Trio

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (Trio)

Coming to the end of a season and needing to save money, that's how this one came across. It's not that it's bad, I don't need fancy special effects and pumping action to make an episode good, and in fact, putting three characters together, trapped with a time limit is an ideal way to get to some good drama, and this had that feel of old 'SG-1,' where similar things would happen: someone, or more than one, would be in some alien location with air running out or water rising, and they'd have a heart to heart chat with someone else they were trapped with, or on the last little power of their radio. And then they'd get rescued. It's a formula, and it largely works, but it didn't quite work in this case. I'm not sure what it is, maybe Carter just doesn't work so well with this group as she did with Teal'c, O'Neill and Jackson of SG-1, maybe, as I've said before she needs to be the boffin rather than the leader? I've been crying out for her and Rodney to have a problem to solve together, and this is it, this is the one, but again… it didn't quite work. You'd think stripping them down to basics (what kind of medical kit doesn't have a good painkiller in case of emergencies!), no tech, only ingenuity and a room filled with odd bits and bobs, would make it more interesting. Certainly I was impressed by the ideas they came up with, especially Keller's trick of balancing three planks of wood across each other in a triangle to make a bridge when they're too short to reach between girders, that was true ingenuity. And the tower of crates, and the grappling hook, and the cannon…

It wasn't the ideas that were at fault, so maybe it was a chemical thing, perhaps these three just didn't work quite as well as might have been hoped or expected? It made sense, you don't have any of the muscle men, though I don't know quite what Ronon or Sheppard could have done differently in that situation, and I do like that it was two women and a slightly unfit McKay having to deal with a problem of a very physical nature, but it was almost like watching one of those adventure game shows where you stick people in a cell and they have to build something or work out a puzzle to gain release - 'The Crystal Maze' came to mind (the original, not the boring, cheap-looking remake), but it was probably more in the 'Fort Boyard' wheelhouse, much more physically demanding. Unlike 'Quarantine,' an episode they reference, I didn't feel we got to know anything new about anyone or set up any bonds for the future. I know Keller invites Rodney for a drink once they're safe, but it seemed more like she felt sorry for him because of his lack of understanding of the female psyche when it came to his intended. Either that or she just wants to flirt with all the men (it was Ronon in 'Quarantine' but nothing seems to have come of that), which isn't how I saw her at all and could make her position as doctor a bit inappropriate. And while on the subject of inappropriateness there was surprisingly ribald discussions to pass the time, the kind of thing I wouldn't expect from 'Stargate,' nor did it ring true to the characters or feel right!

I would certainly give them points for subverting expectations - after all they went through they failed to exit the way they came in, through the roof, and instead have to descend deeper into the mining complex. It would have been simpler to have the children get help, and it's clear why they knew their parents would be angry if they found out they'd been in that area, because it's unstable and full of holes! It's a miracle it wasn't the children that fell down there. But we're denied any comeuppance for them refusing to put themselves in trouble with the adults as they should have done, taking the consequences, but at least doing the right thing, and we don't know what happened, whether Carter, McKay and Keller told their parents or held their tongues on the subject with the locals. We're also denied getting to see our team come out into the daylight at last, and after a whole episode stuck in a dark hole in the ground there needed to be a release of that kind. We do get the pleasant scene between Keller and McKay back at base, and I suppose it's the age-old issue of not enough time, but I was missing that. I also felt Carter and McKay working together should have been more impressive, and wasn't really, and it was disappointing we learn she doesn't really like Zelenka as he's one of my favourites on the series. I found it very odd that she wears toenail polish under her military boots, that doesn't seem very realistic as you'd be pulling them off and giving them a soak after being out on a mission, and that would ruin all the fine work!

It's also true that they did come across as a bit typically weak modern people some of the time, especially the start where they're talking about tetanus jabs and being all ultra-cautious and stuff. But I will say that did turn around once they set aside such concerns and took risks, Carter leading all the way and in consequence damaging herself in the process, and most especially when she pulls herself to the open door even with a broken leg to see if Keller's okay after she goes flying out of it in the tremors. So it was a mix of heroism and survival and less enjoyable moments, and as much as I quite enjoyed it, it's a story that's been done better before on 'SG-1,' on 'Atlantis,' and even this season. It did its job, filled the slot, used some of the characters and gave us a marginally entertaining conundrum to solve, but they really seem to have fallen into a pattern of only featuring two or three characters an episode recently and it's only a small cast anyway - with Trek it was different: bigger casts and they took the time to explore the characters better in such episodes ('Disaster' on 'TNG' springs to mind), and the writing hasn't generally been the strength of 'Stargate,' though I'd take this episode over almost any recent Trek. But that's not a high bar.

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