CAPRICA 1.7 - "The Imperfections Of Memory"

WRITER: Matthew B. Roberts
DIRECTOR: Wayne Rose
GUEST CAST: Polly Walker, Magda Apanowicz, Alex Arsenault, Richard Harmon, Panou & John Pyper-Ferguson

[SPOILERS] I was reminded of something in this episode: while the Soldiers Of The One are perceived as a monotheistic religious cult of crazies, we know from Battlestar Galactica that there is a "One True God" who's been manipulating events, which means their beliefs are correct. Consequently, maybe it's possible that Amanda's (Paula Malcomsen) hallucinations of her brother Darius, who died in a car accident, should indeed be interpreted as divine guidance? They feel similar to the visions experienced by BSG characters like Roslin and Baltar. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Amanda's maiden name is Roslin, too...

"The Imperfections Of Memory" was one of those episode where we got some decent nuggets of information and a few worthwhile developments, but the impetus behind the episode still felt a little lacking. I didn't dislike this hour, but it did feel quite padded and, at times, appeared to shoehorn in some action for the sake of it. To briefly recap: Amanda confided in Sister Clarice (Polly Walker) that she spent two years in a nuthouse following her brother's death in a car crash; Joseph (Esai Morales) tracked down Heracles (Richard Harmon) and forced him to accompany him to the virtual New Cap City to find his daughter's avatar, only for Heracles to "die" in the program (which means he can no longer return there); Daniel (Eric Stoltz) learned that his rival Vergis (John Pyper-Ferguson) believes the MCP chip he stole is defective, but knowing it's not intrigued Daniel as to why it's working in his Cylon; Lacy (Magda Apanowicz) has decided to become a sworn member of the STO, to force Barnabus to help her transport Zoe's (Alessandra Torresani) robot body "cargo" to Gemenon; and Zoe herself had a second date with lab rat Philo (Alex Arsenault) in V-World, later manipulating him into believing the Cylon robot he's working on needs real world stimuli to grow.

What became clearer, thankfully, is that Sister Clarice believes Zoe and Amanda are essentially "prophets" of the One True God, and there's already talk of the V-World being retrofitted to enable a type of "resurrection" for their followers. This is something Zoe clearly believes could happen during her chat with Philo (hey, she's living proof!), and it's interesting to chew on this stuff knowing what occurs in the chronological sequel BSG -- where "skinjob" Cylons are indeed able to "resurrect" into new bodies after death (by transmitting their consciousness), and have the ability to conjure mindscapes that are essentially imagination as virtual reality. It was fun to see the beginnings of those intrinsic elements of future Cylon society alluded to here.

Everything else was only of mild interest to me, and it felt strange that the episode included a few superfluous moments of effects-fuelled action (various aerial attacks in the oddly deserted New Cap City, an old-style Viper flight sim crash sequence), which felt like the show was throwing bones to elements of the audience annoyed that Caprica doesn't have the action backdrop of BSG.

Overall, this felt like a pretty average installment to me, but one that contained a few juicy morsels. I wasn't that excited by the climax, where Daniel has apparently guessed that Zoe is inhabiting the Cylon, although I guess I should have been. I suppose I'm just suspicious it's not going to lead anywhere yet, because Zoe obvious won't respond to put his mind at ease (or she would have already), so it'll probably just be left with Daniel having a strong suspicion.

Asides

-- The way New Cap City resembles an early-'00s video-game is actually kind of clever, as you can't criticize the occasionally shaky visuals because the whole environment is supposed to be "fake" and using modified code. It also amused me that Zoe criticized the realism of what, to our eyes, is a stunning technological achievement.

-- What's happened to those cops investigating the MAGLEV bombing? They haven't been seen in awhile.

-- I've been meaning to mention this, but I absolutely love the visuals of Caprica's opening titles -- especially that first camera swoop down into Daniel's lab, which itself feels like a spoiler because we see Cylons being mass-produced there already.

-- Further to my opening theory that Amanda's maiden name is Roslin, there's also the fact that Laura Roslin's father and sisters were also killed in a car crash that had a major effect on her. Storytelling coincidence, or does the One True God have a thing about steering people's destinies by killing their loved-ones in vehicular accidents?

-- One of the skinjob Cylons we never got to actually see in BSG, because Cavil "boxed" him, was the Daniel model. I'm ready to bet -- yes, this early on -- that the Daniel model looks like Daniel Graystone.

16 MARCH 2010: SKY1 (HD), 9PM