SGU: Justice (Episode 10)

SGU Episode 10 “Justice” Reviewed by Colonel_Ez Spoiler Potential: High With a personal title of “We don’t have little grey aliens to set things right this time” I’ll open by saying that im a bit gutted that Spencer got killed off, I started to see a potential in the character for a more prolonged story but, at the same time I can understand why it was him – he was the only person who could go without having to devote too much story time to any remaining crewmember who was close to him and somebody who had a number enemies and no friends, in a story like this that translates into many suspects. I loved how this episode shaped up as far as the crew handling their own mess, sure its not perfect because most of it is pretence to hide a political agenda or to mask an attempted power grab but for me one of the things I’m most looking forward to seeing, as I’ve mentioned before is the crew establishing themselves, their own rules, their own structure – as they start to establish themselves as the crew of the Destiny, not the refugees of Icarus base, as they start to accept the fact that they are where they are and begin establishing the rule of law on board. Im glad that this gave Chloe something to do other than just witness events, the character is strong and so far hasn’t been given the best moments to show that, this was a good showing for her – in the hearing she was without agenda, where as everybody else (Rush, Young, Wray) had the opportunity of the hearing to get what they wanted. the slower pace is beginning to be what I love most about the show, I know that’s funny to read because for the first few weeks it was my biggest stumbling block as a viewer but I enjoy the idea that Chloe could start getting more involved in ship administration, realise she has a talent for it and eventually stop doubting herself so much and begin to play a part – that being said while im looking forward to something like that developing over time, whether the writers go that way with the character or go a different route altogether I think she needs some development soon, it would be unfortunate for her to continue to just witness events – so far she is the only crew member we’ve been properly introduced to that has no real function aboard the ship, even Eli the character we were introduced to as the perpetual slacker has an established role on the ship and as was shown last night has a seat at the table in all three camps (Rush, Young, Wray). While the perpetual slacker within loves to see it, it’s unrealistic to assume that somebody like Chloe with her background and experience would be content to just do nothing. I had some issues with the discovery of the gun, none of the other searches were that thorough and so far as we could tell there was no indication that the gun in the air vent gave any clue to its presence, I realise for story purposes it had to be there and had to be found but to a viewer it almost looked as if Eli knew it was there, I know he didn’t but it wouldn’t have been hard at all to have the vent rattle or something as to give a clue the gun was there. I loved the little confrontation between Scott and Greer, especially when Greer said “this is my room” I’d always assumed that the chain of command was a clear Scott to Greer but for a few seconds there it was murky… although the moment was pretty ruined for me when Greer did the bit about people like him looking at white women the wrong way, not only is it an inaccurate comparison to draw but it also stepped on point of tension, it would have been a much more powerful moment for Greer had he just wanted to go in there and end the hearing because of his loyalty to Young, not for any ill conceived racial reasoning. When Spencer’s suicide is revealed, I loved how Young retook command, no discussion and a perfect counterpoint to Wray’s “We’ll have to reassess the situation” the annoying thing for me is, as interesting as power struggles are now – they wont continue to be, its obvious Wray doesn’t want command and isn’t suited for it, but she wants a seat at the table, I hope that’s on the cards… as we settle in things can become more structured. I loved the scene off world with Young and Rush, all of Rush’s comments about alien races and trade, discovery and the mission – anybody else in their situation would be looking to an alien race who would trade food, supplies etc, Rush is looking for one that will trade information… the mission Rush is on is discovery, the mission Young is on is survival – and while I was part expecting things to go down as they did, I still wasn’t prepared for it. It was an interesting parallel to draw, throughout the episode there is mention of Spencer being out of control and maybe the Colonel did what he had to do, to which others speak that he wouldn’t or he isn’t that type of person… when in the end, he does exactly that – Rush is willing to sacrifice almost anything and anyone to learn the secrets of the Destiny, he’s never going to stop doing that so he needs to be dealt with and he is… So here we are, the Destiny gone and Rush stranded on an alien world with a broken down ship, a huge wow moment – we left somebody behind, unfortunately somebody we know wont be gone for long, I only say unfortunate because I was hoping that the first person we left behind would be left behind, unavoidable and uncorrectable to underline the fact that we’re just on the Destiny for the ride, we have no control. As far as character moments, there wasn’t a bad one in there, I loved it all – I especially loved seeing something in Brian J Smith and Alaina Huffman’s performances that is usually reserved for Robert Carlyle – they stole scenes when they were just standing there, their faces as they listened, reacted – both are brilliant actors which we know, part of me wonders if they learnt this from working with Rob Carlyle, I’d love to think they did. As good as this episode was and it was phenomenal I find myself wanting to write more and more about the possibilities this episode gave birth to, do we assume Rush will pull up alongside the Destiny in March/April in his repaired alien ship? If so, what does that mean Were this Atlantis, we could assume the ship would be blown up, because we spend five seasons there finding and losing alien ships with alarming frequency, SGU is different, but how different – is the show established enough to feature two ships? Or does the fact that its so much more character driven than anything else give way to the possibility that it could not matter, would a ship that isn’t locked on a specific course cause a divide in the crew, would some want to move ships and set a course for Earth, maximum warp (sorry… had to be done!) For those keeping track, my background has been updates from Chloe Yoga to the view of the sky from Rush-World Well, for the next three or four months, that’s me, Colonel_Ez, signing off