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Stargate: Atlantis 4.17: "Midway" |
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Saturday, 16 February 2008 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| When the episode began, I was deeply concerned. The second half of the season has been uneven at best, and the writers seemed to be falling head first into yet another cliché. What happens when you toss the two biggest alien warriors of the Stargate franchise into the same room together? Inevitably they must fight and compete until the requisite threat forces them to work together, eventually coming to mutual respect.
As fun as it was to watch them beat the tar out of each other, and then take it out on the rest of the unsuspecting universe, that aspect of the episode was the least satisfying based on sheer predictability. The details made the episode work. As much as I enjoy the specific adventures of Team Atlantis (even when the writers test my patience), I appreciate the episodes that touch on the scope of the entire Stargate mythos.
The Wraith have wanted to attack Earth for quite some time, but the contingencies were in place to prevent that from happening. Thanks to the sometime alliance with “Todd”, the situation has changed considerably. At least some of the Wraith now have a source of insider information, and the use of Midway Station as a staging ground for invasion of the SGC must have hit home. Even though the attack was repulsed, the most expedient means of transporting personnel, emergency supplies, and other critical items has been lost.
Team Atlantis did well enough without the intergalactic gate system, but this presents an interesting possibility. The writers dropped the ball with Weir on several levels, but when the time came to write her out of the story, they missed the most obvious solution. Weir made some bad decisions involving the Wraith (particularly in “Allies”), and they never came back to haunt her, despite many opportunities.
While Ronon was given kudos by the IOA for his part in saving Earth from the Wraith, it’s not a stretch to consider whether or not Carter will be held at least partially responsible for the fallout from the alliance with “Todd”. The continuing tension with the IOA suggests something will come to a head sooner rather than later. Teyla’s scenes seem to suggest that politics are ready to rear their ugly head again.
This episode manages to bring the action, but with three episodes left in the season, I still have the feeling that too many plot and character arcs have been left on the table. Considering how little attention has been paid to those elements in past seasons, I’ll be happy if just a few of them are addressed by season’s end. Maybe the early fifth season pickup provided a longer view, but for now, I am guardedly optimistic. |
