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Caprica
"Apotheosis"
TV episode
Written by Kevin Murphy and Jane Espenson
Directed by Jonas Pate |
Clarice's STO cell proceeds with its plan for the bombing of
Atlas Arena while Daniel and Amanda pull out all the stops in an
attempt to stop it.
Read the synopsis of this episode at TVRage
Didja Know?
This was the final episode of the series, as it was cancelled by
Syfy due to low ratings. The final five minutes of the episode
give viewers a preview of what was to come in the proposed
second season.
Didja Notice?
At 4:39 on the DVD, one of the books next to Nestor's dead body
in Daniel's home lab is 1001 Best Websites for Educators
by Timothy Hopkins, M.S. This is a real book, published in 2004.
At 9:53 on the DVD, one of the Ha'la'tha members gathered at the
Adama home to mourn the death of Willie declares, "The Oneris
crew is with you..." This is the first mention of Oneris. It
must be a crime family within the
Ha'la'tha.
The registration number on the Graystones' flyer is CJ4N.
At 16:33 on the DVD, one of the security cameras seen at Atlas
Arena is labeled as a Pelco brand.
Pelco is a real
world manufacturer of security and surveillance equipment.
At 16:38 on the DVD, Amanda walks up to an Alcor Telecom phone
booth. Alcor
is a real world telecom solutions company based in Italy.
As Amanda makes her bomb call to the police at 16:58 on the DVD,
the
Blue Edge Organic Cafe is seen in the background. This is a
real cafe in Vancouver, where the series was shot. The cafe is
seen again in the background at 24:38 at what is presumably
supposed to be an entirely different location during the
Graystones' dash across the city.
As the Guatrau and his daughter talk inside Goldie's Off Track
Betting at 17:33, notice there are two cardboard case boxes for
Heidelberg beer sitting on the floor in the background.
The vial of red capsules Joseph uses to kill the Guatrau is
kapi. In the audio commentary of this episode on the
DVD, executive producer Kevin Murphy reveals it is the same vial of poison Joseph's father kept as part of a
Tauron custom for the family to kill themselves if captured by
hostile forces, as seen in "The
Dirteaters".
Notice that the Guatrau's daughter slips a coin into his breast
pocket after he dies. This is a Tauron tradition, as first seen
in "There Is Another Sky".
The taxicab the Graystones ride off in at 24:50 on the DVD is
from the Caprican Cab Co.
I hadn't recognized him before, but the close-up of the keycard
at 26:18 on the DVD reveals that the Graystone Industries
employee who helps Daniel and Amanda is Drew Tanner, Philomon's
colleague on the U-87 project who got the tip of his finger chopped off
by the Zoe avatar while she was inhabiting the U-87 prototype,
due to his disrespect and mistreatment of the robot.
At 26:22 on the DVD, several USB and Ethernet cables
(computer/networking standards in the real world) are seen in
the drawer Drew finds Daniel's laptop in.
Daniel tells Drew his access code for his laptop's hard rive,
Y-R-25-Zeta-Theta-Epsilon. "YR25" most likely represents his
daughter Zoe's birth year and, in the Greek alphabet,
Zeta-Theta-Epsilon appears as ΖΘΕ.
At 27:31 on the DVD, Daniel and Amanda walk past a poster
advertisement for Caprican Garb, "Get Dressed Where the Style
Fits".
A banner at Atlas Arena at 27:32 on the DVD seems to proclaim
the Caprica Buccaneers as part of the Alpha League of
professional pyramid teams.
The television announcer for the pyramid game states that
overhead coverage is provided by the Graystone Blimp. This is a
play on the real world
Goodyear
Blimps, which display advertising for the Goodyear Tire and
Rubber Company and provide aerial coverage of sporting events.
The full Caprican anthem "Caprica Abides" is sung at Atlas Arena
in this episode. The song is performed by Mark Donnelly known
for his performances of the Canadian National Anthem "O Canada"
at the games of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team. The lyrics of
"Caprica Abides" are below. (The song was also partially
performed in "Rebirth".)
Caprica let us celebrate
Raise our hands despite the weight
And all her joys we extol
Caprica Abides
Caprica let us persevere
Shield ourselves from doubt and fear
And all the sorrows of the soul
Caprica Abides
Caprica let us persevere
Shield ourselves from doubt and fear
And all the sorrows of the soul
Caprica Abides
At 30:07 on the DVD, some advertising banners for Caprican
brands are seen, though the products are not described. One
looks like a watch brand. Another is called Caprican Imperial;
this is revealed in BSG2000 to be a cigar brand in
"Trust" and "Black Market".
The LED displays running along the bleachers also advertises the
next C-Bucs home game against the Centaurs; it is unknown which
city or colony the Centaurs represent.
At 31:40 on the DVD, the Marine airship is
marked as VX-9. This may be a reference to the real world VX-9
(Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine), a joint venture of the
U.S. Navy and Marines, based out of Naval Air Weapons Station
China Lake.
Notice also that the craft has a pentagon-shaped symbol on the
wings, similar to the soon-to-be-familiar Cylon symbol.
The tailfin of the craft is marked with the registration number
202012. Possibly this was done as a reference to the last date
of the Mayan calendar, December 20, 2012. The date was the
subject of much speculation; some people believed that the world
would end on that date, while others thought a spiritual
awakening would begin on the 21st. I'm pretty sure we're still
alive and still the same dastardly humans we've always been.
After identifying the attempted-bombing culprits among the
game's spectators, the Cylon leader sends a message to the
remote control unit (Daniel's laptop), "Scan complete. Terminate
targets?" This may be a reference to the robotic Terminators of
the Terminator
franchise.
The coda of this episode is titled "The Shape of Things to
Come". The title is probably based on the future history book of
the same title published by H.G. Wells in 1933.
At 37:47 on the DVD, a construction crane bearing the name Femo
is seen.
Femo
is a Canadian construction company. Notice in this shot that many
of the construction workers are actually Cylons.
The statue seen at 38:22 on the DVD appears to be a monument to
the Cylons who saved the spectators at Atlas Arena in this
episode.
During an interview by Baxter Sarno, Daniel ironically states
that to attribute human qualities to the robots is folly.
Yet, he is himself, planning to unite the avatar of his daughter
Zoe with a human-like robotic body out of his love for her.
At 38:48 on the DVD, notice that stocks in Graystone Industries
are on a steady rise.
The coda reveals that Joseph and Evelyn later had a son
together, named William, after his dead brother, in the Tauron
tradition. This is the William Adama that will grow up to be the
commander of the battlestar Galactica in BSG2000.
At 39:36 on the DVD, little William is seen wearing suspenders
with a buckle that says 6-1986. I'm unaware of any significance.
Note that Ruth is present for William's ceremony, indicating she
has maintained her ties to the Adama family even though, with
the death of Willie in
"Here Be
Dragons", she no longer has any blood relatives among them.
In Clarice's church at 39:46 on the DVD, notice that the bases
of the columns all have the inscription "The One".
The worker Cylons have a slightly different look than the
military ones we've seen up to now.
Clarice asks the assembled Cylons at her congretation, "Are you
alive?" This same question is later by Number Six of the human
officer at Armistice Station in "Humanity's Children".
Clarice refers to the Cylons as more than just "humanity's
children", saying we are all God's children. She also refers to
them as the "differently sentient".
The coda reveals that Lacy became the Blessed Mother of the
Monad Church.
At the end of the coda, the Zoe avatar is given physical form in
a human-like body, rising from a fluid-filled tank similar to
the resurrection tanks of the Cylons seen in BSG2000.
Notes from the audio commentary by Kevin Murphy on the
DVD
After shooting of the season had already started, the producers
realized they'd made a mathematical error in Bill Adama's age
from BSG2000 when they started Willie Adama at 11 years old in
"Pilot" Part 1; this would have
made him 70 years old when BSG2000 begins. They decided to
change the name of Joseph's wife in post-production to Shannon
(from the previously acknowledged mother of Bill, Evelyn) so
that they could introduce the Evelyn character later, who would
go on to become the mother of Joseph's second son, named William
Adama, who would grow up to become the commander of the
battlestar Galactica, later in the season (as seen in
this episode's coda). Willie Adama, of course, was killed by
Ha'la'tha gunfire in "Here Be
Dragons".
Murphy reveals several elements that would have been part of the second season
if the series had been renewed:
- There would have been a five year jump from the end of
season one to the beginning of season two.
- Duram (shot
and hospitalized in
"Here Be Dragons") survives his
injuries and goes on to become Zoe's commander in a quest to
destroy the Cylons.
-
Zoe goes on a vision quest in the virtual world where she
would meet a member of the Final Five. At this time, the
Final Five are on a long journey through space to the Twelve
Colonies and keeping their minds active inside VR. This
Final Five member gives Zoe information that allows her to
develop the first skin job robot body for herself.
- A Terminator-like skin job would have been seen.
- Clarice establishes a virtual church advocating Cylon
rights.
Murphy reveals that season one had one fewer episode filmed than
was originally scheduled due to the interference of trying to
shoot in Vancouver while the Winter Olympics was happening there
in 2010.
Unanswered Questions
Since the series was not renewed for any further seasons, a
number of questions are left unanswered, even taking into
account Kevin Murphy's revelations in the audio commentary:
- What happened to Gara Singh? Was his duplicity
uncovered? Did he lose his position in the GDD?
- Did Duram regain his position in the GDD?
- Was Clarice's role in the attempted bombing of Atlas
Arena revealed to the public? Was she arrested and charged
at all? It seems from the coda she mostly got away
unpunished.
- Would there have been a further role for Tamara in Zoe's
plans?
- Does Lacy institute changes in the way the Monads
operate? Does she still condone the STO or will she
eliminate it? Does Lacy go on to leave any heirs? Would the
Cylons obey an heir the way they do her?