Daniel Graystone is threatened while the Soldiers of the One make moves with Sister Clarice and the mysterious Barnabus

This review may contain spoilers.

For several episodes, the show has been setting up several storylines that have, to this point, not been fully addressed. In Know Thy Enemy, the title refers not only as advice to the characters, but also to the viewers. At this point, we dont know who the bad guy is - and thats a good thing.

Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) seems to manage to get out of every bad situation he has been in so far. But we found out that there may be deeper consequences to his actions, especially for the stealing of the metacognitive processor chip that he had stolen from Tauron with the help of Joseph (Esai Morales) and Sam Adama (Sasha Roiz). While Tomas Vergis (John Pyper-Ferguson) made a public relations play in order to set himself up as a possible business rival of Daniel on Caprica, his true reason for stirring up conflict was that Vergis, a Tauron himself, was not happy about the murder of his brothers in order to get the technology. He threatened to destroy everything that is precious to Daniel. The question now remains as to what it is that Daniel truly considers precious?

The use of technology continued to grow in this weeks episode as polygamous family and STO members Sister Clarice (Polly Walker) and Nestor (Scott Porter) set out to use a swipe drive to steal coded information from the Graystones. Much like the code stealers seen in previous episodes, all the drive has to do is be near the desired technology to download. Clarices methods of manipulating Amanda Graystone (Paula Malcomson) and using her grief to get her what she needed may have been despicable. But we now know why she is doing it, and maybe an underlying purpose of the STO. Clarice sees herself as an emissary of the one God, and is after an afterlife that they can see and touch through Zoes (Alessandra Torresani) avatar technology. In truth, she is a zealot who will do what she needs to do in order to obtain her goals.

Although Clarices goals seemed genuine and maybe even slightly honorable, in bigger question was the rogue implied religious terrorist Barnabus (James Marsters). Seen as a bigger zealot to the point of using barbed wire as self-flagellation, Lacy (Magda Apanowicz) used Keon (Liam Sproule) to make a plea to him to help her get cylon Zoe off world to Geminon in order to fulfill the promise she previously made to Zoe. When Barnabus asked for more information, she played it cool, but it made it clear that no one knows why Zoe was going to go. A temperamental Barnabus turned her down, but it will surely not be the last we see of him.

Joseph was still obsessed with trying to find Tamara (Genevieve Buechner) after the gamer told him that she still existed in V World. After hiring a private detective to track him down, his search was left unfinished, and will have to continue in future episodes. However, Zoe managed to get lab worker Philomon (Alex Arsenault) to unknowingly meet her in V World. Again, whatever her purpose was is an unknown to be answered in future episodes.

There are conflicts that have been brewing under the surface that are now starting to come to a boil. Daniel and Joseph remain at odds, but it will only be a matter of time before their conflict will have to result in something more than just words. While the purpose of the STO seems to be more defined, there are still more questions about their purpose and methods. Finding out that school children are being used to create bombs as part of religious terrorism was not a new concept, but it does beg the question of exactly how far will the STO go towards their goals, and exactly what role does avatar Zoe and Barnabus play in those plans?

What Worked

Since were now in the middle of the season, there doesnt need to be as much set up or defining of the mythos of the world of Caprica. Because of this, were finally getting some answers to questions. Of course, we dont get full answers, and that just makes us want to come back for more. Also, the writers are doing an even better job of making us question exactly whom we are supposed to be rooting for. Everyone has something dark about him or her. There is no clear hero and no clear villain. Because we dont have all of the answers, every facet of every character is interesting and seems to play an integral part. That also means that when we get introduced to a new character like Barnabus, we better pay attention.

What Didnt Work

After such an outstanding introduction to Tamara in the previous episode, it was a shame that more wasnt given to this storyline in this episode. Does this mean that there are too many storylines being offered? Many people dont want another show that offers storylines that may never be resolved or answered. Since this is the first season, time will tell if this style of delayed gratification storytelling will pay off or not.

On another note, there was much excitement about James Marsters joining the cast as Barnabus. No stranger to sci-fi shows, Marsters continues to show his strength in playing a complex character. However, there just wasnt enough of him in this episode to truly say whether or not Barnabus works. Marsters is too good of an actor to waste in a bad role. Hopefully in future episodes, he will be given more screen time.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

Caprica stars Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Polly Walker, Alessandra Torresani, Magda Apanowicz, and Sasha Roiz. Know Thy Enemy was directed by Michael Nankin and written by Patrick Massett, John Zinman, and Mathew Roberts.

Caprica airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on Syfy.