This episode is titled “End of the Line”, but it went past the line and plummeted into the deep end of stupidity.
But first, the redeeming bits.
Joseph’s search for Tamara in New Cap City ended tragically, with him finally finding her only to have her kill his avatar, banning him from the hacked world for good. It was for the best, but it was heartbreaking to see him so elated to see Tamara then so torn up at the result.
And of course, James Marsters. Anything scene with him is redeeming. Although it would be more redeeming if he got his pecs out.
Now, the rest.
I don’t give a poop about Daniel’s pyramid team, so there wasn’t much going on in the way of empathy from me when he finally decided to sell the team to Virgis. Megalomania is not the key to my heart. Neither is treating employees like crap when they’re just trying to build a better robot to cover your lying, thieving ass. You know, the kind of robot that doesn’t fatally throw a guy against a pillar.
Poor Philo.
Oh, I’m not even going to talk about his idiotic little “I said I don’t care what you look like” outburst to the Zoe-bot.
I will, however, talk about some little things that annoyed the hell out of me. First, the key ring.
Lacy was tasked with switching Clarice’s key fob with a stealth key fob containing a tracking device and transmitter. She almost didn’t get it done because of the problem we all have with our damn key rings. They’re too tightly wound, impossible to separate, a pain in the butt to get a key on or off. Which begs the question. . .
The colonies have mastered interplanetary travel, but they haven’t come up with better key ring technology? I’m bothered by this.
Second, the driver’s seat in the Graystone cargo van. It just happens to be big enough and sturdy enough to seat a however many ton Cylon? In the back, sure. But, in the driver’s seat? The Cylon towers over everyone and the seat doesn’t look like it goes back that far.
These may be little nitpicks, but these are the things that create verisimilitude, that make me believe that this is an otherworldly society, that make me believe the writers give a damn about that believability.
The key ring. The driving Cylon. Sam Adama’s Ford Galaxie. The random US Route 24 sign in New Cap City (in “The Imperfections of Memory”). These things really do matter. And that’s the topic of this week’s Caprica Cares PSA.
And that does it for Caprica for the time being. It’ll be back later this year. Make me believe, gang.
Lisa Fary is a graduate of the creative writing program at Florida State University and holds an advanced degree in Special Education. Her earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She’s angry that it’s 2010 and she still doesn’t have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
I'm really surprised that you were that annoyed by the key ring when Caprica and Battlestar Galactica have always contained elements of the old mixed in with new technology. It's not a more advanced society (and it's in our past), it's a society that evolved different priorities. You'll also notice that they still have 13 inch TV screens on Caprica, despite having the technology to have TV on the windows like the Graystone. On BSG, they still had phones on Galactica with curly cords on them.
As I seem to be the only person on the planet who sympathizes with Daniel, I'll skip talking about how I was actually sad about him having to sell his pyramid team, because it was the one thing that tied him to his younger, more humble, more hopeful self that he now seems to be getting further and further away from. Oh wait, I just talked about it. Never mind.
Also, I completely bought Philo saying that, just because he's ALWAYS been in love with that cylon. Seriously, he'd been giving it the eye since day one. It makes perfect sense that he genuinely wouldn't care that the girl of his virtual dreams was in there. However, I too am VERY sorry he died. He's Caprica's answer to Billy, and I was really upset they killed Billy on BSG, too. Especially since that just put Dualla in a RIDICULOUS love story with Lee that I NEVER bought.
But I digress.
Lastly, did they change the episode title? Because I could've sworn that in previews, the ep was called "End of Line", which I thought was an awesome callback to the hybrid cylon from BSG. But now I see that's changed. Weird.
I also didn't buy the Dualla/ Lee thing, but I always thought we weren't supposed to. Lee is a dickweed who settled for the nerdy girl crushing on him when he couldn't have the one he really wanted. Grade. A. Douche.
I suppose part of my eyerolling with Philo was that he was such a cute, lovable nerd. I wanted there to be a real live, human girl somewhere in the colonies who wanted him. Totally didn't deserve what he got.
Oh yes – my biggest beef with this is the title!!! I was sure it was 'End of Line' and I thought that was so…amazing! Really – a clever yet meaningful play on words that would have been brilliant.
I actually thought this was a very well crafted episode -the counterpoint between Daniel's abandonment of Zoe on top of his neglect for his clearly-slipping wife and his preparation of a home-cooked meal on Eros (Valentines) Night. The love of a daughter for her father and the pain of a loss borne twice. The blind love of Philo against the desperation and will to survive of Zoe….
When I was on the studio tour a question was asked about how the series progresses and Paula Malcomson said that while the first episodes were about the aftermath of the initial bombing the later episode branch out into other stories and unexpected places. The first part of the season has been very satisfying to me and I really can't wait to see where it's going to go next.
I'm listening to the episode podcast right now, and David Eick just said that the title of the episode is "End of Line", as does Bear McCreary's blog. So, I'm going with that, despite what the SyFy website says! So there!
IMDB also lists it as 'End of Line', so I think whatever codemonkey added the "the" to the SciFi page just wasn't paying attention.
It just occurred to me. The C-Bucs are Daniel's "Rosebud."