'Intervention' (201) General Discussion

[Blizzah]

I really enjoyed this episode along with the 2-part season finale. I still can't believe that the show was cancelled so quickly, the quality I have seen so far was not always amazing but has definetly been above average and for the most part have enjoyed this more then quite a few other syfy series I have watched in the past.

[maneth]

Cool ep, and TJ's experience was something else.

[Matt G]

Wow...I seem to have been the first Rewatcher to make SGU S2...

October 2010: By this point, well I'd settled in to my website work with my Dad's company and in the meantime there had been plenty of interesting things in the season trailer.

1. Ah, Simeon...I'd forgotten the scumbag's name...

2. Also forgotten how class Rush was here...seemed to be a parody of his S1 self...

3. TJ's thing reminded me of Life on Mars this time around...

Solid stuff.

[ZRFTS]

Well... This is it, the end of Stargate. This title suggests that things are only going to get better, that they're realizing it's flaws and beginning to improve the show. However that could not be the case.

TJ at this point has been an overrated character to me so to start the episode with her in a similar way to "Search & Rescue" just seems to indicate poorness. Of course having recently watched "Epilogue" TJ does have some considerable talents in her but in here she's weak, sterile delivery, no emotion and the entire thing would not matter much to her character when the thing got resolved later on in "Visitation" though it is somewhat sad her kid would not survive in the universe (on the other hand, they couldn't find a reason to keep the baby onboard Destiny; shame.)

This episode revolves the tense cliffhanger in the most anticlimatic way possible; everybody survives and all previous plots are drop in exchange for new ones. IE. Kiva being killed and a new (obviously crazy) commander taking her place; a furthering of the conflict at hand and more action than ever before. This episode takes the approach of "Enemy at the Gate" in stuffing so much stuff at hand which is surprising considering this is a character driven show, this was oddly a poor decision to make, it loses itself in the substance thus diluting all of the potential plots which could lead to some decent exploration. Case in point the grey area that lies between good and evil.

Out of the characters here, It is the usual suspects who steal it, mainly because they take the weak material that is given and elevate it to greatness. I just enjoyed Rush's tactics overall; the amount of willingnes and Eli who steal the episodes he's able to be put into something, the way he puts himself on the line for Destiny. Seeing him be an action hero had me at the edge of my seat. Eli may not have Chloe by his side but his sense of worry and awkwardness is not gone and his skill, he is the ultimate in embargo cuteness. Vulnerable enough that you can connect with him yet skilled enough to know what to do when the tough gets going and Young, he took a huge hit from before but he's still caring, he's still angry and he's still a leader; though something is missing from his performance. Is it motivation, or maybe a sense of purpose. Who knows...

Several good moments exist here, such as the people stranded on the planet being forced to survive which showcased the unison of people in such situations and more importantly, the life and the LA isn't entirely eliminated which brings a new dimension to Stargate (usually, every enemy combatant is eliminated without remorse) as we get to see what our heroes are interacting with our supposed enemies and our enemies can let out the various reasons for their existence, thus proving they're not so bad after all though it does sort of undermine the 4-parts we had to sit though.

All-in-all, a disappointing way to start the season.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Good opening to the season. I liked how the Greer/Scott cliffhanger was resolved.

Joel's score during the opening scene was great.

I think the Ancients are responsible with all this TJ mess (they made an exception to their "no Interference rule").

Tomorrow, now what.

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

Not the best season opener in Stargate history.

Starting off with TJ on the Faith planet was weird. In fact the whole thing with TJ going to that planet is weird. Could it really be the work of the Ancients as NowIWillDestroyAbydos mentioned.

Scott and Greer were lucky that worked. I wonder who thought of it.

Lucky we had Varro looking out for us. Otherwise I don't think things would have worked out so well.

Chloe's mysterious healing powers.

Nice work from Rush getting the ship back.

[Krisz]

I suppose it was inevitable that having a baby aboard Destiny would have made things more awkward, so, how to get the baby out of the picture?

Have the mother shot and the baby is tragically lost. An interesting way to deal with the loss and cover up the trauma and brutality of the loss with TJ's spiritual journey to the impossible planet that was just too good to be true as a way to deal with it, a chance to say goodbye to her child. Who or what created the mystery? We do learn gradually that it is Destiny that learns things about people and creates scenarios. Still, it is ambiguous enough to make you wonder if it is some advanced alien race who has some interest in Destiny and now the people who inhabit it.

Rush really takes charge and makes the tough choices and his planning saves the day. I like that we see glimpses of Rush actually being impressed by the efforts of others. In this case his expression when Scott told him how they survived the pulsar radiation was surprise at first then a nod of approval at their ingenuity. These little moments, watching the change in the characters and the dynamics makes it good to watch.

Oh, bad guy was just so obvious, being set up to be shot so we can all go.....'yes!' Like how it's the quiet meek looking LA girl Ginn that does it.

Varro turned out to be a very sympathetic character pretty quickly, clever too in that he realised that they couldn't survive without the extra help the Earth crew could give. Even when he and a few that were loyal to him get sent to the planet along with Young and the others it was good to see that Young was not going to trust them even though they seem to be in the same boat at that moment. Glad to see they don't make it all 'now we are all happy and work together.'

The mystery is compounded nicely when the nebula TJ saw in her 'hallucination' turns out to be real, greater power or just something Destiny's sensors picked up and superimposed on her vision?

Not one of the best season openers, but it worked as far as it picked up on previous threads, continuing to weave the story of life on Destiny.

[garhkal]

Scott and Greer were lucky that worked. I wonder who thought of it..

I'm thinking Greer. He seems to be the one with Off the wall ideas more than Scott.

The mystery is compounded nicely when the nebula TJ saw in her 'hallucination' turns out to be real, greater power or just something Destiny's sensors picked up and superimposed on her vision?

With what happens in Aftermath/Awakenings, i am thinking the latter. The Ship had that nebula in its databanks from the Seed ship, and put it in her dream.

[jelgate]

I guess credit where credit is due. It was Rush's planning that saved the Destiny. Its no surprise that I dislike Rush but his actions in this episode is what saved the Destiny. Sure the arguement can be made the scenario only occured because of actions of others like Telford, Scott, and Greer. And I would probably would agree with such an arguement but the fact remains Rush was the one who saved the day. It also doesn't hurt that Danic was insane . I find it interesting how easily the control of power can turn. Even if the pulsar is scientifically inaccurate.

As for the stuff for TJ for the longest time I believed her dream was from the Faith aliens but after watching the S2 special features and rewatching S2 I more inclined to believe that the dream was from Destiny. Given how we have seen how Desting has an AI and how it can interact with us I more inclined the dream was a form of Hope that TJ could hold on to so she continue doing her job what Destiny recgnoizes. This part of the episode was dull. And I was more interested in seeing how the Tauri crew could outsmart the Lucian Alliance. I remember having chills when Rush saying the infirmary people were acceptable loses

[garhkal]

And those 2 in the infirmary were also telling rush to DO IT.. don't worry about us.

[Cluas]

TJ should have just died, sorry to say. The writers had experience in killing doctors ..

The whole story with the "faith" planet is not that good. It was like "OK" when they first got to the planet, a lot of questions and no answers. But this explanation just isn't "OK" with me. I think it's too far fetched, that practically ruined this ep for me. Instead of thinking of some answers, the writers gave us more questions, like they knew they could never come up with a solution, and just kept going the wrong way. It was certainly not the answers I wanted.

Chloe's miraculous healing also pissed me off...

[garhkal]

On TJ dying.. Perhaps they realized they had irked several fans off when they killed both Dr frasier AND Dr Beckett. So that's why they didn't kill of Dr TJ.

[KEK]

She's not a doctor. I don't think they ever planned to kill her off, it was just a way of getting rid of the baby.

[min min light]

Yeah I agree, they had to get rid of the baby and that was a more interesting and maybe slightly less sad way to do it than just outright killing it off.

[Krisz]

Yeah I agree, they had to get rid of the baby and that was a more interesting and maybe slightly less sad way to do it than just outright killing it off.

I agree that this was the idea. As for leaving us with more questions it certainly did that and I can see why that can be annoying. I suppose it was going to be addressed at some point. I still had to wonder though, was it the 'Faith' aliens or Destiny?