Pandora's Box

DVD, BUGS S4 (Pandora's Box)

For an episode that features the inauspicious debut of Christa, Beckett's dozy neighbour, and the next appearance of Adam, it's not bad. They get the soapy-dopey stuff out the way early when Ros shows up at Beckett's flat to find him deep in conversation with that woman, and similarly, when Ed comes to inform Alex that Jan wants them, she's on the phone to Mosby fixing up their evening plans. While the negativity and tensions between these two pairs have yet to degenerate (actually I've been fairly pleasantly surprised how Terry's death hasn't affected the atmosphere as much as in memory), this episode is more attuned to a story, and a very low-tech one at that, so the camaraderie of the characters isn't as much in evidence as they're mostly off doing different things. In one sense this is a boon for the above reasons, but it also means that when there are moments where it should be apparent, the charisma vacuum that is Houghton's Ed is more noticeable - take the moment when he's been captured and he hears someone returning to his cell: he hides behind a locker with a handy metal bar the villains forgot to remove and takes a swing at his visitor, who turns out to be Beckett. All the banter and character comes from Birdsall, Houghton's just blank!

The story itself, about a 6th-Century plague unleashed, potentially from King Arthur's tomb, is strangely un-'BUGS'-like, and while it's not bad, and it's good to have a different kind of story, this is most certainly one to watch because you like the characters and their interactions rather than a thrilling story. We do get a nice scene between Ros and Beckett when she shows her concern that he's putting himself in danger because they don't know for sure this virus does only affect people with blonde hair and blue eyes, and it's nice to see him notice - much better than tension between them. Other than that there didn't seem to be a lot of character interactions between our main cast, which, coupled with the lack of tech, makes it one of the lesser examples of the season. It's quite a grey, bland sort of story, visually speaking, what with even the clothing mostly grey (Ros wears a grey suit and rectangular silver earrings, Beckett a grey boiler-suit under his hi-vis waistcoat, and Ed wears grey trousers with his now-trademark white t-shirt), with the only colour being Ros' blue top under the suit, and at the end the primary colour palette is completed by her wearing a yellow top and Beckett a red shirt under his painting gear. To recap so far: very little technology, lacking the usual colour, and once again in this especially lacklustre locations season we see the most mundane everyday settings that almost make you forget what this series is about! Raymond's bike shop, the school gates, a playground, housing estate, hazardous waste dump... Okay, so that last one is more in keeping, but even there Saniman Waste at Athersbury Point (or Arthur's Burgh), is mostly the dig site with its higgledy-piggledy mesh fencing, mounds of soil, festoon lights and a JCB, which gets a starring role at several points.

Connors, one of the workers, is first to have a go, losing it while driving (never operate heavy machinery while ill!), allowing Beckett a heroic moment of getting aboard and steering it away from the toxic barrels. Not sure why he couldn't just hit the brakes, but I'll assume Connors was covering the controls. Later, Ed uses the ever-useful JCB to deal with Witcher, Eli Cameron's right-hand man, though the man must be very slow not to get out of the way of a swinging digger arm! Finally the great yellow beast provides a hoist to get Beckett out of the pit, so they certainly got their money's worth out of it! For once Witcher and Cameron, the main villains as it were, weren't the worst: partner Vigo is the real nasty, but even then all he does is clonk his boss or partner in the head and steal the sword. His crime is more of stupidity and ignorance, unwittingly unleashing the plague on the populace by his actions, all for petty greed. He's happy to accept a mere £15,000 for the sword as his payoff, and when you think how much the hoard would have been worth had they found one, he seems quite small-time and not very forward-thinking. Even if Cameron went legitimate and reported the find I think they'd have been due fifty percent of the value. As it was, the hoard was long gone, and maybe Vigo was in a spot of financial bother and simply needed some fast cash, we'll never know.

A shame Cameron wasn't played by Tony Robinson - I imagine 'Time Team' may have started by that time (checking up I find it began even before 'BUGS': 1994! So maybe there was some basis for comparison there...), and that would have been funny! Like Vigo, it's not that Cameron is a particularly evil villain, it's more that he's uncaring for the fate of his workers or the dangers he's put them in, completely focused on the prestige of uncovering this fabled treasure. Witcher's the one who seems little more than a lackey happy to shoot anyone that stands in the way, although it's Vigo who brings out the automatic weapon when he and Cameron meet with the Saniman board - I thought it was going to be a repeat of 'Blackout' where Lacombe sprayed bullets into the security guards, but just as every other element of 'BUGS' appears to be a touch watered down or softened this season, things here are pretty tame, too. We do get a pretty good bloom of explosion at the end when Beckett, Ed, Witcher and Frane (I assume - the other henchman), run from the detonation of the site which had been set up to bury the plague. I always think they're going to dive into that trough of water in front of them, and no matter how many times I watch it, they never do. I assume it was filmed that way to get a lovely reflection in the water, as Brian Grant does inject a few noticeably attractive shots, such as the camera moving in on Cameron while the background shifts and Vigo and Witcher cross behind him, or the shot from the wheels of the gurney as we find the collapsed nurse at the hospital - he added inventiveness to a relatively unexciting story.

Something that stands out is the heroism of Ed and Beckett in saving Cameron's lackeys. Lesser good guys may have felt justified in leaving the woozy pair to their fate and not wasting time risking their own lives, especially as they'd tried to kill them, Witcher actually shooting at a fleeing Ed, not to mention it was his fault the detonation went off uncontrolled (hope they had time to remove all those sensitive waste barrels!). But no, they use up valuable escape time working out how to get the pair out by carrying them on a forklift. Cameron isn't so fortunate, and if the message about the blinding power of greed to all other concerns couldn't be clearer it's in the moment he refuses to leave the underground burial tomb and is covered in a fall of earth, fittingly. Despite all this saving of the villains there aren't many of the series hallmarks you'd expect - we're not exactly inundated with explosions, there's the one countdown to detonation, but you notice, other than the rising danger of the plague and the more personal stakes of a child at risk (young James, who finds the sword dropped by Bjorn's buyer was played by Tom Felton, an actor who'd go on to fame in the Harry Potter films, but whom I know from the Joseph Fiennes film, 'Risen'! You’d think his Mother would have qualms about him picking up a life-sized sword from the street…), there wasn't a lot of tension and things take a turn for the even more low-tech when Ros ends up assisting Dr. Hemmings with creating a cure by using antiquarian methods of preparation - a naked flame, pestle and mortar, that kind of thing. It's a good concept, but I'm not sure how realistic it is (I'll look forward to hearing the 'Fusion Patrol' podcast’s view when they get around to that episode!), nor am I sure Ros has the qualifications to be dealing with medical matters for all that Beckett describes her as 'a bright spark' when they're pretending to be electricians as cover for Christa’s sake ('very progressive electricians'), and are there no hospital staff like Hemmings?

If the story isn't very typical it does feature quite a few indirect connections to other episodes. I say indirect because other than The Hive agents seconded to Jan's search for the sword, we don't get specific references, but there are, as often is the case, a few connections to previous examples: I already mentioned the surprise gun appearance, as in 'Blackout,' but we have another instance of Alex going undercover, this time as an investigator of the Hazardous Materials Agency (though she goes in with Ed, so it's not quite the same), the briefcase with a camera in it was used on more than one occasion (I always think of the one in 'Pulse'), and this time Beckett takes such a device on his interview at Saniman (didn't they have CRB checks in those days? Cameron asks if he'd been in prison 1994-1998 as his CV was blank! Should have put 'exploring other career options'!), and I'm sure Ros teasing Beckett through his earpiece because he can't answer back had been done before ('Buried Treasure' maybe?), and it was a sort of inverse of Alex' first undercover operation in 'Blaze of Glory.' There's stock footage of a lift shaft which must come from 'A Sporting Chance' (though the size doesn't match with that wide example in this episode which has enough room for a forklift!), and even the idea of a virus that targets specific people had been done before ('Assassins Inc'), even this season ('Sacrifice To Science')!

I had thought we'd be free of Adam this time as they'd done the obligatory reminder he's about with Alex' phone call early on, and with her falling victim to the plague (not the last of the main cast to spend most of a story in a hospital bed this season...), but they wanted the drama of him finding out she's one of the affected infected, but strangely he still doesn't take much of a role, only seen going about with Ros while Beckett and Ed do the heavy duty stuff. He doesn't even warrant a scene at the end with his girlfriend, though I think he was there when she opened her eyes, but in reality the poor use of him was for the better because we don't want him interfering in stories, and it was quite nice to see our four main people meeting up at Beckett's flat - for once Christa makes a wise move and leaves Beckett to his friends. Interestingly, the tag scene is another more pleasant one than silly or cheery as it really is lovely to see Alex pop her head round the corner, fine again, although the only downsides are that we never got to hear the actual Viking translation of the stone they left behind on plundering the tomb. And Jan isn't there to complete the picture. Once again she seems to be bringing together the various organisations in a spirit of cooperation, something I've already commented upon this season. Obviously Hive agents joining in was one aspect, but we also get an 'Armed Response Squad' which is a new one for the series. We’d seen them go in with backup before (in 'Renegades' when they swoop on the villain's HQ), but this time they're all balaclava-ed up as if even their identities had to be kept secret. The real missed opportunity is that they weren't named as SSD men, which would have been better, and this must be what I'd previously thought were SSD's contribution to Season 4, more's the pity.

It's great to see Jan in command of some large forces, no matter its provenance, but does that mean she always has access to such extensive backup? That has the danger of either making our Bureau team obsolete, or at least takes some of their value away, except that in this case the squad appears to be more soldiers there to enforce and guard rather than the unique skillsets our people have at their disposal. Jan didn't get everything right, however, as she said Alex was infected by a coin Beckett gave her, but in reality Alex took it herself. Although Alex is flat on her back for much of the episode we do see her get in the familiar Toyota Land Cruiser when escaping from Saniman. I'm not sure we ever saw the Jeep, which is a rare event, but other former staples of the series make a comeback: Canary Wharf Tower, absent all season, is very visible, as is the Docklands Light Railway (even if Adam calls it the 'Rapid Transit trains'), which was a nice revisiting of the series' past (most notably used in 'Newton's Run'). We see Beckett doesn't necessarily always give out the best advice: he meets two Saniman employees and whips them up into a frenzy of panic about the virus the dig has unearthed, basically telling them to run for the hills, but surely it'd be better to quarantine the place, contain the virus, they don't know how it's spread, they could be taking it out into the community! At least we learn something new, or at least that hasn't been touched on much before: his love of vinyl. This was actually something of Birdsall's own personality, which is nice (especially for someone so caught up in cutting edge tech in his professional life - bet he was happy when it made a comeback!). And we potentially find out something about the mysteriously undeveloped Ed, too: his ancestors could be from Mars for all he knows (or even Australia?) - that explains why Ed started acting like an automaton in Season 4, he's been replaced by aliens!

***

The Kindred Part II

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (The Kindred Part II)

They could have made an end of Beckett, perhaps heroically saving Teyla, but she remains a captive of Michael, and Carson remains alive, though in stasis like Han Solo in Carbonite, giving our intrepid team two motivations to catch the twisted half-Wraith and prevent him from continuing his mad scientist routine. There was a hint of finality to Beckett's final resting place, despite the forced optimism of his friends, but surely if they were going to kill him they wouldn't have left him, and us, with hope. It was nice to see the guy again even if it doesn't look like he's going to be playing much of a part from now on, and they don't leave us hanging for answers as too many serialised shows do these days. For instance, while running through the possibilities, including that this could be the original Beckett, captured two years ago, they don't demean the real guy's death and are quick to reveal he's actually a clone. And of course things can't be rosy and bright: he's also dying since he's no longer receiving the necessary injections from Michael which kept his cells from degrading. Similarly, we learn that Kanaan, Teyla's zombified boyfriend, still retains some connection to her, and also Michael's plan to somehow use their offspring, a child with unique DNA considering the parents both have the Wraith telepathic gift.

It's not all revelations, though, there's also time for touching moments such as Rodney revealing the truth to Carson about what he is and what happened. Ordinarily you wouldn't think he was the best person to break life-defining news to someone, but perhaps because they were good friends before Beckett died, he does a good job and handles it as sensitively as you can imagine someone telling you you're a clone and the real you died months ago! Carson also had to learn the harsh reality of the loss of Elizabeth Weir, shock upon shock. Naturally there's some concern that he could be a plant of Michael's and not even know it, and we see a demonstration of him being unable to shoot his creator, so it's still a possibility, but it's heart-warming to see them quickly come to trust him and he doesn't prove that trust misplaced.  It's great to have him back, even if it does turn out to be only for one episode (though, as I say, you wouldn't think they'd keep him hanging like a wildcard if they didn't intend to bring him into the story again in some way), and there is a little bit of a sense of closure to his life after he was so shockingly and suddenly taken from them. But there's also the fact that the team has, as they should have, moved on - Dr. Keller is the doc now, Carter's in charge, Ronon finds it difficult to accept another Beckett. And yet it all comes good by the end and he's even able to soften the blow of the original Beckett's sudden demise by writing a letter to his Mother which they can now 'find' and pass on.

Beckett wasn't the only pleasant blast from the past: with all his appearances as 'Todd' the Wraith, we were fooled into assuming Christopher Heyerdahl would be back again in that guise, but no, it's his original character, the Athosian Halling whom I never expected to see again since he'd been out of it for so long. He's a bit battered and shorn of the long locks (perhaps to differentiate him from his Wraith character), but he's just as dedicated to his people and Teyla. So that was nice. Nagel the nasty spy, whom they encountered on New Athos, also returns to give them a clue where to start for Michael and there's plenty of gunplay, but it is, as usual, in the personal character scenes that the episode proves itself. Being the middle of what I assume will be a three-parter it doesn't really go anywhere much, but the important things are Beckett and Teyla and their respective situations which are quite well addressed.

***

The Kindred

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (The Kindred)

Teyla-centric, which makes it a little more unique, and moves the story along, but also over-busy, too much stuff happening, it's a job to keep track of it all rather than exploring a single story. In that sense it's not one of the more satisfying episodes, which isn't to say it's bad, and it certainly leaves you reeling with the final scene, that I will say! They've sort of done this before, of course, leaving Weir trapped, then hearing she died, then bringing 'her' back in a roundabout way, so I wasn't as dumbfounded as I might have been to see Dr. Carson Beckett somehow resurrected as a prisoner on some world the team are going to in order to find Teyla, who's a prisoner of Michael… It's a bit convoluted, maybe too many plates being spun, and it was also a bit too obvious that he was going to be behind the Hoffan plague they talk about at first because Connor Trinneer's name came up post-titles. Christopher Heyerdahl's 'Todd' also features, doing some kind of deal again and claiming that the intel that almost led to Earth being a victim of a Wraith attack was stolen from him rather than being something he had a hand in. In the same episode Heyerdahl appears we also find out at last what happened to the Athosians, but of course we weren't going to get him back as the leader, Halling.

I was never that impressed with the Michael storyline, any more than I was with Lieutenant Ford's (remember him?), they were both mere revenge-seekers and I didn't find it all that interesting, despite the fact it's fun to see Trinneer of 'Enterprise' in a different sci-fi franchise. Cruel of him to send visions of Kanaan in order to capture Teyla, but as I said, it was always going to be him responsible for this plague that kills both human and Wraith alike. I found it quite touching the way her friends and colleagues are so supportive of Teyla, despite their personal scepticism, and it is sci-fi after all, so it was pretty likely she wasn't merely experiencing dreams or daydreams! It was of interest to finally meet this long talked of boyfriend, Father of her unborn child, but he did seem a bit unimpressive after all the build-up time we'd had before getting to meet him. Somehow you'd think Teyla would be tied to someone with more gumption. Like Ronon. Or even Sheppard. Granted, we never actually saw the 'real' guy as in the visions it was actually Michael undercover, and then when we do see him he's already changed, but Teyla didn't indicate he was behaving out of character so maybe she merely liked him because he was a bit weaker than her. The real reason is that they both share the Wraith DNA which, as she says, sets them apart from ordinary Athosians, but even so…

There seemed to be a catalogue of errors, which I understand you have to have to build the tension so that when that 'To be continued' sign flashes up at the end things look as bad as they can before the goodies start setting right what went wrong, but we have Lorne losing Teyla to a Dart's ambush, we have the Daedalus taken completely unprepared when Michael's ship (I think), shows up, and then they can't even stop it or track it. Maybe old Caldwell's getting too old for the job? Otherwise it's a lot of back and forth, seemingly playing for time until we get to where we're going: Beckett. It can't be the actual Carson since he was blown into pieces, and in a most impressive episode. It's questionable, after such a heroic death with so much meaning that it was wise to bring him back, but again, it is sci-fi, you have to expect it to some extent and try not to let it ruin the impact of the earlier drama. A clone? A Wraith experiment? The 'real' Beckett was actually an android? Who knows at this juncture, but I'm sure we'll be finding out soon (maybe it was as simple as Paul McGillion wanting to go off and do a film or two and now he's back?). It would be sort of nice to get all the old characters back together in time for the final season (although where would that leave Dr. Keller who's carved out her own niche nicely), but whether they'll go that route, I really don't know. Just don't bring Ford back, eh?

**

Hell and High Water

DVD, BUGS S4 (Hell and High Water)

Come hell or high water our Bureau 2 team will always get their man, or men, or men and a young lady, even if that means being helicoptered off to a remote oil rig out at sea. I couldn't remember if they actually filmed on location, and that's a tribute to the excellent scene-setting use of stock footage, because I realised we never do see them out on the exposed deck, only inside a helicopter or going down into the bowels of this Searanger IV satellite tracking station. It became very clear when I recognised the door to the Crew Quarters when Beckett investigates, and it reminded me of the ones at The Hive, and lo and behold, the room he walks into was just another redress of that familiar Hive office with the concave wall and its lines of small windows! That wasn't the only reuse of a location (we also see the actual Hive, but only from outside), the 'decommissioned area' that the baddies are searching looked very much like the water pumping station Mad Sally fell to her death inside (and which was very nearly Ros' fate here), which was also used in Season 2 with 'Blackout' as the site of the nuclear triggers. So they were once again including some 'BUGS' history, and these filming spots weren't the only connection: the biggest is a mention of Starshield, the deadly defence satellite system that caused so much trouble when Ed went into space at the start of Season 2 and almost blasted the space shuttle to destruction. This time it's another of the satellites, Warbird Alpha, whose orbit has decayed and unless it can be ordered to self-destruct it'll rain down on a city, obliterating it.

Good stakes, then. And there are plenty of threats, too, with one of those multiple villain scenarios that doesn't often occur, perhaps even in record-breaking numbers - you have McKormac, the steel-haired, worn-faced, leather jacket-wearing criminal responsible for the biggest spy scandal of the 1970s, his accomplice's children, Liam and Sarah, her two cronies aboard the rig, and a rogue element, Grey, an actual member of Searanger's crew who has no association with them, but wants to take advantage of the situation and blackmail his former commanding officer for a cool five million. In reality the only really dangerous offender is Grey, partly because they don't know he's a murdering psychopath and partly because he is one! He's able to catch both Ros and Beckett with their guards down, and if it hadn't been for a truly terrible aim, he might well have cleaved our Bureau Chief's head in two, or at the very least taken an arm off, with that axe his weapon of choice! Beckett's subdued earlier with better aim and a metal bar, and it doesn't take much for him to trick Ros into captivity as we see her concern for Nick override all others (not getting conned into an airtight room again, Ros - see 'Manna From Heaven'). That's one of the highlights of this episode because it shows that things are practically back to normal, they're happy and joking in each others' company, doing their usual teamwork to get themselves out of a tight spot and saving civilisation too. In short, things are positive again, though it wouldn't last…

The seventh villain is Adam, you know surname Mosby, new recruit at The Hive, Alex' no accounting for taste boyfriend. Okay, he's not really a villain (yet. Yet?), he's just mildly irritating and they don't play with the 'Ed jealousy' angle that seems to come into play to match the Ros and Beckett personal troubles here and there. In fact Alex is almost entirely off on her own little mini missions for the greater cause, which shows how far she's come from a simple filing clerk guarding the Bureau of Weapons' Code Reds, and also nice to see Paula Hunt given her own story to match her placement as one of the main cast in the opening titles (more on those later). She'd already been well established as a personality which loves going in undercover, doing it on a few occasions, and this time she doesn't even have Ed to hold her hand as she poses as a member of the Gas Board checking on a leak at McKormac and gang's apartment, sweeping the place with a camera and planting a bug. Certainly she was more successful than when she went to the villains' flat in 'Hollow Man' as a researcher asking questions, starting with, 'what's your name, Mr. North?' But only marginally as her bug is quickly discovered, putting the villains on the alert.

While Alex goes solo, we get to see a nice little mission for our original trio as the three of them head off to the rig to find out why it's incommunicado. Strangely they all wear red at different points of the episode: Ros starts off the trend with her red suit jacket, while Beckett's in his usual smart suit with blue shirt, reminding us of the primary colour days (and Ed's as bland and basic as ever in a white t-shirt - he obviously missed the memo), then for more serious work they wear more serious gear, Ros in a black tracksuit while Beckett's wearing a red shirt under a blue coat (and Ed's in a nondescript brown t-shirt), and then Ed also catches up by wearing a red jacket, almost as if he saw the pattern and didn't want to be left out! At least it did look a bit like the red jacket McLachlan's Ed had worn previously. Any resemblance to the days of yore for our team aren't the strongest thanks again to the very serious, slow way Houghton plays his scenes - he always seems to scrunch up his forehead with the effort of deep thought instead of throwing in quick wisecracks and enjoying himself, but if Ed doesn't enter into the spirit of it all, at least we're pleased to see Ros and Beckett getting along. Ed also seemed quite surprisingly brutal and ungentlemanly, chucking Sarah into the cage with so much force! The little lady never looks like much of a threat, either, and in the spot where we used to have an exciting fight scene when Ed and Alex confront Liam and Sarah at the industrial site back on land, all that happens is the villainous pair are tackled or knocked down very easily, making them look most inconsequential.

What I will give the episode credit for is in its use of all five main characters in good proportion. I could have wished Ed was more Ed-like and there was some classic banter between the three on the rig, but he breaks up the team when he stows away aboard the hijacked helicopter and ends up working with Jan and Alex while Ros and Beckett have their own problems, so the original team-up was short-lived, sadly. While Alex is used pretty well, Jan was also given her money's worth (or government bonds' worth), and this time she isn't placed in such an awkward-looking position as tripping an enemy up in her high heels, as in 'Girl Power,' instead using her brain and knocking McKormac off his feet in triumphant style, using his own dynamite against him in the boot of his car (and sending those bonds into air, much like the money going everywhere in 'Blackout'). The episode isn't exactly full of spectacle, the closest we come is the pickup smashing its way out of the Museum of Computer Technology, though even there you can see it's actually a plate of glass shot in front of the building so as not to destroy an actual glass door (similar to when they built a false front extension onto a building in 'Pulse' so the HGV could smash into it), and while the stock footage of the rig, sea and helicopter was atmospheric and effective, it still wasn't 'live,' so Jan's explosive finale redressed the balance a bit. I also liked that she works out the old circuit boards are actually an aerial map, and it was fun to have her drive the famous Jeep, too!

The time scale this episode is set in is once again laid down very firmly as 1998 since we know it was 1974 when McKormac and Vincenzi, his partner in crime, sold their secrets to the Balkans, and it's been twenty-five years since then, and… oh, okay, so maybe it's actually set in 1999. If so, that was very prescient of the writing because they didn't know then that part of Series 4 would be shown a year late! I suppose Pa Beckett could have been fudging a bit when they talked of it being ten years since seeing his son when his wife died in 1988. Or maybe a year has passed since 'The Two Becketts'? Unlikely, considering the ongoing plots of Ros and Beckett, and Alex and Adam! I wonder if that was a real computer exhibition at the Museum? We don't get a good enough look at all those boxy old computers to judge if they're genuine or not. I can't help thinking they should have played up the old technology a bit, maybe have someone like Ros rhapsodise over it all, make some sort of commentary on where it's all gone. But it was a clever idea to have such a low-tech solution as the physical structure of the board being the key rather than the data on it. The Museum reminded me of Ethan Rockridge's collection in 'Hollow Man,' another episode in which we weren't given the chance to revel in computers past, not getting a good look at them. One thing that does see improvement across the series is its quality of computer generated art, this time seen in the 3D wireframe model of the rig that rotates on a screen. Even across four years CGI had changed hugely.

One thing about the MCT confused me, and that was that it seemed to be only part of guard Tom's rounds, except he was driving in a van marked MCT as if that was the main building to be guarded! Maybe production didn't keep as careful tabs on the dialogue in the script as they should have, or didn't think it was noticeable that a guard complaining about MCT not being worth his rounds was also travelling in a van with their livery! I was also a little iffy on the whole logic of this Searanger IV and its protocols - sending an inspection team to investigate the loss of contact, okay, I can buy that, even though you'd think they'd be alerting the coastguard or a naval ship in the area for faster response, but wouldn't the Bureau have been briefed on who was actually on the rig, with photos so they'd immediately be aware of intruders instead of bumbling around piecing clues together until they were in trouble! And why not bring armed guards with them, especially as later in the episode Jan has a throwaway line about sending a squad of SSD to pick up the other villains! That was an exciting line since it shows the organisations are now working much more closely, which you'd expect after The Hive coming into it earlier this season and the trouble with SSD at the top in 'Fugitive,' a firm hand and a more cooperative attitude would seem to be in order. But as I say, if they have access to SSD backup why not use it all the time whenever there's a dangerous situation?

That would have the effect of making our team look a little less heroic, of course, so reality has to take a backseat, especially in this series, which is fair enough, but then maybe they shouldn't have an option like an SSD squad open to them at all? Either way it was a pleasing reference especially as this is the only season SSD didn't get a story based around them. I would like to know one thing, and that's what the original escape route for McKormac's partners was going to be if they weren't planning on hijacking a helicopter? Did they have a boat waiting somewhere, or what? It's only because Sarah says they've got the chopper now as an alternative escape route. And while we're at it, wouldn't it have made more sense to have McKormac on the rig since he'd know where the circuit board was hidden, wouldn't he? Like 'The Two Becketts' and Season 4 as a whole, this continues to be much more down to Earth (and I'm not talking Warbird Alpha's trajectory!), focusing more on old tech, scummy old locations like the battered rig and the dirty industrial centre rather than high-tech gloss and snazziness. It's worked pretty well these last two episodes, but I wouldn't want it every week because that wasn't really the series' mandate or style, though it's fun to visit odd little places like the Pascall Marine office where a middle-aged secretary assumes Alex knows shorthand or remembers the Seventies, much like William Taska in the previous episode - gently poking fun at an older generation, though perhaps it's a bit disrespectful…

The biggest issue I had with the episode, other than Ed having no charm and very little camaraderie with his comrades, is how strangely it all ends. I'm glad there wasn't a grumpy, depressing finale as in 'Sacrifice To Science,' and the thoughtful one of 'The Two Becketts' was better than a corny joke, which 'Girl Power' went back to, but instead we have Alex and Adam joking gently together. It's not really that scene that's the problem, it's just there's a lack of follow-up to what's gone on. It's over rather too quickly with the villains being rounded up (no one dies!), and I was looking forward to that scene shown at the end of the titles with all five of the gang laughing together - I assumed it was from this episode since Ros was wearing the red jacket, but it didn't happen, so either it was an outtake they liked enough to include in the title sequence, or it's yet to happen, or it was a scene that was filmed, but cut for time. But the episode really needed to show that everything was alright again with Ros and Beckett - not that the episode doesn't show that, it does, but it could really have done with a capper to round things off and set things firmly back to normal. Except it wouldn't be, and I seem to remember the second half would be much less happy and more soapy with less great ideas and team involvement. I liked this episode, not as much as I expected to perhaps, but in the context of the season it's pretty likeable since there's nothing really amiss, other than Ed, but there was nothing that could be done in that quarter.

***

Midway

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S4 (Midway)

Schwarzenegger and Stallone. Vin Diesel and The Rock. Ronon Dex and… Teal'c? They finally did it, they must have known it was what everyone wanted to see as soon as Ronon became a member of the Atlantis team: 'SGA's best warrior had to meet 'SG-1's. I've mentioned the possibility a few times, and of course with the addition of Carter at the start of the season with a little cameo by our favourite Jaffa warrior, the probability went up a bit, but I was never sure it would happen, after all Christopher Judge probably had better things to do than reprise his famous role of a decade as the muscleman with the shiny emblem on the forehead. But do it they did, and in great style, as you'd hope! A lot of action is packed into one episode, but it starts as you'd hope, with Ronon immediately threatened by this lauded hulk who has come to coach him on an interview with IOA member Mr. Coolidge, in case Wolsey was getting too cuddly. Teal'c, sporting a new, longer hair look, isn't quick to take offence, and in fact faces down the younger fighter with aplomb, having gone through his own such stages in the past and learnt admirable restraint, as any great warrior should, but he's not going to back down from a challenge, and Ronon clearly wants to rumble, so they rumble.

We hear that it's gone on for an hour or two, and when we join it, the battle is going about as even as you would expect. I always wondered who would prevail in a fight between the pair, though being a loyal 'SG-1' follower I was of course going to point Teal'c out as the more likely victor. So it was an interesting choice that, while not fighting each other to a standstill, it takes Carter coming in to break it up and call it a draw. An equitable solution, and one I hadn't thought about. It only came back to me that Teal'c is actually quite an old man when I noticed the grey streak in his hair and remembered he'd lived something like a century in the final episode of 'SG-1,' so in point of fact, if he'd been in his prime (and I don't mean First Prime!), I think we can say he'd have just edged it. But we'll never know. The important thing is they prove themselves to the other and put to bed the debate no doubt many viewers had been having about who would win (now how about between McKay and Dr. Lee…). They also go on to save each others' lives, which was a nice touch, but the episode didn't entirely go the way I expected, even though I was expecting them to be stuck having to work together - they're sent to the doomed Midway Station, the halfway point between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies that McKay was so proud of setting up, where some Wraith choose just that moment to descend upon the hapless scientists and bored soldiers.

You'd think the SGC would have learned by now that you can never be one hundred percent secure with a Stargate, and at least have had better security procedures than a couple of dozy soldiers hanging around by the 'gate! But they're taken unawares and it's up to the musclebound warrior blokes to blast the intruders, though it being only a small station the fight spills over into the SGC itself back at Cheyenne Mountain. I wonder how long they kept the old sets up, was it just until they finished making the (two), 'SG-1' films? I don't remember it showing up in 'Universe' as the same place, so… But it was such fun seeing Ronon in those familiar environs, not to mention Teal'c striding down his old corridors packin' heat, and even Walter's in his usual seat at the computers. Dr. Lee is too dozy to be cowardly, it seems, as even when he's threatened by the chief Wraith, he's always got something to witter on about, and I can see why Sheppard got so infuriated with his and Kavanagh's constant drivel he shut himself in the cockpit of the emergency escape Jumper! Kavanagh's another returning face, I thought from 'SG-1,' but it was actually this series and he dates back to Season 1. And who better to play an officious little man for IOA interview-holder Coolidge than Rob LaBelle of so many things (Trek, 'Smallville,' he's sure to have shown up in a 'Stargate' somewhere along the line, too).

It is a little obvious that Ronon proves his loyalty and allegiance to the cause through his actions with Teal'c, and so Coolidge gives him an easy pass, but it's fun all the same, and while I don't like Ronon quite as much as Teal'c, he acquits himself well and in a lot of ways is quite a different character. And it is superb to have them rushing down the old corridors shooting up Wraith or battling them in hand to hand combat - once again, easy to forget Teal'c is a very old man! My one complaint about the episode is the Wraith look a little weedier than they usually do, going down like skittles all over the place, until they need to have a proper fight and Teal'c or Ronon almost get ripped apart. On Midway it felt more like they were a threat through strength of numbers rather than the fearsome nature of their powers and strength, even though we do see the occasional aftermath of their life-draining ability. Perhaps they should have been shown in a more deadly light to make the heroes' struggle more desperate, but it's a small complaint in an episode that gave us what we wanted. If Teal'c never comes back in another episode (he was never in 'Universe,' but then if that had lasted more than two years, who knows), this will have been a fitting swan song for the character, even though I'm sure he'll be back at least once more for 'Stargate Continuum' which I assume would have been filmed after this. Just sad that Midway is no more.

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