Coup D'etat (217)

[Dorka]

O.K I have to say I loved this episode... nearly as much as TLG and yep, besides that episode and Critical Mass one of the bests in the second half...

So:

- The women were veeeeery good styled....I loved Teylas outfit and her hair was very nice done too...and to Weir it gives a while new self-awareness with a little-more feminin clother and high-heels

- I was happy I read the spoilers already, or I would have freaked out in front of the TV when they let us think Lorne was dead....they just can't kill this guy, he's sweet, he's cute, he got a niiiice humour and he's just Lorne and a part of Atlantis!!!! I'm still up for "Major Thomas Lorne"

- Elizabeth/Torri were great in this episode...really good character developement. She's getting darker...ohhh yes and I definitely like it! I also liked, even as a shipper, that she rather would have risked Johns life than giving atlantis such a handycap of loosing all the jumpers. That destroyes Kavanagh's coment about being too driven by her feelings and gives her more strengh... in the first half of the season many people were saying she's too weak, I haven't seen it that way then, but I definitely like the way TPTB are going with her!

- Last week I wasn't really impressed by Joe's acting...well this week it was just the opposite... I totaly loved how he was acting IMO the best in this episode

- The camera work was once more very nice in this episode... good work!

- Ronon can talk and even make an investigation...wow...never thought of seeing that *lol* IMO in this episode you saw once again the great chemistry between Ronon and Teyla...

- Yeah I'm a Liz/John shipper but first of all I ship for their friendship, and that one was very visible in this episode again! I love how their trust toward each other grew and John is listening and not arguing too long when Elizabeth tells him something, and she is the one who finally can say NO without changing her mind 3 minutes later I just love the chemistry between these two!
And well the last scene I found really flirty *coughs*

- Return of the Genii...definitely cool, I love and hate these people at the same time *lol*

So far that it is...I'll rewatch it once more, maybe I'll notice more things

[AutumnDream]

- Yeah I'm a Liz/John shipper but first of all I ship for their friendship, and that one was very visible in this episode again! I love how their trust toward each other grew and John is listening and not arguing too long when Elizabeth tells him something, and she is the one who finally can say NO without changing her mind 3 minutes later I just love the chemistry between these two!
And well the last scene I found really flirty *coughs*

I caught that too. GO SHEP/WEIR! I hope he takes her to a prettier place in Atlantis on their first midnight picnic than he took that dirty, dirty ancient girl Chaya.

Oh, spring is coming, and loving is blooming...

[macktheknife]

Actually that does bring up an interesting question: Do the Genii know about the 'Daedalus' ?.

I doubt that very much.

If the genii knew they had a ship that could beam\fire a nuke right into their city, I doubt they would have done this.

[macktheknife]

BTW, No sora makes mack a sad panda.

[AutumnDream]

I was glad she wasn't in it. Her whiny voice bothers me. XD

[prion]

Nitpicks/critiques:

-Why on earth didn't Weir and the others ask for the charge status of the ZPM before making any agreements? That was the first thing I thought of, and sure enough it came back to bite them in the end. They were this close to losing Shep, McKay, and a good chunk of their military, all because they didn't think of something so simple.

Well, they could have said anything, and since Ladon was on the run, it's not like he had an iPod to plug into the ZPM to prove it worked

-When the enemy has an unopened box and you have no idea of the contents, you get him to open it before sliding it to you. Come on Shep, you should know this stuff.

Drama! Plus Shep was certainly close enough that it were a bomb, Ladon would get nailed too, unless of course you made a directional type nail bomb...

-How did the Genii know which team members have the ATA gene? I can guess that they knew about Shep and McKay from earlier dealings, but what about Lorne, who I'm guessing came over with the Deddy? If they were spying on offworld teams then either they're extremely clever and sneaky or the offworld teams are getting lax...

Um, um.... He googled it! I have no idea. Anybody who pilots has the gene, so that could account for some of them....

[ToasterOnFire]

If they had asked the Genii could of just lied about it or said they didn't have the technology to know. Anyway, Laden said they stole it from the Brotherhood and Atlantis knew for a fact that had been a fully charged ZPM.

One idea would have been to send Rodney or another scientist alone to verify that the ZPM does indeed work and only then start trading negotiations.
Also, if it is the Brotherhood ZPM, how did the Genii deplete it? I didn't think they had the technology to do so. Not to mention it must have been a lot of work to deplete a fully charged ZPM. What were they doing? Could Laden have been lying - instead of the Brotherhood ZPM it was another, discarded one?

If Laden is indeed telling the truth about stealing the ZPM from the Brotherhood then I wonder if the Brotherhood is still around or if the Genii wiped them out...

BTW, No sora makes mack a sad panda.

Ditto...except for the panda thing. I was wondering which side she would have chosen. It's likely that she's fighting with the coup rather than against - maybe she's off with Kolya?

[Ouroboros]

-Why on earth didn't Weir and the others ask for the charge status of the ZPM before making any agreements? That was the first thing I thought of, and sure enough it came back to bite them in the end. They were this close to losing Shep, McKay, and a good chunk of their military, all because they didn't think of something so simple.

It's worth pointing out that Laiden also presented himself as not knowing much about what the ZPM really was. They might not have asked for the charge status because they didn't want to give him any hints about how potentially powerful/destructive it was. Also as pointed out, how exactly was he supposed to check it anyway, even if they did ask?

For those pointing out that the Daedalus wasn't around to cheap shot the plot by beaming everyone out I think you're missing something rather important using that as a complaint. The daedalus being around and beaming everyone out in some big deus ex machina technowank cheese fest would have made the episode worse not better. I applaud Gero for not resorting to something cheap like that to resolve the hostage situation here. It's also perfectly reasonable that bad stuff would happen when the Daedalus isn't around to save the day to, so I have no problem accepting it on that level.

Laiden's political games were a much more natural and much more satifying resolution. He'd already brought Cowen there to nuke him and all his boys. Getting his sister back alive then came up as a bonus he hadn't expected. He had no reason to turn it gown given that the SGA hostages were of no other value to his plans so he traded them.

The characters actually had to work their way through this one instead of getting bailed out by stuff like teleporter beams or last minute super tech or throwing knives into a control panel. That's actually what made it so much better than a lot of what's preceeded it.

This episode should be mandatory viewing for anyone writing future episodes. Lets get some more like this coming out and I won't have to ***** so much all the time.

[Domesticated Equine]

The characters actually had to work their way through this one instead of getting bailed out by stuff like teleporter beams or last minute super tech or throwing knives into a control panel.

That's very true, the resolution was believable and satisfactory. I would like to point out though that our heros didn't really save themselves, they just just got lucky that Laiden did want a revolution after all.

[The Engineer]

Finally a good episode with the Genii in it, all the Genii stories I hated so far, they seem to have no credibility as enemies (to me), but this episode was really good.

[Merlin7]

One idea would have been to send Rodney or another scientist alone to verify that the ZPM does indeed work and only then start trading negotiations.
Also, if it is the Brotherhood ZPM, how did the Genii deplete it? I didn't think they had the technology to do so. Not to mention it must have been a lot of work to deplete a fully charged ZPM. What were they doing? Could Laden have been lying - instead of the Brotherhood ZPM it was another, discarded one?

If Laden is indeed telling the truth about stealing the ZPM from the Brotherhood then I wonder if the Brotherhood is still around or if the Genii wiped them out...

Didn't Laden tell Shep, when Shep was tied to the chair, that the ZPM had been in the Genii archives and they didn't know what it was for when they found it and dusted it off. So they used it to bait Shep and Co? Or something to that effect.

[GatetheWay]

One idea would have been to send Rodney or another scientist alone to verify that the ZPM does indeed work and only then start trading negotiations.
Also, if it is the Brotherhood ZPM, how did the Genii deplete it? I didn't think they had the technology to do so. Not to mention it must have been a lot of work to deplete a fully charged ZPM. What were they doing? Could Laden have been lying - instead of the Brotherhood ZPM it was another, discarded one?

If Laden is indeed telling the truth about stealing the ZPM from the Brotherhood then I wonder if the Brotherhood is still around or if the Genii wiped them out...

Laden had SAID he had stolen it from the Brotherhood but he lied about that. The Atlantians thought he had the Brotherhood ZPM which they knew for sure was fully charged, so why bother asking? And what were the chances he would have a dummy ZPM? I was spoiled to the wrost degree on this episode and I didn't even see it coming. Even if they had sent someone to "test" it, Laden could of said he didn't want to show it to them afraid they would double cross him, which they probably would of.

[the dancer of spaz]

So, two questions:

1.) Is Atlantis pretty much destined to NEVER have a steady supply of ZPMs at their disposal? If so, OK, great. But what does that matter if they have a steady supply of Daedalus-like spaceships at their disposal? I'm all for instant travel, but the Daedalus seems to be mighty popular - Caldwell's always there to heckle people.

2.) Is the general consensus that Teyla and Ronon WEREN'T reduced to Lame Subplot/B-Plot this time and/or didn't played a heavy role in the story alongside their team members? I'm just wondering. Let me know!

[GatetheWay]

I want to know how in the hell the Genii were able to (1) subdue Lorne's team, (2) strip them of their uniforms and dogtags, (3) dress other bodies with the uniforms, (4) set the building on fire, and (5) escape with four presumidly unconsicous or reluctant people all in a measily half hour! Not to mention that someone, either the Geni or the locals, had to put out the fire by the time Sheppard's team arrived.

[caty]

. Even Cowen was smart here, he only lost because Laiden was just that much smarter. No one was really caught acting stupid here, even the SGA team didn't really have a choice but to try and get that ZPM.



Hot damn this is the kind of episode I want to see more of.

10/10

Nope, I still think Cowen is quite dumb for the mentioned reason...
Otherwise, I whole-heartedly agree with you...