Harmony

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (Harmony)

I thought I recognised the little brat, and I did. Jodelle Ferland played a similar little brat in a couple of episodes of 'Smallville,' a few years before she played another little brat here. Before, she was terrorising Lana Lang, this time she helps recreate a version of 'Three Men and A Baby' with Sheppard and McKay as the two stooges tasked with babysitting her on a 'vital' trek into the forest so she can prove her right to be Queen. Yeah, it's not the best setup, but in some ways that was the best part of the episode, the actual legwork isn't so much fun as the setup implies. It's very odd to have an episode entirely on an alien planet with only two cast members - there isn't a single scene on Atlantis or with any of the other main cast members, so I wonder if this was part of a cost-cutting directive as sometimes happens later in a series' run. They can film this one at the same time as another episode featuring the other characters and they therefore save time, and with this being almost exclusively set out in the familiar forest location, there wasn't the need to budget for guests or elaborate sets, though they come close with the throne room at the end, a crowd of subjects, and the amusing court painting of the final attack where John is cowering behind the brave Rodney and his 'beast' drones.

The attack on the Genii wasn't bad and was probably the highlight of the episode, but really nothing happens other than bickering with this annoying and precocious child. It doesn't make any sense to make the youngest Queen, and it's all very contrived. Usually the bickering between Sheppard and McKay is quite fun, but when it's all the time for the space of an episode instead of being interspersed with other characters doing things, it does get a little less fun, as does the over-used trope of an imperious Queen who someone has to protect and convey somewhere (I always think most of 'Precious Cargo' on 'Enterprise' or 'Elaan of Troyius' on 'TOS,' but most sci-fi series do the story at least once), and she turns out to be badly behaved and highly irritating, finally creating some kind of bond when the hero's goodness forces him to save her life even after she's been so horrible. There's nothing new here, and the Genii have never been good foes, so the only lesson I can see is to be careful when dealing with women that want you to do a little task for them, don't be wooed into letting your guard down!

Sheppard seems to strike against the divine right of monarchs to rule, so I suppose he doesn't know the Bible verse about God placing people in positions of power, but I wouldn't expect anything less from this sort of sci-fi. You'd think the series being set in Canada where they recognise the Queen of England as their own, with Canadian actors, there'd be a little more respect, and it didn't help watching it just after our Queen's Platinum Jubilee! I don't not like the episode, I just don't like it, or not not like certain parts of it… What I'm trying to say is that it's most definitely the weakest of what has been another consistently strong season, has no bearing on anything, but worse, doesn't do anything interesting with the characters - the last episode was also quite contained, but also one of the best because we had all kinds of good things. With this, the best that can be said is that it's nicely filmed in those many outdoor scenes. I wonder if Ferland grew up to be a 'proper' actress instead of these pouty, petulant irritants?

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