TV episodes review
US airdate 5 October 2010; 12 October 2010; 19 October 2010; 26 October 2010 (SyFy)

Rush is still keeping secrets, having discovered Destiny’s hi-tech bridge, while the rest of the crew continue their struggle for survival…

Death strikes a minor character in ‘Aftermath’, and it’s all Space Begbie – I mean Rush’s – fault. As he pursues his own idiosyncratic interests everyone else trapped on Destiny suffers. Rush is a great love-to-hate-him character and that is down to Robert Carlyle’s performance.

A second group of aliens is encountered in ‘Awakening’, but Stargate: Universe’s continuing attempt to introduce genuinely unknown and unknowable aliens is in danger of leaving them rather inconsequential. This approach is to be welcomed — previous Stargate shows got far too chummy with their alien races — but we need to find out something more about Universe’s aliens if we are to empathise with or fear them.

‘Pathogen’ sees Carlyle step behind the camera (the first episode shot this season) and focuses on Chloe’s growing awareness that her encounter with aliens last season has changed her. This pays off in ‘Cloverdale’, in which her alien ‘essence’ saves the day. ‘Cloverdale’ is a real B-movie episode with killer plants, an infected crew member and a Wizard of Oz style fantasy world. You can bet the cast loved this chance to get out of their usual outfits (and some of them scrub up well), but it’s an old, hackneyed story gambit that previous Stargate episodes have also indulged in. Brian J. Robb

VERDICT
Episode 2: Aftermath: 7/10
Episode 3: Awakening: 7/10
Episode 4: Pathogen: 7/10
Episode 5: Cloverdale: 6/10