Coup D'etat (217)

[JUNIOR]

But it just seems that they always WANT something in return, and then they get greedy and overreach; always at our expense. When will they put their paranoia on a shelf, get smart, and realize that only as true allies would they be better off? Maybe it's just me...

Spoiler:

Have you seen Coup D'etat yet?

[FerCryinOutLoud!]

What else has Ronan ever been? I've never seen intelligence come from him since day one. I've only seen him as a big bouncer that waits for Shephards nod before he beats someone.

I don't care for Ronan. Every week I wonder why he's on the team, because he doesn't add any intellectual thought to any of the stories. Even when he speaks he sounds like a bully.

You're right. I think Ronan could be so much more if they just gave him some depth and background... and made him more than just a pitbull who likes to kill and mame (sp?). I like for tough guy characters or warrior characters to have intelligence and a cause for what they do. Like Teal'c or Bra'tac. If they would just work with the Ronan character instead of making him the resident butt kicker, he would be so much better. I mean now that super-Ford has some mystery and depth to his character he would make a much better full time character on the Atlantis team than Ronan. But, i suppose there's little hope for that now. That's why i think they need to work on the Ronan character before he completely becomes the stereotype he's being solidified as. I like Ronan, he's a good start. Now, that the writers have come half-way, it's time for them to cross the other half to make Ronan's character more complete with some depth and smarts.

[Maltrancko]

The Genii fast-fowarded through tonights episode to see who they should take prisoner!

Seriously though, this would seem to imply there had been a spy in Atlantis, which makes no real sense. Maybe Ford sold them the information?

Ford wouldn't do that

esp because he does have a deep hidden desire to rejoin atlantis, heard a whisper somewhere (can't member for the life of me) that we would see the return of ford sometime season 4, as a regular, I do hope it's correct, his character has a lot of dimensions to it and the writers only scratched the surface

[ShadowMaat]

Ronon is supposed to be "mysterious" and an "unknown quantity", therefor they shove him into the back corner and tell him to shut up until they need someone to do something violent.

I doubt we'll ever learn much about him.

[The Shadow]

Being someone who doesn’t have cable, I usually read the transcripts first and if one of my friends can get the ep for me, then I watch it. So when I read the transcript for this ep and got to the part of Sheppard saying that the dog tags are Lorne’s, I really believed that he was dead, I was really really distraught!!! But of course I didn’t get the chance to finish reading beyond that part because my mom told me to go to bed. (I’m a highschool freshman) The next day, I was rather mad and in shock and disbelief that the writers would kill off Lorne just like that without even showing his face again or having him go down in fighting, but then I finish reading the transcript to find out that Lorne is still alive, I literally jumped out of my seat and started to run around like a lunatic.

Lorne is actually my favorite character in SGA, Sheppard is #2 after him. Mckay in #3 and Beckett in 4th and Ronon finishes in 5th.

TPTB has already killed off Pendergast and the Prometheus, if they kill off Lorne, I’m gonna be very very upset and might accidentally leave a bomb at their door step.

[FerCryinOutLoud!]

Ronon is supposed to be "mysterious" and an "unknown quantity", therefor they shove him into the back corner and tell him to shut up until they need someone to do something violent.

I doubt we'll ever learn much about him.

Sadly, you might be right about that. But, i'm still holding out hope for the episode called "Sateda". I'm not sure if it's this season or the next that they're supposed to air it, but it's supposed to give some background on Ronan and we'll be able to visit his home planet and of course past happenings in his life. So who knows? We'll see i suppose.

[Schrodinger82]

The genii guy knew it was dead, he just didnt care.
Probably doesnt take any more then an ohm meter to tell it has any kind of charge. The Genii are developed enough to have nukes they are developed enough to recongize if something is holding a charge. Besides it wasnt glowing

Come on, not even the Gou'ald knew how to interface a ZPM. Now granted, the Gou'ald are scavengers, but I would still place them a few notches about the Genii.

Anyway, the premise of this episode was dumb. We know that the SGA and SG1 team can detect a charge from orbit, and we know that they already ran a cloaked scan on the planet from above, but somehow they don't bother to verify whether or not the ZPM is charged? WTF?

[CalmStorm]

Anyway, the premise of this episode was dumb. We know that the SGA and SG1 team can detect a charge from orbit, and we know that they already ran a cloaked scan on the planet from above, but somehow they don't bother to verify whether or not the ZPM is charged? WTF?

Just out of curiosity, have we actually ever seen an episode where they have detected a zpm from a scan on a planet. McKay in the very first episode said that if there were zpms in the city they should be able to detect them......should be able....does not necessarily mean they can in fact detect them. I cannot recall any episodes where they located a zpm via a scan.....but it's late and my memory is shot at the moment so I could be wrong.

Perhaps they are only able to detect active zpms. Every zpm I have seen looks dead unless it is plugged into some sort of power source, so how is it detectable? Shouldn't McKay have had some equipment with him on this little raid to "scan" and see if this zpm was there? Shouldn't a cloaked jumper have snuck through the gate with the raid team and scanned for the zpm?

[Avatar28]

Just out of curiosity, have we actually ever seen an episode where they have detected a zpm from a scan on a planet. McKay in the very first episode said that if there were zpms in the city they should be able to detect them......should be able....does not necessarily mean they can in fact detect them. I cannot recall any episodes where they located a zpm via a scan.....but it's late and my memory is shot at the moment so I could be wrong.

Perhaps they are only able to detect active zpms. Every zpm I have seen looks dead unless it is plugged into some sort of power source, so how is it detectable? Shouldn't McKay have had some equipment with him on this little raid to "scan" and see if this zpm was there? Shouldn't a cloaked jumper have snuck through the gate with the raid team and scanned for the zpm?

Well in Moebius Carter mentions using the Prometheus's asgard sensors to scan the planet for the ZPM and not finding it. That suggests that they should be able to detect it that way. Now, they weren't on board the Daedalus so likely didn't have access to said asgard sensors. It's possible the sensors they did have available to them weren't able to tell. And when did they say they'd run a cloaked scan of the planet?

[FallenAngelII]

not just the jumper, theres other ancient tech used, like the Life signs detector

For which I'm pretty sure it's not required that you have the Ancient gene.

[Captain-Peregrine]

Without spoilers...

Thus far this episode is THE episode to beat this season. For those that havent been spoiler ho's it will be a nice ride!!

AWESOME EP!!! And definitely much better than anything since "critical mass" (err not grace under pressure)

It really was a great episode. Maybe not the BEST thus far, but I still really enjoyed it. And I always liked Ladon, so that was fun seeing him again.

[entil2001]

I’ve been hard on the series this season, largely because I’ve felt that the first season practice of weaving a larger story into the stand-alone episodes was far more successful than the haphazard direction taken in the second season. In a lot of ways, this series has suffered the “Enterprise” syndrome. That series began with a relatively average but promising first season, followed by a second season plagued by retreads and a lack of forward progress.

One of the more interesting aspects of the first season was the Genii, a group that added a fresh perspective to the threat of the Wraith and what Pegasus Galaxy inhabitants might do to survive. In many respects, the second season replaced the Genii with Ford’s group, which then failed to gel as a meaningful subplot past “The Hive”. In fact, while some episodes have hinted at elements that will play into the finale, most of the episodes have done little to advance existing plot threads.

This episode doesn’t necessarily address my concerns for the series, but it does revisit one of the better aspects of the first season, so it was more appealing in comparison. I would have preferred a more direct extension of the plot threads from the first season, especially if it would have meant another appearance for Sora, but this was at least a bit less predictable than other recent episodes.

I like the fact that the Atlantis team found itself outplayed by the Genii, and in the end, they did little more than save themselves from an unfortunate end during the coup. I usually dislike episodes that leave the primary cast members as side notes to the real action, but this episode delivered an interesting message. In the end, the Atlantis team is still reactionary, and it is highly vulnerable as a result.

Also interesting was the notion that pictures of specific Atlantis personnel were left on several worlds, all for the purpose of locating and abducting those with the Ancient gene. It occurred to me that this would give the Wraith an interesting clue as to the survival of Atlantis, were they to find those pictures. Granted, the Wraith are now apparently breaking up into factions, but some of them would still be focused on the possibility of new hunting grounds and the promise Atlantis offers.

Hopefully, this episode will not represent the end of the line for the Genii. I’m a little worried about the death of Cowen, but that could have been a concession to Colm’s availability. Radim seems open to a more equitable alliance, but that could always lead to something more complex in the future. One can only hope so, because it was complexity that made this episode work.

I also liked the fact that the subplot with Ronon and Teyla eventually intersected with the Genii plot. The two of them work together, but this episode continues to reveal the main differences between them. While Ronon continues to be little more than the warrior stereotype in action, Teyla shows actual intelligence. And it helps that she looked incredible in that silken top! OK, maybe Teyla wasn’t taken in exciting new directions in this episode, but lately, I’m just happy to see her back in action.

[PG15]

No, you need it. In The Siege Part 2 Shep was about to tell Everette that he won't be able to use the detector. But he could since he said that he had the gene therapy.

[Cinephilic TV Addict]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

This episode was going so well up until the very last part of it (after the last commercial).

It literally went from being a solid 3 1/2 Star episode down to a 2 Star (which means good to poor in somewhat loose terms).

I'm going to write two sentences. Anyone who can tell the difference between them should be able to tell why this episode's ending was atrocious.

1) The boy kicked the ball.

2) The boy was kicked by the ball.

And yes, I know balls don't have feet. Look harder.

[Lone Wolf]

I really liked this episode...really did. The story was good and Laden`s a good character, but, in my opinion there is one GREAT flaw in the story.

SPOILERS AHEAD










Now, ofcourse I am subjective when getting pissed that the Atlantis team was basically at the mercy of the Genii. After all, that was the whole idea of the episode and I am totally for developing the flaws in the characters because it adds to realism.

But for God`s sake...the men are military. They stormed the compound where Laden and the ZMP were and entered it, completely leaving their backs uncovered. Each and every member of the team entered and got gassed...what kind of a tactic was that? What kind of a military man would have had ALL of his team enter, turning their backs on the door and not even leaving ONE MAN outside? Does it make any sense? They were sitting ducks. It was a common-sense mistake that I can hardly see any real military man making.