I do think this is one of the better episodes this season for either SG show, but it could have been so much more. CT (don't want to mess up the spelling) did a very good job, convincing me that his character's problem in Enterprise was mostly in the writing, he seems to be a pretty solid actor. Furthermore, there was good continuity with this retro-virus thing (though I think all sf shows should be less stupid about Fun With DNA), and I like the premise of the episode.
The beginning was very well done, until about 15 minutes in when I was basically 100% sure he was a wraith (I am very very anti-spoiler, so I didn't know). After that, it kind of went of the rails slowly, culminating in the whole incompetent-military/Atlantis-danger/Teyla-vulnerable thing. Though of course the run-of-the-mill military people are just there to provide weak points for people to escape through, so it's nothing new.
Ronan really bugs me. This isn't unique to this episode, but it was really on display here. He's basically just [insert hot-headed warrior-type] + [in love with Shep] + [occasional savvy], and the savvy only comes out for military stuff, generally. They never give him any patience, or ability to make logical arguments or empathize. These would be great traits for him to be acquiring in his time on Atlantis, and it would be great if the other characters ever noticed that his bad temper and lack of thinking-before-doing are systematic problems, rather than just the one individually-maybe-forgivable incident that is in nearly every scene he gets.
No one bothered talking to Michael much, at least not calmly and rationally, once he knew he was a wraith (ar at least, we didn't get to see it), and he never mentioned that he killed in self-defense, basically killing all the moral issues there.
Now, I like Star Trek and all the humanistic stuff that goes in there, and I thought that Weir would bring a little of that to Atlantis. Previously, she has been a counterweight to the military thinking on the show, but in this episode that didn't happen at all. Unfortunate.
I did like seeing more Teyla (good actress, very up and down writing on Atlantis) and less of the mainstays here, and McKay's scene was spot-on, as always. I'm getting sick of all the running-around Atlantis chases, perhaps just a function of the limited sets they have to work with. In an episode with some obvious moral implications, the writers gave us another throwaway action sequence rather than letting us see the characters deal with the issue more (which, from the calls for a double episode, I'm not the only one who wouldn've enjoyed).
Anyway, lots of little critiques, mostly not new, I guess, but it was well-produced (makes the action scenes much more bearable), had some good stuff with Michael, and some good work from several of the other regulars. However, there were character inconsistencies, and very questionable actions that weren't questioned, that also disappointed me. Oh well.
The beginning was very well done, until about 15 minutes in when I was basically 100% sure he was a wraith (I am very very anti-spoiler, so I didn't know). After that, it kind of went of the rails slowly, culminating in the whole incompetent-military/Atlantis-danger/Teyla-vulnerable thing. Though of course the run-of-the-mill military people are just there to provide weak points for people to escape through, so it's nothing new.
Ronan really bugs me. This isn't unique to this episode, but it was really on display here. He's basically just [insert hot-headed warrior-type] + [in love with Shep] + [occasional savvy], and the savvy only comes out for military stuff, generally. They never give him any patience, or ability to make logical arguments or empathize. These would be great traits for him to be acquiring in his time on Atlantis, and it would be great if the other characters ever noticed that his bad temper and lack of thinking-before-doing are systematic problems, rather than just the one individually-maybe-forgivable incident that is in nearly every scene he gets.
No one bothered talking to Michael much, at least not calmly and rationally, once he knew he was a wraith (ar at least, we didn't get to see it), and he never mentioned that he killed in self-defense, basically killing all the moral issues there.
Now, I like Star Trek and all the humanistic stuff that goes in there, and I thought that Weir would bring a little of that to Atlantis. Previously, she has been a counterweight to the military thinking on the show, but in this episode that didn't happen at all. Unfortunate.
I did like seeing more Teyla (good actress, very up and down writing on Atlantis) and less of the mainstays here, and McKay's scene was spot-on, as always. I'm getting sick of all the running-around Atlantis chases, perhaps just a function of the limited sets they have to work with. In an episode with some obvious moral implications, the writers gave us another throwaway action sequence rather than letting us see the characters deal with the issue more (which, from the calls for a double episode, I'm not the only one who wouldn've enjoyed).
Anyway, lots of little critiques, mostly not new, I guess, but it was well-produced (makes the action scenes much more bearable), had some good stuff with Michael, and some good work from several of the other regulars. However, there were character inconsistencies, and very questionable actions that weren't questioned, that also disappointed me. Oh well.
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