Dennis McGrath wrote Faith, which debuted on 16 April, 2010.

Young (Louis Ferreira) seems to be back in charge, but there is still a lot of animosity over the military and civilian conflict. Morale seems to be low, as repairs on the Destiny seem to be taking forever.

When there’s an unexpected drop out of FTL, the crew are stunned to find an Earth-like planet and star without a stargate. Rush (Robert Carlyle) believes that this system may have been created by a powerful alien race.

Sending a shuttle with a military and civilian team to the planet gives some of the crew a chance to mend some fences, but tensions are still high.

And what happens if some of Destiny’ crew elects to stay there? TJ (Alaina Huffman) in particular seems inclined to stay, and something seems to be bothering her, physically. As they ruminate on this, the crew discover a giant obelisk on the planet.

Decisions for supplies and investigation have to get underway quickly. Destiny will only be in the system for a month. Scott (Brian J. Smith), TJ, Chloe (Elyse Levesque), Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) are among the crew that investigate the planet.

Tensions remain high through it all. But there is also a discussion of faith and fate about what is going on. Those on the planet have a better chance at reconnecting with one another, while those on the ship are struggling.

Oh, and TJ’s problem? She’s pregnant. She’s going to elect to stay, and she may not be the only one. Some believe the planet was made just for them, and that whomever created it, will return for them.

Young goes to confer with them… how’s it all going to play out? Tough choices are forced, and the morale that was built on the planet is shattered brutally.

It’s a thoughtful episode, that forces one to think about possibilities. It also shows the strain of what is going on for the crew. How long are they going to be able to cling to the small tendrils of hope of finding a way home?

And what about TJ?

Human was written by Jeff Vlaming and first aired on 23 April, 2010.

Rush finally does it. He sits in the chair. He hopes that it will download Ancient knowledge into his head. Instead he finds himself in a dreamlike state, reliving his life, how he was recruited to the Icarus Project by Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks). It also forces him to confront his dying wife, Gloria’s (Louise Lombard) illness and how he handled it. Or didn’t.

Meanwhile, the Destiny drops out of FTL and some of the crew gate to the nearby planet, but find themselves trapped in a cave-in on an archaeological site. While Smith, Greer, Chloe and Eli (David Blue) are trapped, James (Julia Benson) works to rescue them. But the Destiny leaps away before they can be rescued!

Through it all, Rush is trying to take in the information in his head while reliving time back on Earth. He’s aware he’s reliving the past, because he knows he’s in the chair. He’s working to deal with the information he has, but he’s also forced to deal with his past.

It’s a powerful episode for both Rush and Carlyle. I also love the way it was shot, the grainy texture of Rush’s memories. Carlyle is finally allowed to show other sides to Rush’s character, and it lets us see his character in a completely different way. I like that the series waited until almost 3/4s of the way through thee season to do this, it shakes things up emotionally.

Paired with the previous episode, the series demonstrates that it’s not afraid to pull its emotional punches, and shows it’s a different kind of Stargate series.