Brutality without compensation

LauraXH

I'm a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal, and as a fan of both BSG and Buffy (a couple writers from Buffy worked on Caprica), I'd been looking forward to watching Caprica eventually. Finally got a chance for a TV show marathon this past weekend.

As I expected based on BSG standards, the acting is absolutely fantastic. And the whole premise is great: SO, so much to play with about what makes someone real, about what we will (and won't) do for those we love, and of course the Cylon backstory. I also don't have other reviewers' objections about particular aspects being stronger or weaker than others: I liked the adult plot lines and the teenagers' ones, the V-world and the real world; I thought the religion angle was really interesting and compelling (& love how "monotheism" enables them to gesture toward zealotry without pointing the finger at "crazies over *there*.")

But then I got up to the episode "Blowback" and realized that I'd started forwarding through scenes (and I don't usually do that) and just dreading more characters dying--especially significant characters dying, or insignificant characters dying in especially brutal ways (or, I suppose, just being brutalized and not necessarily killed).

I'll admit that I'm ridiculously squeamish about violence, but it's not at all that Caprica is just "too violent." But while watching Caprica it was as if those guiding the show thought that they didn't have enough drama to work with, so they compensated by using "violence porn"--subplots whose sole purpose seemed to be creating suspense via the threat of terrible things happening to people. Which then means they also spend that time NOT developing the main plot or characters that are so intriguing. And unlike BSG, where you get flawed characters who can be really flawed and violent AND really heroic (sometimes at the same time), for me there wasn't enough good stuff to balance out the bad in Caprica. BSG is certainly grim, but the grimness & sense of dread is appropriate given the situation. In Caprica, the balance is off, and I realized that I was increasingly willing to forward through potentially violent moments even if I missed major plot points in doing so ... to the point where I finally realized that I should just "forward through" the whole rest of the series and miss the rest of the plot entirely--a.k.a., stop watching it.

score 5/10

LauraXH 1 December 2013

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2914389/