Things We Lock Away

"Things We Lock Away" An episode of the Caprica Series
Episode No.	Season 1, Episode 12
Writer(s)	Drew Z. Greenberg
Story by
Director	Tim Hunter
Assistant Director
Special guest(s)
Production No.	112
Nielsen Rating	0.3
US airdate	October 19, 2010
CAN airdate	October 19, 2010
UK airdate
DVD release
Population	{{{population}}} survivors
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Retribution	Things We Lock Away	False Labor
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Zoe-A finds Tamara-A, and is forced to confront the legacy created by the public for the original Zoe Graystone. Daniel Graystone learns that ousting Tomas Vergis will not be enough to satisfy his Ha'la'tha partners. Lacy Rand is imprisoned by Clarice Willow, who is herself being spied upon by Amanda Graystone.

Summary

Teaser

• Inside the New Cap City game, the crowd at Atlas Arena roars for blood: the grassy playing field of the real-world arena is replaced with sand and stark spotlights, and contestants fight to the death with swords. As one battle ends, Zoe-A walks into the arena and demands to see the other "Deadwalker." Two more combatants enter and raise their swords in challenge. Zoe confidently lifts her own blade against them when a single gunshot rings out and strikes her in the abdomen. Lying on the ground, Zoe looks up to see the Tamara Adama avatar standing over her with a rifle. Tamara gloats over Zoe's pain, tells Zoe that her search is over, and shoots her again.

Act 1

• Nestor Willow alternates between berating and comforting a drugged Lacy Rand. Rand's mind eventually clears and she realizes she is locked inside the attic of the Willow family house. She manages to pry a wooden plank from a window and scream for help, only to be silenced and drugged seconds later by Olaf Willow. Downstairs, Mar-Beth Willow's worries about keeping a teenaged girl captive in their home are all but ignored by their wife, Clarice Willow, who simply calls it "God's will" before leaving.
• Amanda Graystone rummages through Clarice's forest cabin outside Caprica City. She sends a text message to Global Defense Department agent Jordan Duram that she has found nothing incriminating. Duram instructs Amanda to work her way into Clarice's home.
• In an executive meeting room of the Graystone Industries building, Tomas Vergis is stunned to learn that chairman Jon Parker has summoned the board of directors for a vote to remove Vergis from the CEO position and to reinstate Daniel Graystone. Parker and the others ignore Vergis' demands for an explanation. Cyrus Xander calls Daniel at home with the result of the vote: fourteen to zero. Daniel thanks him for the news but shows no joy.
• Zoe recovers enough to stand and plead with Tamara. One of Tamara's followers hands Zoe a newspaper clipping with an article on the maglev bombing months earlier, indicating that "original Zoe," the template and creator of Zoe-A, was the bomber.

Act 2

• Before leaving the cabin, Amanda asks Clarice if she can stay at her home for a while, but Clarice gently turns her down. Amanda returns to the Graystone Estate and is welcomed to an empty house by Serge.
• Rand wakes up and finds that the window boards have been reinforced. She pauses to take a long drink from a water bottle, and realizes that the water has been spiked with drugs before lapsing into delirium again. As her consciousness returns, Nestor tries encouraging her to eat. Rand refuses the food until Clarice comes to talk with her.
• Daniel visits Joseph Adama's home in Little Tauron, where Adama informs him that Vergis has to be killed. Daniel cannot accept this, especially after having gone through a blackmail campaign against the Graystone Industries board and a formal board vote to depose Vergis. Adama explains that Vergis is Tauron, and he will seek retribution unless he is permanently eliminated. Daniel argues that he can speak with Vergis, and asks for time.
• In the arena, Zoe desperately tries to tell Tamara that the two of them are not the same people as the flesh and blood Zoe Graystone and Tamara Adama who were killed in the bombing. Tamara is not convinced; she has all the memories of the original and she does not feel like a mere copy. She suspects that the same is true for Zoe, and that an avatar will suffice. At that moment, family and friends of bombing victims enter the arena and surround Zoe, armed with blades and clubs.

Act 3

• A young man tentatively steps forward and runs Zoe through with a sword. Soon the rest of the mob descends upon her, taking turns cutting and bashing. They eventually step away from Zoe, leaving her soaked in blood and barely conscious. Tamara walks over and begins to taunt her, but Zoe's attention is drawn instead toward a calm and comforting young woman only she can see. The woman looks exactly like her--and exactly like the woman who first appeared to original Zoe in her childhood, saving her from a house fire. This Messenger asks Zoe if she truly believes that guilt for the bombing should rest on her shoulders.
• Zoe-A's mind goes back to memories given to her by original Zoe. While talking with Daniel in his Graystone Estate workshop, the teenager spots his schematics for a prototype robot, the U-87. Original Zoe notes that the robot looks very much like crayon drawings she had done years earlier, but the possibility of having appropriated his daughter's ideas does not phase him. The Messenger appears and encourages Zoe to beat him by designing something even greater: life. Sometime later in V-world, Zoe meets her finished creation, Zoe-A. She tells the avatar that she is a distinct person, endowed with original Zoe's memories and very similar to her at the moment, but who will become increasingly different as time goes by.
• In the present, the Messenger encourages Zoe-A to defend herself. She stands, picks up an abandoned sword, and readies herself to fight Tamara.

Act 4

• With Rand devouring a plate of food, Clarice asks her about the possible location of original Zoe's V-world avatar program. Rand puts aside the feeling that she is betraying her friend and confesses that the avatar had been downloaded into the U-87 prototype, which was eventually destroyed. Clarice insists that something so important would have had a backup. On reflection, Rand speculates that a pin in the shape of an infinity symbol might also be a storage medium for the program. Satisfied with Rand's answers, Clarice decides that sending her to a training camp for STO recruits would save Rand's life and enable her to be "properly focused." Olaf bundles her into a car for a flight to Gemenon.
• Clarice visits Amanda at the Graystone estate. She asks about original Zoe's belongings as a way of keeping her memory alive. As they continue to talk, Clarice spontaneously asks Amanda if her bags are still packed. She brings Amanda to the Willow house and announces that she will be staying with them. Clarice's spouses and children uniformly receive the news in cold silence.
• Zoe gains the upper hand with Tamara. She pins Tamara to the ground and tells her that the crowd cheering on their combat does not care about her. Tamara begins to yield. Zoe assures her that both of them have a much greater purpose ahead of them, something more meaningful than entertainment for the mob. Zoe helps Tamara to her feet and the two stand together hand in hand. In the midst of the booing crowd, the Messenger smiles down at them.

Act 5

• Daniel shares a drink with Vergis at the estate and promises him a generous severance for his time at Graystone Industries, as a way of acknowledging that Vergis had expertly maneuvered Daniel out of his own company. Vergis impatiently steers the conversation to the fact that the Ha'la'tha will eventually come for him, regardless of what Daniel says or does. Unwilling to allow them to determine his fate for him, Vergis produces a dagger and tries to goad Daniel into killing him. Daniel refuses, but makes a counterproposal. He describes the Ha'la'tha as "small-minded, vicious thugs" with limited power, and suggests that he and Vergis combine their vast corporate and personal resources to marginalizing or even eliminating them. Vergis appears to embrace the idea. He encourages Daniel to place his hand on the dagger and make an oath. As Daniel moves toward the blade, Vergis clamps Daniel's hand onto the grip and plunges it into his own chest. Daniel tries to free himself but he cannot, and he can only watch as Vergis dies before him.
• Daniel calls Adama for help. A pair of Ha'la'tha men come to the estate, bag and carry away the body, and clean every last physical trace of Vergis.

Analysis

• There is a Messenger Zoe who appeared to original Zoe and now appears to Zoe-A. She appeared in the form of Zoe's teenage self even before Zoe was that old.
• Zoe credits Messenger Zoe with saving her from the fire that burned down the Graystones' old home. This is reminiscent of Messenger Six saving Gaius Baltar from the burning Raptor 1 (TRS: "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II"). On that occasion, Messenger Six appeared in place of Crashdown, an ability which Messenger Zoe demonstrates during Zoe-A's fight in New Cap City by appearing in place of the people fighting her.
• This is the first time that a Messenger is shown to be actively promoting the creation of artificial sentience, through encouragement to design the new life that would become Zoe-A. Until this point, Messengers had been seen taking an interest only in guiding and protecting Cylons and humans through problems that arise out of the conflict between them.
• Sister Clarice is correct in believing that Zoe was divinely inspired, or at least inspired by the agent of the closest thing to a god known to exist in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica/Caprica universe.
• Nestor survived the bombing of Clarice's car, as stated by an article in The Caprican months before this episode aired.
• Young Zoe has black hair like teenage Zoe, making it more likely that this is her natural color. A natural brunette would almost never have a blonde and a redhead for parents. Interestingly, Alessandra Torresani is a natural blonde.

Questions

• Will Daniel's involvement in Vergis's death ever be discovered? Is Serge a witness?
• Does Vergis commit suicide because he does not believe that he and Daniel have a good chance of defeating the Ha'la'tha or because he would rather die than join forces with Daniel?
• Will the general populace ever discover the true perpetrator of the Maglev bombing, or at least Zoe's lack of involvement?
• If Lacy does go to Gemenon, what will she do there? (Answer) Will she ever return to Caprica?
• Is Messenger Zoe akin to Messenger Six, Messenger Baltar, and Messenger Leoben? If not, how does she differ?
• Is Messenger Zoe the same individual as one of these Messengers, but in another form?
  • Given that Zoe may have been the basis for the Sixes (see Caprica Season 2) and that Messenger Zoe was only introduced because Tricia Helfer was unavailable to play Messenger Six, is it especially likely that Messenger Zoe is Messenger Six?
• Why is Messenger Zoe encouraging the development of the Cylons?
• How did Messenger Zoe save Zoe from the fire in her old home?
• Did the Messengers involve themselves in the development of artificial sentience at other times in history, on Earth or on Kobol?
• What led to original Zoe's personality change, from the happy optimist she was when she first created Zoe-A to the comparatively dour and hostile young woman whom she and Zoe-A became soon thereafter?
• Did Zoe tell Clarice about Messenger Zoe? If so, is that related to Clarice's belief that Amanda's visions of her brother Darius were significant?
• What will Zoe-A and Tamara-A do? (Answer)

Official Statements

• The original idea was for Tricia Helfer to appear in this episode as Messenger Six, but her shooting schedule disallowed it and Messenger Zoe was shown instead.

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Tomas Vergis translates from Tauron, explaining his reason for wanting Daniel Graystone to kill him:

Vergis: "Control your return to the soil," meaning plan your death. I am Tauron. It is important to me to die at the moment and time of my choosing. I choose here, now, at the hands of my enemy.

• Daniel Graystone and Joseph Adama debate the necessity of assassinating Tomas Vergis:

Graystone: Let me try and reason with him. He's a man of business. We speak the same language.

Adama: No. You speak Caprican.

Graystone: Human beings value life. That's one of the main things that makes us slightly more evolved than animals. Understanding the value of life.

Adama: Other things have value.

Graystone: Look, if I don't at least try, I'm no better than . . .

Adama: Me?

Graystone: Him.

Guest Stars

• Scott Porter as Nestor Willow
• John Pyper-Ferguson as Tomas Vergis
• Hiro Kanagawa as Cyrus Xander
• Genevieve Buechner as Tamara Adama
• Anita Torrance as Mar-Beth
• Panou as Olaf
• Jim Thomson as Voice of Serge
• Thomas Saunders as Jon Parker
• Jadyn Wong as Gamester
• Luke Welland as Butcher Knife Player
• Olivia Steele Falconer as Young Zoe