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brabbel123While not as good as the previous episode, Progeny still leaves me reasonably content if not entirely satisfied...
Atlantis discovers sort of a sister city with extremely cautious inhabitants who they believe to be Ancients and who apparently possess not only the ability to create ZPMs but also a weapon against the Wraith. The visuals of the city which is much bigger than Atlantis are stunning (as are those of the city departing for space travel) and apart from a certain arrogance and distrust displayed by the leader, all seems perfect... but of course, it's too good to be true. We learn that the inhabitants are actually Replicators who were initially created by the Ancients to fight the Wraith but then outgrew their original programming and turned on their creators. They escaped the total destruction the Ancients tried to bring to them and eventually recreated Atlantis and themselves in the image of their creators. And even after all those millennia they still hate anything remotely Ancient - even people living in Ancient cities like Atlantis since they, as Weir put it, consider humans as their siblings onto whom the Ancients bestowed all their love whereas they themselves were neglected and hated.
What I disliked most about this episode was the enormous naivity the SGA-team displays. And Weir's diplomatic skills which basically consist of urging the Asurans/Replicators to take action against the Wraith and to give Atlantis a couple of ZPMs without actually offering anything in return bothered me enormously as well. She's meant to be one of Earth's top negotiators and that's the best she can come up with? What about asking them to *show* Rodney how to build a ZPM for starters? And to tell someone you just met about Atlantis is a sign of poor judgment to me, especially considering that the knowledge of the city's continued existence is supposed to stay secret... I don't like Weir much because the writing of her character so far has been sloppy and inconsistent (just think of her lamenting about John questioning the Wraith in season 1 in the light of the Geneva Convention - and then her condoning those medical experiments with the retro virus). And since I actually appreciated seeing her in action outside of Atlantis, I was seriously underwhelmed by her lack of diplomatic skills.
I'm also not quite sure what to make of the idea that the Replicators originally were created by the Ancients. What about SG-1's "Menace" which introduced us to the android girl who controlled those buglike metal pieces? On the other hand, since we don't get to see those bugs in Progeny - perhaps the *girl* was left behind by the Ancients with its memory wiped and she just used that inexplicable control (i.e. that subspace link) for her pastime. Any explanation like this would at least link the 2 forms of replicators together in a way that this episode couldn't.
And I'm also not quite happy with a couple of minor things, such as depicting an elderly, overweight man as the epitome of replicator evolution. Nothing against the elderly or the overweight, of course (I mean, would I really argue against myself?), but in this instance where this peak of evolution doesn't simply concern mental abilities but also physical ones, the picture drawn here just seems wrong. And granted, this episode was quite exciting, but did it have to be so similar to SG-1's "Unnatural Selection" in showing a replicator having humanlike emotions and taking a special interest in one of the characters, even helping the team, only to be later on left behind/betrayed?
On the other hand, this episode offered much on the plus-side as well. Again, I particularly enjoyed the team moments (think Sheppard and McKay's discussion about the Asurans being "UnAncienty" or Ronon's comment about taking care of family) and Sheppard's hallucination about their escape. All 5 were tortured for information and given each different mental images to divert their attention from what's really going on. John's were the only ones being shown and this sequence tells much about his character and how he views his teammates. Interestingly, he imagines Rodney fighting with him over who gets to stay on Atlantis on a suicide mission to blow up the city, rather than Weir who's after all the unofficial mayor of the city! Now, what does that tell about their friendship and his obvious high regard for McKay? As I wrote in my review for "Sateda", Rodney might act like an egotistical jerk, but when push comes to shove he'll put aside his own needs for those of his friends. I'm overjoyed that John has come to realize this as well! Of course, Sheppard being Sheppard, he's staying behind - and that reinforces his attitude that he'd do anything to save his friends and Earth, even sacrificing himself.
To be honest, with a show like Atlantis, it's those moments of insight into the characters that I love and that I think are the most important ones. Of course, having a decent plot is important - but it's the characters that give it life. I'm glad that the writers start to realize this as well. I just would have liked to get a glimpse at Rodney's torture/hallucination as well. He indicated that he was tortured quite intimately and I'd really like to know what he meant by that ominous remark. Was it physical torture like with the Genii? Or was he trapped in a scenario like John's but *not* able to get an escape attempt up and running? Or did the Replicators conjure up some sort of "Trinity"-like hallucination where Rodney had to weigh his thirst for knowledge against the wellbeing of his friends? Perhaps that's the one major downlet among the team moments. Once again, Rodney's pain and fear is turned into something more or less funny or at least unimportant. Because he's prone to exaggerate and whine he isn't taken seriously (apart from one concerned look by Sheppard) but I definitely got the impression that this was something different entirely to his usual complaining.
Many scenes reminded me strongly of "Inferno" in that everyone again looked to Rodney to come up with a solution. I absolutely loved Sheppard hovering over Rodney's shoulder and demanding an exact time frame all the time. Of course, their banter cracked me up as usual. But actually, I'm kind of looking forward to the moment Rodney for once *can't* come up with a solution. I'm not hoping for another "Trinity"-like disaster but just something that has him stumped for more than a few seconds. Other than that, I also enjoyed the references to "Hot Zone" and that we finally know who created that nano-virus.
Overall, I kind of like the idea of giving Atlantis a new enemy to focus on. While I consider the Wraith an intriguing enemy because of the impossibility to actually negotiate with them, I don't like the direction they're going in that war with the retrovirus etc. I also think that as long Atlantis is unwilling to pursue other avenues in defeating the Wraith, we won't actually get to learn anything new about them... and introducing new facts is the only thing to keep an enemy interesting. Perhaps an enemy that you can't recognize at first sight, that forces you to question what you perceive as reality because of their ability to access your thoughts and create hallucinations that feel real, that holds you in complete disregard and would like nothing better than to wipe you out, would offer some much needed break in this regard. There's enough dissent among the replicators over their attitude towards humans and, in general, over their goals in "life", that can be built upon to negotiate - without having to tread into morally shady waters. And to be honest, I'm also quite happy that the more we know about the Ancients the less morally advanced they appear. I'm always wary about "holier than thou" characters or races - and since the expedition to Atlantis actually started out in order to learn more about them, it's time that mission goal is followed up on.
I definitely hope to see more of the Replicators. They know where to find Atlantis and I wouldn't be surprised to see them flying in with another city-ship. But the ending leaves one question unanswered: Why does the team leave Niam floating in space? Just because that would kill a *human*, it wouldn't do the same to a machine. And now he floats in space above Atlantis, perhaps being the eyes and ears for all replicators through their subspace connection, waiting for them to retrieve him. The wise choice would have been to send up a drone and destroy him. As much as I like Atlantis, the writers should really try to let the team make coherent decisions and be conscious of their consequences. The lack of foresight displayed is quite appalling - first with Michael and the setting of the experiment, then with the camp of humanized Wraith in Misbegotten and now with Niam. Either follow through with a decision once it's made, or don't make it all.
Finally, I grant this episode a 6.5/10 - an interesting new enemy and a couple of good team moments unfortunately don't entirely make up for some poor writing and the feeling that it's a plot I've seen before.
A couple of memorable quotes:
John: What's the hold up? [...]
Rodney: It's like trying to reconfigure the DNA double helix.
John: Which takes you what... 5 minutes?
Rodney: I figured out a way to create a glitch that on my command should momentarily freeze them. [...]
Ronon: How long?
Rodney: Well, I don't know. That's why I said momentarily.
John: Days? Hours? Minutes?
Rodney: It's probably minutes but I don't know. [...]
John: 10? 20?
Rodney: Well, if you like to know a number, I'd say 7. 7 minutes and 31 seconds. Are you happy?
John: No!
Rodney: No?
John: That's not enough time!
Rodney: You wanted a number!
John: A bigger number!
Ronon: Not much point in leaving without blowing this place up first.
Weir: How do we do that? (everyone looks expectantly at Rodney)
Rodney: Oh, that's me. Right. Surprise, surprise. Why don't I just go on these missions by myself?
Atlantis discovers sort of a sister city with extremely cautious inhabitants who they believe to be Ancients and who apparently possess not only the ability to create ZPMs but also a weapon against the Wraith. The visuals of the city which is much bigger than Atlantis are stunning (as are those of the city departing for space travel) and apart from a certain arrogance and distrust displayed by the leader, all seems perfect... but of course, it's too good to be true. We learn that the inhabitants are actually Replicators who were initially created by the Ancients to fight the Wraith but then outgrew their original programming and turned on their creators. They escaped the total destruction the Ancients tried to bring to them and eventually recreated Atlantis and themselves in the image of their creators. And even after all those millennia they still hate anything remotely Ancient - even people living in Ancient cities like Atlantis since they, as Weir put it, consider humans as their siblings onto whom the Ancients bestowed all their love whereas they themselves were neglected and hated.
What I disliked most about this episode was the enormous naivity the SGA-team displays. And Weir's diplomatic skills which basically consist of urging the Asurans/Replicators to take action against the Wraith and to give Atlantis a couple of ZPMs without actually offering anything in return bothered me enormously as well. She's meant to be one of Earth's top negotiators and that's the best she can come up with? What about asking them to *show* Rodney how to build a ZPM for starters? And to tell someone you just met about Atlantis is a sign of poor judgment to me, especially considering that the knowledge of the city's continued existence is supposed to stay secret... I don't like Weir much because the writing of her character so far has been sloppy and inconsistent (just think of her lamenting about John questioning the Wraith in season 1 in the light of the Geneva Convention - and then her condoning those medical experiments with the retro virus). And since I actually appreciated seeing her in action outside of Atlantis, I was seriously underwhelmed by her lack of diplomatic skills.
I'm also not quite sure what to make of the idea that the Replicators originally were created by the Ancients. What about SG-1's "Menace" which introduced us to the android girl who controlled those buglike metal pieces? On the other hand, since we don't get to see those bugs in Progeny - perhaps the *girl* was left behind by the Ancients with its memory wiped and she just used that inexplicable control (i.e. that subspace link) for her pastime. Any explanation like this would at least link the 2 forms of replicators together in a way that this episode couldn't.
And I'm also not quite happy with a couple of minor things, such as depicting an elderly, overweight man as the epitome of replicator evolution. Nothing against the elderly or the overweight, of course (I mean, would I really argue against myself?), but in this instance where this peak of evolution doesn't simply concern mental abilities but also physical ones, the picture drawn here just seems wrong. And granted, this episode was quite exciting, but did it have to be so similar to SG-1's "Unnatural Selection" in showing a replicator having humanlike emotions and taking a special interest in one of the characters, even helping the team, only to be later on left behind/betrayed?
On the other hand, this episode offered much on the plus-side as well. Again, I particularly enjoyed the team moments (think Sheppard and McKay's discussion about the Asurans being "UnAncienty" or Ronon's comment about taking care of family) and Sheppard's hallucination about their escape. All 5 were tortured for information and given each different mental images to divert their attention from what's really going on. John's were the only ones being shown and this sequence tells much about his character and how he views his teammates. Interestingly, he imagines Rodney fighting with him over who gets to stay on Atlantis on a suicide mission to blow up the city, rather than Weir who's after all the unofficial mayor of the city! Now, what does that tell about their friendship and his obvious high regard for McKay? As I wrote in my review for "Sateda", Rodney might act like an egotistical jerk, but when push comes to shove he'll put aside his own needs for those of his friends. I'm overjoyed that John has come to realize this as well! Of course, Sheppard being Sheppard, he's staying behind - and that reinforces his attitude that he'd do anything to save his friends and Earth, even sacrificing himself.
To be honest, with a show like Atlantis, it's those moments of insight into the characters that I love and that I think are the most important ones. Of course, having a decent plot is important - but it's the characters that give it life. I'm glad that the writers start to realize this as well. I just would have liked to get a glimpse at Rodney's torture/hallucination as well. He indicated that he was tortured quite intimately and I'd really like to know what he meant by that ominous remark. Was it physical torture like with the Genii? Or was he trapped in a scenario like John's but *not* able to get an escape attempt up and running? Or did the Replicators conjure up some sort of "Trinity"-like hallucination where Rodney had to weigh his thirst for knowledge against the wellbeing of his friends? Perhaps that's the one major downlet among the team moments. Once again, Rodney's pain and fear is turned into something more or less funny or at least unimportant. Because he's prone to exaggerate and whine he isn't taken seriously (apart from one concerned look by Sheppard) but I definitely got the impression that this was something different entirely to his usual complaining.
Many scenes reminded me strongly of "Inferno" in that everyone again looked to Rodney to come up with a solution. I absolutely loved Sheppard hovering over Rodney's shoulder and demanding an exact time frame all the time. Of course, their banter cracked me up as usual. But actually, I'm kind of looking forward to the moment Rodney for once *can't* come up with a solution. I'm not hoping for another "Trinity"-like disaster but just something that has him stumped for more than a few seconds. Other than that, I also enjoyed the references to "Hot Zone" and that we finally know who created that nano-virus.
Overall, I kind of like the idea of giving Atlantis a new enemy to focus on. While I consider the Wraith an intriguing enemy because of the impossibility to actually negotiate with them, I don't like the direction they're going in that war with the retrovirus etc. I also think that as long Atlantis is unwilling to pursue other avenues in defeating the Wraith, we won't actually get to learn anything new about them... and introducing new facts is the only thing to keep an enemy interesting. Perhaps an enemy that you can't recognize at first sight, that forces you to question what you perceive as reality because of their ability to access your thoughts and create hallucinations that feel real, that holds you in complete disregard and would like nothing better than to wipe you out, would offer some much needed break in this regard. There's enough dissent among the replicators over their attitude towards humans and, in general, over their goals in "life", that can be built upon to negotiate - without having to tread into morally shady waters. And to be honest, I'm also quite happy that the more we know about the Ancients the less morally advanced they appear. I'm always wary about "holier than thou" characters or races - and since the expedition to Atlantis actually started out in order to learn more about them, it's time that mission goal is followed up on.
I definitely hope to see more of the Replicators. They know where to find Atlantis and I wouldn't be surprised to see them flying in with another city-ship. But the ending leaves one question unanswered: Why does the team leave Niam floating in space? Just because that would kill a *human*, it wouldn't do the same to a machine. And now he floats in space above Atlantis, perhaps being the eyes and ears for all replicators through their subspace connection, waiting for them to retrieve him. The wise choice would have been to send up a drone and destroy him. As much as I like Atlantis, the writers should really try to let the team make coherent decisions and be conscious of their consequences. The lack of foresight displayed is quite appalling - first with Michael and the setting of the experiment, then with the camp of humanized Wraith in Misbegotten and now with Niam. Either follow through with a decision once it's made, or don't make it all.
Finally, I grant this episode a 6.5/10 - an interesting new enemy and a couple of good team moments unfortunately don't entirely make up for some poor writing and the feeling that it's a plot I've seen before.
A couple of memorable quotes:
John: What's the hold up? [...]
Rodney: It's like trying to reconfigure the DNA double helix.
John: Which takes you what... 5 minutes?
Rodney: I figured out a way to create a glitch that on my command should momentarily freeze them. [...]
Ronon: How long?
Rodney: Well, I don't know. That's why I said momentarily.
John: Days? Hours? Minutes?
Rodney: It's probably minutes but I don't know. [...]
John: 10? 20?
Rodney: Well, if you like to know a number, I'd say 7. 7 minutes and 31 seconds. Are you happy?
John: No!
Rodney: No?
John: That's not enough time!
Rodney: You wanted a number!
John: A bigger number!
Ronon: Not much point in leaving without blowing this place up first.
Weir: How do we do that? (everyone looks expectantly at Rodney)
Rodney: Oh, that's me. Right. Surprise, surprise. Why don't I just go on these missions by myself?
