Stargate Atlantis Rewatch: The Defiant One

Die Hard in space (Photo from GateWorld.net)

The Defiant One

Written by Peter DeLuise
Directed by Peter DeLuise
Guest starring James Lafazanos (Wraith), Richard Cox (Dr. Brendan Gaul), Paul Magel (Dr. Abrams), Joseph May (Markham)

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!

Summary
Sheppard, McKay and a couple of redshirts investigate an ancient Wraith distress signal on a planet in Atlantis’ solar system and discover a Wraith has miraculously survived for thousands of years in its transport ship.

General Impressions
Whee! Redshirts! I guess we need disposable comrades to kill off in lieu of our main characters. One of them does get some scenes that enable us to develop sympathy for him, though.

I think it’s interesting that there’s more than one habitable world in Atlantis’ solar system and it only took the jumper 15 hours to get to it. Speedy. It has an Earthlike atmosphere, as does Atlantis. I’m not an astronomer or anything, but I wonder if that’s possible, since those planets should be different distances from their sun. So could they really be comparable in temperature and atmosphere? Earth is habitable in part because of its distance from the sun. Mars and Venus, which are of a similar size to Earth, are too warm or too cold and have inhospitable atmospheres. So…its atmosphere can be that similar to Lantea’s, how? Obviously the point of the episode is outwitting and killing a Wraith that has survived for thousands of years on this planet, not whether or not it makes scientific sense for there to be two Earth-like worlds in one solar system. So I’m nitpicking.

I also wondered how Lt. Ford’s rescue team knew to wear desert camo when Sheppard’s team didn’t know the planet was desert-like until they landed on it. Or maybe they scanned it off camera and reported its nature to Atlantis before landing and encountering radio interference. Or am I nitpicking again about an episode whose focus is action, not science or continuity?

The Good
This is one of those episodes you don’t need your brain to enjoy. It’s just two dudes shooting at each other most of the time. Sheppard and the yellowest Wraith in the galaxy trying to kill each other.

Meanwhile, Rodney’s being kindly, and the redshirt gets a heroic death. This could be one of the last episodes in which the Wraith are characterized as practically indestructible. As the series goes on, they get easier to kill.

I also like when Rodney gets to be an action hero. He’s so uncomfortable with a gun, yet when the chips are down he fires away. Also, he wasn’t a jerk in this episode, probably because he’s out of his element and deep in Sheppard’s.

I’m not sure why but I find the fact that the glowing bugs like Sheppard’s energy bars kind of charming. I also liked that we meet the bugs early and they continue to appear throughout, trying to get to Sheppard’s energy bar or sting the Wraith. So Sheppard stuffing an energy bar in the Wraith’s belt to get the bugs to attack him and make him the biggest energy signature on the planet doesn’t come out of the blue. Even if they’re pretty much the same bugs that we saw in the SG1 episode Prodigy (this fact is even pointed out in this episode’s commentary track). Let’s compare:

Glowy bug from Prodigy

Glowy bugs from The Defiant One

The Bad
Ignore the bad science. Just switch off your brain and dig the action.

The Awesome
A Wraith that’s so hard to kill that it takes every weapon and resource Sheppard and McKay can muster to take him down. Even a bomb doesn’t kill him. He’s Zombie Wraith. He’s even clever enough to raise the jumper’s shield when he goes out to investigate Sheppard’s smoke flare, leaving Sheppard to smack into it, which just cracks the Wraith up. Apparently this Wraith likes slapstick. This is probably the first bit of fun this Wraith has had in thousands of years, and he’s really relishing it. What does it take to kill this guy? Drones.

Rating
5 out of 10. Great enemy, bad science. Hand wave.