on DVD.
{Spoiler}Me being my contrary self, when I heard people saying this show 'wasn't as good' as BSG, I decided to watch it when it originally aired on TV here, as unlike those people...I wouldn't be unfairly comparing it since I'd barely seen any of BSG at that time, which I think helped with my enjoyment of this show (coming into it relatively fresh, as I hardly remembered what little I'd seen of BSG). In fact, I enjoyed this show *so* much that after I watched it on TV, as soon as it was released on DVD...I bought it (but I hadn't watched it since then, which was a long while ago). After having just recently watched BSG from start to finish on DVD, I figured it was only natural to give this show a rewatch, this time with a new perspective. Yet I *still* prefer this series to BSG ('unpopular' as that opinion may be). One thing that helps is there's not so many characters to keep track of. With BSG, I was often finding myself wondering who someone was/who somebody was referring to. And with less characters, there was less chance of there being ones who annoyed the crap out of me (there were quite a few in BSG, but only a couple in this show). I also had no issue with the lack of dogfights in space (which seemed to be a lot of people's problem with this show). One thing I'd remembered from all that time ago when I originally watched this series was that the 'Pilot' episode immediately grabbed me and I was enthralled throughout. That didn't change this second time around, as I
still found it compelling and not at all 'slow' like some people apparently did. This was probably the first thing I saw most - if not all - of the main cast in and I've always remembered them from/associated them with this series whenever I've seen them in anything else since then.
I remember thinking it was weird when we first meet Zoe Graystone in the club in 'V-World' during what was apparently human sacrifice going on and there seemed to be shifting from human visages to demonic - I didn't know what to make of
that when I first saw it, but it wasn't long before I caught onto what the deal was - ie. Zoe being your typical rebellious daughter, was a believer of 'the One True God' who got on a train with one of her fellow believers - Ben Stark (played by the first of MANY actors who, when I did this rewatch, caused me to react with "Hey, I recognise that person!" - in this case he was someone who I could *tell* I'd seen somewhere else...but couldn't figure out from
where exactly. Turns out he was in a show called
Victorious which I recently watched episodes of on TV). Meanwhile, Zoe's best friend - Lacy Rand - backed out at the last minute...which was just as well, since Ben Stark decided to go full suicide bomber (which clearly Zoe
wasn't expecting), blowing up the train whilst spouting religious craziness. It was a ballsy beginning for the show (then again, BSG had whole baby-neck-snapper Number Six thing, so I guess this was this show's version of
that). A crucial part of this series was an invention created by Zoe's farther, Daniel Graystone, called a 'holoband' which was a device that allowed people to go into the virtual world. I know other sci-fi shows such as
Star Trek: Voyager were accused of relying too heavily on using the 'holodeck', but here something that was similar to that (though also different) played a *key* role in the show's premise, and therefore I didn't have a problem with us regularly taking a trip to V-World. We also learned that there were
two versions of Zoe - the real Zoe (who perished in the train explosion) and the Zoe she'd created in V-World which was another version of herself that had her own independent thoughts. I thought Alessandra Torresani did a good job of playing both versions of Zoe, but it's too bad we didn't get to see more of them together. The costume department also did a good job selecting an outfit that stood out for her (and that I always associate with her character, even when later she appeared in different outfits). It was like a 'signature' costume for the character. The lighting and atmosphere made V-World visually interesting.
Speaking of 'visually interesting', this show's opening credits (which we got from the second episode onwards) were TO DIE FOR. They're SO well-done, the way they show us each of the 'regulars' (though not with the actors' names appearing alongside them - those come
after the sequence) and each scene blends seamlessly into the next is just exquisite. My favourite part is when it goes from the statue with its arm outstretched to the arm of Clarice Willow (Polly Walker) in the exact same position, then she closes her fist and brings that arm to her chest while with her other she hands the character of Lacy Rand (Magda Apanowicz) the infinity symbol/Soldiers of The One pin (you gotta love the effect of the wind machine blowing Lacy's/Magda's hair artfully, and the background they're both in is really eye-catching). What makes this moment even better? The music ramps up, however briefly, to the point where you could totally rock out to it. It's just hands-down the BEST part of the opening credits sequence, imho. The rest is neat too, of course, and I liked how it comes full circle (starting with Daniel & Zoe Graystone and then ending with them). I also like the sound effect of the red Cylon eyebeam thingy as it moves before we see the show's title appear over an impressive CGI shot of the city that the series is named after. Another 'unpopular' opinion of mine is that I was never fussed on the BSG theme (it was too mournful for my liking and the grunting "HUH!" before we'd get flashes of images from the episode - which I always felt were kinda 'spoilery' - annoyed me) or that show's opening credits (I didn't think the shots in the credits were that interesting - hell, they didn't even include a clear shot of Number Six! Unless you count that one of her from afar where she makes Gaius Baltar get down before the explosion engulfs them). I've already mentioned why I like this show's opening credits images, but a reason I feel this theme is superior to BSG's is that it sounds both beautiful
and a tiny bit eerie at the same time, giving off an unsettling vibe before changes gears and totally rocks. My only complaint? When most of the beat seems to disappear as Amanda Graystone walks across the screen with Daniel (it's like someone turned the sound down), but thankfully it comes back at the very end.
The shot of each castmember does a good job of summing up their character in an instant - we see Daniel's an inventor as he turns around and there are Cylons being created behind him on an assembly line, the wipe from Cylon Zoe to human-looking Zoe is something that's used throughout the series and we get the first taste of it here, then Joseph Adama is mourning in the graveyard after the deaths of his wife and daughter from the train explosion. The only sour note is the character of Willie Adama, Joseph's son, appearing since 1) the character is annoying/literally does *nothing* in his shot, and 2) the actor who plays him isn't actually a 'regular' and so he's the odd one out since all the others *are*. On the plus side, Joseph's brother, Sam, makes up for the Willie shot by showing he's a character who means business with the reveal of the knife on his belt - since he's someone who offs people when it's deemed 'necessary' by the Mafia-like family they're involved with, this is his character in a nutshell. The grandmother (who we learn in the show is just as ruthless as Sam) also appears...though she too isn't a 'regular'. Meanwhile, Agent Jordan Duram - who *is* a 'regular' in the series -
doesn't get a shot in the opening credits. I 'spose it would've been tricky to work him in, but he could've been lurking behind a tree in the graveyard or that statue that leads into Clarice Willow and Lacy Rand's shot. The only 'boring' part is Daniel's wife, Amanda, who just seems to be in a zombie state, with her vacant staring into space (while Daniel's changed out of his work clothes and donned going-out wear with his signature red scarf), but we end on a good note by going through the eye of Zoe, revealing the Cylon underneath, before the cityscape shot. All in all, this is one of the best opening credits sequences I've seen (and blows BSG's out of the water, imho), as there's so much
meaning to all of it. The amazing theme music is just the icing on the cake.
There was a LOT of stuff to introduce in the first episode of the show (hence its longer-than-a-typical-episode runtime...though I guess it didn't warrant a 'mini-series' like the very beginning of BSG did). There were all the characters to introduce, their different dynamics (like how Zoe and her mum clearly don't get along, which leads to Amanda slapping her daughter when she mouths off one too many times and Zoe declaring that her mum will live to regret that for the rest of her life - which was some good foreshadowing of what was about to happen to Zoe), and then Lacy being contacted by Zoe's avatar. Lacy coming over to the Graystone residence under the guise of just wanting to spend time in Zoe's room, when really she's paying Zoe's avatar a visit in V-World, eventually leads to Zoe's dad learning of his daughter's still-existing avatar in V-World following her death. At first he's not accepting of her being the 'real' Zoe, only a 'very good imitation', but eventually he
does think of her as his daughter and we soon learn how sneaky he is and willing to do whatever it costs to get what he wants when he finally embraces avatar Zoe, only to use this hug as a way of downloading her into a USB or whatever which he wants to upload to the robot he's created (the first Cylon) in the hopes of one day giving her a proper body and thus, for all intents and purposes, he gets his daughter back. However, when he loads the Zoe avatar into the Cylon, something goes awry and and he quickly ducks back into V-World to see if she's still in there but she's gone and he thinks he's lost the last piece of her he had left (the Doctor Frankenstein parallels become clear pretty early on). Unbeknownst to him, the Zoe avatar now exists in the robot and she's determined to keep this a secret from him since she clearly can't trust him after what he just did to her in V-World (which she's still able to be in as well as the robot). All of this stuff could've been very confusing, but the show did a good job of making it clear.
The first episode also has Daniel and Joseph Adama meet and bond over the loss of their loved ones in the train explosion (without either one knowing that Zoe was part of the group behind the bombing, even if she herself wasn't actually responsible for the blast). It's too bad they don't stay friends for long, but that's all thanks to Amanda (after Clarice Willow gives her that STO/infinity pin that belonged to Zoe) deciding to publicly announce that she suspects her daughter of being a terrorist. I don't care HOW she tries to justify it to her husband later on (claiming she didn't know what she was doing in the moment or whatever), it's a stupid thing to do and she brings all the hate they receive (including something being hurled at her which cuts her and Daniel getting beaten up by Sam Adama whilst Joseph threatens him) onto them. Consequently, she was one of the characters I never really warmed up to in the show. The writers also seemed to struggle to find something worthwhile for her to do and it was only in the latter half of the season that she actually got involved in one of the main plots as a spy for Duram sent in to get information on Clarice (who had befriended Amanda, gaining her trust up until she learned Clarice was who got her daughter involved with these terrorists). Nothing the writers did with Amanda's character made her more 'interesting' to me (that stuff with her seeing her dead brother, where we had to watch the same footage of him running through a hallway over and over again
bored the shit outta me). Really, the most interesting thing she ever did was try to kill herself. Unfortunately, she somehow miraculously survived the fall and we were stuck with her. I think the only time I found her even mildly entertaining was when Daniel created an avatar of her (after they were living separately for a while) and this avatar wasn't quite right/kept trying to *be* Amanda not entirely successfully (which pissed Daniel off, but I enjoyed how not-Amanda-like she was and then when she tried
too hard to be like Amanda). I think by the final episode we saw how this married couple could work well as a team...but that was far too late in the game to finally have her character actually be
useful.
Daniel himself wasn't as boring as Amanda, but he too could be unlikeable at times - though he didn't start off that way. To begin with, I liked him quite a bit and he could be mildly entertaining on occasion, but then in his pursuit of proving that the Zoe avatar *was* inside the Cylon (after he caught onto this fact thanks to the way the family dog, Caesar, acted around her and other little hints that this robot was reacting in non-robotic-like ways) he showed his true colours, at first terrorising his robot daughter by leaving her stuck in a circle of fire whilst retelling the story of what first made real Zoe afraid of fire, then what
really pissed me off/made me dislike him was him ordering her to shoot his dog he claimed to 'love' (though not as much as his daughter) after counting to 5. Although it was later revealed that he'd only loaded blanks into the gun (which Zoe's robot self was able to tell just from the difference in weight between them and a live round), just the fact that he'd put this robot he suspected of being his 'daughter' through such torture said what sort of man he was. I was SO glad I'd been spoiled for this moment prior to when I originally watched it on TV, as I would've totally fast-forwarded if I hadn't known the dog would be okay. I don't hold Zoebot's pulling of the trigger against her, since she *knew* full-well that it wouldn't hurt Caesar (well...except for his
ears, I'm sure, which is what made the moment all the more nail-biting since we actually
hear him yelp/whimper as she's firing the blank rounds which is why it really seemed like he was being shot until the reveal of him being okay...though probably with somewhat damaged hearing). I was happy to hear Lacy sounding upset about this when Zoe told her about it later (she always came across to me as an empathetic character). I will give Eric Stoltz credit for his reaction as Daniel, having just lost what little hope he had of his daughter being 'alive' in some sense, since Zoebot pulling the trigger without hesitation seemed to prove to him once and for all that Zoe wasn't in there (as Zoe would've
never shot Caesar). He looked more than disappointed, it was like losing his daughter all over again. From this point on he just treated Zoebot like what everyone else saw - an emotionless robot. With Zoe inside the Cylon body, it made it more instinctual and better at target practice (which it failed at in an earlier demonstration before being inhabited by a human girl). Once again we see how unfeeling Daniel can be when he orders the robot to rip off its own arm to show the members of his company that Cylons are the future - it's a memorable scene and one that makes good use of the device of shifting between seeing Zoebot as a robot and seeing her as her human self. They wisely choose to show the arm-ripping in robot form (as it would've just looked weird seeing her do it in human form).
Although this regular intercutting between the two was clearly implemented mainly to save money, as they could only afford to show the CGI robot so many times (though according to the episode commentaries it led to them having to film every scene with Zoebot
twice - one pass with the CGI robot and one with Alessandra Torresani...so it didn't really end up saving them much of anything because it ate up more time), it worked for the
story as well, since it allowed us to see Alessandra Torresani's reactions/facial expressions which was what the robot was
feeling (which we wouldn't have had any idea of if we'd only ever seen the robot). It was particularly effective in the early episodes when Zoebot was being manhandled by the rough one of two lab technician dudes who were tasked with taking care of the robot, testing it, etc. There was Mr. Unfeeling Jerk and Mr. Sympathy (actual name Philemon. I can't remember the other one's name), who treated Zoebot like a
human being while the other one insulted her and wasn't exactly gentle when he strapped her down (I couldn't help but feel sorry for Zoebot as we saw her reacting to this like any normal human girl would). I think seeing Zoe's reactions helped remind us there was a
person inside the machine and thus feel sympathy for her. I guess some people got turned off by the stuff with Philemon looking for love and Zoebot being that person for him (since he actually treated her Cylon self with respect/dignity - though it was funny when we saw him working on the robot, considering whereabouts on its body he was tinkering - again, this is where the choice of when to show the robot and when to show Zoe allowed for some subtle humour. There was no attention drawn to it, it was just up to our imagination to picture what it would've looked like had we been seeing
human Zoe in that instance where he was crouched down low fiddling with her parts). Ironically, Mr. Unfeeling Jerk seemed to be the *wise* one, steering clear of Zoebot, since once she eventually revealed to Philemon that it was in fact real Zoe Graystone inside the robot (this was when she was desperate to escape since they were going to destroy the part of her that made her 'Zoe'), instead of trusting her/standing by her, he did what she asked him *not* to and was going to rat her out, so she batted him aside. Unfortunately, not knowing her own Cylon strength, this proved fatal and he got his head bashed against a hard surface, falling to the floor quite dead (so all those who feared the show was veering too much into 'mushy teen love' stuff should've stuck with it past the 'robot dancing' stuff - which, really, wasn't even that big of a deal - as this potential 'pairing' certainly didn't go in the direction anyone would've been expecting and instead ended in tragedy. Shortest potential relationship ever!). This was the midway point in the season when, after a long time planning it, Zoebot finally made her escape from the lab, speeding away in a stolen van and ramming a blockade which sent the van flying/exploding (no matter what, Zoe just can't seem to escape exploding modes of transportation).
The character of Zoe's best friend, Lacy Rand, was someone who I'd found myself liking the most when I originally watched the show (moreso than Zoe herself) and I still really liked her during my rewatch. Firstly, I think her name just sounds cool (some fictional character names sound odd/weird/wrong, but then others just sound 'right' and are the perfect combination of first and last name - which is the case here). Then there's the fact that she felt guilty about not joining Zoe on the train bound for Gemenon (as she rightly points out to avatar Zoe, who gets on her case about it, she would've *died* too and
then who would've Zoebot been bossing around to help her escape?). I found Magda Apanowicz to be particularly compelling in her portrayal of Lacy, who started off nervous and unsure of herself regarding their plan to head for Gemenon, but then proved herself capable of handling the situation of being Zoe's eyes and ears out in the real world once she was contacted by the Zoe avatar still in V-World who tasked her with a number of things which she handled admirably (if not perfectly), such as securing her transportation to Gemenon (which involved Lacy getting herself in deep with Clarice Willow and then her enemy, Barnabas - played by James Marsters who's first introduced to us in silhouette, wrapping barbed wire around his arm - so you
know he's unhinged). Sure, in the end Zoe got herself out of the lab - but she really had unrealistic expectations of how quickly Lacy could gain the trust of Barnabas and thus have him set it up so Zoebot-in-a-crate wouldn't be stopped at customs or whatever. The fact that Lacy couldn't *tell* anyone what was being transported made it hard for her to be trusted and thus she had to prove herself time and time again, including partaking in that favourite pastime of all crazy cultists - ie. cutting their palms with a knife to bleed into a bowl (get a new shtick, nutjobs!).
As I said previously, Lacy was an empathetic character who felt for others, but she also proved tough when she needed to be - whether it was tackling the guy who might've had a thing for her (and vice versa) to the ground and demanding to meet Barnabas or when she was being held prisoner by Clarice, she rose to every occasion. She also proved just how devoted she was to Zoe's avatar when Barnabas at one point forced her to blow up a vehicle Clarice had been in (after Lacy had unknowingly planted the explosive device on Clarice when Barnabas had led her to believe she was just planting a tracking device). Of course, Lacy didn't
know Clarice was safely out of the vehicle when she set off the explosive, she thought she was killing her and she certainly didn't make this decision lightly. Not only was Barnabas refusing to transport what Lacy needed transported (ie. Zoebot) if she didn't blow Clarice to hell, but also her potential love interest's life was in the balance. In the end, though, Barnabas shot him anyway (eh, you were better off
without him, Lacy! You were always too good for that weenie). Lacy was one of the characters who I *most* enjoyed following the journey of throughout the season and whenever they'd cut away from her, I was disappointed/wishing we could've stayed with her instead. Yes, she got in over her head at times, and her helping Zoe escape came a bit too late, but she always managed to pull through no matter how tough the situation was and she ended up the stronger for it. She was the best friend a girl-inside-the-body-of-a-robot could have (despite the fact that sometimes she was treated unfairly by Zoebot) and Magda Apanowicz did a lot with a role that would've likely been not
half as good had someone else played her.
I think Lacy proved herself the most when a ship she was on with other STO recruits was seemingly taken hostage by pirates who made it appear as though they were offing those aboard one by one. She helped form a plan with another recruit (a dude I recognised from a few things but will always think of as one of three future superheroes who paid Clark a visit in Season 8 of
Smallville. Speaking of, the actor who played another one of those three future superheroes appeared in this same episode as one of the ones who got 'shot'), and together - along with the remaining recruits - they overthrew the pirates and Lacy went to town beating the crap out of the leader played by Christopher Heyerdahl...which I was happy to see (as although he *is* a decent actor, the last couple of shows I've seen him in have caused me to become sick of his shtick since he seems to just keep playing the same sort of weirdo bad guy most of the time, with very little to differentiate between them other than bizarre accents). Of course, then it was revealed this was all a 'test' to see who was loyal and who would renounce their faith when threatened with certain death. Those who were 'shot' were still very much alive (though at the end of the episode a Cylon executed those who
didn't pass the test and had renounced their faith in an effort to stay alive). We saw Lacy 'grow' as a person throughout the season and by the end of it she was quite a different person to how she started off the series.
And as if I didn't like Magda Apanowicz enough
already, she made me like her even *more* due to her being a big
Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan who grew up with the show and fangirled out over James Marsters (aka Spike) appearing in this series during the several episode commentaries she was a part of (where she was highly entertaining and made them better than they would've been without her. Some people who do commentaries are annoying or boring...but she was neither. I especially liked how she kept bringing up BtVS in conversation and it was neat to learn that she was like me - someone who got into BSG late in the game and heard of it through other people before checking it out. Plus, her fave character was Starbuck - so you
know she has good taste...though that was already clear from the fact that she was a BtVS fan). I was already a fan of hers after originally watching this show, and was bummed I hadn't seen her in much else since then (just one or two other roles here and there). I just can't praise her enough, as she's a large part of why I think I enjoyed this show so much. The only 'bad' part regarding her character was that she was hardly featured in the final ever episode except for a very brief appearance (basically a cameo) in a flashforward of events 'yet to come' (which I guess was intended as preview of Season 2, but because the show was cancelled, it served more as an 'epilogue' to the series). I realise they didn't know at the time whether the show would be renewed or cancelled...but still, this was a major disservice to her character/the actress who portrayed her after she'd played such an important role throughout the season and there was a lot more of her story to tell. It was a total waste of her in the final ep and a disappointing note on which to leave her character (on the plus side, I was glad to see her replace that creepy 'Mother' of the Monotheist Church, as I wasn't fond of the woman playing her - sorry, actress-who-apparently-came-out-of-a-ten-year-retirement-from-acting-to-play-the-role).
Another character who ended up being awesome (but who I hadn't recalled just HOW awesome from my first viewing of the show and was only reminded of upon rewatching) was Joseph Adama's daughter, Tamara Adama (that's a name with a
lot of 'A's in it). She, along with her mother, were on the train when it blew and it was only after Daniel Graystone befriended her father that he created an avatar of her in V-World. Unfortunately, despite him doing Joseph this 'favour', Joseph didn't react in the way Daniel had hoped due to the fact that the Tamara avatar was scared, had no clue what was going on and couldn't feel her heartbeat, which not only freaked her out, but her father as well. Joseph was so wishy-washy about the avatar of his daughter - one minute declaring her an 'abomination' and making out that Daniel had sinned against nature, then the next he was desperately seeking her out in V-World. Before we get to that point, though, the Zoe avatar and Lacy find Tamara in V-World and direct her to a way out of the game (not knowing her real self is dead and thus she can't 'derez' which is what happens whenever someone in V-World removes their holobands in the real world). She decides to wander through V-World and thanks to a gamer who goes by the name Heracles (played by an actor who I always immediately recognise because he has a very distinctive face and who I've seen in numerous things but always associate with this show) she learns of someone who can help her, since she thinks she's still
alive. There's this whole thing with Russian Roulette (though not as we know it, since it's the
guns doing the spinning around, everyone takes a gun and puts it to their head before pulling the trigger and then one unlucky soul gets derezzed - since 'dying' in the game kicks you out and then you can never get back in). Tamara's shot by the woman who was supposed to
help her...but she doesn't derez and is instead wounded, but it heals.
Before Tamara can get some answers, she and Heracles have to go steal some virtual currency from a fat dude, Heracles literally takes on the guise of the fat dude's avatar they're stealing from after Tamara proves herself by distracting the guy (getting shot by him) so Heracles can gain his avatar, there's a bank heist, Heracles uses something that I thought looked like a dustbuster to suck up these floating coins, but they're caught in the act by guards...then Tamara gets shot
again, but at this point she's gotten used to it and is able to 'control code' in the game by derezzing the guards simply by willing it - which was something she hadn't even realised she was capable of before. When they return to the useless woman, she bluntly informs Tamara that her real self has been dead for a while and then quickly moves onto making plans to use her for...things, but Tamara's having none of that, she grabs a gun (Heracles' one, I think) and blasts all those who wouldn't help her/tormented her, causing them to derez (including a character played by an actress I've seen in a number of things including the Megan Fox movie
Jennifer's Body, which the actress who plays Tamara was also in alongside her. The actress who I don't know the name of, despite having seen in several things, always seems to play an annoying character - and it was no different here, as she was this smirky bitch who took delight in Tamara's plight, which meant that I was SO GLAD to see her get derezzed). Thus begins Tamara's journey towards becoming one of the biggest badasses in V-World. I almost forgot to mention there's this whole other part of V-World called 'New Cap City' which has a totally retro look to it, like something from a 30's or 40's gangster movie (the costumes, the style and everything has this 'darker' atmosphere going on than regular V-World). This is where the effects people working on the show got to get
really creative, with dazzling cityscapes, a dreadnaught airship flying overhead, planes shooting at those below like from a war time setting - it's crazy! But it's also the most interesting the show's been since the 'Pilot' episode. I liked Heracles as a character and his teaming up with Tamara - they made a good pair. I wish we could've spent
more time with them together in New Cap City, I would've loved to have spent an
entire episode (or more) with them there. Instead, Tamara decides to go it alone (doing a badass strut with a gun through the city).
Heracles - whose real name is Tad - goes back to his boring real life where he's a 'nobody', whereas in the game he can be '
somebody'...that is until Tamara's dad tracks him down (this is after Tamara in V-World asked Tad to check she really was dead in real life and he turned up on Joseph's door at the exact time he was in the middle of a ritual for Taurons where they're meant to 'move on' from family members they've lost - which was something Sam convinced him to do because he was sick of seeing his brother spend all his time trying to find Tamara in V-World and not taking care of himself/his remaining family in the real world. Joseph had chased after Tad who gave him the slip) and basically forces Tad to help him find Tamara in New Cap City, so they put their holobands on right there in the alley out the back of where Tad works and it was kind of fun seeing Heracles guide Joseph, who couldn't have been
more out-of-place in a virtual game. There's one particularly funny instance where Joseph asks why they can't just fly instead of the endless walking and Heracles plays along, teaching him how to stand in preparation for taking off...only to then drop the act and all but slap Joseph upside the head and tell him he's an idiot, as there's no defying of gravity in the game since it more or less adheres to the rules of reality - this was a fun scene and it's a shame their dynamic, like the Tamara/Heracles dynamic, is so short-lived thanks to Joseph being hopeless at evading bullets and shoving Heracles as he runs which gets
him derezzed. I certainly felt sorry for Tad after this, as it was his *one* escape from the crappiness of the real world and Joseph screwed it up for him, ensuring he could never go back. However, it's not too long before Joseph finds himself another guide through New Cap City in the form of a woman by the name of Emmanuelle. She's far less entertaining than Heracles, though. Eventually, after some not-that-interesting shenanigans, Joseph *finally* catches up with Tamara...but it's a short reunion, as she shoots herself (it's almost amusing how nonchalant she's become about being shot at this point) and then shoots her dad, derezzing him, and he reacts much the same way as Daniel did when he thought he'd lost the last remaining piece of his daughter. At first I'd wondered why she felt the need to shoot
herself before derezzing daddio...but from the way he acts, it seems he believed she killed herself in the game (though we know better, since she can't actually 'die' in there. Also, to me it looked like a shoulder shot - hardly 'fatal'). This was her way of telling him to 'move on' from her while making sure he could never go searching for her in the game ever again.
I was pretty bummed how underused Tamara seemed to be until she finally encountered Zoe's avatar, who'd been searching for her/tracking her down via goons with tattoos on their faces that were Tamara's symbol she used as a kid (which is something Joseph recognised when he was in the game, seeing those symbols on a wall). It was fun getting to see Zoe take on these discount 'Droogs' with a sword, derezzing them (she also evidently picked up Tamara's ability of rewriting game code, as she's able to make one discount Droog's gun stop working just by willing it), but it felt like we should've been spending
more time with her traversing V-World/New Cap City and learning to become a badass 'Deadwalker' (which is what both she and Tamara come to be known as in the virtual world since both of them were dead in the real world/couldn't 'die' in the game). Like with avatar Zoe, it seemed that all of Tamara's growth from a scared, helpless girl to pretty much a 'God' of V-World was
offscreen (which was a shame. All this character growth would've been far more interesting to me than anything we got with Amanda). Huge props to Genevieve Buechner who played Tamara, as she convincingly portrayed this character who we didn't to get see *too* much of, but had a whole character journey, and like with Lacy, became quite a different person to how she started out (though there were hints of her being a secret badass right from the very first episode when she was still alive and telling her mum on the train that she responded to some kid at school insulting her Tauron heritage by walking away...
after kicking him in the balls). When Tamara confronts Zoe...it's not in a friendly manner, bringing a shotgun to a swordfight and having guys beat her up in an arena before finally taking Zoe on herself. They duke it out, but eventually come to an 'understanding' and team up. Together they make a pretty awesome duo, taking out whoever they need to in an effort to 'clean up this city' as it were (becoming known as the ‘Avenging Angels’). They also look
fabulous doing it.
I do feel things kind of 'petered out' towards the end of the season with regards to Zoe/Tamara, as they eventually got sick of the dark/depressing New Cap City and used their combined powers of rewriting game code to turn it into more of a fortress upon a mountain (somewhat reminding me of the Great Wall of China at one point). Considering how much I'd enjoyed the urban setting, I was somewhat disappointed to see it transformed into a more bright/sunny landscape - though the transformation itself was well-done (I imagine that cost them a pretty penny with the CGI). But just as they created this, Daniel yanked Tamara away into a black void to make her give Zoe a message (as she'd been avoiding her parents), but then Zoe appeared and kicked him out of the game. However, Daniel, Amanda and Sam Adama still pursued them (with Sam intent on 'killing' the Tamara avatar, after he learned she wasn't 'dead' like Joseph had thought she was, wanting to
make her 'dead' so his brother wouldn't become obsessed with finding her again) and then there was this whole bit where Zoe created dragons out of horses...that didn't look great (I guess they blew their budget on the reconfiguring of New Cap City), but then this *is* a
virtual world, so complaining about mythical creatures not looking 'real' in it is probably being nitpicky...but that's just because everything else looked
so good. Anyway, Zoe's parents finally caught up with the Zoe avatar (after Sam got derezzed by Amanda when he was going to shoot Daniel, I think) and they had an awkward family reunion where Zoe was apprehensive of them, but eventually she wanted to rejoin them and Daniel created a virtual version of their home inside the game where Zoe could stay. I was EXTREMELY disappointed/annoyed that Tamara didn't factor into the final ever episode of the show after we'd followed her on her journey throughout the season. Clearly there was more planned for her, but thanks to the cancellation...we never got to see it play out. After doing some research I discovered one idea they had for her was that she would become the 'archetype for the Number Eight model of humanoid Cylon'. Once again, a HUGE waste of an interesting potential future storyline thanks to those IDIOTS who cancelled this show.
Back in the less interesting real world, Daniel and Amanda were unaware that their home had been invaded by Clarice and two of her husbands (because in this show, multiple partners in a marriage wasn't at all 'weird' - she apparently had several wives as well as these husbands), one of whom was played by Scott Porter who most would know from
Friday Night Lights and who I've seen in several other things. Most upsettingly, both he and the other dude blasted the crap out of the Graystone's cute robo-butler or whatever he was named Serge (who resembled an oversized bowling pin that zipped around and was
very polite). He was in charge of security, but made the mistake of giving them a count to 5 warning before he was going to sort them out. Unfortunately, they didn't extend him the same courtesy. I was more sad about Serge's 'death' than I was about another death in this final episode, but on the plus side...it was satisfying to see Scott Porter get his brains splattered everywhere when the Zoebot awoke (Zoe's avatar going from V-World back into the robot) and bashed the shit out of his head with the arm she'd been told to rip off earlier in the season by her father (when Scott Porter got whacked, I thought to myself, "
That was for Serge!"). As for Clarice and her surviving hubby, she'd had this whole plan of her disciples planting bombs at a stadium for the game Pyramid (like a football stadium) and when they set them off, killing themselves/everyone else, those nutters were going to be sent into V-World where they'd get to 'live forever' in a paradise Clarice had her hubbies create. Of course, Clarice herself turned out to be a bit of a chickenshit who was the only one who *wouldn't* be joining them (she spun some BS story as to
why, but really...she was just clearly one of those 'Do as I say, not as I do' types who liked to talk big, but hadn't the guts to off herself). Her plan went awry, however, when avatar Zoe turned the virtual Heaven into a virtual Hell (literally) while Daniel called in the cavalry at the stadium in the form of all his Cylons that'd been made, who worked like troopers, taking out the suicide bombers before they could set off their bombs and sending them to their Heaven-turned-Hell (I'd remembered Kacey Rohl, who I've become *very* familiar with thanks to
Hannibal and
The Magicians among many other things I've seen her in, being one of the bombers with her pink backpack. She didn't play a huge role, but she nevertheless stood out from the crowd). So, I guess all those crazy cultists who thought they were going to a paradise got quite the shock when they found themselves stuck in the Hell that Zoe had turned their paradise into.
Although Polly Walker did a good job playing Clarice, I can't say I was that interested in her storyline throughout the season (though it wasn't the
worst one). After listening to the episodes commentaries, it seems that early on they wanted her character to be somewhat like Gaius Baltar in that they intended for her to provide some slight 'humour' (there was one scene in an early episode with her and Lacy where she gave tea to Lacy who kept sending her back to fetch more stuff to add to the tea over and over because she was uncomfortable being in such close proximity to Clarice who was becoming increasingly exasperated despite trying to maintain her 'cool' - I guess it was a
slightly comedic moment, but nothing even close to the level of humour that Baltar provided). I think they figured out this approach to Clarice's character wasn't really 'working', so then after the midway point of the season, they decided to do some 'retooling' of the show (including getting new writing staff, focusing on different aspects of the show to what they had been focusing on, etc) and decided to embrace her character's ruthlessness, as we saw her being more vicious (which we'd only gotten a taste of previously when she made Barnabas her bitch). There was this whole plotline with Agent Duram using Amanda as his spy in Clarice's flock and he set up one of her wives as the mole to protect Amanda, which led to Clarice stabbing the crap out of her wife (who was innocent of being a mole and had in fact been suspicious of Amanda the whole time after Clarice brought her into their home). In the ending of the final episode we saw Clarice become a preacher to the Cylons, encouraging them to rise up against their human oppressors (there was also a weird bit with yet another Zoe appearing in amongst the crowd of Cylons - I think one of the commentaries said they wanted to have 'Head Baltar' or 'Head Six' from BSG appearing but couldn't get James Callis because of his cost or Tricia Helfer because of scheduling conflicts - though she was at least
willing to appear - so they created this 'Head Zoe' for Clarice...at least I
think that's what the person was suggesting who did the final episode commentary). I know people hated the 'religious stuff' in BSG and probably were put off by how heavily it was featured in this show, but I think it was a integral part of the story (even if it wasn't always the most interesting part) and it's a shame so many dismissed this series because of it, since I think it tackled the subject in a thought-provoking way...even if it did come across as a bit one-sided (ie. belief of one God = 'bad', belief of multiple gods = 'good'). Something else I think this show did a better job of than some other shows was the virtual world and robot-with-human-feelings stuff.
The other main storyline throughout the season was the Adamas, which involved the Mafia-like family stuff that I've already covered some of. While Joseph and Sam's dynamic was interesting and it was great to see Teryl Rothery (who I know from plenty of other things but who'll always be Dr. Janet Fraiser from
Stargate SG-1 to me) playing a close personal friend of Joseph's who became like a member of the family (and also turned out to be who 'Emmanuelle' was in real life, as she'd disguised herself using an avatar of a totally different-looking younger woman in the game to steer Joseph in the direction towards Tamara after convincing her to send him out of the game after making him think she'd killed herself), what dragged down this storyline was the character of Willie Adama. I think when the show was conceived he was supposed to be a young version of Bill Adama from BSG...but the writers didn't cotton onto the age discrepancy (this show was meant to be set 58 years earlier) that the BSG fans did until late in the game. In the second-last episode, Willie got his fool self shot by
not listening (which he was frequently guilty of) when he'd been told to
stay in the car and consequently died (which the writers thought would catch people off-guard since they would've figured he was safe when they thought his character was a young Bill Adama). In the flashforward to the second-season-that-never-was, we saw a younger kid who was named Bill and it's obvious this was the writers' attempt to correct their mistake (and to make it
crystal clear that this was meant to be the *real* younger version of Bill Adama, they gave him unnaturally blue eyes to match his older/Edward James Olmos self's eye colour - it was almost funny how startlingly blue this kid's eyes were, like he was some sort of alien - whereas Willie apparently
hadn't had the correct eye colour...not that I ever even noticed such things). They basically gave Willie the 'Henry James Olsen' treatment (which will make sense to anyone who watched the Season 8 final of
Smallville - dubbed 'Failsday' by people who weren't too impressed with it, part of the reason being because of what they did with the character who we'd *thought* was THE Jimmy Olsen for
three seasons of the show...only for him to be retconned as the 'older brother' of the *real* Jimmy Olsen). Yes, it was a pretty transparent correcting of a rather big boo-boo on the writers' part...but, hey, that annoying little shit Willie Adama (who was disrespectful to his dad, completely useless, and not played by a particularly good child actor) winding up as cannon fodder was no great loss. He was the one who I mentioned earlier whose death I cared far less about than Serge's 'death'. Willie and Amanda were the two 'weak spots' among the cast of characters for me - and I'd wager them and their storylines were part of the reason some viewers didn't stick with the show past its early episodes.
This show is where I've always remembered both Esai Morales and Sasha Roiz from when I've seen them in other things, and I think both actors did a good job with their characters. Sam was clearly the 'cool uncle' to Willie, as he taught him about cutting class and other such things his father disapproved of, plus he was also obviously someone who didn't have a problem offing people while Joseph seemed to not be onboard with that sort of thing (though he had no problem with getting Sam to beat up Daniel when he wanted to see the Tamara avatar and Daniel was avoiding him, claiming he thought Tamara's avatar had vanished after he thought he'd lost the Zoe avatar during the whole download-it-into-a-robot thing in the first few episodes). However, as the season went on we saw Joseph embrace his inner 'Sam' a lot more and he eventually reached the point where he was blackmailing Daniel into setting off a bomb to kill his own mother (though he claimed it was just a test). By the end of the season he was fully onboard with killing the guy he deemed 'responsible' for Willie's death (ie. the head of the Tauron mobsters who sent the men after Joseph that shot his son). I actually found the most interesting part regarding the Adama brothers to be an episode focused on them where we got flashbacks to their kid selves, where Joseph played by the rules while Sam broke the rules, stealing a gun from a Herac soldier (who'd been beaten to death outside their home) and keeping it under his bed - which led to a Heraclides lieutenant by the name of Kolibri being sent out to investigate. While the kid actors cast as young Joseph and Sam did an admirable job (as well as the actor who played their father - who I recognised from other stuff), it's the actress who played Kolibri I must give major props to for being able to portray someone so intimidating/scary...whilst not actually being
physically imposing (she's flanked by two big dudes who dwarf her, as does Daddy Adama...yet
she clearly holds all the power throughout their scenes). While the Nazi allegory was a bit ham-fisted (as someone on the commentary put it, she was like a 'younger, hotter version' of Hans Landa from
Inglourious Basterds), what made the flashbacks compelling was the actress's chilling performance. She has the mother killed and tortures the father, all the while the kids are hidden in a cupboard. They attempt to free their father when his torturers are out of the room, but his kneecaps have been broken and he knows he can't escape with them, so he sends the kids back into hiding and young Sam has the gun he stole...but can't go through with killing anyone (even those who murdered his mother and have been torturing his father), so it falls on young Joseph to shoot all three - he kills the two men, but Kolibri's still alive (just badly - fatally? - wounded). Because Taurons apparently have this whole thing where they like to
choose the manner in which they die, Joseph's dad tells his son to shoot him...which he does, splattering Kolibri in the face with his father's blood. This shows us that Sam being the man of action and Joseph being the one to hold back wasn't always the case and that, when they were kids,
Joseph was the killer - thus making his slowly embracing being ruthless as an adult more understandable (especially after he'd backed out of wanting Sam to off Amanda early in the season when he learned her daughter was 'responsible' for the terrorist attack that killed his wife and Tamara - we were led to believe Sam went through with the hit, but he was just messing with his bro...which was kinda mean-spirited/messed up, but also morbidly amusing and made Sam the more entertaining of the two).
There were quite a few side characters throughout the season, some of whom were interesting...and some were not. On the whole, though, I found myself less bored than I was throughout parts of BSG's run (especially Season 3, which felt like a chore to get through). I think certain people require lots of action/killing/bright flashy things to keep them interested in a show, and while this series had all three of those sprinkled throughout...they weren't the
focus. This was a more 'quiet' show than BSG, but I actually found it less frustrating. Although there were some things they could've done better/improved upon, the few aspects of the show I wasn't so fussed on weren't enough to 'ruin' it for me and I was able to tolerate them more than the parts of BSG that annoyed/angered me. I actually had no real problem with the series even before they decided to 'retool' it around the midway point of the season. I do think that in an effort to bring in more viewers/please those who hadn't been into the first half of the season, their 'readjustments' led to a somewhat 'uneven' feel. Personally, I didn't think there was really much to 'fix'. I found this show to be a hidden gem that was only just starting to realise its full potential by the time it was unceremoniously cancelled. There are those who dismiss it with "Well, it's no BSG.", but as is often the case with me, I find myself having the 'unpopular opinion' of enjoying this show
more than BSG (it might not have reached the same heights as BSG did when it was at its best...but by the same token, I don't think it ever sunk to the same lows as that show when it was at its worst). I feel this short-lived series was actually quite ahead of its time, and consequently was underappreciated (whereas if it came out later, it might've been appreciated a bit more. Then again, considering how dire the quality of TV shows has become in the last umpteen years, I don't think I would've wanted this show to come out much later than it did, as I think then it would've had a whole different set of problems). There was a lot I liked about the series - including the
look of it (I'm probably one of the few who wasn't in love with the handheld shaky camera technique BSG was so fond of using) - and only a few things I didn't like. At least before the series ended we got a shot of how the human-looking Cylons we knew from BSG came into being, as one of the last things we see in the 'flashforward' of the final episode is Zoebot emerging from a 'goo bath' and changing right before our eyes from looking robot-like to humanlike - I appreciated that. This is one of those shows that may have only had a single season, but it was a
damn good single season and I will always cherish it. We fans of
Caprica mightn't be large in number, but we knew this series was something special and
appreciated how much work went into it. It's criminal how the untapped potential it had wasn't allowed to become realised thanks to those who cancelled it - FRAK YOU, MOTHERFRAKKERS!