The Intruder

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (The Intruder)

More of a stopgap episode, a cleaning house, taking stock and stepping off the city for a little. It was different, I'll give it that, as in not what I was expecting - from the title I imagined a rogue Wraith might be loose on Atlantis somehow and causing them problems, but in fact almost the entire episode takes place on the Daedalus en route from Earth after a visit to sort everything out. On the downside it's not the happy reunion we could have hoped for, and as we flash back we see such depressing moments as Dr. Weir's man friend, Dr. Wallace, not availing himself of the opportunity to head back to Atlantis with her, eventually admitting he's 'met someone else.' She's understandably upset, but more upsetting, in a way, is the pressure put on her by the military, including Beau Bridges showing up to suggest she needs a new military leader, since Major Sheppard only took the position until a replacement could be found. Her solution is to impress upon his superior how invaluable he was to her, the result being he gets a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel - it's not what you know, it's who you know… It's well deserved, of course, and it was nice of Weir to stick up for him during the time she has to stick up for herself as overall authority on the project: as she says, she has the favour of the President himself and the governing nations, so she's in a strong position. It was good to see her in the SGC again after she briefly became SG-1's boss at the beginning of Season 8 (I think), taking over from General Hammond. While it was nice to see General Landry, it would have been even better if we got SG-1, even in passing.

Turns out Atlantis isn't quite as far out as it used to seem, and the Pegasus Galaxy is only a mere eighteen days journey for the Daedalus with Asgard Hermiod still along to provide technological support. I hope Daedalus continues to play a role on the series, especially intriguing  as it is to have an Asgard stationed seemingly on a permanent basis on the ship - maybe 'Universe' should have gone the whole hog and introduced an Asgard character as one of the main cast? Returning to Earth should have been a bigger deal, but it is a bit negative, what with Weir having to navigate both personal and professional problems, the politics between civilian and military rearing their head again, something that dates right back to the beginning when Dr. Jackson and O'Neill used to have it out on a regular basis. It's just sad to see sometimes. It's also a bit of an unhappy time for Sheppard, for despite his promotion he also has the unenviable task of visiting Lieutenant Ford's cousin, the closest relative as he didn't have any siblings. It brings up the guilt of being unable to stop him as well as the usual frustration that she can't be told the truth about what happened, so Earth is far from the relieving comfort that might have been expected and it's quite realistic in that this is an important military mission so there are stakes and obviously those in command have expectations and their piece to say. All it should do is bring the Atlantis team together even more and make them feel it's home for them.

If it's a bit of a downer for Sheppard and Weir, it's another starring moment for Dr. McKay who singlehandedly has to save the Daedalus from a cunning Wraith virus that keeps escalating the ship's danger in the same manner as the 'DS9' episode 'Civil Defence' - in fact he even references an 'SG-1' episode where a similar thing happened, so it's a well-worn concept, though one that has legs. Not literally, as it's an artificial intelligence, and from the title I expected an actual physical foe to fight against, so the impersonal nature of the AI took things down a notch or two - prior to that you're wondering if it's a spy, perhaps a Lucian Alliance member, someone from another faction of the past, or alien interference, but no. People die and things keep getting worse until it comes down to Rodney and John in a fighter shooting another fighter - I liked that Sheppard keeps thinking of the analogue solution, like switching the system off or blasting the hidey-hole for the virus that is the other fighter, but it doesn't match up to the excitement and drama of the season opener, nor does it delve deeply enough into the personal consequences of revisiting Earth. It sets the series up somewhat neatly to carry on its mission, it reaffirms Weir's faith in Sheppard specifically and the rest of the team in general, and sets up Colonel Caldwell as a potential thorn if he chooses to be (he wanted to be the new military leader of Atlantis instead of remaining Commander of Daedalus). He was quite right about discipline and not questioning his orders in front of others, but then Weir isn't military so she needs to know protocol. He didn't exactly give her a dressing down, just took her to task in private so I don't feel he's a bad man, just ambitious. I look forward to seeing more Atlantis again as we still don't know where the series is going and Rainbow Sun Francks is still in the credits so they haven't given up on him yet.

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