Pathogen

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Pathogen)

They finally did something right this season, and it's one Robert Carlyle got his mitts on - does that mean by reflection I should wish Rush came into control? Well, he already is in control of the ship without telling anyone, but I mean if he was in command he could do whatever he wanted! But at what cost... He continues to put his scientific curiosity above any other concerns - while the others are worried about Chloe's blackouts and wanderings, the conniving Rush is only interested in how she can play into his calculations. He comes across as quite a mercenary mind. Perhaps no better than that other mercenary, Mr. Mean Guy: Simeon, I finally caught his name, and unsurprisingly, what does he do as soon as Colonel Young has relented out of the blue and allowed the remaining Lucian Alliance soldiers to be let out into the community? He goes right up to Dr. Parke and whispers something insulting in her ear. He's certainly not the wisest person around. Her colleagues leap to her defence in indignation, despite the fact they weren't likely to be able to do anything about it if he took them on. But Greer isn't far behind and he loves it rough! Simeon is the serpent in Eden, if you can equate this dark, dismal ship with the garden paradise! But he's a snake and no mistake, slithering around, hissing in people's ears - even his boss, Varo, has a go at him for his misdemeanour. He's a typical bully, happy to unsettle those he can, but backing down when anyone stands up to him - like Varo, or more specifically, Greer. But he's also the sort to hold a grudge and do whatever he can to excrete the poison within.

Hmm, quite poetic, but he is the traditional boo-hiss villain in what is an intensely grey-toned series, and you don't need to have seen it before to know he'll come to a bad end - not the sort to find common ground with the enemy or ever relinquish hatred. He's just one of the problem people of the episode, a common theme this time. If Chloe turning into some kind of alien spy was unsettling for her friends and shipmates, it was nothing compared with Eli's Mother being told by the Airman visiting her in hospital that he's actually her one and only son, Eli! This was the real triumph of the story, we see this woman who has had a life of disappointments, her husband leaving her, accidentally infected by a needle with HIV, and then her son, the one thing she has left, spirited away by the military and he can't even call her. She's greatly depressed and it's just as hard for Eli to see her that way. You find yourself urging him to just spill the beans, tell her the big secret. And then he does... And she doesn't believe him! She thinks he's some kind of loony or a liar sent to spin stories about what's going on with Eli, but for once the series is generous. It still has to end the episode on a sombre, downbeat note as we hover round the ship and see into people's situations (at least without the caterwauling to go with it, even too sombre for that!), but at least in Eli's case light shines brightly: Camille, also on Earth, proves to be a great ally, the only person he can turn to in such a unique and devastating situation, and demands special treatment for him.

Mum visits Destiny! What a great scene, one of the series' best, this haggard woman, bewildered by all that she's been told, is no less awed seeing it in person. The actress sold it all in her eyes, she didn't need to speak and you felt the weight of that story lift. Just beautiful. It puts Rush's insistence on running the ship and trying to use Chloe to solve his problems into deep, dark perspective, even if his conscience, or the ship, depending on point of view (both his dead wife and Dr. Franklin show up again when he's on the Bridge, as they usually do), reminds him he's lost two people so far by his actions. It sounded like he wanted to bring Chloe in on his Little Secret, but can he trust her, that's where we're left? Despite any inappropriate moments in the episode, I couldn't, for the most part, deny that this one held me and got back to what made the series appealing - ironic then that it should be in one so tied to events on Earth! We see plenty of good things, whether it be Young finally giving his prisoners their freedom, Eli and his Mother, with Camille's help, and Greer standing up for his people. Yet we also see a lot of bad, too, as expected: Rush decoying his colleagues when they show they really aren't stupid and have noticed the ship stops whenever he's not around, lying about being in his corridor of quandaries as a way to put them all off his scent; Greer barely able to restrain his violent passions; Simeon... just being Simeon. But the good outweighs the bad and shows potential again, even if I didn't think much of this episode when I originally saw it. This time it appealed a lot more and the mystery worked.

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