Stargate Universe: Season 2 Episode 12 “Twin Destinies” Analysis with Full Episode Video

Welcome back Stargate Universe fans!!!

Wow, this has been a while since I have written a review for Stargate Universe. Did you miss me?

I know that last review I wrote was way back when with the season one tenth episode “Space”. That was a great experience for me as I have never ever accomplished something of sharing my perspectives like that before.

Although I wrote my “Space” review as a play-by-play of what occurred, this one is more of my impressions of what I thought about and of “Twin Destinies”. Several sections of “Twin Destinies” (directed by Stargate legend Peter DeLuise) are pointed out either as to what caught my eye the most or what I found especially entertaining. So be prepared that I may jump all over the episode with this review. Let us get on with the reason why you are here, my analysis.

We start off with a meeting of all essential bodies discussing their options of fixing the Destiny. Unfortunately with no parts or any clue as to how to fix the ship, the only apparently viable option is what Eli Wallace (David Blue) suggests. That option is to dial the ninth chevron and go home to Earth while recharging Destiny in a sun!

Of course Dr Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) rejects that reasoning. Even if they did manage to dial the gate and go home, it could very well blow up the ship according to Rush. With no one really caring *mainly cause they would be on their way home*, Rush speaks up and suggests that some people may  want to stay behind with him and continue on the mission and journey aboard Destiny.

Rush is one of these people that is hard to figure out. He started off as a very conniving individual who is hell bend on doing what has to be done as long as “his” mission is completed. Then later on you see that he does genuinely care for people until something or someone threatens his plans. Then as we have observed he goes right back to his old ways.

I had really thought that when he started “seeing” his wife Gloria Rush (Louise Lombard) and Dr. Jeremy Franklin (Mark Burgess) in the actual bridge, that he would lighten up a bit. And for a while he did. What was a surprise actually was Col. Everett Young (Louis Ferreira) siding with Rush in his decision to stay aboard Destiny. This actually shocked me more than surprized me. However that was a short lived change of heart in Rush as we soon discover. I wondered if we will see a real change of heart in “Twin Destinies”? Let’s find out!

Why on earth would anyone what to stay aboard the Destiny when you have a way home is beyond me. Maybe Rush has got something to prove to someone, or to himself. Which I think is most likely. It is like he can never ever be wrong. And when someone does point out something that he might have overlooked, he gets agitated and lashes out to whoever is in close proximity.

Of course every chance Col. David Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) could get to undermine Col Young  or especially Rush, he was going to do it. When they were all gathered in the gate room (the first time), Telford took the opportunity to have his say. Not sure if it would have worked or not, Young seems to have the backing of everyone on board. Well, almost everyone.

Eli I have found has grown a lot since the beginning, and especially since the death of Ginn (Julie McNiven). He’s gotten more outspoken, especially when up against Rush in certain matters. We seen that when he stood up to Young after Rush was left on the planet, “well you should have thought of that before you got rid of Rush!”.

Two of the best recent scenes occurred in “Twin Destinies” and both were hilarious. The first was the return of Dr. Bill Lee (Bill Dow) in an exchange of conscience mind with Eli via the Ancient Communications Stones when they talked about computer gaming. Leave it to the two great geeks of Stargate, Eli and Dr. Lee to discuss gaming during a crisis!

The second was a chat between Lt. Tamara Johansen (Alaina Huffman) and Lt. Vanessa James (Julia Benson) about Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett). The ladies including Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) were comparing Eli to the other genius’ of the Stargate program and were having a very hard time thinking past Dr. Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks). Then they suddenly and a bit reluctantly recalled that McKay had leered at each of them in the past before the mission. (David Hewlett returns to reprise his role in the Stargate Universe episode “Seizure” to be aired in April 2011)

These next set of pictures are taken from various places in the episode. I think that the special effects are nothing but brilliant. For someone like me that does not have a clue how it is done, Mr. Mark Savela and his team really out-do themselves in every episode. I mean, I understand the concept of the green screen when the actors are in the gate room and such, but this with the computer generated special effects are beyond me. I will just sit back and enjoy. I am completely amazed with the brilliance of his teams VFX work.

OK, I do not know if you feel the same as I do or not, but does it creep you out that we have TWO Dr. Rush’s? When I watched “Twin Destinies” The geeky-ness factor (yes it is my new word for today) just went up a few levels! We have seen in the other two Stargate series (Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis) the usages of parallel universes and what happens when you have the same person in the one reality. Only goes to show how they make it different in each situation.

After the failed attempt to get the crew safely home and with two Rush’s on-board after the discovery of the second alternate reality Destiny, the only course of action was a salvage mission to obtain the spare parts required.

With two Rush’s that means double the deception! Rush ‘A’ is bad enough, but having Rush ‘B’ as well, that is a recipe for disaster. Although with Telford being his usual charming self *snicker*, he and Rush ‘B’ got into a little dispute. I do not think that Telford had much respect for Rush anyway, though it makes one wonder if there were any differences at all from Rush ‘B’s reality compared to Rush ‘A’s. I used the concept of Rush ‘A’ and ‘B’ from Teddy and Ajay when they were discussing the episode on InnerSPACE on SPACE channel.

Though we all know that you can’t push Rush too much, he will only push right back. And unfortunately for Telford, we see just that. But if you think about it, if we have two Rush’s, which Telford is this one? And for that matter, why didn’t Rush ‘B’ experience tropic cascade failure like Dr. Samantha Carter did in the episode “Point of View” from Stargate SG-1?

She was in the same time dimension as Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) in no time when she started having problems. You can’t have two of the same person in the same universe. Or can you?? I guess we are left to ponder that one. Or maybe they can answer that at the next convention they attend. If someone could ask that, can you please let me know the answer? 😉

After Rush ‘B’ shoved Telford, the mere look on Rush’s face made me think that maybe he felt guilty of killing Telford. At one point, it looked like Rush was going to grab for Telford and save him (if that was even possible) when he was reaching out for him. Then of course when Rush ‘B’ realizes he can not help Telford, he leaves and heads off.

Of course it does not help matters when Rush ‘A’ and Lt. Scott finds the dead Col Telford and hurries off leaving the young Lt behind. Again, same old Rush. It’s scary that even though they are from a different time, space and experience, they are still the same in all other aspects.

Now I can never end off this analysis without adding my thoughts about Varro (Mike Dopud). Albeit he has a small appearance Mr. Dopud is still lovely to see as I am sure all the ladies agree!

But no review of mine is not complete without having a nice butt shot of Varro from behind, LOL. I HAD to add in that picture for a certain someone who loves to look, LOL *wink*.

Now as soon as I observed this, I couldn’t help myself but tweet something a little typical of me. I will tone it down here, because I never know who is actually reading this. But can you say “Varro a tad bit roasted.”? LOL

At the end of the episode while the spare parts have been procured, the fate of the remainder of the crew is unknown. The twin Rush’s do the right thing with alternate Rush sacrificing his life to maintain control of alternate Destiny allowing Rush and Lt. Scott to barely escape.

As alternate reality Destiny is destroyed in the star and since only Telford actually made it to Earth, this leaves one to believe that the others were either killed or transported to another destination as a result of the unstable wormhole.

The crew compliment of Destiny is now at a bare bones level!

Support your local Stargate and make tune in live to find out what has happened and help boost the ratings. We thank you for your support. Stargate Universe returns with “Alliances” on March 21 in the United States and March 22, 2011 in Canada on the SPACE Channel. In the meantime we include the full episode courtesy of Syfy for your pleasure. Enjoy!

And again, thank you for popping by the WormholeRiders News Agency. Hope you come again. And I shall try to have the next one out sooner. You can leave a comment on here or you can message me, karenford1, on twitter by clicking on my avatar.

Thank you.

XO