SGU: Life (Episode 9)

SGU Episode 9 “Life” Reviewed by Colonel_Ez Spoiler Potential High With a personal title of “Rush Lied” Whether its because last weeks episode was so good, or because this episode had a few small nagging issues that distracted me from the episode as a whole but, if last weeks “Time” was the best episode so far then I’m afraid in my opinion “Life” was the worst. Now don’t get me wrong, the worst episode of a show this good is still a pretty great episode and there was plenty to like. These trip home episodes are shaping up to be hit and miss for me, I still find myself dwelling on the complications of body sharing, face palming over the convenient glitches with the communication stones and this episode despite having some nice developments was primarily about these issues for me. Anyway, im coming over a lot more negative than intended so onto what I liked. Im glad to see the ship being explored some more, my main complaint about Atlantis over the years is that we only found a new part of the city if it could save our ass in the last four minutes of the episode or, if it could screw us over in the first three, while im sure that the interface chair will fit into one or both of those categories at some point in the future, im glad that it didn’t instantly fall into the role. Im also enjoying seeing some sort of day to day routine develop on the Destiny, although I have to wonder how and why during the Icarus evacuation matching work out clothes and trainers were on the priority list for supplies to be removed but the crew evaluations and the fitness program, while being far from perfect and polished were nice to observe. I’m wondering about Spencer, the obvious assumption with him running out of pills is that he has a drug problem but im leaning towards him being sick, I don’t know why, nothing more than a hunch but whether it’s a drug addiction or a sickness its going to be fun to watch, like Greer im expecting Spencer to be given a few minutes of focus that will make the character more than just the grumpy sergeant that gets slammed into bulkheads now that I’ve been through it with Greer and know that’s the MO for the shows less developed characters im happy to wait for it to happen. Our two day trippers and their stories were interesting, as much as I try to limit what I watch or read about the episodes so as not to be too pre informed as to developments, I knew about Matthew Scott and his son, while this was some fine acting on the part of Brian J Smith & Sarah Smyth it didn’t really sit well with me, I think some of these moments where one of our crew is in another body and under a cover story will work (Eli and his mom being a prime example) and others wont, this one didn’t seem to work, not that it was bad by any measure but it would have been all the more real if she had known who she was speaking to. Speaking of moments that worked Camille Wray and Sharon worked now, I know what some of you are thinking and no, it worked for me on levels other than the hot lesbian level (although damn… it definitely did work for me on that level) Although this sticking point about the body sharing continues to bug me, especially with the revelation of the highly convenient memory flashes that appear to be a side effect of stone usage, when whatever officer signed up to loan Camille Wray her body did she know the ins and outs of that deal, is she prepared for the potential flashes of her getting intimate with a woman she doesn’t know? The moments between the two of them were very natural, even the crying – I loved the moment where she realised that she had left the boat out of the drawing, the importance of recreating a piece of home on the Destiny and realising that the minds eye has a crappy memory. The Rush lie was hugely interesting, did he do it for self serving reasons or did he do it to motivate the crew, is it in any way acceptable and if its not, do we care? Is there anything Rush could do that we as viewers wouldn’t forgive him for? It will be interesting to see how the crew answer that question, will this lie be the motivation Camille was waiting for to throw her support behind the Young camp or as the IOA suit recommended, start a camp of her own? All in all it was a nice episode, I think putting it next to Time in the running order was a mistake, which as I come to the end of this review I think has more to do with how good Time was and less to do with how underwhelmed I was by Life. For this week, Colonel_ Ez, Out