End of Line

For the Cylon phrase, see: end of line.

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"End of Line" An episode of the Caprica Series
Episode No.	Season 1, Episode 9
Writer(s)	Michael Taylor
Story by
Director	Roxann Dawson
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.
Nielsen Rating
US airdate	March 26, 2010
CAN airdate
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	{{{population}}} survivors
Additional Info	Season 1.0 / Mid-Season Finale
Full Credits
Episode Chronology
Previous		Next
Ghosts in the Machine	End of Line	Unvanquished
Related Information
Official Summary
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Listing of props for this episode
Related Media
			@ BW Media
Promotional Materials
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Overview

When the demand for the Cylon production is dramatically changed to just a week, Daniel calls the order to clean the MCP, which will destroy the Zoe avatar in the process and forces her to take drastic actions to escape. Barnabas puts Lacy's allegiance to the STO to a test, as Clarice plans a trip to Gemenon. Amanda is haunted by visions of her brother and the allegations made by Vergis against her husband push her to the brink. Emmanuelle finds Tamara so as to finally take Joseph's quest to an end.

Summary

Teaser

• On Colonial Highway 5 in the forest, the U-87 is driving a Graystone Industries van while being pursued by Caprican military aircraft.
• Twenty hours earlier, a CAP news report notes that Graystone Industries stock has dropped another 30% leading to speculation that the increasingly cash-strapped company will be forced to sell off assets.
• In the lab with the U-87, Drew questions Philomon about his relationship with Rachel. Philomon says that he is not bothered by Rachel refusing to let him see her true form. When she does, his feelings for her will mean that her appearance doesn't matter.
• As Drew lights a cigarette, the U-87 instinctively flinches. The two note that the U-87 has not been the same since Daniel's tests with it the previous week. Philomon promises to take care of the robot, which comforts Zoe.
• At Atlas Arena, Cyrus presses Daniel for an answer to Vergis's offer to buy the Buccaneers, which should keep the company afloat for another month. Distraught, Daniel agrees to accept the deal.
• At the docks, Barnabas waits with Keon and two other men for a shipment of arms. Through the mist, Clarice arrives accompanied by an armed Nestor and two other men.
• Clarice tells Barnabas that she has called off the shipment and accuses him of trying to build a power base with the support of other STO cells. He argues that the STO needs to take action and mocks her beliefs in apotheosis before Clarice suddenly pistol-whips him.
• As the groups take aim at each other, Clarice holds a gun to Barnabas' head and threatens to kill him. She then releases him and tells him to back off if he wants to avoid a violent response from her, before her group walks away.

Act 1

DRADIS displays in GDD VTOL aircraft cockpit.

• Back on Colonial Highway 5, the military aircraft continue to chase the U-87's van. The aircraft are notified that the vehicle contains a Cylon prototype and are ordered not to engage.
• Seventeen hours earlier, Amanda is sitting in her bedroom. While a documentary about the Pantheon Bridge runs on the television, she looks through news articles about the U-87 defense contract, including speculation regarding Daniel's role in the break-in at the Vergis Corporation.
• Taking pills and lighting a cigarette, she has flashbacks of chasing her brother Darius through the halls of the Delphi Convalescent Institute and of a bloody razor blade.
• She calls Clarice, who is preparing to go to Gemenon. Clarice advises her to talk to Daniel about her feelings over dinner that evening.
• At the docks, Barnabus leads a prayer group of STO members. Dismissing them, he shows Lacy the shipping crate he has acquired for her cargo to Gemenon. It is pre-cleared through customs, but the shipment will have to wait at least a week in order to prevent a search due to a raised threat level.
• Lacy is grateful, but Barnabas demands a favor in return. He gives Lacy a replica of Clarice's keyless entry remote for her car, asking Lacy to switch it out for the authentic one on Clarice's key chain. He tells her it will allow him to track Clarice, and Lacy agrees to do so. Barnabas welcomes her to his cell.

Act 2

• Fifteen hours before the pursuit of the U-87, Joseph Adama is lying on his sofa, oblivious to the world and still in New Cap City. Sam Adama is disgusted with his brother and wants to rip the holoband off, but Evelyn warms him that that is not possible. She tells him that Joseph will need organ meats and other nutritious foods when he comes out of it. Sam reluctantly agrees to buy the food, but insists that Evelyn keep close watch of Joseph.
• Philomon and "Rachel"--Zoe--are cuddling together in a canopy bed floating on a sunlit stream. Philomon claims that he is fine not having met Rachel yet, and that what she looks like does not matter. They talk a little about the benefits of more environmental exposure for the robot. He hints that if his next attempt fails, there will be serious problems.
• At the Athena Academy, Lacy hurriedly switches keychain fobs while Sister Clarice is out of her office. She calls Barnabas with the news.
• Colonel Sasha Patel from Military Procurement visits the Graystone estate lab. After some pleasantries and an optimistic update from Daniel on the robot, the colonel worries about the coming deadline for delivery. She confronts him with knowledge that the U-87 relies in part on stolen technology. Because of potential political embarassment, the deadline for Daniel's delivery of one hundred thousand robots is moved up "to the 7th"--the very next week. "Well," Patel says, "I think we both know that if you can't get it done by then, you just can't do it . . . Daniel."

Act 3

• Ten hours earlier, in the New Cap City version of the Adama apartment, Tamara cautiously approaches a silhouette of her signature T, which someone else has obviously placed there. From behind her, Emmanuelle emerges from the shadows and tells Tamara that she put it there to draw the girl to this place. Emmanuelle believes that Tamara, like everything else in New Cap City, is not real, and that she now believes that allowing Joseph to find her would be a worse option. Joseph is so lost in the search that he missed Willie's Ink Day and is now addicted to amp. She asks Tamara for a suggestion on how to help him.
• At the Graystone Industries lab, Philomon tells Daniel about his plan to build a "psych profile" of the U-87's anomalies as a way of making copies of the MCP for mass production that preserve the original's abilities, a process that will take weeks. Instead, Daniel want to purge the anomalies "like a cancer" and use clean MCPs. Philomon protests that the uniqueness of the U-87 would be lost. Daniel becomes furious, and Philomon relents after his job is threatened. The entire conversation is overheard by Zoe-A.
• On a virtual lakeside, Zoe-A tells Lacy her plan to escape the lab--but Lacy cannot do it that evening, and that they have to wait at least a week for the shipment to Gemenon. Zoe-A accuses Lacy of failing her the same way she failed the original Zoe, and that she does not even see Zoe-A as real. Lacy tries to apologize, but Zoe-A is pulled back into the robot.
• Amanda puts on makeup, slips on a formal dress, and reads an Eros Day card left for her by her husband. She goes downstairs and is surprised to see Daniel preparing dinner, rather than getting ready to eat out. As they talk, Amanda reminds him that he was the one source of stability in her life at a time when she was losing her mind. She then confronts him about the break-in and murders at the Vergis Corporation lab. Daniel does not deny it, instead answering only that "it's complicated." She quietly walks out of the house.
• Joseph enters the dark and apparently empty New Cap City apartment. He takes another dose of amp, hears someone in the shadows . . . and then sees Tamara. He runs to her and hugs her. She briefly returns the hug, and then tells him not to follow her anymore, since his existence in the game is killing him. Tamara shoots herself. Horrified, Joseph moves toward her on the floor--and at that moment she aims the gun at his head and fires, removing him permanently from the game. In the game, Emmanuelle disconnects, returning Evelyn in the real world. In the Adama apartment, she holds the sobbing Joseph, who is trying to grasp the fact that Tamara is really gone.
• Philomon apologizes to the U-87 before commencing the wipe. At that moment, Zoe-A reveals herself, saying that she is "Rachel" and that she is trapped inside the robot. He yells for help but she silences him and begs for his help. Philomon repeats his claim that what she looks like does not matter. The U-87 steps back to let him pass, but he abruptly goes to a computer terminal and triggers an alarm. She yells "NO!" and pushes him away from the terminal, into the air, slamming his skull against a column. Philomon is instantly killed. The U-87 commandeers a Graystone Industries van and rams the complex gates.

Notes

• The phrase "end of line" is used by the Master Control Program (MCP) in the classic sci-fi/cult film Tron. The acronym "MCP" later finds use in Caprica when discussing the meta-cognitive processor.
• End of line is a phrase often spoken by Cylon Hybrids.
• "End of line" is also used in various programming languages to signify the end of a line in a program or other computer script.
• Jesse Haddock is credited as Vergis's driver rather than Darius because this was leftover from the original concept of Amanda's visions of her brother. According to David Eick's podcast for "Ghosts in the Machine," it was planned for it to be part of a hoax perpetrated by Vergis who found a look-alike of her brother to drive Amanda insane. However, it was decided instead to portray it as her mental reaction to Zoe's death and all scenes that were filmed to explain it as a ruse were edited out.

Questions

• Will Joseph accept that he will never see Tamara again? (Answer)
• What will become of Tamara-A in New Cap City? (Answer)
• Will Joseph learn that Evelyn was Emmanuelle?
• Evelyn and Sam appeared to be working together (and there was the deleted scene where Sam did enter V-World to help Joseph) - did Evelyn contact Sam, or vice versa?
• Is Evelyn involved with the Ha'la'tha?
• Is Evelyn from Tauron or does she merely know the language?
• Will Amanda survive her attempted suicide? (Answer)
• Will Clarice be involved in what next happens to Amanda? (Answer)
• What will Clarice do about Barnabas' attempt to kill her? (Answer)
• How will the STO leadership on Gemenon view Barnabas' actions if they are made known to them?
• Were Nestor and bystanders killed by the car bomb? (Partial answer)
• Will Lacy and Keon continue to work for Barnabas now that he has shown a willingness to kill both of them, or will they attempt to escape or oust him? (Answer #1, Answer #2)
• Will Zoe-R survive the wrecking of the car she was in? (Partial answer)
• Will the GDD recapture Zoe?
• If Zoe is recaptured, what will be done to her?
• How will Philomon's fate and Lacy's apparent inability to help her affect Zoe's attitudes towards humans?
• What is the extent of Vergis and Patel's involvement?
• Will Vergis succeed in securing the defense contract? (Answer)
• What was Daniel phoned about?

Official Statements

• Leah Gibson discusses the revelation that Emmanuelle was Evelyn's avatar:

The final discovery made so much sense to me. That she had always cared for Joseph and felt a need to protect him was clear to me from the beginning. Following my discovery of her real identity, it suddenly became quite clear that Emmanuelle’s meetings with Tamara revolved around her intentions to connect with her, and were charged with the need to reach out and offer a sort of maternal guidance. Evelyn’s affections for Joseph in the real world were channeled into Emmanuelle’s empowered stance and instinctive role as his female guide in the V-world, but the integrity of her essence conflagrated when she sat down with his daughter and faced the young girl who she implicitly cared for with such affection.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Sister Clarice Willow confronts Barnabas Greeley with knowledge that he has been building an STO power base of his own behind her back:

Barnabas: Wow. I am a bother.

• Daniel Graystone finishes informing Philomon of his plan to burn away the anomalies in the U-87's MCP in order to successfully begin mass production. Inside the U-87, Zoe-A listens:

Philomon: But we’d be destroying the original in the process along with everything that makes this prototype distinctive. Everything that makes it . . .

Daniel: What? Unique? A nifty poker player? Sweet Aphrodite, I don't know why I put up with your crap for so long. It is a robot, Doctor! It's not a pet, and it's definitely not a person. It's no different than your fancy cell phone, and right now I don't need a cell phone that will check my mail and wipe my ass. I need a cell phone that works!

Guest Stars

• Scott Porter as Nestor Willow
• John Pyper-Ferguson as Tomas Vergis
• James Marsters as Barnabas Greeley
• Alex Arsenault as Philo
• Leah Gibson as Emmanuelle
• Jill Teed as Col. Sasha Patel
• Hiro Kanagawa as Cyrus Xander
• Genevieve Buechner as Tamara Adama
• James Pizzinato as Drew
• Liam Sproule as Keon
• Teryl Rothery as Evelyn
• Jim Thomson as Voice of Serge
• Jesse Haddock as Vergis' Driver
• Johnston Gray as Darius
• Zak Santiago as Pann
• Aidan Dee as Hippolyta
• Alan Wong as Soldier at Roadblock

Caprica definition: a monotheistic terrorist organization in existence for more than a decade prior to 58 BCH (^{(CAP: "Pilot")}, et al).

Caprica definition: a civilian outfit on Caprica in operation prior to the First Cylon War handling large-scale enforcement throughout the colony, akin to the FBI, see: Global Defense Department

Caprica definition: hardware used by Dr. Daniel Graystone in the integration of the sentient AI that Zoe Graystone created into the U-87, see: MCP (CAP: Pilot).

Galactica 1980 definition: Troy attempts to use a phone booth near a gas station prior to their first run-in with Jamie Hamilton ^{(1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I")}.