Caprica Thoughts

Maureen Ryan in the Chicago Tribune runs down everything you need to know about Caprica:

How's the first episode? The two-hour pilot is quite compelling. Morales and Stoltz are well-matched in their subtle approaches to their characters, and the pilot asks the kinds of questions you'd expect from the creators of "Battlestar": When should we let go of what we've lost and how do we use technology to avoid painful truths? (My full review of the "Caprica" pilot, which came out on DVD a few months ago, is here.)

How many episodes have you seen? I've seen the pilot and two additional episodes, and the post-pilot episodes are less focused and more melodramatic than the pilot. In its early going, "Caprica" doesn't have quite enough narrative drive; there's a certain choppy quality to the proceedings, as episodes jump around among the characters' somewhat separate story lines. Still, it took "Battlestar" a while to find a consistent tone and to hit its creative stride. If the handsome-looking "Caprica" can beef up the urgency, unify the storytelling and make me care more about the characters' dilemmas, it should take its rightful place as Syfy's flagship drama.

Why did you feel a little guilty when watching it? I didn't love it as much as I loved "Battlestar," but I had to remind myself that my affection for that show developed over several seasons. "Caprica" is a different show with a different tone and goals and I'm OK with giving it time to prove itself. If the show is guilty of anything in the first few episodes, it's of trying to do too much, which is preferable to a lack of ambition.

Feel free to tell us what you think about Caprica, in the comments to this post. Enjoy the show!