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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.
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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.
Fidelia's found her proof, that the Adams Boys are cooking the books. Her father can scarcely believe it, but it's there. And it will look good on them, back home, which looks bad for him, who sold to monsters and left them defenseless. A slap in the face. "It's Samuel and Yusif!" he says sadly, and she reminds him that they are not really his sons; not the same way she's his daughter. "Which is why you trust me to tell you the truth when everyone else is afraid to. Especially in a matter like this, when you can't face it yourself. And the truth, father, is that they are becoming a threat." He finally agrees, as long as it's quick and painless, and she sets off to get it organized.
Duck's ancestor Frankie knocks on the door and Joe sends Willie to his room, along with Evelyn. "The Guatrau wants to see you," Frankie says when he gets inside, in a hurry, trying to get Joe away from his family, but Joe stalls until Frankie has no choice but to do it there. He's got Joe good and strangled, apologizing, but before he can finish off the guy for good, Ruth takes him out with a knife to the gut. By the time Evelyn's gotten to the bottom of the stairs Frankie's dead, and Ruth nearly spits upon the body. Time to call Sam, time to get out. Time to run. Willie stands over the body with his eyes bugging out.
"So, you guys really buying this One True God stuff? I mean, not the way they're going about it, not all the ... killing, but underneath?" Odin's serious and friendly, a little bit buzzed. Of course they are, of course they do. He's the only one that was drafted, kidnapped by his parents and sent away to the diehard Monads. For his sins.
"The One True God is love," says one of the braver girls from their flight. "Love, pure and simple." So is that why He teaches us to kill in His name? Polys, Monads, whatever, all they really seem to care about is killing each other. At least, that's how it looks from where they're standing. Not all of them, no, but the ones that matter right now. "And the STO? Come on, our so-called teachers? You really think they speak for God, those animals?"
He gets Lacy to agree with that, at least. It crystallizes something. She's seen too much and loves God too much to believe in them anymore. He's glad to hear it, because guess what: "Okay, Lacy. Because they're gonna kill you." Everybody thinks he's stoned and feeling mean, and he is both right now, not to mention oddly gay at the moment, but it's not really about any of those things: "Lacy controls the robots. That threatens them, but they'll get over that. And when they do... Bullet to the head." It's all he's seen since he's been here. It's also truly correct. He pulls back a finger, cocks his hand, lays her out. Laughs the laughter of the very high and damned. She knows he's right.
"Half an hour," Ruth grumbles. "That's how we worked in my time. If I didn't call in within half an hour, another shooter was sent to follow." Because yes, Shannon's elderly mother was of course once a Ha'la'tha assassin. That actually makes total sense. And is awesome. Joe leaves his millionth voicemail on Sam's phone, and sends Ruth after Larry so they can all meet up at the spaceport once Joe and Evelyn pick up cash and papers at Goldie's. I don't see this plan working, from like a million angles, but it's Joe. Capable, strong-willed Joe. Surely nothing truly awful or stupid will happen. Meanwhile, Ruth is gonna sit right there with a shotgun across her lap, because why not push the joke all the way into not being funny again.
Still fucked up, clearly, Odin Sinclair goes to Diego to tell them that he knows they're going to kill Lacy but he doesn't want to have anything to do with it. "I have no loyalty to her. My loyalty is to the Soldiers of The One, nothing else." They praise him for being so precise about his clarifications, but obviously their only choice is to tell him that he has to be the one that shoots her. So they do. It takes a while for Odin to grasp what he just did, to himself and to her, but they're willing to wait while he puzzles it out. It's super dumb, and unlucky all around, but then it's also the only chance she has. Crazy like a fox, our Odin. I miss the kind of Diego where you just make out with him and he does what you say. Maybe Odin should have tried that.
In the hot sleep Ellen dreams of her children. Four fine sons, three strong daughters. Three and Six will love God most; One and Five will hate Him. Two will know Him best. Four will be a healer, and will love all the beasts of the field and the sky. She will teach them, the Prayer to the Cloud of Unknowing and every other beautiful thing she knows. Sam will sing to them; Saul will make them laugh. Galen will teach them to build things. Tory will help them dream, and plan their lives. Each more human than the last, stronger and weaker at once: Seven and Eight will love so much it could tear them apart, like Saul and Ellen themselves. Seven, he'll remind her most of Sam, but she'll name him Daniel, for dreaming. He will be her very favorite. She can almost see their faces; sometimes she wakes with tears in her eyes. Perhaps they'll be there to meet her, somehow, when the Colony arrives.
Team Willow, that raggle-taggle band of gypsies have found their way into the Graystone compound, what with Nestor's frakkin' photographic memory and ability to do like everything. They don't know that the Graystones are in their Heaven as we speak, riding closer and closer to the house on the hill; they do know that any calls coming in from their house will be routed to Singh, or ignored. Serge finds them pretty quick, and -- because the joke still isn't dead yet -- he produces his own cute little gun, promising to take them down if they don't vacate. Second later, he's just completely exploded. Sad little broken robot, calling for help that will never come. Somebody's gonna pay for that one. Seconds later, a security door goes down around the lounge where the Graystones are banding, and Team Willow sets off to get around that one too.
Meanwhile, the away team is getting ever closer to God. Of course, after just a few minutes they get Sam to admit he's only there to kill Tammy, or somehow put her out of our misery so that Joe can stop whining about everything all the damn time. He won't do anything to Zoë -- "Play house with her for all I care" -- but killing Tamara is the real price. And if not? He'll take them both out right now. And then, for the fourth time this episode, Amanda hauls off and shoots Sam, taking him out of the game. (Luckily, considering his whole family is about to be murdered by the Mob.) "Sweetheart, we were negotiating!" Daniel yells, and Amanda tells him dude was gonna kill Zoë too, she knows that for a fact. Eh, she's probably right. He lets it go. Waking up to five missed calls and nine texts, Sam is apprised by Joe's increasingly unhinged voice as to the particulars of their Guatrau situation.
More heist action as they crack various doors and computer programs and decrypt various systems and generally just bitch at each other, and then a camera comes up to show them both on their holobands. Assumption being that they're somehow contacting the outside world, not going on a pony ride. They recognize the holoband on Amanda, somehow, and work on getting that door open so they can shoot the Graystones and get it back.
Odin leads Lacy to the all-important second location, and orders her onto her knees. As though he's never met her, like she's going to do that shit. Finally he screams, shoving her down with a gun to her head, and apologizes for what he's about to do.
"How far is it up that mountain?" Like eleven hours. "And Zoë can just blink, and appear somewhere else in game? She can have us running in circles till we're old and grey. Or one of her monsters kills us..." Daniel starts brainstorming about how he might create a virus and flush her out, and Amanda finally just sits down on the grass because come on. "We're going about this all wrong. Trying to grab Zoë in your black room? Chasing after her in V-world? Zoë's too much like us. She's contrary. If you chase her, she dodges. If you corner her, she lashes out." And remember that whole thing where we're trying to not be assholes all the time? He sees this wisdom. They will sit, invite her in, wait for her come to them on her own terms.
"It's because of the robots," Lacy presumes, and Diego admits that's mostly it. He asks her, honestly, if she's a plant from Clarice, and she answers honestly that it was the opposite, if anything. This was a solution, not a plot. At the last minute Odin draws his gun on them, and fires at Diego and the other guy, but he's got no bullets. They're about to kill him in turn, but then somebody pops up with a gun and then Diego is dead -- sad -- and then their two young friends appear. Lacy's grossed out by the yet more death, but not so grossed out that she doesn't have it together to steal Diego's key to the offworld shuttle... And go get herself a big old honkin' army of robots.
Yeah, Cylons are bad and warbots are bad. But when you tell me a handful of hot high school students are about to clean house on the Vatican with an army of killer robots, it's hard for me to remember any of that. Especially when it takes us back to the beginning of the show, where only the kids knew what the fuck was going on and all the adults were totally gross, ridiculous people. This has all happened before.
Like for example, how Daniel and Amanda are processing their shit in the dark on a cold night on the slopes of Heaven. What are they going to do with her, if she'll have them again: Back into the robot? Maybe without guns this time? Daniel doesn't think that's great, not with the bodies they're working with right now, but then he comes up with a super sweet idea: Let her live in their dream-house, where he used to go all the time when Amanda had left him. It's got a working lab, they can hold their daughter there. It could be almost normal...
"But it's not real. It's useless without a body. You can make her one, can't you?"
Daniel Graystone kisses his wife; Nestor gets behind the door, but there's another door. The labyrinth Team Willow is coming through, on Caprica, is the labyrinth Team Graystone is winning their way through, in their hearts. It's useless without a body, she said. But the work they're doing now doesn't require a body. She feels the cold in her bones now; she wants to take off her band and warm up, in the real world. They can't do it; they'll just go back where they started. (Which would be fine, as we just established, but whatever.)
"Come on, Zoë," Amanda whispers. They hear dragons, all around. Their campfire is rained out by a sudden storm. They're getting closer. The only way out is through. "It's not real," Amanda murmurs. Almost there. She's almost got it. Out in the house, Nestor catches fire due to some science; inside, Amanda smiles at her daughter.
And surely, out across the stars, as they're racing toward the Twelve lost brothers, surely the angels will have come to them too. To teach them the ways into hell and the ways back out again. Surely there is no place in this universe, she thinks, that is free from God's grace. Sam and the Tyrols would laugh at her; they don't like when she talks about angels. But they're young, they're hip and sarcastic; and isn't it just another word for messenger? Can't quibble with that. And didn't He bring them into Resurrection, as He promised? Surely someone, even these strangers across the sea of time, has known that feeling. At least once. Or perhaps He has prepared the way for them, shown the Twelve his grace, and this isn't a rescue mission at all: Merely reconciliation. Maybe they aren't the orphans of a dead and burning planet after all, she lets herself believe for a moment. Maybe they are really only coming home.
Zoë tells them to stand still; promises there's nothing they can do to her now. They've hurt her quite enough. Amanda begs her to come home, but Zoë tells the truth: "You don't want me, you want her." She's spare parts. Her father swears she's right, and begs her forgiveness for everything he's done to her. The damage he's done.
"That's the best you've got? You think that by telling me that, I'm gonna fall in your arms? Daddy's little girl?" He didn't, but the fact that you just said that means you're closer than you've ever been. She nearly hisses at her father, and Amanda steps forward, smiling. The heat of her, the strength in her. Maybe this is what she was born to do, this moment, now that she's become so much more like Zoë than she used to be.
Zoë snarls like she doesn't even know her, but she does. Zoë looks into her mother's face, accessing memories, and things that aren't memories. Truer things than that. She shudders. Sparks in her heart, where you can't see them; tears running down their faces, past the holobands. Swearing now that she isn't real, that she isn't Zoë, that she isn't their daughter. That it would be weakness, for all of them, if she let them in. She swears she hates them, and doesn't even feel the tears on her cheeks. Amanda holds her daughter in her arms, and the last hard bit goes out of them both. And she asks them to leave.
And just like that, they get it. They give in: "You know where we are. We'll be waiting for you. Whenever you're ready. Always." She says she'll think about it. They win.
...Out into a hellish red, stormdoors down, phones cut, something draining the house: A break-in. From one thing to another. So close to having her, and now something worse. While the Adamas meet up at Goldie's, Team Willow finally gets inside the saferoom and things get super intense, and very loud, very quickly. Daniel swears he's hidden their holoband somewhere, to be released if he doesn't check in; he doesn't know what's on it yet but from their faces he realizes it's the most important thing there is. While the boys search, Clarice sits down to talk to Amanda, sadness stretching at her face.
"I loved you. I thought you were special. You made Zoë..." Amanda snaps at her, and Clarice -- she's had quite a day, admittedly -- snaps right back: "I was more of a mother to her than you ever were." Amanda could laugh at that; she can still feel her daughter in her arms. But Clarice finally answers it: The first question, the original question, the one so hard to ask that she answered it for herself, that day at the memorial.
"You think I led her? No. No, she led me. She was the one that talked to angels. They guided her. Zoë saw it all. You didn't really know her at all, did you? Neither of you." They don't know what she means but they know she's crazy as hell, so Daniel pulls... Quite the gambit. (Warning: This only works on Clarice Willow. There is no bad guy in the history of the universe besides Clarice Willow that would fall for this, so don't try it.)
"I want to know God. I want God in my life. I'm not remotely capable of grasping the universe, but clearly there's a spirit... Vastly superior to man's, which has always humbled me, and I... Want to know. I want to know something bigger than myself, something cleansing, and forgiving, of all that I've done and all that I've left undone."
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Atheists are better at religion than anybody, when they do it right. That is some grade-A Gaius Baltar right there. The entity that is Gaius Baltar, perfect just as he is.
Daniel's on his knees now, with guns to his temple.
"Please. Please, Sister, please. Please have mercy. Have mercy. Bring me to the light. I don't want to be limited by time and space. I want to sleep well, after life's dreadful fever..."
They're fooled. Just long enough for Zoë on the table to stand up, bash out Nestor's brains with her one bad arm -- the arm she ripped off, once, to show Daniel how much she loved him, even as it tore her apart -- and then go after Olaf. Clarice whispers her name, and she comes close: "That's right, Clarice. It's me." She chases them away, and they lock the door again; her body falls down dead again and Amanda holds her, thanking her. Calling out her name.
They meet in the house of dreams. Zoë looks out, through the picture window, pretending to consider it. "How far out does the water go?" About half a click, her father says, almost embarrassed, and then you hit static. Not nearly as elaborate as NCC -- his or hers -- but that's no problem: Without even thinking about it, she shrugs. "I'll make it bigger." He wouldn't have her any other way. Amanda almost allows herself to smile.
But better still than all of this: "A realtime clone of my entire computer network. You and I could operate in tandem, sharing data as we go." Data for what? For her body. With skin her mother can touch. Her skinjob, she smirks. They let it slide. Their eyes beg, but they know to stand as still as possible while she thinks. And thinks.
A girl needs her mother. A mother needs her girl. Evelyn needs Willie to love her as much as she's always loved him, even when he was some other woman's son. Waiting in the car she tells him stories, of her brother -- his uncle, one of these days -- and his foxhunting setup on Tauron. All the nature, all the running around a boy can do. Two dogs, that work as a team. (Bill loved it there, he always said. Far away from the city.) And back inside Goldie's, they're found out. Yusif is held down by a hail of bullets, Sam can't help. And for the last time in this episode, the surprise save, by the meekest among us: Willie appears out of nowhere, and saves his family from death.
Which makes it all the more surprising that he's been shot, and killed. Which makes it all the more unbelievable, as he dies in the arms of his screaming father.