SGA 218 - "Michael"

[muccamukk]

Technically, this episode was well done. I mean the acting was good, the plot worked fairly well, in that the pacing was good and the twists were in the right places, and the characters acted like they should. However, I'm not sure how I feel about the fundamental premise, so I have trouble with it. I just can't see how anyone thought that was a good idea. Surely they understood that he was going to figure it out eventually. They told him he had a family back on Earth, a career in the military. How long did they think they could have kept stringing him on? What were they going to do with him? They never could have sent him back to Earth. I doubt Sheppard would ever have let him serve as a member of the military. They had no end game.

Why didn't they do the whole experiment on the Alpha site? They have put a lot of time and effort into protecting Atlantis. It seemed like a huge risk to take. They could have faked his life there just as easily as in the City. Also, the return seemed contrived. If they were so worried about him being telepathic (even when their sensors went far beyond the demonstrated telepathic range for a full Wraith, so why not just wait until they see a ship, and move him out then), why the Hell did they have him there in the first place? Also why let Tayla anywhere near him? She's been controlled by the Wraith before. Bad, bad idea. If Bates was there, this never would have happened.

Aside from the specifics, the whole idea was morally dubious. I understand that they are at war with the Wraith, and that they both can't continue to exist as they are. But I've spent too much time in Anthropology classes to ever be comfortable with that solution. I felt horribly wrong to me. I agreed with Michael, what right did they have to do that? Actually, I really liked Michael throughout, he was entirely right, I thought. Well acted too, though I have no attachment to Trip or Enterprise. [ETA] It occurs to me that if this episode was trying to make us feel ambiguous about the Wraith and their rights, it did a damn fine job of it. I hadn't thought of that before, because Stargate so rarely does that, but on BSG this wouldn't be all that different from a Cylon episode (see icon). I liked both Michael and Leoben better than a lot of the main cast in their episodes.[/ETA]

I wish they had at least pointed out that the difference between humans and Wraith is that humans don't need to eat Wraith to survive. I'm still not entirely sure why the Wraith need to eat humans. It must be because they are melded with humans (though in that case, why could the Super Wraith eat the little glowing bug things?). I would be far more comfortable if they were finding some way for the wraith to survive by eating cows or something, some way that didn't involve stripping them of their memories and transforming them into another species entirely.

I liked Ronon this week. He was right, it was a bad idea and they should have killed him. He was honest and true to form.

Tayla I'm also fond of, but I'm not sure she would have gone along with the plan as long as she did. She also had some very pretty outfits this week. I like that she isn't always wearing the same clothes, like she used to. God I'm so shallow.

Weir was actually likeable this week. She had that nice moment comforting Carson anyway.

Carson's medical ethics were on par with what they've always been regarding the Wraith, as in pretty much non-existent. It must have been him that completely convinced Weir to go for his plan, because no one else seemed to be too into it.

Rodney had some wonderful moments being Rodney (there wasn't much for him to do this week, I'm glad they didn't pretend he knew anything about medicine).

John was very cute being paranoid and hostile.

There was no Mike from Canmore, Lorne, Caldwell or Zelanka.

Next week, we have volcanoes.

ETA: OMG! This is episode eighteen! In just two weeks I'm going to have to get a life! -g-

ETA2: Futher thoughts here regarding characterisation and Wraith culture.

Oh, look! GIP! culurien made it for me and I likes it, I do. I needed a BSG icon, I was starting to get overrun with SGA ones.

Comments

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I just finished watching - here from SGA Newsletter - and I told a friend the same thing about Bates! He would not have let this happen.

[muccamukk]

Wow, I totally didn't know I was referenced in a newsletter. Well, I'm glad someone reads my reviews. My flist is not so inclined for the most part.

Sigh. I miss Bates. He is said to be taking this season out to "Recover from his many injuries." Hopefully he'll be back in season three.

=D

[naewinter.livejournal.com]

*buts in*
Also here from SGA newsletter, also recognised your name from Lin's journal.

I have seen it discussed elsewhere but the main characters in Atlantis do tend towards the morally dubious. They could be seen in other situations as The Villain or Evil Genius, I love that our heroes and darlings are such a villainous bunch, their stories are always more interesting to me more than the characters who are secure in being Right.
Funny how they all ended up being sent to another galaxy. =P

A few of the recent episodes, where the difference between Wraith and Human has been 'adjusted' have looked like the writers are setting up themes they want us to be thinking about before a big reveal. You are right, the similarities between this and BSG are interesting. If the Human population defeated the Wraith, would they have the responsibility to look after the remaining Wraith population? What would the reaction of the different galaxy's Humans decide? Obviously, the Pegasus Humans would most likely wipe them out. What would the Earth/government people do? What would Atlantis do? How would they deal with the starving Wraith children like like the child in Instinct?
Oh, the fuzzy grey questions. I do like them =D

The Wraith don't have to eat only Humans, the Wraith in The Defiant One (lone Wraith on a desert planet) fed on the little glowy bugs.

I think they prefer Humans, that they are easier to 'digest' due to having Human DNA, although I find it strange that the spiders were only gaining so much Human DNA and not the DNA of whatever else they had on that planet. I'm not totally convinced it was like that, what if they are 'from' Humans and not evolved from the bug. The fact that their children eat and seem to function similarly to Human children would be a bit of an odd fit otherwise.
If scientists found a 'thing' that could heal any wound (within reason) what would stop them from trying to use it to Help People. 'Someone' had made that Nano virus that only killed Humans, there seems to be large pieces of the truth that are missing yet.

[muccamukk]

Huh, this newsletter thing is great -g- Welcome to my little corner of insanity.

I think that the writers have been running out of things to do with the Wraith pretty much from day one. They are scary, but not very interesting as far as bad guys go. So in season one, we have them tinkering with Humans to make them more edible. In season two, they can eat food as children and create sentient computer programs. They can also be turned back into humans, apparently with fully human personalities installed. Their writing is about as consistent as the Borg were in Star Trek. But yeah, they do seem to be leading up to something, don't they.

I imagine that Earth Gov would probably not clue into the whole unresolved hostilities bit until a couple of Wraith populations got wiped out. After that, they would probably try to settle them on an uninhabited planet and cut it off from the Stargate system. That's if things were remotely peaceful. The Wraith might not be life-sucking anymore, but I get the feeling that they would be pretty pissed off. They are still more technically advanced than anyone else around. I don't think it would end the war very quickly. In the initial confusion, they might be easier to wipe out, but that probably wouldn't last long.

I mentioned the glowy bug things above, They may be an exception.

There is a huge, huge moral differeance between "we have to eat humans or we'll die," and "We don't have to eat them, but they taste better." If they don't have to eat us, I'm certainly not going to feel so bad about changing them so they can't. That's probably horribly ethnocentric of me, but there you are.

Ignore the science. It will only cause you pain. However, there is certainly the possibility that either the nano virus people (showing up next season, difference) or the Ancients created the Wraith. The thought had crossed my mind. We shall see.

More Wraith comments in the linked post, if you're interested.

[naewinter.livejournal.com]

The writers science, especially in their timelines seems to be their weakest points. I still don't get the apparent ability for everyone to be able to speak English at all. Has it ever been addressed? At least Farscape had their microbes and Humans seem to be the most numerous kind of thing in the universe. The 'Humans evolved on every planet' thing is getting thin as a concept too.
*sticks fingers in ears* La la la.

Part of the reason I like the Wraith as a Villain is that they started out as a generic Space-Vampire monster, as more people are shown to fight them they appear more human or at least more 'mortal'. In SG1, (iirc) this was always a good thing, it meant they were closer to winning. Here 'winning' is only going to cause more problems.

Thanks for the link =D

[muccamukk]

I'm going to let the English thing be their one piece of true Bologium. They tried to have people speak other languages early in SG1, but Daniel having to translate everything just bogged the stories down too much. There's a fanon theory to do with the nature of reintegration after going through the 'gate somehow reprogramming your mind (but fuzzy on the details), but that's all I've heard. I can live with it.

As to humans, I was under the impression that the Ancients spread humans to the Pegasus galaxy when they came. I'm not sure if they were imatating Star Trek Preservers or what. Anyway, the Athosians and whatnot aren't humaniod. They are human. There's a slight variation from over ten thousand thousand years of seperation, but that's it. Which is always something I've like about Stargate, though they never go far enough with the variations.

You are right. And as long as the writers realise the more problems thing, I'll be happy. -g-

[naewinter.livejournal.com]

I've recently read a fic crossing the Farscape and Stargate universes, Rodney on Moya basically. I like the Babel Fish idea where there is some organic reason for the translations.
Maybe it could be that the Pegasus Humans are all inoculated with 'something' (and passed down to their children) but the Earth Humans weren't. That Tayla and Ronon can understand Zelenca but Rodney wouldn't. They just assume the earth humans can understand everyone.
The Ancients just didn't give it to people on Earth or the first few planets SG1 visited.
It could be like the ATA gene, a BF gene.

I know they are human, it's just not clearly stated how or when they got spread around. =D