The Siege

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S1 (The Siege)

Plans are afoot for a last-ditch defence of the city of Atlantis by using the Ancient satellite as a weapon. Naturally, McKay is the one to lead the expedition and make the old thing work. And it was a nice set, too: cramped, vertical, but well designed, and I especially enjoyed the moments of weightlessness as McKay goes in when there's no gravity (and gets slammed to the floor when Grodin activates the artificial gravity before he's ready!). There weren't much group dynamics among the three on the mission - granted, McKay's never the easiest to get along with unless you're constantly noting his brilliance and not getting in the way, but I can't help the feeling camaraderie is something missing from this series, in spite of its main cast and multiple recurring characters. They could definitely improve on character, something that held 'SG-1' together like glue and made it much more of an enjoyable watch. But it's still early days, and they do at least allow a few sparks to fly this time when, in the secondary story (which is over pretty quickly), Bates, the guy in charge of base security, and Teyla, come to blows when he accuses her of being a potential risk through her connection to the Wraith. I'd have to agree with him, because no matter how much we like her, and how useful she's been, the gift she possesses calls into question her viability on sensitive missions.

The fact that they catch a Wraith in this very episode, and when she tries to get in his head to find out what he's been up to, he easily pushes her out, is another reminder of how little she knows about her ability and how effective she is in using it. I'm with Bates, she is a risk, though it turns out she wasn't the one that put him in a hospital bed: my suspicion was on Halling (only lightheartedly, and because he was the only other character not from the city), but it becomes clear a Wraith spy has been sneaking around ever since the dart had been reconnoitring the place and was destroyed. He beamed down, however, and it's only now that they realise? I wonder why he allowed himself to be caught out by Bates, and even more, why didn't he kill Bates outright, or feed on him? It wasn't a big shock that a Wraith was in the city (except for Sheppard and his team, who really sell the stun weapon they get blasted with), and neatly explains why Teyla's been having such nightmares and sensing their presence all of a sudden. But there wasn't anything that was a real shock or surprise in the episode, even counting the first death of a proper recurring character when Peter Grodin is forced to stay behind in the satellite, which is blown apart when the Hive ships arrive. At least he took out one of the three big'uns before he was fried. He was never much of a character, not like the more developed Zelenka and Bates, but I suppose you do feel some of the others' dismay at their colleague's death.

I doubt it will turn into scenes of carnage in the finale, with all the recurring bods dying, but it certainly throws a seed of uncertainty about them killing off characters. Ironically, Grodin was the one who always wore blue, while antithetically to Trek tradition, McKay and Miller were the redshirts, and they survive, but Grodin was in red this time, too! I did like the suits, the EVA, and the general design, like the Jumper slotting into the satellite, but I wish more had been made of the drama, such as Teyla under suspicion or Halling's request for sanity that they shouldn't destroy the last remaining structure of The Ancients (even though he was wrong, as we'd find out in 'Stargate Universe'). His hope and belief that The Ancients themselves wouldn't let their city be destroyed seems faint, since they tend not to have much interest in their previous stomping ground of corporeal reality, except for the occasional exception, like Oma, so it's unlikely they'll have help from that quarter in the way Sisko had it from The Prophets in 'DS9.' No, it looks like they're on their own, and Weir gives a speech as good as she can, not being the most eloquent leader, but I'm sure it set her people to greater resolve as they prepare to unleash a virus through the city to take out the irreplaceable knowledge of The Ancients' database. Will they lose everything? Will the city be destroyed? Will the rest of the series take place on some planet? I doubt it, it's a pretty 'safe' franchise (until they turned up the nastiness and down the comfort levels for 'SGU'), so things will probably work out okay after a big battle, I expect. Did Sheppard need to kill the captive Wraith in cold blood? Even Ford was asking if he was going too far, and then he plugs it to death!

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