Welcome back!

Returning by popular demand, the spoiler rating! Humble apologies to anybody whose fun may have been spoiled by decidedly spoiler-rific write ups from the past couple of weeks.

Spoiler Danger: High!

On, then, to the episode, which I just finished watching. The words amazing, powerful, and moving come to mind here. Despite the fact that I think most of SGU’s episodes are amazing, “Pathogen” was amazing squared. Cubed even!

This season, I’ve been giving myself some time between watching the episode and writing the review. With shows the quality of SGU, I first notice all the great things, but I come to see the little niggles that we talk about on the podcast and usually end up making it into my review. This prevents me from babbling on like a lunatic, madly declaring my love for all things SGU. This week… not so much. I’m quite excited by the developments that we witnessed in “Pathogen,” so I can’t help but write right now.

So forgive me if I babble slightly like the SGU fanboy that I happen to be.

Let’s get straight to Ming Na’s performance. Wow! Just wow. One of the more (unnecessarily) controversial things from last season was Wray’s lesbian relationship with Sharon (who is fantastically played by Reiko Aylesworth). There was much Internet hubbub around Stargate’s first openly homosexual character. Upon seeing their first interaction in the episode “Life,” I was utterly blown away, and, beyond that, I was truly glad that the writers had seen fit to show us such an intimate and moving personal connection. From the moment they first embraced, there was a warmth and passion that is rarely if ever seen on TV. Never mind the logistics of the relationship, this is a story about two people passionately in love with each other, and that episode remains among my favorites for that very reason. “Pathogen” presents another opportunity for Wray to visit Sharon, and the results are equally moving. As events unfold, we begin to see the true devotion each partner has for the other, and, I won’t lie, the intensity of their final scene together nearly moved me to tears. My vision certainly clouded briefly.  These scenes made this episode for me, and awards need to be piled on these actresses for their heartfelt and powerful acting.

“Pathogen” also marks the exciting return of Lt. Matthew Scott. Brian Jacob Smith’s character was the first thing I really liked about SGU and was one of the driving forces behind the fact that I started watching the series on a regular basis. He’s been sadly relegated to secondary and tertiary roles thus far this season, but with the surfacing of Chloe’s story for this season, he’s back as a primary character. About damn time, I say. As we start to see Chloe and the rest of the crew struggle with her “sickness” Scott is right there by her side. There are many moments where I felt the episode could’ve gone completely awry, delving into cheesy one-liners and a sickeningly hokey love story. However, I believe it was the acting between Brian Jacob Smith and Elyse Levesque in these moments that made these parts work for me. The scene in the bed when Scott first broaches the subject of Chloe’s distance, for example, was a scene that could’ve been really, really bad. This was a moment that the acting really shined through – Smith puts just enough worry in his voice without sounding cheesy, just enough concern. For her part, Chloe doesn’t turn away or demand privacy; she instead shifts her position to be closer to Scott, whispering “I’m fine.” The scene is almost sad in that we know she is not, in fact, fine. the little things in this scene – the acting, the shifting body language, the facial expressions, the fact that we know what’s coming – these all made this really work for me. While these weren’t by any means that major points of the episode, they caught my attention and made me smile. In terms of the character relations, it also affirms my belief that Chloe and Scott belong together, naysayers be damned.

Speaking of Chloe, we come back to Rush, whose character takes some interesting turns in this episode. He is working himself to the point of exhaustion – his work now represented by a hallway in Destiny whose walls are entirely covered in equations and his other scribblings. He begins to manipulate events and people such that he gets people to think that Chloe is cured of her disease, if that’s what it can be called, just so he can then manipulate her into working with him to help him solve the problems. He further blames her for the strange behavior of Destiny in order to keep Young from discovering that he knows the location of the bridge. It’s a very complex web Rush is weaving. I want, more than ever, to know to what end he is weaving it. It’s also moves like this that make me bounce between liking him and, well, not.

Finally we come to Eli. Great job to David Blue for his acting in this episode. My favorite moments with the Eli character are those in which he is with his mother. Season one gave us the complicated scenario where he had to be with his mother and pretend he was somebody else. This time that trick doesn’t work, and the results were rather interesting. I rag on Eli a lot (which should never be taken as a dig on David Blue who plays him quite well), and I’m really torn on him in this episode. Yes the part was well played, but Eli was still mostly Eli – he went from whiny to mopey, which still falls in the same category. He still lacks character growth here, and I keep really hoping to see more of it. Perhaps now that this drama with his mother is behind him, maybe a weight is lifted from his shoulders, and he can rise to his true potential on Destiny. Here’s to hoping.

There was some other stuff going on with the Lucian Alliance as well. Despite the fact that it was interesting (particularly the interaction between Greer and Simeon), it really paled in comparison to the powerful acting and character development in the rest of the episode. For me, it was a very minor part of the episode, and rightfully so. the rest was just so much more delightful. That being said, I do want to see where the developing Greer/Simeon rivalry goes.

Oh, did I mention that Robert Carlyle (our very own Dr. Rush) directed this episode. I happen to think it’s really cool when an actor takes an interest in the larger scope of film/TV creation beyond his or her own part in it. Despite the fact that I have much higher respect for actors that wander down this path, I have to say that Carlyle brought some really interesting ideas to the table in his Stargate directorial debut. One more reason to love an already fantabulous episode.

…Yes, I just said fantabulous

In conclusion, I do think that “Pathogen” directly answered the gripes that Terry and I have expressed over the past couple of weeks with the lack of reaction to certain story lines. We are beginning to see both the aftermath of Chloe’s healing as well as the fallout from the Lucian Alliance takeover. These together with the possibilities and wonders Rush is bound to discover make me rather giddy at the idea of another episode next week. And the week after that. And the week after….

You get the point.

That’ll do it for me this week. Check out our podcast later this week. Follow me on Twitter (@nunchux). See you in a week after another great episode of SGU.

Until then, may you find something that makes your jaw hit the floor.

“Awakening” continued season 2′s trend of throwing at us more questions than answers. We discover what the “object” from last episode is, but we are still left with numerous loose ends from the season premiere. Granted it is still early in the season, but I’m already eagerly anticipating the time when these are answered for us.

The object from the previous episode was a Stargate seed ship – one that has, for some reason, stopped. The Destiny docks with said ship, and this is where the episode gets good. On the ship, they find a new control room, and power – enough power, in fact, that they may be able to dial earth. It turns out, however, that there are alien beings on the ship that end up preventing the crew from dialing home.

The aliens were fascinating to me, and I truly hope we get to spend some more time with them this season. Their motives are unknown and, I think, not entirely hostile. Sure, they shot a couple of the military folks, but the aliens only stunned them, and they showed no other signs of aggression. In one of my favorite parts of the episode, Scott tries to communicate with the first of the species they found. granted the alien was quite ill, it still did not behave aggressively. Of course, it’s entirely possible that these aliens are nefarious, but that remains to be seen. I suspect that  the crew was merely standing in the way of what they wanted to do as much as they were in the way of what the crew wanted to do.

The end of the episode saw Telford left aboard the ship as Destiny took off into hyperspace. It was a fascinating end to an interesting episode. Granted that through Twitter we know that Telford isn’t really gone forever, I find myself hoping that the aliens make a return with him. That being said, I also hope that Telford is gone for a few episodes. Telford’s character definitely grew on me this week, but I have seen plenty of people lost for exactly one episode in SGU this far, so I hope he’s gone for a while just to mix things up a bit.

How long is it going to be until Young figures out what Rush is up to? It’s clear that he suspects something; he knows Rush isn’t being entirely honest about things. Also, how long until Young finally snaps? He is obviously on the downward spiral, slowly coming apart at the seams, but I am wondering when he’ll finally crack.

We had brief mention of TJ’s baby and Chloe’s miraculous healing in this episode, and I’m glad they threw in a few lines of dialog around these to things, since we haven’t heard much about them since the first episode. My mindset is becoming that of needing answers, or at least reaction, to particularly Chloe’s situation rather quickly. The complete lack of any reaction (even on TJ’s part in this episode) is a little off-putting, as I was expecting this to be a major story by now. I mean, it’s not every day that one of them is healed of a seemingly major injury. Hello! Big deal here!

Anyway, there’s not much else I have to say about the episode. Terry and I hammered out a lot of detail on the episode in our podcast, so check that out. The episode as a whole was really neat, despite the loose ends that I keep waiting to be tied up.

Wait! One more thing. GIANT kudos to Mark Savela and his team for the gorgeous special effects in this episode. The special effects work is something that I’ve been noticing far more in this season, and this week’s effects knocked my socks off. In particular, the scene with Scott trying to communicate with the alien was one I watched several times, just to admire the final visual product.

OK, now I’m done. See you next week, and until then, here’s to finding some answers!

Here we are with another fantastic episode of SGU. I feel like season 2 is getting off to a tremendous start, and things only look to get better from here.

The episode starts off with Rush awakened from a dream about his torture at the hands of the Lucian Alliance to discover he can open the door to the bridge. We speculated at length about whether or not Rush knew the code before waking up from the dream on the podcast, so I’ll leave that topic alone for this write up. It does, however, open up some very interesting questions about Rush.

Added to this is his decision to keep this discovery a secret. He decides not to tell anybody aboard the ship this news, however his actions – which include bringing the ship to a stop short of its next destination – force him to go to great lengths to cover up the fact that he was the one behind the unscheduled stop. The steps he takes in this regard have startling effect, even leading up to the death of one of the not-quite-main-but-likable characters in the show.

This character’s death, while tragic and surprisingly painful, takes SGU in a direction that I have yet to see Stargate’s go fully. A character has actually died. *gasp* There was no ascension, no alternate realities, no time travel hijinx, just one very dead character. Holy unexplored territory, Batman! Despite my general sadness that a character I actually liked died, I’m rather happy that they actually killed somebody. This happiness will, of course, be undone if they decide to start in on those above-mentioned things they’ve used in the past to bring dead characters back, but I have faith in the writers. It was also REALLY great to see the crew reacting to this character’s death at the end of the episode – particularly Young breaking down over it. Brilliant acting all around!

Speaking of the writers, I also have faith that they’ll address the issues raised in the season premiere before too long. Some of the things brought up in “Intervention” were not addressed well in “Aftermath”, namely Chloe’s magical healing abilities, the fate of the Lucian Alliance, and TJ’s baby-drama. I know this bothered Terry a bunch, but I recognize that there’s a larger picture to everything, and the writer’s will get back to the smaller details when they need to. I think I just accidentally called myself smarter than Terry! Whoops… but I’m not taking in back!

I would like to point out that Young is carrying around his little bottle of booze. Rush makes some comments about young’s lack of leadership skills and about how Young is unfit to lead the mission; the term “mentally unstable” was used. I’m excited to see Young’s downward spiral (evidenced by both his booze intake and his reaction to the Lucian Alliance riot) as he lives up to Rush’s criticisms.

Which brings me all the way back around to Rush. During the course of the episode, he sees both his wife (dead – as we saw in one very powerful episode towards the end of last year) and Franklin (disappeared from the command chair last season). Given the dead/missing status of both people he talks to, I’m left wondering whether Something is trying to communicate with him – be it the Destiny or perhaps the obelisk aliens from Kaine’s world – or whether he is also going stark raving mad. Only time (and more episodes) will tell.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the show. As always, comments are welcome and appreciated. Check out Terry, Bruce, Curt, and I wax philosophical on our podcast. And, of course, follow me on Twitter (@nunchux)!!

Until next time, may you know the thrill of a fantastic discovery.

Well, it’s about darn time! It feels good to be back watching SGU after a whole summer without it. I missed the show, I’ll admit it.

Last season left us with some very wide open questions – Did Scott and Greer survive outside the ship, what happened to TJ ,Chloe, Telford, and Keva after they were shot, what happens now that the Lucian Alliance has control of the ship, etc. etc. The season premiere of SGU wastes absolutely no time in answering these questions. In fact, my one minor beef with the episode was that some of the answers seemed a bit too convenient. I mean, it takes exactly one episode for everything laid out at the end of season one to come to a neat little conclusion. Granted that it was dramatic and wonderful to watch, looking back, it still felt quick.

The saving grace here is that in solving all the problems from season 1, the writers cleverly introduced some new twists and questions for season 2. The episode leaves me quite excited to see the rest of the season to see how these new questions are answered. However, I am still left hoping that next season they take some more time to get us to the conclusions.

The first episode of this season saw some interesting character development, mostly from Rush. Rush is essentially put in the position of being in charge of the ship and the efforts to take it back from the Alliance. He is faced with some tough decisions, but he handles the burden well. It was just cool for me to see him put in this role without anybody of consequence there to question his actions. It shows that he’s not just on the ship for himself – he will take other people into account too.

Like I said, there was nobody of consequence to dispute Rush’s decisions. There was somebody who came up with an argument, and his name was Eli. Eli continues to be the thorn in my side while watching this show. As Terry and I discuss on the podcasts, Eli just never develops as a character. He is still the same person he was back on earth; he remains at the starting line while everybody else has lapped him numerous times. The fact that everything out of his mouth sounds like whine, whine, something irrelevant and annoying, whine, whine does nothing to help his character. He needs to take some steps forward as a character to keep me liking him even remotely.

Speaking of characters, Robert Knepper makes his SGU debut, and I’ve been waiting for this one. He plays Simeon, one of the new Lucian Alliance characters. He obviously does not like Telford much, and it should be interesting to see their relationship develop. I’m excited about Knepper on the show – it speaks to the producers’ dedication to keeping the caliber of the acting talent high on the show.

On the same note – the best acting on the show this week goes to Ming Na. Her role as Camille Wray was relatively short this week, but she turned in one stellar performance.

Anyway, as I said before, this was a fantastic episode, and, minor gripes aside, was a great way to kick off the new season. If the trailers that have been released have anything to say, they’re telling us that this is going to be one great set of episode. Plus, the trailers hint at some great upcoming character developments, so be on the lookout for those as the season progresses.

Until next time, may you find more questions to ask.

Spoiler Potential: HIGH

We have arrived, at last, at the end of season 1. What a season it’s been. From start to finish this has been one of the best seasons of anything that I’ve seen. From the initial Lucian Alliance attack on Icarus Base to the monumentally epic cliffhanger ending in this episode, SGU has shown that it is a great addition to the Stargate franchise.

I’d like to take a moment to thank the wonderful cast and crew of the show for giving me something to look forward to on Fridays. It’s not often that I spend my entire week anticipating a show, and SGU is easily the best among those that I have. Between the deep characters, spot-on acting, great soundtrack, and some seriously pulse-pounding stories, I get literally everything I need from this one show.

Incursion wraps everything up into one nice, crazy bundle of SGU joy. We’ve got a kick butt set of bad guys in the Lucian Alliance – made so by the complete remake they got after the sissies we saw in SG1 – who have boarded the Destiny and are working to take control of it from the original crew. I’ve heard many complaints online about the last couple of episodes in that not enough happens, really boring, yadda yadda. Forgive my complete lack of understanding, but what? There’s more that happens in this last couple of episodes than happens in most entire seasons of other shows. Granted it wasn’t all guns a-blazin’, epic space battles, and what have you. The things going on in the last couple of episodes are not quite as action packed as perhaps some Stargate fans are used to, but that’s not to say there’s nothing going on.

One of the things that separates SGU from other shows on TV – indeed, separates it from other Stargate shows – is that it doesn’t need to rely on space battles and gun fights to make things interesting. There is a lot of psychological tension in this show, the last few episodes especially. The tension between the Lucian Alliance faction and the original crew is fantastic. The joy of these episodes, at least for me, comes from the tension ramping up and up as the episodes go on. Things really escalate quickly, particularly in part 2. Part 1 dealt a lot with the politics between the two factions, but part 2 shows what happens when those political maneuvering start to disintegrate.

One of the best parts of the last few episodes has been Rhona Mitra, who plays the very despicable Commander Kiva, leader of the Lucian Alliance forces. It is mostly her character that makes the remake of the Alliance work for me. Those who listen to our podcast will know that Terry and I expressed some concern about the idea that the Lucian Alliance would be the series’ “bad guy.” I mean, in SG1, they were patsies with silly uniforms whose one claim to fame was inventing the less-than-exciting, addictive sweet corn. How could they suddenly become this big, evil threat that we’re supposed to care about?

Enter the remake, where the Lucian Alliance comes down in black leather, and functions like an elite military squad. The evolution seems both natural and necessary, and it really works because of Kiva. She is the hard-line, no nonsense leader of the group, and she’s also the personality that makes it work. There is a scene when she kills one of the hostages, one of the no-name military people. Despite the fact that we know nothing of this character, nor do we care for him, the scene is still shocking. It’s the first time we actually see that she is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish her task. Sure, we’d talked about it before this point, but this is the first time we’ve seen it.

Lieutenant Scott had some fascinating scenes in the lest couple of episodes. It seems that we are starting to see him pull away from the military. He has some very interesting discussions with both Young and Greer that stem from the fact that he seems to think the approaches Young is taking are wrong. Both tell him, essentailly, that it’s his job to follow orders, no matter what. Scott doesn’t seem to think he should just do as told, especially when he doesn’t agree with it, and that draws some sympathy from me. I actually didn’t join the military, because I have a very bad (or good, depending on your perspective) habit of questioning demands from others… especially when said demands don’t seem right. Perhaps the more interesting part of this situation is who he is turning to instead of Young and Greer – Camille Wray. It’s like he has seen that she shares his values, and she can stand up to Young. He turned to her in Subversion when Young was torturing Telford. Scott couldn’t actually stand up to Young, because of the chain of command and all, but Wray could, so he let her in on the game. I’m curious to see where this ends up going in season 2.

In the not-so-great department, there are all the scenes between Chloe and Eli. As Terry and I have talked about a few times now on the podcast, I’m really over Eli’s character. He does not grow as a person, and he’s the only one on the Destiny who is the same person in Incursion that he was in Air. Every time they give him a push to start growing, they almost immediately reign him back in. Eli has yet to get over his whiny, college drop out mentality, and he’s gone from sympathetic character to comedic relief to annoying. The scenes between Chloe and Eli were really well written, and they should have been really good. They would have been really good if Eli had grown any in the 20 episodes of the season, but he hasn’t, so the scenes were just more of whiny Eli. I have literally gotten to the point where I pull out the world’s tiniest violin and start playing it every time he opens his mouth.

It was interesting when Chloe finally got around to telling him all about how great of a friend he is. Eli tried to shut the discussion off – he doesn’t, after all, like to think of himself as just a friend – but Chloe would not allow it. They beat briefly around the “I love you” bush a couple of times, but I’m glad we didn’t get the out-and-out “why can’t I be your boyfriend” discussion. More violin playing.

Hopefully, come season 2, Eli will realize that Chloe is with Scott (where she belongs, I might add), and he will move on, comfortable just being a wonderful friend.

Most season finales in the Stargate canon have involved things that looked hopeless that end up being made possible by a string of seemingly random coincidences that allowed the teams to find their unlikely victory. The first season finale of SGU shows us a different side – one where absolutely everything that can go wrong does go wrong. The effect is startling, and it makes for one of the most intense 10 minutes of TV I have ever seen. This is not hyperbole, folks. The climax of Incursion is damn fine, and ranks among the best season finales I’ve ever seen. The last 10 minutes is jaw-dropping, astounding, wonderful. If I was any closer to the edge of my seat, I would have fallen right off it. In particular, the final camera shot, Yound standing and staring upwards as the lights flicker and go out… I’m getting chills just thinking about it.

The only thing left to do is say how unfair it is that I have to wait until freaking October to find out what happens. With a cliffhanger this intense, it’s going to be a looooooooooooooong wait.

It’s been a pleasure watching SGU as it’s unfolded through its first 20 episodes. It’s neat to see a TV show that actually continues to get better as time goes along. With few exceptions, every episode of SGU was better than the previous one – especially in the back half of the season. Moving forward into season 2 (and hopefully far beyond), I have very high expectations. I have no doubts that the brilliant folks that bring this show together will deliver.

That’s going to wrap up my reviews for this season. It’s been fun. Be sure to check out the Hiatus Project section of the site for our weekly live chats. We’ll be doing a shorter run for the summer break – 5 chats, 2 episodes per chat. We had a lot of fun with these chats during the hiatus, and I expect things will be even more entertaining this time around. Also be sure to check out our podcast, Two Geeks and a Mic, for some laughs, random discussions, and more SGU-related good times.

So, until October, here’s to a great season 2!

Cheers!

Spoiler Danger: High

Incursion picks up right where subversion left off with Young watching as the atmosphere vents from Telford’s quarters. Funny thing, though. It turns out that Young was correct the entire time, and Telford was brainwashed by the Alliance. Killing him, and subsequently bringing him back to life gets rid of the mind control… so, voila, Telford’s a good guy for the first time all series. Interesting.

As the name implies, there is an incursion. In a scenario that oddly mirrors the Alliance attack from Air, the Lucian Alliance is forced to activate the gate and jump through as they are being attacked, this time by Homeworld Security. Unlike the crew from Icarus planet, however, this crew shows up uniquely prepared. Even though Young had been warned and sets up what seems like an effective trap – he even has the quick solution of venting the atmosphere, which he fails to do – the Alliance is prepared and strikes back quickly. This results in what I hope is the beginning of what Terry and I were hoping for in last week’s podcast. The Lucian Alliance has hostages, the gate room, and, perhaps most importantly, TJ.

The rest of the crew has the control room, fewer hostages, and the medical bay. Oh, and they have Rush, who is furious that Young didn’t vent atmosphere to save the ship. Interesting to see them fighting again.

It seems as the ship itself has some problems as well, as it is behaving very strangely. It doesn’t jump back to hyperspace after the Alliance gets on board, and it strangely causes and man to disintegrate. I can’t wait to see how this shapes up in the next episode.

I really don’t have too many thoughts on this episode outside of what I already discussed. Most of the episode was a series of events that set up what is going to happen in part 2. There were a couple of other notable things – including how Telford seemed to pick up on TJ’s pregnancy (and I think he knows Young is the father), and he goes out of his way to make sure Keva doesn’t make an example out of her. Another thing that makes me wonder: how long can Eli’s iPhone last? Don’t the batteries die eventually?

Anyway, that’s all for this week. Tune in next week for a full review of the complete story arc, from Subversion straight through to the season finale, plus some final thoughts on the season as a whole.

Until then, know the joy of crashing the party.

Spoiler Danger: High

Ah, we finally have the long-awaited return of Colonel Telford, SGU’s character I love to hate the most. And what a return it is.

Rush and Telford switch bodies via the communication stones, and this sets up the story arc for the next three episodes as we go into what is essentially a three episode season finale.

This episode shows us quite a bit of a darker side of Young. Rush begins seeing residual memories from Telford – memories of working with the Lucian Alliance. Young allows him to swap bodies with Telford, which gives him a chance to interrogate Telfod aboard the Destiny. The interrogations start off innocently enough, two guys sharing some alocohol, but they degenerate swiftly as Telford is locked in a room without food or water, questioned by Young and eventually General O’Neil (who makes his first trip to the Destiny), and finally culminating with the venting of the atmosphere of Telford’s quarters.

This is interesting, because, as I mentioned before, it shows us a darker side of Young. We’ve seen shades of his darker side before, but never have we seen is thrust so far into the spotlight. As the episode ends, with Young standing on the other side of the door, watching with cool detachment as the atmosphere is vented from around Telford, I couldn’t help but wonder if his grip on sanity was coming just a little loose. Granted that the Lucian Alliance is a group of bad, bad people who have no qualms about killing anybody who stands between them and whatever goal they trying to accomplish, but still… torture?

There was a very telling conversation in General O’Neil’s office between the General, Young, and Danial Jackson. They are discussing the questioning of Telford, and Jackson asks “He still has rights, doesn’t he?” The question is waived off by the other two. Even when the General is aboard the Destiny, seeing what is going on, he gives his approval to take the interrogation to the “next level.” So, what’s worse than the fact that Young is torturing Telford is the fact that it’s condoned by his superiors.

I appreciated Wray’s role in this episode. She’s the voice of reason, the one pleading for his rights. Her role in the episode, while not too lengthy, is important. She pleads with Young to stop. She pleads with Scott and Greer – who seem to be charged with guarding the door while Young is visiting Earth – to stop. And the differences in opinion between Greer and Scott are fascinating as well. While Greer is all jazzed up and ready to jump in there and join Young in the torture, Scott is more on the fence. He seems torn between doing what Young, as his commanding officer, wants him to do versus what he believes is right. He makes a concession to what he thinks is right when he tells Wray the details of what is going on. With Greer, we know what side of the fence he is on. It will be interesting to see where Scott lands. I have my guesses – I’ll let you know how close I was once the season is over (assuming, of course, that we have an answer by that time).

As I mentioned before, Rush was the one who swapped bodies with Telford. Once on earth, he tries to make contact with the Lucian Alliance, and flubs it up. The Alliance, this branch of which is led by a cold woman named Keva, quickly discovers that he is not actually Telford and whisks him away on a Goa’uld ship. As an aside, it was really neat to see a Goa’uld vessel in the show. Anyway, after being kidnapped, Rush is tortured by Keva. She wants to know who he really is. After spilling the beans, they take him to their new Icarus-type world, where they have set up a copy of the Icarus base and are trying to get aboard the Destiny.

There are a couple of interesting things going on here. First is the comparisons of torture between the two scenarios. In one, a character we hate (Telford) is being tortured, and it is for the “greater good” from the perspective, supposedly, of the Destiny’s crew. As I was watching the show, there was certainly a part of me that wanted to think that Young’s actions, while not great from a humanitarian perspective, were necessary. I mean, if O’Neill will approve it, the stakes must be dire indeed, right? In the other part of the episode, there is a character who I’ve come to like (Rush) who is getting tortured as well. While it is in the best interest for the Lucian alliance, the feelings that I had while watching the show were ones of repulsion and horror. When you boil it down, though, both men are being tortured, yet because of the way the characters were developed, we, as the audience, are supposed to have different reactions to it. I’d be curious to hear thoughts about the way you felt about the torture in the comments.

The second interesting tidbit is that The Lucian Alliance now has Rush working on their systems, trying to get their Stargate to dial the ninth chevron. They killed their other lead scientist after Rush called him a moron, so that means that while Young is busy trying to find out what the Alliance’s plans are from Telford, the Alliance is actually using the opportunity to come closer to completing that plan. How ironic.

One other part of the episode I wanted to mention was the relationship that is forming between TJ and Chloe. I really like it. As TJ struggles with the complexities that come with being pregnant on the Destiny, it is always Chloe who is there to offer her some comfort. Between her finding more of a role on the ship and her new friendship with TJ, I really like how Chloe is evolving as a character.

Taken as a whole, I think this episode was very strong. The balance and the contrast between the predicaments of Telford and Rush was very well done. The acting, as always, was super – particularly Ming Na as her horror at Telford’s torture grows. Very good stuff, and I really can’t wait until next Friday, when the next episode airs.

Until then, may you take a step back.

Spoiler Danger: None

What an adequately named episode.

I’m not so sure I should be writing this review right now. I just finished my first viewing of the episode, and I’m a little breathless. I tell you, TV just does not get much better than SGU. I “Pain” is a VERY intense episode – my heart is still pounding.

The first scene of the episode rocked my world. I was literally hanging off the edge of my seat, stunned in disbelief of the things I saw. It defied my expectations, and then we got to see why the events took place, and even though it made sense, I still haven’t quite gotten over that initial shock.

I am really quite unsure what to say about this episode. I could get into the details, but that would spoil things that shouldn’t be spoiled. This episode is one that really has to be experienced to be appreciated, and I won’t deprive anybody of that.

I’ll do my best to give my impressions of the episode without getting into actual detail. The episode is, as I said before, intense. Now, I say a lot about SGU, but this was a new level even for them. “Pain” is on the level of “Time” as far as great storytelling and edge of your seat moments. The writing and acting here really shine through.

Speaking of, let me tell you a story. It’s related, I promise. I am not a fan of horror movies. Especially new ones. See, the very idea of psychological horror has fallen by the wayside, and now we are left with movies that give us gore in place of that suspense. We have come to mistake “grossed-out” for “scared”. Worse still, horror movies lack the most critical thing (as far as I’m concerned) that makes for an actual scary movie: characters! Seriously, horror movies would be about 90 million times more effective if they took some time to build the characters in the movies. Let’s see, the current hottest horror movie franchise out there, for what I hear, is the Saw series. I’ll admit to being a fan of the first one, but the ones after that kind of fell off into drivel-land. Gah. The difference between the movies is simple, character development. In the first one, we got to know the main characters throughout the movie. Therefore, what happened to them was far more compelling than what happens to the people in the subsequent sequels.

Enter SGU. Terry and I have talked at great length in our Podcast about how well the first half of the season has paid off in the second half. The first ten episodes really showed us these characters, laid them out for us so we came to know them as we might our friends. The back half of the season has taken these folks we’ve gotten to know so well and thrown them through hell, and “Pain” is a great example of this. This episode, quite simply, would not have worked without us having first experienced the first half of the season. Because I care about these characters, their individual stories were beyond just intense, they were scary. This, folks, is the stuff of nightmares. Sure, you can take a step back and realize that it’s not really THAT bad, but while you’re there in the moment, this stuff is scary as hell.

Aside from being one hell of a ride, this episode had the really neat benefit of giving us glimpses into the psyches of many of the show’s characters. The mechanics of the things that happened in the episode (which is a really long-winded way of not telling you what those mechanics are) allowed the writers and actors to show us some things that we don’t normally get to see, the darker side of some of the characters – their greatest fears. We are confronted with them, they are, for all intents and purposes, shoved in our faces, handed to us for examination, and I ate up every moment of it.

As I sit here thinking about this episode, I realize that I am remembering it differently than I usually remember these episodes. It’s very hard to explain, but usually I remember the parts I really liked, or the parts I really didn’t like, and those feelings of like and dislike are attached to those memories. This one is a bit different, though. It’s like I’m not so much remembering it as feeling it. That makes no sense, but in my head, I feel the darkness in the moments I remember, feel the intensity. This was a very vivid episode for me, and I don’t think I’ll forget it any time soon.

OK, so this has turned from a review of the episode into me babbling like an old man in his rocker. “Back in my day… uphill both ways… etc, etc”. So, I’ll stop now before I actually get to that point. Don’t forget to take a listen to the podcast later in the week, where I will undoubtedly make a fool of myself (as usual).

Until then, may you find something that scares you.

I believe this is the first time we’ve heard the phrase “incoming wormhole” in SGU. It made me so nostalgically happy, gave me flashbacks to all the great SG1 episodes where they said that, it was easily my favorite part of the whole episode.

On to the episode.

Spoiler danger is epically high. don’t read this until you’ve watched the episode.

The end of this episode, quite honestly, left me picking my jaw up off the floor. It still aches a little bit…

This whole episode, top to bottom, was fantastic. It told a great story, it was, of course, acted really well, and (most importantly) it did several things I never would have expected out of a Stargate show.

Like the previous episode, “Lost” focuses primarily on one character: Greer. It’s about damn time! As the second half of this season has progressed, I’ve come to like Greer more each episode. Yet, after last week, he was the one major character about whom we knew nothing. “Lost” rectifies this problem, and it does so with panache. Greer’s flashbacks, combined with his camp fire hallucinations really do a great deal to not only build his character, but also to explain some parts of his personality that we’ve seen thus far. Much like last week’s episode did with Rush, I feel like I know Greer better as a person and have come to respect him more as such.

That being said, there is a pitfall that I noticed. I really, really hope that Greer’s hallucinations don’t change him. There’s a serious possibility with the things Greer’s father was saying to him that he withdraws and starts to dislike the people around him. As his father said “There is only you.” If Greer takes this to heart, there’s a possibility that he turns down a dark path. I will be disappointed if this turns out to be the case.

I wanted to punch Riley in the face a the end of the episode. Just FYI.

Eli… was… annoying… again. When his first lines are something along the lines of whine whine whine I was pretty much done with him throughout the episode. Perhaps more maddening is his consistent flip flopping between whiny teenager and more mature adult. Some scenes he’s, well, whining, and others he’s genuinely looking for a solution. Each time he shifts into the latter mode, I find myself hoping he’ll stay there – that he’ll be a more mature, productive member of the team. Instead, he slips back down into nervous breakdown mode that leaves me wanting to pull out my hair. Mind you, my dislike of him is meant in a good way – this is what his character is, and David Blue does a good job of portraying him as such. Nevertheless, I can’t help but hope the writer’s find a way to transition him into a less whiny role.

On a brighter note, I really, really love Chloe’s new role as the observant curious type. I’m not quite sure where she’s finding this knowledge she’s been wielding the last few episodes, but I love the fact that she’s got a role on the team now.

Anybody else find it interesting that it’s the “love triangle” that was left behind? I’m not sure if something big is coming from that direction, but I am certainly open to that possibility.

We also finally got to witness the moment when TJ told Young about their baby. His reaction was totally not what I was expecting.  And that’s a good thing. This is yet another example of a way I thought things could have been handled poorly, but the writers did exactly what they needed to do to make it awesome. I would not have changed even one single thing about that scene. Between the dialog and the acting, this was one of the more memorable scenes in the show.

Finally, how about that ending? I mentioned near the beginning that I had to scoop my jaw up off the floor. It was really just cruel the way they set that up, only to twist it back and end it like they did. I was breathless. This is TV, everything is resolved after an hour of drama. Except… not so much here. Not until I saw Rush walk through the gate did it even occur to me that Scott and team wouldn’t make it back on the ship in time. I’m still having trouble believing it.

This is the kind of cliffhanger you’d expect to see at the end of a season, but no. Leave it to SGU to give us an epic ending like this right in the middle of the season. I’m more excited than ever to see net week’s episode.

Is it Friday yet?

Check out our Two Geeks and a Mic area a bit later this week to listen to Terry and I was we wax philosophical about this episode. Also, join me next week when I get to talk about what happens next.

Until then, may you find something nostalgic to be giddy about.