Stargate Universe – Season one goes out with a bang

If you were a fan of the various Stargate properties coming into Universe, you were probably expecting some sort of cliffhanger as the big standoff came to a head. As we learned, those expectations were warranted, and the show delivered a big pile of cliffhanger elements in the closing moments. The majority of that added up to being my least favorite part of the episode. Up to that point though, things were pretty good.

There was a lot to like as the battle for control of Destiny played out. Once again, my favorite part was Kiva (Rhona Mitra). She is such a great villain. As the countdown loomed, it was clear she would get control, simply because she’s the crazier player. She’ll always be willing to go farther and risk more than Young, which means he had to give in. Just how crazy was illustrated well as she killed a hostage as penalty for Young’s actions. And really driven home when she had the body dragged out as Camille’s fourth hostage. That’s evil at the core.

That particular killing though, gets right to my issues with the big ending. When you learned that Kiva had killed Rivers (Zak Santiago), what was your reaction? “OMG! Not Rivers!” Or, maybe more, “Rivers? Who the hell is Rivers?” Despite having appeared earlier in the series, Rivers is a red shirt. His death isn’t surprising, and just serves to reinforce the rules we all know we’re playing by. Those rules, along with the internet, and the preview for next season, also tell us that TJ is going to be okay. So’s Chloe. And Young. Scott and Greer. Eli.  Etc.

With so many ways to go as things escalated at the end of the episode, the tired old “who will survive” angle just felt a little cheap. They know those characters can’t die. We know those characters can’t die. And they know we know… It’s a paint by numbers cliffhanger that didn’t hold up to the 58 minutes that preceded it. There are plenty of other cliffs to hang off of.

It really was a solid finale up to that point. We got an answer for what happened to the fried LA soldier. An answer that managed to be both completely different than what anyone expected, and a cool sci-fi problem that the team could actually work on and solve.

There was also the completion of Telford’s redemption. His play to give control of the ship back to Rush and Brody was great. It also brought about the most surprising scene of the finale. When Kiva rounded the corner I expected Telford to talk his way around what he was doing. But she had his number. The sound of gunfire and the cut to commercial was a shocking moment. Unlike the final scenes, it was shocking because I do fully believe that Kiva can die.

I even enjoyed the little time-out for Eli and Chloe to have ‘the talk’. They took the long route to get there maybe, but that scene did play well with all the things that have happened between the two of them over the course of this first season. It also sets up some very interesting things for them next season. Because… they will both certainly still be around.

With this being the last episode, it’s also the time to reflect and toss around grades for the season. While I had my issues with the very end of the finale, I won’t dock many points for it. Aside from those brief flashes, the last few episodes of the season have been the best of the bunch. That’s a very good sign moving forward. It was a season with peaks and valleys, but it finally feels like footing has been found and the show is really starting to come into its own. I’m now very much looking forward to season two in October. If we want to talk grades, I’d call that acing the final. With that in mind, I give the first season of  Stargate Universe a B+.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Jun 12, 2010 @ 02:11 EST5EDT