SG-U – Human (1x14) - (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS)

[The Wormhole]

You realize that those weren't the actual events. He very likely wasn't ignoring her in reality, but he definitely was forced to leave for Icarus during her last moments.

Actually, no I didn't. As I said, the whole "not really a flashback" flashback thing of Rush's dreams really confused me. I mean I knew he was aware that he was reliving a past experiance, but I wasn't sure if this was an exact retelling or not.

So it turns out I was wrong. Sorry I don't get these type of subtle nuances or whatever.

If this was an SG-1 or Voyager or Enterprise episode, nobody would complain about knowing Eli and everyone will be fine next week.

You must not have been visiting Trek BBS back when those shows were in production, because such complaints have always been made in regards to all three shows you mentioned and others.

I just get a kick out of knowing that at some point Rush read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" closely enough to internalize the number 42 as "the answer to life, the universe, and everything" -- so much so that his subconscious ("head Daniel") mentioned it.

They did a better 42 joke in the Atlantis episode Quarantine. Sheppard knows the final two digits of McKay's password are 42. Teyla asks why that number is significant, and Sheppard explains it's the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, everything. That made me laugh. This made simply made me think "been there done that."

Also, 46 is one number less than 47, Star Trek's magical number. That's not a complaint or nitpick, just an observation.

 

[Star Wolf]

If this was an SG-1 or Voyager or Enterprise episode, nobody would complain about knowing Eli and everyone will be fine next week.

You must not have been visiting Trek BBS back when those shows were in production, because such complaints have always been made in regards to all three shows you mentioned and others.

If the BBS was around for TOS would we ask the same about Sulu in peril?

 

[RTOlson]

The whole B story reminded me of a fanfic writer's guide on how NOT to write for "Star Trek." The guide warned about avoiding Mary Sue stories and it also warned about avoiding the "three-foot pit."

Google search indicates the likely result is " The Three-Foot Pit and Other Stories" by Ingrid Cross from "The Best of Trek #9: From the Magazine for Star Trek Fans."

Anyway, Cross details a common pitfall (pun intended) where the crew is exploring a planet for some McGuffian-reason and, by some coincidence, Dr. McCoy falls into a three-foot pit. Drama ensues, especially when the plot contrives to force Kirk to decide between rescuing McCoy and saving an off-screen civilization.

The problem is that the three-foot pit is incredibly hackneyed for fanfic, and it's pretty bad for a legitimate sci-fi show. Needless to say I was disappointed that the Destiny crew found itself in such a tunnel, although I appreciated some of the exposition-y reasons why they did so.

Generally, I like the show and it's fairly easygoing pace. The Rush storyline was decent, but the tunnel B plot was very bland.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I really enjoyed the Rush storyline, although I was expecting not to. That he knew he was "dreaming" added a new dimension to it, so it didn't come off as a bunch of manipulative heartstring-pulling.

I doubt he ignored his wife while she was dying, however it would not surprise me at all if he buried himself in his work to avoid dealing with it. That's a very common reaction. In this case, though, he didn't want to get caught up in things that had already happened, since he had a job to do here. It came as no surprise that he would only unlock the clue he needed by facing his wife's death, though. That's gotta be TV Writing 101.

The planet storyline left me feeling pretty "meh." This is one of those times I really wish they would just get control of Destiny so we can avoid the constant deus ex machina of having the ship do things that fuck Our Heroes over. I dislike this aspect of the show more and more as time goes on, because it allows the characters to fail without actually failing--they aren't in control of the situation, so they can't be held responsible for the consequences. It makes for poor drama. You also know they'll all survive, because the trapped individuals are all in the title credits. What would actually make it interesting is if they don't make it back to Destiny the very next episode. BSG wasn't afraid to split up its cast for weeks on end, and it would be nice to see SGU attempt a larger storyline split up between multiple locations, working toward a combined climax.

That nasty, carnivorous spider was worth a laugh, though, and I'm glad it played that way.

"A spider??"
"It was a sizable spider, sir."

I'm giving this one an Above Average.

 

[Dr. Chandra]

Another great episode, IMO.

I'm hoping Rush will be a little less of a prick now. It'd be interesting to see an ongoing chess game between him and Young. Maybe even a little mutual respect further down the line.

Excellent rating from me.

 

[Peter the Younger]

The Good: Rush's attempts to avoid reliving his wife's death, and that genuinely wrenching - and fascinating - scene on her deathbed. Damn good acting there.

The Bad: The set direction and CGI SFX crew gets an F. Already we're falling back on Greek columns and similar "Earthlike" ruins? So much for exploring the truly alien. (And if this leads to the discovery of other humans in this distant galaxy, the whole series gets an F, as far as I'm concerned.)

The Ugly: Daniel's getting a little soft in the middle there - or was, in Rush's memories, anyway.

 

[Checkmate]

To be fair, if humans can evolve twice on Earth, there's no reason they can't evolve elsewhere. Lame as the whole thing is.

 

[The Wormhole]

The Ugly: Daniel's getting a little soft in the middle there - or was, in Rush's memories, anyway.

At least he hasn't let himself go to the extent that O'Neill has. But I guess being a Pentagon beuracrat doesn't require much physical activity...

 

[Danny99]

I've seen a lot of complaining about Daniel's lack of role, but I applaud it! His role, like O'Neill in Atlantis' "The Real World" (where Weir is infected by nanites and trapped in a mental institution dream with Alan Ruck) is as part of someone else's mind. I'd actually question the writers more if they put more time into Rush/Jackson than the scenes with him and his wife.

Big props to Robert Carlyle, especially for the final scene with his wife. A powerful scene to say the least. He did a great job with a story that has been told many different times in many different genres.

We all know Scott, Greer, Chloe, and Eli will be rescued, even without seeing next week's preview. Now if they had cast a character, developed it, and then killed it in a scenario like this, that would be new and exciting!

 

[Hyperspace05]

I gave it Above Average... And only because of the Rush story, which was excellent. Great acting, and some really interesting and edgy direction for a SG show.

As for the other plot... Blah. Not good at all. And I did not like the obviously Greek looking ruins either. Hopefully that storyline will have a better resolution.

 

[Borgminister]

Touching. Above average. I just can't help liking this show, and I really didn't think I would.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I took me a bit to get thru it, my Wife has just entered Hospice care and I have to admit it really hit home, so it was tuff to get thru, I generally only get a chance to watch when she's sleeping, so then I try for a bit of escapism to try to take a break from it all. So when they wrote this into rush's back character it was hard. Still a well written ep and as someone mentioned, that Rush Knew it was all a dream and did'nt get caught up in it, until at his wife's Bedside made it even more impacting. The B-story on the planet unfortunately did not measure up to it.

 

[Crewman47]

Was this us now finding out how the Lucian Alliance got involved in the Pilot and there going to be expanding on it, like what happened to the inside source:

Spoiler: season 2 spoiler if you haven't read it

could the inside source be the character cast for season two

 

[F. King Daniel]

A couple of episodes ago they find a nice, green, livable world and want to stay. This episode they find a nice, green, livable world and...want back on the ship ASAP without a second thought.

WTF?

The way Daniel (and everyone else) was telling Rush to be with his wife made me think it was maybe one of those silly Ancient tests, where only "good people" can access the ships' systems.

The planet stuff was like a boring SG1 episode without the sense of fun that kept me watching even bad SG1 episodes. It reminded me of how much I liked the "old" Stargate.

The direction and style of the flashback made me think (again) that SGU wants to be BSG *so* much - but it needs to find it's own identity, rather than a mishmash of watered-down SG1 and BSG-lite if it's to have any hope of lasting more than the second season. IMO.

 

[Starkers]

I liked it a lot more than I would have expected to if I'd know what it was about before hand. Nice to see Louise Lombard, always liked her in CSI. Not the most exciting of episodes, but enjoyable nontheless.

Shame about the B story really, what was Scott thinking of going down there? Two plus points to it, one was chloe being useful, the other was the Eli/Greer moment. I love that guy (Greer)

 

[USS Kongo]

Rush is my favorite character, so this episode was very good for me. I enjoyed seeing the backstory about his wife, and having Daniel be the one to invite him into the Stargate program was a nice touch.

I also thought it was cool how Rush realized it was all just an event that was recreated for him, and treated it as such. Yet he was still affected by his wife's passing. Carlye was great in this.

I also enjoyed the 'B' story, for no other reason than Chloe looks really cute in a BDU.