Review: Critical Mass

[jsnell]

I'm boggled by this review and the poll results... my wife and I thought this was perhaps the worst episode of "Atlantis" to date, if not of all of "Stargate."

The entire Teyla subplot felt like filler (and I agree with the reviewer that the rest of the episode felt rushed... so who needed the filler?). Teyla's friend is dying, and Beckett seems to want to do something, but doesn't, and she dies. Then they have a dance and sing. This might have had an emotional impact if we had cared more about the character, if there was more time devoted to Teyla's friend and her illness, if there was more interaction between Teyla and the show's other characters. But as it was, it came out of the blue. (It doesn't help that I found the song painfully bad, but to each his/her own.) I'd imagine that the intercutting of the song with the rest of the action at the end of the episode was one of the reasons for the odd pacing, since it's hard to edit something down when you've got to maintain some continuity with the musical sequence you've recorded.

The main plot poorly used Weir, with the legitimate philosophical questions about torture lacking much punch. I really think that Weir's been written into a corner and is so weak that there's very little the writers can do with her. Caldwell continues to be played like a stock villain, although at least the Goua'uld in his head explained why he was acting as such. (Asgard beaming symbiotes out of brains? Talk about an easy trip to the reset button there...) The SGC sequences lacked much atmosphere, and it was humorous to see an SGC completely devoid of SG-1 personnel immediately following an episodes where there were dozens of SG-1s present.

And don't get me started on the writers' insistence on continuing to inflict Trust storylines on us...

I guess I really am in the minority here, but this is the very first time I have fast-forwarded through parts of a "Stargate" episode. This one wasn't just dull, just weak, just boring -- it was almost laughably bad, in my opinion. Truly, episodes like this make me wonder if the show's creative team is simply out of steam.

There, that's my dissenting opinion. Now all the fans who voted this 5 out of 5 can go ahead and explain why I'm an evil person for believing it to be so...

[AGateFan]

I didn't vote it 5 out of 5. But I didn’t think it was too bad either.
I do hate and I mean HATE when any actor tries to sing in any show. And this was particularly odd because the picture is her standing there signing all by herself but the sound was full studio with background singers and all. I liked the song in itself (it was not badly sung) it just didn’t fit in the ep.... the only exception was when they showed the wraith ships. The song along with the Wraith ships visual was haunting but would have been more so had I actually had any concern that the wraith would find Atlantis, which I didn’t.

I hate Kavenaugh.. but I am supposed to and that actor did a good job.

I did get the sense that the Teyla \ Beckett portion of the ep was just to get rid of Teyla. I think they gave Cadman her part in this ep after she got such resounding approval after Duet. Plus, they could add in the little "is it her?". However, there was nothing in the ep that made her any type of real suspect and in fact I figured McKay’s over paranoia towards her would actually make me more predisposed NOT to suspect her.

I also thought that Kavenaugh was too obvious a red herring to be guilty as well. The Caldwell thing, however, came out of the blue but not in a great\amazing way, just in a "well that’s kind of neat but how\when did that happen and why was he acting exactly normal" kind of way. (I was actually spoiled before the ep, but still couldn’t see Caldwell doing anything out of the ordinary to suspect him).

However, the episode was still a decent Stargate ep. I liked the character interactions (except kavenaugh). I like the goa'uld plot (but wish it was trust-less). I liked all the SGC scenes (especially twilight bark\LOTR). I now have hope that maybe now they can give Caldwell some depth as he had a reason for his always trying to take Sheps job. I thought they could have done more with the Beckett portion of the ep (maybe he tries to keep the old lady alive despite her wishes) but actually I think I like it the way it is, nice an simple subplot. I liked Ronans reaction to what a goa'uld is and Sheps description... but would have like to seen Teylas reaction. I have no problem with Weir in this ep... but Kavanaugh did hit a bit close to home with a couple of his shots.

So it was good, not great, not bad... Good.

[jsnell]

Actually, the Twilight Bark thing was hilarious.

Caldwell has become such a two-dimensional character that it's just appalling. If they're going to claim it was all because he was a Goua'uld, then I guess I might forgive. But really, can there be nothing redeeming about this man?

The Beckett-Teyla thing just seemed so poorly thought out... as if it were missing scenes, or had been hastily inserted at the last minute. I don't know. This episode was, in my mind, a total mess. Shockingly so. I wonder what happened in the production process that made it go so far off the rails.