‘Caprica’: ‘The Imperfections of Memory,’ and duplicating Zoe
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Plans are crystallizing on ‘Caprica,’ but the results probably won’t be what the planners originally intended as Zoe and Daniel Graystone, Sister Clarice Willow, Lacy Rand and Joseph Adama continue on their single-minded journeys in ‘The Imperfections of Memory.’
Let’s go alphabetically. Now we can say that Amanda Graystone is certifiable, and mean it literally. She was in a convalescent home for 2-1/2 years because she ‘was having trouble coping with reality.’ She lost her brother, Darius, and now losing Zoe might be making the crazy resurface as she chases down what appear to be ghosts in both her dreams and in reality. And all of this is playing right into Clarice’s hands. Now, though, it’s not just about stealing the secrets to avatar Zoe, but about befriending and picking the brain of the mother of the doorway to ‘life everlasting.’ Drinking and doing drug stuff and evangelizing together (‘Which god do I trust?’) ... and do you think Clarice switched the pills that the downward-spiraling Amanda is taking? Hmm.
On to hubby Daniel Graystone, who may have found a chink in the armor of his new and dangerous rival Vergis, or so he thinks. The MCP chip didn’t work for Vergis. Despite the best efforts of some of the most brilliant minds on two worlds, it took Zoe’s out-of-the-box thinking in creating a duplicate avatar to make the chip operable. Daniel’s going to use this knowledge -- that Vergis doesn’t believe his stolen property works -- against him. But something even more important is revealed by Zoe. We’ll get to that, but first we have the other dad. Joseph Adama gets his formal introduction into the shady (I guess, shadier?) side of V World, New Cap City, by his first tour guide, Heracles. Yep, his first, because a scared ‘I-really-think-you-need-a-bigger-gun’ Joseph pushes Heracles into the open where he’s gunned down, and he’s now permanently banned from getting back in. Now Joseph’s on his own, and some advice: if you want to be careful, don’t walk down the middle of the street in a dangerous war-torn neighborhood yelling out ‘Tamara!’ Luckily, or unluckily, he’s getting a new guide. Emmanuelle’s all about getting paid ... for now.
Lacy Rand is still trying to get avatar Zoe to Gemenon. No Barnabus in this episode, but plenty of talk about him. She will either have to tell him about Robo-Zoe or, as Keon tells her, become a member of the STO if she wants his help getting off-world. Big leap to join a terrorist organization, but apparently avatar Zoe is as good, if not a better, friend than the flesh-and-blood one. ‘Original Zoe wanted me to get on that train, not you. I would never let you down.’ I don’t know how to feel about that yet.
Lastly, Zoe, on her V-Match date with the lonely Philomel, may have unwittingly helped him unlock the key to creating more Cylons. We learned a new term! Generative process/system. Seems to mean a more instinctual evolution, like humans, but for Zoe, something that can be programmed. Anyway, we could see the transparent, and a bit juvenile, attempt by Zoe to get P-man to let her out of the lab -- but it’s going to take a lot more than that, most likely. And the dog could complicate things.
Why, you ask? In a pretty great ending for the episode, while Daniel was playing with the family dog in the lab, the dog seems to recognize that Zoe is the cylon. There’s still no real hint that Daniel knows this, but his inquisitive look into her red eye, and speaking her name, was a fun way to both end it and bridge this episode to the new journey of cylon creation that may be about to start.
-- Jevon Phillips
