aelfgyfu_mead (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aelfgyfu_mead) wrote2010-05-08 07:02 pm
aelfgyfu_mead) wrote2010-05-08 07:02 pm
Entry tags:
Stargate Universe
I guess I'm back aboard the Destiny.
By the way: what's with the one-word titles? It sounds rather Blake's 7 to me, except that B7 never managed that many one-word titles.
I skipped "Divided" and "Faith" because I had simply had enough of SGU. I was quitting the show, and I really didn't like the previews I saw for "Divided". Then Daniel was on "Human," so I came back to see him, and I discovered a Rush I might actually (gasp) care about, at least a little.
I like character development. I didn't think the first half of SGU gave it to me: It's not "development" if all your characters do is tread water! I had no sympathy for Rush, Young, or Scott. I had sympathy for Chloe, but I lost it when she got completely smashed in someone else's body (and nearly gave away that she was actually Chloe). I tried to have it for Camile and TJ, but I failed repeatedly. I didn't want to see more of those people! I kept my sympathy for Eli, and I had come to respect Greer (and enjoy watching him, even if I didn't necessarily like him), but they weren't enough to keep me watching.
In "Human," though, I saw glimpses of a different Rush, and one quite self-aware enough to know that he'd been different. By the end of the episode, he was trying to be more what he had been before, with his wife. I had the sense that he genuinely cared about the team (and not just his reputation and abilities) and was upset to have lost them—even Eli. I'd never guessed he was jealous of Eli. Since then, he seems to have become a more decent human being. "Sabotage" confirmed that for me. He had genuine feelings for Mandy, though not necessarily the romantic ones she wanted; I'm not sure he knew himself whether he had romantic ones. He definitely enjoyed her company, and he seemed delighted to be able to show her things. I can care about this character. I wanted him to say no to having sex with Camile's body not just for Camile, and not just to save me being upset (though I definitely wanted to avoid being upset†). I wanted Rush not to do the wrong thing (again), because that would diminish him just when he'd started to grow again. (I also wanted other viewers not to be traumatized.) Now I finally feel Rush might be someone worth getting to know.
(I also thought from the sides originally leaked that it was repulsive that one of the first things the writers thought a quadriplegic would want to do was have sex. Whether the sides were misleading or the script was modified, sex was clearly not one of the first things on Mandy's mind: she had been on the ship for weeks before she made any attempt. I can't entirely blame her for trying. I can mostly blame her, though: it's not her body to do anything she pleases with.)
It's not TJ's pregnancy that made me feel my first real stirrings of sympathy for TJ. It's certainly not her manipulations of Young: "Is this how it's going to be from now on? . . . I want to see the planet where I might be raising our child." Then he gives her permission. Oh, so that's "how it's going to be from now on": she says "our child" and he says "As you wish"! ahem What made me feel sympathy for TJ was that she showed it to others. She listened to Lt. James and tried to reassure her when she felt like carp for not being able to handle being on a ventilator. That's a lot to ask, and if you can't get your head around it, then you're risking the host body, so you need to stop. She listens to Park, too.
I had been upset that they made Greer's father an abuser; I feel like Stargate has committed RaceFail in so many ways that I'm very sensitive to the issue of race on SGU, and I don't want to see the only African-American regular come from a stereotypically bad background. I did think that they mitigated the effect somewhat by making his father a clear victim of PTSD, not just a stock or unmotivated character, and his mother a stable and loyal person. (She ought to have had the sense to get out sooner, but even smart people make that mistake sometimes.) I loved Greer's determination that the rest of the team must have thought him dead to leave him in "Lost," as indeed they did, and his shock to realize they hadn't made it back. He really cares about Scott and was thrilled to have him back.
I find myself caring more and more about James, which shocks me, given that I hated her on sight. (Now that first sight was of her and Scott having sex in a closet while on duty, so I had cause.) I have to give the actress props: I think she's doing a great job with a role that wasn't originally very big (and I suspect that's why they're giving her more and more to do).
I still see flaws, and I will mention them just briefly.
- Eli had a Life Signs Detector in "Lost"! Why didn't they check whether Greer was alive instead of guessing? Yes, they were shocked and upset, but Scott is military. He is trained to deal with disaster. Eli and Chloe have a little experience with coping at sudden shocks by now as well.
- I'm still angry that we've had no follow-up on Young beating up Telford. Worse, the way Young used Telford's body is still rape, and I never feel that the show acknowledged that.
- I'm not sure what to make of what's-his-name disappearing from the Chair. I called it, as Brilliant Husband will attest: as Young et al. approached the locked door, I said, "He's gone. Chair's empty. He ascended." Okay, we're not sure about that last part, but bets? The arm, leg, and head parts of the Chair were still locked. Either he ascended, or he has been vaporized. I don't think even these idiot Ancients would program the chair to do that. I'm not certain why, or that the writers have a reason. (Actor got another job?)
- Why couldn't Camile and Mandy trade in and out? No one has spent solid weeks trading places with the stones before; aren't there risks? I can understand giving Mandy some R&R on Destiny (in a fully-abled body) when she was doing all that hard work, but did she need to sleep on the ship? Wasn't it awfully hard on Camile being suddenly paralysed all that time? Shouldn't Mandy have been giving progress reports back to SGC?
- When Rush said two or three names came to mind of people who might know more about Ancient drives, "Carter" and "McKay" were the first two in my mind. It would be nice to have some acknowledgement of the work those characters invested over the years—and the love we fans have invested! It would only take a moment for someone to say that they're not available, or that Mandy has been devoting full time to this project while Sam and Rodney have other concerns.
More good things:
* I love that Eli wasn't shocked about Mandy having sexual feelings but that she had them for Rush, whom he has only ever known as a jerk! I hope she understood that was what he meant! (It was my reaction, too!)
* I cared about Camile in this episode. Finally.
* Chloe has found something potentially useful to do! She's studying Daniel's notes and trying to take a positive role on missions! She also shows a little bit of the wonder I want to see in SF (which this show has sadly lacked).
* I like that Chloe has found a niche: she has been reading Daniel's work and making herself useful. She wants to explore. We need someone like that. As several people have said, SGU seems to lack a sense of wonder. Chloe has a few moments of it (before Giant Spider appears and Greer blasts the living daylights out of it, and the tunnel).
* "A…spider?" "It was a sizable spider, sir."
* Aliens! Not!stupid!aliens! The SG universe has suffered from a lot of overconfident, if not outright stupid, aliens. I hope we learn more about them.
† I am wayyy too invested in fictional characters. I just saw Awesome's bachelor party episode on Chuck, and I'm very upset about what happened there. In fact, I'm even upset about Mary's personal life on In Plain Sight, and I don't even watch! I just went to IMDb to make sure I was getting her name right!
By the way: what's with the one-word titles? It sounds rather Blake's 7 to me, except that B7 never managed that many one-word titles.
I skipped "Divided" and "Faith" because I had simply had enough of SGU. I was quitting the show, and I really didn't like the previews I saw for "Divided". Then Daniel was on "Human," so I came back to see him, and I discovered a Rush I might actually (gasp) care about, at least a little.
I like character development. I didn't think the first half of SGU gave it to me: It's not "development" if all your characters do is tread water! I had no sympathy for Rush, Young, or Scott. I had sympathy for Chloe, but I lost it when she got completely smashed in someone else's body (and nearly gave away that she was actually Chloe). I tried to have it for Camile and TJ, but I failed repeatedly. I didn't want to see more of those people! I kept my sympathy for Eli, and I had come to respect Greer (and enjoy watching him, even if I didn't necessarily like him), but they weren't enough to keep me watching.
In "Human," though, I saw glimpses of a different Rush, and one quite self-aware enough to know that he'd been different. By the end of the episode, he was trying to be more what he had been before, with his wife. I had the sense that he genuinely cared about the team (and not just his reputation and abilities) and was upset to have lost them—even Eli. I'd never guessed he was jealous of Eli. Since then, he seems to have become a more decent human being. "Sabotage" confirmed that for me. He had genuine feelings for Mandy, though not necessarily the romantic ones she wanted; I'm not sure he knew himself whether he had romantic ones. He definitely enjoyed her company, and he seemed delighted to be able to show her things. I can care about this character. I wanted him to say no to having sex with Camile's body not just for Camile, and not just to save me being upset (though I definitely wanted to avoid being upset†). I wanted Rush not to do the wrong thing (again), because that would diminish him just when he'd started to grow again. (I also wanted other viewers not to be traumatized.) Now I finally feel Rush might be someone worth getting to know.
(I also thought from the sides originally leaked that it was repulsive that one of the first things the writers thought a quadriplegic would want to do was have sex. Whether the sides were misleading or the script was modified, sex was clearly not one of the first things on Mandy's mind: she had been on the ship for weeks before she made any attempt. I can't entirely blame her for trying. I can mostly blame her, though: it's not her body to do anything she pleases with.)
It's not TJ's pregnancy that made me feel my first real stirrings of sympathy for TJ. It's certainly not her manipulations of Young: "Is this how it's going to be from now on? . . . I want to see the planet where I might be raising our child." Then he gives her permission. Oh, so that's "how it's going to be from now on": she says "our child" and he says "As you wish"! ahem What made me feel sympathy for TJ was that she showed it to others. She listened to Lt. James and tried to reassure her when she felt like carp for not being able to handle being on a ventilator. That's a lot to ask, and if you can't get your head around it, then you're risking the host body, so you need to stop. She listens to Park, too.
I had been upset that they made Greer's father an abuser; I feel like Stargate has committed RaceFail in so many ways that I'm very sensitive to the issue of race on SGU, and I don't want to see the only African-American regular come from a stereotypically bad background. I did think that they mitigated the effect somewhat by making his father a clear victim of PTSD, not just a stock or unmotivated character, and his mother a stable and loyal person. (She ought to have had the sense to get out sooner, but even smart people make that mistake sometimes.) I loved Greer's determination that the rest of the team must have thought him dead to leave him in "Lost," as indeed they did, and his shock to realize they hadn't made it back. He really cares about Scott and was thrilled to have him back.
I find myself caring more and more about James, which shocks me, given that I hated her on sight. (Now that first sight was of her and Scott having sex in a closet while on duty, so I had cause.) I have to give the actress props: I think she's doing a great job with a role that wasn't originally very big (and I suspect that's why they're giving her more and more to do).
I still see flaws, and I will mention them just briefly.
- Eli had a Life Signs Detector in "Lost"! Why didn't they check whether Greer was alive instead of guessing? Yes, they were shocked and upset, but Scott is military. He is trained to deal with disaster. Eli and Chloe have a little experience with coping at sudden shocks by now as well.
- I'm still angry that we've had no follow-up on Young beating up Telford. Worse, the way Young used Telford's body is still rape, and I never feel that the show acknowledged that.
- I'm not sure what to make of what's-his-name disappearing from the Chair. I called it, as Brilliant Husband will attest: as Young et al. approached the locked door, I said, "He's gone. Chair's empty. He ascended." Okay, we're not sure about that last part, but bets? The arm, leg, and head parts of the Chair were still locked. Either he ascended, or he has been vaporized. I don't think even these idiot Ancients would program the chair to do that. I'm not certain why, or that the writers have a reason. (Actor got another job?)
- Why couldn't Camile and Mandy trade in and out? No one has spent solid weeks trading places with the stones before; aren't there risks? I can understand giving Mandy some R&R on Destiny (in a fully-abled body) when she was doing all that hard work, but did she need to sleep on the ship? Wasn't it awfully hard on Camile being suddenly paralysed all that time? Shouldn't Mandy have been giving progress reports back to SGC?
- When Rush said two or three names came to mind of people who might know more about Ancient drives, "Carter" and "McKay" were the first two in my mind. It would be nice to have some acknowledgement of the work those characters invested over the years—and the love we fans have invested! It would only take a moment for someone to say that they're not available, or that Mandy has been devoting full time to this project while Sam and Rodney have other concerns.
More good things:
* I love that Eli wasn't shocked about Mandy having sexual feelings but that she had them for Rush, whom he has only ever known as a jerk! I hope she understood that was what he meant! (It was my reaction, too!)
* I cared about Camile in this episode. Finally.
* Chloe has found something potentially useful to do! She's studying Daniel's notes and trying to take a positive role on missions! She also shows a little bit of the wonder I want to see in SF (which this show has sadly lacked).
* I like that Chloe has found a niche: she has been reading Daniel's work and making herself useful. She wants to explore. We need someone like that. As several people have said, SGU seems to lack a sense of wonder. Chloe has a few moments of it (before Giant Spider appears and Greer blasts the living daylights out of it, and the tunnel).
* "A…spider?" "It was a sizable spider, sir."
* Aliens! Not!stupid!aliens! The SG universe has suffered from a lot of overconfident, if not outright stupid, aliens. I hope we learn more about them.
† I am wayyy too invested in fictional characters. I just saw Awesome's bachelor party episode on Chuck, and I'm very upset about what happened there. In fact, I'm even upset about Mary's personal life on In Plain Sight, and I don't even watch! I just went to IMDb to make sure I was getting her name right!