'Caprica' 1x06 - "Know Thy Enemy"

"Caprica" 1x06 - "Know Thy Enemy
Starring Esai Morales and Eric Stolz
Written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman

Summary:
Daniel Graystone faces a corporate rival while Sister Clarice closes in on Zoe's avatar.

Review:
"Caprica" is a series that is taking a long time to really grab my attention.  By its nature, it's much slower-paced than "Battlestar Galactica."  This is also its problem - The show will be constantly compared to "Galactica", being a prequel to it, and the two are entirely different animals.  I can forgive a slow-burn of a TV show.  Lord knows, I've seen enough shows that don't have nearly as much action as "Galactica".

The problem is that "Caprica" is not really an interesting slow-burn.  There are snippets here or there, but overall, it's a world populated with uninteresting characters and meandering storylines.  The previous episode, 'There is Another Sky,' was easily the show's best.  It was the only one that seemed to have focus and move at a pace that doesn't make the whole thing seem dull.

Here, in "Know Thy Enemy," we are introduced to a character named Vergis, a Tauron inventor Daniel stole a key piece of Cylon technology from in the pilot episode.  Vergis tells us that it is his goal to tear up Daniel's dreams as revenge for the deaths of two of his employees.    These scenes work as the highlight of the episode because it feels like something is happening.  The other storylines in this episode, with Zoe-Avatar setting up a v-world date for a lonely lab technician and Joseph trying to find Tamara's lost avatar don't work nearly as well, especially Zoe's.

When I think of the world of "Battlestar Galactica", the one image that is farthest from my mind is that of a Cylon nerd matchmaker.

Daniel's story works because it's the kind of intrigue and prequel storytelling that this show should excel at.  We're digging into the history of the creation of the Cylons, and that is interesting stuff to mine.  It's when the show takes detours into other places that it stumbles, as though it doesn't really know what to do with itself.