Things heat up appropriately enough in the second half of the
first season of Stargate: Universe to make this show truly entertaining. As the
first set chronicles, this new Stargate show takes a far more gritty and
realistic (at least for Stargate) view at a group of combined soldiers and
scientists who find themselves stranded aboard an ancient space craft that’s
located several galaxies away from Earth. With no hope of getting back, the crew
must do what it can to survive as best they can aboard the colossal spaceship.
However, thanks to an alien device that enables them to switch bodies with volunteers back on Earth, this brought
forth all sorts of soap opera angst that made certain episodes unwatchable.
Thankfully, the second half largely eschews the soapy subplots and concentrates
on what’s happening on the ship itself, and there’s a whole lotta shaking going
on. Aliens make a grab for the ship--as well as for Chloe (Elyse Levesque)
herself--in the first episode, Space. Unlike the usual aliens previously seen on
Stargate shows, which were either human-like (or just plain human), these alien
invaders are as outlandish as CGI effects could make them, and they’re a welcome
addition to the show, as they provide some much needed antagonists for our lost
heroes to fight against. In Divided, a new problem crops up when Rush and Wray
(Ming Ma) work together to try and seize control of the ship from Colonel Young
(Louis Ferreira) and his team. It’s impressive how the first two episodes
already make up for the dreary drama of the first half of the season.
But the second half is not all action. The third episode, Faith, is a nice focus
on TJ (Alaina Huffman) as she grapples with a personal problem, which leads to a
shocking decision. Starting with the episode Human, Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith),
Chloe, and Eli (David Blue) are trapped in an
abandoned underground complex while the rest of the crew have no choice but to
leave them when Destiny automatically departs. The writers do a great job at
playing this storyline over several episodes while deftly maintaining the
suspense, and ending it in such a way that one would never expect. There’s a major misstep in how Dr. Rush’s character is handled, such as in the
same episode, Human, where a reason is given for his
behavior.
While it was a great showcase episode for Robert Carlyle, who runs with the storyline
he’s given, I felt it also defangs his character too much, too soon. But the
overall season ends with a bang (literally) with the two part finale: Incursion.
The Lucian Alliance, a group of villains introduced near the end of
Stargate: SG-1’s run, makes a daring play for the Destiny when they manage to
board the ship. Guest Star Rhona Mitra (Doomsday) is superb as their cold-blooded
leader. There’s commentary on every episodes,
as well as plenty of behind the scenes features including interviews, and making
of documentaries. Stargate: Universe has been picked up for a second season by
the Sy Fy Channel, and if they manage to continue the forward momentum that
began here, then I’ll gladly re-up with the crew of the Destiny.
--SF
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