DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Visitation)
Not really sure how to take this one. It's like an unnecessary return to an old plot, the people led by Kane who resolved to stay on that planet in the other galaxy. Or is it a necessary revisitation to remove the ambiguity about TJ's baby? In that sense it was useful to know that her vision or whatever it was, wasn't real - Young believes it was a simulation, like the one of the ship blowing up that he went through. Was it an attempt by the ship to comfort her, because it seems more like it cruelly raised her hopes, only for them now to be dashed? The trouble with the story is that it's dealing with things well beyond the control or understanding of our characters, and it's interesting that they've gone in this direction of higher powers and miraculous events they can't explain, but it also smells of the 'Lost' (and its ilk's), kind of storytelling, stringing people along with bizarre happenings and seemingly deep and meaningful events and developments that ultimately don't really progress or reach a satisfying conclusion. Not that I've seen 'Lost,' just impressions from what I heard, and they seem to be trying to tap into that mystical uncertainty. It's far from the good guys going to planets and having conflicts with villains, perhaps it was being too vague, trying too hard to reach beyond its franchise's pretty simple premise to something more. And maybe that's why it didn't succeed.
On a micro level the episode isn't one of the more satisfying, it does answer the questions posed, as in how can the people from another galaxy have been pushed right onto Destiny's doorstop aboard a shuttle that is brand spanking new - it seems most likely the aliens sent them as some kind of preparation for death or a chance to say goodbye, but that suggests the aliens had compassion and understood our species enough to know what they needed, and yet if they're as powerful as they seem, why can't they stop them from dying? It all seemed like an effort to give some exploration or parallel to the other ongoing stories that are left (now that the remainder of the Lucian Alliance folks aren't a threat with Simeon dealt with), namely Chloe continuing to change into one of the enemy aliens, and the discovery of these signs of intelligent life that built the universe, as Rush believes. Higher powers, people changing into things, it's all very vague and hard to pin down and I think that's why it doesn't work as well as it should. Even so there are the odd little scenes that do work, such as Greer visiting Chloe to apologise for the fact he's probably going to have to kill her eventually, which she's remarkably calm and understanding about, which suggests she's already changed a lot. And the scene at the end with TJ being with Kane in the observation lounge before he finally dies watching the stars.
I can't say I ever liked the man, he was too much of a weird Christian stereotype of someone who has his head in he clouds more than on Earth, despite the fact that he and the others were put into a situation of the most need of practicality than ever: being self-sufficient on an alien planet they knew little to nothing about! Perhaps dividing his trust between God and those powerful aliens was what really got them all killed, maybe they weren't supposed to leave Destiny in the first place? I'm not even sure if he was actually a Christian, it's just an assumption since they were American and that is the main faith of that nation, but again it's a very televised version, all blind belief and no mention of the Bible or learning God's will, just 'feelings,' which isn't something to be led by! It did bring out some good points, such as Rush suggesting that either God was losing his touch, or he wasn't involved in the 'miracle' at all, since while the shuttle was like new, they still had their bodily defects, which was a good point. There's supposed to be some creepiness about them, like they're these walking facsimiles but not the real thing. That's correct in a way, but it was all very metaphysical and not well tied down, all left open to interpretation - after all we don't really know if any of Kane's impressions were actually true, that's just what he thought.
It is weird how they manage to bring people back on a series that navigates such impossibly vast distances, but it wasn't true what Greer said about losing plenty of people, but never seeing any return - look at both Rush and Chloe, left behind, not to mention Eli and the gang on another occasion, so it's occurred more than once! He may have meant from death, but that wasn't clear, nor would he have known at that stage of the episode. I'm glad they included a scene where he showed remorse for an act he expected to commit, he's only coming from the perspective of what he believes needs to be done, and what he believes Young believes needs to be done, a military standpoint, lacking compassion, all about protection from threat. TJ operates quite differently and acts very well as the medical person, though I assume she must have been taking surgical lessons since she was only a medic, but here she suggests quite nonchalantly she should perform an autopsy, which seems like quite a heavy duty process, not something in your average battlefield training! It was nice that she gained a measure of comfort from Kane's belief in her baby going to heaven, even if he doesn't say that actual word (again, all very vague, not very solid and certain). It effectively ends that storyline, but I'm not sure they have a lot to play with now.
We've dealt with the Lucian Alliance, we've uncovered Rush's secret control of the ship, we've gone through all kinds of trust issues between various people and groups and now things are going along relatively peacefully so they've always got to find some new conflict to throw in. When Chloe was recording her message to Scott and she talks about how she wishes they could have done this and that, and grown old together, I was thinking I'd settle for just a few more seasons! Because I do like it, the premise, setting and many of the characters and I always wonder where it would've gone. In this episode I got the wrong end of the stick because I was thinking Eli's mention of the obelisk was what caused the first death among the colonists, as if the aliens had sent them away to stop them interfering with it and they were programmed to die if they remembered it, but that theory was proved false, though I was surprised they didn't ask Eli what he'd been discussing before she died, and equally you'd think they'd have had medical people around when Camille was trying to get into their heads through hypnosis (!), and they're surprised when a second death occurs! In the end it felt like it had been a long story to get to no real point other than confirm TJ's baby's death was certain, and not enough of the interesting characters had a good share of the screen time.
**
Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Visitation
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