I'm not one to usually complain (a lot), and although I found the episode entertaining enough, I also found the ease with which so many Wraith were dispatched - by so few - laughable (again).
This has always been an on-going problem with how the writers handle the Wraith. After such an excellent episode last week, I get the feeling that some writers are actually interested in the Wraith and in developing them and giving them depth, while others use them as sideshow clowns. I think it's one reason that the Wraith aren't taken very serious anymore - you just know they will all be dead by episode's end, so they really don't present any sort of threat whatsoever.
It was one thing poisoning Steve, or murdering Bob, or blowing up The Defiant One. The first two were 'defenseless' prisoners, and the last was out numbered and out gunned. But when Ford started single-handedly taking down batches of Wraith, then Ronon, and now Keller...well....ya know...
It's hard to believe these guys were EVER a threat in the galaxy. If anything, I think they should hang up their stunners and all become hair dressers and fashion designers, because - obviously - THAT'S what they're really good at.
Now - how would I have made such an episode different?
1. I would have somehow explained WHY the Wraith hunt. Is it all Wraith? A certain faction of Wraith? Is it for sport? Practice? None of this has been clearly addressed, and it would have been easy enough to have a scene explaining this - perhaps the scene in the cave with the child. I would have preferred to see Keller protecting the child, and her telling it not to hurt the girl, and the Wraith perhaps saying that it didn't want the girl - that she was sick and no challenge to him, and then somehow allude to why they hunt in the first place...THEN Keller sticking it to him.
2. I would have had the Wraith be more menacing - more threatening. The whole 'run into the bullets' thing gets old after a while. But if they stalked and tormented and terrorized their prey first (a la The Predator, or something) - not just jumping out of the bushes - that would have increased the suspense and the audience's fear for the well-being of the humans.
Now - that said - I was actually very pleased to see a LOT of faced Wraith in this episode. This episode, along with last week's, have at least suggested that there are more than just two faced Wraith per hive ship. The Wraith, as a hive-based species, should be presented as a 'swarm' - and this episode did convey that feeling. In this it did well. But by making them so easy to kill, so mindless in their predatory tactics, well...it presented them as inept and unskilled, something they are NOT supposed to be.
das
This has always been an on-going problem with how the writers handle the Wraith. After such an excellent episode last week, I get the feeling that some writers are actually interested in the Wraith and in developing them and giving them depth, while others use them as sideshow clowns. I think it's one reason that the Wraith aren't taken very serious anymore - you just know they will all be dead by episode's end, so they really don't present any sort of threat whatsoever.
It was one thing poisoning Steve, or murdering Bob, or blowing up The Defiant One. The first two were 'defenseless' prisoners, and the last was out numbered and out gunned. But when Ford started single-handedly taking down batches of Wraith, then Ronon, and now Keller...well....ya know...
It's hard to believe these guys were EVER a threat in the galaxy. If anything, I think they should hang up their stunners and all become hair dressers and fashion designers, because - obviously - THAT'S what they're really good at.
Now - how would I have made such an episode different?
1. I would have somehow explained WHY the Wraith hunt. Is it all Wraith? A certain faction of Wraith? Is it for sport? Practice? None of this has been clearly addressed, and it would have been easy enough to have a scene explaining this - perhaps the scene in the cave with the child. I would have preferred to see Keller protecting the child, and her telling it not to hurt the girl, and the Wraith perhaps saying that it didn't want the girl - that she was sick and no challenge to him, and then somehow allude to why they hunt in the first place...THEN Keller sticking it to him.
2. I would have had the Wraith be more menacing - more threatening. The whole 'run into the bullets' thing gets old after a while. But if they stalked and tormented and terrorized their prey first (a la The Predator, or something) - not just jumping out of the bushes - that would have increased the suspense and the audience's fear for the well-being of the humans.
Now - that said - I was actually very pleased to see a LOT of faced Wraith in this episode. This episode, along with last week's, have at least suggested that there are more than just two faced Wraith per hive ship. The Wraith, as a hive-based species, should be presented as a 'swarm' - and this episode did convey that feeling. In this it did well. But by making them so easy to kill, so mindless in their predatory tactics, well...it presented them as inept and unskilled, something they are NOT supposed to be.
das
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