Ohhhh man...OOHHHH MAN! This was one of the best episodes I have ever seen, bar none! Everything was just so perfectly put together. After last week, this episode raises the bar. I laughed out loud more than once, which is unusual but not unheard of. One thing I did in this episode that I've never done before is literally cheered when something happened. Well, I did when the Wraith and Ori ships were destroyed. Amazing.  Let's see:
Plotline: From the start it was good to see Daniel finally make it to Atlantis. Ever since returning from Ascension he has wanted to go there, and concocting a story that allowed for that as well as involving all the Atlantis characters. The subplots with Daniel searching for Merlin's weapon and Morgan Le Fey's intervention dovetailed nicely with the overall plot, and there was something almost poetic in the destruction of both the Wraith and Ori ships. Le Fey's possible punishment by the Ancients was also eminently tragic, and you can really feel Daniel's frustration and disappointment.Â
Characters: Where do I begin? There was more chemistry among the respective groups than has been seen in either cast individually. I think Rodney was a bit too obnoxious, though, but Cam played off him brillantly, with that barely-hostile threatening mannerism. Carter and Rodney were as usual mutually antagonistic, but I was a little disappointed in how...I don't know...irritated Carter constantly seemed to be with McKay. It's almost as if they can't decide whether to have Carter lighten up or become more duty-bound and stuffy. Loved the Odyssey crew's near-constant look of bewilderment and irritation whenever McKay went on a rant, though. Classic. Daniel and Vala are just darn near perfect for each other. Their interaction in the Ancient library was fabulous, especially the little argument they had about how long Daniel was taking to get the location he was looking for. Brief though it may have been, Cam's interaction with Sheppard was also perfect, looking just like two veteran soldiers of equal rank would do. All in all, the character interaction was beyond perfect. One of the best parts was when Cam threatened Rodney with the lemon. Tons of laugh-out-loud interaction.
Overall Impression: This episode should go down as one of the best ever. Not the best, but one of them, and it shows conclusively that if SG-1 were to be cancelled, the characters and crew would mesh very well with Atlantis. It gives me tons of hope for the future of the series. One thing to put in the "Nice Touch" category was the Atlantis background theme music that played throughout the episode, starting with the arrival at the city. If I had one complaint, it's that there are so many gaps. We have no idea how they got to the point where they decided to go to Atlantis; we were essentially left hanging after last week's episode, and suddenly BLAM! they're on their way. There are way too many continuity gaps for the persistent storyline they're using. Even Deep Space Nine had more continuity between episodes. If they can close the episodic continuity up a bit, that'll be very beneficial.
Log in to comment