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Is Stargate Universe's Dr. Rush evil or misunderstood?By Kathie Huddleston
ON 11/06/09
You've got to wonder if Dr. Nicholas Rush (
Robert Carlyle), the single-minded genius on Syfy's
SGU: Stargate Universe, is on the right show. Maybe he hopped over from
Caprica before anyone noticed and now it's too late. However it happened, Carlyle's character is so morally ambiguous we don't know if we can trust him.
Looking at his deeds just in the six episodes that have aired so far, you really have to wonder: Is he evil? Maybe not evil like Darth Vader or the Master, but evil like
Battlestar Galactica's Gaius Baltar or
Lost's Ben.
In the very first episode, Rush claims he didn't dial Earth because of the danger to Earth in dialing from a volatile planet. OK maybe. But he also sent dozens of people into an unknown situation that just happened to be the dilapidated Ancient ship, the Destiny.
Over and over again, we question the motives of this Machiavellian scientist, who too often seems willing to sacrifice people to make sure he can continue his life's work, which includes exploring the secrets of the Stargate and now the Destiny.
Executive producer
Brad Wright has said people aboard the Destiny are "in a position where we have to trust the son of a bitch who put us in this situation, because he has a lot of the knowledge that we need just to stay alive."
It shouldn't surprise us that the amazing
Carlyle has been so convincing as Rush, considering he's played everything from a policeman to a psychopath to a male stripper to a
James Bond villain to a cannibal to Adolf Hitler! There's no denying the Scottish actor has range, and it's range he's put to good use as Dr. Nicholas Rush...
