Stargate Atlantis Rewatch: Before I Sleep
Two Weirs (Photo from GateWorld.net)
Before I Sleep
Excerpts by Brad Wright & Robert C. Cooper
Written by Carl Binder
Directed by Andy Mikita
Guest starring Gildart Jackson (Janus), Matthew Walker, Paul McGillion (Dr. Beckett), Craig Veroni (Dr. Grodin), Torri Higginson (Old Weir), Melia McClure (Melia), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Alex De Costa (Technician), Bro Gilbert, Peter Grasso, Robert Patrick (Colonel Sumner)
WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!
Summary
The team finds an old woman in a stasis pod and are stunned when she claims to be Dr. Elizabeth Weir.
General Impressions
I love this episode. It’s one my favorites of the entire series. It’s a real “there but for the grace of God go I” episode and very well done. I love the little touch of alternate reality Weir being discovered on our reality Weir’s birthday, and the birthday gift the Athosians give Weir being used to hold alternate reality Weir’s ashes after she dies.
Torri Higginson really carries this episode, playing both her younger and older selves and having to recite pages and pages of dialog. She’s absolutely fantastic here, showing Weir’s gentle side as well as her courage and willingness to sacrifice herself for her comrades.
We also meet the Ancient scientist Janus, who is shown to be kind of a rebel. It seems like a one shot, but he comes back, if only in name, to play a critical role in the season five mid-season two-parter.
The Good
The old age make up job on Torri Higginson is really well done, very believable, as was her old woman voice performance. Of course, she had good material to work with, too. This is a great story.
Rodney’s explanation of the multiverse. My but that David Hewlett can deliver exposition well. The idea of alternate timelines is a frequently revisited theme in the Stargateverse, with SG1 having a few episodes featuring time travel, as well as a movie (Continuum).
It was also nice to see Robert Patrick’s Colonel Sumner again, if only in recycled shots from the pilot. I really liked the character, and Robert Patrick’s performance in Rising and was sad that he got killed at the end of it.
The Bad
No complaints.
The Awesome
Torri Higginson. Full stop. I love character episodes, and this one is Dr. Weir’s well deserved day in the sun. She doesn’t get to go through the gate and be a hero like Sheppard and his team, so Weir being the hero is a treat.
I also love it when Rodney gets to be a hero, and in this episode he, like Weir, sacrifices himself in hope of saving the others. Rodney’s reaction when alternate timeline Weir tells him about it was some great acting on David Hewlett’s part. It was all in his face and body language. Sheppard expresses it best when he observes to Weir as they watch her double sleep, “Your own mortality staring you right in the face. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.”
The effect of the city flooding looked great. The water pouring into the gate room is very convincing.
Rating
10 out of 10. Lots of awesome sauce in this episode.
