S1 E002 - Air Part Two

Hey.
Well, last night was a double whammy and they aired a second episode. Air, Part Two. I'll give the overview and then my thoughts again.

The episode started with flashes to different characters and what they were doing around the ship. The most notable is Dr. Rush. He opens a case with communication stones in it. Now as we know, Danial Jackson and Vala Mal Doran used these stones to make contact with a different Galaxy and in cured the wrath of the Ori. Wasn't that fun!

Now that we know he has these stones we expect him to contact Earth right? Well I'm not sure he does. Nor do most people on the ship. Camile Wray in particular is suspicious of him. D. Rush gets everyone to congregate in the Gate room on the ship and tells everyone that he's in charge. Yea that's not going to happen. After much arguing Lieutenant Scott jumps in and takes control. Everyone is to report to him. Well there's a first time for everything. In the Stargate series we're used to Major being the lowest title a leader of a team will have. More often than not it's a Colonel. It'll be interesting to see how the young ones get on. After all these Lieutenants are on average 20 years old. That's not exactly experienced is it...

Everyone is sent away to their own area's so that the others can try to come up with an idea to fix the life support. Eli finds some floating balls which contain cameras. He calls them 'Kinos'. We find out that the CO2 scrubbers are failing and the people on board won't have as much time to survive as previously thought. A way is found to give the people on board more time...but only by a day. Callously Dr. Rush says it has to be someone not as important, or who does not have an important skill that they may need later on.

You see they find a jumper bay which has an open door which, if they could get it closed, they wouldn't vent as much atmosphere. Here's the catch. No matter how hard they try they can't get it to stay closed unless someone remains sitting at the controls the whole time. What happens to the lucky person who gets to sit in the chair? They die of asphyxiation.

Chloe Armstrong tells her father about the situation but they fight over his pills. On her way out of the room she grabs the pill bottle. Now we know that the Senator is injured past the capabilities of Lieutenant Johansen so he probably would have died anyway; however his daughter is not willing to look at it that way. While she is out of the room the Senator escapes and goes to the bay and convinces Lieutenant Greer to let him sacrifice himself. When Lieutenant Scott and Chloe get to the bay the door has already closed. Chloe bangs at the door and tries to get to her father but Lieutenant Scott pulls her away from it. The Senator's last words to Chloe were,"I love you." A very emotional scene. Lieutenant Scott glares at Lieutenant Greer but he seems to just shrug. He gets what he's done but it seems the sacrifice of one to save many was acceptable.

After Chloe breaks down in Lieutenant Scott's arms she attacks Dr. Rush and blames him for his death. It's quiet understandable and Dr. Scott tries to say he understands that. Unfortunately while he does try to be comforting and understanding, it comes off as patronizing. I genuinely believe that he's serious but, he just can't get it across. He also says something unusual. He says he knows that it was unfair. Now obviously we can see the reason for that, but look deeper. The way he said it and his facial expressions etc suggested more to it than that. I'm thinking it has something to do with the picture we are shown in the first episode. Perhaps, (more than likely), she died.

After this there is a touching scene between Chloe and Lieutenant Scott where he asks her to tell him about her father. "Man gives his life for you, I like to know a bit more about him", Lieutenant Scott says. Chloe tells him how her father, no matter how tired he was after a days work, he always had time to listen to her. She says that if her mother and she fought, her father never took sides. Chloe then realises that her mother must believe that both she AND her father are dead. Lieutenant Scott asks Chloe if she'll be okay and in the most honest answer in Stargate history she says..."No, but I will be."

In the last scene's of the episode we see Dr. Rush tell us that the ship is called 'Destiny', for the first time. We also find out that the ship is traveling FDL, but it's not in hyperspace. The ship is on auto pilot and the passengers have no choice but to go along for the ride. Also the ship, when told repairs are needed, stops at an available gated planet to allow the crew to make repairs. The reason there are gates ahead of the ship is because another unmanned ship when ahead of Destiny to set up new gates for that eventuality.

When Destiny stops at the planet a team is sent through the gate. By this point Colonel Young has gotten back up on his feet and he sends the team through. Several people go including Lieutenant Scott, Dr. Rush, Lieutenant Johansen and Eli Wallace. Our last image is of them stepping into the Stargate.



End Episode.



Well, this episode was just a continuation of the first in my opinion. There was nothing truly spectacular in it. While the Chloe's reaction to her father was emotional...we're just not that invested in the characters yet to truly feel anything for them . Not to that depth anyway. Certainly not when the Senator was nothing more than a fog horn in the first episode.



Also, I know that the ship is really, really old but it doesn't even look Ancient. It looks like the other U.S military ships that were designed throughout the first two shows. There's nothing even remotely Ancient on it. Where's the blue? There are no definable writings on it or even an information center like the one in Atlantis. What about a ZPM? I get that as an unmanned ship comfort wouldn't have been their biggest concern but still...these were the Ancients...have some pride in your workman ship. Atlantis was beautiful. Heck the replicators built better Atlantis looking equipment than the designers did for Destiny.



Still, the episode did leave me wanting more. I really am looking forward to seeing the planet they step onto. We've already seen preliminary shots from the camera but it's not much.



Oh that's another thing, Eli's camera work. Throughout the episode he was using the camera to film what was going on. A record should anyone ever come across it after they all died. Cheerful huh? I though it was done very well though.



Well...I think that was it. Our characters are already starting to build up their little niches but it's safe to say that it's to early to pin anyone down as a 2D character.