THIS POST IS SPOILERIFFIC IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED "TIME"
"Time," the latest episode of "Stargate Universe," was a topsy-turvy trip to a jungle planet, and through time, that made my head spin.
Now, thanks to MGM's latest Kino video extra, directed by Ivon Bartok, what we saw is as clear as, well, muddy water. I think.
Don't get me wrong, "Time" was a fascinating, action-packed episode. The Destiny crew 'gated to the planet and eventually members started dropping due to an illness. Then nasty, giant sperm-looking creatures attacked, boring through their bodies.
Next thing viewers know, the crew is back on the Destiny, watching the death scenes we just saw on a Kino that they had found on the planet--in a different time. We eventually learn that the Kino was sent through the stargate from the future. Somehow a solar flare has messed with the wormhole and connected to a different timeline.
I think.
The same people who got sick in the Kino footage starting getting sick on the Destiny. After watching more Kino footage, the crew figures out that the water from the ice planet in "Water" is to blame. T.J. hypothesizes that because in the Kino footage Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith), who got bit by one of the creatures and went into a coma, survived the illness, that the creatures must contain some kind of antidote to the bugs in the water.
So Scott, Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) and Col. Young (Louis Ferriera) go back to the planet to harvest an alien, but that doesn't go to well, leaving Scott to try to save the Destiny--in another timeline. He sends another Kino through the gate, warning the past Destiny to stay away from the ice planet water, not to mention the jungle planet.
I think.
Alaina Huffman had me crying. MGM photos
Also, Huffman had me in tears when T.J. broke down after watching Eli talk to Chloe (Elyse Levesque) before she died.
I love that each week we find out a little bit more about characters. The writers are continually pealing back that onion, as I said in my "SGU" defense. For example, Greer listens to Saul Williams. Rush (Robert Carlyle) and Young both liked "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Those are just to superficial examples. The compelling one in this episode was about Rush, who got humanized a bit more. In telling his mom's story, Eli said it made him face his own mortality. Rush asks how that changed him and did it inspire him to do something great in the short time he has.
Eli gave kind of a flip answer, "I'm here, aren't I?" It's not a good answer, because he is only on the Destiny because Rush came for him after Eli played the video game in the series opener.
Rush had a much better answer. After facing his mortality--I assume after the death of his wife--he decided to devote his life to searching for answers, specifically the key to ascension. That explains a lot of his actions.
What I'm still not sure is explained--in the new Kino clip above or in the episode--is if what we saw in "Water" and "Time" will be erased because of this solar-flare caused time-warping thing. Wait, according to this clip they did manage to get to the planet and get some of the nasties' venom, because Eli says T.J. is working on an antidote.
So we're just not going to see how the "Time" and "Water" dilemma is resolved, but it is. I think. (All photos in gallery courtesy of MGM. See more "Stargate Universe" goodness at stargate.mgm.com.
6 Comments
jayson said:
"We eventually learn that the Kino was sent through the stargate from the future to warn the Destiny crew not to come to the planet. "
That's not *quite* right. The first Kino was sent back in time without the knowledge of the "first" team. it was a happy accident.
The 2nd one was the deliberate one sent by Scott - knowing that it will go back in time.
Loved the episode too! :)
Curt Wagner said:
Oops. I will fix that. Thanks for the heads up.
Peter Hirsch said:
I really liked this episode since I did not see the ending coming. Overall I think the show has done a good job of developing characters and adding a little bit of the Battlestar-style desperation and grittiness to the Stargate franchise.
I did want to say that I believe that at the end of the episode the Kino went back in time and only eliminated the current episodes worth of plot. The Destiny crew already had ingested the contaminated water by the time they found the Kino, so that part shouldn't change at all. Presumably the Destiny crew goes to the planet during the day, finds the Kino, gets the message, goes back to the planet before nightfall, easily captures several of the nocturnal creatures, and harvests them to save everyone from the water contagion. Since this would not make much of an episode, I imagine that we will never see this and just have to imagine that they did it properly.
Still, I do sometimes get confused with time travel episodes. My understanding of the Stargate timeline idea is that it is not like a VCR tape that runs forwards, but can also be rewound and recorded over. Instead, Stargate typically explains things with the idea of multiple universes and alternate timelines. I guess that the timelines where everyone is dead still exist, but we will be following a modified timeline from here on out where everyone is still alive.
Curt Wagner said:
Thank you very much. Nice explanation. Thanks for reading and commenting.
cornelius Hubbard said:
Loved the episode! However, in the words of Eli, " What the ..." Too many loose ends. I watched it twice and I did not see the kino go back through the stargate, so there is at least 7 people dead. Four on board Destiny and at least 3 on the planet. How is this resolved? Every episode prior to this one built on the last, had a start, climax and an ending. This had no ending and how do they build on this episode? Everyone's speculation is interesting but
jayson said:
@cornelius - the Kino video (At the top of this page) should answer all loose ends of this ep. :)
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