Welcome back, Stargate Universe fans!
Now that you have all seen this wonderful episode, I am looking forward hearing your comments about what YOU thought of the episode.
For those of you who have not seen this episode of Stargate Universe, major spoilers lay ahead.
Colonel Young shaves himself in the mirror, not recognizing the man he sees any longer, the decision of leaving Dr. Rush on the planet weighing heavy on his soul. TJ suggests sharing his emotional burden. For the moment, he rebuffs the idea.
When TJ says, “…a lot has been left emotionally unresolved,” not only did I feel she was talking about the soldiers and Dr. Rush who were killed under his command, but also the relationship they had together while on Icarus Base. I’m not sure I like the razor being introduced here. I doubt they were able to leave Icarus with all these personal items. I would, however, think a knife would be more realistic, using it to shave. It would not be a great, smooth look though. Even on Battlestar Galactica, the women stopped wearing make-up (or least the make-up looked like they were not wearing any; after 4 years, there was 1 tube of toothpaste left in the fleet.
As he leaves the infirmary, Colonel Young runs into a defiant Camile Wray; who is planning on filing quite a different account of the events on the planet that resulted in the death of Dr. Rush.
Dr. Caine (Tygh Runyan), an IT support person who we discovered is a widower, is temporarily filling in for Riley (Haig Sutherland) who is still recovering from his injuries sustained in a prior episode. Before Col. Young comes in, Lt. Scott, Msgt. Greer and Dr. Caine are having an argument about what happened to Dr. Rush. Clearly the divide between civilian and military personnel is deepening. I love Greer’s new look, slightly unshaven.
During those preparations, TJ and 2nd Lt. James visit Eli in his room. James has a crush on Dr. Caine and starts talking about him, unaware that there is an open intercom between the rooms. We can all identify with these moments because we have all had them. It is a nice seeing a friendship blooming between James and TJ, even though they surely could have had one on Icarus Base.
After using the communication stones, Col. Young expects to be back at Stargate Command, but he is in a strange place. Then he sees it: Fantastic, new, blue aliens. They are translucent but resemble fish-like heads, although still bipeds. Can you imagine if the aliens with whom he swapped consciousness were quadrupeds, or instead of swapping with one of these aliens in a flight suit, he swapped with one of the aliens that appear nude to us? That would make for some comedic Stargate, but alas it would be taking away the drama of this episode. You could really do some really wild things with these stones!
After all, they’ve already had a gender switch on Stargate SG-1 when Vala and Daniel switched consciousness (and she strolls into the men’s locker room at Cheyenne Mountain). In another comical moment, on the Destiny side, Dr. Caine gives the person who switched consciousness with Col Young a peace sign (since the aliens are not here for peace at all), not knowing this was not someone from the Stargate program. When they realize it is not Stargate personnel, Dr. Caine throws a cloth over the stone and pulls it from its base (kudos to the great attention to detail by whoever thought of that small detail among the writers, director, production crew, etc.).
Bringing the realism back to their situation, the darning was of the socks was fun. After all, eventually things like clothes will break down, most especially socks for a solider.
Camile and Col. Young have a word-war. I find her character to be somewhere in the middle on the power struggle that occurs between Dr. Rush and Col. Young, although she has been moving closer to the machinations of Dr. Rush as of late. I think the writers should put all three of these characters in an episode together where they are trapped, and in order to get out of the situation, each one has to contribute something to the puzzle and the others have to trust their judgment. Just for one episode. The drama between the three of them keeps the tension going. It was a plot point in Stargate Atlantis, too, where command of the expedition sometimes went to the civilians and sometimes went to the military.
In the mess hall, the hydroponics lab is finally yielding some recognizable crops. After eating so much MOOP and purple potatoes, I think I would be happy for a tomato, even if that tomato tasted different from what I remembered.
While the seeds of their crops have bloomed, other seeds of discontent are being sowed between the civilians and the military. Later, down in the hydroponics lab, Wray is trying to gain support for some future takeover; Eli has a Kino secretly recording them.
Destiny drops out of FTL to visit a planet where I imagine they have an opportunity to gather more basic supplies like food or water. James grabs Young and Scott from the hall and pulls them to the observation deck where someone is paying them a visit. Look at the detail in that alien ship. Does it look familiar to you? There was one just like it that detached from the Destiny in Air Part 3 and there was one on the planet where Rush was left in Justice. The aliens have just one word to say to them: Surrender!
The space battle is on! Our heroes, Scott and Greer, man the shuttle to fight the aliens in space. Another incredible detailed moment occurs here. As the shuttle flies off, you can see a miniature Scott and Greer inside. Impressive!
Young needs Eli to work faster, but Eli is doing the best that he can do. After all, it truly is his first space battle and he verbally reminds Col. Young of this. Once again, the visual effects department of the Stargate Universe production did a fantabulous job. When the alien ships blow up, they light up as a yellow. In most space battles on other science fiction productions we are used to seeing a mixture of red, white and blue. I guess it will depend on what gases are combustible within the ship, like the type of fuel a ship uses as well as the internal atmosphere they breathe inside a ship. The production shots where the alien ships are flying parallel to the Destiny were in exquisite detail.
Two Destiny crew members are electrocuted in the hallway. James gets to be the hero and then TJ jumps in to attend to the medical injuries.
Chloe becomes intrigued by noises in the hallway. Curiosity killed the cat, didn’t it? She is taken by the aliens and they begin to retreat. Chloe wakes up with scuba-extreme attached to her head, entombed in an unknown fluid, similar to what we did to the aliens in the movie “Independence Day.” It gives a new meaning to the phrase “In space, no one can hear you scream.” She then sees the alien who comes in to check on her and it screams at her.
Back in the infirmary, I enjoyed how everyone put their differences aside to help TJ with all the injuries. James attends to Dr. Caine.
Col. Young decides to attempt a rescue for Chloe. He moves past the aliens and thinks he sees Chloe.
I was shocked when it was Dr. Rush. I was not expecting to see him back so quickly. I appreciate the writers, Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, for getting Dr. Rush back in the action quickly instead of running two storylines for awhile. Remember, however, Dr. Rush sees an alien before him, not actually Col. Young. He suggests using the neural interface and finds out it is Col. Young. The communication-stone connection was disrupted before Young could rescue Chloe. The Destiny is being attacked. When Dr. Rush sees that the alien’s consciousness has returned, he has no choice but to kill the alien (we have no idea if this is a female or a male alien or perhaps they have no gender). It was at this point, I was mildly disappointed in the story: Dr. Rush fails to take the neural interface technology with him. He clearly throws it on the ground as he leaves the room.
Fortunately Scott and Greer do not have to commandeer the shuttle to go save Chloe as Rush steals an alien ship and brings them both back to the Destiny. Lt. Scott and Chloe have a private moment in the background; you can see that they are in love with each other. I enjoyed how nonchalant Rush is when he asks Greer how he “died.” In the mess hall, Rush, with Chloe’s help, gives them a half-truth about what happened, especially with regards to the events that got him out of his cell. As Chloe relates that part of the story, Eli has a bewildered look on his face, knowing the story is not adding up (Great job, David Blue, on making that glance tell a thousand words!). You can see Chloe’s feelings toward Rush have changed dramatically since the first half of the reason: She used to think he had no feelings; now she sees him as her savior.
After eating, Rush pays Young a visit in his cabin to discuss damage control. They both agree not to share the details of their respective stories (how Rush framed Young for murder and how Young left Rush on the planet) for the sake of the crew. If you believe that Rush is going to hold up his end of the bargain, there is a bridge in Brooklyn I would like to sell you.
Taking in the view of the observation deck, TJ is joined by Dr. Cain with some bootlegged alcohol to talk about James. TJ refuses the alcohol. If Alaina Huffman’s real-life pregnancy is indeed going to be written into the story, her refusal of that drink is yet another clue to support that storyline. Frankly I think having a pregnancy storyline (from her affair with Young) where she winds up having a miscarriage would be phenomenal. Having lost my own child in utero during the latter stages of my pregnancy, the grieving aftermath would make a wonderful, dramatic storyline for both Alaina Huffman and Louis Ferreira to explore in their characters. Stargate tried to accomplish this with Vala and Daniel when they are trapped in the ship on “Unending” where Claudia is sobbing in his arms in one of the montages (you have to listen to the commentary to get that golden nugget of information). Also, if Telford gets back on board and sees a pregnant TJ, there will be additional drama for Col. Young on his home visits to his wife.
As Dr. Caine starts talking about “if stuff doesn’t work out, you are stuck on a ship with someone you’ve had a bad relationship with”, TJ nods and her eyes say, “I totally understand that situation.” Having reconsidered TJ’s offer to talk to share his emotional burden, he begins to enter the observation deck, but overhears the conversation Dr. Caine and TJ are having. He draws incorrect conclusions, believing TJ is moving on and is possibly pursuing a relationship with Dr. Caine and he leaves.
The closing montage begins with Scott and Chloe spooning together, but Chloe cannot sleep after her trauma of being abducted and the subject of alien experimentation. It moves to James where she is crying, and assuming from how the character looks to the empty side of her bed, is feeling very isolated and alone.
It jumps to Rush and Brody working together at the APLCORE. It moves to Eli showing Young the footage of Wray gathering colleagues for a coup. Young is glancing at Eli, trying to size him up for his reaction to this information, perhaps to see which side he will choose having now discovered Young left Rush on the planet.
Greer pulls out a picture and flashes a brilliant smile (perhaps his father?). TJ is back in the infirmary checking on her patients. Dr. Caine is drinking alone at the observation deck. And it returns to Young sewing his socks again, which is a beautiful full circle. While he nods off to sleep, Rush and Wray are in the hydroponics lab planning their next move which brings up into yet another excellent episode of a balanced mix of drama and action, “Divided.”
The lyrics of the “Now Comes the Night” by Rob Thomas which is used in the montage are quite beautiful (paraphrasing the lyrics here):
“And when the hour is upon us and our beauty surely gone,
No, you will not be forgotten and you will not be alone.
And when the day has all but ended and our echo starts to fade.
No, you will not be alone then, and you will not be afraid.
And when the fog has finally lifted from my cold and tired brow.
No, I will not leave you crying, no I will not let you down.
Now comes the night, feeling it fading away.
And the soul underneath, is it all that remains?
So just slide over here, leave your fear in the fray.
Let us hold to each other until the end of our days.”
I would welcome your comments about what you liked and did not like about the episode. I hoped you enj
oyed this review and analysis.
Thank you for visiting Wormholeriders News Agency.
I appreciate taking the time out of your day to read this.
I hope to see you next week for “Divided.”
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