General Discussion & Recap/Review Thread: SGU Episode 02 - "Aftermath"

[Tanith]

that was 4 or 5 years ago...NOT ten or twelve...

But at that point there was no evidence to suggest that they were recently formed, they may have been around longer and just hadn't been encountered by the SGC.

never met any drug dealers yet who were able to change into a legit group that fast.

Its been roughly five years since the downfall of the Gou'ald and 3 years since we seen the Lucian Alliance prior to SGU? (I'm just guessing). We know that they took control of a lot of what the Gou'ald left behind but their main issue was having a clear leadership structure. If they worked that out, became more organised and maybe even improved upon their technology in the past 3 years then they may now be a more serious threat.

 

[Yllek]

But at that point there was no evidence to suggest that they were recently formed, they may have been around longer and just hadn't been encountered by the SGC.

My ignorance on the Lucian Alliance is total. Is it explained how they knew the Destiny has godlike capabilities while Rush did not, or do we have to wait till episode 15 for Rodney to tell us?

Oh, wait a sec! Rush also knows and hopes to get his dead wife back by flying deus ex machina rustbucket??! The scoundrel!

 

[Overmind One]

If that were true, the Goa'uld would have been attacking them.

But at that point there was no evidence to suggest that they were recently formed, they may have been around longer and just hadn't been encountered by the SGC.

If that were true, then the Goa'uld would have seen them as a threat and attacked them like they attacked Earth. One of the bad things about SGU's Lucian Alliance is that they have suddenly been elevated to the same threat status as the Goa'uld or the Ori. They can use ships to destroy top secret earth bases, they can infiltrate earth and capture people, and they can land cloaked Goa'uld cargo ships undetected. WTF? How is it they could be anywhere in the Milky Way with that sort of power and not be seen as a powerful threat? If they wanted to set up the Lucian Alliance as a major baddie, they should have done that in SG-1 or SGA. If they make the Lucian Alliance all Goa'uld survivors who conceal their Goa'uld voices like the fat Goa'uld man did in Beachhead, things might be a bit more interesting.

I liked this episode (obviously), but I still dont like the show overall. The plot...what plot? Too much drama and not enough science. This episode was "okay" for me because the pace was relatively brisk, and my most hated elements of the show were not present. Mainly the stones, gratuitous sex, cuddling scenes and shaky cam. All were absent, and the latter was much less noticeable. The bridge has lights, and they were ON!

Unfortunately, its too little too late, and I dont think that level of competence is sustainable from these writers. But this one time, they managed not to sicken me within the first 10 minutes

 

[ChromeToasterX]

If that were true, then the Goa'uld would have seen them as a threat and attacked them like they attacked Earth. One of the bad things about SGU's Lucian Alliance is that they have suddenly been elevated to the same threat status as the Goa'uld or the Ori. They can use ships to destroy top secret earth bases, they can infiltrate earth and capture people, and they can land cloaked Goa'uld cargo ships undetected. WTF? How is it they could be anywhere in the Milky Way with that sort of power and not be seen as a powerful threat? If they wanted to set up the Lucian Alliance as a major baddie, they should have done that in SG-1 or SGA. If they make the Lucian Alliance all Goa'uld survivors who conceal their Goa'uld voices like the fat Goa'uld man did in Beachhead, things might be a bit more interesting.

Wasn't the Alliance originally described as being a bunch of criminals and thugs? If they started out that way, as a loose interplanetary coalition of criminals, the Goa'uld would've had no real way to eliminate them because they wouldn't have the same level of infrastructure as the Tok'ra or a fairly advanced human world. Then they became more powerful as the Goa'uld fell, eventually becoming warlords who are every bit as bad as the Goa'uld before them.

 

[Loheat]

If that were true, then the Goa'uld would have seen them as a threat and attacked them like they attacked Earth. One of the bad things about SGU's Lucian Alliance is that they have suddenly been elevated to the same threat status as the Goa'uld or the Ori. They can use ships to destroy top secret earth bases, they can infiltrate earth and capture people, and they can land cloaked Goa'uld cargo ships undetected. WTF? How is it they could be anywhere in the Milky Way with that sort of power and not be seen as a powerful threat? If they wanted to set up the Lucian Alliance as a major baddie, they should have done that in SG-1 or SGA. If they make the Lucian Alliance all Goa'uld survivors who conceal their Goa'uld voices like the fat Goa'uld man did in Beachhead, things might be a bit more interesting.

I gotta rewatch the later seasons of SG-1, I thought cloaked Cargo ships were always undetectable? Havn't watched them in a while, been busy watching all of Atlantis. That does explain how the Lucian Alliance are such a pain in our ass, they do have brainwashing capabilities and have had a high-ranking spy in the Earth military for quite some time now. Maybe they aren't that technologically advanced but just stole enough info from us to find our weaknesses.

I liked this episode (obviously), but I still dont like the show overall. The plot...what plot? Too much drama and not enough science. This episode was "okay" for me because the pace was relatively brisk, and my most hated elements of the show were not present. Mainly the stones, gratuitous sex, cuddling scenes and shaky cam. All were absent, and the latter was much less noticeable. The bridge has lights, and they were ON!

Unfortunately, its too little too late, and I dont think that level of competence is sustainable from these writers. But this one time, they managed not to sicken me within the first 10 minutes

This is one of the best SGU episodes imo, miles ahead of other episodes like Life and Earth, but it still had its flaws. Hopefully the series continues to go in this direction

 

[Overmind One]

This is fair!

Notes on the episode:

- It didn't look like Rush "discovered" the bridge to me in this episode. It looked like he already knew how to get in, not like he stumbled upon it. He did have an expression on his face when he was opening the door like he wasn't sure what was going to happen, but then he just walks into the bridge and that's that. If this was supposed to be some kind of big reveal, then I think they failed here. There was more lighting when the lights came on. I noticed that. But, then it makes me wonder why there wasn't more lighting on the ship when it got re-powered by the sun that it went through in the Light episode, or is the ship on "power save" mode and only the bridge has halfway decent lighting? I think they are just trying to find ways to brighten up the ship bit by bit because of the many complaints about the lighting. The reason why I say this is the shot of the outside of the ship right after this scene. It's much brighter than I've ever seen the outside of the ship look before, so it must be that they are trying to subtlety add in some lighting.

As I said in my review, I liked that part with us seeing the bridge for the first time, but realizing immediately that Rush was not discovering it just then. I did NOT want an "ooh ahh" moment with him slowly entering the bridge and running his grimy fingers over dusty consoles and controls. We also realize that his "manifestations" are familiar to him. And the lighting, they definitely changed it all around, as well as the degree of shaky cam. But the fans (us) can see that are trying to placate us. Thats the same mentality behind scheduling Rodney and Woolsey to be in episode 15. But I dont think we will be getting that far!

- I don't understand why Rush won't tell anyone about unlocking the master code. Unless he has somewhere that he is planning on going specifically, then I don't see what it changes. They are still to far away to fly back to Earth, so the only way back is to gate there and they'd need a naquadria planet to do that since not even a star is enough power for them to gate to Earth. I do remember from some spoilers I read (perhaps at GW) that Rush ends up changing the course of the ship, so that implies that he has somewhere to go, but then that changes the course that the "Destiny" was put on, and how would he know where he's going unless there's some kind of untapped database on the ship that he can access? I guess this is a part of the ship having a "mission" and Rush perhaps finding out. Rush says that the Ancients never meant for the ship to keep going on its own and that there has to be a point to the mission (whatever that ends up being).

Yeah, the whole clandestine thing going on about his bridge secret makes little sense except to draw out the DRAAAAMA :roll:. This is why they trample all over the canon, because its new fans dont care about it. They didnt watch Stargate before SGU and they think they are watching Stargate and not a soap opera in space. How many squeedrones will analyze the logic or (lack of) science in this show? They just want to squee about Rush.

- The Ancient Legend. This kind of sounds like the time line issue to me in the sense that we hear something about the ship that doesn't really line up with other the other shows. There was never a mention of the Destiny and any Ancient legend about it in SGA, and from what I've heard from people that have seen all of SG-1, there was no mention there either. And this would be okay to me if they had've weaved it in somehow during the beginnings of the show. Daniel and Jack have appeared on this show more than once (and Sam at least once), so why didn't any of them mention the legend of the Destiny and its importance - especially Daniel who really does concern himself with these kinds of things? How would the LA girl (who looks like she's barely 21) know this legend like the back of her hand and our SG-1 experts do not? I'm not nit-picking here, I'm just saying that it seems like they just came up with this all of a sudden to try to explain what's going on with the Destiny. They should have either had this in mind in the beginning, or if they did then they should have weaved it into the show so it doesn't seem so forced like it does now.

Ginn is very likeable, but not AT ALL believable. She appears to know all the ships systems, codes, and even is able to "get around" Rush using the ship's console. She knows the legends, she shot Kiva, and she is too good to be true. They are trying to craft heroes out of the clever new additions to the cast. Season 2 is a result of a dismal season 1.

- And about the actual legend. So, this ship is going to help them control time and space and become "like the gods." If this ship is that important, then why would the Ancients just abandon it for anyone who could generate enough power to gate to? The only thing that would make any sense to me is if we delve into "LOST" (as in the television show) explanations where these people that seemingly ended up on this ship randomly were really "chosen" to be there. The problem is that I don't think that these writers are nearly as good as the LOST writers in developing this type of a story. Granted that I had some issues with LOST not resolving some of the scientific/technical aspects of the show (and I'm not saying that they needed to explain or have answers for everything either), they did an upstanding job with the characters, unlike SGU unfortunately.

- Okay about Ginn. Here's a good surprise. I like her. To have a good handle on this episode (and to be fair) I did sit though Intervention. I didn't have an opinion of her in that episode either way, but hearing her story here made sense as to why she killed Dannic. She saw an opportunity to get rid of a terrorist/bad leader during a time of confusion and she took it. That was good quick thinking. Her meeting with Wray at the beginning of the episode showed good interaction between the 2 characters and the 2 actresses. Rob gets points for that. Fans of the show should hope that they don't mess this up somehow. James started out alright to me too, but her character took a downward spiral as well as TJ so I don't know if this will last for Ginn.

I like Ginn too, but I dont like the addition of these new crew members to an already large cast, and I dont like that they are from the Lucian Alliance. I dont like her McKay-like aptitudes for Ancient technology. Too young to know this stuff. Well said, buddy.

- Park's line about how she couldn't sleep knowing that there was a (secured) room full of people that would kill her with the first chance they got was a bit laughable to me. Weren't the civilians on the ship in a war with the military before the LA showed up? I remember that between Rush and Young, one was going to deprive the other side oxygen while the other was going to let the other side starve from what I can remember... Rush won't even share information with her. SGU has proven that it's a show where you can't really trust your own. Perhaps that was her point If you can't trust your own all of the time, then how can you trust anyone else. I'm guessing that this is what she meant.

That was one of those negative head shake moments (with eyeroll) for me. :icon_e_biggrin:

- Once again we have Young saying that TJ is responsible for psych evaluations. Again, why aren't they stoning in actual military psychiatrists that are qualified to do this kind of work? TJ is not qualified seeing as she is a medic, plus she's incapacitated (or she should be). And where did Young get shiny prescription glasses from? Were those in a previous ep?

- Riley questioning the ship stopping within shuttle range of the planet was interesting to me. There have been so many times that the ship has just happened to solve their problems that one more shouldn't be suspicious at all.

- Okay, so TJ's not incapacitated. Not that much time has gone by seeing as Telford is still wincing and very gingerly moving around from his ONE gun shot wound to the abdomen. TJ was shot a few times in the belly at roughly the same time and lost her child because of it while she was pretty late term and she's amazingly walking around like she's okay???? That makes absolutely no sense to me. You use your stomach muscles to walk and hers should be soooo out of commission right now. This is a big WTF moment. Are they trying to say that the "divine intervention" also healed her? Because if they are, then they are doing a bad job of it. No one seems to notice that she's unusually fine for someone that just got shot several times and had a baby cut out of her. Cain told her that the people on the ship would have a different accounting of what happened. No one mentions that the baby disappeared so what's going on??? I was inclined to think that the whole cabin thing was a dream, but they do show that same cloud thing at the end of the Intervention episode so it just seems weird and disjointed. What message do they want the audience to have here? Was the baby saved and TJ miraculously healed or no??? Again, if that's the case then why doesn't anyone seem to notice? People noticed when Chloe was miraculously healed... TJ even tells Young that she's "not 100%" and he tells her to take it easy so I'm thinking that this was just a huge oversight on Joe/Rob's part.

- Oh I don't like the Franklin interaction. This was not good to me. I don't know if this is AI Franklin or if this is a hallucination where Rush is so sleep deprived that he's starting communicate with himself through various people now. Sleep deprivation does cause people to overlook things, so perhaps he was reminding himself that he had overlooked the volcanic activity on the planet/ atmospheric turbulence that should have been provided by the info relayed to him by the ship. (???)

I'll also iterate that they should have either corrected the time line definitively or left it alone. A million+ years old is still just about as bad as hundreds of thousands of years old when we know that Atlantis is 10 million years old.

- The crash worked out nicely. This is also one time that "shaky cam" was actually effectively used because the scene required it. Afterwards, though, we are still stuck with the camera shaking for no good reason like in the scene with Scott and TJ where she says that maybe they shouldn't be trying to move Riley since he's paralyzed.

- Okay, Young is not okay. He killed a guy instead of trying to incapacitate him. I guess you could say that since these were prisoners trying to escape that it's okay, but the guy didn't have a gun and Young had already incapacitated him when he banged the guy's head on the floor causing it to bleed. He then goes on to strangle the guy to death. He and Rush are really losing it - even more so than last season.

- Alright, Rush just confirmed that he's losing his mind. Well, it is said that awareness is the first step to recovery. Perhaps sleep will help if he gets any. He then accuses Young of being the "mentally unstable" one whilst talking to his hallucination of his wife. That's just funny. Both Rush and Young need serious help. Perhaps that's why Young won't allow a real psychiatrist on board. He knows he would fail the evaluation.

- Riley, or should I say the actor that plays him, does a really good job in his before death moments with TJ, and of course Park overhears TJ talking about her baby. I'm sure that the writers aren't going to let this one go. Somehow the fact that Park overheard will come up again.

- Wow, it's amazing that Telford is one of the most sane people on this show right now.

- It's interesting that they were able to clear all of that rubble and get the gate in an upright position in time. The ground underneath doesn't look like they had to lift the gate up out of the rubble, only like they dug the rubble out from around an already upright gate. That seems weird.

- Okay. We're at the part where Riley dies. I do see where he said that he would ask for the gun but that he didn't want the rest of the group to blame Young. However, I'm still at the same question. Why didn't Young try something more humane than suffocation? He could have broken his neck, like PSW said, or I think he should have used a knife (Young should have had one) to cut through the main artery to one of the legs that was pinned that Riley said he couldn't feel. That way Riley would have just bled out in less than a minute without feeling a thing. Since there was already blood loss and TJ mentioned that he would/could bleed out, no one would have questioned it if it were done right. I really don't like how the poor guy's last moments were moments of suffocation when that could have been avoided.

- I think that the episode would have had a better emotional impact if it ended with Riley's words about "not being there" that were recoded by the kino. That and Eli's look would have been better than the mini-music montage that followed and then the shot of the ship that ended the episode. I think that the mini-music montage and then the other moments with other characters took away from the grimness of losing a team mate in this episode, and it moved the focus to the various other members of the Destiny and how they are/aren't coping.

To sum it up, I do think that this episode was a bit better than many others we've seen, and it had potential to be better than it was. However it wasn't better than Time. Perhaps it could have been better if it were better executed. Time had better execution, and for me, the biggest thing is that Time didn't have nearly as many logistical issues that get in the way of this being a "fluid" episode to me. Unfortunately, I don't think that this episode was a win at all. However, like I said, it was better than many others we've seen to date.

This reminds me of how I felt about the Lost episode and Martin Gero (who wrote it). It's not that the writer (in this case, Rob Cooper) can't do well, it just didn't happen here. It fell flat in a number of ways. With Martin, I looked at First Strike in SGA and how great that was. With Rob, right now I'm thinking of Torment of Tantalus and how great that was in SG-1. It's not that these guys haven't done well in the past, it's just that perhaps this really isn't their strength. I can admire what they are/were trying to do, but this just didn't really work for me.

I'm not being nit-picky here, just honest. We all have our own views.

Cheers.

P.S.

I'll be back to respond to some of the earlier comments here when I have more time later.

This was a fair review of the show too. Not quite as positive as mine, but thorough and honest from your point of view. Ironic that this is the lowest rated episode in Stargate history (this time, I know for sure!). And the thing is, we are only TWO episodes into a planned 20 episode season?

SGU is not going to make it...no possible way! But Caprica will go first, soon to be followed by its boring, soapy cousin SGU. :sgusucks:

 

[Overmind One]

TYPO...she shot the bald guy!

Ginn shot the bald crazy psycho dude, not Kiva! But the point is that they are wanting us to connect to her as a hero of sorts. Why would they do that and not revamp their main characters? I prefer Telford ON the ship rather than being a swap-buddy on earth. That was a good move. But the game is already over.

I play chess a lot...and there is always the "aftermath scenarios" where I have either checkmated somebody or have been checkmated, and the game is over but the pieces are still in place. Either my opponent or myself will "rewind" the past two ot three moves to see what "could have been". Its fun, but does nothing to effect the outcome of the ACTUAL game. This show is dead, its just still on the air playing out scenarios and trying everything because it has lost and has nothing more to lose.

​

 

[Rac80]

So, ahum. I once read an article about this guy who got trapped underneath a tree out in the wilderness somewhere, amputed his own leg with a pocketknife, and crawled back to civilization.

Oh look! Here it is: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19099572/39349633

I don't know how trapped Riley was (dammit, I liked his awesome toy making skills), but seriously. There are seven burly guys on that planet and one woman who took a walk within five minutes of her miscarriage, and choking Riley to death is their only solution?

If I were Ferreira I would demand a rewrite of Young at this point. Young is supposed to be "like O'Neill ten years ago". I don't know if any of these writers ever watched SG-1, but that's not O'Neill.

yep i will agree... that was not O'Neill of ten years ago!

Totally agree. Rileys death was just another shock tactic. That's what SGU has boiled down to. They don't have any solutions for anything so they keep it all vague or bring in the mystic unexplained stuff. Then we get some contrived mercy killing to keep it dark and gritty.

i agree with Yllek, he could ahve been saved...but they needed it gritty and dark!

<snipped for space>
This is one of the best SGU episodes imo, miles ahead of other episodes like Life and Earth, but it still had its flaws. Hopefully the series continues to go in this direction

Yep it's going to continue in this direction...downhill to cancellation!

 

[Pariah]

This episode did feel strange and it wasn't until I read this thread that I understood why. It does feel like they're trying desperate to fix some issues from the show. However, for everything they fix something else breaks.

Im sure TJ's recovery will be left as either a massive failure to do research or aliens did it. "It's not a plot hole if we pretend it's a mystery" is probably written on a wall somewhere in the writers room.

They did good things but at this point I don't give a flying fuck. Please, Young, kill your crew and put us out of our suffering.

 

[Rac80]

the "mystery" about mystery

Oh you.. heheheheh

awww you make me blusH!

This episode did feel strange and it wasn't until I read this thread that I understood why. It does feel like they're trying desperate to fix some issues from the show. However, for everything they fix something else breaks.

Im sure TJ's recovery will be left as either a massive failure to do research or aliens did it. "It's not a plot hole if we pretend it's a mystery" is probably written on a wall somewhere in the writers room.

They did good things but at this point I don't give a flying fuck. Please, Young, kill your crew and put us out of our suffering.

you have been there and seen it written in big block letters haven't you?

 

[MetalFoldingChair]

They did good things but at this point I don't give a flying fuck. Please, Young, kill your crew and put us out of our suffering.

Young really is the Jar Jar Binks of SGU. Wouldn't it be hilarious if they ended the show by having Young ineptly vent the atmosphere and suffocate the entire crew? Either that or maybe have him get into a tussle with Rush and accidentally bump the FTL lever on the bridge, thereby piloting Destiny straight into a planet or a star. The possibilities of Young's incompetence killing everyone are endless and strangely believable.

 

[PegDIG2004]

Crap!

All the main characters are in all 20 eps of series 2 so none of them will be killed off.

Now I definitely have no reason to watch any more episodes of SGPoo. I was only holding on for the firey demise of at least one main character.

 

[SexyDexy]

Can someone explain why the hell Young is still in charge?

And to anyone who as yet doesn't think that Young is totally batshit insane, I point to the riot scene when he continued to bash the LA soldier's head into the floor until Telford pulled him off. Perhaps the casting sheet should have named him Everett "Psycho" Young. Bug. Fuck. Crazy.

My mind keeps coming back to this scene - to me, this scene was the most disturbing of the entire episode. It actually got an emotional response from me - unlike Riley's storyline. Young lost it so much that still-wounded Telford had to pull him off of the guy. So why after that wasn't Young replaced by Telford? Telford is fit to command, is he not? Wasn't he who was going to take over when Young left anyway? Why the hell would any of them let Young continue in his position? He's exhibited poor judgment many times and that should have been the final straw. Hell, even if that was the first time he'd done anything wrong, that should have been enough - it was WAY over the line. And Wray saw the entire thing, and she dislikes Young, so I don't think it would be hard for her and Telford to have convinced the SGS to replace Young with Telford. Am I missing something? Besides crappy writing?

 

[Rac80]

My mind keeps coming back to this scene - to me, this scene was the most disturbing of the entire episode. It actually got an emotional response from me - unlike Riley's storyline. Young lost it so much that still-wounded Telford had to pull him off of the guy. So why after that wasn't Young replaced by Telford? Telford is fit to command, is he not? Wasn't he who was going to take over when Young left anyway? Why the hell would any of them let Young continue in his position? He's exhibited poor judgment many times and that should have been the final straw. Hell, even if that was the first time he'd done anything wrong, that should have been enough - it was WAY over the line. And Wray saw the entire thing, and she dislikes Young, so I don't think it would be hard for her and Telford to have convinced the SGS to replace Young with Telford. Am I missing something? Besides crappy writing?

No my dear, crappy writing about covers it.

 

[SexyDexy]

No my dear, crappy writing about covers it.

No surprise there...it is just a huge WTF for me. The writers also couldn't figure out that Young, as someone well-versed in combat (supposedly), would have probably thought to just put some pressure on the carotids in Riley's neck, and Riley would have then passed out from a lack of oxygen to the brain without the panic of suffocation...and yes Young could have done it without leaving suspicious marks (it's like putting someone in a headlock). Actually, the method Young chose is much more unpleasant for Riley and also it would have left his eyes bloodshot (what do they call it on CSI, peticular hemorrage or something like that)? Whereas cutting off the blood flow would just make Riley pass out, and then if Young kept the pressure on there long enough Riley would never wake up. But that wouldn't have been "visceral" and "gritty" enough for them, I guess.

 

[ParagonPie]

To me this episode wasn't that bad actually, and it got better because Chloe was only in one scene and she kept her gob shut. The other one.

 

[Blurb]

They couldn't even try to rescue him, bring him back to the ship and use the stones (which they are in love with) to bring in a doctor to save his life?
If they had to kill someone off, couldn't they have made us all happy and killed one of the main characters?

Well, it had to be character most people could agree on liking :icon_e_wink:. TPTB made it more than clear that they don't want us sitting in front of the screen cheering for those characters.

Actually, it's really funny to imagine them sitting down during the planning stages of S2, discussing which liked character they could kill off. You know, with all the intention to have it be one of the main cast to demonstrate that noone is safe (like they promised, before they churned any of this out ). But as the discussion goes on, they really get a problem with the "liked" part. "Rush? No! Young? Good joke, no. Chloe? Hell no. Wray? Ummm, not really..." until they're halfway through the secondary cast .

~~~

For the episode: It really was surprisingly good. A little cheesy with the sunlight effects while talking God and beliefs here and there and the ever present logic hiccups (how much C4 would you actually need to set off the Naquadah in the gate? They'd probably have to use a little more than what the military grunts carry around, right?) but the pacing this time matched the intensity, in my opinion.

 

[Overmind One]

Bingo!

The more I think about what a mess this episode was, the stranger it is to me. It's probably the strangest Stargate episode I've seen to date. I say this because of how all over the place and disjointed it is. There are a couple of parts that really hit like the scene with Ginn and Wray. There are the parts that really don't hit like all of the MANY plot holes and WTF moments like TJ's miraculous recovery that no one seems to notice. Then, there are are all of the "meh" and awkward moments. The few parts that hit, like the Riley kino scene (which was the best use of the kino to date), are some of the best scenes of the series. However, the parts that don't hit are some of the worst/weirdest I've ever seen in the Stargate franchise. It's no wonder why there are mixed opinions about this episode with many people thinking it's the worst of the series and some thinking it's just disappointing and some thinking it's the best of the series. It's just weird.

In many ways, mainly when it comes to clarity and fluidity, this episode is terrible. It's definitely the worst episode of the series in the sense of clarity to me. There's so much that's Just. Not. Clear. There have been lots of episodes (I'd say most if not them all) in this series that had "cloudy/fuzzy" moments, but this one takes the cake to me. Even the simple things like the bridge reveal and whether or not Riley could or couldn't feel his legs are points of contention because of how they were handled/shown.

Aftermath is a very interesting episode to me because of how "off" it is, even when I just look at the mismatched tones/messages/focus of the episode. Very interesting indeed...

EXACTLY. But perhaps now you will understand why I wrote my review the way I did. I saw this as a stand-alone thing, and as a single episode it appealed to me because with all the plotholes and trampling of canon, it was UNPREDICTABLE to me. All the other episodes (including Time, which was the only other episode I liked in SGU) were utterly PREDICTABLE. Also, the way it was presented was so very un-SGU like, imo. And as I also said, just because this episode didnt sicken me within the first 10 minutes doesnt mean I thought it was great.

Plotholes in this one are huge:

TJ's recovery
Ginn knowing the mythology of Destiny but not Daniel or the SGC or the IOA.

LOTS of others, but perhaps the biggest one of all is that the whole episode centered around Rush using his bridge to stop the ship at a planet which was locked out of the database because there is a food emergency and Wray already said they could all starve. But even with the stargate engaged finally, nobody collected food! But they used it to get rid of the LA people they stranded.

The reason I gave it an "okay" review is because for the first time since watching any of the episodes of this show, it was giving me something NEW and DIFFERENT. Stupid and strange and convoluted? YES! . And throughout the review I state clearly that I still dont like the show and that this episode didnt change my mind about the watchability of the show. But as a single episode? I would rather be tortured by this one than the others, or Time.

The next episode is going to throw the momentum off. What about the crashed shuttle? It has a broken windshield...so what? The LA people could conceivably repair it. There is also an uncovered stargate on that planet now. What if Riley also had a portable DHD in his pocket when he was pinned? They could take it from his body (which we did not see get a inspected by TJ, and she is the medic).

Nope, it didnt get lost on me how many bumps and dents there are in the canon of SGU, But for me they just fell a bit short of a true "WTF moment" like the one with Chloe walking up to the hole in the ship the fish people made, or the nightclub scene. And as you said before, its good because we all have different tastes.

 

[Overmind One]

Okay, but at the end of it all, we still agree that SGU sucks!

Predictability has nothing to do with what makes for a decent, "okay," or "passable" episode to me. An unpredictable episode can be a great episode and this one wasn't. The lack of clarity and focus was terrible.

I was thinking about the food issue when I wrote my last post on this thread. I was thinking about it when I thought to myself "What exactly was I suppose to take away from that episode?" The fact that I really don't have an answer to that question does not reflect a stroke of brilliance on the part of the makers/writer of the episode but rather a stroke of them really poorly putting it together.

That's the reason why I think that the Riley kino video should have been the end of the episode instead of them going on with other things after NOT resolving any of the things that the episode started with like the need for food and water. That's also the reason why I think they should have actually looked for and found the food and water that I believe Rush said was there. That way, if the episode ended with Riley talking about "not being there" it would feel like he died so that the rest of them could live because they needed to go to that planet and get food/water for everyone. The episode would have essentially ended with the "sacrifice" that they as a crew and he as a person had to make by reflecting on the life that was lost on that planet to save the many. Wasn't that what O'Neill lectured Young about last season? Carter made the right decision in letting a few die to save the many. Here, in this Aftermath episode, we don't even get that! Someone dies and it ends up being for nothing...

I was very unimpressed with the fact that a man literally died so that they could investigate that planet to find food and water, and they DON'T do it in the end. It almost makes his death all for not. Sure, they drank a toast to the guy, but how about completing the mission. Oh, I forgot, that's not what the "wrong people" do. It just doesn't make sense that 80+ people (and we don't even know the numbers of the LA) need food and water and they all lose sight of that because Riley was injured and then was killed/died.

As a commander, Young should have had the Scott, Greer, and most of the rest of them looking for food and water while he stayed with Riley. They STILL needed to complete the mission, which was finding food and water and whatever supplies they could out in the wild. The fact that they didn't do this is a big WTF moment for me. Again, how did Young or Scott make it into leadership positions??? At least when Chloe stepped up to the light from the hull breach, she was just mostly endangering herself. Here, we have people that were supposed to find food and water for a starving ship full of people. Not doing that endangers the lives of everyone. Tell me I'm wrong on this buddy. To me, what they did in not completing the mission or even trying to complete the mission (which is something that the SGA/SG-1 teams would never do) is WORSE than what Chloe did in stepping into the hull breach.

Honestly, the more I think about this episode, the less I understand why you think it's passable or better than Time (which to me it really isn't). So much is wrong with this episode from a logistical standpoint that it's not even funny.

And again, an episode doesn't need to be predictable for someone to understand what they were supposed to get out of it, or at least the main thing that they were supposed to get out of it. This episode is so convoluted that it's really hard for me to know. I can guess, but really, I don't know.

That's not a good thing. I can tell you that for sure my friend. You call it "NEW" and "Different" while I call it "MESSY" and "VERY POORLY PUT TOGETHER." Once again, things that shouldn't have even been points of contention were in this episode because of how badly it was put together. What makes it weird for me is the hodge-podge effect of having some actually really good moments in this episode, along with awkward and okay ones, and the mismatched tone/focus/etc.

I'm totally fine with you liking it, that's just not going to change my observations and conclusions about it.

I didn't know what was going to happen while I was watching Time. I expected that they would solve the problem somehow, but I didn't know what exactly was going to happen. There was a consistency in tone, style, and focus in that episode (and in others as well like Lost) that is severely lacking in this episode. The fact that these people didn't even TRY to solve their initial problem in Aftermath makes no sense whatsoever. All of their lives depend on having food and fresh water, and they just skipped off after Riley died. WTF?

Cheers buddy.

Cheers.

Yes, the fact that they didnt collect the food and water they risked the shuttle, its crew, and lives to get wasnt even collected. And now they are moving on to a seeder ship?

As far as the other things you have said, some I agree with, others I dont. But in the end the thing that we agree on is that SGU sucks! Just like I liked SG-1 better than Atlantis and you liked Atlantis better than SG-1...thats the beauty of diversity!

 

[Overmind One]

The ratings agree with you!

Yes, we agree on that fact that the show sucks. We don't have to agree on all of the details. Just like I think that Aftermath is the strangest Stargate episode that I've seen to date and that it was very poorly done and you think it was the best of the series, it's okay to have differing tastes.

I respect your views and opinions, as always, even when we don't agree.

Cheers.

Yes, and the ratings seem to agree with you there! the entire show sucks, and out of the poo nuggets that make up this show, Time and Aftermath seemed to be the "prettier" ones (to me). Gross analogy, but apt!