TV Review: Caprica 1.12 – “Things We Lock Away”

Episode: Caprica 1.12 — “Things We Lock Away”
Original Air Date: October 19, 2010

Screencaps from eyescubed.

This week’s episode, “Things We Lock Away,” is very details-heavy and reveals some information and a few events I feel will be key going forward. Last week we were left with Daniel blackmailing his board to vote him back in as CEO of his company, Amanda deciding to spy on Clarice, and Lacy being taken by Clarice and Olaf after Clarice blows up Barnabas. In the last episode we didn’t see any of Zoe and/or Tamara in New Cap City, and that is rectified this week, with the “meat” of the episode revolving around them.

In New Cap City, we are introduced to a gladiator-style arena (which looks like the bombed-out shell of the Buccaneers arena) where people are swordfighting in the center, and spectators watch from the stadium seats. Zoe approaches and asks to see the other Deathwalker — she is told you don’t find the Deathwalker, the Deathwalker finds you. Zoe is also told that entering is a challenge, and she must fight. She prepares to fight, but is blown away by Tamara with a shotgun. We see a flashback of the fire Zoe was trapped in as a kid.

Short recap — Tamara is Joseph Adama’s daughter, who was killed in the MAGLEV bombing and who is now the only other person besides Zoe in V-world who cannot be killed. Joseph and Daniel Graystone were brought together by losing loved ones in the bombing, and Daniel created the Tamara avatar in V-world for Joseph to be able to see his daughter again. Joseph got upset because the Tamara avatar was scared and upset because she couldn’t feel her heart beating, and he and Daniel had a falling out.

Meanwhile, at Graystone Industries, Vergis is surprised by Cyrus and all the board members coming together for a vote to re-instate Daniel as CEO of the company. Vergis leaves the room as Cyrus recommends, and we see Daniel at home getting the call that the vote was in — 14-0 in his favor.

After Clarice and Olaf blew Barnabas up, they took Lacy back to their home and locked her in the attic. We are shown several scenes of her lying in the attic and it looks like she’s tripping balls. Eventually she thinks to try and pry the boards off a window in hopes of attracting some attention or escaping. One of the wives and Olaf confront Clarice about what is going to happen with Lacy, the wife expressing concerns about the children discovering a teenage girl locked in the attic. Lacy does succeed in getting a board off the window and starts screaming — Olaf comes up and pulls her away. She wakes up later to see the window re-boarded, and realizes they are drugging her with the water she’s being given. The nicer husband (the one who earlier in the season appeared to like her) tries to make her eat something, but she refuses to eat unless Clarice brings her food personally so she can talk to her.

Amanda is still at Clarice’s cabin for the time being, and she is searching the whole place for anything she could pass on to Duram. She doesn’t find anything and sends him a message telling him that. He responds and tells her she should infiltrate Clarice’s home. We next see Clarice closing the cabin up with a cab waiting for Amanda. Amanda asks if she could go home with Clarice, and Clarice says no, because she doesn’t think her family would like it. Amanda glances at Clarice’s holoband in her luggage as they both pack up to leave.

Back in New Cap City, Zoe is lying on the ground after Tamara has shot her several times. She flashes back to being a little girl drawing a picture of the fire in her house she was trapped in. We see a pink-clad older Zoe appear, and go over to the girl and ask if she is drawing the fire. Young Zoe replies, “Yes, when we first met. Thanks for saving me, and for being my friend.” The drawing shows a person trapped in the house, and a person in pink on the roof of the house. It seems that maybe when she was trapped in the fire and obviously under a lot of stress, young Zoe’s mind dissociated and created this version of herself as a coping mechanism. Zoe gets herself up and addresses Tamara, trying to tell her that they’re the same. Tamara is thinking of nothing except for how Zoe was the one who killed her and her mother in the bombing and reminds Zoe.

A side note — I am going to refer to Zoe three different ways from here out. “Pink Zoe” is the pink-clad imaginary Zoe that she apparently created in her mind as a kid: “original Zoe,” the real-life Zoe who created the avatar of herself and died in the bombing, and just plain Zoe, who is the avatar version and the only “real” one left (if you want to call her “real”).

Daniel and Joseph Adama meet to discuss the outcome of the vote. Joseph tells Daniel that they aren’t done and that Vergis must be killed. Daniel was hoping to get his company back in a somewhat legitimate manner (yeah, because the blackmail was so legitimate and all…) and balks at this. Joseph explains that Vergis is Tauron and he will never lie down — if he’s allowed to live, he will come back. Daniel protests and convinces Joseph to let him try to talk to Vergis first.

In the arena in New Cap City, Zoe is still trying to explain to Tamara that they are the same and that it wasn’t actually her that killed Tamara and her mother, it was the other Zoe. She points out that they are both copies — Tamara gets upset and says she is not a copy. Tamara says there are a lot of people in New Cap City who lost loved ones in the bombing, and a crowd of people with various weapons and implements begin to surround Zoe. Zoe again insists to Tamara that she isn’t the original Zoe, but Tamara just says she should tell that to the people surrounding her — she doesn’t think they care. One man comes forward and tells Zoe his father was on the train. Zoe says this won’t bring him back, and he stabs her right in the gut. As she stands there with the knife in her, she suddenly sees Pink Zoe standing in front of her in place of the man, and Pink Zoe takes her hand to comfort her. Zoe’s face brightens just a bit, then she zips back to reality (such as it is) and gets the crap beaten out of her, not lifting one finger to defend herself.

At Clarice’s, Clarice has finally given Lacy an audience and brought her some food. Lacy tells Clarice she’s scared, and Clarice tells her she doesn’t want her to be scared, she wants her help. She needs to know Lacy can be trusted after all that has happened. She asks about Zoe’s avatar program and what happened to it. Lacy hesitates, but tells Clarice that it lived on in the robot. However, since the robot was destroyed, the avatar’s gone. Clarice says she must have had a backup, but Lacy does not know of one. Clarice makes her think, and Lacy remembers the gold pin Zoe wore and says Zoe used to store information in it, and that if there was a backup, it was probably there. Lacy asks what’s going to happen, and Clarice says she is going to send her to Gemenon to an STO training program. Olaf gets Lacy to bring her to the spaceport, threatening her as they get in the car.

At the arena, meanwhile, Zoe is a bloody pulp on the ground after the beating she didn’t resist. Tamara approaches and asks her why she isn’t fighting back, and says it must be because she knows she deserves it. Zoe now sees Pink Zoe in Tamara’s place, and Pink Zoe asks if she really believes she deserves it. We now see a flashback of the real-life (original) Zoe and Daniel. Daniel is working on creating his robots (which will become the Cylons), and Zoe notices them on the screen and says she used to draw something that looked just like them. Daniel stops momentarily and tells her he must’ve seen her drawings somewhere and the image stuck in his head. He leaves, and Zoe is left alone at his workstation. Pink Zoe appears and suggests he stole her ideas, which Zoe rejects, and Pink Zoe also suggests that it would really infuriate him if she beat him (he wasn’t done designing the robots) in finishing them. Zoe says she could create a chassis (frame) and that it wasn’t the same as creating a robot, but Pink Zoe tells her to think of something bigger to create, like life. Zoe thinks for a moment, then gets to work.

She completes the project finally, and excitedly puts her holoband on to enter V-world and meet her creation. Zoe welcomes her to the world, amazed at the fact that she is perfect, and says if she did everything right, the avatar is her. The Zoe avatar corrects her and says she’s a perfect copy, and Zoe tells her that “starting right now you’re a person.” The avatar points out that she can’t leave V-world, and Zoe replies, “a person with restrictive movement is still a person”.

Back in the arena, after reliving this memory, Zoe (remember — the current Zoe is the avatar created above) is asked by her vision of Pink Zoe, “Are you going to lie down and pay for her sins?” Zoe is realizing that she is her own separate entity from original Zoe and she shouldn’t be held accountable for original Zoe’s actions. She drags herself up, tells Tamara she’s confused her with someone else, and begins to fight.

At the Graystones’, Amanda has arrived home and is surprised by Clarice showing up to visit. They sit and talk, and Clarice mentions that by now, Amanda should be able to get back all Zoe’s personal items the GDD (Global Defense Department) confiscated during the investigation into the bombing. Amanda says she doesn’t want anything, but Clarice presses her and says that having trinkets and jewelry of Zoe’s might help bring up happy memories. Amanda concedes that maybe it would help. She tells Clarice she feels like they were brought together for a reason — to help keep Zoe alive somehow, and that’s why she asked if she could go home with Clarice. She agrees to this and they go to Clarice’s home. Obviously they are both playing different angles with this — Clarice wants to get at Zoe’s personal items to find that pin that may hold the avatar backup, and Amanda wants to get into Clarice’s house to spy on her.

Zoe and Tamara are in a lengthy fight in New Cap City, with the crowd going wild. (I want to add here that I love the clothing and style of the people, it’s very 1940s, and they have one of those awesome old drop-down microphones they’re using in the arena. Rawk!) Zoe eventually gets Tamara on the ground and asks her if this is all she wants to be, entertainment. Zoe talks about what an awful place New Cap City is, how morally corrupt and disgusting it is, and says she feels she has a purpose there, she just doesn’t know what yet. She tells Tamara she thinks she’s supposed to help her. Tamara has stopped and is thinking about what Zoe is saying. Zoe helps her up and they stand together, hand in hand, watching the crowd around them.

We end with Daniel at his house with Vergis, whom he has invited over to discuss business with. Daniel tells Vergis he has a generous severance package for him and tries to convince him it’s a gesture of respect. Vergis tells Daniel he realizes he’s made a deal with the Ha’latha (the gang the Adamas are involved with) and that despite Daniel’s principles, they won’t let him live. Daniel dismisses it, and Vergis takes out a dagger and tells Daniel to finish the job. He says he knows he won’t make it offworld alive. As a Tauron, Vergis says it is important that he dies at the moment and time of his choosing and tells Daniel that moment and time is now. Daniel says it won’t be happening and writes off the Ha’latha as a group of small-minded thugs. He suggests since he and Vergis both have resources, they should unite and work together to eliminate the Ha’latha. Vergis appears to reconsider and agrees, saying they should swear an oath on the blade. He hands the dagger to Daniel, and as Daniel takes the handle, Vergis plunges the blade into his own chest, dying on Daniel’s floor. Daniel, in a panic, calls Joseph and says he needs help, and some thugs come to dispose of the body and clean up. Daniel just watches and drinks, clearly extremely disturbed by it. The blood on his hands just keeps increasing.

I took a few key things from this episode, first and foremost the fact that Zoe had an alternate personality that she saw and interacted with and that apparently helped her come up with the idea to create her living avatar for V-world. I think this is probably going to end up being the same as Baltar seeing Six in BSG; the vision of her he saw and interacted with ended up being revealed as an entity sent to help fulfill God’s plan. The Pink Zoe that original Zoe saw could be the same thing. The other key thing I realized was that between the two Deathwalkers, one of them refused to accept that she was a copy (Tamara), and one realized she was a copy (Zoe). On BSG, there were Cylons who didn’t know they were Cylons and thought they were humans, and others who did know and accept it. This could have some meaning down the road, or I could be grasping. Overall, I really liked this episode because I like being given tidbits of information to connect dots with and I love being given background to plotlines and characters, and I got both with this episode.

Rating: 5 / 5 Stars