Ghosts in the Machine

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"Ghosts in the Machine" An episode of the Caprica Series
Episode No.	Season 1, Episode 8
Writer(s)	Michael Taylor
Story by
Director	Wayne Rose
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	March 19, 2010
CAN airdate
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	{{{population}}} survivors
Additional Info
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
The Imperfections of Memory	Ghosts in the Machine	End of Line
Related Information
Official Summary
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Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
Online Purchasing
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iTunes: USA | UK

Overview

Daniel highly suspects that the Zoe avatar he thought was lost is still in the Cylon Prototype, so he puts the robot through a series of tests, hoping that it will lead Zoe to reveal herself to him. Joseph ventures further into the gritty world of New Cap City to find Tamara.

Summary

Teaser

• In his Caprica City apartment, Joseph Adama is lying on the sofa, wearing a holoband and a computer running on the table next to him. In a tunnel underneath New Cap City, Joseph is dressed in a flashy suit and fedora--better attire for New Cap City than the "businessman special" he was initially scanned in, according to Emmanuelle. She gives him a drug, Amp, intended to enhance his senses and reflexes. Joseph puts a drop of Amp into his eye and feels an instant surge that registers in his real-life body.
• Daniel Graystone reactivates the U-87. He tells the prototype that he is convinced the Zoe avatar is there, in the U-87, but she gives him no indication. Daniel correctly guesses that Zoe is refusing to respond to him. Realizing that she will answer only as the robot, he promises something difficult for her, something that he says will be for the best.

Act 1

• In a New Cap City alleyway, Emmanuelle and Joseph find the unconscious body of an Amp addict. Joseph is scared by the potential of something in the holoband--technology that was intentionally designed to not be addictive--to got directly into the pleasure centers of the brain and have this kind of effect. A large airship and its fighter escorts, the same that took Tad Thorean out of the game, appear overhead, and the two of them take cover. Emmanuelle hands Joseph a gun and instructs him on how to use it with the flair of a fictional character. "You think this is what I look like in real life?" she responds. She refused to reveal her real-life identify, except as someone who is being paid to help him.
• Amanda walks along a secluded road in a forest, the place where her brother died years ago in an accident. A car drives by. It seems as if her brother is driving.
• Zoe-A finishes assembling a rifle. Daniel orders her to dismantle it again and she grudgingly, but efficiently, complies. Daniel smokes, despite the original Zoe's hatred of his habit. He starts talking to the robot about the old house that their family had lived in years earlier, and the fire that had destroyed it. The firearm is dismantled, and Daniel orders her to assemble it again. He relates the story of Zoe at the age of five, screaming, trapped in her room by the flames. He speculates in vivid detail about what Zoe must have seen and heard and felt in that room. Suddenly, he burns his finger on a lit match--and the robot spontaneously and noisly tenses its grip on the gun. Daniel is more convinced than ever that the avatar is there.
• Sometime later, Zoe-A sits with Lacy Rand in the V-Club VIP room, telling her about the episode and her urge to hurt Daniel. Zoe realizes that Daniel is trying to draw her out. Lacy wonders openly whether that might not be a bad thing, to which Zoe answers that he has used her and lied to her, and that he will do it again. Her only option seems to be to follow every order, to turn herself off and become only the U-87. "Can you do that anymore?" Lacy asks.
• Joseph and Emmanuelle arrive at the New Cap City equivalent of the Adama apartment. His key does not work, suggesting that someone else has moved in. They knock. A drug addict answers but quickly shuts the door. Joseph breaks in and holds the man down, making sure that he does not move to take off his holoband. The apartment is a mess. Joseph asks him about Tamara-A. After describing her and showing a photo of her, the man recognizes "the dead girl" and points them to Mysteries, a club. Before they can leave, another man enters the apartment behind them, cocking a shotgun.

Act 2

• The drug addict hides behind the gunman, who is joined by another man with a gun. Joseph pleads that he is only interested in finding his daughter and that he would be willing to pay them, but the gunman has already lost two friends to Tamara. He spares Emmanuelle, but as she moves away, she pulls a gun and quickly shoots both gunmen. One of them flickers but does not fade from the game, and threatens to shoot Joseph--who cannot bring himself to fire on the man. Emmanuelle manages to finish him off. She is furious with Joseph's hesitation.
• At the Willow house, Clarice talks to Amanda over the phone about her citing. She wonders if Amanda asked Daniel yet about the Zoe avatar. Amanda was told that the avatar was unstable and no longer exists.
• Daniel has brought the U-87 outside, to a grassy area overlooking the water near the estate. He confronts the U-87 about its "tell," the show of tension that betrayed Zoe's presence. Despite her supposed brilliance and the chance she was given to live in the real world through the U-87, Daniel argues that she is still a "scared little girl" hiding from life inside the machine. He briefly softens his tone, tells her that he loves her, and pleads for her to talk. Nothing. Daniel then pours a ring of gasoline around the robot, betting that her fear of fire will overcome her stubbornness and the robot's ability to tolerate heat, and force her to reveal herself unequivocally. He ignites the gasoline and waits. The U-87 does not move, and the fire burns itself out. Inside the robot, stress is taking its toll on Zoe.

Notes

• The Ghost in the Machine is a non-fiction work by Arthur Koestler. Among its themes are man's tendency towards self-destruction, and that the more primitive parts of the brain (the "ghost in the machine") can override logical functions and are responsible for destructive impulses.
• Ghost in the Machine is the fourth album by The Police, named for and influenced by the book mentioned above. Among the songs contained on the album are "Spirits in the Material World", Demolition Man", and "Rehumanize Yourself". Additionally, the song, "One World (Not Three)" evokes Lacy's and Zoe's conversation in "Rebirth" about Zoe's three selves which Lacy refer to as a trinity.

Analysis

• Cerberus is the first example in the re-imagined continuity of crossdressing.
• When Joseph confronts Cerberus about his daughter, he yells out, "You freak!" It is unclear if Joseph is referring to the game that Cerberus plays at the club, or Cerberus' status as a crossdresser. If it is the latter, it would mark the first expression of intolerance against another individual's sexuality and/or gender in an otherwise highly tolerant society.
• Cerberus's riddle to Joseph about parents visiting their sins upon their children is yet another reference to one of the themes from the Re-imagined Series. In the speech given at Galactica's decommissioning ceremony, William Adama uses this line as well.
• As per Cerberus' riddle, Colonial mythology (like Greek mythology) includes a war in which the Gods overthrew their predecessors the Titans. There are parallels to Man overthrowing the Gods and Cylon overthrowing Man.
• While describing the fire that destroyed the Graystones' family home (and mentally scarred Zoe in the process) years earlier, Daniel notes that the fire was started by running too much heavy computer equipment in a place that was not designed to accommodate it. This can easily be interpreted as foreshadowing the destructive nature of Daniel's own work and the products of Graystone Industries on an unprepared Colonial society. The holoband is seen by some (such as Baxter Sarno) as having ruined lives, especially those of younger people. In time, the descendants of the U-87 will launch the First Cylon War and ultimately the near-extinction of the human race.
• A subtle but potentially significant insight into Vergis' relationship with intelligent machines is made when he enters the Graystone house: he completely ignores Serge when the robot greets him politely, refusing to respond to or look at Serge. This contrasts sharply with Daniel and Amanda, who both interact easily with Serge. It is also a clear difference from Sister Clarice, who is inexperienced with robots but who wonders whether she should respond to Serge upon meeting it (CAP: "Know Thy Enemy"). This may be a hint of Vergis' attitude toward the Cylons when their status as sentient beings emerges.
• The U-87 weighs approximately one-quarter ton, according to Daniel.

Questions

• Will Zoe-A have an opportunity to kill Daniel, and if so, will she take it?
• Will Tamara-A have a long-term effect on life inside New Cap City?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Cerberus poses a riddle to Joseph Adama:

Cerberus: As the Gods overthrew the Titans, so has Man overthrown the Gods. But when Man visits his sins upon his children, how shall he be repaid?

• Cerberus wonders aloud about the nature of Tamara-A:

Cerberus: Maybe she's found the answers everyone is searching for, or maybe she is the answer.

• Emmanuelle berates Joseph Adama after a near-fatal encounter with some thugs:

Emmanuelle: Get your pink newbie cheeks out of this game and don't come back in until you've got your frakkin' head on straight!

Joseph Adama: Uh ... B-but my daughter ... I've got to get my daughter ...

Emmanuelle: Yeah, but you're no good to her if you're going to freeze every time some dirtbag shoves a gun in your face. I thought Taurons had bigger stones.

Guest Stars

• John Pyper-Ferguson as Tomas Vergis
• Leah Gibson as Emmanuelle
• Dmitry Chepovetsky as Cerberus
• Phil Granger as Tanner Willow
• Anita Torrance as Mar-Beth Willow
• Panou as Olaf Willow
• Jim Thomson as Voice of Serge
• Jesse Haddock and Johnston Gray as Darius
• Stefan Arngrim as Amphead
• Ron Selmour as Shotgun
• King Lau as Bouncer #2
• Amos Stern as Cigarette Man
• Patrick Sabongui as Weasely Bouncer
• Kailyn Stratton as Six-year-old Zoe Graystone
• Kassandra Kingsborough as Young Amanda Graystone
• Hannah as Caesar the Dog
• Kirstyn Konig as Female Dancer
• Crystal Yuan-Jui Lai as Female Dancer
• Paula Giroday as Female Dancer
• Aryn Savard as Female Dancer
• Christian Vincent as Male Dancer
• Scott Augustine as Male Dancer
• Kenny Mugisha as Male Dancer
• Marco Arimare as Male Dancer