Note: The following review contains major spoilers for the Caprica pilot, but not for the second episode, “Rebirth.”
Now, that was an enormous improvement! The first “proper” episode of Caprica takes what really worked in the pilot–most notably Zoe’s rebirth, the relationships between the major characters, and the world-building–and expands upon them admirably, while eschewing its larger slip-ups, which mostly revolved around wonky pacing and drama that verged too closely to that of the sledgehammer persuasion. Compared to the pilot, “Rebirth” is subtlety personified. It trades in scenes such as Tamara Adams weepily telling her father that she doesn’t feel real for Zoe Graystone’s far more restrained reaction to becoming the first Cylon. While watching the pilot, I found Alessandra Torresani’s performance as Zoe to be clunky and obnoxious. Now, I’m beginning to think it was a fault of the direction and writing, as here she is not only compelling and sympathetic but extremely moving, expressing emotions, whether it be sadness or shock or anger, with the most delicate changes of expression.
Last week, I alluded to the irony that, although during the time of Battlestar, the Cylons are referred to derogatorily as machines, in order to deny their “humanity” (for lack of a better word), Daniel Greystone originally planted Zoe’s avatar into a Cylon with the express purpose of bringing her back to life. In this episode, we begin to see other scientists’ reactions to the first Cylon. Unsurprisingly, they think of her simply as a tool, completely unaware that there is a thinking, feeling…almost-person inside there.
The series beautifully cuts between Zoe’s POV and that of other people. At times, we see the world through her Cylon eyes, all information coming in as bytes; at times, we see Zoe as she envisions herself–a young, teenage girl; and other times, we see the immense, heavy Cylon body itself. Each of these different viewpoints are extremely effective at illustrating Zoe’s intense alienation and also the horror of what has been done to her by a father trying too desperately to hold onto her. The episode nails the tragedy of this young girl, who wants to return to her normal life but never can because now she’s a disembodied personality trapped inside a gigantic robot who can kill with a swat of her arm, effectively imprisoned by the scientists who “created” her. At the same time, there is also the irony that this is not actually Zoe, but a construct created by the original Zoe. Or is it?
“Rebirth” also very delicately handles where all the other characters now are in their lives, a month after the explosion–Daniel, Amanda, Joseph, William. There are no histrionics, and there is no forced melodrama, just well-crafted glimpses at a group of people trying to move on, yet perpetually constrained by their loss. Whereas the characters were all interesting in the pilot, they all become more likable, or at the very least, understandable, this week. In the pilot, they seemed to be archetypes. It is in this episode that they begin to become human beings.
At the same time, this episode also very effectively expands on the series’ universe, dropping hints both slight and large about Caprica’s world situation. One might easily have missed the one line indicating that Joseph’s tough-guy gangster brother, Sam, is gay, making him quite possibly the first mobster in television or film to be not only a completely masculine-coded queer character but to also have absolutely no hang-ups about his sexuality. It was presented as a throughly everyday, matter-of-fact aspect of Caprican life, and the series deserves a great deal of praise for that. We also learn about some of the aspects of Caprican society that seem a little less mainstream, such as the polygamist marriage of which Sister Clarice Willow is a part. Even as this sort of situation is depicted as being unusual (and possibly connected to Willow’s worship of the One God), it is also very telling that Caprica seems to be devoid of the sort of patriarchal overtones that color our world’s polygamy. This family has multiple husbands as well as multiple wives.
What is most gratifying about “Rebirth” overall, though, is that it no longer feels as if the show is either living too much in Battlestar Galactica‘s shadow nor that it’s trying too hard to not be Galactica (which created an uneasy see-saw feeling in the pilot). It seems to be forging its own identity. It is, thankfully, integrating much more humor, which keeps the tone far less dour and grim, but even more importantly, very smoothly melding a multicultural family epic with fairly hard science-fiction. The gorgeous credits sequence, which takes us on a tour of every level of the series’ world, from the science lab to the Graystone family to the Adama family to the boarding school that Zoe’s friend, Lacy, still attends, promises a complex universe, full of multiple focal points, and while the pilot seemed like it was casting its net too wide, the first episode largely begins to deliver on this promise. I can now start to see what Caprica might look like week-to-week and how it might be able to maintain its sweeping narrative, with so many different balls in the air. And I like what I see.
Related posts:
- Caprica 1.05: “There Is Another Sky”
- Caprica 1.08: “Ghost in the Machine”
- Caprica 1.06: “Know Thy Enemy”
- Battlestar Galactica: "Epiphanies"
- Caprica 1.07: “The Imperfections of Memory”
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
One thing I should mention that I absolutely adore about this show is the art direction. The final scene after Amanda has shocked Caprica with her little revelation about Zoe, all we see are classic-style cars, men in suits and women decked out like it’s the 1950s. And yet, it’s not all like that – Sister Willow’s house seems a little bit more “modern” and, of course, the Greystone’s mansion is ultra-modern. It really brings the world and the people to life.
Loved seeing a little bit of the Pyramid match – or at least the Caprica Anthem and the C-Bucs song! There’s a nice bit of irony in the fact that Daniel owns the C-Bucs and has created Cylons, since the remnants of the Buccaneers in 50 years time are the last vestiges of humanity battling the Cylon invasion. Not something you need to know, but something that adds a nice colour to the series if you know BSG as well. Plus those songs and clips from Caprican TV make the world seem bigger.
Yay on the humour, too. And not just wacky jokes (although I loved Serge cheering on Daniel’s paper pyramid game) but real honest humour shared between loved ones. I can’t hate Daniel when he and his wife have such a mature relationship. Although that will go down hill from next week, I guess.
I don’t want to lavish heaps of praise on the show or anything, but DAMN that was satisfying.
Yes on…everything, really. I also loved the TV clips, particularly how it was just like watching any person flip through TV. It gave some nice bits of exposition in a really low-key way that also gave us more glimpses into the world of the show. Also loved the Buccaneers reference, like you said (And C-Bucks, that is awesome! Didn’t notice that before.). And, yeah, the representation of different levels of Caprican society having different styles really adds to the world, but in a subtle way.
The whole thing just flowed so much better, didn’t it?
It really did flow better. And hey, BSG’s mini-series could have stood to be trimmed down a little – although not by a whole hour, as aired in some markets, I believe.
I am really attached to the stories more than the characters right now, but that’s fine by me.
I do hope Willow’s polygamy isn’t part of her monotheistic belief, since that runs too close to the real-world – but at least (as you say) there are multiple wives and husbands!
I definitely like “Rebirth” better than I liked the pilot, which I thought was one huge mess with no direction. I’m still not convinced that Alessandra Toreson was the best casting decision for Zoe. I find her lifeless, uninteresting and unconvincing in her role. Hopefully she’ll both grow into her role and on me.
I understand what the show was doing by flashing on both Zoe’s avatar and her cylon, but I thought it was a little much. I was taken out of the story a couple of times because of it. Though I did enjoy the back-and-forth flashing in the scene with Lacy, showing Zoe tender on the inside and hard on the outside.
The ending was great and unexpected. Here’s to the series’ success.