Caprica thoughts
Maybe the third time will be the charm with Caprica? I started again a little while ago and this time, it's eating my brain in the best possible way, to the point where I'm wondering how it didn’t catch my attention so much before.
The premise absolutely works for me. I love flashbacks, and this is a whole show of flashback. Especially as used here, where the sense of impending doom - and do I ever love impending doom - is built in, and so it’s the moments of human connection and even fun that push against the grain. It is an ambitious show, with so many characters with frequently-overlapping storylines.
The real draw of the show is in the way it takes the philosophical questions and massive emotional experiences of BSG out of the margins, and puts them front and center. Nothing quite drives home the loss of the holocaust like seeing the vibrant, ragged, sometimes seedy streets of Caprica City, and knowing all that was vaporized. This time before Cylons existed is no Eden - humanity in all its complexity comes through on its own, rather than being defined against the Other. The pilot of Caprica, by virtue of being able to show rather than tell, does so much worldbuilding that all of BSG couldn’t.
Similarly, Zoe’s panic when she wakes up in the centurion does more to make me sympathetic to the pain of sentience for the Cylons than however many dozen episodes of Six making wounded doe-eyes about how HUMANS ARE JUST SO MEAN with their grudge-holding over trivial issues like mass slaughter. (Basically there is nothing that can possibly make the Cylons not be WAY WORSE THAN SPIDERS. The whole verse is much better after accepting this.) BSG at its best could show multiple perspectives on an issue, but one of the root problems with the writing was the tendency to blithely assume what side the viewer was on and attempt to shock or pander from there. Caprica has diversity of perspectives built into the premise, and if there’s an easy way out of here, I for one won’t see it coming. That in turn has fascinating self-referential potential, with the contrast between the more permissive/polytheistic culture, contrasted with the monotheists’ hunger for moral purity and certainty from the OTG.
Unfortunately, though it overall adds to the original series quite a lot, some of it draws out the flaws of BSG by contrast. I really thought my blazing hatred for Daybreak had subsided to dull embers of irritation and resentment, but it is EVEN WORSE NOW, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, especially knowing that Caprica was in development already. It’s intolerable to think that this sprawling, diverse, complicated society had nothing to offer us but some infinitesimal fraction of genetic code. I cannot get behind the message of this whole BSG project as something so essentialist.
I’m not sure yet if I’m bothered by the way it messes with the continuity from early seasons of BSG. I kind of can handwave it away with the idea that maybe history itself is multivalent, open to interpretation, more of a fluid collection of truths like the socio-religious philosophy of the polytheistic society. That would be radical. But then what does it mean that the endgame pretty much validates the monotheistic POV? I know it’s easier to wrap everything up with nihilism masquerading as the purging of flaws, but I don’t have to like it, aesthetically or politically.
Caprican society doesn’t look to me like a depraved shithole full of jerks who got what they had coming. They look to me like a society making progress - maybe lacking in some necessary perspective and checks, but that’s a question of policy, not some sweeping moral statement on whether or not they *deserved* to be bombed to shit. (NO ONE DOES.) I appreciate some of the shocking violence of the v-world, and the way it desensitized them to violence in the real world, but - they were still containing it to the virtual world, for the most part? And throughout human history that has not happened. Except Caprica wants us to believe that it has happened, in a ‘verse as a whole that expected us to agree that it was good to give up on that for the sake of lives nasty, brutish, and short. That still chafes.
This seems to be more of an ensemble piece than a collection of some stand-out characters, but I do like most all of them. I’m loving that in this sprawling, mature world, it’s the story of three teenage girls, who aren’t any more or less at sea than any of the adults around them. Zoe is a painfully realistic teenage girl. She’s not even a brat who got depth from the narrative, she’s a brat who struck out looking for it on her own. Lacey is phenomenal, with her survivor’s guilt warring with that sharp, bright pragmatism. Tamara’s terror could have been melodramatic but is instead heartwrenching. Her old, slightly sheltered picture of the world is utterly destroyed by trauma, and now she’s irrevocably flung into a world predicated on the very worst of human nature, and she’s finding that she’s better suited to it than she could possibly have guessed.
I’m also really engaged by the layered interactions between Daniel and Joseph (oh, those Old Testament names). It’s an alliance, not a friendship per se, but there’s a visceral understanding running alongside all of that. They share the absolute worst thing either of them could imagine, and so they have nothing to hide in some fundamental ways. Their arguments are fascinating. I especially like how Joseph doesn’t get religious certainty for his gut feeling that Daniel’s willingness to play god is wrong, and yet, though he says little I disagree with, I can’t quite bring myself to get behind Daniel either, and I can’t articulate why any better than Joseph can. I love it.
(Speaking of. Not for nothing, but showing the Caprica-Adamas as struggling but overall dedicated, loving people clearly doing their best by each other makes that violent bully act even worse, because I can’t even call it a cycle of abuse thing. Some people are just assholes. It’s the issue with the Cavils all over again. The only reason I am not wishing endless torment upon Wee Willy is that I already know The Twist, and even then I give not the smallest fuck about him.)
And for all the delightful young women, there are actual adult women as well, one of whom is a legit Older Woman, one who is vengeful and scary and awesome. I have to say I don’t have much of a handle on Amanda - the fact that she’s understandably fucked up by grief seems to be a get out of characterization free card where she can do whatever unhinged shit the plot requires. How does someone with such shitty impulse control become a doctor? Oh, Zoe accused you of embarrassing her? Yeah, I’m sure that was total teen angst bullshit. She’s so desperate for a friend, though, it’s so sad. Clarice, OTOH, is shaping up to be a favorite.
Caprica’s focus is also forced onto politics in a way that strengthens it. Suicide bombings here play out the way they do in the real world. I like the portrayal of the GDD as well - flooded with trivial arrests (really, a curfew?) to the point where they don’t do efficient crime prevention; overly reliant on the lenience they can get on civil liberties, without the professionalism that checks on policing power build.
I’m into the critique of capitalism, particularly because it’s presented by making Graystone’s ambiguities show through his belief in all his creations, corporate and mechanical. GI is a state unto itself, with security and approval ratings. Sarno is full of shit when he asks “isn’t technology the problem?” It’s fairly clear that the problem is the lack of controls and oversight, the fetishization of that genius idea with competitive edge.
But, well, you can have the critique of unchecked corporatism and human hierarchies, or you can try to implicate the humans in their fall. But you can’t do both. Because we know of dissenters, we can assume there were more, and even if people didn’t take a firm stand, most people wouldn’t have had the means to affect the Cylons one way or another. Caprica is showing that cutting-edge technology is to the benefit of the elite. The idea that the unwashed masses should be punished WITH DEATH for the choices of the privileged few is only a few paces shy of outright feudalism. It removes individual choice and culpability from the equation entirely, and becomes about shirts vs skins rather than an examination of social hierarchies. So I’m reserving judgment on that.
Ummm, last thoughts. That opening sequence is hilarious. I know it’s easy to rave about McCreary’s music, but it’s stunning. Odd that this stood out, but when was the last time you heard fake show music that could pass for actual hip-hop? But the music playing in the Tauron bar totally does. And it’s such a pretty show. Intricate set, shiny visuals, the blurred virtual perception. Though, Christ, these people smoke a lot.
IN CONCLUSION, SPIKE.
The premise absolutely works for me. I love flashbacks, and this is a whole show of flashback. Especially as used here, where the sense of impending doom - and do I ever love impending doom - is built in, and so it’s the moments of human connection and even fun that push against the grain. It is an ambitious show, with so many characters with frequently-overlapping storylines.
The real draw of the show is in the way it takes the philosophical questions and massive emotional experiences of BSG out of the margins, and puts them front and center. Nothing quite drives home the loss of the holocaust like seeing the vibrant, ragged, sometimes seedy streets of Caprica City, and knowing all that was vaporized. This time before Cylons existed is no Eden - humanity in all its complexity comes through on its own, rather than being defined against the Other. The pilot of Caprica, by virtue of being able to show rather than tell, does so much worldbuilding that all of BSG couldn’t.
Similarly, Zoe’s panic when she wakes up in the centurion does more to make me sympathetic to the pain of sentience for the Cylons than however many dozen episodes of Six making wounded doe-eyes about how HUMANS ARE JUST SO MEAN with their grudge-holding over trivial issues like mass slaughter. (Basically there is nothing that can possibly make the Cylons not be WAY WORSE THAN SPIDERS. The whole verse is much better after accepting this.) BSG at its best could show multiple perspectives on an issue, but one of the root problems with the writing was the tendency to blithely assume what side the viewer was on and attempt to shock or pander from there. Caprica has diversity of perspectives built into the premise, and if there’s an easy way out of here, I for one won’t see it coming. That in turn has fascinating self-referential potential, with the contrast between the more permissive/polytheistic culture, contrasted with the monotheists’ hunger for moral purity and certainty from the OTG.
Unfortunately, though it overall adds to the original series quite a lot, some of it draws out the flaws of BSG by contrast. I really thought my blazing hatred for Daybreak had subsided to dull embers of irritation and resentment, but it is EVEN WORSE NOW, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, especially knowing that Caprica was in development already. It’s intolerable to think that this sprawling, diverse, complicated society had nothing to offer us but some infinitesimal fraction of genetic code. I cannot get behind the message of this whole BSG project as something so essentialist.
I’m not sure yet if I’m bothered by the way it messes with the continuity from early seasons of BSG. I kind of can handwave it away with the idea that maybe history itself is multivalent, open to interpretation, more of a fluid collection of truths like the socio-religious philosophy of the polytheistic society. That would be radical. But then what does it mean that the endgame pretty much validates the monotheistic POV? I know it’s easier to wrap everything up with nihilism masquerading as the purging of flaws, but I don’t have to like it, aesthetically or politically.
Caprican society doesn’t look to me like a depraved shithole full of jerks who got what they had coming. They look to me like a society making progress - maybe lacking in some necessary perspective and checks, but that’s a question of policy, not some sweeping moral statement on whether or not they *deserved* to be bombed to shit. (NO ONE DOES.) I appreciate some of the shocking violence of the v-world, and the way it desensitized them to violence in the real world, but - they were still containing it to the virtual world, for the most part? And throughout human history that has not happened. Except Caprica wants us to believe that it has happened, in a ‘verse as a whole that expected us to agree that it was good to give up on that for the sake of lives nasty, brutish, and short. That still chafes.
This seems to be more of an ensemble piece than a collection of some stand-out characters, but I do like most all of them. I’m loving that in this sprawling, mature world, it’s the story of three teenage girls, who aren’t any more or less at sea than any of the adults around them. Zoe is a painfully realistic teenage girl. She’s not even a brat who got depth from the narrative, she’s a brat who struck out looking for it on her own. Lacey is phenomenal, with her survivor’s guilt warring with that sharp, bright pragmatism. Tamara’s terror could have been melodramatic but is instead heartwrenching. Her old, slightly sheltered picture of the world is utterly destroyed by trauma, and now she’s irrevocably flung into a world predicated on the very worst of human nature, and she’s finding that she’s better suited to it than she could possibly have guessed.
I’m also really engaged by the layered interactions between Daniel and Joseph (oh, those Old Testament names). It’s an alliance, not a friendship per se, but there’s a visceral understanding running alongside all of that. They share the absolute worst thing either of them could imagine, and so they have nothing to hide in some fundamental ways. Their arguments are fascinating. I especially like how Joseph doesn’t get religious certainty for his gut feeling that Daniel’s willingness to play god is wrong, and yet, though he says little I disagree with, I can’t quite bring myself to get behind Daniel either, and I can’t articulate why any better than Joseph can. I love it.
(Speaking of. Not for nothing, but showing the Caprica-Adamas as struggling but overall dedicated, loving people clearly doing their best by each other makes that violent bully act even worse, because I can’t even call it a cycle of abuse thing. Some people are just assholes. It’s the issue with the Cavils all over again. The only reason I am not wishing endless torment upon Wee Willy is that I already know The Twist, and even then I give not the smallest fuck about him.)
And for all the delightful young women, there are actual adult women as well, one of whom is a legit Older Woman, one who is vengeful and scary and awesome. I have to say I don’t have much of a handle on Amanda - the fact that she’s understandably fucked up by grief seems to be a get out of characterization free card where she can do whatever unhinged shit the plot requires. How does someone with such shitty impulse control become a doctor? Oh, Zoe accused you of embarrassing her? Yeah, I’m sure that was total teen angst bullshit. She’s so desperate for a friend, though, it’s so sad. Clarice, OTOH, is shaping up to be a favorite.
Caprica’s focus is also forced onto politics in a way that strengthens it. Suicide bombings here play out the way they do in the real world. I like the portrayal of the GDD as well - flooded with trivial arrests (really, a curfew?) to the point where they don’t do efficient crime prevention; overly reliant on the lenience they can get on civil liberties, without the professionalism that checks on policing power build.
I’m into the critique of capitalism, particularly because it’s presented by making Graystone’s ambiguities show through his belief in all his creations, corporate and mechanical. GI is a state unto itself, with security and approval ratings. Sarno is full of shit when he asks “isn’t technology the problem?” It’s fairly clear that the problem is the lack of controls and oversight, the fetishization of that genius idea with competitive edge.
But, well, you can have the critique of unchecked corporatism and human hierarchies, or you can try to implicate the humans in their fall. But you can’t do both. Because we know of dissenters, we can assume there were more, and even if people didn’t take a firm stand, most people wouldn’t have had the means to affect the Cylons one way or another. Caprica is showing that cutting-edge technology is to the benefit of the elite. The idea that the unwashed masses should be punished WITH DEATH for the choices of the privileged few is only a few paces shy of outright feudalism. It removes individual choice and culpability from the equation entirely, and becomes about shirts vs skins rather than an examination of social hierarchies. So I’m reserving judgment on that.
Ummm, last thoughts. That opening sequence is hilarious. I know it’s easy to rave about McCreary’s music, but it’s stunning. Odd that this stood out, but when was the last time you heard fake show music that could pass for actual hip-hop? But the music playing in the Tauron bar totally does. And it’s such a pretty show. Intricate set, shiny visuals, the blurred virtual perception. Though, Christ, these people smoke a lot.
IN CONCLUSION, SPIKE.