This Mortal Coil

Plot: A rogue Replicator faction duplicates the Atlantis team to study their humanity, hopefully unlocking the key to ascension. When Oberoth attacks the faction, the duplicates are released to find the original Atlantis crew and aid them in their fight against the Replicators.


This just screamed scam from the get go. I was adamant that it was a massive ruse to get the duplicates to lead the Replicators back to Atlantis. I was nearly right.

I guess the main talking point of this episode will be Torri Higginson starring as the duplicate Dr. Weir, and our learning of the original's fate. That's right folks, she's dead. Probably. It sounds like she put up a good fight, but eventually the Replicators had little choice but to kill her, preventing her humanity from being a further nuisance. Of course, we only have the Replicators' word on this and she may well turn up at some point in the future. ;)

This episode was somewhat reminiscent of a Star Trek: Voyager episode, Course: Oblivion. In that episode, a duplicate Voyager ship and crew discover that they are not the original crew, as they suspected, but had in fact been duplicated on the Demon planet. The whole idea of being a duplicate and how you would co-exist with your original is an interesting one to explore. In the Voyager episode, the crew and ship decayed before they could reach Voyager for help. Here, the duplicates did the human thing by sacrificing themselves to save their originals. Ultimately, the duplicates are never going to survive for long, although it would be interesting to see a more in-depth look in to how the same person could co-exist.

I'd also like to point out that, again, Amanda Tapping was absent from this episode as Sam Carter. I'm sure that Jewel Staite has probably made more actual appearances than Amanda Tapping has this season. It's interesting, because there has been some reasonably negative discussion of Sam being on Atlantis. It seems to me that the writers probably aren't quite sure what to do with her. Dr. Weir was probably a much more suitable character for the role, as she was the seasoned negotiator. Sam was always the scientist and the intellectual, which is a role that's already filled by one Rodney McKay.

This was the mid-season finale, ahead of the Christmas period. I'm not sure how the writer's strike will have affected the production of the show, but most signs seem to point towards the show returning early in January. Indeed, it appears likely that most episodes will have been written well before the strike began. Joseph Mallozzi's blog explains how he wrapped the writing of This Mortal Coil in April.

I can't say that this was the most thrilling of finales, but it has continued building the Replicator plot. I'm interested to see how it will all pan out in the end.

8 out of 10