Well. Here we are. Five seasons have flown by and now we've at last gotten to the Stargate Atlantis series finale, "Enemy at the Gate." Join me as I try to contain all my feels on this last outing with the Atlantis crew. Like with "Vegas," I will be talking about the extended version of the episode (available on the DVD set).
It's the last episode of the series, y'all. We are so far beyond spoilers now.
What Happened
Atlantis at night. The gate activates and Amelia announces that they've got a transmission coming in. They pull up the video screen to see Todd. He tells them his treatment from an iratus queen was successful. Unfortunately, he's had a recent setback. One of his underlings has overthrown him and left him stranded after crashing his dart. Woolsey asks why they should care and Todd says the manner in which his minion was able to (temporarily) defeat him will be of interest to them. He is in possession of a ZPM.
The team and Woolsey meet to confer about this information. Ronon doesn't buy it, but Woolsey thinks it is a bad plan if it is some kind of trick, since Todd has offered himself into their custody until they can retake his ship. John says he's sure that Todd is leaving something out and Woolsey agrees, but he doesn't think it is about the ZPM. Rodney says if the underling really does have a ZPM they are in trouble. Ineffecient energy production is the one weakness of the wraith. If they have a ZPM to power one of their hives, it will be nigh unstoppable. Woolsey says it's a threat they can't tolerate, and one that they won't.
Todd is brought to Atlantis and put into isolation. Jennifer examines him and says that there is no sign of the treatment or the disease it caused. He is perfectly healthy, back to where he was before taking it. Complete with feeding hand. Woolsey goes to talk to Todd, who implies that if they don't help him Atlantis might be destroyed. Woolsey asks where the ZPM came from. Todd admits that he might have recovered a few more from the replicator homeworld before it was destroyed than he had originally let on. Woolsey asks why the delay before installing it on the hive ship, then? Todd explains that the organic nature of the hive ships made adapting them for use with the ZPMs a challenge and they only just figured out how to make it work.
Woolsey asks if the underling knows the location of Atlantis. Todd says it is a pointless detail but then answers that yes, of course he does. Even if they don't believe him, he knows Woolsey can't take the chance that he isn't telling the truth. Todd then adds that the hive is a work in progress. It still hasn't reached its full potential, so they still have a chance to destroy it. But they have to attack now.
The I.O.A. approves the request to investigate the matter, though all of the team but John are worried that Todd has some hidden agenda. Still, it doesn't matter. Todd is right, they can't take the chance. They take the Daedalus to the location of the hive. They bring Todd along and John has him kept in custody, with his subspace transmitter removed, along with having him searched and put in a jumpsuit. On the way, John visits him and Todd asks if all of the precautions are really necessary and John replies they really are after Todd's last trip on the Daedalus. He tells Todd that every time they agree to work with him John walks around feeling like there is a live grenade in his pocket, just waiting for it to go off in the form of that one thing that Todd "forgot" to mention. Todd asks why John let him go free the last time if he really feels that way. John says they made a deal and Todd held up his end. He also admits he really didn't expect Todd to live. This time though, he tells Todd, if there's any hint of betrayal, he isn't gonna wait, he is just going to kill him.
They get close to the hive's coordinates and John and team have Caldwell drop them off in a jumper. They cloak the ship and approach the hive to check it out, promising to stay in radio contact. If it is what Todd says it is, then the Dadedalus can come in with guns blazing. As they approach, Rodney picks up some very unusual readings, though he isn't sure yet if it's from a ZPM. They move in closer and Rodney realizes that the readings are showing that the wraith do have a ZPM and they are using it to grow the hive ship past its normal limitations. Rodney says that once they are done the hull will be impenetrable. They realize they need to destroy the ship now before it gets to that point. They move in just a little bit closer and the hive ship powers up its weapons. Rodney says there is no way that the ship can see them, it must just be running a test or something, but the hive fires and aims directly for the jumper. John realizes the wraith can see them. With the addition of the ZPM they must have increased the sensitivity of their scanners.
Sheppard radios the Daedalus that their cloak is ineffective and Caldwell starts to move in. The hive continues to fire at the jumper and John drops the cloak so that they can fire back. They keep on dodging and get a glancing blow that disables most of the jumper's main systems. Caldwell arrives before the hive can take the jumper out completely and they manage to score a direct hit on the hive. Unfortunately the damage they deliver is minimal. The hive fires back from all batteries and the Daedalus takes on massive damage. They prepare for the next volley and try to brace for the impact but the hive instead jumps away to hyperspace.
The team gets the jumper back on board to find out that the larger ship's hyperdrive is down. Caldwell gets a team together working on a patch so they can return to Atlantis. They try to theorize why the wraith left when they only needed one more round to finish off the Daedalus. Rodney thinks maybe since the ship is still growing that one encounter maxed out its current energy resources. That doesn't bode well for their next encounter with it. Caldwell says with the amount of damage it could be days or weeks before the Daedalus is fully operational again. They are interrupted by this train of thought when Major Marks pops in and says they've found something.
They get to a control room to find Kavanagh, who has recently been reassigned to the ship. He tells them that just before the hive jumped away they picked up a weak subspace transmission. He pulls it up and Rodney recognizes it as wraith code. Kavanagh says that it is hard to decrypt because it is interlaced with a faint residual radiation that he's never seen before. Rodney recognizes it though as the marker of something from another reality. He tells them some wraith in some other reality sent a signal that punched a rift through space time into multiple realities. He pushes Kavanagh out of the way and quickly deciphers it. It is a set of coordinates. To Earth.
Caldwell wants to contact Atlantis as soon as communications are back up. Atlantis can notify Stargate Command of the approaching super-hive. Rodney has another idea, though. He asks how many ships they have at their disposal and Caldwell replies the Apollo and the Sun Tzu. The Odyssey is unavailable due to some super secret mission. Rodney says two will have to do and John asks what he has in mind. Rodney says the hive will have to drop out of hyperspace at some point before Earth to fully regenerate. He can extrapolate from its jump data where that will be and they can have ships ready to meet it. They can't afford to wait until the hive reaches Earth, otherwise it will be at full power by then.
The Daedalus makes it back to Atlantis and beams the team down to the control room. Woolsey tells them that the good news is they haven't detected any more hive ships headed toward Earth. Rodney says he suspected as much. The signal was too short and too weak. The hive likely only picked up on it because of their improved sensors. John asks for the bad news. Woolsey pulls up a subspace message from Colonel Ellis after the Apollo engaged the hive. The ambush did not go well. They did very little damage to the hive, and the Sun Tzu has been crippled, while the Apollo will not be able to make it to even the nearest stargate for at least a month. Meanwhile, the hive carried on its merry way after the battle, with no more ships to stand between it and Earth.
Rodney finds John in the city and they have both come to the conclusion that Atlantis itself is a ship that is capable of reaching Earth. The only thing stopping them from taking it is ZPMs, they would need to be fully powered with three of them. John agrees and indicates that he is working on getting them some. He goes to where Todd is being held and tells him that the plan didn't go as expected. Todd asks if John is going to hold him responsible, or if he has come to make good on his earlier threat. John tells Todd to tell them where to find the rest of his ZPMs and it will improve his situation. He convinces Todd it is in his best interest to help them and Todd agrees.
They send Major Lorne to go retrieve two more ZPMs and send them to Rodney to verify they are safe to install in the city. John heads for the chair room and Woolsey stops him. He tells John he won't be flying the city back to Earth. He will be gating to Earth ahead of them. Even with the ZPMs there is a chance the wraith will beat them to Earth and that means that the control chair there is their only defense. General O'Neill has requested that John be the one to man it. He and Woolsey shake hands farewell and wish each other luck. John arrives on Earth and is greeted by Sam.
Rodney and Radek get the ZPMs installed and the chair properly calibrated. Rodney says they are ready to go and asks who will be flying the city. Carson pipes up from the doorway that he'll be their pilot for this adventure. Rodney is surprised, but Carson says that apparently after John he has the best ability with the chair. Carson settles in and Woolsey orders the shield raised. He tells Carson to take them up and the city takes off.
On Earth John learns that Sam is in temporary command while Landry is setting something up in Washington. After that she'll be moving on to take command of their next Daedalus-class ship. It was going to be called the Phoenix but with the recent passing of General Hammond it has been rechristened to, well, the General Hammond. They share a moment of respect for him (in a very nice tribute to Don S. Davis, the actor who portrayed Hammond and who died not long before the episode was filmed). They enter the elevator and John asks if they are going to hop a transport to the McMurdo base. Sam tells him not exactly.
They get to the command center and Sam introduces John to Major Davis with Homeworld Security. They show John on the monitor that the hive has already arrived, even though they hadn't expected it for several weeks. Apparently the ZPM gave it more of a leg up than they had anticipated. For the moment it is just hanging out in orbit though, and they suspect that it is waiting until the ZPM is fully integrated into its systems before attacking. John says they can't let it get to that point and asks if they have any fighters. Davis says they have a squadron of F-302s on standby but they aren't equipped for attacking such a heavily fortified target. John asks how long to fit them with nukes. Davis answers that could take some doing but he gets to work on it. John asks if the fighter pilots have any experience fighting the wraith and Sam reminds him that is not why she brought him back to Earth, realizing he wants to lead the squad. He says he can sit in the chair and wait for an attack or he can take the fight to them and asks which she'd prefer.
In Atlantis Woolsey calls Teyla and Ronon to his office. He tells them they are almost to the edge of the galaxy and offers them one more chance to reconsider their involvement in the mission. There is time to drop them off if they wish it. He acknowledges that their priorities are not his or the rest of the expedition's and it isn't fair to ask them to join in a battle that isn't theirs. They thank him for the offer but tell him they are staying. They will fight with Atlantis.
John gets the F-302s ready to go but Sam and Davis arrive to tell him there's been a change of plans. They have detected a wave of darts headed for the planet. John asks if they know where the darts are headed and Davis says he thinks so. The transmission the wraith from the alternate reality sent included a warning about the planet's defenses, specifically the drone chair. In that reality, the chair was no longer in Antarctica, but had been moved to Area 51. He thinks the darts are heading there to take it out. John thinks this is an advantage, but Sam reveals that the chair was actually moved to Area 51 in this reality a month ago.
John leads the F-302s to try to intercept the darts before they get to Area 51 but the darts seriously outnumber them. John and his team put up as much of a fight as they can but they are overwhelmed and the darts pull off a kamikaze attack on the base. John's fighter is hit and he is able to prevent himself from crashing, but only just. Unfortunately, Area 51, and the control chair, are completely destroyed. John makes a split decision and changes his direction, heading to the upper atmosphere. He says he still has a nuke left so he's going to complete his mission. The hive has started moving toward Earth and John thinks if he powers down everything but life support once he's broken orbit he can get close enough that the hive won't detect him until it's too late. Sam reminds him that there is no way one nuke will take out the suped up hive and John agrees not from the outside. His plan is to go into the dart bay, get as far inside as he can, and detonate the nuke from within. Sam says she can't ask him to run a suicide mission and he says she doesn't have to, he's volunteering.
Atlantis gets to the edge of the Milky Way and then drops out of hyperspace. Woolsey demands to know why and Rodney says they aren't sure. While Rodney tries to figure out what happened, Woolsey tells Radek to recalibrate the gate so they can dial in to Earth and check in and apprise them of the situation.
Sam joins Davis in the command center and asks for a progress report. The hive is still moving toward the planet and has almost reached Earth orbit. It has begun scanning the planet. She asks if there has been word from John and Davis says not yet. His best estimates put John at twenty minutes out from intersecting with the hive's orbit. Walter arrives and tells Sam there's a problem. They've been trying to dial up the Alpha site to send some I.O.A. dignitaries off world until after the attack but they can't get a lock on the gate. He's tried other planets and has had similar results. The gate is offline.
Atlantis dials up the SGC and Woolsey tries to open up communications but he gets no answer. Amelia confirms that the comm system is working, they are just not getting a response. Rodney says he's getting an energy signature back through the wormhole and it's wraith. Woolsey is afraid that the wraith are already at the SGC but Rodney says the readings are consistent with what they would pick up in the middle of a hive. They realize that the wraith are following their standard operating procedure for a culling: dial up the gate once in orbit to keep their victims from dialing out. That means there is a gate on the hive ship. The Pegasus galaxy gate takes precedence in any wormholes whenever a Pegasus gate and a Milky Way gate are in that close proximity to each other. Which means they have an open gate that leads directly onto the attacking hive.
On the hive wraith stand guard around the open gate and several flash bangs come through. In Atlantis Lorne, Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon head through. Woolsey watches them go and receives confirmation from Lorne that they've cleared the gate and are heading further into the hive. He worries that he should have sent more marines but Radek assures him that a full-scale attack would have done little good. Woolsey admits that's probably true but he hates waiting in the middle of nowhere, unable to move to help if needed.
Radek says he has something he needs to talk to Woolsey about in that regard. He thinks he can do something about them being stranded. It's something Rodney has been working on for a while, an adaptation of Ancient technology. It was abandoned because of instability and power requirements, but Radek tells him about wormhole drive. It's like gate travel but without the gate. If it works it could have them at Earth in a matter of seconds. Of course, the calculations to implement it are crazy complicated and if they are even a little bit wrong they will be beyond screwed.
On the hive the team stops to assess. Teyla asks Rodney what he is thinking their best course should be. He says there are any number of systems they could sabotage but to take the hive out for good, their best bet is the ZPM. If they can create a fatal overload of the ZPM it will take the whole ship out in one shot. Of course the downside is that they likely won't have time to make it back to the gate once they start the overload process. Lorne chastises Rodney for not bringing this up earlier and Rodney says he's thinking on his feet, he didn't know it would be an issue earlier. Ronon says it doesn't matter. If they have a chance to destroy the ship, they're gonna take it no matter what. Teyla tells Rodney to lead the way.
John floats in space in his F-302 and deems the time appropriate to restart the ship and head for the hive.
On the hive the team runs into a group of wraith and gets into a fire-fight. Ronon and Rodney try to go around while Teyla and Lorne provide cover fire. They run into wraith that way too and Ronon fights them off, getting shot in the process. The bullet hits his lung and he starts to bleed out. He tells them to just go and Teyla says they are not leaving without him but it is too late, he dies. The wraith are still coming though so they are forced to leave his body behind.
John makes it into the hive and radios Sam in command. He tells her he made it inside but he doesn't have much time before the wraith shows up so he's arming the nuke. Lorne, Teyla, and Rodney, still pinned down under fire, pick up the transmission as well. Sam tries to talk John out of it but he tells her to tell Atlantis bye for him when they show up. Rodney breaks into the conversation and tells John they're on board the hive and to hold off on blowing them all up. John asks how they got on the ship and he says it's a long story but they are headed his way and will explain then. He says he can rig up a remote detonator for the nuke. John says that's all well and good but there's still no way off the ship and Rodney says that's where he's wrong.
Woolsey goes to the infirmary to let Jennifer know they are about to fire up the wormhole drive. If it works, he tells her, they could find themselves in the middle of a combat situation. She needs to make sure her staff is ready. She asks what if it doesn't work and he says the city will be instantly vaporized, so, yeah.
John meets up with the rest of the team, surprised but glad to see them. While Rodney gets to work on rigging up the nuke, John asks where Ronon is. Teyla can barely bring herself to tell John he's dead.
Of course, that is when we are treated to the sight of Ronon reviving elsewhere on the ship. The wraith recovered his body and patched him up then used their reverse-feeding to bring him back to life. The wraith says he has questions he wants answered.
Davis announces that the hive has completed its scan of the surface. Sam lists how the wraith will proceed to begin their attack.
The wraith asks Ronon how many humans are aboard his ship and is angered when Ronon refuses to answer. He moves to attack Ronon but is mowed down from behind by a stream of bullets. As he falls we see John and the others enter the room, glad to find Ronon alive. They radio Sam that they have Ronon and are moving to the gate. The wraith have powered up their weapons and she asks him how much time they need. He says five minutes to get there, five minutes to recalibrate the DHD. Davis doesn't think they will last ten minutes. John tells Rodney to give him the detonator. Rodney reluctantly does so and just as John is about to press the button Sam tells him to wait. She says they have detected another ship.
Atlantis arrives and Woolsey orders Carson to open fire. Sam tells John and crew what's happening and they resume their trip to the gate. Rodney gets to work on the DHD and the others hold off the wraith. Atlantis starts to take damage but Woolsey tells Carson to keep firing until the shield starts to collapse. Rodney gets the DHD calibrated and dials up the Alpha site. He and the team head through the gate, with John setting the detonator just before stepping through. The nuke goes off and the hive is destroyed.
Sam thanks Woosley for his help and he says they aren't out of the water yet. Atlantis has lost orbit and Carson is unable to stabilize the city, they are falling to Earth. Sam asks if they have enough shield left to survive reentry and Woolsey tells her they are about to find out. There is a tense silence in the command center as they wait for word from Atlantis. Woolsey gets in touch as soon as they are done with reentry and says that Carson is going to try to land them in the water so they should probably notify the necessary authorities.
Some time later John visits Ronon in the infirmary and asks how he's doing. He says he's fine, ready to get out of there. John tells him to take his time. The city is pretty banged up, they won't be going anywhere for a while. Ronon asks if John thinks they'll let really them take Atlantis back to Pegasus once it's fixed up. John promises they will make sure Ronon gets home and Ronon says Atlantis is his home. Amelia pops in and asks if she's interrupting. At a look from Ronon, John excuses himself. Ronon sits up a little straighter and she asks if he's up for taking a walk. She tells him there's something he needs to see.
John heads down to where Todd is being kept. Todd says all is well, the planet is saved, and it's all thanks to his ZPMs. John replies the question is what will happen next time. To which Todd asks, "is there going to be a next time?"
Amelia leads Ronon out to a balcony where they join Woolsey, Carson, Jennifer, Rodney, and Teyla at the rail. Woolsey welcomes Ronon to Earth and we see they are all looking at the Golden Gate bridge. Jennifer hastily remarks that no one can see them, right, and Woolsey confirms that they activated the cloak before landing. The entire area is under naval quarantine though. They all kind of settle in, enjoying the view, and John comes out to join them. The camera pans out as they all enjoy the view.
Commentary
Man, I just get so sad whenever I watch this episode. The ending is so bittersweet. I mean, it is a perfect ending for the season, and it works as a series ender. But they did such a fantastic job setting the stage for a really interesting future that I regret we never got to see what came next. Clearly a big challenge for season six would have been to get Atlantis back to the Pegasus galaxy. Then there would likely have been fallout from its sudden and extended absence to deal with once that was accomplished, especially with the coalition slowly rising to power throughout the galaxy. Plus, there is the lingering question of what to do with Todd. Would he finally become a true ally and join forces with the city for good? Or would he double-cross them and sneak off the first chance he got?
I think what makes this most frustrating of all is that right after the season ended there was a script written for a direct-to-DVD movie that would have wrapped up these final loose ends and served as a more proper close to the series (in the same vein as The Ark of Truth did for SG-1.) Of course, before it could be filmed, the bottom dropped out of the DVD market and MGM declared bankruptcy, so, we never got that final story. Grr. Argh.
Although for anyone craving closure, I do highly recommend the Legacy series of tie-in novels from Fandemonium. They are a non-canon continuation from where the series proper leaves off, but they are very well done. I have read the first two, which are in print (as well as being available as ebooks), and I see the next two are available in ebook versions, so I've snagged those as well and will be reading them soon. The second book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger itself, if I remember correctly.
But back to the episode. As I said, it is a fantastic ending to the season, and there are a lot of absolutely spectacular moments packed into "Enemy at the Gate." I love that, like, everybody gets something to do in this episode. Hell, they even brought back Kavanagh. Plus, Lorne got to go with the team to storm the hive ship. That was spectacular.
We got another instance for Atlantis to be the Amazing Flying City!! Always a win, and seeing Carson's confidence in piloting it, given his initial hesitance with the control chair way back in "Rising," well, it was like coming full-circle.
I could have probably done without another attempt at a suicide mission for John. Okay, self-sacrifice is noble and all, but jeez. We get it John, you are totally willing to sacrifice yourself to save Earth and your team and the Pegasus galaxy. That doesn't mean you have to jump at the chance, however. You've already died once this season, even if it was in another reality. That's enough, thanks.
Speaking of deaths, oh man, Ronon. Ronon. That always hits me especially hard, even after the first viewing and knowing that he is only temporarily dead. But this time around, given how much more fond I've grown of him during this watch-through, man. There may have been tears. He just. Wow. I think that overall during this rewatch it was his character's growth that surprised me the most. I never didn't like him, but I now have a much stronger appreciation for him than I did before. I love that he goes from "I can't leave this galaxy until every last wraith is dead" in season three to flat out telling John that Atlantis, wherever it is, is his home in this episode. Like he told Woolsey, the people in Atlantis have been sacrificing themselves for a fight that wasn't theirs ever since they arrived in the galaxy. He has no problem returning the favor. It's a bonus to see that he and Amelia seem to have a growing relationship, too. He deserves some happiness.
Then there's that last scene, where everyone in on the balcony looking out at the bridge. It is just one of my favorite images from the whole series. The only things missing to make it perfect for me were Lorne and Radek.
Sigh.
Favorite Quotes
"I may have acquired a few more than I let on." (Todd)
"How many more?" (Woolsey)
"Let's not get caught up in unnecessary details." (Todd)
"I like details." (Woolsey)
"Well, things didn't go exactly according to plan." (John)
"So I heard. You intend to hold me responsible?" (Todd)
All I know is that everything went sideways, the way it always does when you're involved. You gonna tell me that's a coincidence?" (John)
"Am I supposed to be enticed by this offer?" (Todd)
"No. I'll probably kill you anyway. But don't forget this: this wraith betrayed you and got away with it. For no other reason, you might wanna do it out of pure spite." (John)
"You know how to talk to me, John Sheppard." (Todd)
"We've all grown so accustomed to having you here as part of the team, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that your priorities are not necessarily always the same as ours. You're being asked to fly to another galaxy, to take what might turn out to be the losing part in a battle that isn't yours." (Woolsey)
"Do you mean like everyone on this base has been doing for the last five years?" (Ronon)
"Thank you for your consideration, Mr. Woolsey, but I assure you it is not necessary." (Teyla)
"We're not going anywhere." (Ronon)
"Very well." (Woolsey)
"I've restored your life, human, and bound your wound." (Wraith)
"That was real nice of you." (Ronon)
"Hi. Heard you died and came back to life." (Amelia)
"Pretty much. There's uh...there's a few things I still need to to." (Ronon)
"You okay?" (Jennifer)
"I'm alive...and I've got you. What else would I need?" (Rodney)
~*~
...and that's it. That's the end of Stargate Atlantis. Stop back by on Monday for a final wrap-up and my thoughts on the series overall. Then, on Wednesday, I'll announce the next rewatch.
Showing posts with label Stargate SG-1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stargate SG-1. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
SGA Rewatch: Identity
Well folks, it's another Wednesday and that means another installment of the Stargate Atlantis Rewatch! Today we get the obligatory for science fiction body swap episode. Awesome! Join me for season five's "Identity."
Spoilers for the episode and all that came before, as always.
What Happened
A strange and confused-looking woman stands in a corridor of Atlantis. She hears people and ducks into a lab. She is peering at one of the screens when Radek comes in, surprised to find her. He asks if she is looking for Rodney and she clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. He asks if she is feeling alright and tries to get her to lie down. When he goes to take her arm she grabs a nearby pair of pliers and stabs Radek in the gut. As she looks up from doing this she catches a glimpse of her reflection, only it doesn't show her face, it shows Jennifer's. She stares at the mirror in surprise for a moment and then runs out of the room leaving Radek bleeding on the floor.
The woman makes her way back to a more populated part of the city and ducks out of a balcony, looking around the city in wonder. A puddle jumper flies by overhead and she watches it in awe. She makes sure no one is watching her and drops the pliers off the edge of the balcony. Ducking back in she sees her reflection once more in a window and stares at Jennifer's face for a few moments, clearly still confused about what is happening. She is surprised by Rodney, who finds her and asks what happened to her, they were supposed to meet half an hour ago for lunch. He herds her along toward the mess, clearly thinking she is Jennifer. Noticing her confusion he asks if she is alright, worried he might have done something wrong.
The woman's earbud chirps and she gets a call from a nurse calling Jennifer to the infirmary to see to Radek, who has been found stabbed. Rodney goes with the woman, concerned about his friend, and when they arrive one of the nurses briefs her on Radek's status, saying he needs immediate surgery. Not wanting anyone to discover that she doesn't belong there (or that she stabbed Radek in the first place), the woman goes along with things, getting scrubbed for surgery. Of course, she doesn't actually know how to do the surgery. After a moment she says she isn't feeling well and excuses herself to go lie down.
John and Rodney go to report to Woolsey. Radek is better but not out of the woods. He is in a (medically induced?) coma for the time being. Woolsey asks about Jennifer not doing the surgery and Rodney tells him what happened. He notes that she has been acting strangely all day. Woolsey is concerned but not alarmed and comments that Carson is due back to the city soon. He should be able to take over in the infirmary until Jennifer is recovered from whatever she has come down with. He then asks if they have any leads on who stabbed Radek and John says they've got nothing. Woolsey tells him to get to work looking for the culprit. He wants to know who did this.
Meanwhile, the mystery woman starts going through Jennifer's things in an attempt to make sense of what is going on. She sees a graduation photo of Jennifer with her father and starts to realize she is actually in someone else's body, or people are at least seeing her as that person. The door opens and Ronon comes in, saying he heard she wasn't feeling well. She is clearly worried by his presence. He asks what's wrong and she says she's just tired. He comments that she's been pushing herself very hard and when she replies gives her an intense look. Rodney stops by, less than happy to find Ronon there, to see how she is and let her know that Carson is on his way back. He mentions that they sent a puddle jumper for the other doctor and at the woman's clear confusion Rodney and Ronon exchange a sideways glance of surprise.
Carson gets back and scans "Jennifer," not finding anything out of the ordinary. He asks her how long she's been feeling out of sorts. He decides to keep her overnight for observation, hoping that in the morning she'll feel much more like herself. He steps aside with Rodney and Woolsey and tells them that physically she's fine, but he's worried there may be something psychological going on.
That night the woman waits until no one is watching and sneaks out of the infirmary, hastily donning Jennifer's uniform. She finds a guard and casually asks him for directions to the puddle jumper. He is distracted by his duties and so directs her easily enough. She gets to the jumper bay and runs into the first jumper she sees. She finds the weapons storage and grabs herself a gun then sits down in the pilot seat, trying to start up the ship. Rodney finds her there and asks what she's doing. She plays it off like she couldn't sleep and just wants to go for a ride. Rodney is skeptical since she doesn't have the gene and can't fly the jumpers but she quickly realizes he can. She switches gears and asks him to take her out, somewhere secluded where they can have sexy fun times. He is tempted for a moment but then steps back and says no, telling her he doesn't know what's going on but she is clearly not herself at the moment. He wants to take her back to the infirmary but she refuses and pulls the gun on him. Before she can shoot him Ronon shows up and stuns her.
They move her to the isolation room. The team, Carson, and Woolsey look over her from the observation room, trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Rodney realizes that she likely might be the one responsible for stabbing Radek. Ronon says that she is not Jennifer Keller, something has taken over her. They see that she's awake and go down to question her. They ask her who she is and she tries to play it off but they aren't buying any more.
Finally she admits that her name is is Neeva Casol and she has no idea how she got to Atlantis or into Jennifer's body. She tells them one moment she was searching through some artifacts in a village and the next she was in Atlantis in Jennifer's body. Rodney asks her what kind of artifacts and she says that she and her associates steal valuables from planet to planet. They heard about a stash of Ancestral artifacts and went to check it out. She flashes back to the robbery and we see her find an Ancient communication terminal and put the stone on it, and there she was in Atlantis. She apologizes for hurting Radek but says she felt threatened
and reacted on instinct. She doesn't want to hurt anyone else, she just wants to get back to her body.
Rodney goes through some records and shows the others the communication terminal that SG-1 found a few years back. They wonder how Neeva connected to Jennifer but Rodney says that there were some communications stones in Janus' lab and that Jennifer was in there fiddling with the stones a few weeks back. Those stones and the ones Neeva discovered must have been connected. Woolsey looks concerned, pointing out that from the reports on SG-1's encounter with a similar device, disconnection had been difficult. Then it dawns on them to wonder, if Neeva's mind is in Jennifer's body, does that mean that Jennifer's mind is in Neeva's body?
Cut to Jennifer, wearing Neeva's clothes, sitting in a prison cell. She stares at a mirror on the wall, seeing Neeva's reflection looking back at her. She hears footsteps and an official of some sort arrives at her cell. She asks if they contacted Atlantis and the man tells her no. He tells her he contacted some of his contacts on other planets first and learned what kind of crimes Neeva and her associates committed elsewhere in the galaxy. They are responsible, he tells her, for no less than five murders. Jennifer tries to explain that she is not who he thinks she is but the man says she is also known to be a very convincing liar and it is clear he thinks she is just trying to talk her way out of the cell. He pronounces that as magistrate of this village he is taking it upon himself to find her guilty not only her crimes there, but also her crimes on all of the other planets in the coalition. He says that on the morrow she will be executed. Jennifer watches in horror as he walks away.
In Atlantis the team discusses their options. John says there's only one. They go to the planet where Neeva found the device and shut it down to break the connection. Woolsey asks if they have found a way to safely do that. Rodney says not yet but he'll figure something out. Carson pipes up that they need to be very careful. The connection is more than just psychological. If one of the people dies while connected to the device, then they both do. If they screw up the disconnection they risk killing Jennifer and Neeva both. Woolsey says they need to hurry then and gives the mission a go. He asks if they know where the village is and John says they will.
He goes to ask Neeva its location. She says she'll happily tell him where it is. In fact she'll take him there herself and lead them right to the device. On one condition. They have to promise to let her and her accomplices go free once the connection is severed. John agrees to this but then she says she wants a puddle jumper too. He denies that request and she next asks for weapons. He says no, take them to the device and he won't pursue her or her friends.
The team, Carson, and Neeva go tot he planet. They exit from the gate and she points them in the direction, saying the village is a few hours' walk away. Rodney grumbles about this and she asks John in disbelief if he and Jennifer are really dating.
The magistrate comes for Jennifer and tells her that it's time.
The team gets to the village and Neeva tries to talk them into giving her a weapon. John says they aren't sneaking in, they are going to ask the villagers for help. Neeva realizes that John tricked her when he promised to let her go, since he has no intention of breaking her out of the villagers' custody if Jennifer has already been captured in her body. He says he never said anything about not letting the people she robbed pursue her. She eventually agrees (grudgingly) to accompany them into the village.
The team gets to the magistrate's office and John introduces himself. Rodney asks about their Ancient artifacts, the terminal in particular. It is clear the people recognize it from his description. The woman in charge asks why they want to know about it and tells them that it's well hidden and they have no chance of getting to it if they are thinking of trying to take it. They quickly reassure her, explaining they just need to see it because they are afraid it might have accidentally be turned on. They don't want any trouble, they just need the villagers' help. The woman says they need to talk to the magistrate and they ask where he is. She says not there, he will be back when the execution is over. They realize who he is likely about to execute.
In the woods the magistrate's men lead Jennifer to a stump and the magistrate declares her conviction and sentence. We see the team running frantically through the woods. Jennifer tries to proclaim her innocence but the executioner raises his ax and prepares to swing. Shots ring out and Jennifer takes advantage of the chaos to flee. She encounters two men in the woods, one of them holding a knife. He approaches her and Jennifer stares at him in fright but he simply cuts her bonds. Then he asks if he gets any thanks for the rescue.
The team reaches the execution site to find the magistrate shouting orders to his men. He orders them to find the escaped prisoner as well as to guard the stargate. No one leaves the planet until the prisoner is returned. The team fades back into the woods and Neeva says her men must have rescued Jennifer. They ask how many people she is working with and she says two.
Jennifer, meanwhile, finds herself hiding in a cave with Neeva's cohorts. They remark that she actually look scared in the clearing and are a bit offended that she didn't think they'd rescue her. Jennifer tries to find an answer. They ask her what the plan is and she says she doesn't know and at the look they exchange she hastily adds "yet." They tell her to think fast because the villagers will find their cave soon enough.
Ronon tracks Jennifer's escape with the team following behind. They stay out of sight from the village patrols but note how numerous the patrols are. Neeva takes advantage of their momentary distraction and bolts. Ronon gives chase but she quickly evades him and manages not to leave any tracks for him to follow. The team looks at each other, lost for how to proceed next.
In the cave Jennifer says she thinks their best bet is to leave the planet. The men point out someone will be guarding the gate and she says they need to create a diversion. She suggests setting an explosion but they shoot that idea down. They suggest waiting until nightfall and then launching an attack on the gate, killing the guards and making their escape. Jennifer is so not on board with this plan but clearly doesn't want to make them angry. They hear a sound from outside and both men draw their guns. Neeva comes in and they are instantly on guard. She tries to convince them she actually is Neeva and to explain what happened but they are skeptical.
Neeva starts listing experiences that they have had together to try to convince them and then says that in order to fix the situation they need to act fast. They have to go back to the village and turn off the device. She says they have to be super careful because not only are the villagers but so are the people from Atlantis. Jennifer is understandably relieved to hear that her people are on the planet but Neeva shuts her down pretty quickly saying that the Lanteans will turn them in to the villagers if they catch them so they need no problems from her.
Jennifer seems more than willing to go along with the angry armed people. Neeva begins giving orders but one of her men, Jannick, says no. He is more than a little freaked out by this turn of events and doesn't really believe Neeva about what's going on, saying he doesn't know her. He says that they are going to attack the gate now, get somewhere else, and then sort out who's who there. He promises to Neeva if she is lying she is good as dead. They move out to the gate, Neeva commenting to Jennifer that she could do better than Rodney.
Before they get far a village patrol finds them and starts firing. They take cover and Neeva's men try to return fire. One of them, Bordal, is killed. The team from Atlantis hears the gunfire and runs toward the fray. Jennifer runs and Jannick turns to shoot her. Neeva, seeing him, grabs his arm to stop him and she is shot by one of the village men. Jannick takes off and the team arrives in time to stop the villager from finishing Neeva off.
They take her to the village and Carson starts to tend to her wounds while Rodney explains to the magistrate what has happened. He listens in shock as he realizes Jennifer was telling the truth. John asks him to show them where the device is and the magistrate leads the way. Carson removes the bullet and Teyla assists him while the rest of the team tries to figure out how to turn off the device. In the woods Jennifer runs into Jannick. He says she is definitely not Neeva and she says she thinks she can help him. He says she's not helping anyone. He draws his gun and says he is going to return the favor for her getting Bordal killed and almost getting him killed, he cocks his gun.
In the village Ronon shoots the device in the hope that will sever the connection. Jennifer wakes up in the village in her own body with Carson telling her she should be alright. Neeva returns to her own body and finds Jannick holding a gun on her. She tries to convince him she's herself again but he doesn't believe her. The screen goes black just as there is the sound of a gunshot.
Back in Atlantis Rodney runs into Woolsey as he is on his way to visit Jennifer in the infirmary. Woolsey tells him that Lorne's team just got back from searching the planet and there was no sign of Neeva, so it seems that she got away after all. Rodney isn't so sure, recounting what Jennifer said happened just before the device was shut down. He thinks likely Neeva is dead and disposed of, although Woolsey wonders if maybe she wasn't able to talk her way out of getting killed. He says if she did, she likely won't be free for long, as every planet in the coalition is now keeping an eye out for her. As soon as she steps foot on one she'll be arrested.
In the infirmary both Jennifer and Radek are recovering nicely. Rodney asks Jennifer if when she's feeling better maybe she'd like to go for a romantic puddle jumper ride and have a picnic under the stars. She teases him about how unlike him the idea seems but then says it actually sounds like a great idea. They smile at each other as the camera pulls away.
Commentary
Well, I guess it's been a while since the writers messed with Jennifer. Can't go too many episodes without that happening, can we? We made it, what, one? Huh.
While this is a pretty fun (and upon rewatch, surprisingly kind of dark) episode, it doesn't serve very much purpose within the greater arc of the season, or of the series really. I mean, it does show some of the further consequences of finding Janus' lab, as well as reiterating the "don't play with Ancient tech unless one of the experts says you can" rule, but that's really it. Now, I will note that SGU's first season was in development at the time* and this does serve as an excellent introduction/reminder of what the communications stones are and how they work. Considering how important those were to the other series, that could actually very well have been the intention here.
I do suppose it also gives a little more of an idea of how the galactic coalition is coming along, as well as Atlantis' emerging place within it. I really have to wonder if that wasn't meant to be a big part of how season six would have played out. It is certainly an idea for speculation at least.
I do love that Jennifer has been hanging out with Rodney long enough that she's totally on board with the "explosion as a diversion" tactic, expecting people to run toward it. Either that, or they are way more alike than I thought. But it is a nice little reference back to "The Lost Tribe" regardless, and I always enjoy a good running joke. Also, I found it terribly amusing just how hard Neeva failed at seducing Rodney because she so just didn't get him.
It was interesting that Ronon seemed to cotton on the quickest that Jennifer was not, in fact, Jennifer. Rodney definitely noticed the strange behavior, but it took him much longer to put two and two together. He was just worried that he did something wrong to screw up their new relationship.
Favorite Quotes
"Oh, you could take me somewhere secluded and we could make love underneath the stars." (Not!Jennifer)
"Really?!" (Rodney)
"Would you like that?" (Not!Jennifer)
"Well, yeah! I mean, I'd have to get a blanket though, because the mainland's ground cover is loaded with allergens..." (Rodney)
"They'll be guarding the ring." (Jannick)
"I know. Maybe we could create some kind of diversion?" (Not!Neeva)
"Well, how do we do that?" (Bordal)
"I...I don't know. Um, maybe...maybe we could set an explosion?" (Not!Neeva)
"And why would they run towards an explosion?" (Jannick)
~*~
Happy Independence Day folks if you're in the US and celebrating. If not, well, have a lovely Wednesday, won't you? See you back here on Monday for something a bit different in "Vegas."
*Just in case there is any confusion or temptation to be a SGU hater in the comments, please, just don't. This blog is really not the place for that. That show was already greenlit and in production before the decision was made not to give Atlantis a sixth season. Would I have liked another year (or ten) of SGA? Hell yes. Do I blame SGU for its demise? Hell no.
Spoilers for the episode and all that came before, as always.
What Happened
A strange and confused-looking woman stands in a corridor of Atlantis. She hears people and ducks into a lab. She is peering at one of the screens when Radek comes in, surprised to find her. He asks if she is looking for Rodney and she clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. He asks if she is feeling alright and tries to get her to lie down. When he goes to take her arm she grabs a nearby pair of pliers and stabs Radek in the gut. As she looks up from doing this she catches a glimpse of her reflection, only it doesn't show her face, it shows Jennifer's. She stares at the mirror in surprise for a moment and then runs out of the room leaving Radek bleeding on the floor.
The woman makes her way back to a more populated part of the city and ducks out of a balcony, looking around the city in wonder. A puddle jumper flies by overhead and she watches it in awe. She makes sure no one is watching her and drops the pliers off the edge of the balcony. Ducking back in she sees her reflection once more in a window and stares at Jennifer's face for a few moments, clearly still confused about what is happening. She is surprised by Rodney, who finds her and asks what happened to her, they were supposed to meet half an hour ago for lunch. He herds her along toward the mess, clearly thinking she is Jennifer. Noticing her confusion he asks if she is alright, worried he might have done something wrong.
The woman's earbud chirps and she gets a call from a nurse calling Jennifer to the infirmary to see to Radek, who has been found stabbed. Rodney goes with the woman, concerned about his friend, and when they arrive one of the nurses briefs her on Radek's status, saying he needs immediate surgery. Not wanting anyone to discover that she doesn't belong there (or that she stabbed Radek in the first place), the woman goes along with things, getting scrubbed for surgery. Of course, she doesn't actually know how to do the surgery. After a moment she says she isn't feeling well and excuses herself to go lie down.
John and Rodney go to report to Woolsey. Radek is better but not out of the woods. He is in a (medically induced?) coma for the time being. Woolsey asks about Jennifer not doing the surgery and Rodney tells him what happened. He notes that she has been acting strangely all day. Woolsey is concerned but not alarmed and comments that Carson is due back to the city soon. He should be able to take over in the infirmary until Jennifer is recovered from whatever she has come down with. He then asks if they have any leads on who stabbed Radek and John says they've got nothing. Woolsey tells him to get to work looking for the culprit. He wants to know who did this.
Meanwhile, the mystery woman starts going through Jennifer's things in an attempt to make sense of what is going on. She sees a graduation photo of Jennifer with her father and starts to realize she is actually in someone else's body, or people are at least seeing her as that person. The door opens and Ronon comes in, saying he heard she wasn't feeling well. She is clearly worried by his presence. He asks what's wrong and she says she's just tired. He comments that she's been pushing herself very hard and when she replies gives her an intense look. Rodney stops by, less than happy to find Ronon there, to see how she is and let her know that Carson is on his way back. He mentions that they sent a puddle jumper for the other doctor and at the woman's clear confusion Rodney and Ronon exchange a sideways glance of surprise.
Carson gets back and scans "Jennifer," not finding anything out of the ordinary. He asks her how long she's been feeling out of sorts. He decides to keep her overnight for observation, hoping that in the morning she'll feel much more like herself. He steps aside with Rodney and Woolsey and tells them that physically she's fine, but he's worried there may be something psychological going on.
That night the woman waits until no one is watching and sneaks out of the infirmary, hastily donning Jennifer's uniform. She finds a guard and casually asks him for directions to the puddle jumper. He is distracted by his duties and so directs her easily enough. She gets to the jumper bay and runs into the first jumper she sees. She finds the weapons storage and grabs herself a gun then sits down in the pilot seat, trying to start up the ship. Rodney finds her there and asks what she's doing. She plays it off like she couldn't sleep and just wants to go for a ride. Rodney is skeptical since she doesn't have the gene and can't fly the jumpers but she quickly realizes he can. She switches gears and asks him to take her out, somewhere secluded where they can have sexy fun times. He is tempted for a moment but then steps back and says no, telling her he doesn't know what's going on but she is clearly not herself at the moment. He wants to take her back to the infirmary but she refuses and pulls the gun on him. Before she can shoot him Ronon shows up and stuns her.
They move her to the isolation room. The team, Carson, and Woolsey look over her from the observation room, trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Rodney realizes that she likely might be the one responsible for stabbing Radek. Ronon says that she is not Jennifer Keller, something has taken over her. They see that she's awake and go down to question her. They ask her who she is and she tries to play it off but they aren't buying any more.
Finally she admits that her name is is Neeva Casol and she has no idea how she got to Atlantis or into Jennifer's body. She tells them one moment she was searching through some artifacts in a village and the next she was in Atlantis in Jennifer's body. Rodney asks her what kind of artifacts and she says that she and her associates steal valuables from planet to planet. They heard about a stash of Ancestral artifacts and went to check it out. She flashes back to the robbery and we see her find an Ancient communication terminal and put the stone on it, and there she was in Atlantis. She apologizes for hurting Radek but says she felt threatened
and reacted on instinct. She doesn't want to hurt anyone else, she just wants to get back to her body.
Rodney goes through some records and shows the others the communication terminal that SG-1 found a few years back. They wonder how Neeva connected to Jennifer but Rodney says that there were some communications stones in Janus' lab and that Jennifer was in there fiddling with the stones a few weeks back. Those stones and the ones Neeva discovered must have been connected. Woolsey looks concerned, pointing out that from the reports on SG-1's encounter with a similar device, disconnection had been difficult. Then it dawns on them to wonder, if Neeva's mind is in Jennifer's body, does that mean that Jennifer's mind is in Neeva's body?
Cut to Jennifer, wearing Neeva's clothes, sitting in a prison cell. She stares at a mirror on the wall, seeing Neeva's reflection looking back at her. She hears footsteps and an official of some sort arrives at her cell. She asks if they contacted Atlantis and the man tells her no. He tells her he contacted some of his contacts on other planets first and learned what kind of crimes Neeva and her associates committed elsewhere in the galaxy. They are responsible, he tells her, for no less than five murders. Jennifer tries to explain that she is not who he thinks she is but the man says she is also known to be a very convincing liar and it is clear he thinks she is just trying to talk her way out of the cell. He pronounces that as magistrate of this village he is taking it upon himself to find her guilty not only her crimes there, but also her crimes on all of the other planets in the coalition. He says that on the morrow she will be executed. Jennifer watches in horror as he walks away.
In Atlantis the team discusses their options. John says there's only one. They go to the planet where Neeva found the device and shut it down to break the connection. Woolsey asks if they have found a way to safely do that. Rodney says not yet but he'll figure something out. Carson pipes up that they need to be very careful. The connection is more than just psychological. If one of the people dies while connected to the device, then they both do. If they screw up the disconnection they risk killing Jennifer and Neeva both. Woolsey says they need to hurry then and gives the mission a go. He asks if they know where the village is and John says they will.
He goes to ask Neeva its location. She says she'll happily tell him where it is. In fact she'll take him there herself and lead them right to the device. On one condition. They have to promise to let her and her accomplices go free once the connection is severed. John agrees to this but then she says she wants a puddle jumper too. He denies that request and she next asks for weapons. He says no, take them to the device and he won't pursue her or her friends.
The team, Carson, and Neeva go tot he planet. They exit from the gate and she points them in the direction, saying the village is a few hours' walk away. Rodney grumbles about this and she asks John in disbelief if he and Jennifer are really dating.
The magistrate comes for Jennifer and tells her that it's time.
The team gets to the village and Neeva tries to talk them into giving her a weapon. John says they aren't sneaking in, they are going to ask the villagers for help. Neeva realizes that John tricked her when he promised to let her go, since he has no intention of breaking her out of the villagers' custody if Jennifer has already been captured in her body. He says he never said anything about not letting the people she robbed pursue her. She eventually agrees (grudgingly) to accompany them into the village.
The team gets to the magistrate's office and John introduces himself. Rodney asks about their Ancient artifacts, the terminal in particular. It is clear the people recognize it from his description. The woman in charge asks why they want to know about it and tells them that it's well hidden and they have no chance of getting to it if they are thinking of trying to take it. They quickly reassure her, explaining they just need to see it because they are afraid it might have accidentally be turned on. They don't want any trouble, they just need the villagers' help. The woman says they need to talk to the magistrate and they ask where he is. She says not there, he will be back when the execution is over. They realize who he is likely about to execute.
In the woods the magistrate's men lead Jennifer to a stump and the magistrate declares her conviction and sentence. We see the team running frantically through the woods. Jennifer tries to proclaim her innocence but the executioner raises his ax and prepares to swing. Shots ring out and Jennifer takes advantage of the chaos to flee. She encounters two men in the woods, one of them holding a knife. He approaches her and Jennifer stares at him in fright but he simply cuts her bonds. Then he asks if he gets any thanks for the rescue.
The team reaches the execution site to find the magistrate shouting orders to his men. He orders them to find the escaped prisoner as well as to guard the stargate. No one leaves the planet until the prisoner is returned. The team fades back into the woods and Neeva says her men must have rescued Jennifer. They ask how many people she is working with and she says two.
Jennifer, meanwhile, finds herself hiding in a cave with Neeva's cohorts. They remark that she actually look scared in the clearing and are a bit offended that she didn't think they'd rescue her. Jennifer tries to find an answer. They ask her what the plan is and she says she doesn't know and at the look they exchange she hastily adds "yet." They tell her to think fast because the villagers will find their cave soon enough.
Ronon tracks Jennifer's escape with the team following behind. They stay out of sight from the village patrols but note how numerous the patrols are. Neeva takes advantage of their momentary distraction and bolts. Ronon gives chase but she quickly evades him and manages not to leave any tracks for him to follow. The team looks at each other, lost for how to proceed next.
In the cave Jennifer says she thinks their best bet is to leave the planet. The men point out someone will be guarding the gate and she says they need to create a diversion. She suggests setting an explosion but they shoot that idea down. They suggest waiting until nightfall and then launching an attack on the gate, killing the guards and making their escape. Jennifer is so not on board with this plan but clearly doesn't want to make them angry. They hear a sound from outside and both men draw their guns. Neeva comes in and they are instantly on guard. She tries to convince them she actually is Neeva and to explain what happened but they are skeptical.
Neeva starts listing experiences that they have had together to try to convince them and then says that in order to fix the situation they need to act fast. They have to go back to the village and turn off the device. She says they have to be super careful because not only are the villagers but so are the people from Atlantis. Jennifer is understandably relieved to hear that her people are on the planet but Neeva shuts her down pretty quickly saying that the Lanteans will turn them in to the villagers if they catch them so they need no problems from her.
Jennifer seems more than willing to go along with the angry armed people. Neeva begins giving orders but one of her men, Jannick, says no. He is more than a little freaked out by this turn of events and doesn't really believe Neeva about what's going on, saying he doesn't know her. He says that they are going to attack the gate now, get somewhere else, and then sort out who's who there. He promises to Neeva if she is lying she is good as dead. They move out to the gate, Neeva commenting to Jennifer that she could do better than Rodney.
Before they get far a village patrol finds them and starts firing. They take cover and Neeva's men try to return fire. One of them, Bordal, is killed. The team from Atlantis hears the gunfire and runs toward the fray. Jennifer runs and Jannick turns to shoot her. Neeva, seeing him, grabs his arm to stop him and she is shot by one of the village men. Jannick takes off and the team arrives in time to stop the villager from finishing Neeva off.
They take her to the village and Carson starts to tend to her wounds while Rodney explains to the magistrate what has happened. He listens in shock as he realizes Jennifer was telling the truth. John asks him to show them where the device is and the magistrate leads the way. Carson removes the bullet and Teyla assists him while the rest of the team tries to figure out how to turn off the device. In the woods Jennifer runs into Jannick. He says she is definitely not Neeva and she says she thinks she can help him. He says she's not helping anyone. He draws his gun and says he is going to return the favor for her getting Bordal killed and almost getting him killed, he cocks his gun.
In the village Ronon shoots the device in the hope that will sever the connection. Jennifer wakes up in the village in her own body with Carson telling her she should be alright. Neeva returns to her own body and finds Jannick holding a gun on her. She tries to convince him she's herself again but he doesn't believe her. The screen goes black just as there is the sound of a gunshot.
Back in Atlantis Rodney runs into Woolsey as he is on his way to visit Jennifer in the infirmary. Woolsey tells him that Lorne's team just got back from searching the planet and there was no sign of Neeva, so it seems that she got away after all. Rodney isn't so sure, recounting what Jennifer said happened just before the device was shut down. He thinks likely Neeva is dead and disposed of, although Woolsey wonders if maybe she wasn't able to talk her way out of getting killed. He says if she did, she likely won't be free for long, as every planet in the coalition is now keeping an eye out for her. As soon as she steps foot on one she'll be arrested.
In the infirmary both Jennifer and Radek are recovering nicely. Rodney asks Jennifer if when she's feeling better maybe she'd like to go for a romantic puddle jumper ride and have a picnic under the stars. She teases him about how unlike him the idea seems but then says it actually sounds like a great idea. They smile at each other as the camera pulls away.
Commentary
Well, I guess it's been a while since the writers messed with Jennifer. Can't go too many episodes without that happening, can we? We made it, what, one? Huh.
While this is a pretty fun (and upon rewatch, surprisingly kind of dark) episode, it doesn't serve very much purpose within the greater arc of the season, or of the series really. I mean, it does show some of the further consequences of finding Janus' lab, as well as reiterating the "don't play with Ancient tech unless one of the experts says you can" rule, but that's really it. Now, I will note that SGU's first season was in development at the time* and this does serve as an excellent introduction/reminder of what the communications stones are and how they work. Considering how important those were to the other series, that could actually very well have been the intention here.
I do suppose it also gives a little more of an idea of how the galactic coalition is coming along, as well as Atlantis' emerging place within it. I really have to wonder if that wasn't meant to be a big part of how season six would have played out. It is certainly an idea for speculation at least.
I do love that Jennifer has been hanging out with Rodney long enough that she's totally on board with the "explosion as a diversion" tactic, expecting people to run toward it. Either that, or they are way more alike than I thought. But it is a nice little reference back to "The Lost Tribe" regardless, and I always enjoy a good running joke. Also, I found it terribly amusing just how hard Neeva failed at seducing Rodney because she so just didn't get him.
It was interesting that Ronon seemed to cotton on the quickest that Jennifer was not, in fact, Jennifer. Rodney definitely noticed the strange behavior, but it took him much longer to put two and two together. He was just worried that he did something wrong to screw up their new relationship.
Favorite Quotes
"Oh, you could take me somewhere secluded and we could make love underneath the stars." (Not!Jennifer)
"Really?!" (Rodney)
"Would you like that?" (Not!Jennifer)
"Well, yeah! I mean, I'd have to get a blanket though, because the mainland's ground cover is loaded with allergens..." (Rodney)
"They'll be guarding the ring." (Jannick)
"I know. Maybe we could create some kind of diversion?" (Not!Neeva)
"Well, how do we do that?" (Bordal)
"I...I don't know. Um, maybe...maybe we could set an explosion?" (Not!Neeva)
"And why would they run towards an explosion?" (Jannick)
~*~
Happy Independence Day folks if you're in the US and celebrating. If not, well, have a lovely Wednesday, won't you? See you back here on Monday for something a bit different in "Vegas."
*Just in case there is any confusion or temptation to be a SGU hater in the comments, please, just don't. This blog is really not the place for that. That show was already greenlit and in production before the decision was made not to give Atlantis a sixth season. Would I have liked another year (or ten) of SGA? Hell yes. Do I blame SGU for its demise? Hell no.
Monday, June 25, 2012
SGA Rewatch: Remnants
Hello there. Welcome to another installment of the Stargate Alantis Rewatch! Today's episode is season five's "Remnants." Spoilers for the episode and any that came before, as always.
What Happened
Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney are eating and Teyla tells them that she feels sad for Mr. Woolsey, worried that he is lonely. Teyla asks him to join them when he walks by but he declines saying that he has some prep work to do for his upcoming I.O.A. performance evaluation. He admits that he is a bit nervous about it. Teyla assures him he has no reason to be and that he has done a good job in charge of the expedition thus far.
After he leaves Rodney asks where John is and Teyla and Ronon explain that he flew some astrobiologists to the mainland for a gathering expedition and volunteered to stay with them overnight. Rodney wonders why John would do that and we cut to John talking to one of the scientists, who is a very attractive woman. His eyes have glazed over at her explanation of some sort of botany thing. He is startled out of his daze when Parrish cries out nearby. John and the other scientist run to see what has happened and Parrish delightedly tells them he's discovered some new rare exotic plant. John just rolls his eyes and says he is heading back to the jumper, disappointed when the other scientist stays behind, as excited about the find as Parrish.
On his way back to the jumper he hears a rustling and turns only to be hit with the blast of a stun gun. He wakes up on the ground with his hands and feet bound. He sees a rock nearby and starts rubbing the rope at his wrists against it in an attempt to free himself.
Woolsey arrives at a transporter, his hands full. A voice from behind asks if she can help him and he willingly agrees. He notes that she is very attractive and asks if they've met, not recognizing her. She introduces herself as Doctor Vanessa Conrad and tells him she is new to Atlantis, having just arrived on the Apollo. He welcomes her to the city and they part ways when the transporter arrives at his quarters. Woolsey clearly wishes the encounter had not been so brief.
Back on the mainland, John has freed himself and made his way back to the jumper. He finds it gutted on the inside, clearly sabotaged to prevent his escape back to the city.
Rodney is working in his lab when Radek comes in. Rodney remarks that he thought Radek was offworld but Radek says the mission ended early. He tells Rodney that he thinks they should do a scan of the ocean floor, he has noticed some anomalous readings. Rodney dismisses the suggestion and Radek in short order, thinking the project a waste of time.
John double checks the jumper but it is clearly grounded, having been sabotaged while he was unconscious. He ventures out, and finding some tracks, follows them.
Woolsey greets the I.O.A. representative Xiao as she is beamed down into the gate room. He welcomes her warmly, the two seem to be on friendly terms. She tells him she is looking forward to the grand tour.
John reaches the camp he and the scientists had set up and finds it has been rifled through. He hears movement in the foliage and goes to check it out.
Woolsey gives Xiao a tour of the control room, chatting amiably with Amelia and then calling Chuck "Chet."
Radek refuses to give up on his idea and hounds Rodney until he gives approval for Radek to continue. Radek does a little bit of reverse psychology to peak Rodney's interest in the project as well.
Woolsey concludes Xiao's tour and she tells him that he's done a good job and as a result has been promoted to a new position back on Earth. She tells him "congratulations, you're going home." The look on his face makes it clear that he is not so excited about the reassignment.
Radek and Rodney get the scanner set up and much to Rodney's chagrin they find something almost immediately. Something is giving off strange energy readings about fifteen hundred feet below sea level.
John stalks through the woods and is quite surprised to find Kolya. While he is trying to process this information, another Genii sneaks up behind him and knocks him out.
Xiao is surprised at Woolsey's unhappiness at the announcement. She says nine months ago he was dreading going to Atlantis. He says a lot has changed in that time. He likes it there, and he doesn't like the idea of leaving the job unfinished. He asks what's really going on and Xiao admits that the I.O.A. is concerned about some of the decisions he's made. They feel his judgment has been compromised by the stress of the position. Translation: He is not being as obedient a lap dog as they had hoped.
Rodney and Radek have their discovery recovered from the ocean. It is a metal tube of some sort. They get to work trying to figure out what it actually is.
John wakes up to hear Kolya giving orders to his men over the radio to hunt down the scientists. John wants to know how Kolya is alive and Kolya says he had some Ancient tech on hand when he and John had their showdown. John wants to know how Kolya got to the planet, how they found the city. Kolya says that Atlantis' secret is out, their offworld contacts aren't as trustworthy as they think. He says that he and his men will take the city by boat and Atlantis will never see them coming. Especially not after they cripple the city's defenses by sending a bomb through the gate, for which he will first need John's IDC. He puts on his gloves and begins to try beating the information out of him.
Woolsey is looking in his mirror, holding up a suit and comparing it to his Atlantis uniform sadly when his door chimes. He answers it to find Vanessa. She asks him if he would like to catch a movie with him. He tells her he's not really in the mood for a movie. She asks what's wrong and he tells her he is being relieved of command. He fears he was only appointed because they thought he would do what they wanted, not on the strength of his record. Vanessa tells him that if he doesn't want to leave he shouldn't, he should fight the decision. He tells her it's too late for that but she's not so sure. She asks why they would bother sending Xiao on a three week trip to the Pegasus galaxy to tell him that when they could have just sent a communique ordering his return.
Woolsey finds Xiao in the mess and calls her on it. He says she wasn't sent there to fire him, she was sent to evaluate him and make a recommendation. The I.O.A. might be leaning toward removing him but hasn't made up its mind yet. Which means someone in the I.O.A. wants him gone and is using her to make that happen. He asks what's in it for her and realizes that she's been promised the Atlantis command. She tells him he should just give up, this isn't a fight he can win.
Kolya stops beating on John, disappointed at not having gotten the answers he seeks but impressed at John's resistance. Kolya tries a different tactic, taunting John that he is a failure at keeping his people safe. When John still isn't willing to talk, Kolya says he will have to make other plans and radios for two of his men to join them.
Rodney and Radek continue to study the object retrieved from the ocean. Rodney is about to give up when Radek reminds him that he's brilliant and Rodney returns to the data with renewed vigor.
Kolya's men join him and he pulls out a blade, having the men hold John down. He cuts off John's hand.
Rodney has discovered that the device is giving off a low level but harmless radiation. Radek says that is interesting but they should be focusing on the data. Rodney is still stumped by that though. Radek makes an offhand comment about figuring out passwords on alien laptops. That comment gives Rodney an idea and he realizes the key to figuring out the encryption on the data.
Woolsey goes to this thinking spot and is surprised to find Vanessa there. He tells her he took her advice. He doesn't think it will save his job but at least he will know he went down swinging. He asks her if she would like to have dinner with him and she agrees. Before they can make their plans though Amelia comes by and says that she tried calling but he is off radio and Rodney needs to speak to him right away. Woolsey excuses himself and leaves and as he goes we see Xiao lurking around the corner, a curious expression on her face.
Rodney presents his findings to Woolsey. The device contains the records of a long-dead civilization, as well as the chemical building blocks for an alien life form. He thinks it was meant to seed the beginnings of life on a new world and once the life form was sufficiently developed, they could learn from the information of their long extinct ancestors. Woolsey asks what went wrong and Rodney thinks it crashed or stalled in its journey, but with the Daedalus they can send it along to its target destination. Woolsey nods and says okay, copy the data and do that. Rodney says therein lies the catch. Accessing the data would do irreparable damage to the biological samples. They can't take the data and send the device on its way, it's either or.
Using John's hand Kolya's men manage to get the jumper operational. John takes advantage of Kolya's distraction to escape. Kolya's men say they can deal with John after they take Atlantis but Kolya says no, John first.
Woolsey drops by the control room and asks Amelia to send Vanessa a message rescheduling their dinner in light of Rodney's findings. Amelia looks her up in the system and asks Woolsey if he is sure about the name. Woolsey changes his mind and just asks where Vanessa's quarters are, thinking he should tell her personally, but Amelia shakes her head and says she isn't finding anything. There is no Dr. Conrad on Atlantis.
The Genii track John and he gets the best of one of them, stealing his radio and gun.
Woolsey says Vanessa is the woman that he was speaking to on the balcony earlier. Amelia shakes her head and says Vanessa must have left before she got there, he was alone when she found him on the balcony.
John leaves his stolen radio as a lure for the Genii and takes out two more of them.
Woolsey goes to see Jennifer to have himself scanned, realizing he has been seeing things. As he is doing this Vanessa shows up and tells him Jennifer won't find anything. Jennifer turns around and says according to the scans he's fine. Everything looks perfectly normal. Woolsey asks what's going on, asks Vanessa why her name isn't in the database and Amelia couldn't see her. Jennifer, puzzled, answers that she is in the database and Vanessa tells Woolsey that Jennifer can't see her. Jennifer asks Woolsey to list his symptoms and Vanessa tells him they need to talk somewhere private. Jennifer thinks he just needs a full night's sleep and gives him some medication. He thanks her and leaves, trying to run away from Vanessa as well.
Rodney is analyzing the radiation readings from the device. Radek thinks he is wasting his time. He thinks that Woolsey will definitely decide to keep the data and Radek seems concerned at that. Something beeps on the computer and Rodney realizes that he's seen something similar to the frequency given off by the device before. He is very concerned.
John takes out some more Genii.
Woolsey returns to his quarters to find Vanessa waiting for him. She apologizes for making him doubt his sanity. He asks who or what she is and she says she is a manifestation of something blah blah blah. He realizes that she has something to do with the device Rodney found in the ocean. Before she can explain more Xiao comes by. She says she thought she heard him talking to someone and tells him she saw him talking to himself on the balcony earlier. She says such behavior might be a concern to the I.O.A. She changes the subject to the device and asks why Woolsey has delayed in giving the go ahead to retrieve the data. Vanessa points out that it doesn't belong to them and Woolsey tells Xiao that there are a lot of angles to consider. Xiao says that the civilization that built the device is dead but theirs is very much still alive and they could benefit from that data. Woolsey points out that they would be robbing a civilization of the opportunity to rebuild itself. Xiao says there is no guarantee it would succeed and they would be throwing away a great opportunity. Xiao says she can't believe that Woolsey is even debating the issue. Follow procedure and save his job.
John gets to Kolya and the two fight, resulting in John going tumbling over the edge of a cliff. He manages to grab a hold with his remaining hand and Kolya peers over the edge.
Woolsey bristles at Xiao's threat and she says it's just a simple fact. Rodney runs into the room and exclaims they need to get rid of the device. It is giving off a frequency similar to the one that induced mass hallucinations, causing people to kill each other. Vanessa tells Woolsey that it can also be used as a communication device between two very different species. Xiao says they need to act quickly, salvage the data and destroy the device. Woolsey thanks them both and dismisses them, telling him he will think it over. He turns to Vanessa and asks her to explain.
Kolya tells John that this has gone on long enough. He urges John to use his other hand and climb back up. John looks down to find his missing hand restored. Kolya says he has no intention of letting John dies and repeats the order to climb back up. John does so and asks what the heck's going on.
The scene cuts back and forth between Kolya and Vanessa explaining about a race called the Sekkari that existed thousands of years ago. When facing extinction they built several seed carriers and sent them out to give their civilization a chance at survival. Fifty were sent out but none reached their targets. The one Atlantis found malfunctioned and Kolya says he guided it to this planet and it landed in the ocean. It remained dormant there for two thousand years, until it was awakened by readings from a submerged puddle jumper, the one Rodney used when Michael was invading the city. Vanessa tells Woolsey she scanned the city and linked with him. Woolsey asks what she is and she explains she is the seed carrier's artificial intelligence, her purpose to protect the device and assess the people it encountered to see if they could be trusted to help.
Koyla explains to John that as the military leader of the expedition he was a threat, so the AI connected with him and distracted him with the Kolya scenario to keep him from returning to the city and ordering the destruction of the device. Everything he experienced was a hallucination. John is appalled at the scenario it chose but Kolya maintains that it was John who chose his distraction. The AI didn't have full control of the hallucination, it just helped John's mind manifest its darkest fears.
Vanessa tells Woolsey now he knows the truth and has a decision to make.
John heads back to the intact jumper to find Parrish and the other scientist waiting, wondering where the heck he has been. He tells them to pack up.
In her quarters, Xiao receives word that she has just received a secure message from Earth. She has it patched through and opens up a video conference from another I.O.A. member. He tells her that the rest of the council has decided to go with a different person as the new lead of Atlantis over herself. She closes the computer in anger. Later in the gate room she tells Woolsey she is heading back. She tells him that she gave him a glowing review and he isn't going anywhere. Like him, she is nobody's puppet, and the I.O.A. should have thought about that before sending the previous day's update. She leaves and Woolsey asks Amelia, "yesterday's update?" Amelia says she doesn't know what Xiao meant, they haven't had a scheduled dial out in days. Woolsey looks over and sees Vanessa smiling at him. She says to consider it a going away present.
Rodney arrives in the gate room with the device and Woolsey asks Vanessa what happens next. She says she'll start the process to give life to the Sekkari and then go to sleep until they are ready to meet her. She turns to John and apologizes for his experience. Rodney grumbles about not being able to interact with the AI and she shows herself to him, then reveals the true alien form of the Sekkari before the device is beamed up and she leaves.
Later in the mess, the team is eating and Woolsey comes by. Teyla asks him to join them again and he takes them up on it. They discuss the events, Rodney saying he figured that the AI knew better than to try to fool him so just concentrated on Woolsey and John. John says it is a heck of a coincidence that the AI appeared in the morning and Rodney didn't find the device until the afternoon. Rodney tells him it was no coincidence, just hard work and a little help from Radek. John asks what he's talking about, saying Radek is offworld. Rodney says no, he came back early and everyone kind of looks at him. He realizes that Radek was the AI all along.
Commentary
Overall to me this episode seems to be about firmly establishing Woolsey as not just belonging on Atlantis but as being part of the team. He is one of our people. Despite his past annoying behavior, he is a man we can and should be rooting for to stay in charge of these people. He is doing what is best for his people and for the other races of the galaxy.
I really like how we got to see him make a stand to the I.O.A. here too. You can't get a much clearer sign that he's come over to Atlantis' side of the fence than his interactions with Xiao. After what we saw from him in "Inquisition" this also firms up that as clueless as he may seem about things at times, he can play the bureaucracy game, and play it well. He definitely knows how things go there. I almost don't like that he had to take the inspiration to realize what was really going on from Vanessa, but it makes sense. He was so gobsmacked at the idea of being forced to leave Atlantis that he did need the reminder of exactly why he should be the one to stay. It makes sense in my head anyway.
Something else about this episode that I really enjoyed was the delayed reveal that the Radek Rodney worked with during the episode was also a manifestation of the seed carrier's AI. I know that the first time I saw this episode I definitely did not pick up on that until it was made clear at the end. But now, it is very interesting to watch Rodney's interactions with Radek throughout and notice that no one else ever actually talks with Radek or looks at him. It was very well acted by everyone involved to clearly telegraph that Radek wasn't actually there for anyone looking closely enough to pick up on it without actually giving it away outright. It also amuses me to think that to the rest of the people he was interacting with during that day, Rodney must have seemed even more crazy than usual. Although I guess we all should have known when Radek told Rodney he was brilliant, come to think of it.
I don't have a whole lot to say about the whole bit with John and Kolya, except that when I first watched this episode it freaked me right the heck out. Both because Kolya was supposed to be dead, damn it, and because of the whole hand chopping off thing. I couldn't believe they had actually done that. It is pretty clear that John is a person who holds onto his old demons and has all kinds of self-doubt and self-recrimination going on. I do find it interesting on rewatching, however, that when John asks Kolya how he got to the planet, the AI manages to completely evade answering the question while also distracting John from that fact. That was pretty dang impressive. Because seriously, there is no answer to that question that doesn't open up several new cans of worms with lots of unpleasant implications.
I do find the idea of the seed carrier and its AI's communication attempts very interesting. It is not entirely unlike the basic premise of Stargate SG-1's fourth season episode "Scorched Earth," although the execution was, of course, very different indeed. It is a wonderful bit of science fiction dressing for a very character-driven piece.
Also, it was nice to see Parrish again. He's totally my favorite Atlantis botanist. Plus, the reminder that he usually works with Lorne amused me. For reasons.
Favorite Quotes
"Look at this! Huh! It's a plant not unlike begonia eiromischa!" (Parrish)
"Oh God. Lorne warned me about this." (John)
"Yeah, FYI, this conversation ended six seconds ago." (Rodney)
"You realize it's highly unlikely you're actually gonna find anything?" (Rodney)
"Well. Then I will have wasted an hour of my time and you'll be able to tell me, 'I told you so.'" (Radek)
"Hmm!" (Rodney)
"If, on the other hand, I do find something, perhaps they'll name something after me for a change." (Radek)
"Well, you'll think of something." (Radek)
"Really? What makes you so sure?" (Rodney)
"Well, because you're brilliant." (Radek)
"It's true. Doesn't mean I'm gonna sudd--wait a minute. What did you just say? Why did you say that? What, are you sick? Am I sick? What have you heard?" (Rodney)
"You're an interesting man, Sheppard. You travel to another galaxy, risk your life defending a bunch of people you don't even know. You ask me, you're either someone with a death wish or someone running away from something. So tell me: what are you running away from?" (Kolya)
~*~
Well, that wraps up today. Join me on Wednesday for the spectacularly guest-star filled "Brain Storm."
What Happened
Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney are eating and Teyla tells them that she feels sad for Mr. Woolsey, worried that he is lonely. Teyla asks him to join them when he walks by but he declines saying that he has some prep work to do for his upcoming I.O.A. performance evaluation. He admits that he is a bit nervous about it. Teyla assures him he has no reason to be and that he has done a good job in charge of the expedition thus far.
After he leaves Rodney asks where John is and Teyla and Ronon explain that he flew some astrobiologists to the mainland for a gathering expedition and volunteered to stay with them overnight. Rodney wonders why John would do that and we cut to John talking to one of the scientists, who is a very attractive woman. His eyes have glazed over at her explanation of some sort of botany thing. He is startled out of his daze when Parrish cries out nearby. John and the other scientist run to see what has happened and Parrish delightedly tells them he's discovered some new rare exotic plant. John just rolls his eyes and says he is heading back to the jumper, disappointed when the other scientist stays behind, as excited about the find as Parrish.
On his way back to the jumper he hears a rustling and turns only to be hit with the blast of a stun gun. He wakes up on the ground with his hands and feet bound. He sees a rock nearby and starts rubbing the rope at his wrists against it in an attempt to free himself.
Woolsey arrives at a transporter, his hands full. A voice from behind asks if she can help him and he willingly agrees. He notes that she is very attractive and asks if they've met, not recognizing her. She introduces herself as Doctor Vanessa Conrad and tells him she is new to Atlantis, having just arrived on the Apollo. He welcomes her to the city and they part ways when the transporter arrives at his quarters. Woolsey clearly wishes the encounter had not been so brief.
Back on the mainland, John has freed himself and made his way back to the jumper. He finds it gutted on the inside, clearly sabotaged to prevent his escape back to the city.
Rodney is working in his lab when Radek comes in. Rodney remarks that he thought Radek was offworld but Radek says the mission ended early. He tells Rodney that he thinks they should do a scan of the ocean floor, he has noticed some anomalous readings. Rodney dismisses the suggestion and Radek in short order, thinking the project a waste of time.
John double checks the jumper but it is clearly grounded, having been sabotaged while he was unconscious. He ventures out, and finding some tracks, follows them.
Woolsey greets the I.O.A. representative Xiao as she is beamed down into the gate room. He welcomes her warmly, the two seem to be on friendly terms. She tells him she is looking forward to the grand tour.
John reaches the camp he and the scientists had set up and finds it has been rifled through. He hears movement in the foliage and goes to check it out.
Woolsey gives Xiao a tour of the control room, chatting amiably with Amelia and then calling Chuck "Chet."
Radek refuses to give up on his idea and hounds Rodney until he gives approval for Radek to continue. Radek does a little bit of reverse psychology to peak Rodney's interest in the project as well.
Woolsey concludes Xiao's tour and she tells him that he's done a good job and as a result has been promoted to a new position back on Earth. She tells him "congratulations, you're going home." The look on his face makes it clear that he is not so excited about the reassignment.
Radek and Rodney get the scanner set up and much to Rodney's chagrin they find something almost immediately. Something is giving off strange energy readings about fifteen hundred feet below sea level.
John stalks through the woods and is quite surprised to find Kolya. While he is trying to process this information, another Genii sneaks up behind him and knocks him out.
Xiao is surprised at Woolsey's unhappiness at the announcement. She says nine months ago he was dreading going to Atlantis. He says a lot has changed in that time. He likes it there, and he doesn't like the idea of leaving the job unfinished. He asks what's really going on and Xiao admits that the I.O.A. is concerned about some of the decisions he's made. They feel his judgment has been compromised by the stress of the position. Translation: He is not being as obedient a lap dog as they had hoped.
Rodney and Radek have their discovery recovered from the ocean. It is a metal tube of some sort. They get to work trying to figure out what it actually is.
John wakes up to hear Kolya giving orders to his men over the radio to hunt down the scientists. John wants to know how Kolya is alive and Kolya says he had some Ancient tech on hand when he and John had their showdown. John wants to know how Kolya got to the planet, how they found the city. Kolya says that Atlantis' secret is out, their offworld contacts aren't as trustworthy as they think. He says that he and his men will take the city by boat and Atlantis will never see them coming. Especially not after they cripple the city's defenses by sending a bomb through the gate, for which he will first need John's IDC. He puts on his gloves and begins to try beating the information out of him.
Woolsey is looking in his mirror, holding up a suit and comparing it to his Atlantis uniform sadly when his door chimes. He answers it to find Vanessa. She asks him if he would like to catch a movie with him. He tells her he's not really in the mood for a movie. She asks what's wrong and he tells her he is being relieved of command. He fears he was only appointed because they thought he would do what they wanted, not on the strength of his record. Vanessa tells him that if he doesn't want to leave he shouldn't, he should fight the decision. He tells her it's too late for that but she's not so sure. She asks why they would bother sending Xiao on a three week trip to the Pegasus galaxy to tell him that when they could have just sent a communique ordering his return.
Woolsey finds Xiao in the mess and calls her on it. He says she wasn't sent there to fire him, she was sent to evaluate him and make a recommendation. The I.O.A. might be leaning toward removing him but hasn't made up its mind yet. Which means someone in the I.O.A. wants him gone and is using her to make that happen. He asks what's in it for her and realizes that she's been promised the Atlantis command. She tells him he should just give up, this isn't a fight he can win.
Kolya stops beating on John, disappointed at not having gotten the answers he seeks but impressed at John's resistance. Kolya tries a different tactic, taunting John that he is a failure at keeping his people safe. When John still isn't willing to talk, Kolya says he will have to make other plans and radios for two of his men to join them.
Rodney and Radek continue to study the object retrieved from the ocean. Rodney is about to give up when Radek reminds him that he's brilliant and Rodney returns to the data with renewed vigor.
Kolya's men join him and he pulls out a blade, having the men hold John down. He cuts off John's hand.
Rodney has discovered that the device is giving off a low level but harmless radiation. Radek says that is interesting but they should be focusing on the data. Rodney is still stumped by that though. Radek makes an offhand comment about figuring out passwords on alien laptops. That comment gives Rodney an idea and he realizes the key to figuring out the encryption on the data.
Woolsey goes to this thinking spot and is surprised to find Vanessa there. He tells her he took her advice. He doesn't think it will save his job but at least he will know he went down swinging. He asks her if she would like to have dinner with him and she agrees. Before they can make their plans though Amelia comes by and says that she tried calling but he is off radio and Rodney needs to speak to him right away. Woolsey excuses himself and leaves and as he goes we see Xiao lurking around the corner, a curious expression on her face.
Rodney presents his findings to Woolsey. The device contains the records of a long-dead civilization, as well as the chemical building blocks for an alien life form. He thinks it was meant to seed the beginnings of life on a new world and once the life form was sufficiently developed, they could learn from the information of their long extinct ancestors. Woolsey asks what went wrong and Rodney thinks it crashed or stalled in its journey, but with the Daedalus they can send it along to its target destination. Woolsey nods and says okay, copy the data and do that. Rodney says therein lies the catch. Accessing the data would do irreparable damage to the biological samples. They can't take the data and send the device on its way, it's either or.
Using John's hand Kolya's men manage to get the jumper operational. John takes advantage of Kolya's distraction to escape. Kolya's men say they can deal with John after they take Atlantis but Kolya says no, John first.
Woolsey drops by the control room and asks Amelia to send Vanessa a message rescheduling their dinner in light of Rodney's findings. Amelia looks her up in the system and asks Woolsey if he is sure about the name. Woolsey changes his mind and just asks where Vanessa's quarters are, thinking he should tell her personally, but Amelia shakes her head and says she isn't finding anything. There is no Dr. Conrad on Atlantis.
The Genii track John and he gets the best of one of them, stealing his radio and gun.
Woolsey says Vanessa is the woman that he was speaking to on the balcony earlier. Amelia shakes her head and says Vanessa must have left before she got there, he was alone when she found him on the balcony.
John leaves his stolen radio as a lure for the Genii and takes out two more of them.
Woolsey goes to see Jennifer to have himself scanned, realizing he has been seeing things. As he is doing this Vanessa shows up and tells him Jennifer won't find anything. Jennifer turns around and says according to the scans he's fine. Everything looks perfectly normal. Woolsey asks what's going on, asks Vanessa why her name isn't in the database and Amelia couldn't see her. Jennifer, puzzled, answers that she is in the database and Vanessa tells Woolsey that Jennifer can't see her. Jennifer asks Woolsey to list his symptoms and Vanessa tells him they need to talk somewhere private. Jennifer thinks he just needs a full night's sleep and gives him some medication. He thanks her and leaves, trying to run away from Vanessa as well.
Rodney is analyzing the radiation readings from the device. Radek thinks he is wasting his time. He thinks that Woolsey will definitely decide to keep the data and Radek seems concerned at that. Something beeps on the computer and Rodney realizes that he's seen something similar to the frequency given off by the device before. He is very concerned.
John takes out some more Genii.
Woolsey returns to his quarters to find Vanessa waiting for him. She apologizes for making him doubt his sanity. He asks who or what she is and she says she is a manifestation of something blah blah blah. He realizes that she has something to do with the device Rodney found in the ocean. Before she can explain more Xiao comes by. She says she thought she heard him talking to someone and tells him she saw him talking to himself on the balcony earlier. She says such behavior might be a concern to the I.O.A. She changes the subject to the device and asks why Woolsey has delayed in giving the go ahead to retrieve the data. Vanessa points out that it doesn't belong to them and Woolsey tells Xiao that there are a lot of angles to consider. Xiao says that the civilization that built the device is dead but theirs is very much still alive and they could benefit from that data. Woolsey points out that they would be robbing a civilization of the opportunity to rebuild itself. Xiao says there is no guarantee it would succeed and they would be throwing away a great opportunity. Xiao says she can't believe that Woolsey is even debating the issue. Follow procedure and save his job.
John gets to Kolya and the two fight, resulting in John going tumbling over the edge of a cliff. He manages to grab a hold with his remaining hand and Kolya peers over the edge.
Woolsey bristles at Xiao's threat and she says it's just a simple fact. Rodney runs into the room and exclaims they need to get rid of the device. It is giving off a frequency similar to the one that induced mass hallucinations, causing people to kill each other. Vanessa tells Woolsey that it can also be used as a communication device between two very different species. Xiao says they need to act quickly, salvage the data and destroy the device. Woolsey thanks them both and dismisses them, telling him he will think it over. He turns to Vanessa and asks her to explain.
Kolya tells John that this has gone on long enough. He urges John to use his other hand and climb back up. John looks down to find his missing hand restored. Kolya says he has no intention of letting John dies and repeats the order to climb back up. John does so and asks what the heck's going on.
The scene cuts back and forth between Kolya and Vanessa explaining about a race called the Sekkari that existed thousands of years ago. When facing extinction they built several seed carriers and sent them out to give their civilization a chance at survival. Fifty were sent out but none reached their targets. The one Atlantis found malfunctioned and Kolya says he guided it to this planet and it landed in the ocean. It remained dormant there for two thousand years, until it was awakened by readings from a submerged puddle jumper, the one Rodney used when Michael was invading the city. Vanessa tells Woolsey she scanned the city and linked with him. Woolsey asks what she is and she explains she is the seed carrier's artificial intelligence, her purpose to protect the device and assess the people it encountered to see if they could be trusted to help.
Koyla explains to John that as the military leader of the expedition he was a threat, so the AI connected with him and distracted him with the Kolya scenario to keep him from returning to the city and ordering the destruction of the device. Everything he experienced was a hallucination. John is appalled at the scenario it chose but Kolya maintains that it was John who chose his distraction. The AI didn't have full control of the hallucination, it just helped John's mind manifest its darkest fears.
Vanessa tells Woolsey now he knows the truth and has a decision to make.
John heads back to the intact jumper to find Parrish and the other scientist waiting, wondering where the heck he has been. He tells them to pack up.
In her quarters, Xiao receives word that she has just received a secure message from Earth. She has it patched through and opens up a video conference from another I.O.A. member. He tells her that the rest of the council has decided to go with a different person as the new lead of Atlantis over herself. She closes the computer in anger. Later in the gate room she tells Woolsey she is heading back. She tells him that she gave him a glowing review and he isn't going anywhere. Like him, she is nobody's puppet, and the I.O.A. should have thought about that before sending the previous day's update. She leaves and Woolsey asks Amelia, "yesterday's update?" Amelia says she doesn't know what Xiao meant, they haven't had a scheduled dial out in days. Woolsey looks over and sees Vanessa smiling at him. She says to consider it a going away present.
Rodney arrives in the gate room with the device and Woolsey asks Vanessa what happens next. She says she'll start the process to give life to the Sekkari and then go to sleep until they are ready to meet her. She turns to John and apologizes for his experience. Rodney grumbles about not being able to interact with the AI and she shows herself to him, then reveals the true alien form of the Sekkari before the device is beamed up and she leaves.
Later in the mess, the team is eating and Woolsey comes by. Teyla asks him to join them again and he takes them up on it. They discuss the events, Rodney saying he figured that the AI knew better than to try to fool him so just concentrated on Woolsey and John. John says it is a heck of a coincidence that the AI appeared in the morning and Rodney didn't find the device until the afternoon. Rodney tells him it was no coincidence, just hard work and a little help from Radek. John asks what he's talking about, saying Radek is offworld. Rodney says no, he came back early and everyone kind of looks at him. He realizes that Radek was the AI all along.
Commentary
Overall to me this episode seems to be about firmly establishing Woolsey as not just belonging on Atlantis but as being part of the team. He is one of our people. Despite his past annoying behavior, he is a man we can and should be rooting for to stay in charge of these people. He is doing what is best for his people and for the other races of the galaxy.
I really like how we got to see him make a stand to the I.O.A. here too. You can't get a much clearer sign that he's come over to Atlantis' side of the fence than his interactions with Xiao. After what we saw from him in "Inquisition" this also firms up that as clueless as he may seem about things at times, he can play the bureaucracy game, and play it well. He definitely knows how things go there. I almost don't like that he had to take the inspiration to realize what was really going on from Vanessa, but it makes sense. He was so gobsmacked at the idea of being forced to leave Atlantis that he did need the reminder of exactly why he should be the one to stay. It makes sense in my head anyway.
Something else about this episode that I really enjoyed was the delayed reveal that the Radek Rodney worked with during the episode was also a manifestation of the seed carrier's AI. I know that the first time I saw this episode I definitely did not pick up on that until it was made clear at the end. But now, it is very interesting to watch Rodney's interactions with Radek throughout and notice that no one else ever actually talks with Radek or looks at him. It was very well acted by everyone involved to clearly telegraph that Radek wasn't actually there for anyone looking closely enough to pick up on it without actually giving it away outright. It also amuses me to think that to the rest of the people he was interacting with during that day, Rodney must have seemed even more crazy than usual. Although I guess we all should have known when Radek told Rodney he was brilliant, come to think of it.
I don't have a whole lot to say about the whole bit with John and Kolya, except that when I first watched this episode it freaked me right the heck out. Both because Kolya was supposed to be dead, damn it, and because of the whole hand chopping off thing. I couldn't believe they had actually done that. It is pretty clear that John is a person who holds onto his old demons and has all kinds of self-doubt and self-recrimination going on. I do find it interesting on rewatching, however, that when John asks Kolya how he got to the planet, the AI manages to completely evade answering the question while also distracting John from that fact. That was pretty dang impressive. Because seriously, there is no answer to that question that doesn't open up several new cans of worms with lots of unpleasant implications.
I do find the idea of the seed carrier and its AI's communication attempts very interesting. It is not entirely unlike the basic premise of Stargate SG-1's fourth season episode "Scorched Earth," although the execution was, of course, very different indeed. It is a wonderful bit of science fiction dressing for a very character-driven piece.
Also, it was nice to see Parrish again. He's totally my favorite Atlantis botanist. Plus, the reminder that he usually works with Lorne amused me. For reasons.
Favorite Quotes
"Look at this! Huh! It's a plant not unlike begonia eiromischa!" (Parrish)
"Oh God. Lorne warned me about this." (John)
"Yeah, FYI, this conversation ended six seconds ago." (Rodney)
"You realize it's highly unlikely you're actually gonna find anything?" (Rodney)
"Well. Then I will have wasted an hour of my time and you'll be able to tell me, 'I told you so.'" (Radek)
"Hmm!" (Rodney)
"If, on the other hand, I do find something, perhaps they'll name something after me for a change." (Radek)
"Well, you'll think of something." (Radek)
"Really? What makes you so sure?" (Rodney)
"Well, because you're brilliant." (Radek)
"It's true. Doesn't mean I'm gonna sudd--wait a minute. What did you just say? Why did you say that? What, are you sick? Am I sick? What have you heard?" (Rodney)
"You're an interesting man, Sheppard. You travel to another galaxy, risk your life defending a bunch of people you don't even know. You ask me, you're either someone with a death wish or someone running away from something. So tell me: what are you running away from?" (Kolya)
~*~
Well, that wraps up today. Join me on Wednesday for the spectacularly guest-star filled "Brain Storm."
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
SGA Rewatch: First Contact
Well hello there. Welcome to another edition of the Stargate Atlantis Rewatch. Today's episode, season five's "First Contact," brings us to the midway point of the season. It also brings back a familiar Stargate face. Spoilers for the episode and any that came before it!
What Happened
John and Rodney head to the gate to meet a visiting dignitary. Rodney complains about it and that he has been pulled away from his work for the reception. They meet Woolsey and Chuck declares that the visitor is ready to beam in. There is a flash of light and Daniel Jackson is standing in front of them. Woolsey welcomes him and he says hello. Rodney grumbles.
Daniel says he would like to get started right away and Rodney asks him what he's there for. Daniel says that he thinks he's figured out the location of the Ancient Janus' secret lab and it's on Atlantis. Apparently Daniel found the journals of some of Janus' assistants and thinks he's found mention of where Janus might have been conducting his unauthorized research.
Meanwhile, Woolsey is gearing up to take the Daedalus to meet up with Todd so Jennifer can get to work on testing her wraith treatment. John doesn't want to stay behind but Woolsey says that since he has to go, that means that per protocol John has to remain behind in command of the city. Ronon finds Jennifer packing up to go and says he thinks he should go along too, just in case. Because, you know, wraith. Jennifer sees through his thin excuse to accompany her but doesn't mind and as they head out they see Rodney. She says goodbye and tells him to wish them luck. The "us" gives him pause and he sees that Ronon is going too. Ronon catches his eye and smirks at him as Rodney looks on in disappointment.
Daniel and Rodney head to the described corridor. It is in a part of the city that was damaged by flooding the first year so is more or less abandoned. Daniel notices where three light fixtures would have been hung on the wall and asks Rodney if they were saved. Rodney says probably and they check the inventory. Daniel wants to go claim them and put them back in place, saying he thinks he's on to something. Daniel gets them plugged in and notices that each light makes a different tone when it is plugged in. He asks Rodney if that's normal and Rodney says no. Daniel is in his element with a puzzle to solve and gets to trying to figure out the right sequence of tones to reveal the entrance to the lab. Rodney is looking at the wall at the end of the corridor and he tells Daniel to wait a moment.
Rodney switches places with Daniel and tells him on the count of three to push up against the wall as hard as he can. Daniel does so and Rodney hits the three lights in quick order. Daniel falls through the wall. Rodney's face lights up and he hits the lights again then follows Daniel through. He finds himself in a dark room with a disgruntled Daniel on the floor. Rodney explains that the wall was specially designed to destabilize when a specific frequency (the tones) is introduced. He says it was something similar to what Tesla was working on before Edison "trashed his lab."
They turn on the lights and look around, awed to find themselves indeed in Janus' secret lab. They do not notice a light on a device that begins blinking when they enter. On another planet somewhere a light on a Ancient console begins flashing as well. An armored being barks out an order to alert the others that "the device" has been activated.
On the Daedalus Jennifer finds Woolsey in the mess. He comments that it is a rare sight these days to see her without her "burly protector" Ronon and she replies that Ronon is still in the lab. She asks Woolsey what he is working on. He tells her he is writing a speech to recognize the historic nature of their new venture. He hasn't gotten very far with it though.
John steps into the secret lab, impressed by the hidden doorway. John asks what happens if the sound stops while someone is in the wall and Rodney answers that the wall would break apart that someone's body. But he's already set up a generator to keep the tone going so that doesn't happen. John asks how their progress is going. They say that all of the data is pretty encrypted but they are working on it. John comments that Rodney and Daniel seem make a great team and they both look a little askew at the comment.
The wraith and the Daedalus meet up and a delegation of wraith arrive on the human ship. Woolsey greets them and begins his speech but Todd interrupts him and says he's like to get started as soon as possible so Woolsey defers to Jennifer and they head to the lab, escorted by Ronon and several soldiers.
Rodney and Daniel work late into the night and have a bonding moment. Over the ocean a hyperspace window opens and a small ship speeds across the water towards the city. Chuck picks it up and when he looks at the readings he pages John to the control room. Amelia tells him a small ship is closing in on the city. John orders the shields up and the jumpers ready, but the ship just flies right through the shield. Amelia remarks that Ancient ships can pass through their shield.
The ship stops over one of the piers and John has Teyla and a team of marines gear up and meet him there. Three figures with jet packs drop out of the ship and make their way into the city. They are each holding a piece of a metal disk and they assemble it on the floor. As John's team arrives they stand on the disk and before anyone can get a shot off, a shield protects the three intruders and the disk burrows through the floor and drops down out of sight. John and Teyla run to the hole and John asks what is at the bottom of this tower. Teyla answers, "Rodney."
John radios Rodney in the lab and tells him he needs to get out of there immediately. Before he can explain however, the intruders come into the lab. They stun Rodney and Daniel and grab them and the device with the blinking light. John and Teyla get to the corridor but one of the intruders fends them off with an energy shield while the others take their prizes right back up through the hole they bored and into the ship. They manage to kill the third intruder but not before the ship escapes with Rodney and Daniel aboard.
John calls for Radek to come investigate the intruder. He doesn't get any coherent readings from the creature and suggests a medical scanner to see if it is actually dead. As the intruder is carried away John comments that they knew exactly where they were going. Teyla says one of them was carrying a device when they came out of the lab. They go into the lab to try to figure out what was taken. The scenes cut between Rodney, in a cell with Daniel on the ship, and John in the lab figuring out that initializing the Ancient equipment in the lab must have activated a device connected to another ancient device by a subspace signal, which alerted the intruders and led them to Atlantis.
Radek tries to scan the intruder but it is emitting some kind of EM signal that is interfering with the equipment. He says all he knows for sure is they've never seen anything like it before. John orders him to try cutting open the armor. The armor proves impenetrable but John notices the neck is a different material and has Radek try cutting there. He manages to penetrate it, but it sets off a signal and they realize that they've activated a self-destruct. They all manage to make it out of the lab before the intruder explodes, but they've lost any evidence they might have gotten to track its origins.
On the Daedalus Jennifer tells Todd they've run simulations based on scans they've taken of wraith that they've held in captivity and they have all been successful. Todd points out that simulations and live trials are very different, but Jennifer defends her research. She wonders aloud if Todd even wants the treatment to work. Todd says he does see the benefits, even if it is only administered to part of his army, to those who are expendable. Jennifer argues it is for their benefit as well, it would end the war between wraith and humans. He acknowledges that might be so but asks then what would the wraith do? Who would they be?
The alien ship arrives at a base on a snow-covered blizzardy planet. The aliens toss Daniel and Rodney in a lab that also appears to be of Lantean construction and order the pair to get the device working, locking them in when they leave. They guess that they are probably in another one of Janus' secret labs, which means hope of rescue is small.
In Atlantis John has marines on standby in the hopes they get some contact from Rodney or a lead on where he and Daniel have been taken. Radek takes John's theory about the subspace signal and starts going over the logs to try to extrapolate the signal that drew the aliens there and perhaps to where it had been broadcasting.
Daniel notes that the facility is drawing an unusually large amount of power and Rodney, looking over some other data, says he thinks he knows why. He tells Daniel he thinks he's figured out what the device does. It's an endgame machine. If it works, it would completely stop the wraith in their tracks, leading to their eventual destruction. It creates a type of subspace static that targets the wraith hyperdrive technology (apparently every culture's hyperdrive technology operates at a unique frequency). Basically, if the device is turned on, every time a wraith ship enters hyperdrive it self-destructs. Daniel asks what the catch is. Rodney says Janus ran a three-day test and then shut it down due to "unforeseen side effects," which he helpfully gives no specifics of in his notes. He took the key to making the device work back with him to Atlantis, and that is what the aliens retrieved when they took Daniel and Rodney. Rodney tells Daniel that he probably can make the device work without any problems, the question is whether or not they should. They both kind of agree that it's a bad idea. Daniel suggests they reason with the aliens to convince them not to use the device.
They call one of the aliens and Daniel tries his whole spiel. When his "the device isn't safe" speech doesn't seem to work he tries saying they need to call in a larger team in order to fix the device. The alien turns to Rodney and tells him to get the device working in an hour or he will kill Daniel, then he leaves. As he goes, Daniel starts to ponder why the aliens are still in their armor, wondering if they are protective suits of some kind. Rodney really isn't interested in his speculation, however, preferring instead to find a way to keep them alive.
On Atlantis Radek thinks he has found the aliens' planet, which of course doesn't have a stargate. The Daedalus is out of communications range and the rendezvous point with the wraith isn't gate-convenient either. John tells Radek to boost the subspace communicator in one of the jumpers. He wants to gate as close as he can to where the Daedalus is and try to hail them on the radio to come pick them up and take them to the planet.
Rodney gets the device operational, though he doesn't turn it on. It wasn't actually broken, just shut down. Daniel tries to tell him he doesn't have to do this but Rodney doesn't want them to kill Daniel (or himself, but also Daniel). He turns it on and checks the readings. Everything is in the green and no sign of the unforeseen side-effects. The men each breath a sigh of relief.
Woolsey finds Todd and tells him he has an urgent message from one of his ships. He hands him a comm so he can take it in private. Todd takes the call and says that one of his hives is under attack. Two of his ships will leave to deal with the situation, though he will stay behind to continue the work with Jennifer. The hives prepare to jump away and disintegrate as the crew watches in shock. Todd demands to know how they did that and Woolsey tries to catch up. Todd claims that they tricked him and this was their plan all along, he pulls a weapon of some sort out of his sleeve. He says they have somehow found the Attero device. Before they can protest their innocence he activates his weapon and everyone is knocked unconscious. His hive that remained behind contacts him and asks what they should do. Todd replies that he has taken control of the Daedalus and will begin beaming his people over soon, they are going to take the ship.
Ronon, unaware of what has happened, walks through the ship and comes across a group of wraith being beamed in. They do not see him so he works his way to the lab and grabs Jennifer. He takes her down to the armory to get her a gun while Todd's people get to work locking down the ships systems and moving the crew to confinement. Todd sees Jennifer and Ronon on the ship's sensors and with the press of a few buttons, they are locked in a corridor.
Rodney finds a log that reveals the side-effect of the device. He says it is going to affect the rest of the galaxy, including Atlantis. He moves to shut it down but the aliens come in and order them away from the device, stunning them when they refuse.
John gets his jumper loaded up and he and Teyla prepare to leave with a team of marines. Radek goes down to the control room and orders the gate dialed up. Chuck notices a power spike when they activate the gate, it is coming from within the event horizon. They try to shut down the gate but are unable. John heads down to find out what's up and Radek tells him that if the power continues to build the gate will explode. They have ninety seconds maybe. Amelia chimes in more like sixty. There is no way to evacuate the tower in that time, let alone the whole city, which would definitely be affected by such an explosion.
John orders Radek to collapse the city's shield around the gate to contain the explosion. The blast is contained but the energy needs to be diffused before they can let the shield down. It needs about a minute but the emitters are fried and it won't last that long. John orders everyone but him and Radek out and tells them to start falling back to the edge of the city while Radek works to keep the shields up. It looks like they are going to make it but Radek says it's not enough. Zoom out to the exterior of the tower and an explosion blows out the windows of the control room.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Commentary
So. Much. Happening in this episode. And it really seems like a lot of random plot threads, but they honestly do all tie together quite nicely. It's kind of impressive, actually. Let me see if I can run this down:
Janus invented this "endgame" device, which Todd called the Attero device, but after testing it for three days during the war with the wraith he shut it down and removed a key component to keep anyone from stumbling across it and activating it. This was because of "unforeseen side-effects" which you know have something to do with Atlantis' gate exploding. Anything that makes stargates explode is Not Good. Some as yet unknown race did manage to discover Janus' lab and learn about the device but realized that they are missing that key component to make it work. So they have been keeping an eye out hoping someone would activate said device so they could find it. Which Daniel and Rodney did when they found Janus' secret lab on Atlantis.
Meanwhile Jennifer and Todd are getting underway on trying to make her treatment work to cure (at least some of) the wraith of the need to feed on humans. This is great progress towards ending the millennia-long war between humans and wraith. Though it is clear that Todd has some reservations about that particular outcome, unsure of what it would mean for the identity of his race. When the Attero device is activated, however, he fears he has been double-crossed (knowing that the device was of Ancient origins) and realizing that his ships can't travel through hyperspace anymore he decides to hijack the Daedalus. Luckily for Jennifer, Ronon tagged along to get into her good graces and so the two of them have managed to elude capture by the wraith and have a shot at getting out of the situation.
John, knowing where Rodney is, just needs a way to get to him. Unfortunately, he seems to have been exploded, so that is going to put a damper on his progress. At the very least, he now has no access to either a stargate or a hyperspace-capable ship because of everything else going on so any rescue attempt is kind of on hold until that gets sorted out.
Whew. And this is only the first half of a two-parter.
It's crazy that the first half of the season has been almost calm, slowly getting all of the characters into position and establishing new relationships (working and personal) so that everything was in place for events to completely explode all at once here at mid-season. Because now? Yeah, things are definitely moving forward.
I do have to say that Daniel Jackson is probably my all-time favorite character from Stargate SG-1, and having Michael Shanks show up on Atlantis to reprise the role just fills me with delight. First off, it is quite obvious that Daniel is in his element in Atlantis. This is where he belongs. This is where the story should have brought him long before. Oh my mind is full of an alternate version of this series where that happened and it is magical. Plus, Daniel + Rodney = much head exploding glee. Those two together, well, let's just say that I agree with John's assessment that they make a great team, precisely because of the reasons that they don't. Their bickering and banter is almost as amusing as what John and Rodney have going.
On a semi-related note, I love that there is a whole emerging group of people who are starting to realize what a complete dick Thomas Edison was to Nikola Tesla and working to get that information out into the world. That just tickles me any time I see mention of it. Because, seriously, Tesla was on to some cool stuff that could have revolutionized the technological foundations of our very society had he not been so repeatedly screwed over. (Or at least been able to seek proper treatment for some of his mental issues, of which he admittedly had a few.) I bet Steampunk delves into this, actually. But I digress.
Favorite Quotes
"I've been over Janus' data entries with a fine-tooth comb. I never saw any mention of a secret lab." (Rodney)
"Janus was doing a lot of work that wasn't exactly approved by the Ancient Council, so it's not hard to imagine he wouldn't include a full account in this very public database. I mean, do you include all of your research in your official reports?" (Daniel)
"Just get to the point." (Rodney)
"Okay. He never talked about it in his entries, but several of Janus' peers suspected he had a 'bastion of unfettered thought and experimentation' or, as one of his lovers put it..." (Daniel)
"He had lovers?!" (Rodney)
"...'an isle of solitude within the city walls.'" (Daniel)
"Well that could just mean he's hard to talk to. People say things like that about me all the time." (Rodney)
"You're in command here until I get back, understood?" (Woolsey)
"Okay." (John)
"Try not to blow her up while I'm gone." (Woolsey)
"No promises." (John)
"Well, it's remote, that's promising. He wouldn't want anyone around when he came in and out of his lab." (Daniel)
"Ooh, like the Batcave!" (Rodney)
"Seriously, is everything a competition with you?" (Daniel)
"I'm not sure what you're talking about." (Rodney)
"I just found you a secret lab full of really cool Ancient stuff. I kind of think that should score me some points here." (Daniel)
"Okay, I will admit that I may have been a little brusque with you up until now." (Rodney)
"Just a little." (Daniel)
"But the truth is I really didn't think you were gonna find anything." (Rodney)
"Well, that much I actually understand." (Daniel)
"You do?" (Rodney)
"Yeah. I've spent the majority of my professional life being ridiculed for my theories--most of which turned out to be correct by the way. I'm kind of used to it Rodney." (Daniel)
"Doesn't that bother you? I mean, there's no vindication, no recognition, no credit." (Rodney)
"Well, I could probably say the same thing about you. The discoveries you've made, you probably could have won the Nobel Prize five times over by now." (Daniel)
"It's too true. So. I guess none of us signed up to get famous, huh?" (Rodney)
"No, we did it for the money." (Daniel)
"Good one! ....Wait a minute. You don't get paid more than I, do you? ....Do you?" (Rodney)
"What the hell happened?" (Rodney)
"We were attacked." (Daniel)
"That much I got, thanks. By who?" (Rodney)
"I was kinda hoping you could tell me." (Daniel)
"We've got one thing going for us at least." (Rodney)
"What's that?" (Daniel)
"We're not dead yet." (Rodney)
"Well you work on understanding them, I'll work on trying not to get us killed." (Rodney)
"Are we still alive?" (Rodney)
"I think so. I'd hate to think heaven looks like this." (Daniel)
"Who says we went to heaven?" (Rodney)
"Hmm." (Daniel)
~*~
Whew. Well, yeah, I adored the banter, sorry. That means a ton of quotes. See you back here on Monday for the thrilling conclusion to this particular story, "The Lost Tribe."
Also, now that we are halfway through the final season of this series, I think it is time to start considering what my next Rewatch will be. I've put a poll up there over on the right of the screen. Please take a moment to check it out and vote. I'll leave it up for a few more weeks and then make an announcement after we wrap up Stargate Atlantis!
What Happened
John and Rodney head to the gate to meet a visiting dignitary. Rodney complains about it and that he has been pulled away from his work for the reception. They meet Woolsey and Chuck declares that the visitor is ready to beam in. There is a flash of light and Daniel Jackson is standing in front of them. Woolsey welcomes him and he says hello. Rodney grumbles.
Daniel says he would like to get started right away and Rodney asks him what he's there for. Daniel says that he thinks he's figured out the location of the Ancient Janus' secret lab and it's on Atlantis. Apparently Daniel found the journals of some of Janus' assistants and thinks he's found mention of where Janus might have been conducting his unauthorized research.
Meanwhile, Woolsey is gearing up to take the Daedalus to meet up with Todd so Jennifer can get to work on testing her wraith treatment. John doesn't want to stay behind but Woolsey says that since he has to go, that means that per protocol John has to remain behind in command of the city. Ronon finds Jennifer packing up to go and says he thinks he should go along too, just in case. Because, you know, wraith. Jennifer sees through his thin excuse to accompany her but doesn't mind and as they head out they see Rodney. She says goodbye and tells him to wish them luck. The "us" gives him pause and he sees that Ronon is going too. Ronon catches his eye and smirks at him as Rodney looks on in disappointment.
Daniel and Rodney head to the described corridor. It is in a part of the city that was damaged by flooding the first year so is more or less abandoned. Daniel notices where three light fixtures would have been hung on the wall and asks Rodney if they were saved. Rodney says probably and they check the inventory. Daniel wants to go claim them and put them back in place, saying he thinks he's on to something. Daniel gets them plugged in and notices that each light makes a different tone when it is plugged in. He asks Rodney if that's normal and Rodney says no. Daniel is in his element with a puzzle to solve and gets to trying to figure out the right sequence of tones to reveal the entrance to the lab. Rodney is looking at the wall at the end of the corridor and he tells Daniel to wait a moment.
Rodney switches places with Daniel and tells him on the count of three to push up against the wall as hard as he can. Daniel does so and Rodney hits the three lights in quick order. Daniel falls through the wall. Rodney's face lights up and he hits the lights again then follows Daniel through. He finds himself in a dark room with a disgruntled Daniel on the floor. Rodney explains that the wall was specially designed to destabilize when a specific frequency (the tones) is introduced. He says it was something similar to what Tesla was working on before Edison "trashed his lab."
They turn on the lights and look around, awed to find themselves indeed in Janus' secret lab. They do not notice a light on a device that begins blinking when they enter. On another planet somewhere a light on a Ancient console begins flashing as well. An armored being barks out an order to alert the others that "the device" has been activated.
On the Daedalus Jennifer finds Woolsey in the mess. He comments that it is a rare sight these days to see her without her "burly protector" Ronon and she replies that Ronon is still in the lab. She asks Woolsey what he is working on. He tells her he is writing a speech to recognize the historic nature of their new venture. He hasn't gotten very far with it though.
John steps into the secret lab, impressed by the hidden doorway. John asks what happens if the sound stops while someone is in the wall and Rodney answers that the wall would break apart that someone's body. But he's already set up a generator to keep the tone going so that doesn't happen. John asks how their progress is going. They say that all of the data is pretty encrypted but they are working on it. John comments that Rodney and Daniel seem make a great team and they both look a little askew at the comment.
The wraith and the Daedalus meet up and a delegation of wraith arrive on the human ship. Woolsey greets them and begins his speech but Todd interrupts him and says he's like to get started as soon as possible so Woolsey defers to Jennifer and they head to the lab, escorted by Ronon and several soldiers.
Rodney and Daniel work late into the night and have a bonding moment. Over the ocean a hyperspace window opens and a small ship speeds across the water towards the city. Chuck picks it up and when he looks at the readings he pages John to the control room. Amelia tells him a small ship is closing in on the city. John orders the shields up and the jumpers ready, but the ship just flies right through the shield. Amelia remarks that Ancient ships can pass through their shield.
The ship stops over one of the piers and John has Teyla and a team of marines gear up and meet him there. Three figures with jet packs drop out of the ship and make their way into the city. They are each holding a piece of a metal disk and they assemble it on the floor. As John's team arrives they stand on the disk and before anyone can get a shot off, a shield protects the three intruders and the disk burrows through the floor and drops down out of sight. John and Teyla run to the hole and John asks what is at the bottom of this tower. Teyla answers, "Rodney."
John radios Rodney in the lab and tells him he needs to get out of there immediately. Before he can explain however, the intruders come into the lab. They stun Rodney and Daniel and grab them and the device with the blinking light. John and Teyla get to the corridor but one of the intruders fends them off with an energy shield while the others take their prizes right back up through the hole they bored and into the ship. They manage to kill the third intruder but not before the ship escapes with Rodney and Daniel aboard.
John calls for Radek to come investigate the intruder. He doesn't get any coherent readings from the creature and suggests a medical scanner to see if it is actually dead. As the intruder is carried away John comments that they knew exactly where they were going. Teyla says one of them was carrying a device when they came out of the lab. They go into the lab to try to figure out what was taken. The scenes cut between Rodney, in a cell with Daniel on the ship, and John in the lab figuring out that initializing the Ancient equipment in the lab must have activated a device connected to another ancient device by a subspace signal, which alerted the intruders and led them to Atlantis.
Radek tries to scan the intruder but it is emitting some kind of EM signal that is interfering with the equipment. He says all he knows for sure is they've never seen anything like it before. John orders him to try cutting open the armor. The armor proves impenetrable but John notices the neck is a different material and has Radek try cutting there. He manages to penetrate it, but it sets off a signal and they realize that they've activated a self-destruct. They all manage to make it out of the lab before the intruder explodes, but they've lost any evidence they might have gotten to track its origins.
On the Daedalus Jennifer tells Todd they've run simulations based on scans they've taken of wraith that they've held in captivity and they have all been successful. Todd points out that simulations and live trials are very different, but Jennifer defends her research. She wonders aloud if Todd even wants the treatment to work. Todd says he does see the benefits, even if it is only administered to part of his army, to those who are expendable. Jennifer argues it is for their benefit as well, it would end the war between wraith and humans. He acknowledges that might be so but asks then what would the wraith do? Who would they be?
The alien ship arrives at a base on a snow-covered blizzardy planet. The aliens toss Daniel and Rodney in a lab that also appears to be of Lantean construction and order the pair to get the device working, locking them in when they leave. They guess that they are probably in another one of Janus' secret labs, which means hope of rescue is small.
In Atlantis John has marines on standby in the hopes they get some contact from Rodney or a lead on where he and Daniel have been taken. Radek takes John's theory about the subspace signal and starts going over the logs to try to extrapolate the signal that drew the aliens there and perhaps to where it had been broadcasting.
Daniel notes that the facility is drawing an unusually large amount of power and Rodney, looking over some other data, says he thinks he knows why. He tells Daniel he thinks he's figured out what the device does. It's an endgame machine. If it works, it would completely stop the wraith in their tracks, leading to their eventual destruction. It creates a type of subspace static that targets the wraith hyperdrive technology (apparently every culture's hyperdrive technology operates at a unique frequency). Basically, if the device is turned on, every time a wraith ship enters hyperdrive it self-destructs. Daniel asks what the catch is. Rodney says Janus ran a three-day test and then shut it down due to "unforeseen side effects," which he helpfully gives no specifics of in his notes. He took the key to making the device work back with him to Atlantis, and that is what the aliens retrieved when they took Daniel and Rodney. Rodney tells Daniel that he probably can make the device work without any problems, the question is whether or not they should. They both kind of agree that it's a bad idea. Daniel suggests they reason with the aliens to convince them not to use the device.
They call one of the aliens and Daniel tries his whole spiel. When his "the device isn't safe" speech doesn't seem to work he tries saying they need to call in a larger team in order to fix the device. The alien turns to Rodney and tells him to get the device working in an hour or he will kill Daniel, then he leaves. As he goes, Daniel starts to ponder why the aliens are still in their armor, wondering if they are protective suits of some kind. Rodney really isn't interested in his speculation, however, preferring instead to find a way to keep them alive.
On Atlantis Radek thinks he has found the aliens' planet, which of course doesn't have a stargate. The Daedalus is out of communications range and the rendezvous point with the wraith isn't gate-convenient either. John tells Radek to boost the subspace communicator in one of the jumpers. He wants to gate as close as he can to where the Daedalus is and try to hail them on the radio to come pick them up and take them to the planet.
Rodney gets the device operational, though he doesn't turn it on. It wasn't actually broken, just shut down. Daniel tries to tell him he doesn't have to do this but Rodney doesn't want them to kill Daniel (or himself, but also Daniel). He turns it on and checks the readings. Everything is in the green and no sign of the unforeseen side-effects. The men each breath a sigh of relief.
Woolsey finds Todd and tells him he has an urgent message from one of his ships. He hands him a comm so he can take it in private. Todd takes the call and says that one of his hives is under attack. Two of his ships will leave to deal with the situation, though he will stay behind to continue the work with Jennifer. The hives prepare to jump away and disintegrate as the crew watches in shock. Todd demands to know how they did that and Woolsey tries to catch up. Todd claims that they tricked him and this was their plan all along, he pulls a weapon of some sort out of his sleeve. He says they have somehow found the Attero device. Before they can protest their innocence he activates his weapon and everyone is knocked unconscious. His hive that remained behind contacts him and asks what they should do. Todd replies that he has taken control of the Daedalus and will begin beaming his people over soon, they are going to take the ship.
Ronon, unaware of what has happened, walks through the ship and comes across a group of wraith being beamed in. They do not see him so he works his way to the lab and grabs Jennifer. He takes her down to the armory to get her a gun while Todd's people get to work locking down the ships systems and moving the crew to confinement. Todd sees Jennifer and Ronon on the ship's sensors and with the press of a few buttons, they are locked in a corridor.
Rodney finds a log that reveals the side-effect of the device. He says it is going to affect the rest of the galaxy, including Atlantis. He moves to shut it down but the aliens come in and order them away from the device, stunning them when they refuse.
John gets his jumper loaded up and he and Teyla prepare to leave with a team of marines. Radek goes down to the control room and orders the gate dialed up. Chuck notices a power spike when they activate the gate, it is coming from within the event horizon. They try to shut down the gate but are unable. John heads down to find out what's up and Radek tells him that if the power continues to build the gate will explode. They have ninety seconds maybe. Amelia chimes in more like sixty. There is no way to evacuate the tower in that time, let alone the whole city, which would definitely be affected by such an explosion.
John orders Radek to collapse the city's shield around the gate to contain the explosion. The blast is contained but the energy needs to be diffused before they can let the shield down. It needs about a minute but the emitters are fried and it won't last that long. John orders everyone but him and Radek out and tells them to start falling back to the edge of the city while Radek works to keep the shields up. It looks like they are going to make it but Radek says it's not enough. Zoom out to the exterior of the tower and an explosion blows out the windows of the control room.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Commentary
So. Much. Happening in this episode. And it really seems like a lot of random plot threads, but they honestly do all tie together quite nicely. It's kind of impressive, actually. Let me see if I can run this down:
Janus invented this "endgame" device, which Todd called the Attero device, but after testing it for three days during the war with the wraith he shut it down and removed a key component to keep anyone from stumbling across it and activating it. This was because of "unforeseen side-effects" which you know have something to do with Atlantis' gate exploding. Anything that makes stargates explode is Not Good. Some as yet unknown race did manage to discover Janus' lab and learn about the device but realized that they are missing that key component to make it work. So they have been keeping an eye out hoping someone would activate said device so they could find it. Which Daniel and Rodney did when they found Janus' secret lab on Atlantis.
Meanwhile Jennifer and Todd are getting underway on trying to make her treatment work to cure (at least some of) the wraith of the need to feed on humans. This is great progress towards ending the millennia-long war between humans and wraith. Though it is clear that Todd has some reservations about that particular outcome, unsure of what it would mean for the identity of his race. When the Attero device is activated, however, he fears he has been double-crossed (knowing that the device was of Ancient origins) and realizing that his ships can't travel through hyperspace anymore he decides to hijack the Daedalus. Luckily for Jennifer, Ronon tagged along to get into her good graces and so the two of them have managed to elude capture by the wraith and have a shot at getting out of the situation.
John, knowing where Rodney is, just needs a way to get to him. Unfortunately, he seems to have been exploded, so that is going to put a damper on his progress. At the very least, he now has no access to either a stargate or a hyperspace-capable ship because of everything else going on so any rescue attempt is kind of on hold until that gets sorted out.
Whew. And this is only the first half of a two-parter.
It's crazy that the first half of the season has been almost calm, slowly getting all of the characters into position and establishing new relationships (working and personal) so that everything was in place for events to completely explode all at once here at mid-season. Because now? Yeah, things are definitely moving forward.
I do have to say that Daniel Jackson is probably my all-time favorite character from Stargate SG-1, and having Michael Shanks show up on Atlantis to reprise the role just fills me with delight. First off, it is quite obvious that Daniel is in his element in Atlantis. This is where he belongs. This is where the story should have brought him long before. Oh my mind is full of an alternate version of this series where that happened and it is magical. Plus, Daniel + Rodney = much head exploding glee. Those two together, well, let's just say that I agree with John's assessment that they make a great team, precisely because of the reasons that they don't. Their bickering and banter is almost as amusing as what John and Rodney have going.
On a semi-related note, I love that there is a whole emerging group of people who are starting to realize what a complete dick Thomas Edison was to Nikola Tesla and working to get that information out into the world. That just tickles me any time I see mention of it. Because, seriously, Tesla was on to some cool stuff that could have revolutionized the technological foundations of our very society had he not been so repeatedly screwed over. (Or at least been able to seek proper treatment for some of his mental issues, of which he admittedly had a few.) I bet Steampunk delves into this, actually. But I digress.
Favorite Quotes
"I've been over Janus' data entries with a fine-tooth comb. I never saw any mention of a secret lab." (Rodney)
"Janus was doing a lot of work that wasn't exactly approved by the Ancient Council, so it's not hard to imagine he wouldn't include a full account in this very public database. I mean, do you include all of your research in your official reports?" (Daniel)
"Just get to the point." (Rodney)
"Okay. He never talked about it in his entries, but several of Janus' peers suspected he had a 'bastion of unfettered thought and experimentation' or, as one of his lovers put it..." (Daniel)
"He had lovers?!" (Rodney)
"...'an isle of solitude within the city walls.'" (Daniel)
"Well that could just mean he's hard to talk to. People say things like that about me all the time." (Rodney)
"You're in command here until I get back, understood?" (Woolsey)
"Okay." (John)
"Try not to blow her up while I'm gone." (Woolsey)
"No promises." (John)
"Well, it's remote, that's promising. He wouldn't want anyone around when he came in and out of his lab." (Daniel)
"Ooh, like the Batcave!" (Rodney)
"Seriously, is everything a competition with you?" (Daniel)
"I'm not sure what you're talking about." (Rodney)
"I just found you a secret lab full of really cool Ancient stuff. I kind of think that should score me some points here." (Daniel)
"Okay, I will admit that I may have been a little brusque with you up until now." (Rodney)
"Just a little." (Daniel)
"But the truth is I really didn't think you were gonna find anything." (Rodney)
"Well, that much I actually understand." (Daniel)
"You do?" (Rodney)
"Yeah. I've spent the majority of my professional life being ridiculed for my theories--most of which turned out to be correct by the way. I'm kind of used to it Rodney." (Daniel)
"Doesn't that bother you? I mean, there's no vindication, no recognition, no credit." (Rodney)
"Well, I could probably say the same thing about you. The discoveries you've made, you probably could have won the Nobel Prize five times over by now." (Daniel)
"It's too true. So. I guess none of us signed up to get famous, huh?" (Rodney)
"No, we did it for the money." (Daniel)
"Good one! ....Wait a minute. You don't get paid more than I, do you? ....Do you?" (Rodney)
"What the hell happened?" (Rodney)
"We were attacked." (Daniel)
"That much I got, thanks. By who?" (Rodney)
"I was kinda hoping you could tell me." (Daniel)
"We've got one thing going for us at least." (Rodney)
"What's that?" (Daniel)
"We're not dead yet." (Rodney)
"Well you work on understanding them, I'll work on trying not to get us killed." (Rodney)
"Are we still alive?" (Rodney)
"I think so. I'd hate to think heaven looks like this." (Daniel)
"Who says we went to heaven?" (Rodney)
"Hmm." (Daniel)
~*~
Whew. Well, yeah, I adored the banter, sorry. That means a ton of quotes. See you back here on Monday for the thrilling conclusion to this particular story, "The Lost Tribe."
Also, now that we are halfway through the final season of this series, I think it is time to start considering what my next Rewatch will be. I've put a poll up there over on the right of the screen. Please take a moment to check it out and vote. I'll leave it up for a few more weeks and then make an announcement after we wrap up Stargate Atlantis!
Monday, May 21, 2012
SGA Rewatch: Ghost in the Machine
Well hello there. It seems we've stumbled into yet another Monday. The good news is that means yet another installment of the Stargate Atlantis Rewatch, woohoo! Today's episode is season five's "Ghost in the Machine." Let's get started, shall we? Bear in mind that this post will contain spoilers for the episode and any that came before.
What Happened
The team is in a jumper returning from an exploratory mission to a planet that seemed really nice, aside from what appeared to be flying monkeys. As they fire up the gate the jumper encounters a power spike and the systems go wonky before power goes out completely. The jumper careens into the side of the gate (which quickly rights itself with the aid of attached thrusters) and then tumbles back toward the planet. Rodney frantically tries to figure out what's wrong and sees that they still have power but it isn't getting to the primary or secondary systems. He rules out the problems being caused by something they encountered on the planet, thinking the issue is with the jumper itself. Just as things start to look dire, their power comes back online and they manage to make it back to the city.
Rodney and Radek get to work trying to figure out what the heck happened. Thankfully it seems isolated, none of the other jumpers are affected. Unfortunately they can't find anything. The jumper appears to be completely functional and they are unable to replicate any of the issues.
Woolsey steps into a transporter and selects his destination. The power flickers and when he steps out of the transporter it is to find that it has taken him to the wrong location. He turns around to go back but the doors have shut behind him and won't open. He tries to radio the control room for help but his radio appears to be out, leaving him stranded on some random balcony.
John walks through the corridors and notices flickering lights. Then he sees a spike of electricity similar to something they experienced in the malfunctioning jumper. He radios Rodney who tells him that he is getting reports of power issues all over the city. As Rodney tries to figure out what's up, Radek comes in to ask if he knows about the problem. Radek says it sounds like what happened in the jumper and maybe it spread to the city's systems. Rodney doesn't think that's possible because he disabled the jumper's network connection before returning, but he can't deny that what is happening in the city is exactly like the problem with the jumper. Systems keep messing up. Woolsey eventually makes his way back to the control room and gets the lowdown from Rodney. Rodney is the only one who doesn't believe it is the same problem from the jumper, but he has no alternate explanation.
As they discuss the situation, the power in the city goes out completely. One of the laptops in the control room boots up by itself and they move in closely to examine it. A string of code starts scrolling across the screen as they watch. It eventually forms the word "help." Rodney types in a question asking "who are you?" and a reply appears on the screen "Elizabeth Weir." They ask where she is and she says in the computer. The power comes back on and they ask if she did that. There is no coherent answer and they ask if she is still there. The answer is "help me."
Rodney manages to merge all of the different parts of the entity that has spread throughout the system. This should hopefully allow normal operations to resume. He gets one massive program assembled and sets it up with a voice simulator so they can talk to "Elizabeth." They say they thought she was dead. She says that her physical body is but her consciousness is still intact. She tells them about what happened to her after being captured by the replicators and being joined to their consensus. But even as a replicator she was still herself, and remnants of Niam's old group sensed that and recruited her.
She explains that they went on the run, persecuted by Oberoth's factor. Once the replicator homeworld was destroyed they were able to pursue their goal of ascension in peace. Elizabeth tried to guide them through the process but it was difficult because of their mechanical nature. One of the replicators, Koracen, thought they should find a technological solution--uploading their consciousnesses into subspace. He believed that would allow them to continue to the next plane of existence. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and they have been trapped in subspace ever since then. They have since been looking for a way to regain physical form. They haven't had much luck though. So Elizabeth sought out Atlantis. She had been searching for them for months before finding the puddle jumper and connecting with it.
Ronon suspects a trick, that the program is an impostor. Rodney thinks the machine he used to create FRAN can give her a body but Woolsey is dead set against it. John suggests uploading her consciousness to a virtual reality like they did with Ava and they consider that for a moment. The discussion ends up being moot, however, as Radek finds the group and tells them that he's picked up energy spikes in the replicator production machine room. It seems Elizabeth found it in the database and decided to take matters into her own hands (or at least give herself hands). They ask Radek if he tried to shut it down and he says yes, to no avail. He also tried radioing the room but communications are offline.
They head down to the room, trying to figure out how to break in but before it comes to that the door slides open, revealing a duplicate of FRAN. She explains that she is Elizabeth and Rodney posits that she was probably in a hurry and just used the last form that was programmed into the machine instead of trying to make it look like her own. Everyone eyes Replizabeth warily and she tries to convince them that she is not a threat. Rodney disables the machine and removes the control crystal. Elizabeth assures them that the alterations Rodney made make her completely not dangerous.
She says she wishes she could convince them that she really is Elizabeth but knows that they are unlikely to believe anything she can tell them, knowing any information she has could easily have been obtained by an enemy replicator interrogating Elizabeth. She does offer them a gift--technical specs of all of the advanced civilizations her group has encountered. Rodney assures them that she is completely safe--she enacted every safety protocol he built in to the original FRAN. He says if they put her in a secure lockdown she will be no threat at all. Woolsey has no intention of keeping her in the city, however. He says they still have no way of knowing that she is really Elizabeth and no way of controlling her if she is not who she says she is. He wants to go with their original plan and upload her consciousness into a virtual reality.
Teyla goes to visit Elizabeth (who is being kept under heavy guard) and reveals that she has had a child since last they met. Elizabeth is very happy for her and asks after the child--thinking upon hearing his name that he might be John's. When Teyla says no, that the father is Athosian Elizabeth guesses that it is Kanaan. She asks if the baby is in Atlantis and Teyla hesitates and lies saying that he is offworld with his father. John comes in and Teyla leaves. As they are talking she gets a far away look and John asks her what's wrong. She says that the others have found her and are on their way to Atlantis.
They scramble to get ready and find some way to protect the city. There are eight more on their way. They arrive and systems in the city start to go haywire. That many consciousnesses at once are way too much for Atlantis to handle. Radek orders one of his men to pull the ZPM to deny them power, but the scientist is killed by the electric discharge.
Koracen makes contact with them via the computer. Elizabeth tries to tell him they need to leave and he says they will, once they have been given bodies like Elizabeth. They tell him that's not an option and he says if they don't comply they will pay. The replicators disable the shield and begin to sink the city. Elizabeth tries to communicate, telling them to stop but they won't listen. Woolsey tells her to tell them to go ahead, but if they destroy the city, they destroy their only chance of regaining physical form. They say they will continue and Woolsey says fine and they back off.
Elizabeth comes up with a possible solution. She suggests building human bodies, like the other replicators made copies of the team from. If they give them temporary replicator bodies they can build the human forms and then transfer, which will render them just as vulnerable as any other human. The others agree to this suggestion and with insistence on several security precautions, so does Woolsey.
John asks Woolsey what they will do with the replicators once they have human bodies and Woolsey says he sees no reason not to let them go at that point. He thinks maybe they could even become powerful allies. John asks what if one of them wants to stay, clearly meaning Elizabeth. Woolsey says they will cross that bridge when they get to it.
The replicators are given bodies and get to work under close observation by Rodney and Ronon. After a while Koracen makes a creepy face at the camera and then power in the lab goes out. Ronon goes after him, finding Koracen in the corridor, but he just tosses Ronon aside like a doll. A group of marines tries to stop him but it doesn't even slow him down. The rest of the replicators protest their innocence and remain under guard in the lab. Elizabeth is missing, however, and they learn she has gone after Koracen.
John finds Koracen and asks him why he is going against the plan. He says a human body is frail and weak, and he'll never live long enough to figure out ascension. His only chance is of doing that in his replicator body. He knocks John out and runs off. John gets back up and finds Elizabeth. She tries to convince John that she didn't know what Koracen was up to, but Koracen appears and says the whole thing was Elizabeth's idea. That she told them they needed to go to Atlantis and when to come. She helps him deal with Koracen (by sticking her hand into his head and dissolving him into his component parts), swearing that she didn't know he would rebel. She really thought they weren't a danger to the city.
Once Koracen is dealt with, Woolsey says he has decided to let the rest of them continue their experiment. Elizabeth says no, there is too much chance it will go wrong. She has another idea. She and the others leave Atlantis and it seems as if they are going to their old homeworld to continue working on their human bodies. Elizabeth steps through the gate first and after a moment one of the others says it is safe and they follow, only to find themselves stepping into space, soon to be frozen solid and rendered inert. Apparently Elizabeth had Rodney reconfigure the DHD so the others would think they were returning to their planet, but instead they were going to the space gate so they would no longer be a threat to Atlantis or the galaxy. Rodney remarks that he guesses that answers the question of whether or not she was really Elizabeth.
The episode closes on Elizabeth drifting in space, her eyes still moving as her body shuts down.
Commentary
Wow, this episode ties together pretty much every replicator story line this series has ever had. It is craziness. Still, I think it is kind of a cool episode even if you don't remember or hadn't seen all of those previous stories. I like the concept of the replicators trying a mechanical type of ascension when the traditional methods continue to fail for them. I also kind of like that even that solution didn't work for them though. That could just be because my personal opinion about ascension is that it is rather pointless, but hey, to each his own.
Also, I would like to take a moment to be completely wowed buy how well Michelle Morgan nailed being Elizabeth Weir. While Rodney's explanation for why Elizabeth gave herself a body using the FRAN template was perfectly reasonable, the real truth is that Torri Higginson didn't like the direction the writers were taking her character and refused to reprise the role. But I think it worked out really well the way they ended up handling it, and as I said, the actress who played Elizabeth in this episode did a good job of incorporating the character's mannerisms and speech and gave a pretty good impression of still being Elizabeth, even if her body was different. It is also amusing to me that the character's arc gets closed off with a different actress, considering that when the character of Elizabeth Weir first made her appearance in the Stargate universe, over on SG-1 (she actually ran the SGC for a little while), she was played by yet another actress. Jessica Steen was the first to play Elizabeth. So yeah, nice little bit of random symmetry there.
I also really liked "Eizabeth's" interaction with the other characters. First, there was Teyla, taking the time to visit and catch her up on what she had missed, but still not quite trusting her enough to let her see Torren, or even to let Elizabeth know he was in the city. Rodney seemed more willing to believe, and his expression of guilt about all that has befallen Elizabeth since he reactivated the nanites in her was a brilliant character moment. Then there was John's hopeful little scene where it is clear that he wants Elizabeth to stay in Atlantis as soon as she has a human body and is definitively no longer a threat.
Then there was Woolsey. Dude. Woolsey calling the bluff when the replicator consciousnesses started to sink the city. That right there was some pretty amazing stuff. I don't think that's a reaction that anyone would have expected out of him. But he pulled it off impressively. I think it is a sign that he is learning to roll with the punches in the Pegasus galaxy and coming into his own as leader of the expedition. Even Elizabeth, when she left, seemed to be giving him her stamp of approval as her replacement.
So overall this was a really cool episode. I like that it drew from the series' history and gave us closure to Elizabeth's character and that random teaser scene from "Be All My Sins Remember'd."
Favorite Quotes
"What the hell was that thing?" (Ronon)
"It just appeared out of nowhere." (Teyla)
"And that shriek scared the crap out of me!" (Rodney)
"Kind of a...flying monkey." (John)
"Flying monkeys! What is this, the planet of Oz?" (Rodney)
"Now as much as you want to be certain that this new FRAN is indeed Doctor Weir, we cannot be certain of that. For all we know it could be Oberoth inside that body." (Woolsey)
"That's creepy." (John)
"Ronon you don't have to stay there the whole time you know." (Woolsey)
"I'm good." (Ronon)
"Talk, talk, talk, that's all he does, you can't shut him up!" (Rodney)
"I truly believed that we were no threat to you." (Elizabeth)
"You may still think that you're Elizabeth, but you're not." (John)
~*~
That's it for today, folks. See you back here on Wednesday for the next episode, "The Shrine."
What Happened
The team is in a jumper returning from an exploratory mission to a planet that seemed really nice, aside from what appeared to be flying monkeys. As they fire up the gate the jumper encounters a power spike and the systems go wonky before power goes out completely. The jumper careens into the side of the gate (which quickly rights itself with the aid of attached thrusters) and then tumbles back toward the planet. Rodney frantically tries to figure out what's wrong and sees that they still have power but it isn't getting to the primary or secondary systems. He rules out the problems being caused by something they encountered on the planet, thinking the issue is with the jumper itself. Just as things start to look dire, their power comes back online and they manage to make it back to the city.
Rodney and Radek get to work trying to figure out what the heck happened. Thankfully it seems isolated, none of the other jumpers are affected. Unfortunately they can't find anything. The jumper appears to be completely functional and they are unable to replicate any of the issues.
Woolsey steps into a transporter and selects his destination. The power flickers and when he steps out of the transporter it is to find that it has taken him to the wrong location. He turns around to go back but the doors have shut behind him and won't open. He tries to radio the control room for help but his radio appears to be out, leaving him stranded on some random balcony.
John walks through the corridors and notices flickering lights. Then he sees a spike of electricity similar to something they experienced in the malfunctioning jumper. He radios Rodney who tells him that he is getting reports of power issues all over the city. As Rodney tries to figure out what's up, Radek comes in to ask if he knows about the problem. Radek says it sounds like what happened in the jumper and maybe it spread to the city's systems. Rodney doesn't think that's possible because he disabled the jumper's network connection before returning, but he can't deny that what is happening in the city is exactly like the problem with the jumper. Systems keep messing up. Woolsey eventually makes his way back to the control room and gets the lowdown from Rodney. Rodney is the only one who doesn't believe it is the same problem from the jumper, but he has no alternate explanation.
As they discuss the situation, the power in the city goes out completely. One of the laptops in the control room boots up by itself and they move in closely to examine it. A string of code starts scrolling across the screen as they watch. It eventually forms the word "help." Rodney types in a question asking "who are you?" and a reply appears on the screen "Elizabeth Weir." They ask where she is and she says in the computer. The power comes back on and they ask if she did that. There is no coherent answer and they ask if she is still there. The answer is "help me."
Rodney manages to merge all of the different parts of the entity that has spread throughout the system. This should hopefully allow normal operations to resume. He gets one massive program assembled and sets it up with a voice simulator so they can talk to "Elizabeth." They say they thought she was dead. She says that her physical body is but her consciousness is still intact. She tells them about what happened to her after being captured by the replicators and being joined to their consensus. But even as a replicator she was still herself, and remnants of Niam's old group sensed that and recruited her.
She explains that they went on the run, persecuted by Oberoth's factor. Once the replicator homeworld was destroyed they were able to pursue their goal of ascension in peace. Elizabeth tried to guide them through the process but it was difficult because of their mechanical nature. One of the replicators, Koracen, thought they should find a technological solution--uploading their consciousnesses into subspace. He believed that would allow them to continue to the next plane of existence. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and they have been trapped in subspace ever since then. They have since been looking for a way to regain physical form. They haven't had much luck though. So Elizabeth sought out Atlantis. She had been searching for them for months before finding the puddle jumper and connecting with it.
Ronon suspects a trick, that the program is an impostor. Rodney thinks the machine he used to create FRAN can give her a body but Woolsey is dead set against it. John suggests uploading her consciousness to a virtual reality like they did with Ava and they consider that for a moment. The discussion ends up being moot, however, as Radek finds the group and tells them that he's picked up energy spikes in the replicator production machine room. It seems Elizabeth found it in the database and decided to take matters into her own hands (or at least give herself hands). They ask Radek if he tried to shut it down and he says yes, to no avail. He also tried radioing the room but communications are offline.
They head down to the room, trying to figure out how to break in but before it comes to that the door slides open, revealing a duplicate of FRAN. She explains that she is Elizabeth and Rodney posits that she was probably in a hurry and just used the last form that was programmed into the machine instead of trying to make it look like her own. Everyone eyes Replizabeth warily and she tries to convince them that she is not a threat. Rodney disables the machine and removes the control crystal. Elizabeth assures them that the alterations Rodney made make her completely not dangerous.
She says she wishes she could convince them that she really is Elizabeth but knows that they are unlikely to believe anything she can tell them, knowing any information she has could easily have been obtained by an enemy replicator interrogating Elizabeth. She does offer them a gift--technical specs of all of the advanced civilizations her group has encountered. Rodney assures them that she is completely safe--she enacted every safety protocol he built in to the original FRAN. He says if they put her in a secure lockdown she will be no threat at all. Woolsey has no intention of keeping her in the city, however. He says they still have no way of knowing that she is really Elizabeth and no way of controlling her if she is not who she says she is. He wants to go with their original plan and upload her consciousness into a virtual reality.
Teyla goes to visit Elizabeth (who is being kept under heavy guard) and reveals that she has had a child since last they met. Elizabeth is very happy for her and asks after the child--thinking upon hearing his name that he might be John's. When Teyla says no, that the father is Athosian Elizabeth guesses that it is Kanaan. She asks if the baby is in Atlantis and Teyla hesitates and lies saying that he is offworld with his father. John comes in and Teyla leaves. As they are talking she gets a far away look and John asks her what's wrong. She says that the others have found her and are on their way to Atlantis.
They scramble to get ready and find some way to protect the city. There are eight more on their way. They arrive and systems in the city start to go haywire. That many consciousnesses at once are way too much for Atlantis to handle. Radek orders one of his men to pull the ZPM to deny them power, but the scientist is killed by the electric discharge.
Koracen makes contact with them via the computer. Elizabeth tries to tell him they need to leave and he says they will, once they have been given bodies like Elizabeth. They tell him that's not an option and he says if they don't comply they will pay. The replicators disable the shield and begin to sink the city. Elizabeth tries to communicate, telling them to stop but they won't listen. Woolsey tells her to tell them to go ahead, but if they destroy the city, they destroy their only chance of regaining physical form. They say they will continue and Woolsey says fine and they back off.
Elizabeth comes up with a possible solution. She suggests building human bodies, like the other replicators made copies of the team from. If they give them temporary replicator bodies they can build the human forms and then transfer, which will render them just as vulnerable as any other human. The others agree to this suggestion and with insistence on several security precautions, so does Woolsey.
John asks Woolsey what they will do with the replicators once they have human bodies and Woolsey says he sees no reason not to let them go at that point. He thinks maybe they could even become powerful allies. John asks what if one of them wants to stay, clearly meaning Elizabeth. Woolsey says they will cross that bridge when they get to it.
The replicators are given bodies and get to work under close observation by Rodney and Ronon. After a while Koracen makes a creepy face at the camera and then power in the lab goes out. Ronon goes after him, finding Koracen in the corridor, but he just tosses Ronon aside like a doll. A group of marines tries to stop him but it doesn't even slow him down. The rest of the replicators protest their innocence and remain under guard in the lab. Elizabeth is missing, however, and they learn she has gone after Koracen.
John finds Koracen and asks him why he is going against the plan. He says a human body is frail and weak, and he'll never live long enough to figure out ascension. His only chance is of doing that in his replicator body. He knocks John out and runs off. John gets back up and finds Elizabeth. She tries to convince John that she didn't know what Koracen was up to, but Koracen appears and says the whole thing was Elizabeth's idea. That she told them they needed to go to Atlantis and when to come. She helps him deal with Koracen (by sticking her hand into his head and dissolving him into his component parts), swearing that she didn't know he would rebel. She really thought they weren't a danger to the city.
Once Koracen is dealt with, Woolsey says he has decided to let the rest of them continue their experiment. Elizabeth says no, there is too much chance it will go wrong. She has another idea. She and the others leave Atlantis and it seems as if they are going to their old homeworld to continue working on their human bodies. Elizabeth steps through the gate first and after a moment one of the others says it is safe and they follow, only to find themselves stepping into space, soon to be frozen solid and rendered inert. Apparently Elizabeth had Rodney reconfigure the DHD so the others would think they were returning to their planet, but instead they were going to the space gate so they would no longer be a threat to Atlantis or the galaxy. Rodney remarks that he guesses that answers the question of whether or not she was really Elizabeth.
The episode closes on Elizabeth drifting in space, her eyes still moving as her body shuts down.
Commentary
Wow, this episode ties together pretty much every replicator story line this series has ever had. It is craziness. Still, I think it is kind of a cool episode even if you don't remember or hadn't seen all of those previous stories. I like the concept of the replicators trying a mechanical type of ascension when the traditional methods continue to fail for them. I also kind of like that even that solution didn't work for them though. That could just be because my personal opinion about ascension is that it is rather pointless, but hey, to each his own.
Also, I would like to take a moment to be completely wowed buy how well Michelle Morgan nailed being Elizabeth Weir. While Rodney's explanation for why Elizabeth gave herself a body using the FRAN template was perfectly reasonable, the real truth is that Torri Higginson didn't like the direction the writers were taking her character and refused to reprise the role. But I think it worked out really well the way they ended up handling it, and as I said, the actress who played Elizabeth in this episode did a good job of incorporating the character's mannerisms and speech and gave a pretty good impression of still being Elizabeth, even if her body was different. It is also amusing to me that the character's arc gets closed off with a different actress, considering that when the character of Elizabeth Weir first made her appearance in the Stargate universe, over on SG-1 (she actually ran the SGC for a little while), she was played by yet another actress. Jessica Steen was the first to play Elizabeth. So yeah, nice little bit of random symmetry there.
I also really liked "Eizabeth's" interaction with the other characters. First, there was Teyla, taking the time to visit and catch her up on what she had missed, but still not quite trusting her enough to let her see Torren, or even to let Elizabeth know he was in the city. Rodney seemed more willing to believe, and his expression of guilt about all that has befallen Elizabeth since he reactivated the nanites in her was a brilliant character moment. Then there was John's hopeful little scene where it is clear that he wants Elizabeth to stay in Atlantis as soon as she has a human body and is definitively no longer a threat.
Then there was Woolsey. Dude. Woolsey calling the bluff when the replicator consciousnesses started to sink the city. That right there was some pretty amazing stuff. I don't think that's a reaction that anyone would have expected out of him. But he pulled it off impressively. I think it is a sign that he is learning to roll with the punches in the Pegasus galaxy and coming into his own as leader of the expedition. Even Elizabeth, when she left, seemed to be giving him her stamp of approval as her replacement.
So overall this was a really cool episode. I like that it drew from the series' history and gave us closure to Elizabeth's character and that random teaser scene from "Be All My Sins Remember'd."
Favorite Quotes
"What the hell was that thing?" (Ronon)
"It just appeared out of nowhere." (Teyla)
"And that shriek scared the crap out of me!" (Rodney)
"Kind of a...flying monkey." (John)
"Flying monkeys! What is this, the planet of Oz?" (Rodney)
"Now as much as you want to be certain that this new FRAN is indeed Doctor Weir, we cannot be certain of that. For all we know it could be Oberoth inside that body." (Woolsey)
"That's creepy." (John)
"Ronon you don't have to stay there the whole time you know." (Woolsey)
"I'm good." (Ronon)
"Talk, talk, talk, that's all he does, you can't shut him up!" (Rodney)
"I truly believed that we were no threat to you." (Elizabeth)
"You may still think that you're Elizabeth, but you're not." (John)
~*~
That's it for today, folks. See you back here on Wednesday for the next episode, "The Shrine."
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