• Home
• Staff

There is no other way to put it, this is one of Caprica’s best episodes yet. The plot is at once action driven and emotional, providing a subtle look into our own online culture and an exposition of great acting.

Plot Summary (Spoilers Follow) : Joseph remains depressed after the attack and has stopped going to work. He grows increasingly isolated from his son, who is becoming disobedient and skipping school to hang around Sam in the Tauron neighborhoods. Joseph hopes to become closer by taking Willie to a fishing spot where the family went before the accident, but Willie is bored. A Caprican teen makes fun of Willie for being Tauron, so Willie beats him while Joseph looks on in horror. Sam suggests that they both need closure, and Joseph agrees to enact the Tauron funeral rights.

Life is not treating Daniel well either. After publicly pledging to stop making a profit on holoband on Sarno’s show, the board of Graystone Industries will be voting to fire him. As he lies awake at night, Amanda reminds him of the hard times they faced when their family was first starting out. The next day, he marches into the board room with the Cylon prototype, pitching it as the next big innovation: a race of beings completely obedient and subservient to humanity. To demonstrate this, he orders the robot to rip off its own arm, unaware that Zoe-A is inside of it. Daniel wins the vote.

In V-world, Tamara-A is desperately seeking a way out. She believes a woman named Vesta, who leads a gang in the illegal areas of the net, can help her. Vesta, shoots Tamara and is shocked when her Avatar doesn’t disappear. Vesta and her associate Heracles hope to use this ability to their advantage. They take Tamara into an online game called New Cap City, a virtual copy of Caprica city with no laws. Using Tamara to distract a major player named Chiron, Heracles manages to copy his avatar. Using the avatar as a disguise, he and Tamara sneak into a vault to steal money from Chiron. However, an alarm is triggered and guards rush in. Tamara uses her body to shield Heracles before erasing the guards. Having discovered that Tamara is dead and that she cannot “wake”, Vesta hopes to exploit Tamara’s unique abilities. Despondent, Tamara hugs Heracles, only to take his guns and mow down all of Vesta’s gang. She tells Heracles to find her father in the real world.

After Joseph receives the ceremonial Tauron tattoos to bid his wife and daughter farewell, Heracles arrives at the Adama house. He tells Joseph that Tamara sent him. Shocked, Joseph informs the him that Tamara is dead and chases him out into the alley when he flees scared. As her father lies there, Tamara ominously walks down a similar alley in V-world with guns in her hands.

Since Caprica premiered, one of the critical questions that plagued the early episodes was “Where is Tamara?” Here we are given an explosive answer. Genevieve Buechner gives a magnificent performance in this installment, graduating from minor character to full blown star. It is a pleasure to watch Tarama evolve from a vulnerable pawn and awaken to her own confidence and power in V-world. The ending comes as a complete shock and watching Tamara’s transformation in those few brief seconds, with all of its complexity and raw emotion makes it a classic moment in the series.

Indeed, the scenes in V-world were incredibly impressive. One of the unique abilities of Caprica is the ability of its directors and artists to blend genres. Notable instances from past episodes include the wonderful way the talk show format was blended into the Sarno episode. Here, a visually stunning homage to neo-noir serves as a perfect way to demonstrate the danger and mystery of V-world. More broadly, New Cap City serves as a great way of reintroducing the themes of violence and decadence which permeate Caprica and reflect back on our own society. After watching this episode, a viewer won’t be able to pick up an FPS without asking question of where we are heading as a society.

The actors who make up the Adama family are more than worthy of praise as well. Throughout the episode the emotional bonds between Sam, Joseph and Willie are palpable. It feels as though the characters have a long history with one another, despite the fact that the writers only provide modest hints at explicit events. Combined with Tauron rituals, which make wonderful use of classical mythological motifs, the Adamas feel like a real family, complete with the emotional and cultural baggage being part of one entails. This is also true of the scene between Daniel and Amanda. The playful yet caring banter between them is pitch perfect. It was as though Paula Malcomson and Eric Stoltz actually had been married for years.

With a beautifully crafted plot and some of the finest acting in the series yet, this installment of Caprica stands out even among the high quality works that have populated the first season. Viewers would do well to hook themselves into the net tonight to enjoy this classic episode.

[]