(S04E15) We're back again with yet another episode where the bulk of the team gets to hit the showers early. I'm sure that's an unfortunate decision to some. On the bright side though, this wasn't just your normal, average, every day stand alone episode. We got a nice tie-in to "Miller's Crossing," a good dose of back story for Sheppard, the return of a familiar face, and guest star Kari Wuhrer.
Ahh, Kari... I've had a crush on her for almost twenty years, since she first graced our TV screens on Remote Control. She's one of those actresses, like Charisma Carpenter, that I will watch in anything. Sliders, random Nash Bridges episode, General Hospital, hooter movie on Cinemax, it doesn't matter. If it has Kari Wuhrer in it, it's worth watching. With that in mind, let's all take a step into the wayback machine and remember 1988.
Ok, with that out of the way, on with the episode. I'll have to admit, I was looking forward to more of a team outing, so I was a little disappointed when it became clear that only Sheppard and Ronon were making the trip back to earth. Ronon did seem an odd fit to start with, but after "Harmony" was built around Sheppard and McKay, I suppose they couldn't really send the two of them off on their own again. That being said, as odd as it is to try and mix Ronon in with the average earth folk, it did all tie in nicely with how the friendship between he and Sheppard has developed.
Another bit of oddness was the appearance of Carter to break the news to Sheppard. I still haven't really accepted Carter as being a part of the Atlantis team. More and more these brief little cameos come across to me as Carter from SG-1 visiting more than Carter being a part of Atlantis. I get that it's a limited schedule, but I would really like to see her more involved in those episodes that they do use her. Of course, it may just be too late as apparently her involvement with season five is up in the air and dependent on Tapping's schedule doing other projects.
On the plus side, we had a long overdue peek into Sheppard's history. It's something that was hinted at in "Letters From Pegasus" and what we found here goes a long way in explaining that. It turns out that Pa Sheppard had done pretty well. I think, going off of the clippings that Ava had, he was referred to as a "Utilities Mogul." If not, please direct your complaints to my cable company and urge them to give me SciFi in HD, so I can read the random pieces of paper scattered about the desks.
It wasn't all spelled out, but I think we can assume that a large part of the conflict between Sheppard and his father involved him heading off on his own path and not following that plan that was laid out for him so early on. Dylan Neal as brother Dave was also another nice bit of casting. I thought that part of the story played out rather well, moving from his concerns over the will to what looked to be the beginning of their reconciliation at the end.
It would seem that all of those secrets Sheppard has to keep didn't just cause a division with his brother, but also with his wife. I could have gone for a little more exposition there, but that's just me wanting more screen time for Kari Wuhrer as much as anything else. What we did get from them was good. The fact that she now feels that she is taking on his role from their marriage in her new relationship, because of her Homeland Security commitments, was an interesting way for their history to resolve.
Now then, the earth based replicator. I really liked how this picked up the story from "Miller's Crossing." And I give it extra points because I didn't see Ava as a replicator coming until it was right on top of us. I got that there was something off about her, especially when she started asking questions about the scanning technology, but my inner Rockford was too busy fingering her as the one looking to sell the tech to jump to the replicator conclusion. I should probably upgrade my inner Rockford to an inner Murray Bozinski when I watch sci-fi based shows.
The chase and capture felt pretty standard. Some running, some gun play, but nothing that really stood out. The fight scene between the replicators was good, but the only real surprise for me came with beaming him into space to burn up on re-entry. Any Atlantis characters that were feeling slighted about being left out can at least feel better that there's a lot of that going around. Despite people jumping in and out of Apollo, her crew was also curiuosly absent. Thumbs up for Dr. Lee and his bikini watching sunburn though.
The thing that didn't fool me was the little hoax at the end that found Ava free and clear in the wild. I wasn't actually guessing VR, but we've been down this road enough times now to know that there is no way a replicator, even a cute and seemingly innocent one, is going to be turned loose. It's a good way to tie it all up and does leave a door open for them to possibly revisit in a few years, like...
Bates. If you were one of those fans that occasionally thought to yourself, "Whatever happened to that guy?" well, now you know. It was a well reasoned explanation, and a welcome bit of continuity. Next week, we find out what everyone else was up to as Carter, McKay, and Keller head off on an adventure of their very own. If you can't wait for more Atlantis, word on the street is that a big season five announcement is coming Monday over at the SciFi website.
The Cheers episode Ken Levine's still writing in his head
Giveaway Tuesday: Fastlane - The Complete Series
Giveaway Monday: The X-Files: Revelations on DVD
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-02-2008 @ 1:42PM
Jimmy said...
Personally, I'm getting a little tired of these episodes where just one or two of the team is featured. One of the great things abut SG-1
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2-02-2008 @ 1:48PM
Jimmy said...
Oops, hit that Enter key by accident. You know, an option to edit your posts for errors would be a nice addition, TV Squad. Anyway...
Personally, I'm getting a little tired of these episodes where just one or two of the team is featured. One of the great things about SG-1 is that it has always been an ensemble show. Even when time was given to establish and expand the main characters it always remained an ensemble. The Atlantis crew is always at its best when the whole group is interacting with each other. While this wasn't a bad episode, I think it would have been better if more of the cast was there; especially when the Replicator became an issue.
2-02-2008 @ 4:18PM
Cyantre said...
Hey, it's Emma Lahana in that image capture! She was the yellow ranger in Power Rangers Dino Thunder.
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2-02-2008 @ 4:26PM
Morjana Coffman said...
The real life answer to episodes featuring only one or two of the team members (in this particular case) is that David Hewlett, Amanda Tapping and Jewel Staite were off busy filming THEIR episode, Trio. Plus, by this time Rachel Luttrell was very, very pregnant.
Of course, in the SGA "world," Teyla is also very, very pregnant. McKay's absence was explained -- he had a science mission to work; Carter is the Admin of Atlantis, and Dr. Keller would have been needed more on Atlantis than at a funeral on Earth.
I enjoyed this episode -- we learned a little more of Shep's backstory, got to see Ronon in an Earth environment, were gifted by some lovely new music from Joel Goldsmith, and some nifty special effects.
Morjana
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2-02-2008 @ 5:08PM
Elyse said...
It would be nice to concentrate on team episodes again; of course, Rachel's pregnancy complicates a few things, but hopefully in season 5 they'll get back to having the TEAM, and not just 1 or 2 of them, going off while the others just vanish into the woodwork.
I'll say what many other have fans have said "about time!" when it came to Sheppard backstory, although most fans went "huh?" when it was divulged he came from privilege and not just a 'normal' background. (Plus it contradicted the now-vanished Scifi bio that had been up for years that Shep's dad had been a colonel in the military).
And yeah, HD would be sweet. I had to wait for hi-rez screencaps to come out to find out Shep's dad was a 'utilities mogul.' ;)
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2-02-2008 @ 6:15PM
Mack Swift said...
Remember the part of the episode where McKay's sister was kidnnapped and Shep and Ronin were walking up to the house; and the camera lingered on one of the neighbors snapping pics with a camera phone? Looks like we know where all those photos on Ava's desk came from and that there's more of this story to tell (like who was gonna buy the replicator tech?).
This season has been great so far. Big stories and little story bits tie together nicely. And the special effects this season.....beautiful. Absolutely, stunningly beautiful.
And I think this episode might be setting us up for another good one. Remember that dark side John that popped up in the dream episode and the hint of him that showed up in his replicator copy? I think we may be seeing dark John again, and that Kari Wuhrer may have to be the one to pull him out.
Overall, I loved the episode, and Ava being a replicator was a surprise.
I know that Amanda Tapping will only be in one episode of season 5 and a guest appearence sprinkled in. She'll be working on Sanctuary. The press release will mention a major cast change (or departure) and a new base commander (apparently a familar face).
Reply
2-04-2008 @ 9:45PM
Mack Swift said...
You know, that Daniel Jackson wish MIGHT be it. He was offered the lead for the Stargate Universe series (which, may take place onboard an Ancient space cruiser with a 9 chevron gate), but Michael Shanks turned it down.
It might be that he just may take the lead in Atlantis. He has the Ancient science background, and military know-how.
Interesting indeed.
2-02-2008 @ 9:14PM
Alex99 said...
"and a new base commander (apparently a familar face)."
Any bets on who? Carter in command opened the door for the commander to be military rather than civilian. I'm guessing either Col. Caldwell (Mitch Pileggi) or Col. Ellis (Michael Beach).
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2-03-2008 @ 1:11PM
Mack Swift said...
To be honest, I have no idea who would be the new Atlantis Commander.
But a very fun guess would be Adam Baldwin, Col. David Dixon from SG-13 (he was in the SG-1 eps Heroes Pt.1+2).
2-04-2008 @ 2:16PM
Akbar Fazil said...
No idea on who yet myself but over on J Mallozzi's blog he mentioned this:
"Remember way back, when I said we had considered a handful of possible candidates for the command position at the beginning of season 4? Well this person made that short list then, and we’re VERY excited about his/her/its(?) addition to our cast of regulars."
My wish? Daniel Jackson.
2-02-2008 @ 9:39PM
Oreo said...
I agree with Jimmy, let's get a whole team, or at least McCay to come along too.
What also bothers me is that Sheppard seems to be in charge all the time because Sam isn't around. AT is only in 14 episodes yet one of those episodes was this one? She had about two lines, what a waste.
Of course most of the second half of season 4 has been a waste.
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2-02-2008 @ 11:14PM
Kevinc said...
Having these little appearances by Carter are just distracting. They need to get rid of her and get someone in charge. More and more it looks like they made a huge mistake in getting rid of Weir.
I don't mind the smaller team episodes if they connect to the over all story, this one did, but last weeks didn't.
How come they now gate directly to earth? Why didn't they have to use the gate system Carter was setting up in the beginning of the season?
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2-03-2008 @ 9:58AM
Usama said...
They are using that thing Carter made, the Carter-McKay Intergalactic Gate Bridge or something or other. They just assumed that we'll assume that they used the Carter-McKay bridge. It's not instantaneous, I mean notice how they didn't even show the SGC and we went straight to Sheppard's house. It takes ~30min I think, and you have that brief stop in the middle too.
2-03-2008 @ 3:44AM
jjm3.2007 said...
I think that Carter and O'neill should have gotten married a long time ago. Amanda Tapping is only staying with the current Stargate- "Deep Space" Generation, because she wants steady employment in Vancouver, Canada.
For the sake of the series, she needs to get back to Earth ASAP!
Reply
2-03-2008 @ 9:56AM
Usama said...
Amanda Tapping is fulfilling a contractual requirement by being in Atlantis. I don't know if she actually wanted to be on the show, in the interviews she talks about how great it will be (before the season started airing) but she said this after she told us she had a contractual obligation to be there.
Also, next week's is going to be 3-member thing too. Dr. McKay, Carter and the new doctor. I think these breaks are partly to explore characters and mostly to give the "team" a break so that the actress who plays Teyla had time off for her pregnancy.
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2-03-2008 @ 6:40PM
Alex99 said...
You know, on thinking about it I hope it isn't Caldwell or Ellis or anybody else military. Some of the most interesting situations were those that pitted Wier (civilian, diplomat, moderate) against the likes of Caldwell (military, let's blow stuff up) and how that dichotomy worked out. Also the times Wier had to cross that line, the repercussions and how she felt about it. I don't know how Carter would have worked in that setting because frankly we've seen so little of it this season with her in command.
I'm just disappointed how the Tapping/Carter thing worked out. While I think the world of both the actor and the character, it simply never gelled... and now we'll never know how or if either would have grown into the position they were put in. I am looking forward to "Sanctuary" and hope Tapping can reprise Carter as the Carter we knew in future "Atlantis" episodes and the "SG-1" films.
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2-04-2008 @ 12:28AM
Smiley said...
They are introducing a new female military character named Captain Allison Porter in the season premier. She's going to be a regular.
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2-06-2008 @ 1:33PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Well, she isn't going to be on the Sheppards team so I doubt she is going to be a regular. More than likely a recurring character (ala Zelenka and Lorne)
2-05-2008 @ 11:40AM
Alex99 said...
Ugh.
New commander is Woolsey.
Ugh.
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2-06-2008 @ 1:34PM
Akbar Fazil said...
So who would you want to see as the new base commander?