Stargate Universe: Resurgence

Welcome back Stargate Universe (SGU) fans.

Watching Tuesday’s episode, Resurgence, was so bittersweet knowing that we would have to wait until April 2011 before a new episode aired, and the greenlight for Stargate Universe season 3 had not yet been announced.

If you have not seen this episode, please know that my review below will contain complete spoilers.

In every episode written by Joe Mallozzi, you are going to find a fair amount of snarkiness. The snark-o-meter rang high during Resurgence (as you will be able to see down below in my favorite lines). You will also be guaranteed a large amount of action. Will Waring was back once again to help direct this mid-season finale.

We open with Rush (Robert Carlyle) on the bridge, trying to be patient with the perceived incompetence in the others working their stations. Dr. Brody (Peter Kelamis) discovers a signal; Destiny goes to investigate.

Before dropping out of FTL, Rush tries to radio Eli (David Blue) but getting no response, he pays him a personal visit. Rush knows only too well the grief Eli is experiencing.

Destiny comes across the remnants of a space battle, a graveyard as Camile (Ming-Na) called it.

Rush suggests Brody should be the one to explore this site; Brody looks quite pleased with that.

Things continue to get awkward with Scott (Brian Jacob Smith) and Chloe (Elyse Levesque). Chloe’s metamorphosis is accelerating. She calls Scott out for the lack of intimacy between them as evidence that he knows where the road is leading (or as the writers will have us believe). I am still rooting for a metamorphosis of Chloe to part alien to give her superhero powers, but they discover that she is an ally and not an enemy.

Having made a personal connection with Eli when his mom’s health took a turn for the worse on Earth, Camile tries to get him to open up.

Scott, Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) and Brody leave to investigate one of the ships in the debris field. Another ship powers up; it looks like a beetle.

After finding their target sites, Greer makes the initial jump (as the locks are not perfectly sealed).

A thought crossed my mind seeing Greer with a gun on the alien ship. What use are the guns in a zero-gravity environment? Has NASA ever fired a gun in space? Surely it would be propelled some distance, but to have a deadly impact. Apparently a gun can fire in space. “Gunfire is a controlled contained fire which expands and propels a projectile out of its confinement. There must be oxygen, fuel and heat present to have fire.

At first glance one would think since there is no oxygen in space that a gun could not fire, but that is not true. There is oxidizer present within gunpowder sufficient to fire the gun. Guns can fire underwater too, but when the gun barrel is filled with water there may be enough resistance within the barrel to cause it to burst. In space however, not only can the gun fire, but likely better than on Earth, since as stated earlier the water in the barrel offers dangerous resistance, air in the barrel offers a minute amount of drag as well, in space, a gunshot would have no air resistance and thus more muzzle velocity than on Earth.”

I also discovered that “a gun will fire in the vacuum of space. And with approximately 14 psi more force due to the lack of atmospheric pressure. The powder contains the oxidizer needed for the explosion. In free fall or gravity-less situation the recoil or ‘kick’ could move the shooter.”

Meanwhile, on Destiny, TJ (Alaina Huffman) visits Varro (Mike Dopud). He says, “I haven’t seen you in awhile.” Does this suggest that TJ has been seeing Varro on a regular basis? He inquires about the Eden dwellers and her baby, and tries to show comfort after she shares that her baby was not among them, that Destiny was trying to protect her. He grabs her hand, suggesting that he would protect her as well.  I am looking forward to the future episodes that Joe Mallozzi spoke of on his blog where a love triangle erupts between Varro, TJ, and Young.

TJ spots movement outside Varro’s window. Shortly thereafter, she has to leave; Varro wants to help. The writers are not quite ready for that (but soon).

The Destiny shows the crew the battle simulation. Eli realizes that some ships are just shut down and tells them they have to leave. NOW! Young (Louis Ferreira) radios Scott, Greer and Brody to return.

An visually stunning space battle ensues courtesy of the amazing talents of Mark Savela and his team. I can only imagine the number of days, or weeks, they spent on those sequences.

After trying to communicate and waiting an appropriate amount of time for a response, given the hostiles are not firing upon Destiny, Young orders them to return fire. Once again we see the talents of the visual effects team as the shuttle returns to Destiny and blows up a bad guy in the process.

I wonder if Dr. Park liked firing the big guns?

The FTL engines are offline and things do not look good. Another ship drops out of FTL. Guess who’s coming to dinner? Yahoo! Colonel Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) is back!

They are headed for cover and power-up in the local star, a place their enemies cannot follow. This is Varro’s first time flying in a star. The visual effects shots of a star power-up never gets old, but this time, we are treated to two ships.

Telford comes aboard and recounts his story of his time on the alien ship, what he learned about the Ursini and who their enemies are. The Ursini want Destiny’s help.

Eli pays a visit to Chloe to keep her abreast of the latest. She does not believe the Ursini can be trusted.

The Ursini want Destiny to attack the command carrier. Rush wants to buy Destiny some time to make repairs and double-cross the Ursini until the repairs can be made. The Ursini are going to give Destiny a lift in FTL. Rush does not see the problem with this until Young says that they hold the key to dialing Earth, which tells Rush that Young is still not 100% committed to Destiny’s mission.

Rush returns to the bridge and spots an error Eli is making. Eli has his mind on other things. Rush is blunt about Eli’s loss and about Eli’s ability to be able to control that even with all of his abilities. It sounded like Rush was paraphrasing from the talk Scott had with him on the Malice planet.

The Ursini accept the deal and jumps Destiny together with the seed ship.

They drop out of FTL too soon. The Ursini have tricked them and placed them right before the command carrier.

The Destiny engages in battle with the ships from the command carrier.

Chloe wants to help and grabs Eli a little bit too hard but once out of her room, she knocks the guard out (Cpl. Baras, played by Jacob Blair) and leaves (great stunt sequence from James Bamford and company). Even doors can no longer contain Chloe, but Young sends Scott out to find her.  Lt. Vanessa James (Julia Benson) also helps.

The infirmary is packed with patients and TJ sends for Varro to come and help.

Scott finds Chloe at a console but says, “It’s too late.” The seed ship is not responding. There is nowhere to fall back. Destiny is getting a beating and the shields are almost gone. And this is where we are CRUELY left until April 2011.

FAVORITE LINES

I had so many favorite lines in this episode.

1. The opening sequence, but especially:
Rush to Brody: Mr. Brody, please don’t make me come over there.
Brody: “Why don’t you by my guest?”

2. Young to Rush: “What do you mean distant? We’re on a spaceship in the middle of nowhere. From where I’m sitting, EVERYTHING is distant.”

3. When Dr. Park (Jennifer Spence) suggests the signal may be that of intelligent life, Rush says, “Best-case scenario” in his opinion.
Volker (Patrick Gilmore): For real??? Do I have to remind everyone of what happened the last time we encountered an alien life form, or the time before that, OR the time before that.
Park: But you can’t judge a neighborhood by a bunch of bad neighbors.
Volker: Are you kidding? That’s EXACTLY how you judge a neighborhood.

4. Eli to Camile: “…and screw The Last Starfighter because all these hours playing HALO didn’t prepare me for this.”

5. Eli to Camile: “You guys are worried because I’m a little distracted?”
Camile: We’re worried because given recent events you should be a hell of a lot more than just a little distracted.

6. Eli to Camile about Riley (Haig Sutherland): “You know what’s weird? Sometimes I’ll forget that he’s gone. I’ll actually walk into the gate room and turn my head and for a splint second, I wonder where the hell he is, and then I remember.
Camile: He was a very important part of your life here.
Eli: When your whole world collapses down to less than 100 people in a confined space, it all becomes important to you, Camile. Riley was part of the ship and losing him…it wasn’t just sad, it was wrong.
Camile: What about losing Ginn?” (Julie McNiven)

Eli gives her a look like “don’t go there” and backs out. Ming-Na and David Blue had some stellar acting in a beautifully written scene.

7. Greer to Brody: So when did you finish fixing the third suit?

Brody: Yesterday. It’s perfectly safe.
Greer: Alright. Wait, wait, wait. How come I’m wearing it and you’re not?
Brody: Easier to fix if something goes wrong…which it won’t…in all likelihood.

Peter Kelamis has such great comedic timing. I am glad the writers are giving our guest-stars some opportunities to shine.

8. Greer to Brody: “Just shut up and let me work.” The “shut up” phrase is getting as much air play as “a lot of work.”

9. When an alert pings on the bridge, Young says, “What the hell was that?”
Eli: It’s Destiny letting us know it finished assembling the simulation….either that or pie’s done.

Yum! Could that be a nice blueberry alien pie?

10. When Young asks Eli to communicate with the alien hostiles: “I want you to broadcast a message.”
Eli: In Ancient?
Young: Ancient, English, bat signal, whatever else you’ve got. Tell them we are not a threat.

11. Wray to Young: “As simple as that.”
Young: I doubt it will be simple. I’m hoping for a step up from impossible.

12. On the bridge, when Rush points out that Eli’s error was causing problems, Eli says, “Shit.” I have listened to this 20 times now. Closed captioning says he says, “shoot”, and with closed captioning on, I could possibly be persuaded to hear “shoot.” But with my eyes closed with no closed captioning on, it’s “shit.” File this under: I love when “shit” gets past the censors!

13. Rush to Eli that he hasn’t screwed up…yet: “I’m sure with your present attitude it’s only a matter of time.”

It was difficult for me to write this review. Subconsciously I think by not writing it, I could imagine that next week there was going to be another new episode. It now will be 4 months before I get to write another SGU review. I will continue to hope through the month of December that we get our Christmas present: SGU has been renewed for season 3. Until then, keep letting both Syfy and MGM hear your voice.

Thank you again for reading this post. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or contact me via Facebook or Twitter. You are welcome to use WormholeRiders News Agency new “share” feature as well. Have a lovely day.

Hilda Bowen (aka PBMom)