Last night's Stargate Universe told the sci-fi element to take a back seat in favor of some character development with love and fear being the driving force behind the episode, which might be polarizing among the show's fans.
Two love triangles dominated the hour, one more prominent than the other. When TJ (and another crewman) were kidnapped by some super fast beasts, I knew that Col. Young would be to hunt high and low for his former paramour. Then Varro threw his hat into the search for the same reasons and I was sure the two would finally lock horns physically over the love for TJ. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but we know that it could very well happen sometime soon, especially after TJ and Varro finally shared a kiss. The build up with this particular storyline paid off and has entered the next stage of development. It can only get even murkier than it is now that Young has freed Varro (courtesy of a suggestion from Greer) for a job well done on rescuing TJ and the potential red shirt. Although, another reason for Varro's freedom could be that the Lucian Alliance faction on the ship is small to null at this point, which means Varro is not considered a threat, despite the fact that he hasn't been since the incursion. I'm betting that Young will not let any of this calculate in his brain once he finds out about his opposition in loving TJ. The other brain will take over then...
The Young/TJ/Varro triangle makes more sense than the Volker/Park/Greer quagmire, because I simply don't buy it. I would have most definitely bought Volker gaining the courage to approach Park after almost dying from his condition. That makes a helluva lot of sense. It's the factoring in of Greer that throws me off, because I never made the correlation of there being something deeper than sex between Park and Greer. Sex that was only hinted at during an episode from last season, which also told us that Park was a sexaholic who didn't do the committment thing too well. Sure we got the occasional protection look between the two, but I always thought it was more of a friends with benefits thing rather than an actual relationship. Plus, for the relationship to become deep, Greer would have to share his feelings from time to time and I highly doubt Park has been working wonders in that department.
Volker, on the other hand, has shown affection towards Park for some time now and this would've been the most ample time for him to act on his crush. But not only does he have Greer as a competitor, but he's carrying the guy's kidney, as well.... Super awkward situation is an understatement when describing this scenario.
Speaking of Greer, the man kicked ass last night. I'm sorry (actually I'm not), but Greer has come a long way since his days as a
stereotypical angry grunt with a chip on his shoulder the size of the Pegasus and Milky Way Galaxies put together. In these last batch of episodes, he's steadily shown a more humane side of himself, mostly the one emotion he's rarely shown since landing on the Destiny:
Fear.
Greer's admittance to his mental state and fear of death after a small moment of disorientation to Vanessa James was pretty surprising. Not really the revelation, but Greer's ease of actually revealing something he wouldn't so readily admit to earlier in the series. He's still tough as nails Greer, but he's tough as nails Greer... with a soul. Plus, the scene when he faced down the beast? Best scene of the night. I can't wait to see what Jamil Walker Smith has up his sleeve next in terms of acting gigs.
On the flip side on the ship, we had something of a 'puzzling' B-Side story going on between Eli and Rush. From the outset, it seems like Rush was just toying with Eli and Brody for going against his orders, but when you get to the thick of things, I can't help but wonder if Rush is still pissed at Eli for erasing Amanda Perry's program/soul from the ship's databanks. The mind games he played with Eli was light in nature to an extent, but I think it was just a reminder to Eli who the head honcho in charge really is. However, I did like that Eli questioned Rush's sense of telling everyone what's best for them, because as cool as the Ancients' message/mission sounds, I can't help but be a bit skeptical. Just saying...
I usually don't give my reviews any ratings, but I'm giving last night's SGU a B for effort in character development, especially those of Ronald Greer and Varro.
So what did you guys think about the episode? Was the hunt for love worth it? Or worthless?
I'm still amazed how you have been clueless regarding Greer. It's almost jarring to go from Mike Moody's writeup because he actually saw the complexity of Greer early on mostly as a result of Walker's performance. But you only noticed this in the last three episodes. And even if TPTB made him mostly angry in season one, how can you suggest he was mostly one-note in his anger even throughout the early part of season two? Did you not notice his heroics and dedication in "Cloverdale"? What about his taking on the role of romantic advisor for Eli in "The Greater Good" or his sorrowful approach to Cloe in "Visitation" in which he begged for forgiveness ahead of time? Those are examples of Greer displaying more than just angry aggression. All those moments just went unnoticed by you? It's a shame that many of you are only now giving Walker, who has done more with less when compared to his main co-stars, his deserved due.
As for Greer and Park it appears that you never picked up on the flirtiness of their conversation during "Visitation" (a flirtiness that has never existed between scened between Park and Volker). I don't understand why folks claimed Park displayed that she cared for Volker in "Hope" but did not notice that she also showed her concern for Greer in that same episode. When Park was chasing after Greer in the corridors in the previous episode "Seizure" was that only because she wanted a quickie in a broom closet or something? It's amazing how some of you only want to see what you want to see. It's the whole Eli-Matt-Chloe thing all over again.
I should at least be considerate to point out that overall your writeup was well done. I just happened to disagree with you on those two particular issues.