'Twin Destinies' (212) General Discussion

[Cluas]

This was a good story. But I always have problems with understanding the time travel stuff...

The scene I best remember from this ep, is the scene where the crew run for supplies. That has been missing the whole show, now finally some spare parts and more weapons and stuff. Great.

[garhkal]

My only regret is we never was told HOW the entire ship got shifted back..

[Planetary]

I'm late to the series, which sadly was canceled by the time I started watching it on Netflix, but I felt like I had to register when I saw the discussion here.

At the end of the episode, when he emerges from the Stargate back onto Destiny, Rush wasn't upset over the death of Rush #2 or Telford #1, and that's not why he looked distracted.

At that moment, it was just dawning on him that Rush #2, who is actually original Rush, saw the solar flare as an opportunity and destroyed the Destiny on purpose so he could loop back in time and strip the ship for spare parts, to continue Destiny's mission. Which is exactly what he's been hell-bent on doing since episode one.

The look on his face is one of horrific comprehension at what his other self just did...the sheer ballsyness of destroying the original ship and crew just so the mission could continue. It's almost exactly the same feigned indifference look he had on his face when Young realized Rush knew the Destiny was flying into the star to refuel itself, so his gallant offer to give up his chance at a seat -- and life -- on the shuttle wasn't so gallant after all.

Only this time, the feigned indifference was mixed at genuine shock and horror at how devious, insane and brilliant his original self had been to pull off the intentional destruction of the Destiny.

A key clue supporting this theory is when he asks his older self what really happened on the original Destiny, and older Rush responds with, "I've already told you." It's one of his trademark tics and he really can't fool himself, so Rush nods and doesn't prod. It's not until the last few seconds of the episode, when Young mentions their luck in being able to re-supply, that Rush realizes WTF just really happened.

These time-travel episodes can really hurt your brain, and there are some plot holes, or at least difficulties, but it's actually a pretty brilliant plot and fits in exactly with everything we know about Dr. Rush.