(S01E12) The tide is turning. 'Stargate Universe' is quickly becoming a must-watch sci-fi drama. So far, season one's second half has delivered two of the best episodes of the series. The writers, cast and crew are really starting to get the hang of that dark, tense and atmospheric thing they've been trying to do since the show premiered last October.

"Divided" grabbed me from the opening moments with Chloe walking through the empty ship and that brooding Brand New song creeping up in the background. The nightmare sequence ended on a chilling note with Chloe trapped in the water tank trying to make contact with her mother. Things got extra spooky when that Blue Meanie showed up; those guys are really starting to give me the creeps.

This episode centered on Wray and Rush's attempt to seize command of the ship from the military personnel. Like I wrote last week, I really wasn't looking forward to watching Wray stroke her ego by leading a mutiny, but this ep had a lot more to offer than that.

(S01E10) "You put ordinary people under enough stress, I think you'll find they're capable of anything. – Dr. Rush

While watching this episode of Stargate Universe, I kept thinking of the "Court Martial" episode of the original Star Trek series. Captain Kirk is tried for the wrongful death of a crewmate, but Spock discovers via a 3D chess game that the computer's system has been tampered with and presents the evidence at the trial. Yes, I'm that geeky.

Ok, so that's about all these episodes have in common, and there's only so much you can do with the "trial in space" story. It boils down to the characters, and in this instance, the battle lines were drawn even further in this compelling little murder mystery.

Ok, first of all, I think I already have a bit of a girl-crush on Sgt. Vanessa James. I mean, for cripes sakes, look at her. And I love that she told the guys she could whup their ass. You do not want to cross her.

Four episodes into Stargate Universe, and I'm starting to get hooked. I like that this week's episode, "Darkness," took place mainly on the ancient ship Destiny, which looks ultra-cool flying through space. The whole thing has a Firefly feel to it.

I'm also starting to get a better feel for the storyline and characters, thanks in part to their little bio recordings engineered by Eli. Most of the crew are in their 20s or 30s, and most would rather be anywhere but there.

I appreciated them trying to figure out the ship's systems -- waste, water, showers, etc. As some of the commenters have said, that probably would have been first on the list of things to do three episodes ago, even if Dr. Rush was having some power issues of his own.

I once again checked out Stargate Universe this week. Apparently, the first two episodes hooked me enough to watch this one, even though I'm still a little in the dark on the whole portal jumping / chevron stuff.

So I'll let you veterans talk about all the inter-dimensional Stargate stuff, and will just point out a few things I liked about this episode, part three of "Air." For one thing, I'm really liking the kid, Eli Wallace. He sort of grounds the series and keeps it from being completely in a sci-fi universe where none of us could ever imagine going, because that's exactly what's happening to him.