(XXX) Caprica: "Gravedancing" (Sn.1, Ep.4)

In episode one there was a terrorist attack orchestrated by mercenaries of the secret organization, Soldiers of The One (STO). The prevalent belief revealed in this episode holds that God is a 'moral dictator', so all those who believe in the existence of this supreme being are extremists. All the violent acts they carry out in the name of God, such as blowing up a train full of people, makes them terrorists to society. In episode two, the law enforcement unit of Caprica (the GDD) unraveled the identities of a teenage girl(Zoe) and her boyfriend, who might have planned the attack. In all fairness, whether Zoe had any knowledge of the attack is still a baseless claim. But it is discovered with all certainty that she was an STO member. Her mother(Amanda) immediately assumed that she helped plan the attack, and voiced out this claim in a very public outcry in front of mourners at a memorial service. Obviously, these mourners quickly transformed into an angry mob and held the tragic events of the past against Amanda. Things I'm not aware of occur in episode 3, then episode 4 rolls around where Zoe's father(Daniel) focuses on easing the general public's contempt against the family and all it represents.

In the beginning of the episode, Daniel polishes up strategies for his national TV broadcast interview with two of his PR agents. His agents emphasize that his responses on camera should alienate him and his wife from his daughter as much as possible. How so? By saying Zoe was a very 'troubled' child. The PR agents also advice him to project a tone full of remorse. I suppose this was geared at making the public feel sorry for the family. The PR agents literally gave Daniel a script of what to do and say during the interview. During the interview, Daniel tried acting out the script, but the the host of the show belittled his defenses, and roused his audience more against the family. The host used the word 'troubled' against Daniel's defense by suggesting that a 'troubled' girl like Zoe frequenting virtual worlds would assume that her actions had no serious consequences in the real world. Before Daniel's interview went completely asunder, his wife, Amanda, came to his rescue. They both conducted the interview henceforth, and they spoke honestly regardless of the PR script. They interview went a lot better, and even the PR agents admitted from backstage that the couple had communicated an amazing PR message together. To prove how effective their message was, a certain man who wanted Amanda killed because he lost a wife and daughter in the attack, changed his mind after the interview and quickly notified his hit-man to call-off the hit.

What Daniel's PR agents wanted him to do seems very common of public figures in our society. Whenever something bad affects a public figure's reputation, it seems like most of them step up to speak for their case with a 'cookie-cutter' PR campaign. A PR campaign is necessary, but it has to be honest in order to be effective I believe. I happened to come across part of Tiger Woods' 'I'm so sorry' speech, and it seemed to do worse for his image, I think. His speech did not seem honest at all, it sounded like something written by a team of PR agents, and the fact that there was all this planning in advance to his speech just didn't feel right(can't be said any simpler). I'm sure a lot of people would now argue in defense of his apology, but a number of his past sponsors are probably of the same opinion I am. In time following Tiger's apology, numerous high-power sponsors (Gatorade, AT&T...) quickly dropped him. I guess the message from this episode was, If you have to apologize for whatever reason to a mass of people, just be frank.