Episode Report Card Jacob Clifton: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Cryonauts & Crackerjacks
By Jacob Clifton | Season 1 | Episode 17 | Aired on 01.04.2011
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Moving right along, aren't we? So Lacy's stoner boyfriend convinces her that, her weird monad beliefs aside, the STO doesn't have her best interests in mind. Like, for just one example, how they're a terrorist army that's just been ordered by the Pope to kill her for having magic robot powers. Six seconds later, Diego orders Odin to kill her, and about five seconds later Lacy's team of teen rebels has proven that not even Diego is sexy enough to survive this show, and taken over the robots to clean house. Look out, Tilly!
Down on Caprica things are just messy. Sam and the Graystones are still prowling the dragon-filled forest, latterly New Cap City, looking for God Mode Zoë. After Sam admits he's only there to kill Tamara, Amanda derezzes him and takes over as expedition leader, afraid he'll take out Zoë too. Once it starts virtually raining, the Graystones suddenly discover the concept of parenting and wait for Zoë to show up, then act all awesome. Zoë says she'll think about being buds with them, but not yet.
Meanwhile, Fidelia's name, already ironic, proves revelatory as well: She's the Guatrau's daughter, and while taking his adorable puppy for walkies convinces him to kill the Adams/Adama brothers for supplying Cylons to the Tauron resistance. A short time later, Duck's ancestor has shown up, garroted Joe for a second, and then gotten stabbed all to shit by Ruth, who was in her day a Ha'la'tha assassin. The family packs up to leave, and once Sam is kicked out of the Matrix by Amanda he heads to meet them and grab fake passports at his club where they played the Tauron rap-rock that time. They're surprised by goons, but Willie -- remember him? -- saves the day. And then apparently dies, of a ricochet bullet. Considering he's the main character of two other TV shows I don't think it will stick.
Clarice and the Willow Boys launch an assault on House Graystone to get the resurrection holoband back, kill Serge all to hell, and end up stymied by various security measures. (Amanda and Daniel are too busy getting attacked by actual dragons to notice any of this, of course.) Nestor burns his beautiful hands and finally the Graystones resurface, just in time to get taken hostage while Amanda lies (maybe) about having hidden the holoband and Daniel stalls, noticing that the first U-87 (the robot body he mistreated so much it committed suicide) is stirring back to life, with a sudden deathbed conversion.
Seconds later Zoë has hopped into her old body, murdered Nestor, and chased off Olaf and Amanda. They meet back up in the virtual Graystone house, where Zoë says she'll hang on a provisional basis, and Daniel invites her to help him build a real body for her. As with all the winky "boxing" and "toaster" and "Cottle," the sudden coinage of "skin job" is as annoying as it is unnecessary, but I'm sure helps justify the awesomeness of this show to some doubting superfans who, undeterred by the great shirt-rending pants-pissing collective breakdown after the Lost finale, still think this show should somehow be related to a whole other show rather than being judged on its own merits.
As an episode it's quite exciting, and well acted as usual, with that Michael Taylor touch that makes all the difference. We see not only literal "dragons" in the unmapped territory of Zoë's (and Philo's) beautiful new world, but also everybody else operating outside of their established territories of bullshit: Daniel actually listening to Amanda, who's actually keeping it together, and both of them actually treating Zoë like a person for once; Lacy assuming control of an actual army of dragons; and best of all, over on the Adams side, you've got Evelyn helping Willie put together his first model ship as a symbol of their new family... And giving him in the process the metaphor that will save not only his life but everybody's, fifty years hence.
What are people saying about your favorite shows and stars right now? Find out with Talk Without Pity, the social media site for real TV fans. See Tweets and Facebook comments in real time and add your own -- all without leaving TWoP. Join the conversation now!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Amanda thinks she recognizes Sam; she does. He drove her home one night, planning to kill her. Now, he's helping her across a forest and up a mountain to the castle where her daughter's hiding. Daniel can't be bothered by any of this: He's too amazed, once again, by his daughter's mind. "Gods, look at these leaves. Each one is different. And this light. It's all so... Incredibly real. And I don't have the foggiest idea how she did it. Can't have been purely intuitive. Generative algorithms? Stochastic processes?" Amanda laughs, but he nods aggressively. "It's one thing to write code, but what Zoë's done here is... Closer to what the Gods did, in the old creation myths."
Amanda swears their daughter's not a God. That's when the first dragon attacks.
Willie doesn't get it: Why would you build a model ship with your hands, when in the Matrix you could just wish for one. Evelyn sighs and agrees with the logic -- "And someday, they're gonna be able to zap memories of having a ship directly into your brain" -- but says it's more fun to do things, sometimes. Actually do them. He goes on with it, because he likes her. And then, because she's Evelyn, there is an additional motive:
"The women and men that sailed on these ships... To be at sea for... Oh gosh, a really long time. Sometimes the Captain wouldn't even let them set foot in port, because he knew they'd never come back. So they wouldn't get to see their homes for years..."
Willie sighs, thinking about that kind of freedom. Ever since this thing started he hasn't really been allowed out. Some Tauron habits are harder to break. But one day, the name Adama will fly so far there won't be any homes left. They'll leave knowing they'll never come back. They'll have to make their homes with their hands, and when that doesn't work they'll use their feet. We'll fight so hard for home that fighting will become home, for some of us. And we'll have to find our way back from that too.
"You still miss your mom a lot, huh? A ship's crew is a lot like a family, you know. They might lose a member. And they just bring someone else on board who could... Well. The family might change, but what's important is that it's still a family."
Willie doesn't get it; not as it applies to her, here and now. Certainly not after the Fall. The way we must keep going. Evelyn smiles and relents, and he heads back into the Matrix. She puts her arms around Joe; she wants it just to happen already. To be the life she's imagined for so long. Shannon's life, once. But they'll give him time. A boy needs his mother. A boy needs a mother.