‘Caprica’ 1.02: ‘Rebirth’ Recap

Title: “Rebirth”

Writer: Mark Verheiden

Story: Ron Moore and David Eick are back on TV with more Cylon tales. Their long-awaited “Battlestar Galactica” prequel series, “Caprica,” kicked off last week with the pilot, which any self-respecting “BSG” fan took in months ago. Which made last night’s episode a second season premiere of sorts, the first new looks we’ve had at the Graystones, the Adamas and the rest of the ensemble since it hit DVD in April.

The story picks up a month after the Mag-Lev (“Caprica” for ‘elevated subway’) bombing claimed the lives of young Zooey Graystone (Alessandra Torresani) and her terrorist friend Ben Stark. A copy of Zooey’s personality exists on what amounts to a space-age microchip installed into the prototype Cylon body. When the story picks up, we see that Zooey is still very much conscious of who she is and what she’s become, so much of the focus of this first episode is there. We also get to see more of the Adama familiy — future Admiral William “Willy” Adama is a real troublemaker! — and Zooey’s friend Lacy (Magda Apanowicz), who is being courted by her school’s headmistress, Sister Clarice Willow (Polly Walker) — also a closet monotheist and polygamist — for information about any computer projects Lacy’s fallen friend might have been working on.

“BSG” Syndrome: As was the case when “Battlestar Galactica” launched, the miniseries/pilot for “Caprica” was good-not-great. Promising, but not on the level with the best of what (we hope) the show has to offer. “Rebirth” is no “33,” the stunning first episode of “BSG,” but it grabs you in the same way as the earlier series and doesn’t let up until the credits roll and you realize that an hour has passed already. Clearly, Moore and Eick’s previous Syfy success was no freak occurrence. As expected.

I, Zooey: One thing I was concerned about after the pilot was how Zooey would fit into the series. Torresani is a delightful presence on screen and her character is well-written, but by the end of the pilot her personality has been installed into the hulking frame of a Cylon. In “Rebirth,” and presumably moving forward, the creators artfully shift between Zooey’s metal body and her true form (or at least, her creator’s true form), often mid-scene, to illustrate the virtual humanity that is locked away in the body of a mechanical super-soldier. Uncanny valley this is not; if anything, the treatment of Zooey further speaks to the issues raised in “BSG” about the meaning of humanity, what qualifies as life and whether or not an artificially created intelligence imbued with emotion and intuition deserves the same basic level of respect as any human.

Willy The Menace: On “BSG,” Admiral William Adama was a standout character, thanks in no small part to the tremendous performance of Edward James Olmos. He was a man who commanded respect, who inspired his people and who would willingly put himself on the line for the sake of justice. Willy Adama (Sina Najafi) on “Caprica” is the boyhood William, and he’s trouble. Broken up over the loss of his mother and sister, Willy takes up with his uncle Sam (Sasha Roiz). Sam is a gangster who works for a prominent Tauron crime family, much to the chagrin of his lawyer brother and Willy’s father, Joseph (Esai Morales). Since Joseph was a frequent mention on “BSG,” I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the currently troubled relationship between he and his son develops as the series continues. For now, Willy is a screwed up little boy with lots of grief and no one to vent it to.

More Please: A few story threads are only lightly explored in “Rebirth,” left to languish (presumably) until next week. Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) continues to puzzle over his inability to duplicate his now-functional Cylon. He seems to be completely over the fact that a kernel of his dead daughter’s personality is locked away inside the machine. We’ll see how long that lasts.

We also learn a little more of Sister Clarice Willow, who invites Lacy to her multi-spouse home in order to pump the young girl for information. Willow’s monotheistic beliefs are at odds with the Twelve Colonies’ polytheistic society. Interesting, her controversial beliefs do line up with what we learned of Cylon culture in “BSG.” There’s certainly more to develop on that front as well.

Finally, there’s lady Graystone, Zooey’s grieving mother Amanda (Paula Malcomson). Unlike Daniel, who has submerged himself in work, Amanda continues to grieve hard for her daughter. In “Rebirth,” she starts to learn some hard truths about Zooey, that she was hiding a boyfriend, that she was apparently involved with that boyfriend’s terrorist act. This leads to an episode-ending admission that will likely spell trouble for the Graystones as the story moves forward into next week.

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