Caprica 1.7: Ghosts in the Machine
Daniel Graystone with an idea is like a dog with a bone. He’s a heat-seeking missile. He takes no prisoners; he’s got a scorched-Earth policy. There is only one force in the universe that can stand in his way: a petulant teenaged girl.
We pan up from a spider in its web to Clarice. ICWYDT, Show. Amanda is back home and on the phone with Clarice about the Darius sighting. Amanda says she’s crazy; Clarice says no, it’s perfectly understandable after all Amanda has been through. And, oh, I dunno, maybe it’s all about Zoe. She kicks a pebble and asks Amanda whether she’s asked Daniel about the avatar. Daniel said the code was unstable and that it wasn’t really Zoe. Amanda says she’d rather not see any more dead people anyway.
Daniel is onto Zoe. He wants a sign. He says if she doesn’t like that body, he’ll make her a more human one. (!) But it seems Zoe will only obey commands to the U87.
Daniel, ironically, has a Plan. And unlike the Cylons’ Plan, we understand it and it just might work. Zoe should probably take notes. He’s going to use things that work on her emotions to provoke her into a human reaction. Then he’ll have proof that Zoe is really in the U87. More importantly, she’ll know that he knows, so she’ll be forced to interact with him as herself.
He starts with her biggest hot-button. He orders the U87 to assemble and disassemble an automatic weapon, over and over. As he lights his cigarette, he recalls aloud a terrible fire in their first home. Five-year-old Zoe had been trapped for several minutes and traumatized. As he reaches the climax of the story and burns his finger, Zoe flinches and tightens her hands around the grip and handle of the gun. Daniel stops talking and stares at her hands, then her face. Zoe makes an “Oh shit” face and tries not to move.
And then Zoe completely forgets what just happened and goes to V World to meet Lacy. She complains to Lacy about the gun exercise. How she had to assemble the weapon, over and over, and how Daniel was barking orders. (Um, he wasn’t barking at all; if you hadn’t left the entire point back in the real world, you would know what to be mad about.) Zoe sputters that she was so pissed off and then it hits her. Again. For the second time. “Don’t you see, Lace, that’s exactly what he wanted me to do! To react. He knows that I’m never going to admit I’m in the robot. So he’s trying to trick me into revealing myself!” Yes, yes he is.
Lacy says Zoe should come out to her dad. No really, that’s exactly what she says. Zoe says no; he lied to her when he put her in the robot. And that she thinks even if he knew she was in there, he would just use her again to save his military contract. She vows to turn herself off and “just be the robot.”
Daniel and Zoe are outside. “Do you know what a ‘tell’ is?” Daniel, even if I hadn’t known what a “tell” was, this episode would fix that. Three times now. I am SO with you buddy. Daniel says he knows Zoe’s in there. He wonders why she’s not glad he brought her out of V World and into the real world, as he had promised. He guesses that she’s the same girl, so afraid of life that she would rather kill herself and a train full of people. “Cause life is scary and brutal and unpredictable and you’ve got to make choices like that. And sometimes you make the wrong ones. Maybe I’ve made some wrong choices too. But you keep moving on. If you’re lucky, maybe you get to create something that lasts...has some meaning.” I don’t choose to quote these passages randomly, you know. :-)
He says even if she’s a suicide bomber robot, he still loves her. He begs her to talk to him. Zoe refuses. Daniel pours gasoline in a ring around her, explaining that he knows the robot can handle the heat, but Zoe might want to get out of the kitchen. He’s ordering the U87 to stay, but all Zoe has to do is take a couple steps forward. He lights the fire. But Zoe’s Daddy Issues can withstand the heat of a thousand suns, and she holds her ground.
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