From the old site
Stargate Universe – S01E10 Justice
Spoiler Potential: Low
Welcome to my first ever episode writeup for Stargate Universe. I’m very excited about this, especially since this episode was so damned good.
Before I get to the show, though, I would like to take a moment to thank my SGU friends on Twitter for their humor and insight. Karrie, Sherry (together, they are “moms”), Bruce, Curtis, and Terry – you guys are wonderful people and generally hilarious!
In the long list of good episodes, “Justice” is right up there with “Time” and “Life” on the holy shit meter. We had some questions answered, but the show asked a huge number of new questions. And the fact that I have to wait until April for answers… ACK!
Among the best moments in this episode were the ones involving new sides to the characters. This episode had many of them.
One of the characters that I neglected to mention (complete brain fart) in my character writeup was Chloe, as played by Elyse Levesque. Many folks on the webs have been rather harsh on Chloe’s character for being weak and fragile. Yet, in this episode, we saw her strength and her passion. There was a very intense moment between her and Wray, and watching her stand on on her principles and fight back was a treat. For me, it was a long-expected one. I knew there was more to her character than what had been shown in the previous 9 episodes. This is a direction in which I really hope her character continues.
Speaking of Wray, we are privileged to see a great evolution in her character. Small spoiler… As she assumes the leadership role aboard the <i>Destiny</i>, we see her struggle with that authority and her ability to wield it. The scene in her quarters where she is staring at herself in the mirror is particularly revealing. Her transition between that scene and the one moments later in which she confronts Greer is picture perfect. And her reaction to the big reveal is very well done. Her confrontations with Chloe, Greer, and Young are amazing. Ming Na is truly a talented actress, as we have seen between “Life” and “Justice” where she goes through completely different emotional states and does so with flair. I hope this is a step towards her getting a larger role in this show.
Robert Carlyle as Doctor Rush is just fantastic. His numerous confrontations with Young throughout this episode are high points and not enough can be said about how well they are acted and written. Rush’s character reveals some major things, confirming many theories I’ve had over the last few episodes. How I wish I could spell them all out here….
And since I’m on the topic of Young, we get to see where his currently shaky emotional state takes him after his confrontation with Telford. I sooooo feel the urge to spoil things here, because they are important to Young’s character and a very large part of why the episode was so great, but I can’t. Go watch it, then hit me up on Twitter for some spoiler-riffic discussion.
Last, but certainly not least, we get to see an interesting evolution of Scott’s character. In “Water,” we see that there is a fierce loyalty between Young and Scott, as Young is willing to risk his own life to ensure that Scott makes it back to the ship alive. In “Justice” we see Scott repay that loyalty. No matter what happens through the episode, Scott never loses faith in Young and is always ready to defend him. In fact, some of the lengths to which he is willing to go are disturbing (for lack of a better term), at least in the first viewing….
Anyway, we get to see this newer Scott who is more sure of himself, and we can see his confidence in himself growing. I’ve always known (and defended) reasons why he is Young’s second in command, and now we are seeing them more bluntly. Scott handles his leadership role in this episode far more deftly than he has in the past. He’s also becoming a bit more aggressive, though it is very important to note that he did stand up to Greer when Greer was talking about using their force to put Young back in charge. This is a great evolution for him, as it’s a natural one considering his empathy. Now he’s using the empathy to motivate himself and be a stronger person, which is fantastic.
Me and the Twitter folks spent a good amount of time chatting about this episode this morning. The most popular topic was by far the acting – specifically Brian J. Smith’s. Tweeting with him mom may bias these opinions, but still 
. There were some really great moments for him in “Justice”, but there were three that really stood out for me. Near the beginning, they were talking about the person who was murdered. Rush asks Scott, “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but was he a friend of yours?” The expression that crossed Scott’s face was amazing. I could read all the emotions without him having to say a single word.
Further in, there is a scene in which Scott, Young, and Eli are debating an appropriate course of action. Scott argues his point passionately, despite Eli’s disagreement. But when Young makes his decision, Scott falls in line with it. And the acting here… hoo boy. One again, it is the expressions that are crossing Scott’s face as he shoves his feelings down and goes along with Young’s plan that really show Smith’s depth of acting talent.
Later in the episode, though, Scott stood up to Greer when he was speaking of using force to retake control of the ship. This was Scott in Greer’s face like we’ve never seen before. In these three scenes, we can see that evolution I was talking about. At the beginning of the episode, he couldn’t quite stand up to Rush, but by the end, he was butting heads with people. THAT is great character development, and it was acted to perfection – the whole development felt natural and real, because Smith has the acting skills to pull off the range of emotion necessary to make that evolution believable.
Something else about Scott’s character that I’d like to discuss at this point, since we are currently talking about it in the Hiatus Project chat – Scott has a great moral compass. He has very strong definitions of what is right and wrong, and you can always see him struggling between doing what is right and doing what may appear to be better. Hence his confrontation with Greer. We can see in his facial expression that he wants to go along with Greer’s idea, since the idea shows a lot of support for Young… but he knows that it would ultimately be wrong. He knows it and falls on the side of what is right.
Wow, great stuff here. The fact that I can spend any length of time writing about the depth these characters have is amazing. Like I mentioned, I’m chatting with SGU peeps in the Hiatus Project chat right now, and we’re dissecting the character interactions on the show. Once again, it is amazing that the characters are real enough to be able to have that kind of discussion!
Anyway, I’d also like to throw kudos out there to writers who wrote such a brilliant script for this and all the other episodes thus far. They have been immensely enjoyable, and it’s fantastic to see that the story lines don’t just exist in a bubble. They are a continuous thread, and each episode builds off of things that have happened in previous episodes. Also, after watching “Justice” 3 times now, it is still fascinating to observe the deft manipulations of the one responsible. Those parts especially were very well written.
In conclusion – if you are not already watching this show, wtf is wrong with you??? It’s the best thing on TV and you absolutely MUST be watching it. If awesome characters plus awesome Sci-Fi adventure sounds exciting to you, hit up Syfy’s website where you can watch the whole season so far from “Air” up through “Justice.”
Brian J. Smith assures me that there are many, many more new things to see in the second half of the season that are really going to spice things up even further, including some very exciting character developments. “Justice” established the baseline for some very important things that are going to happen come April. So make sure you’re back in 5 months to see the mid season premiere and see what direction the cast and crew are going to take us next!
Thanks for reading.
. There were some really great moments for him in “Justice”, but there were three that really stood out for me. Near the beginning, they were talking about the person who was murdered. Rush asks Scott, “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but was he a friend of yours?” The expression that crossed Scott’s face was amazing. I could read all the emotions without him having to say a single word.
Further in, there is a scene in which Scott, Young, and Eli are debating an appropriate course of action. Scott argues his point passionately, despite Eli’s disagreement. But when Young makes his decision, Scott falls in line with it. And the acting here… hoo boy. One again, it is the expressions that are crossing Scott’s face as he shoves his feelings down and goes along with Young’s plan that really show Smith’s depth of acting talent.
Later in the episode, though, Scott stood up to Greer when he was speaking of using force to retake control of the ship. This was Scott in Greer’s face like we’ve never seen before. In these three scenes, we can see that evolution I was talking about. At the beginning of the episode, he couldn’t quite stand up to Rush, but by the end, he was butting heads with people. THAT is great character development, and it was acted to perfection – the whole development felt natural and real, because Smith has the acting skills to pull off the range of emotion necessary to make that evolution believable.
Something else about Scott’s character that I’d like to discuss at this point, since we are currently talking about it in the Hiatus Project chat – Scott has a great moral compass. He has very strong definitions of what is right and wrong, and you can always see him struggling between doing what is right and doing what may appear to be better. Hence his confrontation with Greer. We can see in his facial expression that he wants to go along with Greer’s idea, since the idea shows a lot of support for Young… but he knows that it would ultimately be wrong. He knows it and falls on the side of what is right.
Wow, great stuff here. The fact that I can spend any length of time writing about the depth these characters have is amazing. Like I mentioned, I’m chatting with SGU peeps in the Hiatus Project chat right now, and we’re dissecting the character interactions on the show. Once again, it is amazing that the characters are real enough to be able to have that kind of discussion!
Anyway, I’d also like to throw kudos out there to writers who wrote such a brilliant script for this and all the other episodes thus far. They have been immensely enjoyable, and it’s fantastic to see that the story lines don’t just exist in a bubble. They are a continuous thread, and each episode builds off of things that have happened in previous episodes. Also, after watching “Justice” 3 times now, it is still fascinating to observe the deft manipulations of the one responsible. Those parts especially were very well written.
In conclusion – if you are not already watching this show, wtf is wrong with you??? It’s the best thing on TV and you absolutely MUST be watching it. If awesome characters plus awesome Sci-Fi adventure sounds exciting to you, hit up Syfy’s website where you can watch the whole season so far from “Air” up through “Justice.”
Brian J. Smith assures me that there are many, many more new things to see in the second half of the season that are really going to spice things up even further, including some very exciting character developments. “Justice” established the baseline for some very important things that are going to happen come April. So make sure you’re back in 5 months to see the mid season premiere and see what direction the cast and crew are going to take us next!
Thanks for reading.