Synopsis
STARGATE: UNIVERSE Complete Season 2 continues the saga of an unlikely group of cosmic explorers aboard the spaceship Destiny as it soars to the furthest corners of the galaxy. Struggling to control the ship’s systems, the crew suffers from a lack of supplies and no knowledge of its final destination. Tempers flare and personalities clash—especially between Dr. Rush (Robert Carlyle, Trainspotting) and Colonel Young (Louis Ferreira, Dawn of the Dead), who struggle for leadership of the group—as they face uncharted space and unknown enemies who would take the ship by force. Through it all, the Destiny crew must persevere in their struggle to stay alive, bond together, and find a way back home to Earth.
There is a lot to like and dislike about the final season of SGU. The individual stories of each crew member is a lot more defined in this second and final season. You get to know Dr. Rush and his constant need to be right a bit more, Colonel Young’s constant anxiety and pressure, and other defining features of main characters. The first season of the series gave birth to these personalities, while the second season developed them. The show did what every good show does in the second season of its life; it develops each character a bit more, giving them depth and attachment (good or bad) to the viewing audience. It’s like watching the second X-Men film and realizing that Bryan Singer properly developed them in the first one and now can concentrate solely on the story; that’s how these characters were developed and treated. We know them now and we want to know how they can contribute to the overall story (and we’re treated with such a thing).
The writing seemed to have improved in the season and the writers’ awareness of their own creations and storylines also improved. For example, the broken connection left behind in the first season, between Eli and his mother, is finally resolved sensibly. It’s nothing too spectacular and everything you would expect out of the moment. At the end of the moment, when Eli and his mom are reunited, it is truly something emotionally powerful. This would have happened had the characters not been properly developed and the storyline from the first season properly maintained (and treated well). Another example of good, well-rounded storytelling in this season is how the ‘unknown’ enemies following the Destiny began to slowly show up more and more at the ship’s destinations. The writers put together a very valid reason on how the drone motherships were waiting for the Destiny and why they were waiting in specific locations. It was one of those moments where you (the audience) would say, “Wow, that’s clever writing.” That particular moment created a serious amount of tension and drama that led straight into the ending of the series…
…which is the only disappointment about this season.
The end of this season, and the series, left too many questions and felt extremely rushed. While shows don’t get enough time usually to write a proper ending when they are notified of cancellation, they do their best to make it work. Stargate Universe ended in a inconclusive, unsatisfactory ending that not only made you want more, but also made you ask ‘why’.(SPOILER ALERT) As the Destiny is flying out in FTL (faster-than-light) it’s flying damaged. With each destination covered by motherships and drones, the crew of the Destiny has to think fast about what it needs to do to break the pattern of fighting before the ship fully breaks down (killing everyone aboard). The only solution the writers came up with was ‘hey we have pods we can sleep in’. If people can sleep in the pods they won’t need supplies and Destiny won’t have to come out of FTL. Really? That’s your ending? On top of this, to add some drama, one of the pods is broken. Coincidentally, there are only exactly enough pods for everyone on board, which means someone gets left behind. The unlikely Eli volunteers to be the one left behind to try to fix the last pod (or die) and that’s how the show ends. Seriously? While I like the slight cliffhanger, it’s an unsatisfying and depressing ending (SPOILER END). Maybe that’s a big kick in the balls to SyFy or whoever airs the show. Regardless, for fans to sit through this epic, emotional journey only to come to that ending is disrespectful.
There’s a .01% chance that someone is going to make a movie from this series and tie it up. For goodness sake, it’s not Firefly. That’s my enormous knock against this final season, but at the same time I can’t blame the creators. This show broke the boundaries of previous Stargate series and went against the grain. The majority of the show certainly brought some of the best, dramatic entertainment ever found in a sci-fi show of its type. The human element of the show, sans the hokey laser battles in other SG series, was certainly welcomed. It’s just a damn shame it ended like it did; not only through cancellation, but also through story conclusion.
Anyway, it’s still a great final season and one that you should watch if you liked the first season.
If you needed more convincing, you also get some fantastic special features on each disc. Those features include a bunch of commentary and a bunch of behind the scenes featurettes. The first go around with SGU on DVD featured just as much, and the features on this release followed suit perfectly. You get a lot of bang for your buck with this release. Most television shows, especially ones that are canceled, generally don’t tote features of this type. Good stuff.