“The End Of the Line”

The midseason finale is here and it brings with it a desperate rush of action. Does it work to really make for any kind of climactic ending, leaving you wanting more? Eh. It’s not horrible, it’s more that it’s depressing. I don’t want to see anymore because really….how could it get worse? For practically any of the characters? Except maybe Sister Clarisse.

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“Ghost In the Machine”

A very interesting episode this week. There are truly four “ghosts” in the machine. We have Zoey, trapped inside of the Cylon. We have Tamara trapped inside the game world. And we have the two fathers who are losing their humanity as they try to draw their daughter’s out.

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“The Imperfections of Memory”

A for effort, but not quite the success it wants to be. The seventh episode of the series suffers from a haphazard, meandering approach that stifles the intriguing analgoies and other developments that take place within the episode. The turning point was the end of the episode which showcased a very important turning point in the Caprican universe but it isn’t enough to turn the sloppiness into a true classic.

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“The Plan”

Ahhh The Plan. When the show began, there was reference to this mythical Plan that the Cylons had in mind. And then somewhere along the way Ronald Moore admitted that he was making things up as he went along. So he had no plan. So how did the Cylons have a plan? Well they didn’t really. BUT they decided to go back and try to fit what had happened in the beginning to what happened at the end of the series and make all the pieces kind of fit.

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“Know Thy Enemy”

It was a tough week to guage. There was little in the way of immediate satisfaction in the wake of last week’s highly successful episode. But at the same time there was plenty of groundwork laid for future payoff — enough to see how multitudes of storylines could take off. So is that enough? Personally I think this is one of those episodes that was necessary but yet that doesn’t make it in and of itself satisfying. Time will certainly tell.

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Caprica 1.04 – “Gravedancing”

“Gravedancing” continues Caprica’s meandering ways. The show has yet to find any kind of central focus point or direction. It all seems to flit around to the characters and their storylines but without any rhyme or reason. There are few good moments in a series that is too young to have these kind of directionless times.

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Caprica 1.05 – “There Is Another Sky”

In a series that is begging for a really good episode — that moment that sets the ball rolling. “There Is Another Sky” is for the most part that episode. It’s not completely brilliant or as good as other “moment” type episodes from other series, but this one does raise the bar. It defines the characters better in a way and opens up different worlds of storytelling.

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“The Reins of a Waterfall”

Three episodes in and I feel the show is still trying to find itself. The mixture of science fiction and true soap opera (unlike the melodramatic fake soap opera put forth by BSG at times), is a tricky mixture.

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“Rebirth”

As second episodes go, this one was unique in that it did a good job of moving the story forward without having to rehash too much. This show is going to take a little time to find it’s feet. The creators have stressed over and over again that this is not Battlestar Galactica. This is going to be a more character driven drama about family. It’s a unique approach and it might struggle to find an audience. Most of the sci-fi/fantasty crowd might find it not having enough action, while the soap opera type audience might be turned off by the tech and futuristic setting.
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“Pilot”

Caprica hits you right in the gut with the first sequence depicting all the horrors and self destructive (although some would say fun) tendencies of a depraved humanity. One reason it went directly to video and was rated R. We were told this would be a departure from BSG. It would be less action and have a more personal and socially charged dynamic.

On that end it certainly succeeds although it is hard to say it is for the better. It is certainly more comfortable in this role than it was forcing it’s way into BSG towards the end of that run. There are certainly connections to BSG, how could there not be, but the connections are done vaguely enough (besides the obvious Adama family) that it is not necessary at all to have seen BSG.
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“Daybreak Part II”

Well here it was. The end. With millions of questions to answer and a lot to answer for. Does it deliver?

It delivers enough.

Given the daunting task this episode had given the preceding leading up chapters, this fact that this episode was able to get out if it’s own way enough to weave a tale that not only answered most of the questions, leave the viewer with definite closure and be mostly satisfying is quite an achievement.
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