Stargate Universe ”Seizure” Detailed Analysis& Review

Nerd heaven

Who doesn't love a good crossover? In this episode, we get to see not one, but two beloved characters from Stargate Atlantis (both of whom got their start on Stargate SG-1). Richard Woolsey and Dr. Rodney Mackay assist the crew of Destiny in their attempt to convince the Langaran government to let them dial Destiny from their planet. The only thing missing is Jonas Quinn. But are they putting the people of Langara at risk?

While all that's going on, we also get more insight into what life is like for Perry and Ginn as disembodied data structures. Rush goes on a journey that ends in heartbreak.

I have a lot to say about both plots in the episode, so let's dig in.

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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 86 of the podcast

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

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

Homeworld Command tries to convince an ally occupying a naquadria-rich planet to let them try to dial Destiny, but suspects that they have already been infiltrated by the Lucian Alliance.

This episode was WRITTEN BY: Rémi Aubuchon

It was DIRECTED BY: Helen Shaver

And it first aired on 27th February 2012

The episode opens with a very familiar face. Richard Woolsey, played by Robert Picardo. No longer in his Atlantis uniform, he’s back in suit and tie. He’s negotiating with an ambassador from the planet Langara. That’s Jonas Quin’s world. The place where Naquadria was first discovered. This planet has a naquadria core. The perfect place for dialling Destiny.

It’s a bit of a shame that Jonas doesn’t appear in this episode. It would have been cool to bring back Corin Nemmick, but then, there’s already so much in this episode that I don’t think they would have done him justice. It would probably have been little more than a cameo.

It seems word got through from Senator Michaels. Chloe convinced her that they should go ahead with trying to dial Destiny so as to provide supplies and personnel.

But this is a big risk. The last two planets they dialled destiny from were destroyed. Langara is a populated world with millions of humans. If this goes badly, the loss of life will be catastrophic.

Telford argues there were mitigating circumstances in both of those cases. Personally, I’m not so sure. I wouldn’t be inclined to try doing this from a populated world.

But Woolsey assures the ambassador - Ovirda, that they have a new solution for dialling the gate. And with that, the door is opened, and in walks Doctor Rodney Mackay.

Okay. We need to pause for a minute so we can scream with nerdy glee. Two popular characters from Stargate Atlantis are appearing in this episode. And both of those characters got their start on SG-1. So this is a huge crossover event. I’m fanboying all over the place.

Before Mackay can say more than a few words he’s interrupted by Ovirda. He isn’t a scientist. He’s not interested in hearing Mackay’s speech. He’ll let his own science people decide. If they think it’s safe, then he’ll consider allowing Earth to use his planet to dial Destiny. He’s not going to risk his world on the hearsay of people from Earth with their own agendas.

And quite frankly, I don’t blame him. If I was in his position I’d be saying the exact same thing.

But there’s a catch. The Lucian Alliance still want Destiny. That’s speculation, but well-educated speculation. They know there are few worlds where the dialling can be done. They’ll be coming for Langara, and they won’t care if they destroy the planet or not.

Ovirda says it sounds like Earth’s protection is becoming conditional. And Woolsey doesn’t exactly deny it.

Mackay is very sure of his science. But then that’s always been his problem. He’s overconfident in his own abilities and superiority. Remember that time Mackay accidentally destroyed a solar system?

Telford thinks the Lucian Alliance have already gotten to Ovirda’s people. I find that an extraordinary statement. I mean, it’s probably true, knowing how story-telling works, but as I’ve said, I feel that Ovirda is acting just the way you’d expect somebody in his situation to act.

But Telford has further evidence the others don’t know about. Something about satellites. Honestly, what he says is a bit vague and the episode rushes through it very quickly.

The point is, it’s looking like Langara has sided with the Lucian Alliance in this war, undeclared though it may be.

That means the Alliance can launch an assault on Destiny at any time. Without Mackay’s solution.

But my question is how. Are we to believe they’ve come up with their own solution?

How have the alliance convinced Ovirda’s people that they can safely dial without destroying their world? This seems quite unbelievable to me.

Young, who is visiting Earth with the stones, says they’re launching a fact-finding mission to Langara. Call it a proof of concept. Mackay is delighted when Young wants him to go through his presentation. But before he can start, Young says, not here.

Now, there’s a big elephant in the room of this episode. We don’t know what happened to Atlantis. Is it still on Earth? Or did they take it back to Pegasus? What are Woolsey, Mackay, Shepherd and the rest doing when they’re not helping with this project? We don’t get any answers to these questions, and maybe we never will.

Back on Destiny, Rush is playing chess with Perry. Of course, he has to move the pieces for her, since she has no physical substance. And we learn that Perry may have been the only person who Rush could never beat at chess.

Things are actually looking really good for these two. Perry is no longer trapped in a broken body, and Rush gets to have the woman he loves around all the time. Previously, he only got to see her occasionally when she visited the ship using the stones.

It turns out, in her new non-corporeal form, in the ship’s computer, Perry can concentrate on multiple things at once. She is also studying the ancient pattern and reviewing the ship’s sensor readings. Rush argues she is more now than she was. She is better than a human.

I think Rush may actually be jealous.

But Perry dreams of having a flesh and blood body. And he dreams of that two. Because then, well, they could be closer physically, in a number of different ways.

Perry surprises us all by saying “there is a way.”

So Mackay arrives on Destiny. He’s in Brody’s body, but he was expecting Rush. The plan was that Rush would go to earth and look over Mackay’s notes while Mackay explained his theory, not to Rush, but to Eli. If Eli is convinced, then Young is convinced.

But apparently, Rush has taken the day off. He’s in the interface chair running a program.

I’m sure most viewers were expecting a lot of interaction between Mackay and Rush in an episode like this. Certainly I think that would have been intreresting.

I wonder how that conversation would go. In some ways, Rush and Mackay are so similar. They are both insanely intelligent, but they also both have very similar personal flaws. And yet, they have just drastically different personalities.

If anything, I think Mackay would want to try to prove that he was the smartest, whereas Rush would even lower himself to that. He’d see such petty competition as beneath him.

Anyway, TJ says that Rush is basically in a sleep-like state in the chair.

He’s actually in what Perry calls an immersive simulation. It was already in Destiny’s database. Perry just had to find a way that they could experience the program together.

So…what are they doing in this simulation? Well……I’m sure you can guess what they’d be doing.

They appear to have just finished making love.

So the chair is now basically Stargate’s holodeck. They can create any simulated scenario with hyper-realistic sensory input. and experience it. Maybe The Matrix is a slightly more accurate analogy.

Greer just donated a kidney, and he’s already running around the ship, trying to get some exercise. C’mon mate. This is a bit silly

Mackay and Eli are arguing passionately. They can’t seem to agree.

But not about the dialling program. They confirmed that was good and moved on a while ago.

We don’t actually get to learn what they were discussing. Probably something wonderfully nerdy.

Rodney actually likes Eli. Says he reminds him of himself at that age. He’s about to make a disparaging comment about Eli’s weight but before he can finish, Eli mentions Rodney’s hair.

Young says Rodney can go back to earth now. He’s a little disappointed, but if this works, he can always come back in person.

And when he appears back on earth, the first thing he says is “He didn’t eat any citrus while in my body did he, because I don’t feel great.” Ah, classic Rodney Mackay. He is, of course, allergic to citrus, which is a serious matter, but Atlantis and SG-1 often took delight in making jokes about it.

So it’s time to talk about the plan.

Woolsey has reservations.

And frankly, so do I.

The first few times I watched this episode, I was focussed on how cool it was to have Woolsey and Rodney on the show. This time around, I’m really thinking deeper about what they’re doing.

They’re going to go to another planet, and enact this plan against the will of the inhabitants.

And no matter how much Rodney and Eli say the plan is safe, I don’t think I’d be willing to risk this on a populated world - at least without their consent. If it goes wrong, they murder billions of people.

And let’s not forget, there are three main countries on Langara. Stargate Command are probably negotiating with the Kelownans. Even if they agree, Terrania and Andari are at just as much risk.

Woolsey wants to make some kind of peace offering.

According to intelligence, the alliance are likely to make their move on Langara in a few days, invited or not.

So O’Neil believes the Langarins would prefer to side with earth rather than the alliance.

The idea is to prove that Rodney’s dialling program is safe, to make Earth’s said more palatable.

Woolsey won’t support a mission to take the Langaran stargate by force, but Young says they won’t be doing that, and they do have a peace offering.

Greer is fighting another fever. He says he’ll fight harder, but TJ explains it doesn’t work that way. Greer remains unconvinced, which is unfortunate.

I think Greer’s unwavering belief in his strength is his greatest weakness.

A certain pig-headedness is probably advantageous for a marine, but Greer is so afraid of losing his macho image, not just in other people’s eyes, but in his own eyes, that he's making unwise decisions. Doing stupid things.

Greer’s smarter than that. But he’s blinded by his desire to be strong at all times.

Eli has figured out that Rush has uploaded his consciousness into Destiny’s computer.

Amanda finds life as an incorporeal thought pattern lonely. I wonder where Ginn is in all of this? Have these two tried interacting with one another at all?

Amanda wants Rush to keep their little simulation a secret. Rush was actually open to making it public.

But it’s not gonna stay a secret. Eli is already on the case.

Rush is being pretty responsible about this whole thing. He knows there’s a real world out there where he’s needed. He can’t just lose himself in this simulation.

When Rush tries to wake himself up, it doesn’t work.

Amanda taps away at a console, but Rush reminds her that nothing she does in here means anything. These are not real controls. They’re in a simulation that is isolated from the real ship. The only option is for her to appear in the real world and talk to someone.

Meanwhile, Eli is trying to get a hold of Ginn, who doesn’t seem to want to appear. He knows what Rush has done. He just doesn’t know how to fix it.

He and Ginn actually had the exact same idea. But Ginn didn’t want Eli to try it because uploading a human consciousness into a computer and back again is pretty dangerous. Which makes perfect sense.

Eli points out that on their way toward ascension, the ancients did a lot of work into transferring human consciousness. The communication stones were one example of that. And that makes a great deal of sense to me.

The reason Ginn is hiding is because she got annoyed at Eli when he tried to convince her he should take the risk.

Amanda says the problem was that Ginn’s disapproval manifested in preventing Rush’s wake-up from working, but it should be good now.

This time, when he tries, Rush wakes up surrounded by Eli, Brody, and Park.

Evidently, they have convinced Woolsey to go along with their plan. He gates to Langara and presents a gift for the ambassador. A carved ancient artefact.

When the soldier touches it, he is immediately body-swapped with Scott. Because, of course, the artefact is the communication stone.

Young takes over the administrator Halperin’s body in much the same way.

Young and Scott give a decent performance. Not all of the Langaran’s are entirely convinced. But they’ve prepared the way for the team from Earth to come.

They are going to attempt to dial the gate.

I’m gonna say it again. It’s awesome to see Mackay in SGU.

He’s busy being Mackay about everything. And Young just says, “Shepherd’s right.”

Oh what I would have given for a big crossover event stories with characters from SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe, as a way to finish off the story when this show was cancelled. Pity that never eventuated.

Whoolsey has a second objective. He’s searching the commander’s office.

Telford really wants Rodney on the new team that travels to Destiny, assuming they successfully dial the gate. Rodney is excited by the possibilities, of course, but he’s hesitant about the whole maybe never getting home thing.

But he’s taken that plunge before. He knowingly left Earth for Atlantis, knowing less about the place than he does Destiny, with the very real possibility they may never come back.

Rodney picks up on some of the tension between Telford and Young. Not so much personal tension anymore, but there’s still professional tension. Telford would like to be the one calling the shots. Then again, he was the first in line to come home when Eli was running his dialling program from within the star.

I think what it comes down to is that Young has Rush. Telford wants his own socially inept genius.

But Telford asks the question “what is it with genius and lack of social skills?” And that has me wondering. It’s a cliche in fiction, but is there a correlation in the real world? Is it common for real geniuses to lack social skills? I have a feeling that is the case, but is that just because I’ve been exposed to this trope so often in my fiction?

Woolsey has found evidence that the Langarans have refused to work with the Lucian Alliance, for fear of jeopardising their relationship with Earth. Time after time they’ve been offered more, and each time they’ve refused.

It looks like their spy satellites were wrong. The langarans are not working with the enemy.

Telford thinks this changes nothing.

Woolsey is not so sure.

Young gets a phone call for Administrator Helperin.

There are concerns from the higher ups. They’re on their way.

Perry appears to Rush, to make sure he got out okay. Then she vanishes.

We cut to Eli. Ginn appears and tells him she’s performed an emergency shut down of the FTL drive. She needs a distraction. Rush is still in the chair. What he thinks the world is not actually real.

Perry made a mistake and there is no way out of the simulation. Ginn doesn’t think Perry did it on purpose. She’s deceiving Rush to buy time until she can solve the problem.

But if this isn’t deliberate, why doesn’t she reach out to Eli like Ginn did? And why suppress Ginn was reaching out?

Anyway, Rush is not easily fooled. He figures out he’s still in the simulation and sets the ship to explode. This is Rush’s way out. If this doesn’t work, nothing will.

Perry insists that this is real. He’ll kill everyone on the ship.

Young says they need to reconsider. Telford is going by the adage “It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission. It’ll all be okay once it’s done and their point is proven.”

This is about to turn into a disaster. Armed guards enter. So they have two options. They stand down, or they defend themselves, with force, until the gate is dialled.

That means they fire on their allies. They kill innocent Langaran soldiers.

Young is not prepared to do that.

Telford is.

It’s a very tense moment as they wait for the countdown to the 8th chevron.

In the end, it’s Rodney, of all people, who speaks the voice of reason and convinces Young to shut it down.

This mission is already a failure and it’s only going to get worse.

But the observed data so far suggests it probably would have worked.

Eli has everyone working on the problem.

Which is good because Rush’s plan didn’t work.

Destroying the ship didn’t get him out, but it did prove that he’s in a simulation.

Now Perry has to face Rush’s disappointment that she lied to him.

Then we get the bombshell. Perry programmed a parameter into the simulation. Rush can come and go as long as he and Perry love each other.

She loves him but she has concluded that he doesn’t love her.

Because he can’t leave.

Rush insists that he does love her.

This was all very unfair of Perry, which she admits to.

Love is a complex thing. It can’t be quantified as simply as Perry is trying to do.

Perry is head over heels for Rush. She’s been in love with him most of her life.

The feelings Rush has for Perry are different, because he is different.

His feelings for her are much newer.

He is a more self-sufficient and selfish person by nature.

And he is still filled with grief over the death of his wife.

All of these factors, and probably many more, are causing the software to return a false value, rather than a true, to whether Rush loves her. But you can’t encapsulate love in a boolean value like that.

Relationships start very shallow. And they grow. They continue to grow over a lifetime.

The love my wife and I share now is different from the love we shared when I asked her to marry me. It’s stronger now. More mature. Deeper.

Perry is writing Rush off because she’s further along in her feelings than he is.

And that’s not just unfair, it’s stupid and naive.

I suspect Rush could love her in the way she wants. He was well on the way to that. Right now, he’s in the infatuation stage. But you can see it growing.

But there’s an even bigger bombshell.

The only way to get Rush out of this simulation now, is for Eli to delete the area of memory where it’s all stored. The area of memory where Perry and Ginn are stored.

For Rush to escape, both Perry and Ginn have to die.

So Perry plays Juliet, and childishly kills herself rather than live without the love she perceives Rush doesn’t have for her, and in the process, she murders Ginn.

Rush may be selfish, but he’s got nothing on Amanda Perry.

You can tell by the look on Rush’s face as she vanishes, that Perry was wrong about him.

Young and Scott are back. The Langarans have agreed to release Earth’s people in exchange for defence against the Lucian Alliance. And the removal of the stargate from their power generation facility. I guess they want it somewhere else, nowhere near their naquadria.

This has been an episode of massive screw-ups.

The one good decision made in this episode was by James. She showed her Langaran prisoners around the ship. Let them have a glimpse of the life those stranded crew are experiencing.

Rush wakes up from a coma after a few days.

We get one little bit of good news. Perry and Ginn aren’t gone forever. Not deleted, but quarantined. Cut off in a part of memory where they can no longer interact with the crew.

So while Ginn is not technically gone, she and Eli can’t see each other any more.

Maybe they can find a way to bring them back some day. It’s a small sliver of hope.

Eli made a huge sacrifice for Rush. He’s not going to be able to forgive Rush quickly for this, if ever.

In the last moment of the episode, we realise Greer has finally started listening to TJ, as he urges Rush to do the same.

So I bring you back the question I asked at the end of last episode.

Ginn and Perry are now gone.

If you could bring your loved one back again, to speak with them one more time, but then have to go through the pain of losing them a second time, would you do it?

It’s an even more difficult question to answer now, isn’t it.

This was a powerful episode. I always remember this for the Langaran stuff. The coolness factor of seeing Rodney and Woolsey in Stargate Universe.

But in reality, I think that element is almost overshadowed by the emotional intensity of what has just happened, with the Amanda Perry plot.

We all feel insecurity at times. I certainly have, but Perry’s insecurity has taken everything from Eli, Ginn and even Rush.

I think the biggest takeaway from all of this is simply this.

In your insecurity, don’t do stupid things.

Next time, we’re getting into some old fashion Stargate planetary action, in The Hunt.