieve this is if they conduct a Tauron ritual that let’s recently deceased Tauron’s cross over in peace. But Ruth said last week that a life for a life is the only way a Tauron can pass on to the other side in peace. See where I stand on my issue with The Adamas?
The ritual is had and there are a lot of tears and what not. Willie seems to be happy that he is learning about his culture and it seems as if all is OK in the kingdom of Adama of Tauron, especially after both Joseph and Willie let go of their loved ones.
Then there is a knock on the door. Joseph answers and there stands Gamer with the message from Tamara. Tauron ritual be damned! Joseph wants to be taken to see Tamara, but Gamer, who is freaked out that Tamara actually is dead, runs away with Joseph close on his heels. But Joseph collapses and all of that hard work was for naught. Tamara is still in the V-World and he can’t get to her.
Meanwhile, a new badass Tamara walks the streets of New Cap City, gun in hand and a new attitude to boot. She has truly been ‘awakened’.
The Caprican
– Three best scenes from this episode: Daniel’s brilliant board meeting smackdown, Willie knocking the hell out of that racist snot, and Tamara’s take down of the club guards/followers and Vesta. Eric Stoltz’s Daniel Graystone kicks ass, hands down. Even though he is kinda the man responsible for the fall of man, there is an exuberance when he speaks that I have no choice but to turn up my TV and listen intently. Two weeks in a row and Stoltz/Graystone has delivered the goods and I really can’t wait to see how he would hold up to his past transgressions with Vergis.
– Tamara started off as whiny and so irritable in the first couple of minutes, but quickly won my ass over when she started spitting knowledge on the idiots of V-World. Then she literally started kicking ass later and I hope to see more of bad ass, truth spewing Tamara soon. And keep it coming please.
– But while Tamara excelled in excellence this week, her family took a nosedive in tomfoolery. I can understand that Willie is suffering through two devastating losses, but is it just me or does it seem like he’s either been keeping it to himself this long or that it just came out of nowhere? I can recall him and Joseph conversing about the deaths, but I didn’t know that he was that troubled about them. I mean, yea, the kid was devastated, but it always seemed to me that he had put it past him and was moving forward while the adults were the ones torn up to pieces. My theory? Sam and Ruth are planting anger and revenge in the young man’s mind, which in my opinion is not a good way to deal with your grief, let alone teach it to a kid. Sure, Joseph’s self-wallowing is not helping Williw, but neither is taking him out of school, away from friends and activities to show him the underbelly of organized crime. In short, Sam is NOT an ideal candidate as stand-in father for a troubled kid so when he told Joseph that he was being a bad father, I was like kettle meet black. Sam claimed that Willie would be a man on Tauron, but he (and Ruth) need to realize that they are NOT on Tauron anymore. Plus, again, I would love to see one Tauron that is NOT involved in organized crime or shady under dealings. I am sure that one of those who attended the ritual held at the Adama residence was one of those people, but I hope that we see one prominently soon, because this is ridiculous.
– Continuing on the last subject, watching BSG and seeing that everyone put their different races, religions, and other contrasts to the side to maintain survival goes to show that most of what Sam and Ruth are planting in Willie’s head doesn’t really matter. You can celebrate your heritage, your religion and so on as much as you like, but in the end we are all the same. We are human and that’s all that matters.
-One last bit: I thought this episode showed that the Holoband for the mysterious character Gamer is the equivalent of the proverbial ‘rose-colored glasses’ idiom that is rampant in our culture. He finds solace, hope, and a meaning in the game and that’s kind of the problem with a lot of people in our society. We find meaning in the wrong things and it hurts us dearly. Tamara’s words of wisdom should be on a ticker at the bottom of the TV screens across the worlds. But if that was the case then we wouldn’t have BSG, so…
I will see you guys next week!
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