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Bad advisers and caring helpers
I wasn't sure about "Gravedancing" when I watched it yesterday, so I watched again today...and I understood its structure better and eventually I can say that I do like it. Not perfect but close to perfection.
I wasn't sure about the Baxter' Sarno's scenes, the Lab dancing scene, the false suspens about Amanda...now I see better how the whole thing works, and why certain scenes are significant.
The writing of the episode is based on symetry that is something I didn't notice on the first viewing. The episode focused on the Graystones––and Eric Stoltz and Paula Malcolmson were once more perfect–– but the Adamas family echoed what was going on with Daniel and his circle.
Both Daniel and Joseph are lost and out of their game in the episode. They made a decision, against themselves (it's obvious for Daniel who didn't want to go to Sarno's show in the previous episode, who's wary about television, who wanted to protect the memory of "his girl" and who keeps refusing, until the last moment, to say that his daughter was "troubled", but from the pilot we knew that ordering a murder was sort of out of character for Joseph too) but have trouble going on with it. They listen to advisers, they try to follow their ways but it doesn't work, it can't work, and we know that it isn't going to work. Fortunately they can count on the person they have the deepest bond with to back them up, to rescue their troubled soul even.
First we have Daniel being coached by Cyrus and the Marketing adviser. He doesn't like it but he is willing to play...he even advocates his going to Backtalk with Baxter Sarno during a heated discussion with Amanda. By the way I realy love what they are doing with Daniel. He is so human and so multifaceted.
You can see the charming yet ruthless buisness man, used to get anything he wants no matter what(hence his offering thousand cubits to the girl doing his make-up to be allowed one cigaret! A brilliant scene) but you can also see the genius, the smart scientist who can figure it out quickly than others and is quite lonely because of that; you can make out the vulnerability and the softness of the man behind the restrained personality and you can't help feeling for him then; poor Daniel he was really not comfortable in his seat on Sarno's!
Joseph has his own bad adviser pushing him into the Tauron ways. Here enters Grandma Adama who's the scariest member of the family. If I were Joseph I wouldn't let her near Willie anymore! She is a lot of fun to watch but there's a wolf in that grandma. Even when she's joking about jacks she still is scary.
Fortunately both Daniel and Joseph have a beloved one who know them, can help them out and sort of saved them by putting them back on track. In Daniel's case it turned out to be Amanda rescuing him on Sarno's set, sharing the hot seat with him, making it up for her foolish confession at the memorial. Also her intervention, as she said how Zoe was just like any teenager, echoed the Lab dancing scene that almost made me cringe. Suddenly that scene made sense, because it showed, apart form the comedy factor, that there was still a 15 year-old girl in the robot reconnecting to her teenage self. First off I found the scene quite silly and unecessary, but now I find it to be rather graceful. Alessandra Torresani was really good in that scene. It could have been ludicrous and campy but fortunately they didn't go too far, and did "keep it tasteful" as we heard "diagnostic test complete" and the U-87 resumed a still attitude.
It also showed how well chosen the title was. As Daniel and Amanda were arguing at the beginning of the episode she accused him of being about to dance on Zoe's grave...that's how she considered his attempt at damage control on Backtalk with Baxter Sarno. Yet Daniel didn't dance much, he rather digged his own grave until she rescued him. Meanwhile Zoe did dance on her own grave through the avatar locked in the robot. According to Scary Granny the dead don't really die until their death is avenged...she seems to support another kind of grave dancing!
In Joseph's case, Sam is the rescuer, the backup; he knew that Joseph couldn't go through with the murder, so he took his time, waited for Joseph to have an epiphany and come round, and he frightened Amanda in the process. Sam and Amanda played a similar role in the episode, and the parallel storylines finally crossed through them in the fabulous car scene.
By the way I recommend the reading of Bear McReary's blog concerning his work on the episode, especially the car scene and the score he composed for it.
I also liked the fact that Daniel arguing with Amanda, pointed out that he was going to do the same thing as she did at the memorial, which she denied, and eventually he did...he ended up providing his own confession, telling everybody that he had talked to Zoe after her death, mentioning the avatar (and telling a little lie in the process about creating it but that was understandable).
I also see a parallel between Grandma scaring Joseph with jacks being made out of the losers' fingers, and Sam scaring Amanda.
Eventually Daniel and Joseph found their path back. Cyrus was already mourning the loss for Graystone industry but Daniel looked very pleased with himself and Joseph was shaken enough to realise that he was not like his mother-in-law.
So yes this was a good episode, Caprica-style. Not many tv shows have that writing quality.
My favourite bits are the car scene and the final bed scene which was a perfect way to end the episode.
It was the matching piece of another bed scene that took place at the beginning of the episode as other characters woke up. Symetry again! The journey has passed and it was bed time. The whole episode was like a neoclassical play, following more or less the famous rules of drama, the three unities that come from Aristotle's Poetics: unity of action, unity of place, unity of time.
Tell me how could I not love Caprica?
It was also a good way to show that the Graystones are moving forward, not only concerning their grief but also in their relationship. They were first showed arguing, not understanding each other, but at the end of the episode the complicity and the connection (if only physical) is there, even though they are things that Daniel stil keeps for himself (and Amanda might too). I loved how Amanda asked her husband wether he wanted to watch television and commented on the Graystones being good on Sarno's and how Daniel said "they are everywhere, I'm sick of them...rich ridiculous people". It was cute and sort of meta. Also, it echoed what Daniel told Joseph in the pilot, when inviting in the Graystone estate, about "all of this being a bit too much". I think that there's a part of Daniel that genuinely believes it.
Oh I loved complicated, flawed characters!
And Daniel was right, they were really everywhere at once, in bars, in Joseph's house, in Clarice's bedroom! And in a way, everybdoy was on Sarno's set. Unity of place, thanks to television! I wonder what Aristotle would have thought of that....
By the way it's the first time I realised that the Graystones sleep...in shades of grey! I don't think it's a coincidence. .
Other little details or winks that I enjoyed:
- the bobbling taurus/bull in Sam's car! Somehow it suited the badass gangster!
- Philomon looking for the right tune for the diagnostic test and briefly playing "the colonial anthem" from the old Galactica series.
- Serge's cameo after Daniel called his name("Can I help you Daniel?") and Daniel not so nice answer "No!"; But I guess that Serge would forgive Daniel.
- Daniel's speech revealing that drugs have been legalized. It explained the smoking Clarice scene in "Rebirth" and we learned more about Caprica society.
- Clarice losing it after the GDD raid, just before the credits. It was a very nice shot, and a scene that tells more about the character than her secret meeting in the virtual world for instance.
- Grandma telling Willie that Tauron buy become men at the age of 13 which sounds like a Bar Mistvah...added to the way Sam pronounces Joseph's name. It's interesting that Tauron culture is portrayed as a mixing of Greek elements (language and religion), Jewish elements and Italian Mafia elements.
Things that still don't quite work for me:
- The bed scene in the Willow house. I mean, it's like they are sooo trying to be casual about the whole marriage group thing, that it ends up looking like a statement about the characters' sexuality: look at Clarice waking up with one of her wives and two of her husbands (who obviously just had sex together given the sweat drops on Nestor's body)! See how it doesn't matter? It's like an oxymoron screen scene.
It is the concerning about Sam's homosexual marriage. They tried so hard to make it look or sound casual on screen that it ends up looking or sounding like a statement.
I suppose there was a point about showing Clarice awaking with three of her spouses and jumping out of the bed after the mysetrious phone call; it pointed out again that despite the level of intimacy she had with those people she was keeping part of her life secret. In spite of being in a GROUP marriage, she was very much alone in her crusade. Okay so maybe the scene is significant after all!
But the execution could have been more subtle...
- the GDD raid, and the role played by Peter Wingfield. I hope he won't end up being the one who tipped Clarice because it seems telegraphed. I'm hoping for a mislead but I fear it is not and he is really a STO(and even perhaps the mysterious guy Clarice talked to in the virtual confessional).
- Esai Morales' acting. The more I see Joseph, the more I find him one dimensional and it might be because Esai lacks versatily. His expressions are almost always the same!
- the Lacy/Keon scene. I guess it was supposed to mirror the Zoe/Philomon scene, in a way, but it was more boring than lovely. Bring onJames Barnabus quickly!
ETA: The song that Captain Ahab wrote for the dancing scene fits in the episode.
Here are the lyrics:
The sun is rising,
it's the end of the last night.
The dawn is breaking us
into pieces of you and me.
If this is what you truly desire,
I'll do what I can to help you.
But as you gather your records,
your books, and your clothes;
I'll try to remind you:
That all this time,
the only thing I've wanted to teach you ...
Was Love
You carried me on your shoulders,
never let me fall.
You screamed in my face with a passion
that humbled me.
I thought I was singing a song of peace,
but I started a war.
And now as I suffer before your anger,
please try to realize
that all my life,
the only thing I wanted to teach you ...
Was Love
Was love the reason that everything fell apart?
Or were you and I the ones to blame?
No matter the cause,
the only thing I wanted to teach you ...
Was Love
We stand together at the edge of time.
Blame is meaningless.
Life was meaningless.
The only thing that ever existed ...
(was love)
I wasn't sure about the Baxter' Sarno's scenes, the Lab dancing scene, the false suspens about Amanda...now I see better how the whole thing works, and why certain scenes are significant.
The writing of the episode is based on symetry that is something I didn't notice on the first viewing. The episode focused on the Graystones––and Eric Stoltz and Paula Malcolmson were once more perfect–– but the Adamas family echoed what was going on with Daniel and his circle.
Both Daniel and Joseph are lost and out of their game in the episode. They made a decision, against themselves (it's obvious for Daniel who didn't want to go to Sarno's show in the previous episode, who's wary about television, who wanted to protect the memory of "his girl" and who keeps refusing, until the last moment, to say that his daughter was "troubled", but from the pilot we knew that ordering a murder was sort of out of character for Joseph too) but have trouble going on with it. They listen to advisers, they try to follow their ways but it doesn't work, it can't work, and we know that it isn't going to work. Fortunately they can count on the person they have the deepest bond with to back them up, to rescue their troubled soul even.
First we have Daniel being coached by Cyrus and the Marketing adviser. He doesn't like it but he is willing to play...he even advocates his going to Backtalk with Baxter Sarno during a heated discussion with Amanda. By the way I realy love what they are doing with Daniel. He is so human and so multifaceted.
You can see the charming yet ruthless buisness man, used to get anything he wants no matter what(hence his offering thousand cubits to the girl doing his make-up to be allowed one cigaret! A brilliant scene) but you can also see the genius, the smart scientist who can figure it out quickly than others and is quite lonely because of that; you can make out the vulnerability and the softness of the man behind the restrained personality and you can't help feeling for him then; poor Daniel he was really not comfortable in his seat on Sarno's!
Joseph has his own bad adviser pushing him into the Tauron ways. Here enters Grandma Adama who's the scariest member of the family. If I were Joseph I wouldn't let her near Willie anymore! She is a lot of fun to watch but there's a wolf in that grandma. Even when she's joking about jacks she still is scary.
Fortunately both Daniel and Joseph have a beloved one who know them, can help them out and sort of saved them by putting them back on track. In Daniel's case it turned out to be Amanda rescuing him on Sarno's set, sharing the hot seat with him, making it up for her foolish confession at the memorial. Also her intervention, as she said how Zoe was just like any teenager, echoed the Lab dancing scene that almost made me cringe. Suddenly that scene made sense, because it showed, apart form the comedy factor, that there was still a 15 year-old girl in the robot reconnecting to her teenage self. First off I found the scene quite silly and unecessary, but now I find it to be rather graceful. Alessandra Torresani was really good in that scene. It could have been ludicrous and campy but fortunately they didn't go too far, and did "keep it tasteful" as we heard "diagnostic test complete" and the U-87 resumed a still attitude.
It also showed how well chosen the title was. As Daniel and Amanda were arguing at the beginning of the episode she accused him of being about to dance on Zoe's grave...that's how she considered his attempt at damage control on Backtalk with Baxter Sarno. Yet Daniel didn't dance much, he rather digged his own grave until she rescued him. Meanwhile Zoe did dance on her own grave through the avatar locked in the robot. According to Scary Granny the dead don't really die until their death is avenged...she seems to support another kind of grave dancing!
In Joseph's case, Sam is the rescuer, the backup; he knew that Joseph couldn't go through with the murder, so he took his time, waited for Joseph to have an epiphany and come round, and he frightened Amanda in the process. Sam and Amanda played a similar role in the episode, and the parallel storylines finally crossed through them in the fabulous car scene.
By the way I recommend the reading of Bear McReary's blog concerning his work on the episode, especially the car scene and the score he composed for it.
I also liked the fact that Daniel arguing with Amanda, pointed out that he was going to do the same thing as she did at the memorial, which she denied, and eventually he did...he ended up providing his own confession, telling everybody that he had talked to Zoe after her death, mentioning the avatar (and telling a little lie in the process about creating it but that was understandable).
I also see a parallel between Grandma scaring Joseph with jacks being made out of the losers' fingers, and Sam scaring Amanda.
Eventually Daniel and Joseph found their path back. Cyrus was already mourning the loss for Graystone industry but Daniel looked very pleased with himself and Joseph was shaken enough to realise that he was not like his mother-in-law.
So yes this was a good episode, Caprica-style. Not many tv shows have that writing quality.
My favourite bits are the car scene and the final bed scene which was a perfect way to end the episode.
It was the matching piece of another bed scene that took place at the beginning of the episode as other characters woke up. Symetry again! The journey has passed and it was bed time. The whole episode was like a neoclassical play, following more or less the famous rules of drama, the three unities that come from Aristotle's Poetics: unity of action, unity of place, unity of time.
Tell me how could I not love Caprica?
It was also a good way to show that the Graystones are moving forward, not only concerning their grief but also in their relationship. They were first showed arguing, not understanding each other, but at the end of the episode the complicity and the connection (if only physical) is there, even though they are things that Daniel stil keeps for himself (and Amanda might too). I loved how Amanda asked her husband wether he wanted to watch television and commented on the Graystones being good on Sarno's and how Daniel said "they are everywhere, I'm sick of them...rich ridiculous people". It was cute and sort of meta. Also, it echoed what Daniel told Joseph in the pilot, when inviting in the Graystone estate, about "all of this being a bit too much". I think that there's a part of Daniel that genuinely believes it.
Oh I loved complicated, flawed characters!
And Daniel was right, they were really everywhere at once, in bars, in Joseph's house, in Clarice's bedroom! And in a way, everybdoy was on Sarno's set. Unity of place, thanks to television! I wonder what Aristotle would have thought of that....
By the way it's the first time I realised that the Graystones sleep...in shades of grey! I don't think it's a coincidence. .
Other little details or winks that I enjoyed:
- the bobbling taurus/bull in Sam's car! Somehow it suited the badass gangster!
- Philomon looking for the right tune for the diagnostic test and briefly playing "the colonial anthem" from the old Galactica series.
- Serge's cameo after Daniel called his name("Can I help you Daniel?") and Daniel not so nice answer "No!"; But I guess that Serge would forgive Daniel.
- Daniel's speech revealing that drugs have been legalized. It explained the smoking Clarice scene in "Rebirth" and we learned more about Caprica society.
- Clarice losing it after the GDD raid, just before the credits. It was a very nice shot, and a scene that tells more about the character than her secret meeting in the virtual world for instance.
- Grandma telling Willie that Tauron buy become men at the age of 13 which sounds like a Bar Mistvah...added to the way Sam pronounces Joseph's name. It's interesting that Tauron culture is portrayed as a mixing of Greek elements (language and religion), Jewish elements and Italian Mafia elements.
Things that still don't quite work for me:
- The bed scene in the Willow house. I mean, it's like they are sooo trying to be casual about the whole marriage group thing, that it ends up looking like a statement about the characters' sexuality: look at Clarice waking up with one of her wives and two of her husbands (who obviously just had sex together given the sweat drops on Nestor's body)! See how it doesn't matter? It's like an oxymoron screen scene.
It is the concerning about Sam's homosexual marriage. They tried so hard to make it look or sound casual on screen that it ends up looking or sounding like a statement.
I suppose there was a point about showing Clarice awaking with three of her spouses and jumping out of the bed after the mysetrious phone call; it pointed out again that despite the level of intimacy she had with those people she was keeping part of her life secret. In spite of being in a GROUP marriage, she was very much alone in her crusade. Okay so maybe the scene is significant after all!
But the execution could have been more subtle...
- the GDD raid, and the role played by Peter Wingfield. I hope he won't end up being the one who tipped Clarice because it seems telegraphed. I'm hoping for a mislead but I fear it is not and he is really a STO(and even perhaps the mysterious guy Clarice talked to in the virtual confessional).
- Esai Morales' acting. The more I see Joseph, the more I find him one dimensional and it might be because Esai lacks versatily. His expressions are almost always the same!
- the Lacy/Keon scene. I guess it was supposed to mirror the Zoe/Philomon scene, in a way, but it was more boring than lovely. Bring on
ETA: The song that Captain Ahab wrote for the dancing scene fits in the episode.
Here are the lyrics:
The sun is rising,
it's the end of the last night.
The dawn is breaking us
into pieces of you and me.
If this is what you truly desire,
I'll do what I can to help you.
But as you gather your records,
your books, and your clothes;
I'll try to remind you:
That all this time,
the only thing I've wanted to teach you ...
Was Love
You carried me on your shoulders,
never let me fall.
You screamed in my face with a passion
that humbled me.
I thought I was singing a song of peace,
but I started a war.
And now as I suffer before your anger,
please try to realize
that all my life,
the only thing I wanted to teach you ...
Was Love
Was love the reason that everything fell apart?
Or were you and I the ones to blame?
No matter the cause,
the only thing I wanted to teach you ...
Was Love
We stand together at the edge of time.
Blame is meaningless.
Life was meaningless.
The only thing that ever existed ...
(was love)
no subject
i thought the dancing scene was funny AND creepy.
But i also think that tech dude is to buffer the audience from an even bigger ick factor if her dad was doing the tests.. and i kind of think that's a shame.
More and more convinced that Lacey is Starbuck's mom.
Love the enigma of who will actually turn out to be the ghost in the machine???
And the retro tech is a riot.
no subject
You're probably right about using the Philomon scenes to avoid showing Daniel running tests on the Cylon. I hope he will be back in his lab soon and will play the piano again...for I'm convinced that he is Kara's grandfather! ;-)
Methinks that now that he has reached the grief stage of acceptance, it's time for him to find out about Zoe being in the U-87...and about Tamara being in the V-club.
no subject
Clarice's group-marriage/Sam's marriage is... strange. With Clarice's home life, the whole thing seems sort of forced - like, she's *in* this group-marriage, and is supposedly intimate with her husbands and wives, but she hasn't been seen sharing much. I also got the impression that things were pretty tense in the Willow household.
Sam's marriage, on the other hand, seems like the most natural thing in the world. I think it's because Sam doesn't try to hide who or what he is, and Larry clearly accepted the person that Sam is a long time ago.
no subject
Concerning Sam's marriage, I don't know what to think. I don't see Larry as a real character for now, and their relationship isn't explored (not like the Graystone marriage)apart from pointing out the fact that a homosexual union isn't an issue on Caprica. Having said that, Sam is only a secondary character revolving around Joseph and Larry hasn't had much screen time because there was probably no room for him. But even in "There is Another Sky", which was all about family stuff, we only saw his back!