“Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?” - Princess Leia

By Wolfen Moondaughter -

Before I get started on the rundown of this week’s episode, I want to mention a couple a of errors in last week’s column, which were pointed out to me by Feanna, over at livejournal. (Bad Wolfie, no biscuit!) Firstly, they couldn’t steer away from the asteroid belt because the sublight engines were down, not because they couldn’t reach the chair — John wanted to use the chair so he could shoot the asteroids with drones, not steer the city. I apologise for my lack of attention there on the rewatch, sorry. (Although wouldn’t he still have needed the chair to steer even if sublight were working? Or do the sublight engines allow you to phase through things? I’m confused on that. Do the navigation systems, which was also down, steer too, or just tell you where you are?)

And secondly, in the second-to-last paragraph last week, of course I meant that they were going to the Asuran homeworld, no the Athosian one. Note to the Stargate writers: You already have Athosians, Asurans, Alterrans, the Asgard, Apophis, Anubis, Anise, Avalon, the Apollo, and Atlantis (well okay, those last seven weren’t your fault exactly, they pre-existed, but you still used them), so could y’all please refrain from naming anyone/thing else with names that begin with “A”?? Especially if the name also includes an “s”, “o”, and/or an “i”! (It’s as bad as the Aes Sedai in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time — I can’t keep them all straight, too many of them have similar names!) Oh, and you already have a Kate and a Katie, so let’s avoid variants on that one, too. On the upside, after writing this paragraph, I will probably never confuse Asurans and Athosians again. I hope.

4.2: “Lifeline”

The ep opens with Rodney and Radek trying to make adjustments to a puddle-jumper, so that it can make small hyperspace jumps. They don’t seem to be communicating nearly as well as last week, where they didn’t even need to finish their sentences to understand each other. They’re just as entertaining, though! “I’m not trying to [slight pause] kill him,” Zelenka assures Sheppard after McKay accuses him of the attempt. So, Radek, what were you trying to do? … Poor John, meanwhile, seems lost by all the technobabble. Bet you’re wishing they would dumb it down now, ‘ey, Johnny-boy?

I’m both happy and sad that they left the space where Carson was in the credits empty. I mean, Zelenka or Keller could easily go there — they could even squish the credits a bit to put them both in — or they could have drawn out the other characters’ intros a bit, or added more space between each of them. But it’s a touching homage, intended or no. (And I’d make another comment, but that would be too spoilery. Suffice to say, what some of you want to inform me of right now, I already know.)

Thanks to Sci Fi’s preview last week, it seemed fairly obvious that Elizabeth was going to save their asses by tricking the Asurans (gee, thanks for the spoiler-riffic promo, guys!), but I have to admit that, during the week-long wait, I was pretty puzzled as to why John would agree to let her come along in the first place. Shouldn’t he be afraid that she could be compromised once they were amongst the Asurans again, I wondered? I could see his fears from “Adrit” being justified in that situation! Thankfully, when Rodney explains how they want to use her nanites to access the Replicator collective, Elizabeth voices my concern for me. John admits (clearly apologetic) that he’s had Rodney write a kill-switch into the code, and that it will kill her as well if they are forced to use it. “But that’s not gonna happen,” he promises — I love the way Flanigan delivers that line, and his subsequent private conversation with her.

Funny, isn’t it, that John now seems pretty damn confident in Rodney’s ability to reprogram the nanites? (A fact which has my “incoming ironic follow-up” alarm going off, I might add.) Well, I suppose John figures what’s done is done, and they might as well take advantage of the situation since they’re all pretty much screwed if they don’t, instead of just Elizabeth being the one who would die. (Guess Rodney’s having disobeyed your orders was a good thing after all, ‘ey Colonel?)

As Teyla says, they probably couldn’t even attempt this mission without using Liz’s awakened nanites to hack into the system for intel — and since they don’t know about the Apollo crew’s rescue efforts, they have to figure they’ll be pretty screwed if it doesn’t succeed. Radek’s suggestion about overriding the safety protocols so that they can hyper-space jump with low power might not work, and even if it does, they’d be stranded on a strange planet, possibly forever. So what John thought would put Atlantis at risk turns out to be their salvation.

John’s telling Teyla she must stay behind was wise, I think — he’s totally right about her being the best choice to lead. And it’s a convenient way to write her out of the mission, when having her along would likely be overkill.

Another cute little scene between Rodney and Zelenka as they finish with the ‘jumper modifications. Ronon seems to scare Zelenka as he enters the jumper, asking Rodney if he’s ready. He ignores Rodney’s long-winded answer and reports that they’re both ready to go to Sheppard via radio; is Rodney hurt, surprised, or worried as he watches Ronon stalk off? Probably a bit of all three …. A bit later, when John asks if Rodney is ready for them to make the jump to hyperspace (does this make it a space-jumper instead of a puddle-jumper?), and Rodney gets into another one of his nervous babbling sessions, Ronon snaps at him to answer the question. I wonder how much of his taciturn state can be attributed his injury, his worry for his home and friends, and the possibility that they might have to kill Elizabeth, and how much is just him being himself? (Is he maybe mad at Rodney for the whole nanite thing?)

We get a small moment with Bill and Sam, on another world and then on the Apollo with Ellis; we’re reminded that Dr Lee doesn’t really go on missions, so this is a new experience for him. When SG-1ended, I hadn’t expected to see him again, much less get character development for him. I’m happy! (Love that he makes a mention of World of Warcaft — it was also mentioned on Moonlight the same night! We geeks are taking over! Well, not that I’ve played the game myself, but still ….) The scene also reminds us of what they’re doing (making small hyperspace jumps and searching for Atlantis with enhanced long-range sensors), and adds a few factors of risk (cannibalizing the ship for parts, plus using other system’s power to augment the sensors, including subspace communications, which means Atlantis won’t be able to contact them — which Sam points out they would have done by now if they could. But Sam, what if the communications had only been down, and they finally got them back online and needed help? You don’t know that they wouldn’t after you made the option unavailable!)

Meanwhile, the hyperspace drive on the jumper works, but Rodney admits (gasp!) that Zelenka was right about the power drain, so now they won’t be able to get back home unless he can hook up the ZPM they hope to steal to it. He successfully initializes the link between Liz’s nanites and the collective. I’m assuming we’re supposed to be questioning whether she was still on their side from the moment the link was established, but thanks to that aforementioned promo, I’m not worried in the slightest. So much for that bit of story tension …. Elizabeth is able to guide Shep and Ronon to their target. John asks the question I want to: won’t the Replicators notice the power source going offline? Rodney points out that they have plenty of them, so hopefully not right away. That works for me.

And just like that, John and Ronon make it back at the ‘jumper. …Aroo? So fast, and without any real problems? And then Rodney tells them about what he’s found: the deactivated bit of programming code that would make the Replicators go after the Wraith! They discuss the possible problems and their options. (I cannot express how much I love stories that actually spell out the logical progression of plans like that, including discarded ideas, rather than just forging onward and ignoring potential plot problems as if they don’t exist, offering no explanations, plausible or otherwise, for how to get around them!) There’s a moment where it looks like Elizabeth is the key to infecting the Asurans with the rewritten code; Elizabeth thinks it’s worth the risk, but of course Sheppard doesn’t. She insists that it’s not his decision, and he says “The hell it isn’t!” Since this is a military operation, I’m assuming he’s right about that. Rodney comes up with another option: uploading the reactivated code to the Replicator data core, so that it will be uploaded to the Asurans themselves later, during the next “merge” — hopefully after the team is long gone.

Good use of Ronon to get McKay to explain to us how the anti-Replicator field will replace the cloak but still protect them. This segues nicely into the rest of the plan: how dangerous it is (the field won’t last forever, as the Replicators will find a way past it eventually); the fact that Elizabeth and Rodney must stay behind; and how they’re going to upload the new program since Rodney can’t do it himself (Rodney has to make a special cord-and-plug that will allow their data tablet to interface with the core). Love the geeky “plug and play” reference! Poor Rodney — he doesn’t have a duplicitous bone in his body, does he? Elizabeth has to spell out for him the harsh truth of why he needs to stay behind with her: in case she goes all “evil” on them. McKay then goes back to work, telling Ronon, “Hey! Get out of there!” That had me in stitches! (I can just see David Hewlett talking to his dog, Mars, that way!)

A quick scene on the Apollo catches us up on their progress and adds a little more levity (thanks once again to Dr Lee).

The writers really have me wondering if they are secretly McSheppers too, or at the very least are making conscious nods to us: Sheppard apparently doesn’t like it when McKay using the word “penetrate” in regards to seeing how far the anti-Replicator shield can reach, repeating the word and scowling. Why? It’s a perfectly appropriate use of the word! (If my mind is in the gutter, at least I know I’m not the only one there, as I’m seeing plenty of other McSheppers raising a brow at John’s reaction ….) And later … well, we’ll get to that. In the meantime, Rodney’s anti-Replicator field is a success; Elizabeth confirms it. Rodney gets indignant that John takes her word over his, to which John says “No offence,” and Rodney replies in disbelieving tones, “Offence taken!” (They are so “married”!) Rodney then shows how he’s made the tech for the upload as simple as John had asked for, so John’s happy. Even looking at them as just platonic buddies, there’s no denying what a great team they are, and how John often inspires Rodney to do his very best (even when it seems impossible)!

The Asurans figure out something’s up almost immediately. Elizabeth guides John and Ronon to the core. Alas, the plug Rodney created doesn’t seem to work. The Replicators are sacrificing their numbers against the field, trying to find a way through it, while our heroes try to make their plan work. Of course, Rodney asks John accusingly “What did you do??“, before acknowledging that the core won’t accept the tablet for reasons he can’t figure out. Poor guy — he hates being wrong and not knowing how to do something in general, but with lives hanging in the balance? It’s a wonder he hasn’t had a coronary long before now. He comes up with a way to fix the situation, though — the incomprehensible explanation of which causes Jon and Ronon (and me) to simultaneously say “What?” Asuran leader Oberoth makes his way down to the core. (David Ogden Stiers! You can imagine how happy I am, being a M*A*S*H fan since childhood!)

Elizabeth tells a horrified Rodney that the Replicators have breached the field. Rodney imparts this information to Sheppard, along with a bit more technobabble on what needs to be done with the tablet. Elizabeth tells Rodney that the Replicators basically have surrounded the core and are closing in; Rodney replies that Shep and Ronon are as good as dead. “We can hear you, you know!” John reminds them, irritated; Rodney amusingly tries to backpedal. Elizabeth suddenly takes off while McKay’s distracted, telling him to stay put and ignoring his insistence that she “can’t go out there.”

Anxious, Rodney informs John that she’s taken off. Ronon, a soldier first and foremost (and, the voice of reason here), reminds them that she ordered them to use the kill-switch if she suddenly started acting strangely. After hesitating, a dumbfounded John gives the order, which an equally dumbfounded Rodney obeys this time. John’s faith in Rodney’s ability to program the kill-switch proves unfounded, though, as it doesn’t work! (There’s that irony I was talking about earlier). A panicked Rodney offers conjecture as to why it isn’t; Ronon is not amused. John goes back to his task, figuring he might as well try to finish the job even if they are screwed.

Luckily, Rodney’s failure is a good thing. Elizabeth encounters Oberoth, and they engage in a showdown of wills. Right after John gets the interface working and Replicators have swarmed into the room, Elizabeth manages to use her physical connection to Oberoth to freeze the Replicators in place. (I’m guessing this is like the difference between using a wireless internet connection and using a network?) Bravo to Ronon for having the foresight to disarm the Replicators immediately! They figure they can’t count on the Replicators staying that way forever, though. When Rodney says the upload will be complete in a few more seconds, John asks “How many seconds?”, to which Rodney grouses, “Don’t start with that again!” Yup, they definitely sound like an old married couple. While Elizabeth struggles, John and Ronon make their way back to the ‘jumper. Suddenly it seems Liz is losing, as the Replicators spring into action. The guys (Rodney included) are caught. Oberoth goes to take the location of Atlantis from John’s mind.

Except, Oberoth’s efforts don’t seem to work. John and the guys are all smiling like they’ve planned this whole thing — and then John changes into Elizabeth.

Now, when I first saw the promo last week, I assumed that the nanites allowed her to transform, and wondered how that whole bait-and-switch they showed in the promo was going to actually go down. For a brief moment now, I’m all the more flummoxed, finally seeing the scene in context. How on earth could she and John have switched places, I ask? Then we learn with Oberon that the whole scenario, from the Replicators unfreezing onwards, was false, placed into his mind by Elizabeth, while they are actually still fighting! That it could be an entirely false scenario had never occurred to me! Gods, I feel stupid …. Oh, and Elizabeth? You. Kick. ASS!!!

Back in the real world, John and Ronon are continuing to wend their way past frozen Asurans (sounds like a dessert, doesn’t it?) while talking with Rodney over the radio. They hope Liz is still alive; Rodney urges them to hurry back, but Sheppard doesn’t sound grateful for the suggestion. Rodney rolls his eyes at John’s snippy response. (Married!) Oberoth, meanwhile, finally gets the upper hand — or rather, he gets Liz’s hand out of his head. John and Ronon stumble across her; she orders them to go. John might technically have the right to disobey, but Ronon doesn’t give him a chance to, pulling him along as more Asurans swarm the hallway and surround Elizabeth.

The boys make it back to the ‘jumper; Ronon’s shake of the head tells a stunned Rodney that Elizabeth isn’t with them. John has to ask Rodney twice if he can get the shields back up. McKay says not yet, and rambles an excuse. This exchange goes on for a little bit, with the need for a working hyperdrive getting added into the equation. Rodney, luv, please keep your eyes on the tablet and work while you explain to Shep and Ronon why you can’t do something as quickly as they want! Meanwhile, Sheppard’s flying them into space when a Replicator ship appears before them and powers up its weapons. I know they don’t die, but I don’t see how they’re gonna get out of this one!

Apollo to the rescue! (Love Ronon’s confused expression as he tries to look out the window, around the wall of the jumper and see who’s firing on the Replicator ship.) Okay, so Sam was a big part of why they made it just in time, which I’m sure has ticked some people off (as per my discussion last week), but really? It was a team effort, not a “Mary Sue” scenario — at least not to me. The rest of the crew of the Apollo did a lot too, as did Elizabeth. Really, Sam’s solution on how to find Atlantis just brought the Apollo there in time to save them from the very last Asuran problem, when they were almost home-free. And it was by no means a “pull it out of her ass at the last minute” solution, either — it was well thought out and established early-on in the story arc, and even took them longer to succeed with than she’d thought it would! Anyway, glad they had a moment of reunion between her and McKay. And Sam can’t save Elizabeth, whose signal is gone. (Well, okay, it would have put a crimp on her becoming the new leader of the expedition, maybe — although even if they had rescued Liz, I rather think SGC wouldn’t let Elizabeth stay in command after being compromised like that.)

Back in Atlantis, Rodney, John, Sam, and Bill discuss a possible option for a place where they can land that the Replicators can’t pull the location of from Elizabeth’s mind. Poor Rodney sounds really depressed as he speaks of a possibility. (And I, along with man other Hewlett fans, wonder if writer Carl Binder threw the line about there being a large, venomous snake-like creature on the mainland in as a reference to a movie David was in about giant snakes, Boa Vs. Python ….) John nods his reluctant approval.

They jump to the planet, and have a little discussion about the difficulty of landing the city, such as whether the shields will hold and, from Rodney, what could happen if they don’t hold. “It never ends with you, does it?” Sheppard asks, annoyed. “What?” Rodney asks, perplexed at John’s tone. (Married!) I’m a bit perplexed myself; would he rather Rodney didn’t point out potential problems? Shep flies the city in through the atmosphere using the chair (which is, understandably, pretty hard to do), but not without a lot of concern from Sam and Rodney regarding the speed. (I’m glad the scenario is approached this way — I was wondering at first why landing would be a issue when friction’s only a problem if you go fast, and an object only goes fast through atmo if it can’t fight against gravity. Making the city hard to fly explains why John can’t take her down slow, and gives us an excuse for more drama.) Meanwhile, Lee argues politely but inappropriately against McKay’s use of the word “reentry” — they’ve never been there before, so there’s no “re” about it. (I wonder if that’s something that’s come up in meetings that Binder decided to throw in ….) John’s not too appreciative of Rodney’s back-seat driving, saying he’s aware of the speed problem, to which Rodney points out that the problem is still there and needs to be rectified. (So married!)

And now here’s the other reference that makes me suspect active McShep-nodding on the part of the writers in general (and in this case, Binder in particular): McKay has this ridiculous line of dialogue, telling Sheppard to make Atlantis land “like a leaf kissing the surface of a pond” (well, I suppose that could be a slight nod to Wash’s line in Serenity). It has me rolling my eyes until, after a rather rough landing, Rodney snaps at John, “Nice kissing!” Hey, even if we’re being teased, I have zero problem with that if we get more lines like this ….

Rodney reveals that there’s still plenty of power in the ZPM. (Aroo? I thought Sam said they’d used a lot?) Sam informs a shaken (not stirred!) Sheppard that they’ve landed safely.

Teyla is packing the contents of Elizabeth’s office when Ronon comes in and asks Teyla who she thinks is going to replace Weir. Teyla’s not feeling too chatty, though. Ronon goes on awkwardly, saying that whoever it will be will have tough shoes to fill, and laying a hand on her shoulder, stroking it with his thumb. It reminds me of when he tried to comfort Rodney when Carson died; he’s not terribly good at comforting, but it’s sweet how he tries. Teyla lays her hand over his and fights back tears over the loss of a woman who was clearly a close friend. (And if you think about it, Teyla lost two other friends in the episode “Sunday”! Perhaps she lost even more than a friend in Carson? I’m starting to wonder ….)

Sam, Lee, and Rodney contact Stargate Command via the ‘Gate, when Zelenka informs them that the Replicators have sent a fleet to a Wraith planet. The programming, it seems, worked — and now we have more support for the notion that it was a good thing (rather than a grievous error) that Rodney saved Elizabeth! Without her nanite-involved help, they wouldn’t have been able to slip the program into the core, causing the Asurans to go after the Wraith finally. A major victory, I’d say! And hey, Elizabeth is still alive; there’s still hope they can get her back. Even if they couldn’t, it’s a sight better dead than just getting killed in an explosion — this loss has purpose to it.

Sam and Shep make small chat on one of Atlantis’ balconies. John congratulates Sam on becoming a full-bird Colonel; Sam says she and Lee are heading back to Earth to debrief, but the Apollo is staying to protect them for a while. The conversation turns to the mission Sheppard and the others went on and the loss of Elizabeth. Hmm. John says “If there’s a chance she’s still alive, I’ll find her.” I’ll, not we’ll — not even in the context of him and his team (as opposed to the collective Stargate program, which I’m thinking he and the rest of the people of Atlantis are feeling a bit distanced from these days). Definitely good support for the argument of the Sheppard/Weir shippers — I feel really sad for them, though, under the circumstances.

Okay, so this ep isn’t quite as edge-of-your-seat/action-packed as “Adrift”, but it was still pretty darn good — especially when you consider that I never really liked Elizabeth much before now! And it looks like the fact that she almost never left Atlantis may, as I often suspected, be why I didn’t care much for her; going on an “away mission” gave her a chance to become more interesting to me. Of course I had to start really liking her now, just in time for her to be written out for a goodly while! Story of my life ….

See you all next week, with my thoughts on “Reunion”!

Wolfen Moondaughter is on the editorial board for the comics industry webzine Sequential Tart for which she has written since late 2001. She’s also written for Newtype USA, contributed to Andy Mangel’s book Animation on DVD, self-published a novel (Memory of the Brightwing), and one of her short stories, “Chase”, is due to be published soon as the title story in an anthology from Wapshott Press (under the pen name Anastasia Witchazel). She’s an artist, too, having done spot illustrations for Dragonlance, a few panels for Barb Lien-Cooper’s webcomic series Gun Street Girl, and private commissions. In her spare time, she’s a fanficcer/fanartist. See more of her work at her site, Wolfen’s Webworld.

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