Gauntlet

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Gauntlet)

Endings are always difficult, especially unfulfilled ones where a series is left hanging. But for what it was, this season finale that was also the series finale, worked on both the level of a cliffhanger had there been a Season 3, and as the final time we'll encounter these characters, a clever accomplishment and one that leaves me realising I will miss these people. There aren't many modern TV shows (and I use modern in the sense of being this century!), that I actually like, but this is one of them, for sure. It was designed to be different, uncomfortably different from other 'Stargate' fare, and on that account it succeeded. It could be troubled, fraught, a bit depressing and negative at times, but it showed signs of promise, it gave us a new way of using the established lore to set up a completely different scenario, but it was clearly too much for the average viewer to get onboard with. Season 2 showed how much the characters could grow together and as we see here, with Young toasting them, they became the family you want to see in this kind of thing, people you want to spend time with, and despite missteps the series gradually became more settled and reliable in being a more consistently compelling story.

That makes it harder to say goodbye, but for me this is only the final part in a longer journey which I began fifteen years ago (funny to think this very series was on the air at that point!), of reviewing every episode of 'Stargate' (except the cartoon, but that doesn't count!), going back over 'SG-1' of which I'd seen most of, seeing 'Atlantis' for the first time and the 'SG-1' spinoff films, and at last watching, and now re-watching, 'Universe,' and it's been a pleasant journey. I've never kept it secret that I prefer 'Star Trek' and its universe to 'Stargate,' but that hasn't prevented me from getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. So I'm saying goodbye to a chunk of my life with this review. Technically there will be one more as I still have to watch 'Origins,' and you never know if the franchise will be resurrected one day with more adventures (I'm even tempted to read the books...), but in terms of the solid bulk of it all, that's it. I would have loved if they could have brought 'Universe' back and theoretically they still could: it would be very easy to rationalise, a massive time jump being baked into the solution against the drone blockades preventing them from accessing stars to power up. It means they could say the stasis pods malfunctioned and that's why the cast look so many years older than when they made it. If they couldn't get Robert Carlyle or certain others they could say they died, although I would hope if they were going to do it they'd get them all back, but the possibility, at least narratively speaking, is there.

I would really love to know whether they knew this was it when they were making the last episode. You'd hope the studio or whoever was bankrolling it would have given them the courtesy of letting them know, but either way this was a good way to leave it: with the main guy who started it all, Eli, alone as the last person awake on Destiny, happily contemplating the magnitude of this vast ship speeding through the many times vaster universe, a smile on his face. It couldn't have been a better way to finish out, and with the sets each darkening and the various characters saying their last goodbyes it was even more affecting for me when viewed in the context of the entirety of 'Stargate.' They took the time to give some of the characters precious final moments back on Earth, Eli getting his Mother's blessing to live his life and not be concerned she's alone, probably the best scene of the episode, but there's also the montage with people such as Matthew Scott (who has taken somewhat of a backseat in recent episodes, I felt), return to see his ex-girlfriend and their son, though sadly he can't bring himself to go to them, what looked like Chloe visiting her Mother, and Parke, still blind from the events of the preceding episode, given the power of sight one more time in the body she inhabits on Earth.

It was all very well judged, the emotional side to the moment as keen as the action side, they found a great balance in this series that they didn't always hit, but this was a great example. As ever, the visual effects were superb, with a tense battle with a drone ship not once, but twice as they use one of their two shuttles as a decoy and play the kamikaze drones' strategy against them. It gets a bit techy when they're explaining how they can neutralise the effect of the drones' energy weapons on their shields, but maybe that's just another reason why I like this series so much. Most importantly they didn't forget about the characters. Maybe it would have been better to have included at least one old 'Stargate' cast member in a cameo, probably Richard Dean Anderson, but I can see why they didn't - it would likely be deemed too expensive considering the series was for the chopping block and if they were going out then it's better to concentrate on the characters of this series (as much as I love the ending of 'Enterprise,' which got so much unnecessary flack!). They were able to touch base with authority on Earth in Colonel Telford, reminding us of the meeting of minds between he and Young, just as Young and Rush ended as allies, albeit Young not trusting his former enemy enough to allow him to be the one to stay behind to fix the final pod.

What would they have done next, that's the speculation I can't help pondering - either they could have had it all go off without a hitch, Eli fixes his pod and as they expected, they're all awoken three years later in a new galaxy. Or Eli could fail, or something goes wrong and they wake up at different times on the journey, or it goes really wrong and they do wake a thousand years later. I doubt the latter as that would have been very difficult to do as you'd need to show an Earth that far in the future, which is tough to do convincingly. Or maybe they could have their cake and send it down a wormhole, too: split the series into different timelines as they did with the descendants that had spread out into the galaxy they'd been in, and we could follow the different groups trying to work out which is the 'real' one. Maybe that would be too much. 'Stargate,' despite putting out such a radically different series as 'Universe,' wasn't the most experimental, daring sci-fi out there. It was one of the last proper, non-streaming, twenty-episode a season sci-fi shows that was made before streaming came along and changed the face of television, reducing it to short batches of episodes on myriad services. Much like 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,' another series I liked from that time, it ended with so much possibility and in a position of creative strength, but money talked, viewers didn't flock to it and a strong series was cut short well before its time.

Young, Rush, Eli, Greer, Scott, Chloe, TJ, Camille, Brody, Volker, Parke, James... They were part of something good and they were given their dues in this episode with various scenes. It's never enough, but it's good to leave the audience wanting more. I'm not sure I felt quite the same way about 'SG-1' and 'Atlantis' because they both had their time, they didn't end with the impression they should have gone on, even if I'd have happily watched their further adventures. That was one draw of 'Universe' - in spite of its position, travelling away from our galaxy into the distant unknown, they could still bring in anyone they wanted to. In the end they crafted fine characters that stood with the other series', characters being this franchise's strength. What more can I say? It took me through time, week by week, enjoying what they were doing and proving 'Stargate' doesn't have to be limited to a group going to the planet of the week. Or maybe it proved that's all audiences want from it? To me it showed it could go a bit deeper - maybe it was a little soapy at times and they certainly set up more soapiness for the future with a big time jump that would leave them having to reconnect with people on Earth who might not understand the absence, but they never got to play that out. You just have to take the series for what it is, consider what might have been, and try to be content. Here's to the 'Stargate' family, you will be missed.

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