Surfing SF: Stargate: Universe – “Deliverance”

If these Stargate: Universe spoilers activate and start shooting, do you really think that you’re going to be able to do anything about it?

What I have come to think of as the Stargate: Universe mission statement is both one of the show’s biggest strengths and one of its biggest weaknesses. Essentially, if these events really were to occur in real life, this is about how they would happen. Sure, it seems unlikely that a bunch of humans would end up on an ancient spaceship in another part of the galaxy under attack from robot drones, but if they did… This does add an interesting sense of realism to the show that is one of its main selling points. However, it doesn’t really always work from a storytelling perspective.

For example, sure, capturing one of the drones would most likely by a long, complicated, and delicate process. However, actually showing us that process doesn’t exactly make for compelling television. Similarly, it is unlikely that Chloe would really have any idea what the aliens had done to her. But that fact makes her entire arc for the past half-season something of anti-climax, unless there is a heckuva another shoe waiting to drop here. I don’t care if plot arcs are often anti-climaxes in real life, most kinds of storytelling really do need a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Due to some of these things, what probably should have been an exciting and action-packed return episode didn’t really feel like either of those things. There were plenty of other things that did go right, however. What should have been an impossibly complicated plot (two different alien races plus evil robots, all with their own agendas) actually made perfect sense. Most of the time I enjoy spending time with these characters, even “complicated” Rush and St. Chloe. But when push came to shove, previous editions of the Stargate franchise could kick things up a notch. I’m not sure Universe can.

Bits:

-Yes, this was the first of the ten final episodes of the series. There will be no third season, at least not on SyFy. I don’t know if the producers knew this prior to this run’s completion (and thus brought the series to some conclusion)… we’ll have to see.

-Speaking of, SyFy sure is advertising SG:U an awful lot considering they’ve already canceled it.

-I want to know if that drone is still on board. I guess it is. That seems like something we could use again in future plot-lines.

-It looks like Lou Diamond Phillips is going to be sticking around for a few episodes. I’m not totally sure what purpose his character serves now.

-When the nice(r) aliens were sacrificing themselves I mostly thought it seemed like a waste. Who should live, the last remnants of an ancient and powerful race or these mooks? It is worth pointing out that our heroes never considered sacrificing themselves for the aliens.

About Dan

Dan Joslyn grew up in Ohio but now lives in Las Vegas, NV with his lovely ginger girlfriend, Tiarra, where he works as an office monkey. He enjoys reviewing movies and television for the site, and over-analyzing such things. He may be the Chosen One… but he probably isn’t.

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