Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
LINK to front page review HERE
First, A quick overview of the episode:
In this episode the events previously established in "alliances" come into play (the LA attack on the SGC). Young has ordered a 24/7 attempt to connect with Earth in an attempt to find out weather the Naquadria bomb exploded or they managed to diffuse it in time. During this vigil, Chloe is "connected" to Ginn and at a later stage, Perry as well. This story makes up the main "Scifi" component of the episode. The B plot involves Volker and us finding out he has end stage renal failure and TJ's attempts to resolve the issue under her "less than ideal" conditions. The C beat is a character study of Eli, Scott and Rush and how they variously respond to the concept of all three of thier "loved ones" mentally inhabiting the one body (Chloe)
Firstly, we will deal with the A beat, the scifi story.
While standing duty on the Comm stones, Chloe falls asleep and at that time, Ginn is able to assert her conciousness and take active control over Chloe's body. Everyone assumes this is a yet unknown abillty of the stones and it becomes a somewhat metaphysical discussion as what to do about her conciousness. As time progresses however Ginn suddeny has problems breathing (as if she is being strangled) and soon after Chloe resurfaces in her body. This launches another round of conversations as to weather it is safe for Chloe and what to do about Ginn. This situation repeats a few times until not Ginn but Perry apears in Chloes mind. Rush puts forward the notion of using the interface chair in order to download the two conciousness' in order to preserve them in some form. Eventually, this is done and the procedure appears to be successful, just in time for Perry to help TJ with the B story.
Pros:
Unlike some SGU stories, the actual "meat and potatoes" is fairly well thought out and delivered. What is explained or hypothisised is quite rational and does follow a logical format.
Cons:
Unless you have followed SG1 at least, the method of how the stones might actually work is a total mystery. While I'm not adverse to mystery, without a grounding in this "background information" the stones look even more like a "writers crutch" to achieve an end. The most significant failure here is this was a perfect oppertunity to define exactly what the stones are capable of and how they function, instead, it is left to vague "Hypothisis". I hardly need my Scifi explained to me, but I do find having to "write in" my own explanation for things (particulary for prominent tech), a writers "cop out" approach as, as soon as you define a thing, said thing needs to follow those rules. Leaving it "open" however allows you to keep adding abillities with relatively few consequences.
Beat 2, the Volker story
We find out that Volker is suffering from end stage renal failure and the only option is a kidney transplant as they don't have the resourses onhand to resort to dyalisis as a soulution. It is determined that out of all the crew only 2 are near compatible matches, redshirt scientist A and Greer. Greer steps up, of course. Complicating the issue is the fact that due to the stone malfunction, it becomes impossible to "stone in a doctor" and TJ must perform the surgery herself. After TJ's self doubt, some crew bonding moments and some
actual explaining of things , TJ is about to start the surgery. At this point, beat 1 resolves and Perry appears to TJ in order to guide her through the process with all the knowledge of the medical database.
Pros:
Once again, the meat and potatoes are are covered, if only with a few throwaway lines at times. The idea of rejection of the organ and possible infection, TJ's acess to more medical devices and her knowledge of how to use them are actually covered and it was a great relief not to have to look at the screen and just say "WTF?" forr the most part. The character interactions were really quite good (one exception, I'll get to that) as the majority of this beat involved the B cast more than anyone else. In particular the development of Volker and Greer was very good. All in all, a pretty good story beat.
Cons:
My biggest beef with this section of the story was the "humor" Some parts were fine (Brody and Volker discussing the theme to 2001, Greer and Volkers exchanges) but most of it was purile childish garbage. The humor in SGU always seems forced or flat because it's generally used in either highly inapropriate ways, or the jokes just aren't that funny. The show needs "black comedy" if the humor is to work due to the nature of the show, and batman jokes and errectile dysfunction jokes just don't cut it at all.
Beat 3 Chloe with 3 minds and 3 boyfriends
Ok, despite my somewhat cheesy name for it, there again was actually semi decent character growth going on here. From a purely logical standpoint, it's an interesting study on how each male character views thier relationship with thier "significant other" and shows three very different levels of relationship dynamics. Scott is, unsuprisingly, a whiney brat, only concered with Chloe and he pushes this very heavily onto Eli in a attempt to guilt him into giving up on finding a way to save Ginn. Eli wants to find a way to save Ginn, but is aware (even without Scott acting llike a prat) of the danger posed to Chloe. He also has obvious issues with Kissing Ginn in Chloe's body, which continues his little speach to Rush about how easy it is to forget exactly who's body you are dealing with. Eli just wants to save everyone, having Ginn around again is just a huge bonus for him. Rush and Perry are more like the "old friends/ long term married couple", Just happy to be able to talk to eachother again. Sure Rush wants to save her and he does support Eli's attempts to help Ginn, but only because he knows that if Ginn is still around somehow, there is a possibility that Perry was around as well, so there is that element of selfishness you would expect from Rush.
Pros:
Outside of this little love triangle, there are some very interesting points made about quite a few issues that could relate to the "mission". For example, They equate Ginn and Perry's brain patterns to radio signals that are degrading as Chloe's mind re-asserts itself. Also Rush is forced to reveal the existance of Franklin to the command crew in order to push his idea to use the chair to download Ginn and Perry's conciousness to preserve them until they find new bodies for them.
Cons:
I still don't like these characters, simple.
Overall, the ep was not as bad as I initally thought it would have been being a "stone centric" ep and having a medical emergency thrown in. There were no "truck sized plotholes", everything did follow a cogent stream of logic. If I were a SGU fan, I'd probably think it was quite OK. Not an "action packed ep" to be sure, but an interesting character ep nonetheless. One thing I feel compelled to mention, is that I was actually really impressed with Young in this ep. Unlike the whiney, broken down second rate commander we have all grown to loathe and detest, He was really very much "da man" and I have to give props to LF and whoever wrote his dialogue, because if Young was this guy from the beginning who then fell apart, I could see myself liking him.
First, A quick overview of the episode:
In this episode the events previously established in "alliances" come into play (the LA attack on the SGC). Young has ordered a 24/7 attempt to connect with Earth in an attempt to find out weather the Naquadria bomb exploded or they managed to diffuse it in time. During this vigil, Chloe is "connected" to Ginn and at a later stage, Perry as well. This story makes up the main "Scifi" component of the episode. The B plot involves Volker and us finding out he has end stage renal failure and TJ's attempts to resolve the issue under her "less than ideal" conditions. The C beat is a character study of Eli, Scott and Rush and how they variously respond to the concept of all three of thier "loved ones" mentally inhabiting the one body (Chloe)
Firstly, we will deal with the A beat, the scifi story.
While standing duty on the Comm stones, Chloe falls asleep and at that time, Ginn is able to assert her conciousness and take active control over Chloe's body. Everyone assumes this is a yet unknown abillty of the stones and it becomes a somewhat metaphysical discussion as what to do about her conciousness. As time progresses however Ginn suddeny has problems breathing (as if she is being strangled) and soon after Chloe resurfaces in her body. This launches another round of conversations as to weather it is safe for Chloe and what to do about Ginn. This situation repeats a few times until not Ginn but Perry apears in Chloes mind. Rush puts forward the notion of using the interface chair in order to download the two conciousness' in order to preserve them in some form. Eventually, this is done and the procedure appears to be successful, just in time for Perry to help TJ with the B story.
Pros:
Unlike some SGU stories, the actual "meat and potatoes" is fairly well thought out and delivered. What is explained or hypothisised is quite rational and does follow a logical format.
Cons:
Unless you have followed SG1 at least, the method of how the stones might actually work is a total mystery. While I'm not adverse to mystery, without a grounding in this "background information" the stones look even more like a "writers crutch" to achieve an end. The most significant failure here is this was a perfect oppertunity to define exactly what the stones are capable of and how they function, instead, it is left to vague "Hypothisis". I hardly need my Scifi explained to me, but I do find having to "write in" my own explanation for things (particulary for prominent tech), a writers "cop out" approach as, as soon as you define a thing, said thing needs to follow those rules. Leaving it "open" however allows you to keep adding abillities with relatively few consequences.
Beat 2, the Volker story
We find out that Volker is suffering from end stage renal failure and the only option is a kidney transplant as they don't have the resourses onhand to resort to dyalisis as a soulution. It is determined that out of all the crew only 2 are near compatible matches, redshirt scientist A and Greer. Greer steps up, of course. Complicating the issue is the fact that due to the stone malfunction, it becomes impossible to "stone in a doctor" and TJ must perform the surgery herself. After TJ's self doubt, some crew bonding moments and some
actual explaining of things , TJ is about to start the surgery. At this point, beat 1 resolves and Perry appears to TJ in order to guide her through the process with all the knowledge of the medical database.Pros:
Once again, the meat and potatoes are are covered, if only with a few throwaway lines at times. The idea of rejection of the organ and possible infection, TJ's acess to more medical devices and her knowledge of how to use them are actually covered and it was a great relief not to have to look at the screen and just say "WTF?" forr the most part. The character interactions were really quite good (one exception, I'll get to that) as the majority of this beat involved the B cast more than anyone else. In particular the development of Volker and Greer was very good. All in all, a pretty good story beat.
Cons:
My biggest beef with this section of the story was the "humor" Some parts were fine (Brody and Volker discussing the theme to 2001, Greer and Volkers exchanges) but most of it was purile childish garbage. The humor in SGU always seems forced or flat because it's generally used in either highly inapropriate ways, or the jokes just aren't that funny. The show needs "black comedy" if the humor is to work due to the nature of the show, and batman jokes and errectile dysfunction jokes just don't cut it at all.
Beat 3 Chloe with 3 minds and 3 boyfriends
Ok, despite my somewhat cheesy name for it, there again was actually semi decent character growth going on here. From a purely logical standpoint, it's an interesting study on how each male character views thier relationship with thier "significant other" and shows three very different levels of relationship dynamics. Scott is, unsuprisingly, a whiney brat, only concered with Chloe and he pushes this very heavily onto Eli in a attempt to guilt him into giving up on finding a way to save Ginn. Eli wants to find a way to save Ginn, but is aware (even without Scott acting llike a prat) of the danger posed to Chloe. He also has obvious issues with Kissing Ginn in Chloe's body, which continues his little speach to Rush about how easy it is to forget exactly who's body you are dealing with. Eli just wants to save everyone, having Ginn around again is just a huge bonus for him. Rush and Perry are more like the "old friends/ long term married couple", Just happy to be able to talk to eachother again. Sure Rush wants to save her and he does support Eli's attempts to help Ginn, but only because he knows that if Ginn is still around somehow, there is a possibility that Perry was around as well, so there is that element of selfishness you would expect from Rush.
Pros:
Outside of this little love triangle, there are some very interesting points made about quite a few issues that could relate to the "mission". For example, They equate Ginn and Perry's brain patterns to radio signals that are degrading as Chloe's mind re-asserts itself. Also Rush is forced to reveal the existance of Franklin to the command crew in order to push his idea to use the chair to download Ginn and Perry's conciousness to preserve them until they find new bodies for them.
Cons:
I still don't like these characters, simple.
Overall, the ep was not as bad as I initally thought it would have been being a "stone centric" ep and having a medical emergency thrown in. There were no "truck sized plotholes", everything did follow a cogent stream of logic. If I were a SGU fan, I'd probably think it was quite OK. Not an "action packed ep" to be sure, but an interesting character ep nonetheless. One thing I feel compelled to mention, is that I was actually really impressed with Young in this ep. Unlike the whiney, broken down second rate commander we have all grown to loathe and detest, He was really very much "da man" and I have to give props to LF and whoever wrote his dialogue, because if Young was this guy from the beginning who then fell apart, I could see myself liking him.
