Stargate Universe ”Hope” Detailed Analysis & Design

Today's episode of Stargate Universe delves deep into a lot of character emotions with two plots, neither of which presents great danger to the ship. Volker is facing a medical issue that could be managed on earth, but is life-threatening on Destiny. And the crew are shocked by the sudden re-appearance of a friend they thought was dead. Lots of great things to talk about in this one.

Find my original science fiction at http://www.AdamDavidCollings.com/books

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a Nerd

 

This is episode 85 of the podcast.

 

Today, we’re talking about the Stargate Universe episode “Hope”

And if you’d like to check out my original science fiction books, head on over to AdamDavidCollings.com/books

 

The description on Gateworld reads

Chloe's body is taken over by the mind of someone the crew believed was dead. Meanwhile, T.J. must perform a dangerous transplant when Dr. Volker is diagnosed with an illness that threatens his life.

 

This episode was written by Carl Binder.

It was directed by William Waring

And it first aired on the 20th of February 2012

So they’re still waiting to get a stone connection from Earth. After 6 days, still wondering what happened to their home. Does Washington DC still even exist? Are all their superiors dead? Will they ever have contact with their loved ones again?

 

It’s got to be a hard thing to live with. That waiting. And of course, your mind is going to invent the worst possible scenario and play it over and over again. Anybody been there?

 

We get a throw-away line that Volker’s leg has fallen asleep. The first little bit of foreshadowing that something is wrong with him.

 

Eli can’t understand how Rush can not be worried about everything. Rush is actively trying to take Eli’s mind off things with the chess games. And probably trying to distract himself as well. But Rush is good at hiding away those pesky human feelings most of the time. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the same things we do, he just liked to give the impression he’s got it all under control.

 

Brody and Volker are having a little argument about the theme from 2001 A Space Odessy. Volker insists on referring to it by its proper name. Sprach Zarathustra. It’s actually a piece of music composed by Strauss in 1896. Brody’s point is that everybody knows it as the 2001 theme. Most people don’t even know it existed before that movie.

 

It’s a pointless and juvenile thing to be bickering about. But again, it’s a way of distracting themselves from everything. From the problems on earth, and honestly, from the pain Volker is feeling right now.

 

But finally. Finally. They have a connection.

 

Somebody connects to Chloe’s body.

Young walks in and asks, who are you? Eager for news of Earth.

 

The response is the last thing he could ever have expected.

 

“I’m Ginn. What happened?”

 

As you can imagine, Eli comes running when he hears the news. And he so desperately wants this to be true. The others are a little sceptical, Rush probably most of all.

Ginn is telling her story. At first, she found it hard to breathe, because she was in Amanda Perry’s body.

She was asked a lot of questions about the Lucian Alliance, and then …. Nothing.

One minute she was answering questions and the next she was standing here.

 

When she looks in the mirror, she has a little moment of panic. What happened? Why didn’t I return to my own body?

She doesn’t know yet.

 

No point beating around the bush. Young tells her the truth. That Simeon killed her body and they received word that Perry’s body died at the same time.

 

What a thing to hear! How do you respond to that? What do you do with that?

David Blue does a great job of letting a whole lot of emotions show on his face.

 

Volker reports to TJ. He’s feeling a bit off.

Having trouble sleeping.

While she’s preparing something to calm him down, he collapses on the floor. There is clearly something wrong with him. More than he’s been letting on.

 

Eli thinks all of this makes no sense, but Young rightly points out, clearly, they don’t know as much about how the stones work as they think they do. Remember, it’s alien technology. It diodn’t come with a user manual.

When Ginn’s body was murdered, the connection wasn’t properly severed. Her consciousness could have been floating around in the system like a stray radio signal since then.

So why did she enter Chloe’s body now? Rush speculates. Maybe because Chloe fell asleep while on stone duty. It’s a good theory, but they can’t know for sure.

 

Scott raises a concerning question that nobody has thought about yet. Whose body is Chloe connected to?

 

After waking him up, TJ takes some tests. His blood pressure is high. He used to take pills for that. He’s been experiencing these symptoms for about a month.  He didn’t bother mentioning it to TJ because he thought there was nothing she could do about it, without the resources of Earth. But, there were other things she could have tried.

 

After doing some more tests, TJ has found that Volker is suffering from kidney failure. The problem with kidney disease is that by the time there are symptoms, it’s already too late. On earth, the next step would be dialysis.

But out here, what are they supposed to do?

This is a very real problem that I’m glad they addressed in Stargate Universe. When you’re remote and cut off from the rest of the world, health problems become a much bigger deal.

 Volker’s only option at this point is a transplant.

 

Eli explains the history to Ginn about Simeon and Rush’s revenge. Ginn is glad that Eli didn’t seek revenge in the same way. She didn’t want him to get hurt, which he kind of takes as a slight on his macho-ness, but before he can defend himself, she kisses him.

 

It takes a few minutes, but Eli realises he has to practice what he preaches. This is Chloe’s body. Not Ginn’s. He didn’t approve when Rush and Perry were going to use Ginn’s body inappropriately. Now he has to respect Chloe in the same way.

 

Of course, it’s a little harder when you’re the one who is going to miss out on the intimacy with someone you love.

 

To Ginn, this isn’t so much about the kiss. This is an uncomfortable reminder that she’s a disembodied spirit without a body. “What’s going to happen to me,” she asks. “Is there any way to get back into my own body?”

 

Eli tells her about the funeral they held for her. They buried her body on the next planet they found after her death.

 

This is a difficult situation for both of them.

For Eli, he had to grieve her loss, and now, he finds she’s not entirely dead. But she’s not entirely back, either. He gets to have what so many others have wished for throughout history. He gets to talk with his loved one. He gets to hear what she has to say back to him.

But having that only makes him want more. If some part of her is alive, he wants her back permanently, in a body of her own.

 

And that’s when she starts choking. That’s not good

 

TJ can’t find anything physically wrong with Ginn.

She really has her work cut out for her in this episode, doesn’t she? One patient with a life-threatening illness she probably can’t cure, and another going through something she can’t begin to comprehend.

 

Rush speculates it might be related to her death by strangling. She died while she was still connected to the stones. I’m not sure exactly how this is supposed to work. Rush’s explanation of energies didn’t make a lot of sense to me. But it’s interesting.

 

Scott wants to get her disconnected as soon as possible, to prevent risk to Chloe. Eli wants to further study this phenomenon. Disconnecting Chloe might mean losing Ginn forever.

Rush agrees there are scientific reasons to keep studying. Whatever his reasons, at least Rush’s agreement helps Eli convince TJ.

 

TJ explains the issue with Volker to Young. They can’t bring in a surgeon from Earth right now, as they’ve lost contact, even if they did have a donor. TJ is going to have to read up on organ transplants and try to perform the surgery herself. It must suck being the only medic on board, but not actually being a doctor. So much is expected and required of her. So much more than she is technically capable of.

But if not her, then who?

 

To find a compatible donor, she’ll need more than blood type. She’ll need tissue samples. With such a small group to pull from, it’s very unlikely she’ll find someone.

 

Scott and Greer are both possibilities. They at least have the right blood type. And we learn here that Greer is a marine. Most of the SGC personnel are air force.

It makes sense they’d bring some marines in, though. They’re supposed to be the best fighters, right?

 

So Rush is being Rush.

He goes to Young’s office to tell him the transplant surgery is fraught with danger.

And Young’s first question is, “Is your blood type compatible.” He knows Rush and his selfish ways too much.

But this isn’t about preventing risk to himself. He points out that a transplant will risk not just one life but two.

And that is very true. And it’s a good point. A sobering one.

But what’s the alternative? Just let Volker die?

 

I don’t think that’s an option. Not if there is somebody willing to take the risk to try to help him.

 

Ginn tells Eli that this time it feels different to the last time she used the stones.

And then she starts choking again.

And suddenly, it’s not Ginn speaking but Chloe.

So she’s still in there somewhere.

 

When she wakes up, she’s Ginn again.

Ginn doesn’t have any memory of being anywhere else while Chloe was in control.

And Scott has confirmed that the connection was not cut at any time.

 

Rush doesn’t think that Chloe is connected to anyone or anything at the other end. He thinks that Chloe and Ginn are both battling for control of the body. Not in a literal sense, but more subconscious. Ginn is supplanting Chloe.

 

Scott wants to disconnect the stones more than ever. It’s not worth risking Chloe’s life. Not even for Ginn

 

Rush still advises against it. Who knows what that will do?

 

Imagine being in Eli’s shoes.

The woman you love, versus another woman that you love, as a close friend.

He doesn’t want to lose either of them. That’s gotta be tearing him apart.

 

Young orders that next time Ginn has an attack, they’ll pull the stones.

 

I think part of the reason Rush is so against this is because of Amanda Perry. If Ginn’s consciousness was preserved, what about Amanda? Could she be stuck out there in cyberspace somewhere as well?

It’s a long shot, but when it comes to somebody you love, you’ll take the longest shot there is.

 

Ginn on the other hand, doesn’t want to hurt Chloe.

Because she’s a decent person.

She agrees with Young.

 

Chloe appears again but without any attack.

It seems they are randomly and rapidly changing now.

 

Eli speculates that Ginn’s energy is dissipated like a radio signal getting more and more distant.

That means, even without disconnecting, they may be running out of time before they lose Ginn completely.

 

Park, Brody and Volker are all helping TJ investigate options for making the transplant more successful. There’s an amusing moment when Park mentions one of the side effects of a particular option. And then it gets even more amusing when Volker asks “Why id that funny?”

If you’ve seen the episode recently you know what I’m talking about. You kinda have to be there.

 

TJ has found two matches. Greer and Dr. Morrison.

The best match is 6 antigen, which usually happens in families. Both of these guys are a 4 antigen match.

A surprisingly good match given the circumstances.

 

Morrison angrily demands to know how accurate TJ’s tests are because he doesn’t want to risk himself for nothing.

But before Morrison can even finish, Greer says “I’ll do it.”

Because he’s Greer. And of course, he will.

 

I swear, every episode he’s in, I love Greer more and more.

 

TJ needs to take some bone marrow from Greer. She offers to put him to sleep. He says the drugs are too important to waste on this. He’ll just endure the pain.

And while I admire him for this, I think that maybe he’s being more of a hero than he needs to be.

I’d be taking the darn medicine.

But then, he’s a marine, and I’m a wimp.

 

As Greer lies down to have the procedure done, Volker thanks him.

Greer says “no big deal.”

Volker rightly points out that it is a big deal.

And Greer just says “You’d do the same for me.”

And he genuinely believes that. Greer is a good person and he believes in the goodness of others.

 

Does Volker agree? Would he do the same for Greer? I think he’s like most of us. He’s probably thinking something like “I hope I would.”

 

I mean, it’s easy to say “Yes, I’d risk my life and endure great pain to help you.” And I firmly believe that we should all be prepared to do that for our fellow human. But to take the plunge in that moment, that would take courage.

 

Greer tries to lighten the mood with a fake-out scream of pain.

Now I don’t usually agree that serious stories always need “lightening up” in tense moments, but in this case, yeah, I actually appreciated that moment of levity. I’m pretty squeamish about medical stuff.

 

When TJ does the procedure for real, you can see Greer fighting against the pain, holding back the scream. Some wonderful acting from Jamil Walker Smith.

 

Eli and Rush haven’t had any luck disconnecting the stone device. Chloe and Ginn are switching rapidly now.

 

Both Chloe and Ginn have expressed concern for each other, even at the risk to themselves. Now there’s a thematic link between the two plots in this episode. Nicely done.

 

Scott assures Chloe they won’t do anything that will harm her. And Eli assured her that neither of them want her to come to any harm. Given the closeness between him and Ginn, he kind of needs to make that assurance. To remind her how much he cares about her too.

 

The plan is to try to find a safe place to store Ginn’s consciousness.

 

Scott is really concerned. He doesn’t want this to go on. He approaches Eli and basically tries to tell him he needs to sacrifice Ginn. “I know you miss her..but…” he begins.

 

And then the big surprise. Suddenly, the body is controlled not by Ginn, or by Chloe.

It’s Amanda Perry!

 

Now Rush gets to have the same reunion with his loved one that Eli has had.

Ginn and Chloe are both fading, and Perry is becoming more prominent.

 

That means that Eli is suddenly in the same boat as Scott. Now he has a sense of how Scott’s been feeling this whole time.

 

Now as much as Eli wants to save all of them, I can we can safely assume that Rush’s priority is Amanda Perry, and he’d sacrifice both Chloe and Ginn in a heartbeat to save her.

He's probably already formulating an argument about how important to the stargate program Perry is, and why she has greater value.

 

Rush does have an idea.

Use the interface chair to upload the disembodied consciousness into the computer, removing them from Chloe’s body.

 

And you just see them all roll their eyes. Not the chair again. It’s always the chair.

And this is when Rush has to come clean that he’s seen Franklin as a kind of ghost.

Rush reveals that he managed to separate his mind from the projections a while back, which is why we haven’t seen Franklin or Rush’s dead wife in some time.

 

Scott reminds them all that the chair didn’t work on Chloe last time they tried it. Then, Rush was trying to remove the alien influence from her.

This is different.

And he’s right about that. I’m not sure Rush ever expected the chair to work last time. But this is something he knows it can do.

 

Scott wants assurance that there is no harm to Chloe.

Rush can’t give that. In fact, he’ll have to remove some of the safeguards he put on the chair to it usable. And that’s kind of scary.

 

Rush thinks the chances of her being harmed are minimal.

 

And Scott reminds them all it’s not their decision to make.

It’s Chloe’s.

But … do Ginn and Perry get a say as well? That’s an interesting ethical question.

 

TJ is nervous about the surgery. She’s not even close to qualified to perform it.

So is Volker. For him, I don’t think it’s a lack of faith in TJ, he just doesn’t like hospitals and doctors.

Greer jokes that this is no hospital, and TJ is no doctor.

And that got a laugh out of me. Our Volker too.

 

Chloe has decided to try the chair. She doesn’t want them to risk disconnecting the stones, in case Ginn and Perry are lost.

 

When we next see TJ, we realise she’s not just nervous. She’s very scared. If she does this surgery, both patients could die. Of course, if she doesn’t Volker will die.

Young is not going to order her to do it. She knows what needs to be done She’ll do the right thing.

 

Rush is explaining to Perry the plan to temporarily store her consciousness in the computer. He promises to find a way to get perry into a new body. That has been her dream since the accident. A dream that nobody could ever have thought could be remotely possible.

 

TJ is finally ready but Volker and Greer have gone to the hydroponic dome. It’s the closest thing to a backyard they have. Greer is trying to calm and comfort Volker. I think from here onward, there’s gonna be a special bond between these two characters. I’ll be keeping a specific eye out for that from here on, this time.

 

Greer tells Volker “we’re gonna be fine.” He’s very optimistic. At least, that’s what he shows on the outside. Who knows what’s going on inside.

 

With them all in the medical bay, ready to go, Brody tries to comfort them all by playing some music. It’s the theme from 2001. Volker’s favourite. But he quickly realises that the bombastic melody is hardly relaxing and not very appropriate.

He tries to stop it but drops his music player, which proceeds to play some very funny-sounding silly music. Perhaps a guilty pleasure of Brody’s. He looks incredibly embarrassed as he fumbles to stop the music. Another amusing scene.

Stargate Universe is doing a good job incorporating some humour into the show, in a way that doesn’t pull you out of the seriousness of the story. It doesn’t get enough credit for that.

As you know by now, I’m fine having a serious show without any humour, but I’m also fine with this type of humour. But some people just seem to want everything to be a Marvel movie. I like Marvel, but I don’t want their tone in everything, especially stories I take very seriously.

 

Now it’s Eli’s turn to talk to Ginn before the procedure. He encourages her that this will only be temporary.

Eli and Rush both believe that, although neither of them has any clue how they could possibly get these consciousnesses into new bodies. This isn’t Star Trek Picard.

 

That’s when Ginn stars choking again

 

TJ is already in the middle of surgery. Young tells her they need to do the transfer now. She can’t leave. She’ll be in this surgery for a good 4 hours.

So Young is gonna have to do it without her.

 

But something weird happens with the computer. Everything is offline. Putting Volker’s operation at risk as well as the chair transfer.

 

After a little argument about which consciousness is which, Rush and Eli manage to upload two minds from Chloe’s body into the computer. But which ones?

 

TJ can’t do the surgery without the computer to guide her.

Then Amanda Perry appears, as a mental projection from the ship. She can help. She is a scientist and she has access to all the ship’s medical knowledge. Once again, Destiny is helping her crew.

 

Brody and Park question TJ who seems to be talking to herself. But when she says “I’ll explain later,” they take it at face value and go with it. After all the weird things they’ve seen, that’s the correct thing to do. And TJ has this authority in the way she says it. She doesn’t have time to explain. She’s the doctor here. She needs them to trust her.

 

Rush has confirmed there are two new programs on the computer. One is active - that’s Perry.

Looks like both of their mental patterns have been saved.

 

The surgery is complete. With Perry’s help, TJ has saved Volker and Greer.

Now they’ve just gotta wait to see if Volker’s body rejects the kidney.

Greer is insistent. He won’t.

 

And Communication is back online. Finally. Telford appears to tell them there were some issues with the stones at their end which took a few days to fix, but the bomb was diffused. Washington is safe.

That’s gotta be a big relief.

 

Rush goes to the bridge, hoping to see Perry. He does. She’s projected there.

 

Brody and Volker have a very close bond, but it’s a typical male friendship. They’d do anything for each other, but they find it difficult and uncomfortable to express that care verbally.

 

Greer has a little infection but it should be fine

 

Ginn finally appears to Eli. She says that seeing him, hearing his voice. It’s enough for now.

But as she tries to touch his face, and her hand passes straight through his body, I’m not sure either of them truly believes that.

 

And that brings me to my big question for the episode.

If they hadn’t succeeded with the chair, Ginn and Perry would have been lost.

 

If you had lost a loved one, and you had the chance to bring them back temporarily, to speak one last time, but after that’s you’d have to lose them all over again, would you do it?

 

I’m not sure. It’s hard to put myself in the position of having lost of a wife. Maybe it would depend on how things ended. Did I get closure? Did we get to say goodbye? I suspect I’d do anything to see and hear her again, but then that pain of losing her a second time, I don’t know if I’d be able to bear that.

 

Anyway, hold this thought, because we may come back to this in a few episodes.

 

Hope was another fantastic episode of Stargate Universe, delving into themes of selflessness and self-sacrifice. Wonderful character story.

 

Next time, we’ll be talking about a very exciting episode. And we’ll see a couple of familiar faces. I can't wait to delve into Seizure.

 

Until then, have a great two weeks.

Live long and prosper

 

Make it so.