There Is Another Sky

I said of last week's Caprica episode that I hoped they'd keep still keep improving, taking more steps toward realizing the great potential within the show. Much to my enjoyment, I think they did. Better than any episode so far, I think this episode really put a lot of the characters in some rough situations. No easy answers. In some cases, not even a tough decision to make -- just "here's how it is; deal with it."

Imagine having to rip your own arm off. You know that it won't "hurt," practically speaking, and yet every instinct you have is fighting your will.

Imagine feeling all the pain and suffering of a lethal gunshot wound, and yet not dying. Multiple times. You just have to endure the torture until it ends.

Imagine going through hell to escape a prison, only to find out there is no escape.

Imagine being consumed by grief over your wife and daughter, spending a month trying somehow to get over it... then finally coming to terms with it, only to learn almost at that very moment that your daughter is still alive.

Now we're getting into the good stuff.

I think perhaps Caprica has been trying to push too many plot threads along every week. They were able to focus things better this week and score some of these strong dramatic moments by sitting a few of their plots on the bench. (Clarice and her STO students; the cops investigating the train bombing; Lacy's quest on behalf of Zoe; even Zoe herself and her story, as she only appeared in one minor scene.) And there were even a couple of nice scenes besides, such as Amanda's story of Daniel's first big break, and Sam's verbal jab at Joseph over "losing" his son.

Still, the hour didn't always fly by. For example, while the major dramatic moments within the Tamara storyline were effective, the story itself dragged a bit at times. The "trappings" of the story, of a "rundown virtual Caprica city," a group of thugs from which something has to be stolen, a double-crossing gangster-type who promises something that can't be delivered... we've seen these elements many places before, and this episode of Caprica didn't really offer any new details to spice things up. But such things were indeed just window dressing; the key moments did work.

So in all, I'd say Caprica continues to take strides in the right direction. I'll be looking forward to next week.