Review: Deliverance

[Rac80]

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2:11- Deliverance​

The storyline:
The Destiny is being attacked by unmanned drones; the implication is that the Ursini lured them into the ambush. Chloe breaks away from her guard and contacts the Blaliens to come rescue them. Eli gets an idea to interrupt the communication between the drones and their command ship. It only lasts a few minutes, but is enough to allow the command ship to be destroyed, putting all of the drones into an inactive mode. Rush wants to examine a drone so Scott, Greer, and Park leave the ship in a shuttle to capture one. Meanwhile the Blaliens arrive and Rush has arranged for the Blaliens to “cure” Chloe as a trade for the shuttle that the Blaliens are blocking.
Volker Brody and Eli are assigned to work on the drone and do for a while until Rush sends Volker and Brody off to work on the depleted shields. Rush says he and Eli can now get some work done. A new command ship arrives with more drones. Scott has delivered Chloe to the Blaliens and waits until they “cure” her and returns to the Destiny, but not before taking out some of the new drones. As Eli and Rush prepare to activate the drone they have reprogrammed, Greer and another Marine arrive to destroy the drone if it begins attacking inside the ship. Meanwhile the Ursini’s seed ship does a suicide run at the drones to try to save the Destiny. Once Scott and Chloe return to the ship, Eli’s reprogramming works and causes the first set of drones to attack the second set. Young decides to chance FTL drive on 5% of shields and it works. Chloe is being kept under guard after having been checked out by TJ and discovers she still has some of the knowledge she gained from the Blaliens.

The critique:

The performances were all over the place in this episode. Rush is now soft and cuddly, Young is stoical and sweet by turns, Park is either anguished or happy- no in between at all. Rush and Camille are working together, Chloe is full of angst, Eli is confident. It seems the characters change from one episode to another. I believe most of these actors are acceptable, but they just do not make these characters “come alive” for me at all. As previously stated Lisa Park (Jennifer Spence) has two emotions and that is it! We are to believe that Rush (Robert Carlyle) is now soft and cuddly? Well bathe the man first, and then we can talk about it. Scott (BJS) scene worrying about Chloe was worthy of High School Musical and about as effective. I honestly can’t say if it is the acting, directing, or writing that is the problem.
The music was as melodramatic as ever in this episode. The music should be behind the scene not over powering it. When they discovered that more drones were on the way, the music reminding me of what was played during the silent movie era for a villain. The romantic music for Chloe & Scotts good bye scene was laughable. It seems that the music director must thing “more is better” because the music is overplayed for every scene. I have expected the old deedle-deedle-deedle-deedle (from the old Dudley DoRight cartoons) for the “risky jump.” Much to my dismay we never heard one chorus of Dueling Banjos- that would have actually improved the music.
The lighting was as always horrible. The special effects were subpar. The only “cool” shot was the second command ship arriving and releasing more drones. The scene where Chloe is suspended in the air by the Blaliens blue light was completely absurd. I had a hard time telling the ships apart in the space battle scenes. I also found the Destiny’s weapons to be underwhelming. The battle scenes themselves were very anti-climatic.

Overall the episode was mediocre for television and terrible for a Stargate episode. The characters of Volker and Brody appear to be incompetent at best. The other characters are choppy and not very well defined. Even Rush is supposed to be soft and sweet now, with Young being given a kiss from Chloe as he sends her back to the Blaliens to experiment on her some more. The Ursini suicide run which supposedly destroyed the last of the Ursini was a nod to the mass suicide of the Asgard from Sg1’s Unending (10:20). The drone storyline also reminded me of an SG1 episode: the SG1 (4:14) Serpent’s Venom where Sam and Jacob/Selmak are trying to reprogram a minefield left behind by the extinct Tobin civilization. Thus once again proving there is not an original idea left in the heads of TPTW of Stargate. I understand that everyone rips off ideas in television, but to steal TWQO ideas from a previous series (and one that you have wholeheartedly criticized) and incorporate them into one episode is simply foolish. This episode should be missed and is completely worthy of being in Universe: Destiny as we once again never even saw the Stargate!

 

[Mr. A]

Wow, thanks for the review Rac! I'm seeing this for the first time not having watched either this or the previous episode yet.
Therefore, your critic puzzles me, since the storyline as described by you sounds very promising for a sci-fi episode and not at all predictable as some people wrote elsewhere. Is it, as so often the case in SGU, all in the execution? Did they place the emphasis on the wrong parts of the episodes? It's hard to believe seasoned actors could mess this so badly... Add to this the music problem and if I'm reading this correctly, it seems like the episode didn't live up to its potential due to sloppy production and bad directing? Care to comment?

 

[Rac80]

typical ep....poor execution

Wow, thanks for the review Rac! I'm seeing this for the first time not having watched either this or the previous episode yet.
Therefore, your critic puzzles me, since the storyline as described by you sounds very promising for a sci-fi episode and not at all predictable as some people wrote elsewhere. Is it, as so often the case in SGU, all in the execution? Did they place the emphasis on the wrong parts of the episodes? It's hard to believe seasoned actors could mess this so badly... Add to this the music problem and if I'm reading this correctly, it seems like the episode didn't live up to its potential due to sloppy production and bad directing? Care to comment?

It was a typical sgpoo ep...the execution was the killer. Little "filler" scenes that went no where and the climatic scenes were too short, too much deus ex machina, a much too brief scene of Chloe on the Blalien vessel, but a longer scene of scott ruminating over how he will "come back with chloe or not at all." their (scott and chloe) scenes were worthy of a 90210 ep, camille just being "there" not really serving a purpose, the space battle too short and not really exciting, even the bridge during the battle was dull. I honestly don't know if it was the actors, the director, or the writing or a combination of all three. The episode missed being good by a mile.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Very well written review. I was going to post one but I dropped my phone in the toilet while preparing a photo illustration of my review.

 

[Mr. A]

Same here

Very well written review. I was going to post one but I dropped my phone in the toilet while preparing a photo illustration of my review.

The dog chewed my DVR...

 

[Overmind One]

This was a fair review! I had many eye rolls.

2:11- Deliverance​

The storyline:
The Destiny is being attacked by unmanned drones; the implication is that the Ursini lured them into the ambush. Chloe breaks away from her guard and contacts the Blaliens to come rescue them. Eli gets an idea to interrupt the communication between the drones and their command ship. It only lasts a few minutes, but is enough to allow the command ship to be destroyed, putting all of the drones into an inactive mode. Rush wants to examine a drone so Scott, Greer, and Park leave the ship in a shuttle to capture one. Meanwhile the Blaliens arrive and Rush has arranged for the Blaliens to “cure” Chloe as a trade for the shuttle that the Blaliens are blocking.
Volker Brody and Eli are assigned to work on the drone and do for a while until Rush sends Volker and Brody off to work on the depleted shields. Rush says he and Eli can now get some work done. A new command ship arrives with more drones. Scott has delivered Chloe to the Blaliens and waits until they “cure” her and returns to the Destiny, but not before taking out some of the new drones. As Eli and Rush prepare to activate the drone they have reprogrammed, Greer and another Marine arrive to destroy the drone if it begins attacking inside the ship. Meanwhile the Ursini’s seed ship does a suicide run at the drones to try to save the Destiny. Once Scott and Chloe return to the ship, Eli’s reprogramming works and causes the first set of drones to attack the second set. Young decides to chance FTL drive on 5% of shields and it works. Chloe is being kept under guard after having been checked out by TJ and discovers she still has some of the knowledge she gained from the Blaliens.

The critique:

The performances were all over the place in this episode. Rush is now soft and cuddly, Young is stoical and sweet by turns, Park is either anguished or happy- no in between at all. Rush and Camille are working together, Chloe is full of angst, Eli is confident. It seems the characters change from one episode to another. I believe most of these actors are acceptable, but they just do not make these characters “come alive” for me at all. As previously stated Lisa Park (Jennifer Spence) has two emotions and that is it! We are to believe that Rush (Robert Carlyle) is now soft and cuddly? Well bathe the man first, and then we can talk about it. Scott (BJS) scene worrying about Chloe was worthy of High School Musical and about as effective. I honestly can’t say if it is the acting, directing, or writing that is the problem.
The music was as melodramatic as ever in this episode. The music should be behind the scene not over powering it. When they discovered that more drones were on the way, the music reminding me of what was played during the silent movie era for a villain. The romantic music for Chloe & Scotts good bye scene was laughable. It seems that the music director must thing “more is better” because the music is overplayed for every scene. I have expected the old deedle-deedle-deedle-deedle (from the old Dudley DoRight cartoons) for the “risky jump.” Much to my dismay we never heard one chorus of Dueling Banjos- that would have actually improved the music.
The lighting was as always horrible. The special effects were subpar. The only “cool” shot was the second command ship arriving and releasing more drones. The scene where Chloe is suspended in the air by the Blaliens blue light was completely absurd. I had a hard time telling the ships apart in the space battle scenes. I also found the Destiny’s weapons to be underwhelming. The battle scenes themselves were very anti-climatic.

Overall the episode was mediocre for television and terrible for a Stargate episode. The characters of Volker and Brody appear to be incompetent at best. The other characters are choppy and not very well defined. Even Rush is supposed to be soft and sweet now, with Young being given a kiss from Chloe as he sends her back to the Blaliens to experiment on her some more. The Ursini suicide run which supposedly destroyed the last of the Ursini was a nod to the mass suicide of the Asgard from Sg1’s Unending (10:20). The drone storyline also reminded me of an SG1 episode: the SG1 (4:14) Serpent’s Venom where Sam and Jacob/Selmak are trying to reprogram a minefield left behind by the extinct Tobin civilization. Thus once again proving there is not an original idea left in the heads of TPTW of Stargate. I understand that everyone rips off ideas in television, but to steal TWQO ideas from a previous series (and one that you have wholeheartedly criticized) and incorporate them into one episode is simply foolish. This episode should be missed and is completely worthy of being in Universe: Destiny as we once again never even saw the Stargate!

This episode was good visually, but when I thought about the story and recalled the previous storylines (this IS a serialized show, right?), it made no sense to me what I saw in this episode. How is it all of a sudden, Brody and Volker know about the power distribution and can even bypass them (with what?), and they know how to repair the FTL engines (which we have never seen), and Park knows how to operate the controls as does James. Really? The whole thing with Young sitting in the captains chair on the bridge asking about shield strength and barking commands about weapons seemed to contrived, lifted directly from Trek. Eli did a good job, but him trying to channel a younger McKay didnt work for me. Chloe and the fish people in that storyline was uneventful. They just fixed her and then left? And why did they do it in the first place? But wait....Chloe can now do FTL calculations with math. EYE ROLL.

The show was going to still fail even if they had approved a season 3.

To me, all of Season 2 of SGU represents TPTB trying to address the complaints from season 1. They have changed the characters, like Rush is showing compassion, and Eli is acting more mature, and now Chloe is a math genius (addressing her uselessness). But its still not plausible or believable. The Ursini are all dead and the seeder ship is destroyed. But Rush felt that the stargate manufacturing facility on that ship was a DISTRACTION, remember?

Your review was fairer than I would have given it. But it was better than the season opener from 2.0!

 

[Mr. A]

This episode was good visually, but when I thought about the story and recalled the previous storylines (this IS a serialized show, right?), it made no sense to me what I saw in this episode. How is it all of a sudden, Brody and Volker know about the power distribution and can even bypass them (with what?), and they know how to repair the FTL engines (which we have never seen), and Park knows how to operate the controls as does James. Really? The whole thing with Young sitting in the captains chair on the bridge asking about shield strength and barking commands about weapons seemed to contrived, lifted directly from Trek.

Excellent points. This is something that has always bugged me in this show from the beginning. And there is only so much you can explain with off-camera plot, but what you point out is beyond ridiculous! :roll:
I've always wondered about the "with what" question, but to be fair not only on SGU but on the crystal based Goa'uld and Ancient technologies in SG-1 and SGA as well. Only SGU has the aggravation of the crew of Destiny coming to the ship empty handed and unprepared! So - Shoelace? Bubble gum? Paper clip? Spit?...

Eli did a good job, but him trying to channel a younger McKay didnt work for me. Chloe and the fish people in that storyline was uneventful. They just fixed her and then left? And why did they do it in the first place? But wait....Chloe can now do FTL calculations with math. EYE ROLL.

The show was going to still fail even if they had approved a season 3.

To me, all of Season 2 of SGU represents TPTB trying to address the complaints from season 1. They have changed the characters, like Rush is showing compassion, and Eli is acting more mature, and now Chloe is a math genius (addressing her uselessness). But its still not plausible or believable.

I think "trying" is the key word here.

The Ursini are all dead and the seeder ship is destroyed. But Rush felt that the stargate manufacturing facility on that ship was a DISTRACTION, remember?

Major fail!

 

[Briangate78]

It took SG-1 10 years to kill off an entire alien race who became our allies, known as the Asgard.

SGU took 2 episodes to kill off a friendly race. lol

 

[Overmind One]

It took SG-1 10 years to kill off an entire alien race who became our allies, known as the Asgard.

SGU took 2 episodes to kill off a friendly race. lol

I dont understand why TPTB had to KILL OFF the enemy. Defeating them would have been acceptable, driving them into retreat. Trek would never actually DEFEAT the Klingons or the Romulans or the Cardassians or the Dominion or the Borg. But catastrophically crippling them works. There HAVE TO BE Goa'uld left in the MW. There could have been a new traitor caste amongst the Tok'ra ro revive them. The evil Asgard still live, though

Also, why can Telford understand the Ursini's transmissions? Did he suddenly become a xenolinguist? They created the magic communications stones, but they couldnt retcon a translator aboard Destiny so we could actually hear what they are saying? I dont want to guess what they are saying...let them speak English and say its a translator.

 

[Leo(T.C.K.)]

I just saw this one, the killing off felt pointless. And I was entirely confused, did the blue aliens appear in previous episode too? I don't remember so but they talk like if they did. And what was it about the Ursini subplot? I don't know wtf was happening, where did they go in the beginning and why did they suicide like that. This is too confusing, I don't get this entirely. WTF.

It all doesn't make sense, I got lost in that mess totally. Anyone having the same feeling?