Ghost in the Machine

This week's episode of Caprica tracked three storylines: Daniel trying to prove the Zoe avatar was hiding inside the robot; Adama searching the V-world for Tamara; and Amanda's continued descent, pushed further than ever by her confrontation with Vergis.

For me, the Daniel plot was by far the most interesting of the three. The battle of wills between Daniel and Zoe was really something to watch, with so much psychology playing into it. There's was plenty of mental torture in store for Zoe, but even more fascinating was just how ruthless a customer Daniel was presented to be. On the one hand, he claimed the need to connect with Zoe, the only remaining vestige of his daughter. And that grief seemed genuine, particularly in the episode's final moments as he collapsed on his sofa to watch old home movies of his daughter.

And yet... paradoxically, he spent the hour torturing the daughter he loved, making her endure the sensation of being burned alive, reliving a childhood trauma, and more. Wow... not cool, Dad.

The Adama plotline wasn't nearly as compelling to watch. It was the sort of "scavenger hunt" you've seen in many other "searching for a missing loved one" stories before. Just another series of go here, talk to this person, avoid this trap, sort of shoe leather than didn't really add up to much. But there was one interesting thread woven into it, about the mind-enhancing drug that Adama felt compelled to take twice during his journey. If his decisions now leave him with a drug addiction as a result, that could be the springboard for some more compelling drama down the road. Meanwhile, though, we're just marking time until the likely revelation in this story coming for next week's mid-season cliffhanger.

The Amanda storyline fell somewhere between the two for me. Clearly, she is aware of some of the darkness we saw in her husband this week. She may have dismissed Vergis' allegations as an almost involuntary reflex, but when she really thought about it, she clearly believes there might be something to the claim. More of the "might she be crazy" plot didn't quite do it for me, but planting the seeds of a new breakdown between Daniel and Amanda more than made up for it.

Next week, we'll find out where the show intends to leave us hanging for the summer.