Something hit me as I watched episode three of this new series. We may be lamenting the natural death of SG1 and the perhaps unnatural seeming loss of SGA, so we are holding our breathe where SGU is concerned, but are we really giving the due time and effort into watching the new series?
Given that we may be unconsciously lowering our expectations of the last series I have to say that there were moments in this episode that jumped out and made me accept the new series.
I haven't really been following the actors, bar the top ones that are listed, Robert Carlyle, Lou Diamond Phillips and a cameo by Richard Dean Anderson.
So these moments came after being kicked off by RDA when he sits there in a form of soliloquy talking about the 'old days' when he felt he was unqualified to do the job where the story is talking about an imperfect team. We could also see this as reaching out to the audience to get us to give the new cast a break, give it some time to settle in.
So I did. First we look at the two military guys whose confidentials may not have made them in their project leaders eyes as right for the team. They do the job to satisfaction though! The goal is reached. From seeming to belittle the project leader in Carlyle, Jamil Walker Smith's character goes on to obey his orders to the letter at the right time. Then the more qualified soldier struggles with his own demons (RDA style?) to reach his goal.
But is the quirky introduction of the chubby gamer character going to win us over? David Blue is an unknown to me yet a few of his scenes have shown he is capable of convincing emotional acting. Several of his scenes really pulled at me and showed me that this show might be quite character driven and that the choices made in the cast and the direction are actually rather good.
So, I've bitten and any worries about the validity of the show have already been lessened as I look forward to more episodes weekly.