This Mortal Coil

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (This Mortal Coil)

Blew my theory out of the water. I hoped they were at some point going to succeed in rescuing Elizabeth Weir, whether she'd ultimately die in that attempt or they'd bring her back to the fold as things were before I hadn't pinned down, but I was fairly optimistic we'd see her again. But we don't. Instead we find out she died months back, but Torri Higginson gets a way of some sort to say her goodbyes by playing a biological clone created by a faction of the Replicators who'd been influenced by Nium, if I was following correctly. Rather than some nefarious plan to replace the command crew of Atlantis with replicas it seems they were more concerned with studying humans in order to find a way to ascend as The Ancients did. Yes, it does go a bit deep into the lore, much like 'SG-1' used to do, but while I didn't warm to the episode quickly, as a few stories have proven, give them time and I find myself drawn in and affected by the end. In this case the predominant feeling was great sadness: that these clones of Weir, Sheppard, Rodney, Teyla and Ronon were ultimately doomed, if for nothing else than a TV series can't put up with duplicates of the main characters running around somewhere. I'd have loved it if some of them had survived and we'd had some of the actors playing two characters, at least for a few episodes, but that's probably too much to expect for 'Stargate.'

As it was there was some delight in seeing the pairs interact, though I'd have preferred if the Teylas had been more comfortable with talking to each other as she tends to be so empathetic and accepting - also, was the clone-Teyla also pregnant or did the Replicators not have data that up to date? Naturally there were some flaws with the idea of duplicates, in the same vein as the previous episode dealt with curing cancer: they can replicate a perfect version of Atlantis, all working, Jumpers, and even human bodies, but they can't create a ZPM? That's a little hard to accept! It's also a little hard to accept how quickly the standard dramatic convention in this scenario (and Trek prepped me many times over!), was followed, i.e: killing off all trace of the duplicates before the closing credits. If only they could have allowed for some ambiguity that they might have survived… I know the real reason must have been to finish Weir's story for good, which only makes the story even sadder. I'm both pleased that we did get one last story with her in it, but disappointed they've cut off that avenue of hope. There's nothing to stop the Replicators recreating the team again in future, of course, but that would cheapen our heroes if we kept seeing duplicates, as if they weren't special.

It's hard to believe that all five of them were happy to play decoy when they didn't all need to be on the Jumper, but it was purely for story reasons that they sacrifice themselves neatly. What could they have achieved with two McKays? Or two Ronons? He at least was finding it difficult to adjust to the idea that he had any less right to the life on Atlantis than the original did. But I suppose his honourable nature took hold. It was nice to see how far he's come in the fact that he's not really happy to have nicked Sheppard in the stick fight (though I don't know why the cut didn't heal instantaneously like everything else in the episode!), or that he's so familiar with McKay when they're on their own. It's really nice to see how these characters have all bonded and it only makes it more tragic that they learn they aren't the real ones. It very much reminded me of 'Whispers' from 'DS9' and 'Course: Oblivion' from 'Voyager,' but as both Trek and 'Stargate' franchises have borrowed from each other over the years it wasn't a problem, other than this episode trying to live up to the high bar set by those episodes. I thought it was going to be more of a paranoid story where the team were going to realise everyone's been taken over, or they're actually captured and living out a scenario (á la 'The Search,' also 'DS9'), but it played to the series' strengths rather than being something else and rapidly moved from one situation to the next, since I never felt the paranoid atmosphere materialised strongly.

What struck me most was the tragedy of it all, you knew it was almost impossible that these people were going to survive and for a while I was expecting a complete 'Course: Oblivion' where there's the poignancy of the true characters never finding out who these people were or that they even existed. It can be said that such an episode is pointless in that it plays no part in the ongoing story or the lives of the characters, as if it was all a dream that only the audience knows, but that sense of poignancy and the nature of reality, death and loss can be a powerful source of drama. In this case they didn't go with poignant, but they did add another piece to the ongoing arc, for the Atlantis team can now track all Oberoth's ships in the galaxy. But of course the real reason for the story is to provide some sense of closure on Weir. It looks like my hopes for her to rejoin Atlantis and resume her post after a brave rescue, are dashed, but at least she got to walk in the woods one last time with John Sheppard, as hard as it was for him to get his head around it. I'd have much preferred if even this 'false' Weir could have returned with them, but at least they spared some time for the issues of doubles and the meaning of life had a chance to sink in, plus I don't know how that would have affected Carter's position - who, by the way, has been noticeably absent for a couple of episodes now, they could definitely use her better, I feel. But otherwise, still doing good, series, still doing good…

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