‘Caprica’ Pilot Review
Viewers were stunned back in 2003 when Ronald Moore and David Eick’s “Battlestar Galactica” exploded on to Syfy. Taking their concept from the admittedly campy 1978 series created by Glen Larson, Moore and Eick put together an epic sci-fi saga. That series left audiences with one phrase in their mouth at the end of its four seasons: “Fraking amazing.” It would have been easy for Moore and Eick to repackage the Galactica formula for its prequel, “Caprica”. But the beauty of Caprica is that it is not an attempt to recapture Galactica’s glory days. New viewers will find an original concept that isn’t based on intimate knowledge of the series universe. Instead, viewers are presented with a world that feels disturbingly familiar, as well as another show of terrific characters and an engaging story of religion, family and technology.
Plot summary: Spoilers Below.
58 years before Galactica, the planet Caprica is enjoying a period of material and technological prosperity while its society descends into hedonism.. Surrounded by sex, violence and human sacrifice in a virtual world called the V-club, Zoe Graystone (Alessandra Torresani) looks down on a virtual avatar of herself and tells her comrades Ben Stark (Avan Jogla), and Lacy Rand (Magda Apanowicz) that the avatar (known as Zoe-A, also played by Torresani) holds the key to God’s plan for redeeming society’s decadence.
In the real world, Zoe is resentful and disobedient toward her wealthy parents, Daniel and Amanda Graystone (Eric Stoltz, Paula Malcomson). Resolved to leave her unfulfilling life, Zoe and her friends run away. As they board a train, Lacy gets cold feet and refuses to go. Moments later, as Zoe watches in horror, Ben opens his jacket to reveal a suicide vest. In the name of the one true God, he blows the train to pieces.
Several weeks later, the devastated Daniel attends a memorial for the victims. It here we learn that a group of monotheistic extremists known as The Soldiers of the One (STO), has taken credit for the bombing. Daniel encounters Joseph Adams (Esai Morales), who has lost his wife and daughter in the attack. Joseph is an immigrant from Tauron, another planet whose people are looked down upon on Caprica. The two men begin to bond in their grief. Lacy, ridden with survivor’s guilt, attempts to find solace in the mysterious Sister Willow (Polly Walker). Upon returning to V-Club, Lacy discovers that Zoe-A has survived her creator’s death. Zoe-A is a perfect replica that possesses all of Zoe’s memories and thinks of herself as a person. Zoe-A begins searching for her purpose and with Lacy’s help begins trying to find a way into the real world. But Daniel discovers Lacy accessing the V-club, becoming suspicious.
Attempting to deal with his pain, Joseph, now a single parent, works to connect with his son William (Sina Najafi). Daniel busies himself by attempting to create a robot for the Caprican government. The project is over budget and not making progress. To make matters worse, the Vergis Corporation on Tauron has made a technological breakthrough and Graystone Industries is in danger of losing its contract. At the same time, Daniel begins investigating the V-club, where he glimpses Zoe-A. Amanda, who has been in shock since her daughter’s death, receives a visit from the police, who now suspect Zoe may have been linked to the bombing.
Daniel confronts Lacy about Zoe-A. They travel to the V-club, where Daniel meets her. He’s initially hostile, viewing her as nothing more than a computer program, but eventually seems to warm to her. He asks to hold her, but as they embrace he downloads her program over Lacy’s protests.
As Daniel and Joseph become closer, Daniel introduces Joseph to the V-club and to Zoe-A. Although initially repulsed, Joseph is tempted by Daniel’s offer to use Zoe’s program to resurrect his wife and daughter. In exchange, Joseph must use his contacts with the Tauron crime syndicates to obtain Vergis’ technology. With the technology in his possession, Daniel creates an avatar of Joseph’s daughter, Tamara (Genevieve Buechner). However, she is terrified when she and her father meet because she cannot feel her heart beating. Heartbroken by this, Joseph leaves Graystone’s lab in a rage. He returns home and tells William that they will begin to rebuild their lives through Tauron traditions. This includes adopting the Tauron form of their surname: Adama. In the meantime, Daniel attempts to download Zoe-A into the robot he developed. Although this succeeds at first, the robot eventually breaks down. It appears Daniel has truly lost everything left of Zoe.
With the technology stolen from Vergis, the robot successfully completes its tests and Graystone Industries is awarded the contract to build more of them. Daniel is responsible for the creation of the first cybernetic life-form node or Cylon. Following the test, the Cylon rises on its own and calls Lacy. In Zoe’s voice, it ominously says that that it will need her help.
If the purpose of science fiction is to reflect society back at us, Caprica is an excellent specimen. Issues of terrorism, materialism, race and faith seamlessly course through its two-hour pilot. Importantly, the show doesn’t club the viewer over the head with these themes, but develops them naturally through its wonderful set of characters. If there is any element from Battlestar that Caprica replicates beautifully (aside from the CGI robots) it is the wonderfully developed cast of primary and secondary characters. Stoltz, Morales and Torresani give masterful performances of complex characters thrown into extraordinary circumstances. But the secondary characters add a depth to Caprica’s universe that is often lacking in other shows. In particular, Walker’s performance as the mysterious Sister Willow and Sasha Roiz’s role as Joseph’s brother Sam, stand out. The only characters who won’t amaze the viewers are Malcomson’s Amanda Graystone, who is tragically underused throughout the pilot as well as Apanowicz’s Lacy Rand, who feels at times like a one dimensional caricature of a distressed teenager.
The other factor that makes Caprica a wonderful addition to anyone’s Friday night is its aesthetics. Far too often, science fiction is characterized by a few characters standing in a brightly lit room staring at CGI effects. Caprica’s world is not driven by special effects. Its technology feels instantly familiar and the show doesn’t rely on technobabble to drive its story. It expansive sets, combined with Bear McCreary’s hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, delight our eyes and ears as flawlessly as the story provokes our minds and hearts.
“All of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.” Caprica takes the mythology created for Galactica to set itself up, but stands on its own two robotic legs. Although it lacks the fast pace battles and war drama that made Galactica exciting, Caprica makes up for it through beautifully crafted drama between wonderfully complex and flawed characters. Overall, it promises to entertain, shock and surprise us for weeks to come. Highly recommended for hardcore Galactica fans or first time viewers, Caprica will again leave the viewers fraking amazed.
