The Prodigal

 DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (The Prodigal)

I was thinking Ford. It was Michael. Of course it was Michael. What was surprising, given that I generally feel stories around that character were generally a bit B-film sci-fi, very much in the mould of the theatrical System Lords of 'SG-1,' was that I found this to be one of the best episodes! It starts all quite cosy, just another evening on Atlantis, Wolsey's giving Ronon a talking to for not filing mission reports, Teyla's walking her baby to get him to sleep, and Sheppard and Rodney are... playing radio controlled car racing in the halls? But this is not the time for fun as the power suddenly goes out. It was a promising setup as it's always good to have stories where they're creeping around the bowels of the city, vast and empty. It was a bit B-film, all those lines about Michael's plans for galactic domination, and as he strides onto the control centre floor, robes flowing, minions following, I couldn't help but think of the 'Voyager' parody of old 'Flash Gordon' serials in 'Bride of Chaotica!' that I watched again recently. And it is a bit silly and melodramatic, but it turned into something quite cinematic, too!

I would never have imagined they'd kill off the character before the series had ended, but it shows they really are coming to the end of the series if they're beginning to tie up loose ends. It could be that he somehow survives to come back at them one more time, it's possible, since last time they blew up his ship and he still survived, so what's a fall down a tower from the top of Atlantis? Maybe he had another ship out there ready to help him, maybe he was somehow able to fall into water, maybe... I don't know. I hope that is it for him, because as much as I love Connor Trinneer in 'Enterprise' I never felt he made a good villain. Maybe the southern American twang never sat right with his dialogue, I don't know, he did the best he could but the enemy was a simple evil character without any real sympathetic qualities, which arguably are necessary for a strong villain. He certainly went out spectacularly, chased to the top of the command tower by Sheppard (who really should have known better than to simply walk out with his gun in front - and wouldn't he also carry a handgun on him?), then fighting with him quite brutally in hand to hand combat - it was fortunate Sheppard already had some experience climbing outside the tower previously as he must have been less fazed by the wind whistling around and the extreme drop below. It fell to Teyla to land the killer blow that sent the villain to his doom. Was it right to do that, because she seemed to be carrying out the same thing he wanted for Atlantis: vengeance. And if it's alright for the good guys to do that, what exactly is it that makes them good guys?

In her defence there didn't seem to be any other way to handle him in that scenario. If she'd pulled him up he'd only have pulled her off, but I always like the heroes to show one last bit of compassion and at least try to save the enemy, even if it's only so he can be brought to justice. Still, I can't fault the production value, and it was great seeing the ins and outs of the city that we don't often get. The idea of a stun bubble, as Zelenka insists on calling it, was a good visual, as was the fighting from Ronon and the control woman, Banks. When I see martial arts combat on modern stuff I usually don't like it, perhaps because it's filmed far too quick-cut, but here I was really impressed as they got a good sense of the hits and the weight of it all, especially in the fight between Ronon and Michael. I also usually find it so cliched and boring when the villain and hero fight, but because the series is generally so grounded in its sets and characters, and for the fact it was such a big moment in the series that this nemesis was being dealt with, I really liked all of it, and everyone had plenty to do, good lines and a sense of teamwork, things coming together. The atmosphere of coming doom was amply supported by the deadly chime of the self-destruct and in all ways this seemed to be a superior production.

The only character left out of it (even Wolsey had his part to play, including falling down some stairs!), was Dr. Keller, and I don't know why they didn't give her a little scene in the medical bay at the end since they had a scene there between Ronon and Wolsey. I don't demand that every main character must appear in every episode, indeed it's more realistic to mix and match a bit, but when everyone was so evenly handled she did stand out as missing, maybe the actress was ill or working on some other project at the time, otherwise maybe she'd have had Banks' lines? The expertise of the characters, the joy of seeing them solve these problems, the heroism of risking life and limb, it was all inspiring in a Trekkian way that's rarely seen on those modern Trek series', so I feel like this was the last of that era of quality ensemble sci-fi shows - as much as I enjoyed 'Universe' it wasn't up to 'SG-1' or 'Atlantis' standards so I'm really going to miss this series when it ends in only six episodes time. Wow, I can't believe it! I suppose the big opposition is going to be the Wraith, then, as it should be, since that's how it all started, but somehow I thought they were going to combine all these plots together in one big blowout of enemy defeats and myriad plots. I can't imagine them going out as well as they did with this episode, but I hope so.

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