The Last Man

Stargate Atlantis Season 4 Episode 20 (Finale) - Plot: Sheppard attempts to gate back to Atlantis, but his wormhole is intercepted by a solar flare, causing him to be sent 48,000 years in to the future. There, he is greeted by a hologram of Rodney McKay, who tells of the disastrous events that followed his disappearance.

The Future

Sheppard arrives on Atlantis, but finds that the base had been abandoned and the ocean has been evaporated by the planet's star, which has become a red giant. The Rodney hologram shows him as being somewhat aged and begins to recall the fates of the Atlantis team as they travel to the stasis chamber. Rodney's plan is to put Sheppard in to stasis until another solar event occurs that will be able to send him back to within two months of his disappearance.

Teyla and Michael

Teyla has her baby and Michael is able to use it to complete his research in to the Human/Wraith hybrid. The Atlantis team eventually find Teyla dead, but McKay intends to send Sheppard back with her location in order to help the team find her faster. With his research complete, Michael is able to effectively cut off the Wraith's food supply, leading to intense fighting between them. The Wraith eventually fall and Michael sets about converting more humans to hybrids, bringing the strong in to his fold and exterminating the weak.

Sam Carter

Sam manages to encourage the Air Force to build a new battle cruiser for her to fight Michael's forces. The Phoenix is instrumental in allowing her to fight a guerrilla war against Michael. She is eventually killed in an ambush, the ship destroyed.

Ronon

Ronon leaves Atlantis to form a militia group to battle Michael. After a number of victories, he is killed in action with Todd during the destruction of one of Michael's laboratories.

McKay and Keller

Rodney and Jennifer eventually leave Atlantis after Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) is put in charge of the expedition. He stops all of the expedition members' humanitarian efforts across the Pegasus galaxy in order to focus on the defence of Atlantis.

The pair begin a relationship during their trip back to Earth on the Daedalus. Dr. Keller eventually passes away following complications caused by her exposure to the Hoffan virus. It's this that causes Rodney to begin his research in to changing the time line by sending Sheppard back from 48,000 years in the future.


The Present

Sheppard arrives back on Atlantis after 12 days missing. He immediately sets to work in organising a mission to find Teyla. Once at the facility, the team finds that it has been booby trapped. The episode ends as the building collapses on the team. Their fate, unknown.

The Review

A very satisfying season finale. Not quite what I'd have expected ten episodes ago, but it keeps up the pace that's built over the past two or three episodes. The plot mechanic developed in the SG-1 episode, 1969, of sending people to the past and the future has proven itself in providing several quite interesting episodes. This was no different.

Atlantis has gone through a lot of changes this season, with Carson and Dr. Weir gone, but I think it's fair to say that it's come out of the end in a very strong position. The season has ebbed and flowed between the epic, the fun and the fantastic. The strength of guest characters has been developed well. Todd and Jennifer Keller have been particularly excellent additions.

Probably the highlight of this episode for me was seeing Rodney and Jennifer develop that relationship that was hinted at a few episodes ago. It'll be interested to see if that'll develop again, now that the time line has changed.

The cliffhanger leaves the fate of a big chunk of the team unknown. I'd anticipate that something will happen to see the team come out of it safe and sound, though I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Major Lorne isn't as lucky as the rest.

That's it for a few months then!

9 out of 10

The Kindred (Part 2)

Stargate Atlantis Season 4 Episode 19 - Plot: The story behind Carson's incarceration is unveiled, as the Atlantis team works to find and rescue Teyla.

Carson

Understandably, everyone's a little sceptical about Carson's return. They fear he may, intentionally or not, do something to hinder their attempts to find Michael and Teyla. We learn this much, the real Carson did die a year ago in an explosion. This Carson is a clone, who believed he was the real Carson and that he had been in captivity for two years, having been taken following the events of Misbegotten.

There's a problem though. Carson had been receiving regular injections from Michael. His original belief was that these were designed to keep him sedated. In fact, they were designed to keep him alive, as a side effect of the cloning process causes cell decay. Carson begins to suffer organ failure, but is determined to help in the search for Teyla.

Teyla

Teyla is taken to a facility on an abandoned post-cull world. There, she is re-united with the Athosians, before being taken to Michael where he explains his plans for her child. As the child will be the product of two parents with The Gift, Michael believes that it could be vital in his research in to developing Human/Wraith hybrids.

The Atlantis team gets a lead on their location and invades the facility. Following a confrontation with Beckett, Michael escapes with Teyla.

Stasis

Dr. Keller's efforts to save Carson have not been successful and there's no choice but to put him into Stasis while she works to find a way to regenerate his cells.

In an emotional 'see you later', the team gathers to watch him go in to the Stasis Pod, knowing that he may never be revived again.

The review

I'd say this was something of a disappointment following last week's episode. It certainly felt like it was building up to more than this. Maybe the fact that it wasn't our Carson made me a little disenchanted with the episode from the start.

It did pick up towards the end, with some exciting action scenes during the Atlantis team's assault on Michael's facility. It was interesting to see that the Teyla in captivity plot will roll over to another episode. I'd imagine it might even roll over to next season. She certainly appears to be heavily pregnant up to this point. She's already had her baby, but it'd stand to reason that she'd need to take a break away from the show for that reason.

Mixed feelings about putting Carson in to Stasis. On the one hand, it means we're likely to see him again. On the other, it's a rather big dangling plot thread that might never be resolved.

Well this episode floundered for twenty minutes or so, it picked up a head of steam eventually to produce a half satisfying/half frustrating climax.

The season 4 finale is up next!

8 out of 10

The Kindred (Part One)

Stargate Atlantis Season 4 Episode 18 - Plot: Teyla has a series of visions that set her on a path to find Kanaan, the father of her child. Meanwhile, the rest of the Atlantis crew investigate a disease that is sweeping through the Pegasus Gate Network.

Complicated

I'm not going to lie to you, this is one hell of a complicated episode plot wise. It's really a great pay off to the fans who've been with the show since the beginning, as it rekindles plots from seasons one and two.

If you did struggle to recall some of the back story, then I'd recommend reading through the following Wiki entries, just to jog your memory: Poisoning the Well (Episode), Michael (Character), Michael (Episode), Allies (Episode).

Teyla's Visions

Teyla's visions are of Kanaan, who leads her to a trading planet, where she discovers items of jewellery that belonged to the Athosians. She hopes that a meeting with the trader who found them will lead her back to her people, but she is instead taken by a Wraith Dart. There, she finds that her captor is Michael. He appears to have great plans for Teyla's baby. Michael reunites Teyla with Kanaan, but she is distraught to find that Michael has used the Iratus Bug retrovirus to turn him in to a Human/Wraith Hybrid.

Disease

Dr. Keller reports on a disease that has affected 8 worlds in the Gate Network so far. While the virus appears to have run its course on all the worlds, it claimed the lives of 30% of the population in the process. The virus turns out to be a refined version of the inoculation developed by the Hoffans, with the help of Carson Beckett way back in episode seven of season one. If you remember, the inoculation was made to prevent the Wraith from feeding on humans. It becomes clear that someone is seeking to weaken the Wraith's faith in its food supply.

With a little help from Todd, the team figure out that Michael must be behind it. Michael is bitter at the Wraith for rejecting him and does not need to feed on humans to survive.


An Old Friend

Todd helps the Atlantis team to find Michael's base of operations. Sheppard leads a mission to infiltrate it, only to find that neither Michael nor Teyla are there. They are in fact on a Wraith Cruiser that is in battle in orbit with the Daedalus. Sheppard radios to tell Caldwell not to destroy the Cruiser. Unfortunately it escapes in to hyperspace before they are able to disable it.

The guards in the base had been defending one room in particular. With them all neutralised, Sheppard, McKay and Ronon open the door to find Carson Beckett. He'd supposedly been dead for a year, but demands to know what took them so long in finding him.

The Review

As I said, it's a lot to take in and a lot to try and recall, especially as the plot keeps coming thick and fast. Despite that, it lacked a certain something, a bit of spice and excitement if you will. The episode always felt like it was building to something. Knowing this was part one of two, I resigned myself to the fact that the pay off was going to be next week.

Seeing Paul McGillion return as Carson Beckett was a real curve ball. It was one of those end of episode twists that really leaves you tingling. Excitement, confusion, shock and surprise, all the good emotions that you want from a TV show. Carson died in an explosion last year, so it's theoretically possible that he was scooped up by a Dart just before it hit. It'd make sense that Michael would want him. After all, he helped to develop the original inoculation 4 years ago.

I imagine that this will only be a short-lived return, though I'd be more than happy to see Carson back full time. It's possible that the actor simply wanted to take a year out Daniel Jackson style. It'll also be interesting to see if the Elizabeth Weir/Replicator plot is resolved this season. Having both Carson and Elizabeth back within a three episode spell would be pretty exciting.

Can't wait for part 2, even if this episode was slightly let down by being mostly build up.

7 out of 10

Midway

Plot: While Teal'c and Ronon are on the Midway station, a Wraith invasion force mounts an attack on Earth.


I had no idea that Teal'c was going to be in this episode, so it was a fantastic surprise to see him walk through the Atlantis Gate. He'd travelled there at the request of Colonel Carter, as she felt that he could help give Ronon some pointers on passing a forthcoming interview with the IOA. As you can imagine, Ronon wasn't particularly receptive to this idea and the pair began to butt heads. It culminated in them having a rather intense sparring session in the gym that lasted well over an hour.

The two of them travel to the Midway station where they must observe a 24-hour quarantine period. While there, the station is invaded by Wraith destined for Earth. It seems that Todd had acquired some information on the Midway system and McKay's 'impenetrable' security while on Atlantis. He chose to divulge that information with an associate, who felt that an attempt to break in to the SG-C was worth a try. They use a stun device to knock out the SG-C personnel and travel through to Earth. Of course Ronon and Teal'c weren't going to let this happen without a fight. They made formidable duo, real kicking ass and taking names kind of stuff. Teal'c's rather taken with Ronon's blaster and it's clear that Ronon is very impressed with Teal'c's prowess in battle.

Back on Atlantis, the team realise that something is wrong and organise a mission to lead a defensive assault on the Midway station. Sheppard and Rodney help to secure the facility but are unable to get past some Wraith security protocols. Dr. Kavanagh (remember him?) in his infinite wisdom falls for a Wraith security trap and initiates the self destruct. Shep, Bill Lee, Rodney and Kavanagh manage to escape in a Puddle Jumper, but the station is destroyed leaving them stranded in the galactic void.

Fortunately, Ronon and Teal'c have secured the SG-C by this point and Ronon is able to travel to the Midway station in the Daedalus to pick those in the Puddle Jumper up. Not before Bill Lee and Kavanagh drive Rodney and Shep up the wall, after what must've been around a week stuck together in the Puddle Jumper. What fun!

Admittedly, it was a rather hammy way to get Ronon to respect Teal'c, by forcing them in to combat together. However, it was done with a real sense of fun and humour that helped to make this one of the the season's best episodes. It was great to see the whole of the cast appearing together for the first time in a number of weeks, even if the majority of the action did centre around Ronon and Teal'c going it alone in a battle to save StarGate Command.

8 out of 10

Trio

Plot: Rodney, Sam and Dr. Keller fall in to an abandoned Genii mine shaft that is in danger of collapsing during regular earth tremors.


Sam gets involved in some proper action for the first time in ages and wouldn't you know it? She gets a busted leg for her troubles. The room that the trio fall in to is suspended on stilts above a very deep sheer drop down the mining shaft. Quite a daunting prospect, especially when their weight puts too much strain on the stilts.

It all feels a bit like a company team building exercise gone wrong, or a really mean Crystal Maze game. They try all kinds of clever ways to climb up the 20ft to the hole that they made coming through. From stacking crates, to a grapple hook and then to stacking crates on planks laid across beams suspended from the ceiling. The latter of these leads to Sam falling and breaking her leg.

During a penultimate tremor, Dr. Keller gets thrown out from the room, hanging on to a rope. She notices an escape shaft down the pit and swings to it. From there, the trio are able to escape to safety.

Perhaps most interesting is that Keller proves herself to be a bit of a hussy. She learns that Rodney and Katie split up after the quarantine incident and ends up going for a drink with Rodney at the very end of the episode. This, of course, after she and Ronon nearly ended up making out during that very same quarantine incident. She's one to watch out for. She certainly put a braver face on than when she was stranded on New Athos with Teyla in 'Missing'. She's getting to be a fun character and I hope we'll see more of her in to the next season.

I can't say this was the most thrilling episode, but it was fun to watch them trying out different ways of escape. It seems that the writers have tried to split the team up in to smaller groups during the past few episodes of the season. This has allowed for strengthening of bonds between the individual characters. It's worked well, though episodes centering around only two or three of the main cast are always going to lack a little excitement. This is especially going to be true when considering the fact that any major events are going to involve all members of the cast by default.

7 out of 10

Outcast

Plot: Sheppard returns to Earth to attend his father's funeral. He's accompanied by Ronon and the pair find themselves embroiled in the hunt for a missing replicator, developed by an Earth scientist.

You'd think all of these scientists would learn not to play with nanite technology, as it invariably leads to bad things happening. In this episode, it transpires that a scientist has developed two replicators. One is a military model and is likely to kill if he's backed in to a corner. We find later that the other was posing as a human woman, in a bid to help Sheppard and Ronon track down the other. She was designed for social interaction and possibly the ability to feel empathy. The interesting thing is that she so easily fooled everyone in to believing that she was a human. With this in mind, it's possible that well designed replicators could exist within society without causing any harm. Or at least not causing any harm until they're called upon to do so.

I get the feeling that all of the Earth-based replicator development that we're seeing is leading up to something. Possibly for a big two-parter sometime in the future.

A large part of the hunt for the replicator takes place around a group of abandoned warehouses at a dock. It was a well choreographed and exciting chase and shoot out sequence, culminating with the two replicators fighting it out. A great bit of action, I thought. In the end, the bad replicator is beamed in to a low Earth orbit and disintegrates on re-entry, while the good replicator has her conciousness downloaded in to a virtual reality simulation without her knowledge.

For me, the most fascinating part of this episode was a chance to get a bit of Sheppard's back story, specifically relating to his family. We find out that John and his father never really got on, mostly due to him joining the Air Force instead of going in to the family business. It's also clear that his brother holds some resentment for him. This has been caused by the fact that John is absent for such long stretches of time, leaving them with no knowledge of his whereabouts and the task of looking after the business and their father. His brother believes that he has only attended the funeral to make sure he gets his cut from the will. It's amazing that this made me quite angry. We know John better than his brother, clearly. We know that he'd never be a money-grabber and that he doesn't really need the money anyway.

Finally, we meet John's ex-wife. She's played by Kari Wuhrer of Sliders fame. We learn that his going off on top secret missions at the drop of a hat really put a strain on their relationship that she couldn't bear. I couldn't imagine that married life really suited him anyway.

This is a tough episode to call. These Earth based episodes always seem a bit tedious because we're so far away from all of the usual excitement taking place throughout the gate network. I'm starting to feel like this whole replicator-shtick has been done to death, even if it did produce a couple of exciting scenes here. It's a sub-plot that continues to grow, but needs to do something soon if it's to maintain any interest for the audience.

6 out of 10

Harmony

Plot: Rodney and Sheppard are visiting a trading planet, when they are roped in to going on a quest as guards for a young princess who must prove her worth to become queen.

While this episode was tedious at times, it did turn out to be quite a fun filler episode. While journeying to the Temple of Laros, so that Harmony can be bestowed with the power to rule her people, Rodney and Sheppard have to contend with a number of dangers.

The first of those dangers is Harmony herself. She has a bit of a crush on John Sheppard and a bit of an attitude to boot. As you can imagine, this leads to her and Rodney locking horns on a couple of occasions. She's resourceful and brave, however, running off in the night to fix them some dinner, as well as insisting that they continue on their journey, despite the other dangers that they have to contend with.

The second danger is the beast that will supposedly protect the princess as she journeys to the Temple. Neither Rodney nor John or certain that the protection will extend to them, so they're all the more cautious. Especially as it makes a rather ferocious roar.

Finally, they also have to contend with a group of Genii, who have been tasked by one of Harmony's sisters, the jealous Mardola, to prevent Harmony from completing the pilgrimage so that she may take the throne instead. Sheppard's never been one to let a few Genii get in his way though, and dispatches a number of them, first with his rifle and then with a Wraith Stunner.

Eventually, the trio arrive at the Temple of Laros, where they find a piece of Ancient technology. Turns out, the area was once a testing ground for drone technology. The beast that they had feared on their way, was not actually a beast, but a swarm of mini-drones. That swarm, rather conveniently, is programmed not to attack anyone with the ancient gene. That includes the planet's royal blood line, as well as Sheppard and Rodney. Wicked.

After a final showdown with the Genii in which Rodney saves Harmony's life and redeems himself in her eyes, she is able to activate the Ancient device, becoming queen. At her coronation, she thanks the pair for their service, and unveils this awesome picture:


A couple of other things; this episode showed on Sci Fi's new HD service. About time they got round to sorting that out, because I was getting sick of watching it in SD. I think it'll really pay off when BSG returns in a couple of months time. Can't wait for that!

Also, IMDb lists Anna van Hooft as playing the other princess, Flora. Now, I've been watching her play Aura in Flash Gordon all season and am nearly 100% certain that it wasn't her that actually played the character. It was a very small role, so I wonder if she was initially announced to play it, but had to back out at the last minute to be replaced by someone else. It'd certainly tally with the fact that she's been a lot more active in Flash Gordon since its return a couple of weeks ago. Any further information on that would be well appreciated.

So, like a said, a reasonably fun episode, but one that had some tedious moments. Especially those involving the Genii, who I'm fairly sure are the worst recurring race in all of the Stargate universe.

6 out of 10

Quarantine

Plot: New settings for the Atlantis quarantine system wrongly enforce a lock down, leading to several members of the expedition getting trapped in different parts of the city.
With various amounts of partying and dissertation writing this week, I've not had much chance to watch any Stargate this week. Fortunately, I was able to sit down and enjoy a really fun episode of Atlantis this evening.

There are four pairs of characters trapped within the city, each limited in their ability to fix the problem that caused the malfunction. First of all, Rodney gets stuck in the botanics room with Katie. He'd gone there to propose, but was interrupted by the lock down. While there, Rodney becomes increasingly negative as the situation seemingly grows more desperate. Unfortunately, they both decide to hold off on getting engaged for the first time. Rodney believes that he has some character flaws to work out and Katie admits that she's not ready either. Though that admission is a little weak and you can tell that she did really want to get married. Hopefully they'll get it together next season, because I really think that Katie has been a positive part of Rodney's character.

There's more romance as Ronon and Dr. Keller get stuck in medical bay. They start off by discovering a little about each other, Ronon tells her about the siege on Sateda, Keller tells about her lost youth. Turns out she skipped ahead a few grades and was something of a child prodigy. She regrets missing the parties, the dances and the social interaction. Ronon's become a gentler soul over the past 18 months ago and he helps her to realise that she's a lot stronger than she realises. They're about to kiss when the lock down ends and interrupts them. I'd never have imagined them together, but I think it'll work really well. I'm interested in seeing how it all develops over the next few episodes.

Sheppard and Teyla are stuck in a room in the tower together. Sheppard worries that Teyla might go in to labour. Apart from a few baby kicks there was no drama there though. Sheppard opts to break out through a window and climb up the tower to the control room where he meets Major Lorne. Problem is that his breaking the window makes the city think there's been a containment breach and it engages self destruct. They set out to get to the power control room to shut it down.

On the way, they run in to Sam Carter and Zalenka who were stuck together in a turbo lift. Sam was working on opening the doors when Zalenka blew up one of the control crystals. Obviously he was a little embarrassed by his mistake, but soon got the chance to make amends. This happened when someone was required to crawl through a rather slim air duct to get to the control room and shut down the self destruct. He manages it and saves that day.

I think Zalenka's part in this episode was played particularly well. He's a good character, but is always in Rodney's shadow. This time, he was able to step in to the limelight and take all the accolades. Good for him, I say.

I think this episode was a lot of fun. Lots happened without the characters needing to leave Atlantis or get involved in any great action sequences, especially in contrast to the last three or four episodes. Character development of this quality is not often seen in Stargate, but it was refreshing to see such excellence here. Thumbs up from me definitely.

8 out of 10

Spoils of War

Plot: The Atlantis crew manage to track down the Wraith Hiveship that went missing after the attack on the Replicators. Finding the ship leads them to a Wraith cloning facility, where they discover that an army is being readied.

It's fair to say that this episode doesn't quite hit the dramatic heights that last week's did, but it is still a fine concluding part to this trio of episodes dealing with the preparation for and aftermath of the elimination of the Replicators.

Little in Stargate ever happens without a reason and we discover that the Wraith certainly had an ulterior motive for participating in the attack on the Replicators. We find out that the Wraith managed to get away from the Replicator planet with several ZPMs. Todd, the formerly captured Wraith had planned to use them for activating the cloning facility and breeding an army to fight the other Wraith himself. Unfortunately, he was captured and instead, another group of Wraith were using them to breed an army, I assume to fight the humans with. This discovery facilitates some back story on the Wraith/Atlantean war. We learn that the Atlanteans were rather careless in allowing some of their ships to be captured by the Wraith. The Wraith then used the ZPMs to power a cloning facility, increasing their numbers exponentially and effectively turning the tide of the war from that point onward. It is a story that fits in perfectly with what we know so far and really helps to add depth to the Stargate universe. Very well handled indeed.

Sheppard and Teyla have further disagreements about her fitness to join in on off world missions, in regards to her pregnancy. He lets her go along on the mission to the Wraith Hiveship and it's a good job she does. It transpires that Teyla's unborn child is enhancing her telepathic powers, firstly allowing her to activate the Wraith ship and secondly to control the mind of a Wraith Queen. It's a frightful showdown as Teyla battles to keep control of the Queen's mind to free Sheppard, Rodney and Ronon who had been captured, while ensuring that the Queen is not able to touch the mind of her child. Teyla wins out in the end, but only just and quickly realises how easily she could put her child in danger under any number of circumstances.

In the end, the team have little choice but to crash the Hiveship in to the cloning facility. It was one of the coolest special effects I've seen in a long time and helped to cap a decent episode.

There was no word of what Elizabeth Weir is up to at the moment, but I guess it's safe to assume that whatever she's doing, good or bad, it's continuing behind the scenes. I wouldn't expect to find out any further details until the end of this season. For now though, I think we can all sit back and appreciate the conclusion of a very fine three part story.

7 out of 10

Be All My Sins Remember'd

Plot: The Atlantis expedition teams up with the Wraith and Larrin to execute a plan to destroy the Replicators once and for all.


This episode felt huge from the very beginning and it managed to deliver every step of the way. This is one of Stargate's finest moments, with a massive cast and spectacular action, bringing together plots that have been developing since before the beginning of this season.

Where to start? Firstly, the Daedalus and the Apollo arrive from Earth, commanded by Colonels Caldwell and Ellis respectively. Now that McKay has enabled the ability to locate the Replicator ships, the Daedalus and Apollo go about catching and destroying them. Problem is, the Replicators fall back to their homeworld before the Atlantis team have been able to destroy any more than ten of the ships, which is where McKay's plan comes in.

As we all know, weapons previously designed to stop Replicators worked by removing the bonds that held individual nanites together, effectively turning them to dust. The problem with these weapons is that the Replicators have always quickly found ways to counteract them, meaning that they were never much use in an ongoing battle. McKay proposes that they try the opposite. Instead of making the cells fall apart, they make them form stronger bonds, so that they're forced closer together. This will merge all of the Replicator cells in to one super big, super dense mass that can be destroyed.


To make the plan work, it would be necessary to get a few more ships, as the 30 or so Replicator ships would be a bit too much for the 2 Earth ships to handle. Fortunately, the captured Wraith still has contacts that he can use and rustles up 7 more ships. After that, a chance encounter with Larrin allows Sheppard to convince her to get several more ships from her people. All together, this was quite an impressive armada that helped to create one of Stargate's most spectacular space battles. It really was breath-taking. Not just that, but the replicator mass growing and taking over the planet was a unique and stunning sight. A really great vision by the shows creators.

As mentioned, this episode featured a huge cast. The captured Wraith has been a breath of fresh air when it comes to Wraith characters. He continued in this episode as fantastic foil for McKay. They worked well together and we'll hopefully see more of him in the future. Next, it was great to see Caldwell back on Atlantis. His presence isn't quite so necessary now that the intergalactic bridge is up and running, so he's not been on Atlantis quite as much. He always created excellent tension between himself and Dr. Weir and I'd like to see some of that now with Sam Carter. Finally, Larrin made a return and is already proving herself to be one of Atlantis' better recurring guest characters. Her relationship with Sheppard is being handled a little heavy handedly, but it's great to watch and I can't wait to see more of it in future.

What else? Teyla dropped the P-bomb on Sheppard and Ronon, finally explaining that she is carrying a child. Shep was a little pissed off, which I think alludes to the underlying sexual tension that's developed between them over the past few years. Ronon, however, was very caring and understanding. The pair have a strong friendship and the writers have done well to keep it at that, even though it could've easily gone up a level at any stage.

Finally, in the rubble of the Replicator planet, we see a remaining Lantean ship. It isn't quite what I expected, not a surviving Replicator ship. This one is under the command of our own Dr. Elizabeth Weir and she's eager to get started on something, now that the Replicators are out of the way. It was an excellent curveball to end and exceptional episode.

9 out of 10

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

Miller's Crossing

Plot: When Jeannie McKay (Miller) is kidnapped, Rodney, Sheppard and Ronon travel to Earth in order to help find her. It transpires to be a trap, as Rodney is also taken. Their kidnapper needs the McKays' help in order to save his daughter, whose nanite treatment has gone wrong. The kidnapper's incentive puts Jeannie in similar danger, and Rodney must enlist the help of Atlantis' captive Wraith to save her.


A ropey start, but this episode really delivered in the end. It's a fine exploration of how technological advancements discovered through the Stargate programme have been used on Earth. In this case, not to good effect. It was nice to see some action back on Earth, especially as the midway station has made travel between the two galaxies much easier. To be honest, I'm surprised it has taken this long.

Rodney, as a character, has developed a lot this season and it's great to see a more human side of him. The chemistry between him and his sister (as played by David Hewlett's real-life sister, Kate) was as excellent as it was in an episode last year.

Steven Culp featured as the kidnapper, Henry Wallace. You might remember him as Enterprise's Major Hayes. He's done the rounds through such other TV shows as JAG, 24 and Desperate Housewives.

I really liked how the episode turned the situation on it's head after Rodney was rescued. Where once he was the captive, being encouraged to help save someone, he then becomes the captor, encouraging the Wraith to help him save his sister. It was well handled.

Finally, the title shares its name with a Coen Brothers film. Check it out.

8 out of 10