Be All My Sins Remember'd

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (Be All My Sins Remember'd)

Another one that starts slow, but throws so much in that it impresses by the end. You have Carter sticking up for Rodney in the face of Colonel Ellis who calls time on his genius posturing; you have Teyla finally admitting she is 'with child' to Sheppard (and Ronon); you have not one ship, the USS Apollo, but two ships, with USS Daedalus with Colonel overload, both Ellis and Caldwell, but that's not all, oh no: there's a mass alliance between our people and The Wraith thanks to the 'friendly' neighbourhood specimen that's been hanging around with McKay in order to come up with a way to defeat their mutual foe, The Replicators, as well as Larrin, Sheppard's 'friend,' supplying even more. And to cap it all off with a flourish? How about a secret appearance by Weir in her own Replicator ship!

This last was a bolt out of the blue beyond, I did not foresee any future for Torri Higginson in the series after they so finally and definitively removed her, but they went to the trouble of holding her credit back until the end so it would be a complete surprise. And was it! It opens up a whole new possibility - is she going to be a foe for our people now? It's strange, but it could work. The one I was suspecting was McKay's dream woman creation, 'Fran' (or Friendly Replicator ANdroid), who seemed so eager to 'fulfil her purpose' and destroy her kind. It was a very schlocky B-film idea, but it worked! Combine the Replicator cells so they're magnetically fused together and then destroy this monster film mass in one go. How it was easier to create a walking, talking female form than a small cube, which wouldn't hold together, I don't know. Sometimes disbelief must simply be suspended for the sake of the story and this was one of those times. It was a good plan, it's just a shame they couldn't have spared a squad to go round the empty Replicator city and liberate a few of those ZPMs they wanted to blow up, what with them being so eternally vital and all… But there was only enough time to do what was necessary, more's the pity.

Sheppard comes across a bit heartless - he's just lost Weir permanently but a matter of weeks ago and then he's running after Larrin. Still, it was the character moments that made the episode, as is usually the case, not just the big battle, which, for all its CGI glory still doesn't match the great space battles of 'DS9'! It was nice to see how supportive Ronon was of Teyla, as it was to see Carter speak so sternly to Ellis in defence of McKay, but she just seemed a little more herself this time - I loved how she came out from behind her desk when enthused by Rodney's science, while Sheppard just sits back none the wiser. I really feel they missed a trick not having her get her hands dirty in experiments - imagine what three brains like her, McKay and Zelenka could do! Seeing multiple recurring characters come together in a big mission was certainly a draw, though it looks like they've gotten rid of Christopher Heyerdahl's Wraith, at least for the moment. Whether Larrin, whom I must confess, I'd forgotten the nature of, returns, I don't know, but it seems sure now that Weir, in some form, could be with us for some time - maybe Higginson wanted to remain part of the series, but only on a recurring basis? The series continues to be a regular success and is easily the best space series out of several non-Trek ones I watch.

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