IMHO "Caprica": (1.1) Pilot

The Sci Fi Channel (AKA SyFy or Syphilis or whatever they're changing to) tried an interesting experiment with their Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica by releasing the two hour pilot on DVD and through Itunes last Friday, even though the show doesn't premiere until next ... year.

I'm a pretty big BSG fan so was definitely interested in the show, but my interest increased tenfold when the show's executive producer Jane Espenson told us during a livechat that the series would include a gay male character. Since then, I've done a little more digging and confirmed that the gay character appears in the pilot. So who do I think the gay character might be? And how was the pilot?

Keep reading, but be warned — spoilers follow!

Caprica takes place 58 years before the events in Battlestar Galactica and the premise is showing us how the Cylons came into existence. But Caprica, like BSG, is just as much about our times and issues — relgious and ethnic conflict, terrorism, the role of technology in society — as it is about spaceships in the "future". 

The show nicely sets up the events leading to the creation of the Cylons via two families, the Graystones and the Adamas (yes, those Adamas). There wasn't anything in the pilot particularly novel about how Cylons came to be; anyone who has read much science fiction will see the "twist" coming in about the first ten minutes.

But BSG was never really about reinventing the sci fi genre. It was about excellent writing and acting used together to explore the grand themes of human existence. And on that score, Caprica basically hits the mark making me look forward to plenty of thought provoking episodes.

There was one red flag in the two-hour movie that troubled me. As gay folks, we're all pretty used to how Hollywood uses queerness in communicating information. Want the villain to be extra-creepy? Make him a little effeminate with a hint of a lisp as he leers at the hero. That sort of thing.

The Caprica pilot, written by Ronald D. Moore and Remi Aubuchon and directed by Jeffrey Reiner, includes a "virtual world" component, and much of the pilot takes place in a virtual club filled with young people where patrons have wild sex, do drugs and are so immoral, they watch human sacrifices take place right in front of them. What else indicates amoral out-of-control teens? Why lesbianism, of course!

In our time in the club, we see not one, not two, but three shots of young women kissing and pawing each other. (We also see quite a few bare breasts, but naturally no male couples kissing, nor male derrieres. Sci Fi knows their audience.) I can't tell you how many shows I've seen — especially crime procedurals — where they want to show how wild a goth party or some other "scene" is and they do it in part by showing two women kissing. Because nothing says depraved and salacious more than that.

It's worrisome that Caprica's first same-sex depiction is this, but I'm going to stay hopeful that this is an aberration and not the rule. 

As for the male gay character, I can't see it being Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) or Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) who are both clearly established as heterosexual. Graystone is a very rich computer genius (think Bill Gates) while Adama is an attorney who comes in contact with Graystone due to a shared tragedy.

So my money for the 'mo is on either Hiro Kanagawa who plays Cyrus Xander...

Hiro Kanagawa

or Sasha Roiz who plays Sam Adama. 

Sasha Roiz

Cyrus is Graystone's assistant at work and Sam is Joseph's brother. Sam also happens to be an assassin for a crime syndicate (think the mob) from their home planet and for which Joseph occasionally does some work.

Of the two, I think Sam would be the more interesting gay character as I think he's got more possibilities. Too frakkin' bad we have to wait until 2010 to find out who it is.