CAPRICA 1.6 - "Know Thy Enemy"

WRITERS: Patrick Masset & John Zinman (story by Patrick Masset, John Zinman & Matthew Roberts)
DIRECTOR: Michael Nankin
GUEST CAST: James Marsters, Polly Walker, Brian Markinson, Alex Arsenault, Julius Chapple & Hiro Kanagawa

[SPOILERS] A comedown after last week's gem, but "Know Thy Enemy" developed each storyline enough to make it a valued effort, particularly if you've found the Soldiers Of One plot annoyingly vague so far. There aren't many weeks left before Caprica goes on hiatus, and I sensed this episode was laying foundations for the mid-season finale...

It's been mentioned that Caprica loves duality, so it was great to see that theme continue with the arrival of a business adversary for Daniel (Eric Stoltz): Tauron rival Tomas Vergis (John Pyper-Ferguson), the man he stole a chip from to build his latest Cylon. Vergis has finally noticed this theft and plans to avenge Daniel's underhandedness by ruining his life and business. What makes this interesting is that we should be on Vergis' side, as Daniel's indeed guilty of larceny and had Joseph (Esai Morales) steal the "MCP chip" using men who killed two innocent lab technicians in the process. Daniel feels terrible guilt over those deaths, which were never part of his plan, and after discussing the matter with Joseph it becomes clear that the Adama's are just as afraid of what might happen if the Vergis robbery and murders get traced to them. I got the impression that inter-Tauron offenses are severely frowned upon.

Sister Clarice (Polly Walker) became more interesting away from her legal polgyamy, too. Here she gained access to the Graystone residence by offering a vulnerable and tipsy Amanda (Paula Malcomson) a shoulder to cry on as Zoe's compassionate teacher, before talking her way into Daniel's underground lab so she could surreptitiously use a "swipe drive" to copy computer data. Clarice is still searching for the virtual avatar of Zoe for her STO superiors, apparently intending to use this technology to create a tangible afterlife for their followers, unaware that "Zoe" resides inside the Cylon she notices standing in Daniel's lab. I have to ask, though: doesn't creating an artificial afterlife go completely against the faith involved in a religious salvation after death?

The weakest subplot was Zoe's (Alessandra Torresani), who notices that her robot form's on-hand technician Philomon (Alex Arsenault) is having zero luck on a dating website. So, while he's busy elsewhere, Zoe used his computer terminal to send him a message posing as "Rachel" and arranging a date in a virtual club. The writers coped with the problem that Rachel looks identical to a spectacle-wearing Zoe Graystone (the dead daughter of Philomon's employer) by mentioning that Rachel has intended her avatar to look that way, which I'm willing to go with -- a little grudgingly.

Really though, if you were on a virtual date with someone, wouldn't you want to see the real person, if only out of fear they're an obese old man? Maybe not? Either way, I hope Philomon questions Rachel's real appearance soon, or at least gets worried when Rachel never wants to see him in the real-world. As for the overall storyline -- well, I guess it adds another thread to Caprica's tapestry (relationship comedy) and lets Toressani wear different attire, but I still find it too weird that Philomon would have "feelings" for that Cylon hardware in the real world. Then again, I saw a documentary where a man had fallen in love with his car and had regular intercourse with the exhaust pipe. "It happened before, it'll happen again..."

Keon (Liam Sproule) also took Lacey (Magda Apanowicz) to see STO's near-mythical leader Barnabus (James Marsters), who it's revealed is something of a religious fundamentalist when it comes to following the One True God, as we meet him wrapping his right arm tightly with barbed wire (oddly more shocking than the silhouette of the act being made to look like he was shooting drugs.) Interestingly, Barnabus is against helping Lacey transport Zoe's unspecified shipment to Gemenon, brusquely dismissing her and refusing to help, before chastising Keon for wasting his time. I'm sure he'll relent and agree to help Lacey, as otherwise there's no story, but I'm still at a loss to predict what the real Zoe planned to do on Gemenon.

I enjoyed "Know Thy Enemy" for punching through the opacity of the STO movement and giving us something to latch onto about Sister Clarice and her own agenda. It was also fantastic to get another villain in the tranquil guise of Vergis, brilliantly played by John Pyper-Ferguson, whose insistence he'll destroy Daniel's life over a demure tête-à-tête ranked as one of Caprica's best moments yet. There was also a good reminder that Joseph's going to find it hard to locate his daughter in V-World, as simply purchasing a Holoband and going online doesn't grant you access to the hacked realms the kids inhabit. He'll have to find himself a young computer whiz to help, it would seem.

Overall, I've had my issues with this show since it started, but the variety of storylines and complexity of its characters are beginning to rival the excellent production design, and things are beginning to get more interesting now. I'm growing more excited about what the next episode will bring, which is exactly how it should be.

9 MARCH 2010: SKY1 (HD), 9PM