It was nice to see the show back on track. OK, there are and there will be some issues relating to the same issues that have often been brought up, but like with any show, some things are proper to its DNA, and either we get past them or we'll be stuck in them. And with all the "retribution" going on, I thought we had a lot of excitement for these 43 minutes.
Daniel Graystone is doing nice playing the Godfather game as an amateur gangster. He certainly has the flair for the suave villain of the "So, we meet again, Mr. Bond" (while stroking a cat) style. "You managed to rebuild your life and, as a friend, I respect that, but..." Classic Graystone! And the way he left that crying widow in the street was cruel, but, let's face it, characters that cry and weep are not pleasant at all. The last thing we'd want was a prolongued scene with her.
Clarice Willow, on the other hand, went on a killing spree, later shedding crocodile tears for her dearly departed students. She's a forgiving woman of high virtues, but nobody escapes the One True God's wrath! That's what I call tough, but fair. (ha, ha) I've seen so much rationalization from Daniel and Clarice, I'm actually starting to think they believe their own lies.
Lacy Rand, the ambivalent terrorist. Listen lacy, if you're going to set out to do something, you should frakking do it right! But getting caught and even taking the bomb with you to the car was beyond stupid. And you were doing so well, cutting your own hand during the STO oath. But the young terrorist cell members were no Mensa members either. I mean, having a bath with a TV connected to the electricity and in a position whrere it can easily be dropped into the water with a simple nudge was just asking for it. Sister Clarice did the guy a favor. Yeah, I'm tough but fair too.
Amanda Graystone has the greatest problem of being conflicted and tortured. To her, everything is source of grief and self-torture. And that's annoying. But there's a silver lining: it seems Agent Durham, our intrepid officer of the law, and last honest man on Caprica, seems to have convinced Amanda to spy on Clarice, and that may just as well redeem Ms. Graystone from her annoying and whiny ways. If that happens, it'll have been worth to have her escape the death we were all hoping she would have.
Agent Jordan Durham, we learn, is a dedicated polytheist, so apparently he has a personal agenda, but more in terms of convictions than self-interest. The show is greatly about religious extremism, but so far he's following the law, just being hard on those whose religion (and terrorist ways) he doesn't approve. And the good thing is that Durham is a plot mover, and, if he has his way, his actions will make the plot move forward, which is what we all want.
Now I've been thinking of what has been said about the characters, that perhaps there are no redeemable characters in this show. I mostly agree with that, except for Agent Durham, and, I'm forced to admit, Amanda, whose only crime has been to be annoying and whiny, not exactly a deadly sin. Corruption is everywhere. But all these irredeemable characters precisely convey the point that the Caprican society, and by extension, that of the other 11 worlds, was decadent, and that would greatly explain the Fall that would occur some 65 years later.
We all know how this is going to end, right? I mean, even before starting to watch Caprica (the show), anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of the Battlestar Galactica universe would know the result would be ultimate destruction, so it would be absurd and even undesirable to see a show about rainbows and ponies. But perhaps the surprise (at least to me, in part) was that the final holocaust was not necessarily caused by the attack of an outside force. Instead, The 12 colonies had fostered the seeds of its own destruction.
All in all, I'm happy with this episode in spite of the lack of Zoe. We've spent far too much time in V-World, and this episode took place almost entirely in the real world.
Anyway, I hope to see more gangster shenanigans, especially because that means the show can focus on what the writers know best, which is the corruption, Daniel's machinations with the Taurons, and the religious issues. And, in turn the show will drop all that pseudo-technology waste of time of "analog/digital" nonsense and the whole "chip doesn't work, put avatar on chip and chip sort of works, remove avatar from chip and now, tadaa, chip works well enough to be copied" mess. Let's just forge that part.
This episode gets 8 board members who live in glass houses.
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