"I forgot who I was. I forgot who I am."
REVIEW: If the Taurons had been sidelined mid-season, they come back with a vengeance (literally) in The Dirteaters (a racial slur directed AT Taurons). In the wake of Joseph Adama's promotion to close adviser to the Guatrau, we flash back to his and Sam's lives on Tauron before they became war refugees. There's a bit with a suicide pill that doesn't really pay off, but wow, this culture really is Klingon-adjacent (I say this knowing that Ron Moore, Star Trek's Klingon architect, is still producer on the franchise). The Adamas's parents were rebels against tyranny as were their grandparents. The fight is in them. It seems Sam was always criminal and Joseph always heroic, but what they would later become springs from the events surrounding their parents' deaths. Sam's deep interest in helping the people "back home" is based on guilt, as it was his theft of a pistol that led to his parents being accused, tortured and in his mother's case executed. Shockingly, little Joseph is forced to render his father back to the soil, and that leads him to forge a stronger bond with his brother than to the land (as Ha'la'tha tradition would have it). This horrifying trauma made him reject this part of his heritage, then more and more until he was more or less a Caprican. They were later adopted by the Guatrau and put to work according to their talents.
The moral dilemma put to them in the previous episode leads them to reflect on what's important, and as Taurons, what they need to avenge, and they make a pact to go against the Guatrau. Graystone's offer to slip Sam some Cylons in exchange for sparing his life, knowing full well what's waiting for him once he delivers the resurrection program helps speed things up. And for all his bitterness, Joseph certainly doesn't think Graystone should be assassinated for his trouble either.
Partnership is a strong theme in this episode. While the Adamas strengthen their brotherly bond, Zoe and Tamara have become the "Avenging Angels" in New Cap City, cleaning up the town with their super-powers. They've become so famous, people on the outside are selling t-shirts, and that leads Daniel Graystone straight to them. To protect themselves, the girls go full-Neo on New Cap City and turn at least a patch of it into a castle fortress. Ironically, Nestor and Olaf Willow get killed by the Angels and neither they nor the dismissive Clarice make the connection. She's too busy criticizing their plans for the faithful's virtual Heaven, her hubris showing in the statuary choices.
Amanda and Daniel Graystone are also back together, enough that he can inform her of Zoe's continued existence. She's no longer living at the Willow house, having planted a bug there anyway. Except Duram is suspended by Singh who really can't let this wily agent keep working a case that tracks back to him. Framed and being investigated by Internal Affairs, Duram's gonna be hard to contact for a while. Perhaps that will push Amanda closer to her husband, having lost all other lifelines? Are we finally going to get an interpretation of that last image from the lyrical opening credits, with Daniel leading his wife to Zoe?
CAPRICANADA: Daniel buys a t-shirt on Alexander & Main, and is seen outside the Smile Diner. The Adamas's father is played by Winnipeg's Aleks Paunovic who was, like many Caprica alumni, in Continuum; his other notable credits include Battlestar itself (as a recurring marine), Dirk Gently, Van Helsing and now the Snowpiercer series.
ALL THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE AND IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN: Joseph would name his son after his father, another William Adama. Bill Adama would later tell the story of the lucky lighter his father would always bring into court - we see it here for the first time. Adama boxes with Graystone, an echo his son Bill getting into the ring on BSG. Adama's chest tattoo looks like a future Cylon Raider for some reason.
REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - I'm a sucker for a strong theme, but the Adama thread alone is worth the price of admission.
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