REVIEW - Caprica on SyFy

For sci fi fans who marveled at the intricate and unpredictable storylines that made SyFy’s “Battlestar Galactica” one of the best dramatic series in TV history (IMHO), the season debut of prequel “Caprica” tonight (Fri, Jan 22, 9pm) bears a heavy burden. In the coming weeks, how will creator Ronald Moore and his team match the excitement and critical acclaim of Battlestar—especially when they must literally start from scratch? After all, Caprica takes place nearly 60 years before Battlestar and therefore includes no cross-over characters except for an adolescent Bill Adama who will grow up to become captain of Battlestar Galactica. Instead, Caprica focuses on the genesis of the Cylon “race,” which began as the brainchild of billionaire entrepreneur Daniel Graystone (Eric Stolz). In the 2-hour pilot that airs tonight, Graystone creates the robotic cylon prototype to get a juicy military contract but later—after his daughter Zoe (Alessandra Torresani) is killed in a terrorist attack—his quest takes on a more altruistic motive: Resurrecting his daughter, who made a digital “copy” of her memories and personality before she died (yeah, just suspend your disbelief). As Graystone tries to transplant his daughter into a cylon body, something goes horribly wrong, making him believe he’s lost the data forever. But by the end of the pilot, it becomes clear that the data is alive and well—and that there will be an eventual reunion (and perhaps not an altogether happy one).

 

If you’re confused already, that’s understandable. Moore and his writers like complicated plots that test our willingness to accept somewhat outlandish ideas and story tools. For example, Caprica continues Battlestar’s use of seeing things that aren’t actually there for dramatic effect. In the first episode airing Jan 29, Zoe can be seen by the audience even when other characters see only her robot exterior. Will characters also start to “imagine” people who aren’t there, as was done so often in Battlestar? Meanwhile, Battlestar’s heavy religious overtones (and the eventual cylon belief in one God vs. many) becomes even more prevalent in Caprica. And Moore revels in complex characters who are neither good nor evil—they’re always somewhere in between. Daniel Graystone seems like the typical grieving father, but in the pilot we sense an undercurrent of obsession and arrogance that we know will lead to society’s doom. In the first two episodes following the pilot, his flaws become even more pronounced. Meanwhile, Bill’s father Joseph Adama (Esai Morales), a mob lawyer who seems to turn over a new leaf by the end of the pilot, starts to slip back toward the dark side in upcoming episodes as a strained alliance with Graystone starts to fray. By the end of the 3^rd episode, the true dark nature of Adama’s character comes through in a chilling scene that I won’t spoil here. But sufficed to say, the audience will be left wondering how to feel about him.

 

If the early episodes of Caprica have any shortcomings, it’s the sometimes exasperating level of dysfunction among its characters. It’s true that flawed characters were a hallmark of Battlestar; but psychological turmoil can sometimes spiral out of control in Caprica. As referenced above, Joseph Adama’s weirdly schizophrenic battle with his good and dark sides seems at times rushed. And the premature and foolish “confession” that a Graystone’s grieving wife Amanda (Paula Malcomson) makes from the podium of a big public event in the Jan 29 ep seems less about her character and more about creating a “shocking” plot twist to button up the episode. But Moore deserves much credit for constantly surprising us. In the next couple of weeks, one character will be revealed as gay—and we immediately think, “Well, why did we assume otherwise?”

 

To be sure, Caprica shows much promise—even if it may never reach the apex of Battlestar Galactica’s critical and audience acclaim. Part of the challenge is that this is science fiction that doesn’t really feel like science fiction. Yes, there are robots, cool Matrix-like virtual worlds and highly advanced gadgetry. But people still drive cars, live in houses, work in buildings, eat in restaurants and go about their lives as if this was just a parallel version of present-day Earth rather than distant, futuristic planet that died out thousands of years ago. No one will accuse the Caprica team of trying to re-imagine a human society (Much of Caprica’s look was, of course, set in Battlestar during flashback scenes—so writers are in a bit of a box anyway).

 

Caprica is us. We are supposed to see ourselves in the architecture and the deeply human flaws that put Capricans on a collision course with doom. And while Battlestar used the same tricks, Caprica sets a higher bar by (at least so far) keeping us grounded in a world devoid of spaceships and space battles. Battlestar constantly reminded us we were in a sci fi world; Caprica lets us forget over and over again. But perhaps that’s the genius of Moore’s vision. Judging from the first few episodes, Caprica will take one of Battlestar’s premises—“Do Humans Deserve to Exist”—and force us to watch as Capricans lay the groundwork for their own demise. Look around our own planet. Isn’t that what we all do every day?