Three years ago, the then-named Sci-Fi Channel's most critically acclaimed series was Battlestar Galactica while Stargate SG-1 was at the top of the network's ratings. When the newly re-branded Syfy launched Stargate Universe it seemed like they were attaching the name of their most profitable franchise to the sensibilities of their most respected. For the majority of its run, SGU has felt like the product of such an arrangement. Any relation it had to the Stargate franchise has been nearly negligible, adopting a few of the cosmetic elements of previous series while taking the tone, characterization and themes in an entirely different direction. Gone were the Goa'uld, the quasi-magical gadgets and the lighthearted banter. Viewers could come to SGU with almost no functional knowledge of the extensive Stargate mythology. It was a risk that ultimately paid off. That's why this week's half of the season finale (which is taking a week off in between segments) was so conflicting. All of a sudden, SGU has started to depend on several years' worth of backstory that, exciting as it is, feels like a huge diversion from what has made this show so interesting.

I'm not going to do a rundown of the Lucian Alliance, the Jaffa Rebellion or the Goa'uld brainwashing technology, all things that played heavily into the plot "Subversion". It's not my job to bring viewers up to speed. That responsibility goes to SGU's writers. You can't build an entirely new lexicon of series-specific terms and references then make no effort to integrate a decade's worth of previous stories that will end up being essential to the plot. Personally, I really enjoyed "Subversion" but I came at it from the perspective of someone who has a working knowledge of enough Stargate ephemera to not be completely lost when Akiva and her thugs came into the picture. I don't envy viewers who jumped on board SGU as newcomers to Stargate, even though that audience seemed to be at least half of this series' target.

It's also a bit confounding that the Season 1 endgame concerns the return of multi-series spanning villains on Earth and beyond when the majority of Stargate Universe thus far has centered around the crew of Destiny and their struggle to survive. The most compelling part of SGU has been in the small, contained stories of isolated humans dealing with the long-term existential issues of society in microcosm. It has been really enjoyable to get away from the labyrinthine mythos of Stargate and focus on a team of talented actors inhabiting interesting characters. As tense and well-played as Col. Telford's double agent drama was (especially in the case of Louis Ferrera), this series can only suffer with the addition of a left-field bad guy and the sudden return of half the principle cast of SG-1.

Perhaps this would have worked better if SGU had spent any time at all since the premiere returning to the attack of the Icarus Project. Honestly, it's been so long since the pilot that I had mostly forgotten about it. This thread should have rightly started at the beginning of Season 2 where entirely new threats would have room to flourish. That really highlights the biggest problem SGU has had throughout its run. This show, however well-acted and relevant, has a really poor sense of timing.

Best Moment: Young interrogating Telford. Louis Ferrera is one half of the best pair of actors on this show, being more restrained than Robert Carlyle's fiery performance, so any time he's asked to carry a scene he delivers.

Notes: For anyone who would like a primer on the ridiculously complicated backstory of the Stargate franchise, there's a whole wiki for your reading pleasure.

Episode Rating: As always, I don't rate multi-part episodes, especially finales, until it's all said and done.