Yet another underwhelming episode with no standout moments, compelling story, or characters. It's too early to bail just yet though I'm sure many have, but the writers need to write better scripts. Just saying the show will be dark does not automatically make it the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and clearly the first 3 episodes have been nothing close to the miniseries.
The plot is unremarkable. The ship needs calcite to scrub the air and a team goes to a desert planet in search. The sand around the gate is not of enough concentration so they go looking for a dry lake bed. They eventually split up which is when things get interesting.
Rush, Greer, and Scott are together while the rest of the people including Eli do essentially nothing. Rush and Greer fight constantly and at one point, Greer even pulls a gun on Rush which is the second time he's done this in as many episodes. Greer now looks like he's psychotic and formerly a serial killer. Who pulls a gun every time there is a disagreement? The first time I thought Greer pulling the gun was stupid, but the second time was even worse. Everyone on the ship seems to think Rush is crazy, but to me, Greer is far more unhinged. Later in the episode, Greer shoots someone under Rush's order so he wouldn't go through the gate and everyone acts like it's no big deal.
Scott wanders off after seeing a swirling cloud. This leads to some backstory on Scott where we learn he got a 16-year old girl pregnant and the baby got aborted. I didn't see how any of this related to finding calcite, but he finds the lake bed, and brings the calcite to the ship.
There is also another story using those Ancient communication devices which are such blatant plot devices that I wonder if the writers even cared how obvious it was. Chloe and Young use them. Chloe talks to her mother who is pissed that her husband dies. She threatens to reveal the Stargate program if her daughter doesn't her back safety. I'm sure all the generals are shaking in their boots (sarcasm).
I thought the first 2 episodes met the criteria of dark, but episode 3 seemed more wild and out of control that dark. The situations they were in weren't dark. Nobody really came into imminent danger, the conclusion was expected. One thing I liked was the job the makeup people did. There were actual sunburns on everyone. That added to the effect that they were doing serious business the most.
As a fan of SG-1 and SGA, I was disappointed we didn't learn more about the swirling entity that directed Scott. SG-1 and SGA revolve around the alien worlds while SGU seems intent on ignoring the alien and embracing the characters. I also want to learn more about all the new Ancient technology notably the portable DHD and the communications device. I'm not clear on the timeline, but was the Destiny built before or after the Ancient warships found in SGA? There's so much new stuff that I'm wondering why we've never seen it before.
Score: 8.2/10
4 comments:
Dr. Rush hinted that it was one of the last ships the Ancients built as he said they learned ascension before (or likely long before) they ever intended to board it. What was that ship/shuttle leaving the ship at 42:24-42:33? Like Lost, we see character back stories revealed in unrelated moments. Though to him he is "not going to fail them" like he failed the church before. Greer's nickname in the casting call was "Psycho". Besides, most people on board wouldn't mind Dr. Rush being dead at this point according to the Lieutenant.
Dr. Rush is the man who have put them in this difficult situation in the first place. No wonder why Greer want to shot the bastard. Remember its only a few hours after the Icarus incident.
Also, Dr. Rush said the Ancients never boarded it, but it is clear that something has due to the extensive damage done to the ship and it appearing to "have been in a battle" along with the activated and expired life support systems. Something has been on this ship, but it wasn't the Ancients.
I like the drama in the stargate episodes . Stargate always did a good job of balancing between the action and dramatic scenes.