brabbel123 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brabbel123) wrote2007-02-05 01:44 pm
brabbel123) wrote2007-02-05 01:44 pm
[Review] Stargate: Atlantis - 3.19 Vengeance
Yes, yes, I know. I've been quite negligent in my reviewing duties as of late. *sighs* But it's so much easier to just rant over a mediocre episode than praise outstanding ones after all. So, on to the next average episode of Atlantis.
From the beginning of this episode, when I saw Trinneer as one of the gueststars, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to think of this episode. I wasn't bored or anything like that, but any real excitement I might have felt was overshadowed by previous events. I just don't want to be reminded of that retrovirus debacle. I still sympathize more with Michael and couldn't help but still feel for him in all his anger and loss of direction. Ronon (wasn't that the first time he called Sheppard John?) was right, it would have been more "humane" to simply kill Michael instead of changing him into something that he's not, that he has no choice over and that he doesn't want to be.
OTOH, all that creating a species for his own purpose... well, it goes a bit over the top. Instead of remaining within those shades of grey, the writers chose to put Michael back into the easier to deal with category of pure evil. He's about to unleash hell on unsuspecting planets, therefore he has to be hunted down (if possible) or at least killed when they next stumble upon him. That's too simple a solution for such a thought-provoking (and at least to me agonizing) story arc.
So far at least, the Wraith didn't appear to pursue much else other than looking for food. I really appreciated to see Michael display as much scientific knowledge as he did. But all that, and also the discussion Sheppard and McKay have about Wraith reproduction, still has me yearning to learn more about how their society works on a fundamental level. Except for Michael, who at his own admission is no longer Wraith, the Wraith still are way too 2-dimensional to capture my interest for long. The writers now have singled out two characters in Michael himself and the Wraith from "Common Ground", who was isolated from the Wraith community for over a decade, to shed some light on them as a species, but do those individual experiences reflect back on the collective? Are all Wraith spaceborne or do they have some kind of home planet? Are all Wraith warriors or are there other groups such as breeders, scientists, strategists etc.?
I'll reserve judgement on that little superbug-storyarc for now, and just say that I enjoyed the claustrophobic feel of this episode (although, again... the writers could really think of another setting than dark corridors since this is the 3rd or 4th episode in as many weeks featuring dark, narrow corridors hiding something horrible after all). I appreciated getting to hear the thoughts of the team on what happened previously, Sheppard's revulsion at the bugs, Ronon's opinion on Michael, Teyla's still trying to convince Michael to see her way etc. It's moments like these that create continuity. The only thing I could have done without was Weir's regret at the planet being one from the database the Wraith downloaded... Does it really matter that Michael got the address of that planet via that database? Wouldn't it be equally tragic and horrible were it just some random planet?
Overall though, "Vengeance" leaves me with an ambivalent impression. While it was an exciting episode, Michael creating superbugs doesn't hold much promise for future episodes, especially since we *know* the team won't let him get away with it and that he will meet his demise sooner rather than later. Michael now just comes across as another opponent with a major grudge - a justified one IMO, but still it's nothing new. And that bothers me enormously. Consequently, I can't grant this episode any better grade than 5/10.
From the beginning of this episode, when I saw Trinneer as one of the gueststars, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to think of this episode. I wasn't bored or anything like that, but any real excitement I might have felt was overshadowed by previous events. I just don't want to be reminded of that retrovirus debacle. I still sympathize more with Michael and couldn't help but still feel for him in all his anger and loss of direction. Ronon (wasn't that the first time he called Sheppard John?) was right, it would have been more "humane" to simply kill Michael instead of changing him into something that he's not, that he has no choice over and that he doesn't want to be.
OTOH, all that creating a species for his own purpose... well, it goes a bit over the top. Instead of remaining within those shades of grey, the writers chose to put Michael back into the easier to deal with category of pure evil. He's about to unleash hell on unsuspecting planets, therefore he has to be hunted down (if possible) or at least killed when they next stumble upon him. That's too simple a solution for such a thought-provoking (and at least to me agonizing) story arc.
So far at least, the Wraith didn't appear to pursue much else other than looking for food. I really appreciated to see Michael display as much scientific knowledge as he did. But all that, and also the discussion Sheppard and McKay have about Wraith reproduction, still has me yearning to learn more about how their society works on a fundamental level. Except for Michael, who at his own admission is no longer Wraith, the Wraith still are way too 2-dimensional to capture my interest for long. The writers now have singled out two characters in Michael himself and the Wraith from "Common Ground", who was isolated from the Wraith community for over a decade, to shed some light on them as a species, but do those individual experiences reflect back on the collective? Are all Wraith spaceborne or do they have some kind of home planet? Are all Wraith warriors or are there other groups such as breeders, scientists, strategists etc.?
I'll reserve judgement on that little superbug-storyarc for now, and just say that I enjoyed the claustrophobic feel of this episode (although, again... the writers could really think of another setting than dark corridors since this is the 3rd or 4th episode in as many weeks featuring dark, narrow corridors hiding something horrible after all). I appreciated getting to hear the thoughts of the team on what happened previously, Sheppard's revulsion at the bugs, Ronon's opinion on Michael, Teyla's still trying to convince Michael to see her way etc. It's moments like these that create continuity. The only thing I could have done without was Weir's regret at the planet being one from the database the Wraith downloaded... Does it really matter that Michael got the address of that planet via that database? Wouldn't it be equally tragic and horrible were it just some random planet?
Overall though, "Vengeance" leaves me with an ambivalent impression. While it was an exciting episode, Michael creating superbugs doesn't hold much promise for future episodes, especially since we *know* the team won't let him get away with it and that he will meet his demise sooner rather than later. Michael now just comes across as another opponent with a major grudge - a justified one IMO, but still it's nothing new. And that bothers me enormously. Consequently, I can't grant this episode any better grade than 5/10.