IMHO, last week's episode was a piece of garbage, and i hope not an indication of what's in store for us in the future.  It was bloated with unnecessary and unconvincing drama and just seemed to defy logic and pull me out of the experience at every turn.  As such, this episode has to be better right?  Check out my thoughts on episode 6 below:

So here's what i liked and disliked about episode 6:

+ The water level on the destiny is down.  Significantly.  Is someone stealing it?  Is there a leak?  It seems like this is the main idea of this episode and we know it like 2 minutes in.  Could play out well...if it is handled correctly.

+ Some intense conflict between Young and Rush.  Alright.  I'm all for some command struggles.  Let's see where this goes.  Eli getting forced by Young to spy on Rush is... a good move i guess?  I still don't trust Rush.

+ What is this?! Flying dust?  Just like in episode 3 (Air part 3).  Nice.  I'm all for some continuity between episodes.  I wonder if we get to lean any more about the nature of the flying sand particles.

- Eli's comment when they look at the ice planet of It looks like we entered the Hoth system was funny, or at least appropriate...until he took the time to explain it and throw a jab at the new star wars movies in there.  Completely unnecessary and ruined the moment i thought.  It made him sound dumb.

- Scott is getting it on with...Chloe?  Eh?  He's all over the place.  Oh man, then Vanessa James (the military girl he was in the broom closet with before) walks in and catches them.  Just what we need, some more relationship woes that Scott and Chloe can have loooong conversations about later on.  Awesome.

- The ancient suits that Young and Scott wear to the ice planet's surface look kind of dumb.

-Eli saying You'll run out of air long before we leave you behind.  The delivery of this line was weird.  Eli continues to be a source of frustration for me, because he is sometimes hilarious and sometimes annoying and awkward and it feels unintentional to me; like he just can't seem to pull a stance consistently.

- Young and Scott testing the ice to find the poison-free variety.  Ummmm, is it just me or does this feel just like Air part 3 where they were testing the sand looking for just the right kind.  If this pans out, they will keep walking further from the Gate, eventually find what they need, and overcome the environment to make it back to the Gate with their goodsat the very last second.

+ I like Eli's invention of the floating sled and him saying that it represents his most recent attempt to fly seems appropriate.

- Young telling TJ that if he doesn't make it back to Destiny in time, that she will do a good job in charge.  Why would he say this?  First it is just a mission to get some ice, and second, way to scare everyone.  He didn't need to say that and it seems to me only done to build tension and add to the bloated drama in the show.

+ Rush saying that he knew when to come back to the gate room because wormholes can only stay open for 38 minutes.  It's good to get reassuring evidence that he is in fact very smart and should be respected when he isn't being crazy.

+ The sand monster / bug cloud making a human face to TJ.  I kind of hope that we learn more about the sand entity.

+ Spencer getting caught having stolen rations and water.  About time that he got what's coming to him.

- Definately did not like TJ not being informed about the sand monster and knowing about it's relationship with water.  She must have known and should instantly have been aware of what was happening.  I mean, how many alien entities have they had on the ship so far?  I'm sure it would have been well discussed after Scott's return.  Incomprehensible that she would be unprepared after seeing them in the hallway.  We do find out a few minutes later that she was told and knew that the sand was similar to what Scott saw.  That just makes even less sense.

+ Gorman shooting at the bugs in the hallway.  Dumb move, but i guess given the number of people around, someone was bound to be scared and react in this manner.  That's what you get though, fool.

- Eli and Rush getting into a huge argument about whether / how to tell Young about the sand/bug problem.  I think Eli was way out of line here.  For one of the only times so far, i completely agree with Rush in chastising Eli.  It was hard to watch Rush speak so harshly to Eli, but it seemed Eli was uncharacteristically imperceptive as well, so i think he got what he deserved.

+Eli's idea to trap the bugs/sand in an airlock was a pretty good idea, i guess.  That was the first thing i thought of.  Too bad there are no airlocks.  Back to the drawing board.

- Scott falling though into the crevice.  We'll, i knew everything wouldn't go smoothly.  That wouldn't be anywhere near dramatic enough.  Of course.  I liked when Young asked How stuck are you? and Scott replied Pretty dang stuck.  That was the only part of that accident that i enjoyed.

- My not enjoying Scott falling through the ice because it seems so obvious was furthered by their decision not to use the torch because He might hit the suit.  Here's an idea...Don't pull the trigger when it's aimed at the suit?  Problem solved, Scott is free, and everyone is happy.  BS reason to draw out the scene.

+ It was weird to see Vanessa James go to Chloe to report on the Scott's accident.  At first i thought it a bit awkward, but I'm glad to see Lt. James not getting overly jealous...at least for now, and adding a shade of compassion to her rather militaristic tones.

- Just a negative for the entire scene where Chloe gets mad at Rush and Rush proceeds to tell Scott that it will be his fault if Young doesn't make it back to the Destiny because he stayed to help him out.  Way to kick a man when he's down, Rush.

- One more negative for Scott telling Young to go on without him, and Young telling Scott that he won't leave a man behind.  It doesn't get any more formulaic and boring than this, folks.

+ The view of the sky from the ice planet.  Actually, the ice planet in general.  Specifically the blowing snow.  Maybe it's just because it's a welcome change of pace from the Destiny, but i thought the planet was well done.  This show seems to save up the special FX budget and use is sparingly, but in a very well done way.  I'm ok with that.

- I found it a bit too convenient that TJ was able to trap every last sandbug in the barrel of water.  It just seems too clean and no swarm of anything would behave like that.  Glad they sent it through the gate onto a planet with tons of water though.  I just hope that the ice that was poisonous to us isn't poisonous to them.

     I can't say that i really loved this episode.  It was better than the last episode, in my opinion, but the bar was set pretty low, so it couldn't really have been worse.  Ignoring the last episode, this one still wasn't very good.  Once again they seem to feel the need to artificially build up the drama on the show by having characters tell other characters how bad things are or could be.  Additionally, this episode seemed to be very much like Air part 3 in it's structure and I feel it suffered a lot by coming off as a carbon copy.  And for the second encounter with the sandbugs, we still know nothing about them.  Which would be ok, i guess, it we had some other aliens to be thinking about.  We don't though.  I've had enough with the We're running out of X and need to get it fixed/replenished stick as well.  I'm ok with waiting it out while they fix the Destiny...if i know that i can expect more in the future.  So far though, we have gotten little to no indication of what is ahead and that makes me very nervous indeed.  I'm willing to stick with you, SGU, through the thick and the thin, just please give me a little more thick.  Thank you.

     Any thoughts or comments?  Do you agree or disagree with anything i have written?  Please let me know.