Overall Rating: 3.0
Umm...what the f*** did I just see? Pardon my french, readers, but I am really...really...confused by this episode. There are so...SO many plot holes and unexplained coincidences and bizarre bits of narrative that I can't fathom viewing this as a particularly well-made episode.
Cut for spoilers.
Plot Synopsis:
REAL WORLD: When last we left Destiny, a pulsar radiation blast was about to hit it while two of our people (Scott and Greer) were outside the shields after successfully rerouting power manually to protect the ship from it (trapped there because Colonel Telford had been caught by Keeva trying to send Command codes over to Rush and they had mutually shot each other, leaving a maniac in charge of the Alliance strike force). Chloe was slowly bleeding to death from a gunshot wound in her leg, and Eli was struggling to open the cargo bay door to let Scott and Greer inside. Also, in a scuffle in the medical bay, TJ was shot point blank in the uterus (while very pregnant!) and a couple of Alliance soldiers had been killed.
Scott and Greer realize they're not going to make it to the cargo bay and duck underneath the ship - the hull protects them from an ugly death somehow (though I would love to understand how that works considering radiation of that high energy level can pass through a foot thick lead door...LOL) and they head inside to hook up with Rush and Eli. Chloe, who was about to die in the last episode MIRACULOUSLY! heals and gets her strength back (seriously...what the flying f***??? How does THAT happen??) and joins them. Rush uses what little control he managed to get from Telford's efforts to drain power from the shields slowly. He plans to wall them off in the most heavily shielded part of the ship and force the Alliance to surrender or die. Unfortunately, as Scott and Greer try to shoot their way to the medical bay to retrieve TJ and the other hostages, they become cut off from the hydroponics lab where Rush has taken refuge. In the ensuing stand off, the insane nutball in charge of the Alliance puts most of the free personnel off the ship and sends them to an ugly, desolate little rock with a barely breathable atmosphere, and then threatens to call Rush's "bluff" (um...what bluff? Rush is safe...you guys aren't...how is that a bluff?!) before getting shot by like five different members of his own team for being too insane to live. LOL They surrender and everyone on the Destiny crew returns home.
TJ'S DREAM (VISION? MAGICAL EXPERIENCE?): Meanwhile, the unconscious TJ wakes up back on the miracle planet from "Faith" and finds her baby alive and well. The civilians who stayed behind on the planet have taken shelter in miracle lodges and the sky has filled with miracle lights warning of TJ's impending arrival. The catch is...she has to leave the baby on the planet and be sent back to Destiny - she made her choice (um...OK...?). She is warned that when she awakes, no one will believe her story, because they all saw something different (she got shot, nearly bled out and lost her baby in the ensuing struggle for survival). At the end, Destiny drops out of FTL and appears near a large nebula that looks identical to the one TJ saw on the miracle planet (cue "ooo-ee-oo-ee-oo-eeeeyyy!!" music).
The Skinny:
Sorry, but what the crap was that?? Bullet wounds do not miraculously stop bleeding and even if they did, the blood you lost is still gone. Chloe can't magically get her strength back. Also...high energy gamma ray bursts that won't be stopped by the ship's hull from the inside...should not be stopped by the ship's hull from the other side...LOL Oh and...TJ's story just didn't make sense...I want to believe that the writers were trying to make a statement about faith...but...they didn't sell it. I feel used...I feel like they are trying to get us all to go "whoa...deep, man!" without actually earning it through real philosophical expression.
And above all else...I do not understand why the Lucian Alliance was ever interested in Destiny...the more the strike team insisted that everyone knew how important Destiny was, the more I felt the need to yell "NO WE DON'T!! Why don't you TELL US?!" I renew my objection to this entire plot concept...I let it slide at the end of last season, but there was no reason for Keeva's second in command to be such a fanatical lunatic...they didn't explain why he would be so attached to the ship. I feel like the writers have no Earthly CLUE what they want to do with this franchise and are just throwing crap together and hoping we'll buy it. Well I'm not buying...and Stargate Universe had better start making some damned sense real quick here or it's going to be dropped from this blog.
Writing: 0.0
Really sloppy plot construction...I could write better plot when I was in MIDDLE SCHOOL, guys. Your audience if full of very well educated sci-fi nerds...if you sell them short and expect them to buy plots as full of holes as this, you're not going to have an audience. The dialogue was frequently melodramatic and annoying too...and it's actually worse than that...I was really enjoying watching Chloe and Eli bond and miraculously healing her made me feel more used than a 40 year old hooker in Singapore. Get us emotionally invested in Chloe and Eli's friendship and then BAM...she's all cured when her injury is inconvenient to the plot. I am just stunned they would pull something like that. Stunned and insulted.
Acting: 5.0
The guy who played Dannick (the nutty second in command in the Alliance ranks) was AWFUL. Amateurish overacting galore. Most of the rest were just...meh.
Message: 4.0
The action plot had no message...it could have if we were made to udnerstand why the Alliance wanted Destiny and why we'd fight so hard to stay onboard, but that explanation was absent entirely. TJ's part of the story could also have had a message if it didn't feel so much like a cheesy Crossing Over episode trying to substitute itself for my weekly mass. *sigh*
Please don't take this the wrong way...but I am honestly of the opinion that you can't be excited about seeing the beginnings of the development of a healthy relationship for House (and for Cuddy) until you understand how utterly a healthy relationship CAN change you. I think you're wrong here...I think this is EXACTLY the kind of thing that can save House. Perhaps we ought to discuss this one face to face...but all I can tell you is...if you have no interest in love on your own...you won't have interest in seeing it on screen, and until you've experienced how love can remake you, you're not going to believe it's possible.
ReplyDelete(Oops! We're posting these comments on the wrong post. Oh, well.)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, no - the fact that I'm single and intend to remain that way is not influencing my opinion re: House/Cuddy. I have publicly praised healthy television relationships many times before - as a matter of fact, my last Early Edition review is in large part an expression of appreciation for the way the writer handled a particular couple and their troubles. And you should know darn well that I like the relationships we see on DS9.
No - there is something about this specific circumstance that is tempering my enthusiasm. Perhaps it's my apprehension that House's problems are far to large to be solved by the love of one woman. Perhaps it's because I don't want the show to slip into pure soap opera territory. I don't know. But it certainly isn't that I'm put off by the very idea of a relationship.
Be careful not to let your current status influence how you view other people and their opinions on love.
D'oh...I clicked the wrong comment link...apologies to the readers interested in SGU...if any such readers exist, which given the shoddy direction that show is taking, I find hard to believe.
ReplyDeleteMy stance here has nothing at all to do with my current status...no...this is coming from looking back on my past views and looking at my current views and realizing how much things have changed. I don't intend to argue about this...I am just telling you that my current belief is that there is no such thing as a psychological/emotional problem that is too large to be helped by a relationship with the right person. I do believe you need to be healthy enough in the mind to take your relationship to its' ultimate conclusion...but my own experiences do tell me that love is the most important elixir for psychological damage.
I will say this, though...I am disappointed in one aspect of House/Cuddy...I'm disappointed by their having taken things directly to sex. I think that shows a lack of understanding of the human psyche and in the real world, such a sudden jump would probably not end all that well.