Caprica Recap - Episode 5

Originally I planned on combining these two episodes into one recap, but more and more is happening. So instead they'll be separate, but both will be posted before the new episode. I watched them back to back and was a bit overwhelmed with how much was happening. It makes me super happy that the pace is picking up. Even the recap opening is really growing on me. At first it was overkill because not much was happening yet, but now it's a nice efficient refresher. This episode alternates primarily between Tamara and Joseph Adama. Tamara is still trying to get out of v-world and Joseph is still apparently crippled by the loss of his wife and daughter.
In order to get out of the virtual world, Tamara meets with Vesta (Camille Mitchell), who is running a russian roulette room. Once someone gets shot they get booted from the system, so Tamara wants to try in order to get 'un-stuck'. Vesta tells her to take off her band, and when she says she can't Vesta shoots her. But instead of disappearing, she just lays there all shot in the stomach. Vesta and her minions aren't sure what's up with her, but they say they can fix it if she helps them beat an online game. She heals, gets new awesome clothes, and gets sent on her way. She's taken to the online game section of v-world by some guy named Heracles (Richard Harmon), which is a lawless virtual version of Caprica. It's all 1920's noir, and hyper-violent. New Cap City is a puzzle, and no-one's sure how to win, but Vesta and Heracles think they know how. The problem is that when you die in the game you can't play anymore; you're dead in the game as well. Tamara's mysterious immortality will make it easier for them to execute their plan and win.

Tamara nervously approaches the King-Pin in the game, and distracts him long enough to allow Heracles to hijack his avatar and escape with her. Later she's healing, and Heracles is explaining that now they can steal tons of virtual money and win the game. Afterward, Vesta will help her. He also explains his life in the game is way better than real life, as he can be something in the virtual world and not a loser like in real life. The only thing he's good at is the game. Later, he and Tamara are headed to the bank. They sneak in with the fat guy avatar disguise, then get rid of the guards and break into the vault with a sequence from a puzzle across town. The guards come back as they're grabbing the money and she disappears them after they shoot her a whole bunch of times. Finally, Tamara and Heracles walk into the King-Pin's former hang-out to meet Vesta in his old spot and settle up. She tells Tamara that she can't help her, because she's dead. Dun-dun-dun. Surprise, you're a ghost! At this, Tamara finally snaps and shoots everyone in the room minus Vesta and Heracles. she tells him to find her dad in real life, then she goes back to Vesta and shoots her for good measure.

All of that business is interspersed with what the rest of the Adamas are up to. Sam is mad at joe for sucking at being a dad and a Tauron; mostly the dad part though. He scolds his brother and says he'll take William to school. Joe goes back to slacking and finds out William's been skipping school. He shows up at Sam's hang-out angry papa style and takes William, all angry that Sam had the nerve to scold him earlier that morning. In the next scene Joe is back in the bath robe, looking through old family pictures. He comes across one of them all in a pastoral setting, and gets teary. He then decides to takes William fishing in a misguided attempt to hang out with him. Instead of the warm fuzzy feeling, he just gets embarrassed as kids nearby taunt him. He begs to go home and when one of the kids insults him he knocks him out with a rock and beats the shit out of him. Back at home, William is annoying dad. Sam comes over and Joe asks him what he's been teaching him. He says it's time for closure, that they need to do the funeral type Tauron ceremony. There's lots of hand clapping, and a shrine. The ceremony is pseudo-ancient Greek, with coins given for passage. After Joseph and William decide to let go of Shannon and Tamara, tattoos are administered. At the end of the ceremony a much less suave gamer guy Heracles finds Joe and tells him about Tamara, who tells him she's dead. This spooks him and when Joe demands that he take him to her, Heracles runs away into the night. So much for closure.

In side-scenes, Daniel is about to get kicked out of his own company because of his quick decision to make their Holobands free. That night he can't sleep, and tells Amanda that he's worried about losing his company. She tells him bedtime stories about when they weren't rich and when he wasn't a mad scientist, and how he got the job that made him so successful on a really bad day. This inspires him to walk into the board meeting the next day and bravely introduce his Cylon as the new big product. He tells them that the Holobands are so last century and has his robot (which he doesn't know contains Zoe) pull off its arm to display its obedience. They are impressed and he keeps his job. Also, I just recognized his public relations agent Pryah as Luciana Carro, who played crazy Kat in Battlestar Galactica. I never thought it would be good to see her again.

I really liked this episode because it focuses on Tamara, who is quickly becoming my favorite character. The final scene of the episode was pretty cool, showing her walking off into v-world all bad-ass with a gun. I'm sure being a video game nerd as well didn't hurt. I could relate to gamer guy's feelings of being addicted to the accomplished feeling and instant gratification that being good at a game can give you. It's a plot line meant to bring in younger viewers that I didn't mind that much. Also, I'm glad the episodes have settled into a familiar formula. The pace is quick but not overwhelming. It's finally bringing you into the big picture.