Caprica: So Say We Don’t
What with watching and devoting many blog posts to Battlestar Galactica, checking out this season of Caprica is a given, and I had high hopes for this new series.
The hope is fading, and I may reneg on that obligation.
The first new episode (Rebirth) began with an unsettling, Star Wars prequels feeling. We have a CGI introduction of a city scape and an impossible camera move into a pyramid game. The show’s ornate credits try to explain visually, several characters and their purpose, but can’t, as the show’s scope is already quite complicated. Computer genius Daniel Graystone, inventor of the Cylons, has unwittingly placed his dead daughter Zoe in the body of a robot. She was a terrorist, with connections to a mysterious monotheistic cult, of which a school headmaster is a member. Meanwhile, a family of gangsters has tragic connection to the computer genius, and the best friend of the daughter in the robot… are you confused yet?
Yet despite this ambitious scope and myriad of characters to draw upon, the show moves way too slowly. Already, after just two new episodes, there’s a long roster of new characters and situations I can’t keep track of, while wondering why. It’s a messy mix of teen drama, family conflict, sci fi, religious allusions, and a cop show. Not helping: the characters aren’t as strongly defined as those of Battlestar Galactica — no paranoid selfish, Baltar, gruff Tigh, or even hot Cylons to gawk at. The Capricans seem like early models of the relatively dull Billy, Helo, or Tory.
The only character I have any interest in, is Zoe Graystone. Unfortunately, she’s dead, only existing as a digital “avatar” residing in a Cylon body. Perhaps realizing the dramatic limitations, scenes alternate between a CGI cylon and the actress. She does appear in the virtual world along with her friend Lacy’s avatar and Joe Adama’s dead daughter, but so far, the series hasn’t spent much time there.
I can’t help but recall Battlestar Galactica’s first season, which had a very clear, straightforward premise — the human race, overwhelmed by the mysterious cylons is struggling to survive. A one sentence explanation of what’s going on and why you should be watching. One viewing of 33 and I was hooked.
Yes, Caprica is a very different show than BSG. But I ask myself during each viewing: would I be watching this, if it had no connection to that other show? The answer so far, is clearly, no.
Really hope the show picks up the pace and starts tying these threads together, or it’s on a clear path to cancellation.
[…] Anyone with some interest in the pilot could skip all the episodes between then and the last two (Ghosts In The Machine and the half-season finale End Of Line), and not really miss anything – and probably like the series better. Everything said in an earlier post regarding my disappointment with the series essentially still applies (Caprica: So Say We Don’t). […]