Stargate: Universe, season 2

FOUR STAR - none
NOTEWORTHY
-Awakening ***
A return to sharp storytelling, after the end of season 1 and start of season 2 got a bit muddled. They've been working a Lucian Alliance plot line that doesn't help the show's unique voice (i mean, come on...they're galaxies away, and the Lucian Alliance was flaccid even in this one). They're also trying be too much like GALACTICA, with spiritual subplots that don't quite soar. In this one, Destiny comes out of FTL near a ship which turns out to be a path-clearing seed ship of the ancients. They dock, and try to transfer enough power to gate home, but hidden aliens reverse the flow. Wonderful visuals.
-Trial and Error ***
In the midst of a season that is struggling to re-gain its footing, an extended confrontation between Young and Scott crystallizes all the potential of this series. Young is falling apart, after a divorce request and mercy killing of a crew member. On top of that, the ship itself is testing him, putting no-win scenario visions in his head. Powerful.
-Resurgence ***
We haven't returned to the peaks of season 1, but we're solidly in good territory again. This one has Destiny drawn to the site of an enormous space battle. Half of the ships aren't adrift though, they're powered-down drones. With an away team on one of the relics, the drones awaken and attack. An ancient seed ship drops out of FTL, to save them. Telford is aboard, offering an alliance with the aliens who lost the battle to the drones. Fun.
-Twin Destinies ***
If you incline more toward action than character, saddle up. Two Destinys, two Rushes, a race to salvage parts of a ship that's falling into a star...
-Alliances **
French (3rd ROCK FROM THE SUN, STARGATE) Stewart!
-Hope ***
A bit "lite" compared to the potential of the show, but you'll laugh and be drawn in. Through a glitch in the communication stones, it's discovered that the consciousnesses of both Ginn and Amanda survived their deaths. A plan is hatched to upload them into the ship's computer. Dr. Volker's kidneys fail, requiring an emergency donor. Alaina Huffman continues to shine as a medic in over her head. It's funny, to feel the resonances of other sci fi and ponder why SGU lost their way a bit. Season 1 was a bit GALACTICA '03 meets VOYAGER + SG (i'd also invoke LOST IN SPACE, but this show never moved the cheese-meter). Then the balance shifted closer to SG, until they finally found an entertaining (albeit recycled and less character-driven) groove. Still, this'ns a fun ride.
-Seizure ***
Rush has strapped himself into the interface chair to visit Amanda virtually, but can't return. On Earth, negotiations with the langarans to use their planet to dial the ninth chevron come to a standstill. A covert mission based on incomplete intelligence is launched, damaging diplomatic relations and failing to connect. Woolsey (Robert Picardo - VOYAGER, ATLANTIS) and Rodney McKay (ATLANTIS) are part of the insertion team, and everything clicks wonderfully...off-balance, but intentionally so.
-Blockade ***
The penultimate SG episode doesn't disappoint. The first three SG series exactly equaled the number of aggregate seasons of the first three TREK series, for those who care about such things (yes, i counted). The action burns, as the alien drones are now waiting for them whenever they drop out of FTL. They only have enough fuel left for one stop, and decide to refuel inside a blue giant, a plan so dangerous no drone would anticipate it (hopefully). They must drop the crew off on a planet first...which turns out to be drone-occupied. It's nice to see Dr. Park (Jennifer Spence) get more screen time.
-Gauntlet ***
Bring it home, SG, bring it home. Emotionally gripping, and intentionally less happy and resolved than the similarly-abortive ending of ATLANTIS...yet more satisfying. With new information revealing the drones to be waiting at every possible re-supply gate in their current galaxy, Eli hatches a scheme to put everybody into stasis while riding out a three-year jump to the next galaxy. Somehow (ahem), they have exactly as many functioning pods as they do crew members, leading to drama when one of the pods malfunctions (doh!). Rush, Young, and Eli are the only ones left, and one of them must stay behind. They all volunteer, for different reasons. Eli steps up, embracing the responsibility incumbent upon his intelligence and character. The last scene of the whole cast together, the final shots of Eli alone...it all works, in a way that harks back to the superior character explorations of the first season. I'm feeling almost sentimental enough to wish this crew, and this franchise...godspeed.