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Stargate Universe: Faith

After the last two action-packed episodes, ‘Faith’ seemed much sleepier and introspective. I certainly don’t mind a little down time, but I’m a bit concerned the writers just tried to sweep away the lingering tensions between the military and civilian contingents by giving a few nods to the issue, saying “now we’ve got a month to work it out,” and then having everyone mend fences during a music montage. Seriously? I had high hopes for ongoing conflict after last week, and if this is the way they are resolving things, I’m going to be very disappointed.

The main plot driver for the episode --- who created the mysterious sun and planet and why --- was actually pretty intriguing. I’ve got to wonder if maybe Kane was right about the planet. It seems beyond strange that a star and planet so similar to our own would just appear out of nowhere. It can’t be random chance that they stumbled onto this nearly perfect Earth-like world, especially when the age of the star and planet didn’t jibe. To quote Fox Mulder from The X-Files, “if coincidence is just coincidence, then why does it feel so contrived?” So was this place put there by “the most incredibly advanced aliens ever,” or are we supposed to believe it was the divine? I wonder if we’ll ever learn the answer.

Of course, the really big news from this episode is that T.J. is pregnant. I had read that Alaina Huffman gave birth in December, so I was wondering if her pregnancy would be incorporated into the storyline. I was really hoping it wouldn’t be, because the prospect of the whole “Young as baby daddy” plot felt a little too soap opera to me. Plus, introducing a baby is almost certain to lead us down overused and unwelcome storytelling paths. But, alas, they have incorporated the pregnancy into the show and, yes, Young is the baby’s father. Ack. Now we’re likely going to have to suffer through either (1) T.J. and/or the baby getting kidnapped, (2) her child aging rapidly or becoming some other magical wonder, or (3) her child dying. And as much as I don’t want to see Options 1 and 2, I REALLY don’t want to see Option 3. That would be too dark for me at this point.

I will say that while I’m not thrilled with this development, I think Alaina Huffman played her scenes beautifully (and she looked lovely with her hair down on the planet). I particularly liked her scenes with Chloe and Matt and the moment when she decided to obey orders and return to the ship. How awful for T.J. to be forced to choose duty over her child’s welfare. Maybe the real reason she wanted to stay on the planet was to avoid ever having to tell Young, but I think the concerns she voiced about raising a child on that ship were certainly valid.

Other Thoughts

So we are down a few more crew members, including Dr. Kane (who, again, I kept expecting to be revealed as some kind of undercover alien).

Why was the obelisk sending a mysterious beam into space? Was it really an alien recall signal?

Chloe and Scott seem back on the path to reconciliation. I can’t decide whether I’m happy they resolved their issues during the music montage. It could have been interesting to really see them get into stuff, but, then again, it could have been really exasperating.

I did not understand why Rush wanted Young to force people to come back. He didn’t want to lose the extra hands to help with repairs and such? At least Young called him out on his reversal in attitude about the use of military force. That man is so totally out for himself. Wray is right that they can’t trust him.

The location they found with the river and the mountains in the distance was stunningly beautiful. I could understand wanting to stay there forever.

Interesting that during the music montage, the planet-bound folk actually seemed pretty happy and relaxed, while those on the ship just seemed overworked and steeped in malaise. Why would anyone want to go back to that?

The pairing of Wray and Eli was interesting. I liked their short scene on the couch, discussing whether the bigger mistake was sending people to the planet or not going with them.

They found some new and potentially dangerous thing on the ship that “looks like a robot.” Something we’ll be seeing again, no doubt.

I was unsettled by Young telling Rush he liked chess and trying to make nice with him. Yes, they all have to learn how to live together and deal with each other professionally, but that doesn’t mean Rush and Young need to be buddies. Young reaching out seems to go way beyond a “special effort at the spirit of cooperation.” After all that has passed between them, I just can’t see those two settling into a “beautiful friendship.” I like them better at loggerheads. At least Rush seemed equally perplexed by Young’s efforts.

I chuckled at Eli’s mention of the Genesis device and his exasperation that no one seemed to know it was a Wrath of Khan reference.

Medical update: It seems Franklin is the only one left in the infirmary now.

Quotes

This episode was unusually quotable.

Young: “You look like you’re ready to drop dead.”
Rush: “And that would be a bad thing?”

Eli: “OK, OK. Just to say this out loud. Assuming that this star and this planet were created by the most incredibly advanced aliens ever, maybe they don’t want anyone messing around with it.”
Young: “We need the food and medicine.”
Rush: “I agree. The gains outweigh the risks.”
Eli: “Do they? We’re 0 for 3 on close encounters of the third kind. What makes you think that these guys are gonna be any different?”

Wray: “What if Rush’s calculations are off? Can we trust him?”
T.J. (pointedly): “You tell me.”

Greer (to Cranky Dude and Military Guy): “You’re both gonna dig. And you are gonna love every moment of it, or you will keep digging until you do. [To Scott] Spirit of cooperation.”

Cranky Dude: “God doesn’t have a master plan for you. Things just happen.”
Chloe: “So, we’re born, we live, we die? It’s all random?”
Cranky Dude: “Yeah, and along the way you do the best with whatever crap you happen to step in.”

Chloe: “Why do you immediately think they’re going to harm us?”
Scott: “I’m sorry, do you not remember what the last aliens did to you?”

Final Analysis: ‘Faith’ was much quieter than the last two episodes, but I still found the central mystery interesting. However, I’m concerned that they may have just waved away the lingering tensions amongst the crew in a music montage, and I’m not thrilled with T.J.’s news. On balance, just an average episode for me.

Jess Lynde is a highly engaged television viewer. Probably a bit too engaged.

6 comments:

  1. Another dud, although not as bad as last week's.

    Thank god (pun intended) we're free of Kane (Caine?). Any scientist that becomes a Jehova's witness in 5 minutes is no scientist in my book.

    If someone doesn't say "eff you" to Young soon, I'm really going to drop this. I have a hard time believing that any human being would put up with his BS for a second more, colonel or not.

    Getting more disappointed in this by the week.

    PS.- Again, why is Chloe in the show?. T&A?.

    PPS.- Doesn't a medic know how to use contraceptive pills?. Condoms?. DIU?. Even when having an affair with a married man in a different solar system?. Completely and utterly unbelievable, I wouldn't ever let myself be treated by a medic like that, even if she was the only one in the nearest million parsecs.

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  2. I always enjoy your reviews, Jess. And I agree with you. Not as good as "Divided." But I wasn't bored.

    Anonymous has a good point about a young medic getting pregnant; I was thinking the same thing. Either T.J. wanted to get pregnant (which seems unlikely), or she was using something that failed (which seems unlikely). All forms of birth control fail a small percentage of the time, but still.

    I was sort of sympathizing with her, though. Being pregnant and locked in an alien ship with no sunshine, fresh food, or access to an obstetrician would be hell. Plus there's the added trauma of being pregnant by your boss while living and working with a small group of people. I usually hate baby plots, but I'm willing to give this one a shot. Maybe it won't be utterly predictable this time.

    What I found most intriguing about this episode was the magical planet that appeared out of nowhere. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about it in future episodes.

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  3. So they repaired the other shuttle where the senator died and no drama from Chloe about proper handling of the body? a funeral?

    As for the planet: i think at one point some very advanced aliens will come calling with dr. Caines head on a stick and vowing revenge for violating their santuary planet.

    A planet with no animals and a strange obelisk emmiting an EM field. I bet it is designed to kill everything living on the planet once in a while. Evil aliens are sooo much better then friendly ones so i'm hoping for that.

    If 11 people wanted to stay and Scott Chloe and TJ changed their minds that makes it -8 people on the crew. I hope they wont lose track of the number of people left on board and a few seasons in they will lose a 100 out of 80 people ;)

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  4. I enjoyed this one. It kind've felt like an old school Stargate episode what with the alien planet that kinda looked like a forest in Canada.
    And yet it was nothing like an SG1 episode. I loved SG1, but we had 10 seasons of it, and Atlantis just felt like more of the same, but worse.
    SGU is something different, and as such its had its missteps, but its learning from them. The communication stones haven't vanished completely, but they haven't been used in order to have a soap opera plot on Earth in at least 4 episodes. And Captain Clean-shaven is the only character who still isn't clicking for me ( admittedly so much so that I can't even remember his name)
    And I like that they're not afraid to try new things with character relationships. We've barely seen any Eli/Wray interaction thus far so it was interesting to see how they played off each other in this episode

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  5. Fans of Smallville and Stargate Universe star Alaina Huffman might enjoy this May 13, 2010 Mr. Media Radio interview with her.

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  6. All the way through, I kept thinking "Kobol" and expecting a price to be paid in blood.

    Maybe later.

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