Review:
Caprica - The Rise and Fall of Humanity - A Primer

I watched Caprica with some trepidation. I’m a big fan of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica but when I discovered that a prequel series was in-production some time ago my groan was audible. You know how it goes; series does well – critically and with good ratings – then to cash in some exec says ‘how do we extend our success for a few more dollars?’ And the answer is either: a) prequel b) sequel c) another series d) movie tie-in e) animated series for kids.

If you’d given me this list before I watched Caprica my response would have been thus: a) Gurgle b) vomit c) coughing fit d) raised eyebrow e) Death Knell. I needn’t have worried. Caprica is well paced, glossy, and boasts an excellent soundtrack. But, as with BSG it’s not the high production values that rules, it’s the story telling.

Set some 50 years before the destruction of mankind in BSG, Caprica follows two families whose lives converge – the Adama’s (including the young William Adama) and the Greystone’s. And, like most families there’s a dynamic falling between love and hate.

The Greystone’s are an affluent and powerful family; Daniel (Eric Stoltz) is the ambitious head of a technology firm building military hardware (guess what), and Amanda (Paula Malcomson) is a successful surgeon and firecracker of a mother. Their daughter Zoe (Alessandra Torresani) is the catalyst for the unfolding events and the mind behind the coming war. Typical for a teenage girl, she’s cocky, angry and irresponsible – dangerously so as she’s every bit the genius of her father. She frequents a virtual club where she – and her friends – act out hedonistic fantasies from sex to murder.

Then, in what seems like a million miles away, there’s the Adama family. Joseph (Esai Morales) is an attorney with criminal connections living a relatively peaceful life with son, daughter and wife.

What’s beautiful about the cast is an air of normality verging on ruin that crackles on the edges of every conversation from Amanda berating Zoe for truanting, to Joseph talking sweetness and promises to his daughter just before the blast.