Stargate Universe 1.18 “Subversion” Recap

The crap hit the fan aboard the Destiny this week as a mole was discovered, which in turn vindicated my “dislike” for a certain character. Oh, what a glorious episode of SGU!!!

I Know Something’s Going On…

Dr. Rush tosses and turns in his sleep while images from Earth bombard his dreams. The images include a deposit box with the number 314 on it, an abandoned warehouse with men and cars (looks like a meeting of sorts) and a sexy female (special guest star Rhona Mitra) in a car. Dr. Rush awakes and takes his dreams to Col. Young’s office, where he tells the Colonel about the dream in more detail. Dr. Rush recounts giving information about the Icarus project with precision to the group of people and spotting a Goa’uld Tel’Tak (cargo ship) in plain view. Col. Young deduces that Dr. Rush was in contact with the Lucian Alliance, but Dr. Rush says that it wasn’t him, because when he saw his reflection it was actually…

Col. Telford.

I KNEW THAT S.O.B. WAS UP TO NO GOOD!!!!!!

Let’s Bag And Tag The Rat!!!

Col. Young brings Scott in on the issue at hand, reminding the young lieutenant (and the audience) that a memory bleed happened with Scott before when he switched bodies with Telford in the past, which is how the Colonel knew about Telford’s affair with his wife. Scott is reluctant to believe such a tale, but Col. Young reveals that Telford had been on an undercover mission for SGC to infiltrate the Lucian Alliance and possibly could’ve been brainwashed in the process (The Lucian Alliance is a group of smugglers and petty thieves from the Milky Way galaxy who overtook the power vacuum left behind when the Goa’uld [the aliens from the Stargate movie and much of SG-1′s run] were finally defeated. The Lucian Alliance gained all of the Goa’uld’s technology and included in that arsenal could’ve been the brainwashing capability. Okay! I hope that “history lesson” was enlightening, helpful, and accurate).

Col. Young continues that eight months into Telford’s cover, 37 SGC people were killed during an attack on a planet, P2S 569, led by the Alliance and that Telford knew about it. The SGC took Telford’s plea that he couldn’t blow his cover as a viable means for his withholding information and threw the case out and covered up the incident. Wow. Scott, after hearing all of this, feels that if it’s true and if the Lucian Alliance has the brainwashing tech, then they can’t trust anyone. Hmmm…

Later, Col. Young and Dr. Rush discuss ways to see if Dr. Rush’s visions/dreams are accurate. Turns out that Col. Telford is due to use the communication stones with another doctor on the ship. The two decide to use that as an opportunity to take Telford’s body and use it as a cover. Dr. Rush volunteers his services for the switch since he is the one who had the dream. Col. Young reminds Dr. Rush that once he’s there, that he’s on his own, because they don’t know how bad the SGC has been infiltrated. A few moments later, Camile whines to Col. Young about why she wasn’t informed about the change of plans with the communication stones. Col. Young simply tells her that she just needs to trust him for the moment, but this is Camile and her sense of importance outranks any other position on the ship. Well, in her world at least….

The switch happens and Telford is not happy about the change up and wants to talk to Col. Young ASAP, but Scott gives some BS lie about Col. Young being unavailable. Telford doesn’t buy it, but goes a long with it. After they leave the communication stone room, Col. Young sneaks in and does a switch himself. When the Colonel awakes on Earth, he demands to talk to General O’Neill.

Col. Young informs the General on Dr. Rush’s mission to contact the Lucian Alliance, but the Colonel makes it seem as if Dr. Rush could be the one who is the actual mole. Why he is doing this is beyond me, but I pray it is a good reason. Meanwhile, Dr. Rush does ditch his escort as Col. Young claimed he would, but unbeknownst to Dr. Rush, Dr. Daniel Jackson is tailing his every move. Dr. Rush goes directly to Col. Telford’s house and breaks in. While there, he searches Telford’s home office until he finds a key with the number 314 on it and a bank deposit invoice. He later goes to the bank and opens up the deposit box to find a phone that has the same number in the call log. He calls it and someone picks up. Dr. Rush tells the person that he has more information to give and the person on the line hesitates before responding for “Telford” to standby for instructions. Got ’em. A van later comes and later picks up the doctor.

Back on the ship, people are throwing TJ a baby shower (you should see the gifts; I will feel bad for this kid) and Eli is approached by Volker and Brody, who ask the kid if he knows anything about Rush going back to Earth unscheduled and all that. In other words, they are being extremely nosy. Eli tells them that he doesn’t know anything, but throws in that he was kicked out of the conversation Dr. Rush and Col. Young had, which only heightens the gossip train. While the three try to piece together the mystery, Col. Telford comes into the party and asks Camile to talk in private. The three science geeks take note of this.

Col. Young has made it back on the ship and comes across Telford and Camile’s secret conversation, which he quickly busts up and takes Telford with him. The two end up having a drink, which is where they put all their animosities against each other on the table. Then Col. Young really gets in Telford’s skin by countering Telford’s assessment of Young being a disgrace with the fact that at least he, Young, is in command of the Destiny, a fact that is bothering Telford to no end. Young continues digging the knife in Telford’s open wound by exacerbating the the animosity Telford must have because his stint as a spy didn’t get him where he wanted to be. Then Young asks Telford about P2S 569 and what happened for him to let those people die. Pissed, Telford leaves the room.

Uh Oh, You’re In Trouble…

The black van carries Dr. Rush to the place in his dreams and they get out and wait. Dr. Daniel Jackson hides on a roof and takes pictures, while General O’Neill radio contacts him clearance to call in the ground assault team when he’s ready. Another van suddenly pulls up and out steps the beautiful woman who asks Dr. Rush who the hell is he, because whoever he is, he didn’t follow the proper code when he called in. A goon then uses an alien taser to knock Dr. Rush out and his cover is blown. Dr. Jackson calls in the assault squad, but it’s too late. The Alliance takes Dr. Rush onto the Goa’uld Tel’Tak ship and take off.

Back at the Pentagon, Dr. Jackson reveals the intel to the General and Col. Young that he received about the female Alliance member, whose name is Kiva. They deduce that Telford is the mole (duh) and Dr. Jackson suggests they sever the stone connection so that they can get Dr. Rush back, but Col. Young is against this plan and feels that they would only let Telford go scott free. Col. Young then asks to let him get the information out of Telford himself, which means some brutal beatdowns are up ahead. I am for the idea, but you can tell that Dr. Jackson and General O’Neill are clearly not.

On the Lucian Alliance/Goa’uld vessel, Dr. Rush tries to continue the ruse that he is Telford, but Kiva sees through it and asks him what is her name. Dr. Rush rightly says KIVA!!!! But before I can call Dr. Rush a dirty word Kiva then asks him what is his name. Dr. Rush is (thankfully) stumped, but this leads to the beginning of some brutal and inhumane torture. Kiva tries to reason with Dr. Rush that she is not a bad person, she’s just trying to do what’s right for her people and will continue torturing him until Dr. Rush reveals his true name.

What You Are

Back on the ship, Col. Young has Telford locked up in a storage room where he reveals that he knows Telford is a spy. Telford vehemently denies this claim, despite Col. Young disclosing the info that he knows. After leaving the room, Col. Young has to calm down Greer, who is guarding the door, from wanting to take a chance at extracting info, which is Greer’s way of beating the hell out of someone. Later when Col. Young returns, Scott voices he wants to go in himself, but Young tells him to stay outside as well. When Col. Young reenters the room, he reveals to Telford that it was Rush who revealed the disgraced colonel’s traitorous nature. Young then goes for the throat by showing a photo of the people who died in the Icarus explosion and calls Telford a traitor, a murderer and then slaps him with the coward moniker. This sends Telford off the edge and he attacks Col. Young. The two fight until Greer comes in to get some punches in himself, but Scott breaks up the fight and gets tossed out of the room, with Greer, for it. Was I the only one who cheered when Greer started knocking the crap out of Telford as if he was a punching bag?!?!? Greer kicks ass… when he’s not psycho Greer, that is. Telford then asks to be reconnected back to his body, but Col. Young denies that request. Col. Young asks about Planet P2S 569 and tries to reason with Telford, who Young thinks was brainwashed, which can only explain why dreams and images were leaked only when Telford switched bodies with people. Young just needs Telford to come clean and tell him where they are taking Dr. Rush.

Back on the Lucian Alliance vessel, Dr. Rush is still being tased, but is nearing the brink of tolerance. Kiva reveals that Telford gave her a full roster of the Destiny’s crew members and breaks down that she knows that none of the civilians would be stupid enough to attempt such a mission, thinking that she is dealing with either Col. Young or Lt. Scott. Dr. Rush thinks that if he reveals his name, she will kill him, but Kiva promises that she won’t. To stop another taser blast, Dr. Rush reveals his true name and Kiva looks as if she has just hit the jackpot. Uh-oh… Kiva pulls up a screen with writings and a schematic of a planet. She remarks to Dr. Rush that he should recognize it, because it’s his work on dialing the ninth chevron to the Destiny. Dr. Rush realizes in horror that the Lucian Alliance has found another Icarus planet to dial the gate to the ship. When they arrive on the planet, Kiva shows Dr. Rush the gate they will try to use and introduces him to Olan, who is the lead scientist of the new Icarus project. Dr. Rush asks Olan if everything is correct and the scientist says it is, but it doesn’t stop Rush from starting to whine about things as he claims it might take him forever to finish the task at hand.

Camile approaches Greer and Scott about “rumors” dealing with Telford’s captivity, but they won’t give her any answers. She then tries to play on Scott’s emotions, but gets nowhere. Col. Young exists the room, telling them that he’s gone to SGC and that no one is allowed in or out the room. He also ignores Camile’s demands to see Telford.

Back on the planet, Kiva is pissed that they haven’t had any results with the inclusion of Dr. Rush, who says that he is taking his time so that he won’t blow all of them up. Kiva accuses him of stalling, but Dr. Rush claims that he might will have to start from scratch, because Olan’s work is not up to par with his, despite Olan saying that they have been close to a solution for months. Kiva then has Olan killed in front of Dr. Rush, who reveals that he really was stalling, to show that she means business.

Wait For It…

Eli, Brody, and Volker spy on the communication stone room and witness Col. Young bringing somebody back with him from SGC. That somebody is Gen. O’Neill.

The General and Young enter Telford’s holding room to get him to confess. Come to find out that Telford had given Young a gate address, which was why he went to SGC to test it out, but the address was a dud, which brought the Alliance time to carry out their plan. In other words, Telford is NOT brainwashed by technology, but with power. He tells them that they can’t stop what is about to go down.

Back on the planet, one of Kiva’s men feeds Rush and asks about life aboard the Destiny. Rush plays it off, but the guy can’t wait to get there. Dr. Rush asks what if he won’t be able to make the connection and the guy answers that since Kiva’s promise of not killing Rush is good, that would mean that he would have to kill Rush himself. Wow.

Meanwhile, Telford reveals that his “eyes were opened” by the atrocities done to the people of the Milky Way galaxy after the SGC freed them from oppression and that they [the Lucian Alliance] are only doing what the Icarus survivors are doing… trying to survive. Um… yeah. That is just a snippet of Telford’s ‘insanity’. Col. Young and Gen. O’Neill feel the same way as I do and the General gives Col. Young permission to do what is necessary to get the Alliance’s plans and Rush’s whereabouts out of Telford. Col. Young then has Gen. O’ Neill’s communication stone severed and puts in an order to Brody in the control room to suck out all the air from Telford’s location. WHOA!!!! Eli tries to stop Brody, who pushes Eli out the way and presses the button. Telford tells Young that if he kills him that he would be killing Rush, too, but Young says he knows that and is thinking of the greater good at the moment. Good point. Telford continues to beat on the door to be let out, but he (and the audience) are met with the executive producers’ title card. WOW! REALLY!?!!?

In Other Destiny News…

Chloe finds TJ crying after the baby shower. TJ is scared of

From the Bar of Dr. Brody’s Distillery

– The return of the Lucian Alliance and the possibility of a spy had been hinted at in “Air”, but those scenes were cut due to time. The scenes are featured on the SGU 1.0 DVD release. I suggest you guys Netflix or buy it.

– So Telford is a traitor. It all makes sense now with his constant need to command the Destiny. He was gaining as much intelligence on the ship as possible. This makes you wonder if Telford knew about the Destiny’s existence to begin with or if he knew where the ninth chevron would dial to. I thought for a minute if Telford had also planned for some of the survivors to dial the ninth chevron, but that would mean that Dr. Rush was involved as well, which seems unlikely now. But that Telford… told you he wasn’t up to no good.

– Kiva looks like she can be a formidable foe, because she is human and no matter how creepy an alien one can come up with, the most frightening monster will forever be the darkness of a human being.

– Am I the only one who was annoyed with Col. Young when he thought Dr. Rush was lying to the point of letting him get caught?

– TJ’s going to catch hell raising that kid aboard the Destiny. I seriously feel bad about her to have to raise a child in an “ancient” home that she knows nothing about.

– The new Icarus planet scares me for one other reason than the obvious, which is basically it can be used to dial home, which means the danger of unknown space travel will cease to exist and the show will lose it’s identity. I say this because if the Lucian Alliance fails, then SGC might gain control of the planet, making it an outpost station or something where the Destiny crew members can come and go as they please. This will diminish the danger of being stranded and the survival that must come afterwards. It reminds me of SGA when it first premiered with the Atlantis Team completely cutoff from dialing Earth when they needed to and had to find a ZPM to help power the eighth chevron. The ZPM was delivered to them through the Daedalus, which eradicated any aspects of Atlantis having to fight on their own, making the show almost a carbon copy of SG-1. I stress ‘almost’, because Atlantis did have its own identity, but it relied too much on SGC for backup. With SGU, they have a chance to break that mold and go really rogue with their concept of “lost in space” by keeping them lost in space without any direct contact home. That way the stakes are always high and there isn’t a cop out ending to fall back on. Am I the only one with this sentiment?

Sorry for the long wait. It took me a full day almost to write this recap. That’s what happens when you have family. But what do you guys think? And now we have to wait TWO FREAKING WEEKS before we can get any answers!!?!?!?!? Are you just as upset as I am?!?!?

Speak below!!!

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Pics courtesy of MGM and GateWorld (Thanks Darren Summer and staff!!!)