Coup D'etat (217)

[caty]

I loved this episode! The quality of SGA has finally returned with the last two episodes... I couldn't be more excited
it worked out from the beginning to the end and - although it was somehow predictable - left you wanting more...

I really like the team episodes where everybody gets about equally as much screen time. They are a team and they compliment each other. TPTB should really use that more often.

And although I really love McKay, it stands out that all the good episodes this season (IMHO) weren't exactly McKay centered. That oughta tell me something...

I'll have to go back and watch the episode again, but these were the moments that stood out to me:

- Sheppard's attitude when Ladon calls him an errand boy. That was hilarious. (-->"It's Lieutenant Colonel errand boy to you, Ladon")
- McKay being in the "strike team"
- Major Lorne hasn't been red-shirted yet
- Sheppard telling McKay that he'd tell Cowen to kill McKay and let himself go in case they were captured...

Can't think of any more right now, but I'm still amazed...

[Qasim]

It was ok

[leaper]

yep...I concur..everything is again right with the universe. An episode that brought it all back to the way it's supposed to be, in my opinion. This episode certainly going to keep me happy all week.....

[xfkirsten]

I thought this one was great. I'm a big sucker for the Genii, though, so I was just happy to see a story with them! They caught me off guard with the fake-coup-is-really-a-real-coup thing. The fallout from this one will definitely be interesting, though. Now that Leyden's in charge (and has at least outwardly shown a truce with the Lanteans) could they eventually have a new ally? I mean, at least, for the meantime, Atlantis has some of the Genii and I don't see Leyden sacrificing the sister he was so determined to save by aggravating the Lanteans. Or will things go south when the Genii people return home? Leyden came across to me as pretty genuine in the end there.

And visual symbolism got me wondering... I did notice that Weir dressed primarily in black this episode, with only her normal red shirt underneath. The writers, Torri, they've all been talking about Liz's change to a "darker" side. Is the black clothes an outward symbol of that change? From a Weir character standpoint, this episode was BIG. I mean, it was so blink-and-you'll-miss-it that I didn't even realize it til after the episode ended. But she loudly threatened war. Liz. Threatened war. She never would have done that a season ago, with all her ideals of peace and negotiation. Definitely getting darker for her.

[Cynicat]

Damn that was fun!
A nice, tight story, that actually held together from begining to end (instead of loosing the plot somewhere around the middle like previous episodes) with some great team banter, and a decent role for Teyla and Ronon. Leyden is an interesting character, it'll be interesting to see if he returns and gets fleshed out a little more. Weir was definately more proactive this episode, from her "go get us a ZPM" greenlight to McKay and Shep, to her (as xfkirsten said) threat of outright war against the Genii. Go Weir!

The sets were rather spiffy, especially parts to the warehouse, and some great aging on that Genii tunnel. The village exterior looked like a redress of the village from SG-1's "Ties That Bind".

- Poor TechChuck still doesn't have a name *pets him*
- The "wanted posters" were very cute
- Yay team TR! Out there doing their good cop /bad cop shtick
- Ronan getting a little snarky with Dr...
- Damn, Beckett looks fine in scrubs...
- And Weir looked lovely in the red shirt/plain black jacket combo.
- Not to mention Teyla's fetching new outfit, blue is a lovely colour on her.
- Looks like McKay has pulled Shep into his GTZPM tendencies, they were both so little-kid excited when explaining their plan to Weir
- Shep gets a nice headshot on his wanted poster, but McKay is all unflatteringly squinty - poor thing LOL
- SWAT McKay was hilarious, he was trying so hard. His immediate drop-to-knees and faceplant-the-concrete when gassed was great too
- Sheppard's "Shield up" *BOOM*, was very spiffy


Great quotes:

Leyden : "...I have defected from the Genii."
Weir: "Well, good luck with that."

McKay: "We might even be able to light up the engines, and get the city to fly."
Shep: "...really?"
McKay: "Well, no... but we still need it."
"...How stupid do you think I am?"

Shep (channelling Mal Reynolds): "From what I remember, I gave you a pretty good crack on the head last time we met, guess I was kinda hoping it made you simple."
Leyden : "No, it didn't... but ever since then I've been plagued with headaches."
Shep: "Aww, you're just sayin' that to be nice..."

Leyden : "I'm not interested in talking to the errand boy."
Shep: "That's Lt Colonel Errand Boy, to you."

Shep outlines his raid plan to Weir,
Weir: "Good thinking."
Shep: "Coulda been Mensa."

The whole "I'll bargain your life for mine" exchange between Shep and McKay LMAO

McKay: "See how I almost stunned that guy?"
Shep: "Must've missed it"
McKay: "Yeah, but if he was just a step to the right I'd've stunned him for sure!"

McKay:"One tango, middle of the room"
Shep: *blank stare*
McKay:"What, isn't that right?"
Shep: *Eyebrow Of Doom*

McKay: "We in some sort of trouble?
Shep: "Was it the gas or the prison cell that was your first clue?"

[Domesticated Equine]

Wow, that was actually a good episode.

Pros:

- Unlike in the last episode, this time the Atlantis team tried to be cautious and use their brains. For example they didn't answer Lleyton before they realised he knew Atlantis survived, they didn't just let him into the city without checking him out first and they sent a MALP through first when they went to meet him.

- I liked the plot, it was quite believable and I didn't see the final twist coming.

- The Geni leader is more effective as a bad guy then all the wraith put together as he actually does something else than hiss and drool. I cared enough about him as a character to dislike him and be happy when he was blown out.

- I really liked Beckett's scene with Lleyton's sister. Mcgillion was nice in this one and I really got that Beckett's first priority is to save lives and leave politics to others. This was a nice line:
- "Why? Why would you help us?
- "Because I'm a doctor, that's what I do."
In summary, that was a nice character scene which are worth more to me than a thousand space battles.

- Just wanted to mention a line I thought was funny and not out of place. This was when McKay woke up in the prison cell:
-"Are we in some sort of trouble?"
-"Was it the gas or the prison cell that was your first clue?"

- It was nice to get an episode that wasn't just a one-off. Continuity is greatly appreciated and it will interesting to see how the Geni storyline will play out in the future.


Cons:

- I'm still unimpressed by Luttrell's and Momoa's acting and their subplot left me a bit cold. I was happy to see the plot lines converge, however.

- I wouldn't have trusted the Geni myself but I can see how the Atlantian expedition would want to believe in their good side and hope to get another ally.

- Weir's "Go get us a ZPM." felt too cheerful. She was giving the go-ahead to a morally ambiguous and potentially dangerous mission, I would have preferred a more serious tone.

- What was McKay doing in the strike team? Could no one else have used the life-sign detector?

- The weakest point of the plot was how easily the strike force was overcome by the Geni. Was everyone in the gas room and was no one guarding the stunned Geni soldiers? Anyway, this is something I can overlook, maybe the Geni soldiers that gated in later overpowered the rest.


All in all, this was a good episode and my favourite from the second half of the season. I'd still need more character development and emotional impact to label this as a great episode, but if Atlantis stays at this level I'll be quite happy.

***½ / *****

[LurkerLa]

I know this has been mentioned before but this

Weir: Good thinking.
Sheppard: Coulda been Mensa.

just tickled me pink 'cause I love that his whole Mensa thing wasn't just forgotten. Yay!

Also, I really liked Ladon's sister, but I'm not quite sure why... I mean, not that there was a reason to dislike her, just that I don't know why she's standing out to me so much.

Yeah, pointless post.

[Yeade]

What was McKay doing in the strike team? Could no one else have used the life-sign detector?

I haven't watched the episode yet but wanted to give this one a crack. Hope you don't mind.

McKay goes with the strike force because he's on Sheppard's team and him being a scientist doesn't matter. This traces all the way back to "Suspicion," at the end of which McKay voluntarily joins the attempt to capture a Wraith prisoner even though he's pretty damn scared. Sheppard will refuse to take McKay on dangerous missions if he doesn't have much support (e.g. "The Defiant One," "Instinct") but otherwise he encourages McKay to get out in the field. In fact, McKay had probably never handled a weapon before coming to Atlantis--thus his occasional fumbles under fire--and I bet Sheppard taught him how.

This may not make much sense to us, but I think it's a reflection of just how dangerous it can get in Pegasus.

Atlantis is still a predominately civilian mission in S2, with at most maybe an undersized battalion of Marines to protect more than 200 scientists. In S1, there was even less of a military presence--an undersized company, perhaps, of 50 or so.

What this means is that the scientists are going to be out on the front lines, and the military will not always be able to protect or save them if it comes to violence. The civilians can't afford to think like they're civilians.

I suspect the entire expedition has been given at least basic weapons training--both Gaul and Abrams were armed, though neither would be winning any marksmanship awards if they were still alive; Beckett has done his stints as a makeshift soldier; scientists were being armed in Siege II--and the most enterprising among them, the ones that go routinely off-world, would probably be dragged on other missions for training whether they want to go or not. McKay--the brave little toaster!--wants to go. <3

Of course, all this is fairly standard practice with lead characters, but I was trying to stick to in-universe explanations.

[Jeffer]

i really enjoyed that ep Rodney was funny when he was talking to shep

Rodney: Sheepard did you see that i almost shot that guy like if he was standing a foot to the left i would have shot him
Shep: no i was a little busy

Not and exact quote but close enough

[LoveYouBaby]

I can't believe the Major is dead

Lorne is gone.. I liked that character!

[Jeffer]

Your info is wrong hes not dead just missing

and i also like Ronon when he found out he wasn't on the list

Ronon: who doesn't think i'm a threat give me a few min with them i'll change there mind.

and then wanted to take on the whole Gneii force

[LoveYouBaby]

Yeah, just found out LOL

I really should watch the entire episode first...

[Domesticated Equine]

I can't believe the Major is dead

Lorne is gone.. I liked that character!

He looked somewhat alive by the end of the episode to me. Good thing they didn't kill him off.

[caty]

I can't believe the Major is dead

Lorne is gone.. I liked that character!

You haven't watched the episode, have you?

[Quinn Mallory]

Great episode.

Love how they put Lorne in that ambiguous spot of being possibly dead. Had it been one of the main characters (or even Zelenka), then we wouldn't have believed it at all.

The overall plot was quite good, although I would have to agree with another post earlier that I would've expected more of a conflict within Weir for doing something this morally ambiguous such as sending in the strike team. McKay also had no business of being on the strike team as well as the coincidence that most of the strike team happened to possess the gene (however, this do sort of make sense in that the Atlantis expedition would consist of the scientists who are there more because of their skills then genes...although they may had gone with another doctor had Beckett not had the gene; while the military types are more likely to be selected because they had the gene or successful gene therapy). This also post the question of what percentage of the current Atlantis expedition has the gene. I would have expected many more photos then those in the bag but I guess the Genii intelligence hasn't got the chance to figure out all the gene possesser. Additionally, the Atlantis team would have valued all their members equally, not just those with the gene, but I guess the Genii don't quite think that way.

Still, this was a suspenseful episode. I'm sad to see that Colm Meaney will likely be gone from the SGA universe, however. Finally, what's the with the look that Weir gave to Sheppard at the end?