Copyright © 2009 by Sarah Stegall
Stargate Universe
“Justice”
Syfy Network, Fridays 10PM
Written by Alan McCullough
Directed by William Waring
Warning: this review contains some spoilers. If you’d rather not know what the episode is going to include, bookmark this page and read it after viewing.
Finally, the writers find a practical use for Chloe—defense attorney. And a pretty useless one at that. Color me Not Surprised. In the “fall finale” of Stargate Universe, the writers fall back on one of the oldest tropes in science fiction drama—the trial. It was a favorite fall back of the writers for just about every incarnation of Star Trek, but here it gets one of the lamest treatments I’ve ever seen.
The terminally depressed Sergeant Spencer (Josh Blacker, V) is discovered dead of a gunshot to the head in his quarters. It looks like suicide, except the weapon is missing. A search discovers it in the quarters of Colonel Young. Camille Wray (Ming Na, Push) assembles a “court” to conduct a hearing, and Young drafts Chloe to be his defense attorney, apparently solely on the basis of her Harvard education. Excuse me? Is he really that naive? During this mock trial, Chloe shows herself to be clearly out of her depth, unable to dominate the courtroom even though it’s clear Wray is flailing. Her defense is so bad that Young finally resigns his command on the basis that there is too much suspicion against him, but too little evidence to convict. Thus does this military man, sworn to uphold and defend the US Constitution, relegate to the ash heap the very concept of “innocent until proven guilty”. Am I supposed to be rooting for Young?
I had looked forward to a trial for Young, but not for murder. I was hoping that his assault on Telford last week, for the “crime” of associating with his wife (yes, that would be the same wife that Young has been cheating on), would have been recognized and called to account. But there was no hint of any consequences, no hint that anyone had realized Young had abused the communication stones and his position to gain a petty personal revenge. Yet in this episode, it’s Young who is presented to us as the upright man of integrity, bravely insisting on complete openness in the investigation into the “murder” of Sgt. Spencer, even when it points to him. He sternly insists that everyone will be open and honest with the investigators, and even short-circuits a conspiracy to mutiny against the rule of Camille Wray. All of these tensions are allowed to simmer for a while, but they are never allowed to come to a head. Instead, Eli’s Kino conveniently shows him a glitch, which he explores, only to discover incontrovertible proof that Spencer shot himself. Eli and the others stare in horror at the next few minutes of footage, which are denied to us until the very end, in a clumsy attempt at building suspense.
The final descent of Colonel Young’s character into hell comes when he heads an away team to the latest planet (Tatooine II, as far as I can tell). The first away team discovered an ancient alien wreck; Rush and Young leap at the chance to explore. They can’t enter the spacecraft, however, and they are running out of time. Young sends the rest of the team back to the Stargate before the ship leaves, and confronts Rush. It seems that Eli’s Kino caught Rush in the act of discovering Spencer’s body, stealing the gun, and planting it in Young’s quarters to frame him (don’t any of these people think of locking their doors?). He readily admits to wanting to get rid of Young because his bad decisions are endangering the ship (he has a point). Fist fight ensues. Young abandons Rush on the planet and they take off into the next wormhole. Rush wakes up on the planet, abandoned.
If this is their idea of suspense, the writers need to revisit their definition.
The problem is that every “problem” in this episode is easily solved with the use of a communications stone. Take the “trial”. First of all, you can replace the amateurs by importing a couple of top lawyers for prosecution and defense. Secondly, you can import some first class CSIs by stone—and no, they don’t necessarily have to have a mass spectrograph to do their jobs. Most CSI work can be done with considerably less sophisticated equipment. Finally, you can draft a real judge to run the trial, all through the use of the communications stones. And military secrecy is no barrier—the military has JAG, NCIS, and a host of other acronyms available to pursue justice without compromising a classified event.
Young completely justifies Rush’s poor opinion of him by stranding the only expert in Ancient science on a planet. And it makes no sense from the character’s point of view. Having endured the suspicion of the entire ship, he desperately needs to reassure them and reassert his authority. Just showing the Kino of Rush framing him might be enough, but it would be far better to hold a “trial” for Rush. Justice, to be justice, must not only be done, it must be seen to be done, or the public loses faith in it. Without rule of law or trial by jury, the ship’s crew is risking devolution into tyranny or chaos. Young should have taken the opportunity to go through the forms and rituals of a jury trial, if only to assure his people that chaos does not rule on Destiny. But no, as always, Young acts on impulse and gut feeling, a terrible way to lead other people.
The only character interesting or compelling enough to make me come back next season has just been stranded on an alien planet. I can write the next script myself—Rush hot-wires the alien craft and catches up with Destiny, gets back on board, and resumes his role as resident genius and gadfly. Raise your hand if this is a surprise. Thought not.
Of the ten episodes I have watched this season, only two have really stood out from the pack: “Light” and “Time”. Both of them surpassed the rest because, instead of relying on the moth-eaten clichés of soap opera, they relied on the wonder and awe of actual space, actual science, actual physics. This is what draws people to science fiction—the challenge of new ideas, the eye-widening joy of encountering the strange, exotic, and real in our universe. Pissy fits between two adult men fighting over the same woman, or teenage angst over does-he-like-me-or-doesn’t-he, or even dominance games between a mad scientist and a weak leader are all old hat. All of these can be found elsewhere in television, done better and more completely. The trouble with Stargate Universe is the same trouble suffered by all underfunded SF shows written by people who are not passionate devotees of the genre: they just don’t get it. The science is relegated to the background, and we are force-fed a bland diet of vanilla, stock plots and characters.
Don’t get me wrong: I still like the show and watch it every Friday. I came into this show with no agenda and no prior expectations. I was not devoted to the Stargate franchise, although I adore the original movie. I was not expecting a slightly tweaked version of Stargate: SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis. So if I am disappointed in the show, that disappointment stems from its own, intrinsic flaws, not from any comparison to some other version of Stargate. I want to see Destiny fly through a star again. I want to see the away crew discover a sand-sprite again. I want to puzzle my way through another time-warp story. In short, I want the sense of wonder. I’m not getting it, although this show certainly has the potential for it.
Stargate Universe started its run with a spectacular debut, then declined to a flatline of 1.6 million viewers in a few weeks. The ratings have been slowly rising again, particularly after Fox announced the cancellation of its timeslot rival, Dollhouse. With several weeks to go before the next installment arrives, SyFy has a chance to polish its new toy a little more and advertise it a lot more. I have great hopes for the second half of this season.