Caprica – “Reins of a Waterfall”

When we rejoin the dynamic, soap opera-esque  world of Caprica after Amanda has revealed that Zoe may have been involved in the bombing, we see the repercussions. Amanda may be fired and Graystone is being boycotted. Amanda is being interviewed after the surprising reveal and has a bottle thrown at her. However, the reporter is less concerned about Amanda and more about herself. The Graystones have clearly fallen in social standing. (also, note the use of ancient microphone technology).

Amanda is not the only Graystone under attack, as the boycott demonstrates. Daniel is the subject of jokes on the colonies’ most popular political comedy show, Backtalk with Baxter Sarno. Sarno jokes that the title of Graystone’s autobiography will be wow, I didn’t See that Coming, instead of The Man who Can See the Future.

After Xander tries to convince while he’s sparring at the gym that he should hire a new PR rep, Daniel has a run-in with the Adamas. Joeseph and Sam beat up Graystone and then Joeseph demands to see his daughter. Daniel says that he can’t, but Adama is persistent. He also demands an avatar for his wife, but Daniel says that he can’t create one because the program is gone (really something you should have copies of). As they are leaving, Sam remarks that he should drive himself because they got access to him by paying off his driver. (This seems to be a method preferred by Taurons)

Willie has begun skipping school under his uncle Sam’s (hehe) influence. An overheard conversation remarks about the Taurons’ place in colonial society, “Virgans could frak their wives in front of the cops and they’d throw us in jail for it.” Willie tries to be friendly by bringing breakfast tacos (at least that’s what it looks like), but then alleges he has been in jail which the guys mock him for. Although Willie seems a bit out of place now, Sam intends to help him become part of the group, beginning with skipping school for “Tauron devotion to Mars.”

Although Daniel wouldn’t admit it to Xander. The media is getting to him. He cancels all recordings of his name in the press and deletes recorded ones. Amanda returns from not only mentally being harassed by the media and public, but physically as well. She and Daniel discuss the problems with announcing their daughter’s potential innocence to the world, but both express personal doubts about her innocence, leaving the issue somewhat unresolved. The scene culminates in the unfortunate Cylon Zoe witnessed her parents frakking. Meanwhile, Sr. Clarice tries to get closer to Lacy by saying that she was Zoe’s confessor and could play the same role in Lacy’s life.

Despite Adama’s name change at the start of the series, Adama seems to still adhere to the Tauron values he denounced. He’s been paying off a judge, but the judge complained, talling Adam that he couldn’t just assume that he was in Adama’s pocket. Then, he demanded twice the usual payment. Meanwhile, federal agents realized they has Ben Stark in custody a year before but let him go, despite being out after curfew and having wires in his backpack. They destroy the tape and begin planning a way to redeem their behavior for the cheif.

Cylon Zoe discovers a way to tape into the virtual world from her Cylon body. Lacy tells Zoe about her recent encounter with Sr. Clarice and confides that she thinks Sr. Clarice is fishing and that she wants to know that the avatar exists. Zoe tells L not to trust her that the real Zoe didn’t trust her, contradicting Clarice’s assertion earlier in the episode.  Zoe and Lacy begin to explore Daniel’s personal virtual space and find Tamara. Tamara says that she can’t feel her heart beat causing Lacy and Zoe to suspect that she’s pure avatar and wonder, “Can you be free if you’re not real?” Tamara leaves the two girls and says that she can find her way home.

Luciana Carro, who played “Kat” in BSG, makes a re-appearence in this series as Pryah the PR person for Graystone.  Pryah teaches Graystone how to speak to the public, stressing that he must portray Zoe as a “troubled child,” though he doesn’t want to. Daniel must convince the public that the Haloband was not the cause as Sarno has been alleging.

Lacy enlists the help of Keon Gatwick whom Zoe believes to be trustworthy because he was a friend of Ben’s. Gatwick and Zoe must now figure out a way to get Zoe to Gemenon as Zoe intended. Meanwhile, Sr. Clarice in her virtual world that looks oddly like a confessional tells the unidentified person on the other side of the screen that she believes she can get to Zoe’s avatar.

The Stocks on Greystone keep taking a dive after the public finds out that the Graystone’s house cant be searched. To the Caprican Justice Dept.,  good police-work and juicy journalism are synonymous. The head of the department instructs them to find something in Greystone’s house. Daniel also gets booked on Sarno, an interview not be forgotten. And, Sam Adama is gay, but it doesn’t seem to mess with his tough guy gangster persona, so Caprica’s sexual equality is to be commended (we’ve already seen their group marriages).

I watched this episode really late because I had a lot of work to do but I enjoyed when I was catching up. It made me look forward to Graystone’s interview and the sketchy policework on Caprica. I’m not sure how much I like Keon because I fear it may end up being teen drama-like with him and Lacy but we’ll see. Sr. Clarice is being very sneaky, so I look forward to seeing that. The Adama’s story line seems to be the least dynamic right now, but I think the writers are working hard at giving us the future-Admiral’s family background. I give this episode 3.5/5 Cylon heads. Good middle of the road episode. Oh, plus Patton Oswalt will be back on in the next episode, wee!