(S03E19) This is more of what I have been waiting for as the season winds down for the Atlantis team. Here is an arc with a good enemy that builds nicely on the overall Atlantis story. I love the decision to bring back Michael. That's partly just because I like Connor Trinneer (Enterprise), but mostly because the story of Michael, and what the Atlantis team did to him, is very interesting.
Before we get to that though, I'm going to bring up Beckett again. If it seems like I'm beating a dead horse, I apologize, but this episode is a great example of what I was getting at in "Sunday." I didn't think his death carried the importance it should have, and this would have been the perfect place for it. Given Beckett's involvement in the retro-virus story, it's easy to see how Michael would blame him and want 'vengeance.' Had he died at the hands of Michael it would have been more of an event, and it would have served to drive those "What did we do?" questions just a little deeper.
Speaking of the questionable ethics behind the retro-virus, I liked the scene between Ronon and Shepard when they were chasing Michael. Ronon's refusal to switch to stun, and his speech about how he never agreed with any of it, reminded me of the scene in "Michael" where he has the chance to kill Michael, but Shepard steps in and stuns him. The moral issue is very interesting. Atlantis created the monster that now threatens them, and they even had their own questions about it while they were doing it. We did get a glimpse of the fallout from this as Weir blamed herself for the fate of the Taranians.
For his part, Michael makes a great enemy because he is completely renegade. Having been abandoned by the Wraith, he now has no one to answer to, and no one to protect. He serves only to further his own goals, and that's very dangerous. His mad scientist creation of the iratus bug army was a nice addition. There certainly was an Alien feel to all of the chase/combat scenes in the tunnels, but that's ok. They were very exciting. I also like the turn of events that finds Teyla as Michael's prisoner again. They have a very odd relationship and it is something I would like to see more of in the future.
The ending left a lot up in the air with Michael and his army of bugs just disappearing, returning to the unknown 'out there somewhere' classification. It will be interesting to see where they go with that. I'm sure we'll have to see Michael again at some point. Will he use his new army to go after the Wraith? Possibly use the army as a bargaining chip to get back in their good graces? Or maybe he will hatch a plan to move his army to Earth. Whichever way it goes, it should be fun.
Overall, it was a good episode. Some nice effects, and a good story that got us away from these episodes that just float out there on their own with no real connection to the bigger picture. Next week is the big finale. Hopefully it lives up to the billing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-16-2007 @ 4:46PM
David said...
I enjoyed the storyline, it's different and not very Stargate rehash type thing.
That said there were parts where I thought I was watching a Saturday Night Sci-fi movie. And the monsters were horrible!
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6-16-2007 @ 5:21PM
Hylo said...
Good review. A nice bit of depth to the Atlantis reviews, which makes a nice change.
I enjoyed this episode. It was dark and creepy but I worry slightly about where this story will go. Michael is such an interesting character, given his history with the Atlantis crew, and there's huge potential to develop that character even more but an army of alien bugs sounds kinda rubbish. The creatures were dealt with pretty well in this episode because we never really saw them. Hopefully they wont be seen too much in the future.
I do agree that Beckett should have got some sort of mention given his history with Michael.
Having seen next weeks episode, I can assure you it lives up to the hype. It's absolutely spectacular.
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6-16-2007 @ 5:45PM
Akbar Fazil said...
There totally was a nod to Beckett in this episode. I am sorry you guys missed it.
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6-16-2007 @ 6:05PM
Kevinc said...
This show is to be the "tentpole" sci-fi friday show, and it's just not very good. Most of the damn show was in dark green sewers. David nailed it, it looks like the crap sci-fi network puts on on saturday night. Cheap, dark and stupid.
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6-16-2007 @ 9:18PM
Joe said...
I've mentioned it before, but you don't seem to read the comments of your posts. 'Sunday' was filmed as the 18th or 19th episode, but because Beckett wasn't in the earlier few episodes, they decided to not to have him missing, then back for an episode just to die. So they moved 'Sunday' to earlier in the season. Which is why there aren't any mentions (or very few).
There's an explanation for you. This is at least the second time I've written this all out for you, but you won't need to write it about next week's episode because Beckett gets a few nice big mentions.
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6-16-2007 @ 10:00PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Joe, I doubt even the mentions next week will be good enough for Richard here. For someone who doesn't seem to understand the reason of Beckett's death no mention is going to be good for him.
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6-16-2007 @ 10:26PM
David said...
There was a reason for his death? I must have missed that. It seems to me the writers are insane and killed him.
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6-16-2007 @ 11:07PM
Brett said...
Joe, first off, I can assure you that I read all of the comments. I saw your episode order explanation last week, and it makes sense for why the references aren't in the episodes. But it doesn't change the fact that it comes across as a bit odd. This week though, it wasn't a lack of mention of Beckett that I was getting at. I brought it up because Michael and the retro-virus were Beckett heavy stories and there was potential for something interesting had they chosen to keep him around for the return. That's too much speculation on things that aren't on screen perhaps.
Akbar, Richard? Was that meant for me, but mistakenly addressed to Rich? Or are you just calling me a dick in the nicest way? :)
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6-17-2007 @ 12:14AM
David said...
Akbar just comes off as a dick to everyone, so don't worry about it. :)
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6-17-2007 @ 1:58AM
Akbar Fazil said...
My mistake Brett, I thought Richard was handling both the stargate reviews. I wasn;'t trying to call you a dick at all (David is the only one who seems to think I am a dick, what the hell crawled up his ass to make him leave constant negative comments I have never understood)
What I was getting at was that you seem stuck on Beckett's death not being important. Having a stereotypical "heroes" death was not what the writers were going for. The fact that he died on a fairly normal day doing a normal thing is what made his death important. Do you really want the characters pining away from him every other moment of their lives. They are on a research/military mission. People die. That is par for the course.
And David, seriously. I thought you and I agreed to ignore each other.
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6-17-2007 @ 2:45AM
Brett said...
No worries Akbar, the calling me a dick part was meant in jest. I always look forward to your comments, even when we disagree.
I'm fully aware that I'm a bit too concerned with the Beckett thing, which is why I said it might be beating a dead horse. For me it wasn't about the characters pining away every other moment though, it was about just seeing, even in some small way, that it did have an effect on the team.
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7-07-2007 @ 3:58PM
johngaltx said...
Terrible episode...40 minutes of characters walking around a dark maze looking in rooms while the genius scientist looks at his game boy deluxe at a bunch of dots that "have stopped", "now they're moving"...what excitement. Or how about the cut aways, people sitting at desks talking into the air, or getting updates about stuff that is not shown, like the missing Marines reporting in? This franchise appears doomed, and now there will be no new shows until fall...maybe the Borg can somehow cross over and assimilate the writers and producers in a spectacular finale episode.
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