Caprica: Gravedancing (s1e4)

Week three of Caprica grounds us a little more in the strengths of this fledging show. After some Days of Our Lives level melodrama stretched multiple plot points a bit thin last episode, “Gravedancing” really does a good job of refocusing on a few stories and really giving them room to breath.

As usual, spoilers after the jump!

Starting off with a bang, we get a reminder that terrorism and those perpetrating it are still active characters in Caprica’s end game. Moreover, we discover 1) multiple marriage couples all sleep together slumberpartystyle in one bed 2) Sister Clarice gets tips from someone with insider knowledge of government and police strategies. I’m not sure frankly which one of these two revelations is more interesting to me.

The five-o raid the kids’ high school searching for more Soldiers of the One clues, but are foiled when Clarice gets her warning about the raid and passes it on to her students just in time to clear out their lockers of any incriminating evidence.

In this case, that evidence would appear to be a single tube of fake looking dynamite and several small pieces of plastic in Keon’s locker. Personally, if I found those items in a teens locker I would think “trouble maker” more than “international terrorist,” but we’ll let the show’s prop department slide on that one.

Still, we learn a bit more about Keon as well in this episode as he reveals he is a little more entrenched in STO than we might have realized, knowing a higher up named Barnabus who has final say in the cell. Still, Keon seems hesitant to help Lacey, perhaps wanting to shield her from getting to deep over her head into an organization he himself seems unsure of being party to. It’s clear him and Lacey are developing a relationship however, between bonding over lost friends and fixing broken dirt bikes. Also, being pinned to the ground by a girl tends to get a guy’s attention, but maybe that’s just me.

For the A-story this week, we get back to what makes Caprica a Ronald D. Moore show, and these characters by Jane Espenson so relatable: nuance.

Unraveling the awkward homicidal turn of Joseph Adama last week, we see Adama reacting to his impulsive decisions exactly as viewers did and would expect; with uncertainty and guilt. Watching brother Sam (who increasingly is becoming my favourite character on the show) stalk Amanda Greystone, Joseph is constantly on edge the whole episode, repeating with faux-bravado to his brother several times that he still wants the hit done rather unconvincingly. Naturally, he fools nobody and in the end caves and urgently tells Sam at the last possible minute not to do it.

“I knew you couldn’t go through with it,” says Sam after playing mind games with his frazzled brother. “A Caprican in a Tauran’s body”. Although this turn was fully expected, it still served to solidify the morals of a character we knew but hadn’t really seen. At this point, there is no doubt that Joseph is where his son, future Admiral Adama, gets his moral compass.

As for the Greystone’s themselves, I thoroughly enjoyed both their roles this week. Appearing on a late night talk show to do damage control after Amanda’s public meltdown, Daniel spends much of the episode being coached for an interview in order to spin the angle positively for his corporate interests. In the end however, the Greystone’s realize there is more to life than protecting the reputation of their holobands — which apparently represent sixty per cent of Daniel’s net profits.

Despite the Greystone’s spending much of the episode fretting about coming off as emotionless, in the end the empathy they are painted with has just the right tinge of doubt. After all, the pair go on the show and, instead of really defending Zoe or holobands, instead decide to play the good samaritan card. Thinking out loud, the idea of giving up all profits on holobands and funnelling them into a charity seems righteous, but also dangerously spontaneously and ill-thought out.

“You’re saying this now,” says interviewer Baxter Sarno, “but will you be saying this on Monday?”

“You can hold me to this, Caprica,” replies Daniel with a grin.

After weeks of being hated, and finding out perhaps their daughter might have hated them too, was this simply an attempt by the Greystone’s to buy some love? This is further questioned when the pair cuddle in bed essentially praising themselves. I have a feeling this decision is going to haunt them big time, perhaps as soon as Daniel has to face his business partners.

No cliffhanger ending tonight, only the subtle sounds of gears being turned and characters being pushed gently forward. Just the way this show excels.

• Grandma Adama: badass or scary psycho? Both?
• Daniel reveals his creation of Avatar Zoe for the first time, and it’s in public. Ramifications to come, surely
• Zoeboy has some Lady and the Tramp moments with her lab tech. I can see how she might find it charming, but if she remembered she’s a giant robot, perhaps she’d find his affection a little… uh, messed up?