- Incursion Part 2 Part two starts with Young delivering the promised medical supplies to their enemies, but, of course, it doesn’t go all that smoothly, and a power failure gives both sides the spooks. When Dr Rush (Robert Carlyle), Adam Brody and Lisa Park figure out what is happening with the ship, it turns from a small power failure into a race against time. Meanwhile, Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) and Eli Wallace (David Blue) are facing a race against time of their own, running out of air in a closed off part of the ship. The scenes with these two characters exploring the inner workings of their relationship are some of the best scripted moments of the entire series, and they remain the people I want to see more of together in season two. In the run up to the second half of the series airing, Joseph Mallozzi posted on his blog about writing “the biggest HOLY #%&@! ending I have ever written.” As every moment continued to pass was one closer to the end of the season, I waited in eager anticipation of what it could be, imagining huge and horrible things, powered by my love of finales. What happened, however, I wasn’t entirely shocked by. It wasn’t the ‘Holy shit’ ending I thought it would be. Having said that, however, it was pretty good, rather ballsy, and best of all, brilliantly executed. Back to the episode at hand, however, they have entirely outdone themselves. The run up to the finish in episodes 18 and 19 were incredible set-ups, but episode 20 takes the biscuit and runs with it. For instance, when Louis Ferreira acts at the top of his game, he can be the best actor in any given scene. That is unless, of course, Robert Carlyle is in the same scene. Here though, their conversations back and forth are superb and they almost equally match each other. While Carlyle may be the best actor in the series, it seems his talent has begun to rub off on others around him, which can be no bad thing. And it’s not just Col Young’s character that improves, as everyone here is giving some of their best performances from the whole series. Eli plays the role of best friend and personal hero incredibly well and gives a meaningful depth to his seemingly unfazed jokey attitude that he usually carries around. In her scenes with Eli, Chloe gives undoubtedly her best performance when she confronts him about his attitude toward her. Their scene together after they are both nearly killed is one of the best moments in the whole season, and shows how good they are together. Lou Diamond Philips’ welcome return a few weeks ago has already reaped rewards with his performance being the best it has been so far, as Col Telford plays the double agent role perfectly. The effects team have had a hefty weight put on their shoulders this week, with close-up exterior shots of Destiny mixing computer generated effects and physical sets used heavily. And to be honest, they deliver an incredible looking design that puts other shows with bigger budgets to shame. It’s their best work in the series so far and I wholeheartedly think they are the best effects team working in television today. Incursion Part 2 is one of the best episodes of the series, and if they can keep it this level from here on in, I have no doubts that Stargate Universe will run for as long as, if not longer than either of its predecessors. Check out our review of episode 19 here.
