“Malice” And Revenge On The Next Stargate Universe

“MALICE” Airs Tuesday, November 16 at 9:00 PM on Syfy

[nggallery id=”709″]

Simeon (guest-star Robert Knepper) commits a shocking act before fleeing the Destiny. Rush (Robert Carlyle) pursues the Lucian Alliance renegade with vengeance on his mind. Will Scott (Brian J. Smith) and Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) try to convince Rush to bring Simeon back alive, Young (Louis Ferreira) and Wray (Ming-Na) deal with the aftermath on the ship.

[nggallery id=”710″]

This episode is not only possibly the best Stargate Universe episode, but is definitely one of the most dramatic and most gripping hours of the entire Stargate franchise. On the surface, the story seems to be a simple revenge drama, yet there is so much more going on. Continuing literally seconds after the previous episode, we first get treated to the new crew dynamic, that being one of slowly building trust and new-found sense of working together. Rush even agrees to take a couple of hours off and let Brody, Volker and Park take over. The fact that Rush and Young can even talk about it in an agreeable manner is pretty shocking. Of course, all of that is soon overshadowed by a horrific tragedy, one that not only permanently affects two characters, but is an emotional kick in the gut to several regular characters. Rush sets off after Simeon in a vengeance-fueled rage, but even during the course of that he begins to work togetehr with Scott and understand the need for no more secrets.

“Malice” is without a doubt an acting tour-de-force for Robert Carlyle. We see a new man at the top of the show, only to see him fall into the depths of despair and sadness the likes of which he probably hasn’t experienced since his wife died. Through that haze, we still see a Nicholas Rush that really has decided to change his ways. There is a scene with Park where he literally has her life in his hands and, when he has a moment to justifiably walk away and let her die, he still blocks everything else out to figure out a way to save her. Rush’s final confrontation with Simeon is equally startling and gives us a full measure of the man that is Nicholas Rush.

While Carlyle proves why he deserves his recently won Gemini Award, his was not my favorite performance in this episode. y favorite scene has to be Simeon confronting Volker and Park in the Gate Room. Patrick Gilmore gets another moment to shine and blows away all expectations. In fact, the whole episode gives Gilmore a chance to show that he is also Gemini-worthy. Jennifer Spence likewise shows her stuff as a captive Park, especially when she is left with a bomb attached to her back. Peter Kelamis rounds out the spectacular “B Team” performances here and I hope all three continue to get more screen time as the show progresses. And David Blue breaks our hearts in a couple of key scenes. This one is tense and an emotional wringer folks, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Robert Cooper does a yeoman’s job in his double duty as writer and director. I suppose it is only right that one of the co-creators should take full reign of such a pivotal episode. He propels our characters forward in their evolution and gives us one hell of a dramatic episode to boot. Cooper ably proves himself a terrific storyteller and disproves any notion that Stargate Universe isn’t about compelling characters. My only criticism is that I think the turning point depicted here and last week should have occurred much sooner, possible in the last third of season one. Dramatically, I think it would have been better for the characters and the story if we had seen this sort of coming together of the crew before the Lucian Alliance invaded. That would have upped the stakes even further at the end of season one and made for a much more satisfying resolution going into the sophomore season. Then again, Cooper, Brad Wright, Joe Mallozzi, et al. are responsible for twenty episodes of television a year and I run a two-bit website that gets to criticize what they do. I submit that they are far better qualified to do what they’re doing and I am content to get to watch the results.