The mid-season finale ends with a bang and a few cliffhangers

This review may contain spoilers.

Having started with a lot of comparisons to its parent series, "End Of Line" finally allows "Caprica" to stand on its own as an action-filled science-fiction adventure. Ruthlessness, addiction, despair, and death all mixed to lead up to the climax of everyones storyline.

Here are the cliff notes:

For Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz), his whole world -- both personally and professionally -- has been threatened for several episodes, especially by Vergis (John Pyper-Ferguson) who revealed his heritage and threatened to take Daniel down piece by piece. Cyrus (Hiro Kanagawa) told Daniel that he finally has to sell Vergis his professional team in order to keep his company afloat. Whether or not he still believed that avatar Zoe (Alessandra Torresani) still existed inside the U-87 was irrelevant under the pressure of failure as Daniel ordered Philomon (Alex Aresenault) to wipe the MCP chip clean of all anomalies and start mass producing them in order to fulfill the military contract.

Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) finally dropped off the cliff into V-World. Sam and Josephs colleague, Evelyn (Teryl Rothery), found him completely addicted and unable to live in the real world. In V-World, even his guide Emmanuelle (Leah Gibson) was concerned about him. Finding Tamara (Genevieve Buechner) on her own, Emmanuelle finally confronted Tamara telling her about her father who not only turned his back on real life in Caprica, he was addicted to Amp and finding her. To save her own father, Tamara shot herself and then her father killing his code and rendering him unable to ever return to V World.

Amanda (Paula Malcomson) surrounded herself with articles about Daniel while medicating with pills and booze. Remembering the past, she flashbacked to a former suicide attempt. When she confronted him about the truth, Daniel did not give her comfort the way he used to. With the truth about Daniels stolen MCP, the rift between the two broke wide open. Unable to handle anymore, Amanda went to the bridge in order to jump.

Lacy (Magda Apanowicz) felt the pressure from avatar Zoe to push to get her off world to Geminon. Meeting with Barnabus (James Marsters), she ended up getting the crate to ship Zoe, but it came with a steep price. Lacy had to prove her devotion to the STO cause by helping Barnabus try to take control of the religious group by getting rid of Sister Clarice (Polly Walker). Lacy, continuing to play a pawn to both Barnabus and to Zoe, had to make the hard decision in the end to cross the line into full blown terrorist.

Clarice knew that Barnabus was fighting with her for control of STO. In a bold confrontation, she told the little boy that he had better watch himself. Unfortunately for her, this pushed Barnabus to the edge resulting in his attempt to kill her. Using Lacy, he planted a bomb in her car. However, Clarice saw Amanda at the bridge, so when the car exploded she was not in it unbeknownst to Barnabus and Lacy.

Finally with Zoe, she tried to get Philomon to help her both in V World and in the real world. Giving hints to Philo was not enough, and she had to reveal her true self when she knew that her father was willing to get rid of her in order to copy the MCP program to duplicate more sentient cylons. When she did reveal herself, she relied on Philos statement that he loved her no matter what she looked like. And for a moment, it seemed possible that he would help her. However, it all came to an end when he set off the alarm and cylon Zoe tried to stop him. Because of her robot strength, she accidentally killed him as she escaped in the van. The show ended with her choice to drive through the police barricade, which resulted in a huge explosion.

As a good finale should do, it left us wondering what will happen to each of the main characters. Will Daniel care more about the supposed destruction of the U-87 that may have housed the last remnants of his daughter or the loss of his wife? What will Lacy do now that she crossed a serious line? Can Joseph free himself from his desires to see his daughter? How will Clarice retaliate against Barnabus? Are Amanda and cylon Zoe really gone? We will have to wait until October to find out any answers, but the finale truly brought the series to a climax that will have us tuning in when it returns.

What Worked

The writers are clearly not afraid to take the show to the edge. By now, we are completely invested in each of the characters and their struggles. The few cringe-worthy moments and surprises made it fun to watch, and created a few shocks. Finding out that Josephs guide and ultimate helper Emmanuelle was actually his colleague Evelyn was a nice reveal. Lacys struggle between doing the right thing and sacrificing everything to help Zoe drove the point home between what is devotion and what is terrorism, and how thin the line can be between the two.

Barnabus finally came into full view in this episode. He walks another thin line, that being between madness and devotion. There is an intriguing back story to the conflict between him and Clarice that makes their fight with each other electric. His ruthlessness mirrors Daniels, which suggests that there are more explosions to come.

What Didnt Work

Keeping with the trend of other sci-fi shows, the season has been split in half. It is a risky decision, especially with the show just picking up its audience. Yes, the mid-season finale was full of great action, but will the audience remember that when it returns in October? The show has not been picked up for a second season yet as the network is waiting to see if it maintains a strong audience. Can you see the possible mistake yet?

My prediction is that it will eventually get a second season if DVDs of the first half of the season sell well and the return in October gets a high audience rating. Can you wait?

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

Caprica stars Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Polly Walker, Alessandra Torresani, Magda Apanowicz, and Sasha Roiz. End of Line was directed by Roxann Dawson and written by Michael Taylor.

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