No wonder SyFy pulled this installmet of Caprica from its timeslot. “Blowback” is the kind nonsensical approach to storytelling that has literally sabotaged what could otherwise have been an interesting and compelling series. Once again, instead of focusing on the primary conflict of Caprica — that is, the creation and subsequent abuse of the Cylons — the vast majority of this episode focuses on a minor character, whose conflict is … almost entirely fabricated. The rest is a hodgepodge of subplots that generate little, if any, real interest. The only interesting elements come from Daniel’s continued attempts to recreate a resurrection program. But even these moments are mired in inexplicable conflict.

The primary engine for conflict in this episode is the hijacking of Lacy’s flight to the STO headquarters on Gemenon. Lacy is part of a dozen or so other teens headed to their training. On the way, their ship is captured and boarded. And the hostage takers begin executing the kids one at a time as coercion for their demands. There’s a lot of screaming and yelling and crying and shooting and it all amounts to absolutely nothing of significance.

For starters, in order for drama to be worthwhile, an audience needs to be invested in a character. Lacy is the only person on board the ship that was familiar to the audience, and aside from OMG THEY JUST SHOT AN ANONYMOUS TEENAGER!!!! what other reason would anyone have to care about the proceedings? It’s killing for the sake of killing, to shamelessly grab at the audience’s heartstrings because the series is incapable of otherwise creating any semblance of sympathy or empathy for its characters. Worse yet?

It’s all fake.

A vast majority of the episode centered around all the handwringing involved in the hijacking: Who would get shot next, who would forsake their One True God, who would ultimately stand up and overwhelm the hijackers? And so forth. But it was all just a test, you see. All designed to figure out which of the new recruits were worth the time to train as true STO. And to figure out which would *really* be executed back at HQ for failing to stay true to their faith.

All of this for characters that are either the audience never knew about before hand or cared for in the first place (Lacy). It’s the hallmark of a show that seems to thoroughly lack confidence in its premise and seems to think that false drama and storytelling gimmicks are a better decision for the majority of an episode than actually exploring the moral and ethical implications of creating an artificial intelligence and a race of slaves.

Ridiculous.

The rest of the episode bounces back and forth between two plotlines. The first, involving Daniel, focuses on his efforts to perfect the AI program of his wife. To up the dramatic ante, we learn that the Guatrau has given Daniel all of two weeks to finish the program. Oh, and that Daniel will be killed in any event. With the new deadline, Daniel goes back to his program and berates it further and then deletes it altogether for … actually trying to be more humanlike. It makes no real sense. But at the very least story line is closer to the central premise and conflict of the series: namely that humans might naturally despise their creations, in essence creating the very rift that will, ultimately, lead to the destruction of the Twelve Colonies at the beginning of Battlestar Galactica. That the real Amanda eventually shows up is something of a non sequitur, but may point to the means by which Daniel finally reacquires Zoe’s program.

This is because the final story line follows the continued police investigations in which Amanda has agreed to become a Confidential Informant for Agent Durham. Running alongside this is Clarice’s use of Durham’s boss to steal Zoe’s pin from the evidence room at police HQ. Durham suspects his boss of double dealing, provides him with the wrong name of his CI, which leads to the death of an innocent woman, none other than Marbeth, at the hands of Clarice herself. And if any of this was in any way different from a thousand other TV crooked cop formulas, it might have some semblance of intrigue.

Sadly, it just doesn’t.

The only revelation in the episode that has truly profound implications is the fact that the Guatrau is selling Cylons to the STO. Why? No need for explanations here. It’s all about the money. But placing the Cylons in the hands of the one-God-believing STO at least forges a bit of continuity to BSG. And allows for the episodes nifty reveal that, on Gemenon, Lacy’s failed companions are executed by none other than a U-87 Cylon model.

Overall Grade: D

There’s no question why Caprica was canceled and had its episode summarily ripped from the airwaves: “Blowback” is a ridiculous episode that spends far too much time on that which really, truly, doesn’t matter at all to either the series or the characters. Spending so much time on gimmick drama, when the potential exists for real drama, is shame. Not only that, some characters, such as Joseph Adama, are continually marginalized (and inconsistently written) in favor of drama that means little beyond the confines of the individual episodes.

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

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