Is "pathogen" season 2's "life" episode?

[Browncoat1984]

I did not like Life much at all but I did like Pathogen, not the greatest ep but there was some good stuff here. I liked the stuff with Eli and his mom, the Greer/Lucian alliance interactions, and even the stuff with Wray (MUCH better than in Life!) Life I really did not like much at all, except for the ancient chair stuff.

[SGeff]

I think if the second half hour numbers are less than the first one, that means the viewers doesn't like it, almost equally this episode is not good enough to keep them. Some of the great shows suffered the low ratings too. Considering the numbers are below 1 mil, it is very likely the case.

I agree that building the back story is important. But still, no reason losing .25 mil in one episode, and drops below 1 mil. The show simply cannot afford those kind decrease any more.

I think the writers need to figure out a smart way to write about those stories, not just simply filled into one episode, sacrifice the ratings. Though the loyal fans like me stayed tune, the casual viewers left. And I bet the show don't have enough loyal fans to get the 3rd season.

[Wayston]

If any episode contributed to the ratings drop it would be Awakening. It's not like people tune in and then decide they don't want their viewership number to count! They base it off of the last week. Was the last week's episode good enough for me to tune in again and not watch something else? No. That is where the audience goes. Because they thought Awakening wasn't very good

I'm sure the previous episode is some factor but it all depends. It was pretty clear beforehand that this episode wasn't going to be all that intesting sci fi wise so that will have influenced people too regardless of the quality of the previous episode. Plus if I like the show but got genuinly bored during an episode and I know/suspect something more interesting is on I'd flip the channel as I notice I'm getting bored.

[Phenom]

Oh for crying out loud...

What's wrong with an episode which builds the back story of some of the primary characters on this show? Anyone recall "Family"? It was a ST:NG episode where Picard goes home on leave after his his troubles with the Borg. That episode was a turning point for that character.

In this episode we see Eli and Wray having to deal with how being away from home (possibly never to return) is affecting their loved ones. Wray gains major sympathy points by helping Eli out, however, are her efforts altruistic or is it something which she sees as being in her own self-interest? And what form does that self-interest take? Is it merely that she sees Eli as being necessary to get herself (and everyone else) back home, or is it part of an on-going campaign to gain more control of Destiny? It would be interesting to see how Wray would have reacted to Airman Redshirt coming to her with the same problem. These events are seeds which will bear fruit in future episodes, and you would be behind if you turned the channel (as Shadow_7 suggests you could).

These "Life" type of episodes are critical to the development of a series. They can be some of the best episodes because they deal with character development. Perhaps it's just that most folks don't care about seeing Eli/Wray going home and dealing with family issues as opposed to Young/Rush doing the same.

I liked the episode. It showed how a family support group will *slowly* develop on Earth. It showed how there could be influence passed around behind other people's backs (Wray influences Eli by mentioning something to Sharon who mentions it to Eli's mom who says something to Eli who feels he owes Camille...).

This was something of a "connective" episode, and I'm okay with that. How often is your life so neatly compartmentalized that only one thing comes down the pipe for you to deal with in any given day? We see the start of the problems of living with the LA and the new developments of what is going on with Chloe and how that is going to affect Rush and his bid to control Destiny. All good stuff.


regards,
G.

PS - for those of you who miss the 'splosions: http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...explosions.jpg

I don't need to know anymore 'backstory'....I just want more 'Nowstory' and obviously so do a damn lot of other people out there in TV land.

We got enough backstory in the first few eps of Season 1. It has been done to death and the ratings are there as evidence.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

Now that I've had a chance to watch Pathogen three times, I'm going to have to say about the OP-- so what if it's this season's Life episode? For me at least, that isn't a bad thing, as Life set lots of things in motion that played out over other episodes. Like Life, there were so many layers here. Fantastic episode!

[Skiznot]

I don't need to know anymore 'backstory'....I just want more 'Nowstory' and obviously so do a damn lot of other people out there in TV land.

We got enough backstory in the first few eps of Season 1. It has been done to death and the ratings are there as evidence.

Good thing the entire Pathogen episode was "now story." I don't understand why in an episode like this people are so focused on the C story. The main story about Rush using Chloe's transformation to his advantage was brilliant. Not to mention how well the showed the depths of Rush's obsession. Great story and character development there. Nobody else would have thought to claim a whole hallway for their own purposes yet he really sees destiny as his. So there's no interest in the mystery of an alien pathogen re-writing Chloe's DNA? Not only physiological changes but she's actually getting information and new cognitive wiring.

Also the great turning point for Eli, hopefully he will feel less held back and embrace his potential.

[Wayston]

Now that I've had a chance to watch Pathogen three times, I'm going to have to say about the OP-- so what if it's this season's Life episode? For me at least, that isn't a bad thing, as Life set lots of things in motion that played out over other episodes. Like Life, there were so many layers here. Fantastic episode!

I would have preferred less attention to this type of dramatic storylines. The earth scenes were mostly unnecessary and boring. I would have preferred more attention for the Rush/bridge/Chloe storyline, with Eli being missed on the ship and Young telling people that he simply wasn't available for whatever little chores they needed him for (which also happened in the episode). I would like more attention to the life on the ship rather than the life on earth. It would establish how important he is for the common good on the ship and would have been a poignant justification as to why his mother should be allowed to visit him on the ship. Wray telling someone on the phone how important Eli is came across rather more as a white lie I'm affraid. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be any drama scenes on earth whatsoever, but not to the point where they take over and replace interesting storylines on the ship for most of an episode. A short scene with Eli's mother telling him she doesn't believe him and to go bugger off would have already sufficed to make the somewhat sci fi related point that dramatic plotline tried to make.

The realisation that some people might go ¨$ù^'§é(§é('§(è§??? wtf??? when a complete stranger turns up telling them they are their loved one is also long overdue and should have been established in "life". Suddenly a boy's mother is in the hospital and it turns out she doesn't believe he's there even though his acts and memories completely match his character, yet more than a dozen or so episodes ago people were having sex left and right with people who looked like complete strangers without any moral qualms being raized.

Whereas the story of Eli was still somewhat justifiable, the story between Wray and her lesbian lover was even more redundant, I honestly... HONESTLY don't care that her lover never lost her keys before and is now going completely bonkers. It only served as a motivation for Wray to be extra lenient on Eli's predicament with his mother and as such could also have been dealt with much more expediently.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

I guess I'm one of those people that don't find it boring at all. Go figure

[Shadow_7]

I don't mind a little back story / now story. But they're on a freaking space ship. It should be more interesting than watching people knit. Or play cards. Or just yell at each other. It's a space ship. In space. And rediculously far away to boot. Surely someone on board besides Rush has an interest greater than what's for dinner.

[The Destiny]

The episode was connected to a crucial drop in the ratings, so in that respect it's very much like life. Many view life as the ep that killed the ratings from which the series did not recover. I'm hoping pathogen merely is a ratings dip because people knew it was a stones episode so did not tune in. It has to be, because usually if an ep is bad, the next episode suffers in views from expectations. But peopl could not know beforehand wether pathogen was worth tuning in for. I assume they did not watch at all, expecting a boring stones ep ( I loved it ).

Eagerly awaiting trial & error, malice, twin destinies and seizure.

[jelgate]

The episode was connected to a crucial drop in the ratings, so in that respect it's very much like life. Many view life as the ep that killed the ratings from which the series did not recover. I'm hoping pathogen merely is a ratings dip because people knew it was a stones episode so did not tune in. It has to be, because usually if an ep is bad, the next episode suffers in views from expectations. But peopl could not know beforehand wether pathogen was worth tuning in for. I assume they did not watch at all, expecting a boring stones ep ( I loved it ).

Eagerly awaiting trial & error, malice, twin destinies and seizure.

Except Life ratings were good. It was afterwards they dropped so analogy makes little sense

[smart]

No, I do not think it was. Although the episode had a great focus on the characters of Wray and Ei, I believe that these were still the B storylines. The A storyline was with regards to Chloe's mutation.

Life, had a strong plot A focus on the characters of Scott and Camille, with a B focus on the ancient chair.

[Sussitout]

The writers need to get a ‘Life’ if they can lose the general plot like this. God know how they do it? They expect viewers to get a high on Earth scenes based on stones. But in fact in the context of ‘Universe’ they are the height of tedium. By placing this ship so far away from Earth they cannot get back (so far) or can’t get back, even for a while, they scored a crucial own goal as far as having Earth based scenes. So why resort to those bloody stones. Leave Earth alone. SG1 had some serious Earth scenes you could get behind because 1: It was based on Earth; 2: Alien incursions, the Gould, the odd visitation by Ancients and God knows how many other aliens and so on and so forth etc etc. Even Atlantis had one or two genuine reasons to have Earth based episodes. No way should they try and get blood out of those stones. Universe should buck up. Just make some weird things up. It should be easy. Christ how difficult is it to write sci fi deep in space? The Star Trek series managed it over forty years ago.