Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Another polished offering but with no surprises

After two very strong episodes, Stargate Universe serves up another polished offering but, despite the excellent performances and quality sheen, the main plot of “The Greater Good” is on very shaky ground with that feeling of we’ve been here before again with no surprises and a vague sense of let-down. What works incredibly well though is the sub-plot with Simeon and the Lucian Alliance which seriously gave me nightmares.

I’m going to start with the main plot though, because really that is the meat of the episode. After having two episodes where the storyline has taken centre stage with the story arcs doing their thing in the background, this episode is more of a duet combining multiple arcs (I count the power play arc, Young’s breakdown arc, Rush’s secret control of Destiny arc, Eli’s math arc, Perry’s crush on Rush arc and Brody’s increasing annoyance with Rush’s absence arc) with the main plot of Rush and Young getting stranded on an alien ship thus leading to revelations, heartfelt discussions about trust and honesty, and a rather girly fight.

In many ways, this was supposed to be the big pay-off to some of the arcs: Young finds out about Rush’s control of Destiny and there is the big confrontation. But there are three problems with this: one, Rush and Young have already battled for control and had a big confrontation in season one complete with shouted words of mistrust, head-butts of doom and wrestling around on a dusty planet so when the secret breaks and Young attacks, it’s really not at all a surprise that there’s shouted words of mistrust, head-butts of doom and wrestling around in a dusty ship. I think I commented a few reviews ago that in some ways, season two feels like a reboot of Universe with everything repeating but in a better way – and this is better than the previous confrontation; there’s more truth in the character motivations and reactions that makes it more believable. But it does feel like repetition. The second problem though is mostly to do with pay-offs; given the build-up was any pay-off going to be enough? It feels anti-climatic but that could just be me expecting something bigger. But the final problem is the shaky foundation of the episode plot.

I’ve never been a big fan of Stargate episodes where the leader suddenly decides it’s a good idea to go wandering off-world. Hammond rarely went off-world in SG-1, and whenever he did, he had a damned good reason story-wise. Weir’s off-world jaunts always hung on a precarious thread and were made all the more bizarre because of the fact that she often went with Sheppard and McKay, resulting in all three of the senior command staff of Atlantis in danger at the same time. So, I wasn’t really happy in Season 1 when Young toddled off-world with Scott in “Water” or with Rush in “Justice”. And again, just how ridiculous is it that Rush and Young head to the deserted ship together after what happened last time? The story admittedly tries to address this with Young’s discussion with Scott about trust and the promise not to leave him behind again but the whole premise just isn’t believable to me and thus, the plot falls down before it’s even started.

The performances though are excellent throughout. Louis Ferreira gives another fabulous performance, shifting from depression (and it is good to see that Young hasn’t miraculously gotten over that even if he’s stepped back up to his command duties) to anger as the story progresses. Robert Carlyle also gives a tremendous performance. The two men play off each other really well and really make their scenes work. Kathleen Munroe also delivers a solid performance as Amanda Perry. She and Carlyle have great on-screen chemistry, and they portray the friendship, respect and admiration their characters feel for each other really well. As an aside, the moment where Eli confronts Perry about remembering she’s in someone else’s body is quite amusing given the controversy last season. But again, it’s good that the show is tackling that head-on.

The other performance that has to be mentioned is that by Robert Knepper as Lucian Alliance bad-guy Simeon. The sub-plot of Simeon’s growing distrust for Ginn because of her relationship with Eli and her use of the communication stones is minimally threaded through the main plot but it packs a powerful punch mostly due to Knepper. He does an amazing job of projecting a not-so-subtle aura of violence especially in the scene where he confronts Perry thinking she is Ginn. As a result, the ending with him entering Ginn’s quarters with only Perry there is truly horrifying just in the suggestion of what Simeon is there to do. It is the first time Stargate has actually given me nightmares.

In conclusion

If this episode isn’t as successful as it might have been, it’s not a disaster by any means. Universe always delivers a polished product and with that last scene, it certainly hooks the audience into seeing what happens next.