SGU: Divided (Episode 12)

SGU Episode 12 “Divided” Reviewed by Terry (Colonel_Ez) Spoiler Potential High With a personal title of “To put it bluntly, we’ve taken the ship” I couldn’t be more excited to review this episode because, while I feel Space was a highpoint for the season, the show and the viewers at large – Divided was the episode highpoint for me, this is what I’ve wanted to see since the show began and I think it’s something I’ve done a poor job of explaining. I’ve talked about the rule of law on the ship and establishing a command structure, but im in no hurry to see it established and working, its episodes like these where we get to see the first tiny steps taken towards that goal – and Divided did that far better than I could have predicted. It was great to see Chloe actually doing something, we saw it in Justice and we’re seeing it again now, I feel the Chloe character is largely misunderstood by many and most of her appearances so far have done little to change this misunderstanding, however her scenes in Justice and again in this episode do show that while she is one of the least able “crewmembers” on Destiny she isn’t willing to just go along with those who know better. How involved she was in the planning and implementation of the civilian coup is still unclear, but it definitely changes the character and her dynamic with the other crewmembers, Scott and Eli more so than most – I have to be honest it makes sense that of all of them, she would be one of the most attached to a civilian command structure since she used to work for her father, a US senator – but her character has been played in such a way that even though on paper she is the most likely to be involved in something like this, she is also the last one you’d expect to be. I’m starting to fall in love with the slow building storylines we are being treated to with SGU, the Chloe character has gotten a lot of stick for being useless and having no purpose on the ship, was this a purposeful ploy by the writers to make the Chloe character seem meek and mild and incapable of lying to Scott only to make it all the more shocking and surprising when she did, I don’t know but I really hope so. This would usually be the time in the review I’d talk about individual character moments that got my attention, unfortunately – they all did, the entire episode was one big character moment that I cant pick favourites out of – if I had to I’d choose the scene in the brig between Chloe and TJ, I loved TJ’s speech about the Colonel and them making war and that being what they do – followed closely by the moment when Scott frees TJ and the airman from the brig and just looks at Chloe. I loved that when we brought an expert in using the stones, it was somebody we have seen before – fans should recognise Dr Brightman from SG-1 episodes Lockdown and Zero Hour (the more observant fans may recognise her as an Alteran woman in the Ark of Truth) but it was great to see a doctor we’ve seen in the SGC before, I also loved the interactions with her as she was welcomed to Destiny – seeing how the crew have acclimatized to alien venoms and Kino’s, how the abnormal aspects of life on board Destiny have become normal to them. If I had one nagging complaint it would be that the episode ended too soon, I wanted to see more resolution, but im finally starting to see that the writers hold these moments back to feed them to us further down the line, a fully resolved rebellion this soon in the show would have closed doors that are now left open, its still unfamiliar to me but im getting used to it and, I have to say again im starting to like it more and more. Well that’s my lot for this episode, remember myself and Brian discuss the episodes in more detail than our reviews in our weekly podcast – Two Geeks & A Mic: An SGU Podcast Catch you all next week!