'Resurgence' (210) General Discussion

[nx01a]

Speaking of Chloe's fighting and having just seen Serenity again, I couldn't help but notice some similarity between Chloe and River Tam: young, cute and unassuming girls who zone out and kick @$$ and/or use computers.

[J-Whitt Remastered]

Paul complained it was too subtle, but did anyone else catch the the 2001 reference in Eli’s “big black monolith orbiting a planet” line?

Subtle? About as subtle as a hammer to the head. Lol.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

Resurgence Review [SGU 210]
By xxxevilgrinxxx | Published: December 5, 2010 | crossposted at my personal blog


When the crew first arrived aboard Destiny, all of their will was focused on survival and getting home. That was their mission. Then, in "Awakening" when they come across the seed ship, there was a glimmer of hope that with the power from that ship, they could conceivably dial the gate and reach home. In "The Greater Good", we learned of Destiny's mission and, with the seed ship long gone and no realistic way to get home, the crew poured all of their efforts into Destiny's mission, as a way to fulfil their own. Given what Rush has done in his drive to fulfil Destiny's mission, you've got to wonder why he would wish to step off Destiny's set course for anything, for any length of time.

Unless he knows something and, in typical Rush fashion, isn't telling anyone else about it. When Rush had previously boarded the seed ship ["Awakening"], he accessed the console for a time. Whether by the seed ship itself or by the Ursini, Rush was first stunned, possibly to prevent him from further access, and then the boarding party was driven from the seed ship, leaving Telford behind. In "The Greater Good", Rush uncharacteristically insisted on boarding the Ursini ship, despite the very real fear that Young could have stranded him on the ship. And now in "Resurgence", it is again the signal from an Ursini ship that has Rush insist that the Destiny go off course. Across three separate episodes, the Destiny has encountered the Ursini and each time, Rush has done something uncharacteristic in order to gain something from them.

The Ursini, like the Blues and the Planet Builders, are an unknown to us. We share no language, written or oral. While there is a possibility that the Ursini and the Blues have some understanding of Ancient, all that we have to base this on is where the two races have interconnected with the path of the Destiny. From previous encounters, the crew has every reason to believe that the Blues wanted the Destiny and had been following it for some time. They appeared to be hostile, a threat, dangerous. The Ursini, on the other hand, appear to be gentle, timid, nonthreatening and, when Telford returns to the Destiny, he claims that the Ursini aren't hostile and didn't harm him. But how do we know? With no language to share and no history to know, how do we know anything about either of them? All we're left with is impressions, based on applying human motivations to an alien species.

One thing that the Ursini and the Blues appear to share is a powerful interest in the Destiny. The Blues were willing to chase the Destiny across a galaxy, attempting and failing numerous times to board. In Rush and Chloe, they have tried to track and possibly infiltrate the Destiny crew. Have the Ursini, in their own way, found a way to seize the Destiny?

The original signal was bait to lure the Destiny off course and into a position where the drones could attack. Although the shuttle moved through the debris field, the drones didn't appear to engage the shuttle in any way and even when the Destiny came under attack, the shuttle was free to move about, eventually managing to dock without incident. It appeared as though the drones only targeted the Destiny. It could be that the shuttle was simply too small to draw the interest of the drones but I tend to believe that the Destiny was lured there, precisely to target and weaken it. In the nick of time, Telford and the Ursini arrive and make an offer of aid and, interestingly enough, the drones didn't appear to be targetting the seed ship either. Not surprisingly, that offer of aid proves to be a trap, delivering an already weakened Destiny right to the doorstep of the drone command ship.

It comes down to a matter of whom to trust.

Between Rush and Young, there will never be a comfortable trust. Rush is clearly seeking something from the Ursini, given that this is the third encounter where Rush has acted uncharacteristically in order to gain information. Young, while willing to keep options open and expand them as the situation changes, has not given up on the ability to dial home, all of Rush's plans be damned. Then there's the fact that Rush continues to disappear when needed, and he's unable to explain where he's been.

There is Telford, a man who only recently had been a traitor tied to the Lucian Alliance and who has now come forward with a fantastic tale and very little to back it up with.

There are the Ursini, a race that we know nothing at all about. We don't know their language, their history, or their motivations. We don't know what they've possibly done to Telford or what they hope to gain. All we have are assumptions based upon our own flawed notion that the race is peaceful and not a threat to us.

Lastly, there is Chloe. While Chloe is changing into something that could possibly be very dangerous, she is more of a known than all the others that the Destiny faces and in the end, she may save them all, providing there is enough of Chloe left to guide her actions. Escaping her containment with ease, Chloe displays that she is dangerous. It also displays that she likely could have done so for some time, and did not. Kept apprised by Scott and Eli of what is going on, as well as being able to see outside the ship, she states that the Ursini cannot be trusted. She wants to help. How much of this is what the Blues have possibly done to her and how much is Chloe herself, only time will tell but I believe that when the second part of "Resurgence" airs after the break, that the crew will have Chloe to thank for saving them. The cost of being saved will be another matter.

That their lives may ultimately rest in Chloe's hands brings an interesting point to light: In "Trial and Error", was the ship looking to test Young's battle/leadership abilities or was it testing his willingness to either keep or get rid of Chloe?

Other points of note

Stargate Universe has excelled in its imagery from moment one and "Resurgence" doesn't fail. The battleship graveyard WAS spooky in itself but when the crew goes out to the observation deck, there's an opportunity to see it from the crew's perspective, as one of the crew. The jump from shuttle to Ursini ship could have been sped up or even dropped altogether but visually, it ramped up the peril faced by the crew, as well as the trust they have to have in each other. I never get tired of watching Destiny dive into a star, something that has stood out for me as one of the most visually stunning clips not only in SGU but in a great list of sci-fi episodes. Getting to see both the seed ship and Destiny shake off a bunch of drones by diving into a star? Epic.

There is a side story dealing with the triangle of TJ, Varro and Young. TJ, at least in her affair with Young, appears to be drawn to older, confident men in a position of power. While the events with Simeon and the fact that Varro knew what he was like the whole time and said nothing to Young appear to have cooled her jets, is Varro continuing to get under her skin, targeting her where she is vulnerable? With Varro in the infirmary at the end, I hope that he proves to be a better man than I fear he is. Only time will tell but, like Telford, I don't trust him.

There were too many humorous moments in this episode to list them all but I'm finding that with the 'bridge crew' appearing to solidify, that the banter is coming along nicely as well. Eli continues to offer geek references, with mention of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey and a possible reference to a Star Trek episode where Spock ordered the computer to compute pi to the last digit in order to keep the baddie from seizing control of the computer with "pi is done". Bad neighbourhoods and bat signals.

Lastly, there is Eli dealing, or not dealing, with his grief. Of all of those aboard destiny, Eli has the least experience in dealing with not only being in the physical location they are in but in dealing with what is going on with his heart. I don't see the conversation about Rush doing much to alleviate that burden, as Rush appeared to be talking more about himself than about Eli. Admonishing Eli about wasting his potential doesn't appear to be the way to reach him and Rush's casual cruelty has the effect of pushing Eli away. One thing that struck me upon listening to Rush's speech was that he wasn't simply talking about Perry being taken away from him, but that there was an undertone of having the destiny taken away from him, by someone bigger and stronger, and not being able to do a thing to stop it.

Rating: 8 1/2 out of 10

[J-Whitt Remastered]

Resurgence Review [SGU 210]
By xxxevilgrinxxx | Published: December 5, 2010 | crossposted at my personal blog
*SNIPPED*
Rating: 8 1/2 out of 10

Very good review. Thanks.

[xxxevilgrinxxx]

Very good review. Thanks.

thanks

[Perelandra]

Good review! I always look forward to reading your reviews.

[Mozzza]

I just realised an answer to a question I keep reading:

Why/How did Telford drop out of FTL just in time to save Destiny?
Because Eli used Destiny's broadcast capabilities to send out a message.

[garhkal]

When did eli program in that?

[J-Whitt Remastered]

Yeah. I don't remember anything like that in the episode.

[nx01a]

Right after the whole "Ancient, English, Bat Signal" line from Young, I'd imagine.

[J-Whitt Remastered]

Right after the whole "Ancient, English, Bat Signal" line from Young, I'd imagine.

Yeah, he sent a message to the drones. There's nothing there to indicate that he sent a message to anyone/anything else. Nothing I can see anyway.

[Wib]

I knew Telford would return at some point, but not in this one, so when the seed ship dropped out of FTL and i heard Telford's voice i had a massive top of my head falling off type smile across my face. Is there ANY chance of having only a short break this time and not months?

[morbosfist]

Probably not. They need to run through their Christmas events, so April is likely when it's coming back. Just like last year.

[sgc]

I just realised an answer to a question I keep reading:

Why/How did Telford drop out of FTL just in time to save Destiny?
Because Eli used Destiny's broadcast capabilities to send out a message.

My answer is that the seed ship and Destiny already communicate with each other. The seed ship already knew where Destiny was; it was just a matter of being able to catch up with it.

[Mozzza]

Yeah, he sent a message to the drones. There's nothing there to indicate that he sent a message to anyone/anything else. Nothing I can see anyway.

Young said to broadcast a message, they never specified to who.

My answer is that the seed ship and Destiny already communicate with each other. The seed ship already knew where Destiny was; it was just a matter of being able to catch up with it.

That's also possible, but why didn't Destiny ever see the seed ship? - FTL?