Well, this episode was a surprise. They are still trying to get back in contact with Earth. Chloe has a go, and a connection is made, but it's....Ginn!
Somehow, Ginn's mind did not die, but was floating around in the stones somewhere (even Rush said there was much they didn't know how they worked). When Chloe fell asleep, Ginn entered her body. For a while the question was, where did Chloe go? The answer was nowhere, Ginn was occuping her body at the same time.
Of course, Eli was happy that Ginn was back. However, it seemed that her mind was fading, and Eli didn't want to lose her a second time. So the hunt was on to find a way to keep Ginn's mind preserved.
To complicate matters still further, Amanda Perry, Rush's old girlfriend, also pops up. Apparently, the same thing happened to her. Since she and Ginn were connected when Simeon killed Ginn, both their minds were trapped in the stones, I guess.
However, to save Chloe, a solution had to be found. Rush comes up with the idea of using the chair to upload both Ginn and Amanda's minds to Destiny. It worked. Chloe was safe and Ginn and Amanda are now in Destiny, awaiting new bodies.
There was a B plot in which Volker needs a kidney transplant and TJ looks for a donor. Greer is one and he volunteers. The operation goes ahead and this is where the A plot ties in. Once she is deposited in Destiny, Amanda appears and talks TJ through the rest of the operation, which is a success.
At the same time, Ginn appears to Eli to let him know she is safe.
In the end, Telford appears to tell them that the bomb was defused and Washington is safe.
Nice to see an uplifting episode.
Some other points..
-loved Greer's little prank when TJ stuck him with the needle.
-Rush doing the 100 yard dash when he hears that Amanda has shown up.
-Volker and Brody's little tete-a-tete about the 2001 theme. I too thought that piece originated with that movie.
Anyone else enjoy this episode?
I just wonder where they expect to get new bodies for Ginn and Amanda. Someone - or two - will have to die or be near death and just how many women are on board Destiny? Also they will still not look like themselves. I like the idea of them staying where they are and just showing up when needed, like Amanda did for TJ.
Beth - ;)
in Calgary
I recorded the last two episodes and watched them back to back Wednesday night. I might do the same with the next two.
Well, Amanda is better off now, considering the shape of her original body. She herself said so to Rush.
Nice to see you back, Beth. I guess you recorded it because you watch NCIS on Tuesdays.
Previously on Stargate Universe: Telford saying, “We think there might be a bomb on board as yet unexploded.” Yes, well done, whoever put that bit in. People who didn’t see last week’s episode will assume that this means there’s a bomb on Destiny and will then be completely bewildered by the rest of the flashback.
The chess set!! At last we see the chess set which Nick was carving ages ago!
Ginn only seems to realise that she’s in another host body when she looks down at her hands. How come she didn’t hear that her voice was different?
I realise that T.J. is not a fully trained doctor, but surely even a medic should take one look at how awful Dale looks and ask a better question than “You OK?”!
There’s been a lot of dispute on the Gateworld Forum where some people are crying foul at the thought of a medic even contemplating attempting surgery which is this complicated. The argument has run along the lines of, “OK, you believe in F.T.L. flight, wormholes and aliens, but a kidney transplant is out of the question?!” I can see their point, but there is a difference and I too was frowning at the thought of T.J. even suggesting the transplant, let alone attempting it. As she says herself later, don’t do it and Volker definitely dies; do do it and two people could die.
Blimey – when Ginn-in-Chloe’s-body kissed Eli, he must have thought all his Christmases had come at once. It was very noble of him to stop the kiss so quickly.
I think this is the first time that, when someone sees the reflection of their host body, we also momentarily hear them speak in their host’s voice. It’s not a bad thing – I just wonder why it’s not been done before, and because this was the first time, it felt a little out of place stylistically.
I love how, when Nick comes to Young to remind him that transplant surgery is dangerous (no duh), Young immediately assumes that Nick’s panicking because he might be compatible himself and has no intention of volunteering.
I love the way that the characters talk over each other on occasions. It’s a bloody nightmare when transcribing, but it’s so realistic.
It kind of annoys me when people can sometimes so easily tell when the consciousnesses switch. I realise that it’s hard to depict visually when we’re seeing the different actresses, but I wish the writers and/or directors would come up with better ways of making it clear why everyone else can tell that the switch has happened when all that the character has done is say, “What?”
Also, writers: not so much with the “What happened?” if you please. Six times in one episode, even when justified, is a bit too much!
Nice touch: when Ginn resurfaces in the corridor after Chloe temporarily took control, she (Ginn) says that she feels weaker. Eli leads her to a nearby bench and helps her sit down, and Matt automatically reaches out to help her as well but then pulls his hand back as if realising that, although she looks like his girlfriend, she isn’t. I also liked the fact that they didn’t have any issues with Matt wanting more time with or attention from the host body when she was inhabited by Ginn, only going close to her when Chloe was in control.
Nick and Eli seem very blasé about how it might be no problem at all to download the lost consciousnesses into new bodies some time fairly soon!
When Greer calmly and instantly agreed to be the transplant donor, I said out loud, “I may have mentioned it before, but I adore that man So Much!” I loved him even more when he wound the girls up in the Infirmary pretending to be in agony!
I love the brief indignant look from Eli when Matt tells Chloe that Rush is working on how to solve the problem.
How adorable is Chloe when she insists that they should do whatever they need to do to help Ginn? It’s taken 34 episodes to give her a decent personality, but they got there in the end!
Am I getting old and decrepit (don’t answer that. I turn 50 on Tuesday, so I’m already feeling delicate)? I hadn’t been spoilered at all for this episode. I think some time ago I had read something saying, “Chloe gets taken over by another consciousness” and had rolled my eyes, but I hadn’t seen anything since and had forgotten that that spoiler even applied to this episode. But if you had pinned me down and interrogated me partway through the episode, I would never in a million years have predicted the return of Amanda Perry. I love being surprised, so was absolutely delighted by this.
Tim, I loved your description of Nick doing the hundred yard dash when Amanda resurfaced, and have blatantly stolen it for use in the transcript!
After Mandy’s re-emergence, the three men go to the Bridge to talk to Young. Hopefully they thought to ask someone to keep an eye on Chloe/Ginn/Mandy and didn’t leave her to have another choking fit on her own.
There has still been no explanation of what happened to Franklin’s body and why it disappeared from the Chair Room when his consciousness was uploaded. How is Nick so confident that he can extract Ginn and Mandy from Chloe without her body somehow being absorbed as well?
I thought that Young was a bit rough on T.J. in the Observation Deck. Right then I felt she needed some gentle encouragement, not bullying into doing the surgery. Of course she had no choice, but he could have been kinder about it. And leaving your one surgeon crying and alone is not the best way to get her prepared for what she has to do.
I agree with Beth: just where are they going to find these new bodies for Ginn and Mandy? It could only be a volunteer from the crew of Destiny unless they find a way home.
The scene of Dale and Ron in the Hydroponics Garden was really sweet, especially when the opening chords of “Also sprach Zarathustra” struck up, but when the view switched to Dale lying on the hospital bed with the music still continuing, I cracked up laughing at the looks on everyone’s faces. I laughed even more when Adam tried to turn it off and switched to the “Numa Numa” song instead!!
A million Brownie points to whoever remembed to add a scar to Greer’s left shoulder from where he was shot by Simeon (unless Jamil already has a scar there!).
They may not have all the proper surgical equipment that they need, but why has nobody found a way to cover the girls’ hair? Lisa doesn’t even bother to tie hers back.
Telford arrives into the body of someone whose name tag reads “O’Hara”. Interestingly, the last time we saw someone with that name tag, it was a woman. However, she was wearing a solid black uniform like Matt’s, suggesting that she’s Air Force, and the uniform which Telford/O’Hara is wearing here is that of a Marine, so I suspect that the repeated use of the name wasn’t intentional.
When Nick walked onto the Bridge and was greeted by a female voice saying, “Nicholas,” I wondered for a moment whether it might be Gloria. Mandy has never called him Nicholas, to the best of my knowledge, and I had also been wondering whether Destiny might still manifest Gloria now that he’s got Mandy there as well.
Finally someone gets an invisi-touch right. Normally when someone’s hand passes through another person, it’s done so hugely that – if the person had made contact – they’d have ripped a hole in the other person. This time Ginn’s hand only just breaches the side of Eli’s face. Well done.
There is nothing about this episode that I did not like. The humour mixed beautifully with the tension. Just as long as the new girls in Destiny don’t turn into the crew’s deus ex machina and keep solving all their problems for them, I’m happy.
Finally saw this ep (thanks, Hulu).
Very well done, indeed.