Know Thy Enemy

Unfortunately, I found this week's Caprica to be a bit of a backslide from last week's episode. It wasn't a big step back, but this episode was short some of the more interesting dramatic moments of last week.

The ideas were often there. For example, the meeting between Clarice and Amanda was a very neat concept, having the sister go all "covert agent" to infiltrate the Graystones' home. And yet the emotion of it didn't quite land solidly for me, I think mainly because the ransacking of Zoe's room by the police is no longer a fresh wound -- it occurred two episodes ago. Had this been more recent, I think more could have been made of how devious Clarice was to worm her way in there, and I think Amanda's feelings in the moment would have seemed more natural for the character, and less created by the actress (talented though Paula Malcomson is).

Much like the "robot dancing" of two weeks ago, the Zoe plotline of this episode just felt like a waste of time. It's a shame, because I really like the work that Alessandra Torresani did in the pilot. I just don't think the writers have figured out what to do with her since then.

But, on the up side, it did seem like some new pieces were being laid in place tonight that can pay off in future episodes. The rivalry set up between Daniel and Tomas Vergis has great potential. The last scene was chilling and effective, as Vergis menaced all without ever raising his voice or making any specific threat. The general threat, to "destroy Daniel's dream," whatever that is, was strong enough.

Also showing potential was the introduction of James Marsters of Buffy/Angel notoriety. His character in this first episode has begun unfortunately a little stock, only generally creepy (torturing himself with barbed wire) and generally threatening (his instructions to get closer to Lacy). Yet my thinking is that they wouldn't have bothered to get someone as revered in the sci-fi geek circles as Marsters to play such a conventional character. That must be going somewhere.

So my hope is that down the road, we can look back in retrospect at this episode and say that this is where some important and cool plot lines first began. Hey, if we can start saying that as early as next week, that would be nice.