The Gift (118)

[FoolishPleasure]

Imagine Teyla gathering together other Athosians, similarly gifted. Imagine them training together, learning to use their mental skills, forming a coterie. Imagine them learning to invade the Wraith consciousness undetected, spies in the Wraith's midst. Imagine them being able to posess a Wraith as Teyla was posessed, if only for short (yet crucial) moments.

This scenario has already been done. . . in Babylon 5 - The psychic Lyta helps train other telepaths to disrupt evil Shadow ships (which are organically based) during battle.

We've been down this road. I'm hoping the writers can come up with something DIFFERENT.

[kharn the betrayer]

Wow a Teyla episode at last.*Grr,why couldnt Ford have gotten 1 to...*

loved Ford's joke about Mckay,before Teyla fell through the ''wall''.

I also loved Mckay in general,along with his banter with Dr Zelenka(SP?)

And the Wraith's past is revealed somewhat to. Hope we learn more about them in S2.

[BruceDickinson]

Wow a Teyla episode at last.*Grr,why couldnt Ford have gotten 1 to...*

loved Ford's joke about Mckay,before Teyla fell through the ''wall''.

I also loved Mckay in general,along with his banter with Dr Zelenka(SP?)

And the Wraith's past is revealed somewhat to. Hope we learn more about them in S2.

What was it Ford said, "How small is it" or sommething like that? His face was very funny when he was saying it !

And the line of the night (IMO) came right after that when McKay said, "Maybe she hit it fast, you know, get a running start and really slam into it" HA!

And Teyla, wow, she went from hot to creepy in 2.0 weeks!

[Hyperspace]

IIIII Planet Bug(probably known to them as La La Land or something....)

PLANET BUG!!! I like it! That should be the official name!

[SmartFox]

Really like Bates in this ep. I think the rest of the team trusted Teyla in the trance too much. I saw she wasn't her self how could they not have. Good job Bates on having the weapon. I'm really liking Bates more and more. This is a weird twist with the whole Wraith DNA thing and i could like it as long as they continue to work with it. If they drop it here i am going to be pissed though cause that is no little thing to forget. And this ep also started to prove my theory on the bugs and humans and Wraith evolution.

[newton4881]

does anyone have the exact quote when weir tells; sheppard, ford, and beckett, that teylas has somne wraith dna..

ford goes something like "bates is gonna go nuts"

[gwangung]

Something some folks are forgetting:

Wraiths don't necessarily have to develop their technology on their own; they can STEAL it from the victims they drain.

Ancients seed world, leave for 100,000 years. Bug mixes with human genes, form Wraiths. Wraiths grow to dominate world. Perhaps they even overfeed, leaving only a few. Ancients return to see what they've seeded. They all get slaughtered by a handful of Wraith...who get ALL of the Ancient technology at once (and be cunning enough to develop a battle plan to overwhelm the Ancients).

Given the knowledge draining skills that the Wraiths have shown, this need not have taken that long, and is flexible enough to fit anywhere on the timeline we know about.

[Vega]

The Gift was a decent episode, however I STILL can't stand Teyla. At least we got to see a little character, finally, out of her. I'm not sure about the Mckay/Shrink thing, guess I'll just have to see what happens. But Rodney strikes me as the type of person that would be bragging about dating her..after all, he STILL brags about Carter. So I think he was Bsing. Loved the Zelenka/Mckay/Beckett scene with the chair, and their bet. Also enjoyed Bates. I think we need someone who's a little paranoid. I did enjoy the information we learned about the Wraith, albiet it's far fetched.

[FoolishPleasure]

I would rate this episode a 3 out of 5. Not the best, but not the worst.

First - the silly stick fighting. Is anyone else bothering to learn this or is Sheppard the only one? It would seem to benefit all the soldiers to learn a new form of hand-to-hand combat.

McKay and the therapist - nope, don't think they are an item. I took it as Rodney embarrassed that someone found out he is actually in therapy.

Liked Bates - sometimes he seems to be the only one with common sense.
(And why the heck wasn't Teyla restrained during the last session? She went bonkers once, did they not think it would happen again? Duh.)

Teyla. I know this was supposed to showcase her but it didn't make me like her any better. She is still mouthy and pushy - you can call it stress, but she has been like this all along. My 12 year old son (who does think she looks HOT) even said someone needs to duct tape her mouth and make her shut up. If a pre-teen male is becoming disenchanted with her bossy personality then you know something is really wrong with the character. Nuff said on that.

Usually I am very impressed with Joe Flanigan's work, but even he seemed to be sleepwalking through this episode. His concern for Teyla seemed stilted and flat - as though just reading the lines.

On the other hand - learning more about the Wraith was cool, McKay and Zelenka - love 'em both, and I was impressed with Weir's language skills. Now, hopefully on to a better episode next week.

[Easter Lily]

I would rate this episode a 3 out of 5. Not the best, but not the worst.

First - the silly stick fighting. Is anyone else bothering to learn this or is Sheppard the only one? It would seem to benefit all the soldiers to learn a new form of hand-to-hand combat.

I'm a big fan of martial arts in movies so I always enjoy the sparring... but martial arts was never formulated just for combat... there are benefits for health, exercise, reflexes... which is what I think Teyla was referring to in Hot Zone...

McKay and the therapist - nope, don't think they are an item. I took it as Rodney embarrassed that someone found out he is actually in therapy.

I don't know why there is still this debate about his "relationship" with Heightmeyer... it seemed pretty obvious to me that McKay was quite embarassed and sheepish about being seen in Heightmeyer's office. He wasn't exactly looking his best either. Definitely an attempt at prevarication if I ever heard one...

Liked Bates - sometimes he seems to be the only one with common sense.
(And why the heck wasn't Teyla restrained during the last session? She went bonkers once, did they not think it would happen again? Duh.)

This is one of the strengths of the show, I think, to show that the leads aren't always right all the time. Sometimes it is good to be just a wee bit paranoid... to err on the side of caution...

Teyla. I know this was supposed to showcase her but it didn't make me like her any better. She is still mouthy and pushy - you can call it stress, but she has been like this all along. My 12 year old son (who does think she looks HOT) even said someone needs to duct tape her mouth and make her shut up. If a pre-teen male is becoming disenchanted with her bossy personality then you know something is really wrong with the character. Nuff said on that.

I'm not too happy about Teyla either... she's gradually getting a bit over the top... I don't think she's bossy... bossy I could live with... she's just bland... and in this episode they turned this bland person into an angry, young woman turning over to the darkside a la Anakin Skywalker....

Usually I am very impressed with Joe Flanigan's work, but even he seemed to be sleepwalking through this episode. His concern for Teyla seemed stilted and flat - as though just reading the lines.

LOL... actually I thought that was the idea... everyone's not sleeping particularly well. He could well be sleepwalking... Who knows, we might find out in Seige 3 that it was all a nightmare projected by Wraith Teyla and she wakes up to find out that the Wraith are coming again.

I was impressed with Weir's language skills. Now, hopefully on to a better episode next week.

I don't think we see enough of Weir's linguistic abilities... hopefully more of this in Season 2.

[FoolishPleasure]

I'm not too happy about Teyla either... she's gradually getting a bit over the top... I don't think she's bossy... bossy I could live with... she's just bland... and in this episode they turned this bland person into an angry, young woman turning over to the darkside a la Anakin Skywalker....

Oh dear. . .plot bunny sighted. . .Teyla/Anakin "ship".

[DEdison]

Am i the only one who finds this dr heightmeyer slightly creepy? Did i miss something? IF Teyla responds to wraith presence, and the hive ships are days away, couldn't their be a wraith inflitrator aboard atlantis? That might explain her sudden wraith-sense overload, right? the good Dr. seems suddenly to just BE there--did i miss her earlier, and was she with the team when they left SG1? Don't the wraith have the ability to alter perceptions? Could Heightmeyer be a wraith? using her hoodoo on everyone to blend in and keep them from recognizing it? She seemed AWFULLY interested (i mean, this would be fair if she were real, too, but still) in Teyla's wraith connection. Interested in a kind of creepy way, almost as if she were, say, already studying the human-wraith experiment...like a certain ostracized wraith? Am I completely off in getting the feeling that she might BE that wraith scientist? She just suddenly seemed to be there...and Rodney getting jiggy with (or even getting near to) a hot blonde? Sheppard ratting out Teyla? That doesn't seem to fit with his image...maybe I'm paranoid. It all seems a little too pat. Does anyone agree with me, or have i been tuning out?

[FoolishPleasure]

Sheppard ratting out Teyla? That doesn't seem to fit with his image...maybe I'm paranoid.

Sheppard didn't rat on Teyla. He has to trust his team 100% or someone could die. She obviously had "issues" going on and he simply reported it to the medical staff. .as he should have. That would seem to be proper military protocol.

As for Heightmeyer. . . she didn't quite seem professional enough for me - almost too nervous.

[SmartFox]

I still don't believe that Sheppard was kicking Teylas butt at the stick fighting thing. Even without here getting much sleep she is alot better the Shep and he was totally beating her. I said it once ill say it again Bates rules sometimes i think no one has a brain in Alantis except Bates. Then i see Mckay and i change my thinking. But still the Alantis crew could use some more commen sense, and paranoia.

[DEdison]

Sheppard didn't rat on Teyla. He has to trust his team 100% or someone could die. She obviously had "issues" going on and he simply reported it to the medical staff. .as he should have. That would seem to be proper military protocol.

As for Heightmeyer. . . she didn't quite seem professional enough for me - almost too nervous.

Totally fair. Sheppard has to trust his team. He should maybe have recognized that going behind Teyla's back would upset her further, but whatever. It's Heightmeyer that I'm watching closely. She definitely seemed nervous, and invested in Teyla's wraith connection in a way that screams "secret evil infiltrator." Maybe I just don't like her because she looks like Fern Mayo from Jawbreaker. Who can say?