Despite an opening similarity to a certain Star Trek: DS9 episode, “Common Descent” quickly establishes itself as a unique and interesting episode, ranking near the top of my favorite SGU episodes. Given my general disdain for most episodes, I have to add that “Common Descent” was a good episode by itself.
They find a planet populated by descendants of the crew that was thought to be lost when they tried to dial via the sun. And this group is actually just explorers, cut off from the home planet, which was having political and environmental difficulties, and unable to dial back. This is really a fascinating idea and the writers fully explore the implications–the videos from the past reflecting on the present, language remaining intact, a political and ideological divide, and technological progress over time.
The great thing about this is that the writers don’t brush this under the rug and somehow turn back the clock so that the civilization was never started. The descendants come on board, stay, and are there when they find the home planet covered in volcanic ash. There’s going to be continuity!
Score: 9.1/10
