Gravedancing

When the last episode of Caprica ran two weeks ago, I didn't offer up any thoughts about it. Then -- and now -- I'm still trying to suss out just what I feel about the series. I'm still trying to find narrative footing in this show that doesn't really come in hour-long installments with their own beginnings, middles, and ends.

I was just discussing the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire, A Game of Thrones, with a friend today over lunch, and suddenly I see a similarity to the start of that (still ongoing) epic fantasy series. It took about 250 pages into that book before I really started "liking" it; it took that long to really get a handle on who all the characters were, what the story was really going to be "about," and so forth.

So I'm feeling with Caprica. Every new hour, I feel like I'm getting one more piece of the puzzle, but I still haven't seen the picture it's supposed to be. It's not that I have anything against a highly serialized television show; I watch several right now. But to make a comparison to, say, Lost -- this is a show that's trying to unspool character and story in equal measure right now. Lost, by contrast, opened up with a much more heavy emphasis on character. Before we had any idea about "the hatch" or "the Others," we had a spectacular and powerful episode in which we learned Locke was confined to a wheelchair before the crash. We learned that Kate was a fugitive being escorted back into custody.

Caprica hasn't delivered these kinds of emotional feasts for the characters yet. Nor has it delivered the heightened tension of early Battlestar Galactica episodes like 33. But I think it is improving.

Tonight's episode was peppered with a few moments that touched on something deeper. We had that unsettling argument between Daniel and Amanda early in the episode, punctuated with the sucker punch: "We're parents!" "No, we're not."

We got our first real look at just how dark a character Grandma Adama really is; Sam no longer feels like the most dangerous member of the family. Listening to her express her thirst for murder and vengeance so coldly, or give advice to young William about the value of extorting things you want from your enemies... strong stuff.

Less effective was the appearance of the Greystones on the talk show. I can see what the writers were aiming at... a dramatized version of the "public apology and circuit of shame" that seems par for the course for scandals in real life these days. (Hell, we just went through it today with Tiger Woods.) But I somehow didn't feel like the emotions quite resonated, and by episode's end, I felt like the couple was actually getting off rather lightly for the sort of dark and brooding drama I've come to expect from Ron Moore.

But then, maybe that's part of my uncertainty surrounding Caprica too. I very much feel the absense of Ron Moore as a major writing presence on the show. He ran the writer's room at Battlestar Galactica and took a major role in the day to day operations of the show. He has not continued that role on Caprica. Though still a contributor, "show running" duties were handed off to Jane Espenson (for the episodes we're watching now, anyway; about mid-season, as I understand it, they were -- will be? -- handed off again to Kevin Murphy).

Now, I have liked Jane Espenson's work in the past, particularly on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. But I'm not sure her voice is a strong enough one to be running a series of her own. (I suppose others, possibly including herself, thought so too. Hence the change of the guard?) Regardless, I'm not really here to see a "Galactica prequel," I'm here for "another Ron Moore sci-fi show." And thus far, I'm only seeing hints of that once or twice an episode. I'm not feeling the punch of a Galactica episode.

Hell, Ron Moore doesn't even do the podcasts for Caprica -- at least so far. He's handed that responsibility off to his partner, David Eick.

So while I still think the show has potential, I'm still waiting to see it gel for a full one-hour episode. I want more scenes with weight to them, like Polly Walker as Clarice expressing her frustration over the school locker searches. I want less scenes of ridiculous robot dancing lessons. (By the way, if the robot really was moving the way we saw the Zoe-Avatar move, I would think it hard not to notice something distinctly "feminine" about it.)

Hopefully, we'll take further strides forward next week.