Stargate Universe 1.16 “Sabotage” Recap

SGU delivered an episode that equally balanced the phenomenal with the cringe-worthy, but the overall product proved to be another great episode as SGU enters the second half of it’s 1.5 season.

Life Kinda Moves On…

As Col. Young gives the crew of the Destiny a speech on the importance of rationing due to the ship being in between galaxies and the loss of Lt. Scott, Eli, and Chloe, he gets a call from Dr. Rush to add more fuel to the drama. The Destiny has been shutting itself down to conserve energy, because it knows that it probably won’t make it to the other galaxy in full power. Womp, womp, wooooommmmmmmp….

A meeting is held with Col. Young, Dr. Rush, Camile, Drs. Brody and Volker so they try to come up with a solution to their newfound problem, because while the Destiny can drift to the next galaxy, they won’t live to see the day. Dr. Brody suggests that they try to increase the efficiency of the FTL drives, but Dr. Volker opposes that screwing with Ancient technology is ill-advised. Dr. Rush then proposes to bring someone in to help them via the communication stones, and his choice/recommendation is a Dr. Amanda Perry (Kathleen Munroe), who he served with on the mathematical proof that Eli eventually cracked. Plus, Amanda is a whiz in hyperdrive technology. There is a slight problem, though. Dr. Perry is a quadriplegic. Uh oh…

Dislocation On So Many Levels

Next, Col. Young and Dr. Rush talk to a few female soldiers, including Vanessa James, about participating in the switch. Vanessa James volunteers, but when the switch is made she freaks out, causing a commotion and knocking the stone off the platform. The second person who volunteers is Camile, who makes the transition ‘smoothly’ and demands to go home once she adjusts. On the Destiny, Dr. Perry marvels about her new body and takes a tour of the ship with Dr. Rush, who she affectionately calls “Nick”. Meanwhile, Vanessa James voices to TJ how she feels that she has let down Col. Young yet again and bolts at the sight of Dr. Perry. When she enters the hallway, she stops abruptly, staring blankly down the corridor…

Dr. Perry calculates that the ship could use 5% more energy to do the trick, but as soon as they try to decide how to get that 5%, the ship’s FTL drive explodes, rocking the whole ship and knocking it out of FTL. Meanwhile, Camile is shaken up because the link was broken for a second, clueing her in that the ship is in trouble.

Repair and Return

While everyone collects their wits, TJ does damage control on the medical level, even though she fell pretty hard herself. While TJ attends to Vanessa James, who claims to have awoken somewhere odd pre-blast, Greer and Dr. Park bring in Dr. Franklin, who they found in another area of the ship. He’s still somewhat of a vegetable, but recognizes Vanessa for some reason.

In the control room, Col. Young and the scientists try to make sense of what just transpired. They know that the FTL drive erupted, but need to figure out why, so they decide to use a Kino to find out. Then all of a sudden the Stargate starts dialing and when everyone prepares to be invaded… Chloe, Scott, and Eli walk through. What. The. F*CK?!?!?!? The explanation? The address to the Destiny gate popped up on the Kino reader that the trio had and they decided to dial it again, this time they got lucky. So I guess the Destiny wasn’t too far from the planet after all. Um… Okay…. But the reunion is short lived since Col. Young, after the trio is given a clean bill of health, gets Eli to get to work on helping Dr. Rush, because if they can’t find a solution with the Destiny then they will have to live on the planet.

Later while Eli is reading, Dr. Perry approaches him and they discuss Dr. Perry’s past with Dr. Rush. Seems that Dr. Perry has had a crush on Dr. Rush for awhile, which Eli finds amusing given that Dr. Rush’s personality is not flattering at all. But stranger pairings have happened… On the upside, Dr. Perry finds out that the coil that was damaged in the explosion was the coil that was the weakest, which was draining power. Now that it is gone, the ship can make it to the next galaxy. But they still need to repair damages, which is when Eli reminds them that they can use the robot they found while searching the ship. YES!!!! Dr. Rush mentions another solution, which is the chair. Col. Young promises that if it comes down to it he will sit his own ass in the chiar himself. Noble, Col. Noble.

Col. Young is visited by TJ, who wants clearance to go on the planet with the offworld team. Col. Young says she doesn’t have to, but TJ makes it clear that she just wants to see how the planet will fair for their child, but she asks the Colonel if he was going to keep accosting her when it comes to the baby. He gives her permission to go. When they prep to go offworld, Col. Young has Eli send a Kino through, despite Eli whining that it was pointless. But thank God he does, because those pesky ass aliens that they have been beefing with are waiting on the other side. So now they are stuck and sitting ducks. Awesome.

Three Weeks Later…

Yep. Three weeks later.

We get a montage of the crew prepping for the upcoming onslaught by the aliens by fixing the ship, staring into space with worried expressions, sex (Chloe and Scott, of course), and creating an alcoholic beverage. Wait, what?!?! LIQUOR?!?!?! FRAK YEAH!!!!! Thank Brody for coming up with a way to really lift spirits. Now I might come out of the airlock!

Dr. Rush and Dr. Perry both congratulate each other over fixing the coil and decide to celebrate in Brody’s Distillery, where Vanessa talks with Chloe about her dream. After listening intently, Chloe thinks that Vanessa’s dream isn’t a “dream”. Hmmm… The two women then make their way to Col. Young with news that Vanessa might’ve been the one who damaged the ship. Really now?!?!

Meanwhile, Dr. Rush and Dr. Perry catch up, reminisce, and get deep. Dr. Perry reveals her feelings for Dr. Rush and invites him into her quarters for a ‘nightcap’. Um… Dr. Perry that is sooooo not your body and I am pretty sure the owner will not be amused. But luckily, Dr. Rush has common sense and stops the shenanigans before they go any further, citing the recent dream trip where he had to revisit Gloria’s death again as a factor. What about ethics as well, Dr. Rush? TJ walks in on them, but ignores the awkwardness, because there is a bigger issue at hand.

Turns out that when Vanessa freaked out during the body swap, she knocked the stone off the communications board without removing her imprint, which is when the aliens invaded her body and sabotaged the ship. But why didn’t she remember being on the alien ship? Either way, Vanessa is looking at three screw ups in the eyes of Col. Young, but said screw ups are necessarily not her fault. I think she should drop it, but I doubt it… Moving on, though. Dr. Rush comments that they can now move on, but they quickly discern that the aliens, despite the void being vast, could’ve received the coordinates through the alien that possessed Vanessa. In short? They’re coming.

Preparing For Battle

Col. Young leaves a letter for both TJ and Scott before giving an announcement through the intercom on what the survivors should do if and when the aliens approach. He leaves Lt. Scott in charge of the fight. He tells Dr. Rush that he’s ready to go sit in the chair and wants Dr. Rush to be there to guide him through the process. While this is going on, Vanessa whines to herself that this is all her fault while feeding Dr. Franklin, who grabs her arm all of a sudden and says, “The chair…” Vanessa then runs to the Chair Room and relays what she just witnessed, Dr. Rush and Col. Young argue before Dr. Rush gets through to the Colonel that Dr. Franklin may actually be their only hope. The ship is then attacked by the aliens, but the three manage to get Dr. Franklin to the room and into the chair.

As soon as the chair activates, the temperature begins to drop, which Dr. Rush says is a new thing. Then Dr. Franklin opens his eyes and simply says, “Go.” When Dr. Rush and Col. Young leave, the door to the room slams shut and begins to freeze over. In the control room, everything starts to come back online and the ship enters FTL, with increased efficiency and a chance to make it to the next galaxy. But the celebration is short lived for Dr. Perry, because now she has to go home.

In the Communication Stones room, Dr. Rush and Dr. Perry say their goodbyes, with Dr. Rush showing some emotion for once on the ship. As soon as Camile reenters her body, Dr. Rush’s emotions are a thing of the past as he immediately reinstalls his cool demeanor and focuses on his work.

The night ends with Col. Young returning to the Chair Room to find out that Dr. Franklin has disappeared in to thin air, because he never left the room. Wow…

Camile’s Life As a Quadriplegic

While the ship had its latest adventure, Camile had to live the life of a quadriplegic in front of Sharon, which brought a lot of uncertainty for the both of them. The state of Dr. Perry’s body brings complications that Camile worries Sharon can’t deal with, which bothers Camile throughout the episode, because it is obvious that she is probably wondering if Sharon can deal with her in the state she is in. Camile even asks Sharon at one time if it bothered her and Sharon claims that she is unfazed by the situation, because it is temporary. Camile later panics when Sharon leaves for groceries and takes hours to return, thinking that something bad happened to her. Sharon calms her down and apologizes by saying that she knows how it is to wait for someone to come home, but it’s not long before Camile goes into some convulsions, which the medic knows how to cure. After that is taken care of, a person from SGC comes to collect Camile for preparation to return home. Camile and Sharon prepare to say their goodbyes, but we don’t see them. Camile temporarily appears back in her body when the Destiny goes into FTL, but returns back to Earth until the connections is severed properly.

From The Bar of Dr. Brody’s Distillery

– Yep, new name, folks! They have a freaking BAR now!!! With ALCOHOL!!!! Damn skippy my reviews will be made from here from now on. Now if we lose the bar then back to the airlock we go…

– Wonder what happened to Dr. Franklin? Did he disperse into thin air or did he Ascend? If he did the latter, Dr. Rush will be pissed out of this world.

– The unity this week was very professional and a relief on the psyche. Thank GOD for alcohol!

– The whole Eli, Chloe, and Scott return? I have to say that I didn’t like it. It was too simple and too easy for them to solve what could have been a great subplot to explore. I was hoping that the ship would have malfunctioned then could’ve be fixed with the crew finally getting control of it, which could’ve meant that they could’ve went back and rescued the three castaways. But this is not my show and I will just have to accept the outcome, although that doesn’t mean I can’t gripe about it for a bit. Gripe over and moving on…

– Are these the most relentless aliens since The Borg from Star Trek? Or did I miss a couple since then?

Sorry for the late recap. Hopefully you will forgive me…

See you guys next week. Four more episodes before the wait for Season Two!!!