'Human' (114) General Discussion

[jelgate]

The DNA clue seemed really forced, to be honest. Like they couldn't think of a better way to connect the mystery part to the answer, so they just through the answer in. I mean, "Why 46?" and Daniel immediately going "Well 46 divided by 2 is 23! And that's the 23 enigma!" Come on, no one would ever instantly make that connection.

You have to remember we are in Rush's subconscious. I think it has been shown he has a wide variety interests. I can buy it since this is Rush's mind. But outside the link to human chromosomes and DNA was too easy

Lastly, you need to remember that none of Rush's interactions with Gloria/Daniel/the class actually happened as we saw them. This was a warped view of reality because Rush was changing things with his focus on solving the command code problem.

I know its different but based on what Rush admitted in that episode it has to have a reasonable simlairity to what really happened the time Gloria really died.

[Daro]

Jelgate's Two Cents

Human was and is a Rush episode. So as you might imagine I hated the episode. I kid of course. Human gave us what Stargate Universe is really good at. Massive characterization mixed in with action. And with the big question mark of who is Dr. Rush this was refreshing. I feel like I learned a lot about this character this week. And while I am no closer to sympathizing with Rush then I was a few weeks I am closer to understanding why he does what he does. But I am getting ahead of myself once again. Lets a enter a most dangerous place. I am of course talking about Rush’s subconscious.

If I wasn’t a spoiler man the opening teaser would have confused. They made the opening scene quite confusing because they showed Rush on Earth. But like the rest of the episode the beginning teaser points to what I think is a very important aspect we must consider about Rush. His own wife was dying and he buried himself in his work instead of being with the woman he married. Surely that is significant in to who Rush is. All those personal problems and he chooses to do work instead of being with his wife as she died. At first I thought it was just him reliving past events through dreams but when we learn that Rush is aware that this is just a retelling of his wife’s death it made me wonder was he just ignoring because he knew it wasn’t real. Then I think maybe both are true. Given what we know about Rush I can imagine that the first time Gloria died he did bury himself in his work to grieve. It makes sense really. He wouldn’t the first person to find a “hobby” as he grieves. But t the same time since Rush is complicit of the fantasy aspect he distance himself more then the original time. Because in reality of the present nothing is more important to Rush then breaking the code of the Destiny.

Let’s switch gears to reality. And by reality I mean the Destiny. Don’t worry you won’t hear what I had for breakfast. But I liked the opening scene with Eli and Chloe. Like I said in the Faith review I wanted to see Eli and Scott be on tough terms with Chloe given her “betrayal” in Divided. We saw that in Faith with Scott but those two had months to get on speaking terms. Eli did not have that luxury. So I really like how cold Eli is too Chloe. He is still friends with her but they defiantly not on the best speaking terms. Very interesting in my view. Speaking of Chloe I wonder how truthful that is she has been studying archeology notes. It defiantly would make her seem more useful but at the same time it looked like she was throwing words into there.

I admit I am having a hard time reviewing Rush’s hallucination since most of him is isolating himself in his work as Gloria dies. And as I have mentioned that above it seems pointless to continue mentioning my thoughts about Rush obsessing over his work as he watches Gloria die. So it seems wise next to mention Rush in the lecture hall with Daniel. And let me just say if a professor yelled at me like that for no reason I probably would have filled a complaint with the dean. Anyway the scene where Rush admits that Eli is smarter then him points to a few things. Well first it shows the limit to Rush’s arrogance but more importantly I think it points to guilt. Just look how Rush phrases unlocking the 9th chevron while his wife is dying. I think Rush generally guilty that he isolated himself from Gloria when she was dying. And not because he was unable to solve it but because of the pain he caused her on her deathbed. Not to mention how he was unable to spend the last hours with his loved one because he was so overshadowed by emotion. I think what happened to Gloria is a huge impact into why Rush is the sociopath we know in the present.

Now back to the ruins planet. I find it really hard to swallow that Eli lost the KINO. Yes I understand that it’s a maze down there but you would think those things left a flight plan or something. It’s just a little hard to digest as a reason to go down into the ruins. Speaking of the ruins I am rather curious what closed spaces have to make Greer so scared. It shall be an interesting dynamic to explore. Again speaking of Greer I love how he calmly tells Chloe to stop moving when he shoots the spider. It’s like he knows how it going down. But that most be some weak structure to cause a section of the ruins to collapse. Yes I know it was needed for the plot of the story but it was somewhat hard to swallow.

Young sending a rescue to team to rescue Scott’s team was predictable but I’ll excuse it since its standard military procedure. But that must have been one big cave in to have James and her team work for an hour and have to resort to C4. It was obvious that C4 was already not going to work given how weak the structure was in the first place. I am more then a little surprised that Scott didn’t say anything or the structure didn’t come crashing down. They might not be dating/sleeping anymore but you I think you can see caring between James and Scott when he ordered her to return to the gate. I can see sadness in both of them when the order was given. I thought it was a really good moment.

To Rush and his 46 observations, First of all I woke up the neighbors when I laughed at Daniel’s 42 joke. Second I quite liked how cryptic it was. We knew it had to be significant to the Destiny’s code but at the same time given how the code had stumped Rush I kind of think should have been cryptic for a little longer. But more on that later. Its time to talk about Gloria’s dying speech or more specifically Rush’s speech to himself. I am talking in particular how Gloria talks about how sadden she is that Rush has done some of the things he has done to get where is now in the present. That speaks to me that as this is Rush’s subconscious we are talking about. It shows that deep down even when Rush is doing those borderline immoral actions that deep down he knows its wrong That and many other things in this episode speak to me about Rush. While it doesn’t excuse his actions it makes me understand them a little bit more.

And now this review comes to an end. And it’s kind of bittersweet. On one end I like the part of Scott’s time being left behind and seeing how said event will unfold in Lost. On the other hand I am disappointed that the 46 clue in relation to DNA was discovered so quickly. It leaves a sore taste in the mouth that we were able to find to figure it out the clue. Yes given the size of DNA (and its big) it will take a long time to figure out the master code I was just disappointed that Rush found it out so easily

This is amazing. I agree with you totally (except about the use of the word sociopath and the DNA thing: I think Gloria's mention of her mother's faulty DNA is what unlocked the meaning of 46 for Rush.)

I've never agreed with you so much. Rush's backstory horrified me, and it didn't do anything to excuse his borderline behavior, but it does at least establish that he does have a conscience deep down there, and maybe he'll start using it now.

[s09119]

You have to remember we are in Rush's subconscious. I think it has been shown he has a wide variety interests. I can buy it since this is Rush's mind. But outside the link to human chromosomes and DNA was too easy

Ehhhh, I don't know. It still seemed way too convenient that his mind instantly went to that conclusion.

I know its different but based on what Rush admitted in that episode it has to have a reasonable simlairity to what really happened the time Gloria really died.

Yeah, that's true.

[gatechick]

You know I initially hated SGU. I thought it was boring and missed everything that I loved about what I thought Stargate should be. So I quit watching it pretty much midway through the first half. Then I thought I will give it a try since there is nothing on. Gotta say, episodes like tonite make me glad I gave it another chance. I enjoyed the back story on Rush, whom I am not crazy about. But it did make him seem "human" and made me see sides of why he may act as he does. That

Spoiler:

spider thing was crazy too! It kinda reminded of the flesh eating spider in SF-1's The Tomb, only more ferocious.

I loved the whole moment between Eli and Greer. If looks could kill Greer'e eyes should be registered as a deadly weapon.

[Cory Holmes]

The one thing I really liked about this episode was how Rush knew right from the beginning that it was a figment of his imagination. In every other show where the character has an "alternate reality/you are crazy to believe in this" episode, they always force the "is it real or not" bit. Rush wasn't the slightest bit confused on that and it was refreshing.

I also enjoyed his complaints about Eli. That really brought a piece of Rush Puzzle into the clear, about why he treats Eli as he does: he's jealous. Nothing is more basic, sinister, or potentially damaging than that most simple of human emotions.

I agree that the Justice-Space-Divided-Faith arc is the gold standard for SGU (and even SGA, possibly SG-1 as well) and this didn't quite measure up to it, but it was still entertaining and some bloody good sci-fi.

[jelgate]

This is amazing. I agree with you totally (except about the use of the word sociopath and the DNA thing: I think Gloria's mention of her mother's faulty DNA is what unlocked the meaning of 46 for Rush.)

Thats an interesting idea. I just thought of how cancer is sometimes related to faulty genes and moved on from there. Its an interesting idea and if that was the connectiion Rush had to think the code has to do with DNA I would have liked a better link.

I've never agreed with you so much. Rush's backstory horrified me, and it didn't do anything to excuse his borderline behavior, but it does at least establish that he does have a conscience deep down there, and maybe he'll start using it now.

No one every agrees with me 100%. Its probably why my blood pressure is raised. I definatly agree with this though. It might not have been the most interesting but his backstory tells us how Rush thinks

[Daro]

You know I initially hated SGU. I thought it was boring and missed everything that I loved about what I thought Stargate should be. So I quit watching it pretty much midway through the first half. Then I thought I will give it a try since there is nothing on. Gotta say, episodes like tonite make me glad I gave it another chance. I enjoyed the back story on Rush, whom I am not crazy about. But it did make him seem "human" and made me see sides of why he may act as he does. That

Spoiler:

spider thing was crazy too! It kinda reminded of the flesh eating spider in SF-1's The Tomb, only more ferocious.

I loved the whole moment between Eli and Greer. If looks could kill Greer'e eyes should be registered as a deadly weapon.

Indeed. That was one of those scary moments where I think Greer shouldn't have a gun on him. But then, he doesn't need one.

[Saquist]

The DNA clue seemed really forced, to be honest. Like they couldn't think of a better way to connect the mystery part to the answer, so they just through the answer in. I mean, "Why 46?" and Daniel immediately going "Well 46 divided by 2 is 23! And that's the 23 enigma!" Come on, no one would ever instantly make that connection.

Anyway, I like your point about the manufactured reason to go into the caves, since it bothered me, too. In "Divided," Eli reveals that the kino records its flight plan, accurately enough that he can feed the track into a shuttle and have it automatically trace the path.

Lastly, you need to remember that none of Rush's interactions with Gloria/Daniel/the class actually happened as we saw them. This was a warped view of reality because Rush was changing things with his focus on solving the command code problem.

I agree...It's really forced.
They couldve set up the mystery of the ships controls in the other episodes...

[Pharaoh Atem]

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! this is the best first season of any televison show i've ever watched.

46 is the new 42

some great chaeacter moments eli and greer moment on the planet is easily the funniest moment in stargate history for me. ( and yes i've seen all the prevous tv series and movies.)

overall i loved rush and now we know why he is so cold to everyone and hopefully he'll change a bit.

[Commander Zelix]

Weird episode. Michael Shanks was great in this episode, I haven't seen him since the Air, and then it was only in the tutorial videos. Riley is back!!! Did I see a dinosaur in the preview for the next episode?

Please put next episode discussion in spoiler tags. Thank you.

[Krisz]

A great episode with a lot going on. I suspected from the time that Rush looked at that photo of 'the woman' in 'Air' it was someone he'd lost. That we'd get to find out who she was and what made Rush so angry and lonely. This part of his story was wonderfully told here.

A nice surprise with Rush sitting there in the chair giving the explanation for the 'Matrix' like information light show he kept seeing during his memory trip. I liked that, no lead up and scratching heads and agonising about how they are going to go about trying the chair, Rush just got on with it.

As soon as the 46 thing started I too knew the Hitch Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy reference was not far behind! I liked the idea that Rush had read this most excellent book and/or watched the Tv show.

I could have sworn that the giant spider had the most evil grin on its 'face'! I just couldn't stop laughing when I saw it.

When they went in those passageways I was reminded me of SG-1's 'The Tomb', you just knew the monster had to be scurrying on the ceiling above someones head! Next week we find out Greer killed 'Mom!' and well, Chloe will no doubt have more than a spider web to deal with! I hope things are a little more original than that as our 'heroes' try to get out of their predicament.

[Targust]

I didn't get excited until Daniel mentioned the LA and the planet. The rest of it entered my mind as this:

angst-angst-angsty-angst-Daniel!-angst-angst-Chloe-hasn't-changed-angst-wow-I-like-Gloria-Daniel!-ruins-hole-in-ground-Greer-is-hilarious-Icarus-Planet-Lucian-Alliance-WHAT?!

Then I REALLY paid attention. The whole 46 DNA thing? A bit contrived in my opinion, especially with Rush's mind meld with the chair. All that to figure it out?

I liked the scenes with Gloria, especially the last in the hospital bed.

Daniel with the Douglas Adams reference: cute. I didn't roll my eyes like I did when Eli made the Genesis device reference last epi.

A good epi, I must say.

[Commander Zelix]

Yea, you skip it and next week you say, "What? When did they get the code and what happened to Greer, Scott, Eli, and Chloe!?"

It's like Time. We can easily fill the blank. The computer found the activation code using the DNA, faster than they thought, then they turned the ship around to get Scott and co. by digging all the rocks out. There will be a kino episode to explain it all in a semi humorous way.

[Pharaoh Atem]

While I thought it was great to learn more about Rush, I thought it was a fairly weak episode. You could have skipped it and really missed nothing. Very disappointing after the incredible installment that was "Faith."

you would have missed some awesome character moments

[jelgate]

It's like Time. We can easily fill the blank. The computer found the activation code using the DNA, faster than they thought, then they turned the ship around to get Scott and co. by digging all the rocks out. There will be a kino episode to explain it all in a semi humorous way.

Lost

Spoiler:

That seems to neglect the whole plot of Lost