Caprica (Know Thy Enemy)
This show has officially grown on me. Now I need a Caprica icon.
James Marsters as Barnabas - I'm having trouble seeing him as Barnabas the Revolutionary, but that's probably more because of my familiarity with the actor than a comment on his portrayal. In his first scene the accent did a good job at differentiating Barnabas from JM and Spike, but the accent wavered in the scene with Lacy. I imagine I'll get used to seeing him as Barnabas in a couple of episodes, but for now the wrapping-barbwire-around-his-arm made me want to chase him around with gauze and disinfectant.
I'm tempted by the ship that is Zoe/Philomon (Zolomon? Phloe?), moreso than I ever was by Topher/Bennett. I loved Topher for his absolute trust in his own abilities and his comfort with his eccentricities, but he wasn't like most nerds I've actually met. Philo rings true in the way he is painfully aware of his social awkwardness, and only relaxes in the privacy and safety of his lab. I don't know if robotics geeks often anthropomorphize their robots, but his treatment of Zoe-bot as a sentient being is probably making her existence a lot more tolerable. The Zoe-playing-Rachel-playing-Zoe charade risks devolving into a Shakespearean farce, but if handled well the ship could well be tender and moving. It also subverts the Pygmalion myth - this Galatea made herself and she gets to choose whom to love.
Sister Clarice wants Zoe's avatar as a way to build an Afterlife for her fellow believers. Does her god not provide one? Is it a BYOH - Bring Your Own Hereafter?
The "Welcome to your Holoband" Daniel Graystone reminds me disturbingly of Microsoft Bob, who was so annoying that Clippy the MS Office Paperclip was hailed as a savior when it replaced him.
What I did miss this week was Tamara Adams, whose transition from Nervous (and dead) School Girl to Badass Kingpin in the holoworld was as exhilarating as it was sudden. Bet she never said to herself, "When I grow up I want to be a computer virus."
Probably the thing I love the most about Caprica (and this is probably Jane Espenson's doing) is the number of complex characters played by women at least in their forties. There's Amanda Graystone - brilliant but isolated, and prone to sharing her deepest fears with any stranger who offers to listen. Clarice Willow - a private school educator with an addiction to political intrigue and mind-altering substance. Vesta, the holoworld Crimelord-Wannabe from last week's episode. And of course Ruth, the cookie-baking grandmother who wants her son-in-law to avenge her daughter's death by murdering an innocent woman.
James Marsters as Barnabas - I'm having trouble seeing him as Barnabas the Revolutionary, but that's probably more because of my familiarity with the actor than a comment on his portrayal. In his first scene the accent did a good job at differentiating Barnabas from JM and Spike, but the accent wavered in the scene with Lacy. I imagine I'll get used to seeing him as Barnabas in a couple of episodes, but for now the wrapping-barbwire-around-his-arm made me want to chase him around with gauze and disinfectant.
I'm tempted by the ship that is Zoe/Philomon (Zolomon? Phloe?), moreso than I ever was by Topher/Bennett. I loved Topher for his absolute trust in his own abilities and his comfort with his eccentricities, but he wasn't like most nerds I've actually met. Philo rings true in the way he is painfully aware of his social awkwardness, and only relaxes in the privacy and safety of his lab. I don't know if robotics geeks often anthropomorphize their robots, but his treatment of Zoe-bot as a sentient being is probably making her existence a lot more tolerable. The Zoe-playing-Rachel-playing-Zoe charade risks devolving into a Shakespearean farce, but if handled well the ship could well be tender and moving. It also subverts the Pygmalion myth - this Galatea made herself and she gets to choose whom to love.
Sister Clarice wants Zoe's avatar as a way to build an Afterlife for her fellow believers. Does her god not provide one? Is it a BYOH - Bring Your Own Hereafter?
The "Welcome to your Holoband" Daniel Graystone reminds me disturbingly of Microsoft Bob, who was so annoying that Clippy the MS Office Paperclip was hailed as a savior when it replaced him.
What I did miss this week was Tamara Adams, whose transition from Nervous (and dead) School Girl to Badass Kingpin in the holoworld was as exhilarating as it was sudden. Bet she never said to herself, "When I grow up I want to be a computer virus."
Probably the thing I love the most about Caprica (and this is probably Jane Espenson's doing) is the number of complex characters played by women at least in their forties. There's Amanda Graystone - brilliant but isolated, and prone to sharing her deepest fears with any stranger who offers to listen. Clarice Willow - a private school educator with an addiction to political intrigue and mind-altering substance. Vesta, the holoworld Crimelord-Wannabe from last week's episode. And of course Ruth, the cookie-baking grandmother who wants her son-in-law to avenge her daughter's death by murdering an innocent woman.