Seeing episodes that ring a few bells is nothing new for fans of the Stargate series. You do 300 episodes of anything, and that’s going to happen. But you don’t usually see things pop up again so quickly. Half of “Water” just fell flat for me for that very reason. It was just far too soon for an episode so similar to “Air Part 3.” On the positive side, the other half of the episode was much more interesting. The team is still dealing with how to survive, more than anything, but the sand entity put an interesting twist on that, and gave TJ a chance to shine.
Starting with the Hoth excursion… it wasn’t just me, right? Didn’t that just feel way too much like the mission from the desert planet? Stepping through the stargate and running the test, only to find that this ice isn’t suitable. Then finally finding the needed resources a distance away, only to be hampered by Scott finding himself in peril. I’m good with the crew needing time to find their footing on Destiny. And with the idea that there are going to be struggles. But there is no reason that this whole story was so much like the one we just watched three weeks ago.
The saving grace of it, if there was one, came from Young. The ongoing bit about how many times he’d done this, and how many times he’d done that, started out as just a gag. But it did take a turn for the serious when they started talking about how many times he’d lost a man. The trip to the tundra also gave us a good look at the Destiny EVA suits, which are remarkably similar to those worn by the Asgard in “First Contact” and “The Lost Tribe.” The rest of that story is something we’ll have to wait for.
Things were better back on the ship. That started with the sand entity. The followup from Air Part 3 was a welcome one, and it was good to see the crew having to deal with another life form. I did question how a swarm that size (going into the barrel) went through that much water, but then remembered that I don’t have a degree in alien physiology from the outer reaches of the universe, so I went with it. That appetite for water does go a long way in explaining how the desert planet ended up the way it did. And the fact that the entity seemed to recognize Scott makes it one that we should put a pin in to possibly return.
More than anything, it was just nice because it does point to what the future of the show can be. You have to think at some point the scale is going to tip so there is more time spent on the grand adventure of this journey, as opposed to banging around struggling to survive. I thought we were closer to that change than it appears we are after the big recharge. In the bigger scope of Universe, the series, though, we are still only getting started. So, patience is warranted.
What really sold the ship story though was that it gave a number of characters a little time to grow. Most notably, TJ being left in charge gave us a much better look at her, and she’s clearly more than just a medic. She lacks Young’s confidence and unwavering conviction, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Her honest approach with both Rush and Greer did seem to pay dividends. I especially enjoyed Greer’s reaction to being told that she didn’t trust him. It all made her character that much more interesting.
We also had a nice moment for James, as she went back to tell Chloe about the situation with Scott. I was quite unsure about where that particular triangle was headed when James walked in on the two of them. There was a very obvious path that things could have headed down, but the way she related with Chloe signals something more interesting than the obvious cliche. Looking forward to seeing more of her as well.
Finally, Eli had a lesson to learn. He really is out of his element, and was completely in the wrong. Rush remains as much work as ever, but in this case he was perfectly in the right in putting Eli in his place. There was nothing to be gained by shouting out the truth at Young. The other bit of Eli’s story also points to possible shenanigans in the future, as young builds his personal naughty and nice lists. Like Greer, I don’t think Spencer “got it,” and we’ll be revisiting that story at some point.
All things considered, this week was hit and miss. I thought there were a lot of better ways the water mission could have gone, and the way it did go killed half of the episode for me. That being said, I remain intrigued with the series and look forward to another installment next week.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Oct 31, 2009 @ 08:48 EST5EDT
“You have to think at some point the scale is going to tip so there is more time spent on the grand adventure of this journey, as opposed to banging around struggling to survive. I thought we were closer to that change than it appears we are after the big recharge. In the bigger scope of Universe, the series, though, we are still only getting started. So, patience is warranted.”
I do hope we get there soon. It is the essence of Stargate.
The episode was… blehh…
“Oh look we just found some space suits!”
Then on the planet it was very blah. However the little dust aliens are cool. How they got rid of them was the same way they did in one of the first episodes of Atlantis with the smoke monster. During the episode it felt very Enterpriseish to me, and that’s not a good thing.
There were two good lines.
“The last planet I step foot on exploded.” – Young
“Hoth??? The second Star Wars movie… I refuse to call it the 5th.” – Eli
The thing is that Eli actually refused to call TESB “Episode V” rather than “the fifth movie,” when the latter would actually have made sense. It was Episode V before he was born, and would still have been Episode V if the prequels had never been made. I hate when they make geek references and then get them wrong—even The Big Bang Theory does a better job of it.
Again, Young’s comments would make sense if there had never been other Stargate shows, but when has the SGC ever been involved in large-scale ice mining by hand even once, much less had an O-6 who’d done it many times and knew all the tricks? And why would they do so? Never mind bothering with the X-304s, they’d just send a cargo ship and be done in a few hours with the tractor beam.
I figured that the aliens excreted hydrogen and oxygen gases, because it would be stupid to expect us to believe that tens of thousands of liters of water just disappeared into nothing.
I was annoyed once again by Scott getting busy while on duty, this time even going so far as to turn off his radio and leave it off, even though we’ve seen the crew can feel it when the ship drops out of FTL, and his being saved again by the deus ex machina of the earthquake, but I guess that’s his character. TJ really should be second in command instead.
The worst moment of stupidity was Gorman seeing the swarm at the end of the corridor and instead of 1) reporting the encounter to his CO immediately and then going back and taking another corridor to the gate room, or 2) trying to slowly walk around the swarm while making no sudden moves, opts for 3) drawing his weak 9mm pistol and emptying the magazine of its precious, irreplaceable bullets into a cyclone of either dust, gas or energy, as if that would do anything. I’m not asking for SG team intelligence, or even SGC support personnel intelligence, just able-to-function-in-modern-society-and-not-get-hit-by-a-bus intelligence.
From Spencer, it seems the show’s going to skew closer to Voyager‘s “confine to quarters” discipline than to BSG‘s “shoot ‘em in the head” discipline.
Dull. Boring.
The best part for me was when Rush told Eli to grow up. Please let Eli get left behind somewhere soon. Some nice planet where he can declare himself King Pansy.
I have to say that I am not really getting into this show. The other two shows made you care about what happened to O’neal and the crew and the crew of SGA but this show has not done that for me. Too much drama and not enough sci-fi for me I guess. The only character I can even stand watching right now is Eli and it is only because he is funny but there is no interaction with any “baddies” like the Gua’old or the Wraith. The only baddie is Rush…
I have been disappointed so far. It has been 1. run out of something related to life support 2.smart ship happens to drop out of FTL at a solar system that happens to have whatever related 3. drama related to recovering said whatever (usually surrounding the increasingly annoying Scott). Rinse, Repeat.
I thought Air was the best of the three because you actually had a glimpse of people being affected by the lack of air. There was so little onboard drama related to low water supplies and the drama around the lack of power was related more to the crew’s inability to play around on the ship rather than true inconvenience.
I watch Stargate to see people are who are resourceful heroes not whiny civilians (except for Rodney McKay – whom I loved). I do not appreciate the ambiguous characters – although I understand TPTB wanted to create more flawed darker characters. So in that light I appreciate TJ who despite being scheduled to leave has stepped up and done things she was not trained to do and has shown some true leadership – and done them without self-doubt or complaint. I like Young who is dealing with non-military brats and is still trying to be authoritative and fair. Can’t stand whiny ELi, damaged Rush, clinging Chloe, Needy Ming-Na, Power hungry Telford, rebellious other crew members. Greer – I am starting to like because though he has big anger issues he respects people who tell it like it is, he respects true authority and he trys to do the right thing.
So I understand the TPTB wanted a whole reboot with flawed, damaged people in a darker, grittier circumstance with more sex and violence. The writers are the same though and I don’t think their ingrained Stargate Style has caught up with the new shows. It is evident in Rinse Repeat.
First, I don’t get the hatred… I’m digging the show so far. I mean, its no Defying Gravity or anything, but….
Oh, and secondly, Greer is quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of this show. Love his persona and line delivery.
No hatred from from me. I rather like the show in general, I just was not impressed with this last episode and of course my viewing experience improves when Eli is not in a scene.