1.13 – False Labor – Caprica Review

Posted by Samuel Walters

Caprica’s story becomes even more diluted with “False Labor,” an episode which adds more plot lines and characters, without resolving previous conflicts or even exploring already established ideas, concepts or characters. If there’s one thing the series needs more than anything else, it’s to streamline the plot and conflicts to really hone in on what matters most to its central themes: The consequences of trying to create artificial life. Instead, this episode is only tangential to such important ideas. The result is yet another meandering, nearly pointless offering.

There is one stretch of the episode — about maybe two minutes of screen time — in which the central conflicts of the series crystallize out of the ether: Daniel Graystone has a conversation about his afterlife program and Clarice has a conversation about apotheosis. Other than that, the remainder of the time is aimless and unfocused. And often contradictory. This is a series that is literally suffocating under the weight of convoluted characters and conflicts. Interesting avenues of exploration are neglected in favor of superfluous melodrama. Caprica is becoming a bad parody of itself. And any potential the series once had is quickly evaporating.

A perfect example of the utter waste of time and energy is the opening montage of flashbacks — moments that are entirely redundant, considering the already-present “previously on” segment. Does Caprica really have so little to say on its subject matter that a minute of screen time must be dedicated to events seen in the past couple of episodes? As if the audience cannot be trusted to remember that far back?

Once the episode finally begins in earnest, there are three plotlines. Daniel continues to try to duplicate the success of Zoe’s original avatar program — using Amanda as a test subject. Amanda continues to try and ingratiate herself with Clarice’s family. And we get the brand new story of Sam Adama’s obsession with rebel fighters on his home planet of Tauron — an obsession that will lead to the non sequitur use of a Cylon Centurion to settle a brewing mob rivalry.

It’s Sam’s story that consumes much of the episode’s time and energy. But this is a story and conflict that was conjured (contrived) entirely for the purpose of forcing Sam to use a Cylon to indiscriminately kill mobsters to settle a score he created in the first place. Sam is something of an idealist when it comes to the rebellion on Tauron to the point where he starts smuggling weapons to his compatriots, without the knowledge of the Guatrau, or the Taurons who typically deal in firearms. Sam gets caught. His driver gets shot. And so Sam, being told to settle the score, uses a Cylon to gun down his opponents (eliciting from the Cylon, “Task completed, by your command”).

Hearing such an iconic phrase from the Centurion is certainly enjoyable. Iconic even. But the whole affair is mind-numbingly preposterous. The Tauron rebellion story is developed without ever really explaining what is at stake. Sam’s involvement truly feels contrived — a plot device to put him in enough trouble that he would, out of dire need, appropriate a Cylon from Graystone Industries. But how does he get one? How does he program it? How loyal is it? Will it now only obey Sam? What, really, is the point here? The implications are, at best, murky. And yet the episode devoted more than a third of its time in portraying these events. As if Caprica couldn’t figure out a more economical way of using its existing characters and conflicts to force a Cylon into use for the first time.

Wasteful.

And that’s nothing compared to the bizarre treatment Joseph Adama’s character gets. At one point he implores his brother to talk to him, pleading, “What’s going on?” As soon as Sam opens his mouth to talk about the trouble on Tauron, Joseph snaps, “I don’t want to talk about that!” Eh? A little consistency never hurt. But it’s fairly expected from Joseph, a character that has been all over the place in his loyalties and motivations. By the end of the episode, he ends up sleeping with his secretary. For him, this may be the most character development as he’s ever had.

Daniel’s story benefits from two things. First, his continued efforts on developing his “resurrection technology” are, at least, consistent with the premise of the show. And his final tirade, in which he proclaims, “Once I found (Zoe) again, I couldn’t let go. Everything I have done has been about getting back to that place (having a family).” nicely delineates his motivations. But the rest of the scenes, in which he interacts with a virtual Amanda, are almost embarrassing to watch. Whether she’s continually offering to be his personal fembot or fawning over his work, virtual Amanda is just plain bizarre. The point, of course, is to demonstrate the shortcomings of her as an unfinished project. But watching her go down on Daniel is an example of how Caprica has its priorities seriously misplaced.

The problem is that virtual Amanda is a flawed creation. And Daniel, though he welcomes virtual sex from her, yells at her, calling her a “thing.” So what was the difference between Zoe-A and V-Amanda? Imperfections? It’s clear that V-Amanda, while not a perfect copy, is thinking on her own. Daniel even proclaims that he’s had a breakthrough. But he still treats her as a non-entity … which is exactly how he treated Zoe-A. So much for the declarations of his motivations.

The real Amanda, meanwhile, is having problems with Mar-Beth — a heretofore relatively unknown element within Clarice’s family. Mar-Beth is not only pregnant, she’s carrying a major chip on her shoulder with respect to Amanda’s presence. She scoffs at Amanda, vents to Clarice, and finally orders Amanda out of the house. Then, in a display of thespian skill we never knew possible from the oft-flaky Amanda, we’re treated to a ruse so convincing that Mar-Beth decides Amanda can, after all, stay and even witness the childbirth. Why? Why not? It really doesn’t matter other than its expedient for the plot.

The episode ends with a weird montage centered around the birth of Mar-Beth’s child, narrated by Clarice. I suppose there was some salient message in the drivel she conveys, but it’s so pretentiously presented that it’s not worth spending the time unraveling the whatever symbolism she may have used.

Overall Grade: D+

“False Labor” exemplifies why Caprica is failing. There’s no clear purpose or message or even conflict. From episode to episode the focus shifts with nothing to anchor the ancillary characters and conflicts to the central themes of the series. Instead of contriving new problems for characters face, Caprica needs to concentrate on its characters solving the issue already before them. Trimming back on a half-dozen or so characters couldn’t hurt, either.

Topics: Sci-Fi, TV Reviews
Filed under: Caprica Reviews