"Darkness"


    A few days after restoring the air system aboard the Destiny, our intrepid crew find themselves facing a new problem... a water shortage. While they have enough water to ration for several weeks, they know it is inevitable that they'll have to resupply their reserves. Col. Young has thus taken it upon himself to explain the realities of their situation to small groups of the crew over the course of the day. While Young lays down the law, Dr. Rush is freaking out at how callously the military personnel are treating the power reserves on the ship. He personally chews out two people operating a console without his permission and then goes on a tirade to Young, going so far as to assault a scientist! During this time, Eli is pulled aside by a rather pissed mixed-group of civilians and enlisted soldiers who more or less threaten him into agreeing to give them information that Rush and Young aren't giving them. Eli plays it cool and manages to slip away without divulging anything, but he now knows he's a marked man. In the midst of everyone beginning to settle into the routine of the ship, the worst happens! The power goes out across the ship! Rush goes off on an "I told you so" rant which ends up causing him to pass out, leaving the crew a bit screwed. As the crew scramble to find ways to restore power to the ship, they realize the ship has dropped out of faster than light, and they're heading straight for a gas giant at amazing speed.

    I have to say upfront that this episode really sold me on the series. I think it did a better job than the pilot, or the last episode, at making me care for the characters, and while I know the situation they find themselves in at the end of the episode is obviously one they will escape, I do not have any idea how they'll do it. I had read in some of the production notes that this was originally intended to be a one part episode called "Fire" but it ran long, so they converted it and turned it into a two parter. I was nervous that the episode would feel decompressed, even a little slow moving, but I was pleasantly surprised. I found the episode moved at a good pace and the drama was well spaced between highs and lows. Hopefully, I can say that this episode is indicative of how the show will work week-to-week, because the balance between character and plot was perfect here. The "testimonial" segments were an obvious addition to the episode to kill some time to fill out a full 45 minutes. I felt that their quality was split between a rather obvious line. The civilian ones seemed remarkably well written, smart and geared toward comedy. The one astrophysicist - whose name I sadly missed - who compared himself and Rush to Salieri and Mozart was brilliant in his delivery. The woman who speaks toward the end describing the science of what will happen to the ship as it approaches was excellent as well. Rush's silent one worked for his character, as did Eli's reprise Heston impression. On the other hand, the military camera confessionals came off as rather dull and repetitive. Of the four of them throughout the episode, three of them mentioned how they "wanted to go home" (which does make sense) and all three riffed on the concept of "we're the wrong people to be here/I'm not supposed to be here." We're 4 hours into the show and already I feel this mantra is getting old. Scott's personal statement - well, what little of it there is besides the prayer - fits him, and seems more thought out than the characterization of him last episode. The vignettes did more for the civilian guest cast than any of the actual scenes for characters like Tamara Johansen (The Medic. Yay, we've finally learned her name!), Sgt. Greer or Ming-Na's as yet unnamed-on-screen character.

    Early in the episode, during Rush's initial walk to tell off someone over power usage, we get some rather good shots of the hallway sets. They're quite expansive, giving the impression of very tall corridors throughout the large ship. As well, you can seem exposed pipes and couplings through the ceiling which really gives you the sense that the ship is more than just "set." Adding to this high definition feeling was a the recurrence of the sunburns on the away team from last episode. I was so happy to see the hatline on Eli's forehead, the glasses outline on Greer, etc. It's nice to have a nonintrusive way to tell how much time has passed between episodes. I hope we can maintain this sense of realism going forward. I also really liked the introduction of the charging plate this episode. It's a fairly smart way to overcome the obvious issue of how they will cope when battery power runs out. As well, we now no longer need to think about it as an issue. One idea I didn't quite follow was the shower that Eli "discovers" and that Chole later uses. It's not a water shower but some sort of cleansing goo shower. I can only equate it to the idea of Purel. It sounds a bit like the Sonic Shower of Star Trek fame which works on an equally dubious concept of sonic waves cleansing the body. It's not that I don't think an alternative shower isn't a bad concept, I just wasn't getting its purpose for SGU especially when in action, it looks no different than a normal shower. It also lead to a rather unnecessary and overlong shower scene bit between Eli and Chole.

    As usual, Rush and Eli remain the best actors of the episode. Eli gets downplayed a bit, but he still has his moments. I was glad to see that while he's largely the sole humor source, we're finally seeing other characters express it. Eli plays the uneasy comedy well and it shines in the group scenes: like the early mess hall meeting or the group of "mutineers." Eli's "I think as a group we've bonded" got a smile from me and it was nice to see people at odds with each other. Blue is really showing Eli's turmoil at being trapped between the two sides, too, while still being the wide-eyed, horny geek. Robert Carlyle delivers quite the performance this episode. He's flipping out one minute, storming through halls a minute later, brimming with quiet intensity during a quick mess hall scene and then having his full nervous break down mid-episode. And I believed every minute of it. Dr. Rush is the still character we've seen the most of but know the least about it, however, Carlyle sells me on the character every time. And it's not always the big acting scenes either. The simple scene of him walking in to save the day as the ship careens toward the planet and picking up a post it and saying it was backwards was equally as awesome as anything else. It's great to have a fantastic actor play a character that lets them explore every emotion in a single episode. Carlyle really deserves some wider recognition.

    Sadly, most of the other main cast get pushed aside, or relegated to the testimonial videos for the majority of the episode. Scott barely appears. What few scenes Johansen has are essentially her repeating the fact that she shouldn't even be here because she gave her two weeks. Greer almost entirely disappears. And yet, Chole gets more time to essentially take a shower, scream Eli's name in an annoying manner and then to act anemic and bid ridden when Eli wants her to be out amongst the people. None of it was particularly good. And I'm already getting tired of the potential love triangle and it's only just forming! However, the break out job of the episode was Col. Young. Over the past three hours of the show, I never really connected to Young. He felt like "stock Military guy." This episode he really shone. I felt like they rounded out his character and really showcased how he will be the tonal opposite of not only Dr. Rush, but also party-pooper drop-in Col. Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips). Young got a lot of screen time and a lot of varied material to work off of. There was the light humor of the mess hall scene and catching Eli with the Keno (Kino? Keynote? Keynode?) later on. There was the excellent drama of his home scene (counterpointed with the terrible home scene last episode). And there was the really subtle, grudging respect he shows Rush midway through in the scene where Greer suggests getting rid of Rush. I was quite impressed, considering I had written off the character. I finally feel like there's a character that can stand up to Rush in the series.

    In all, this was probably the best episode of the show so far. That doesn't say much I know, but I was bit worried after "Air, Part 3." This episode really had me eating my words. I was impressed that the director and writers managed to take a fairly straight forward and shoe-string plot - power outage - and carry it out really well over a full episode and a cliffhanger. This bodes well for future single episodes. As well, there were some fantastic CGI shots in this episode. The glory shots of the ship look great and the fast moving ship, slow zoom out worked really well going toward the planet. As well, thankfully, a little humor is creeping into the show and coming out of characters that aren't Eli. Again, I'm not asking for SG-1 type comedy, but it's nice to not have every scene seem like it's Earth-shattering. Stargate Universe airs Friday nights at 9 PM EST on the SyFy Channel. Join me next week for my thoughts.

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