Stargate Atlantis Rewatch: The Siege (Part 1)

Rodney does a spacewalk (Photo from GateWorld.net)

The Siege Part 1

Written by Martin Gero
Directed by Martin Wood
Guest starring Paul McGillion (Dr. Beckett), Dean Marshall (Bates), David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka), Craig Veroni (Grodin)

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!

Summary
As the Wraith fleets draws closer, a team led by Dr. McKay tries to reactivate an Ancient satellite weapon in hope of taking out the Wraith ships before they can get to Atlantis.

General Impressions
Sometimes to really hammer the jeopardy thing home, you have to kill somebody the audience got attached to. In this episode we lose a character I liked, and I reacted to it the way the other characters did. It hurt. Of all of the things that happened in this episode, Grodin’s death sticks with me the most. It was played extremely well.

The Good
I really love the dynamic between Radek and Rodney. They’re like snippy hetero life partners. It’s cute.

Now that the expedition has realized what Sheppard, at least, should have known since the pilot, they’re taking steps to keep the Wraith from using Atlantis to get to Earth. They consider that tried-and-true Stargate fall-back of blowing the place up, but the simulations aren’t promising. Then they explore destroying the database, and I felt a stab at the thought of losing all that knowledge, as I’m sure Dr. Weir did, too. It was already established in the previous episode that they plan to pull the data crystal containing the address to Earth from the gate.

Yay, Halling’s back! I love Christopher Heyerdahl. Here Halling raises a religious reason to not blow up Atlantis. He believes the Ancestors (Ancients) will protect Atlantis, which is sacred to the people of the Pegasus galaxy, but Dr. Weir knows the Ancients are all dead or ascended and they won’t lift a finger to help them.

I complained in my previous review about Sergeant Bates’ hate-on for Tayla, but in this episode he raises very sensible concerns, and it’s Sheppard who seems too blindly trusting.

On a lighter note, am I the only fangirl who finds the phrase “Major Sheppard is coming in hot” blush-worthy? Isn’t he hot all the time? But I digress.

The Bad
Once again it’s Bates vs. Tayla with Sheppard and the others wavering in their trust of Tayla, but I don’t think it was done as well as it was in Suspicion. Suspicion provided an interesting mystery that unraveled from wide to narrow and had an unexpected solution.

Even the first time I saw this episode back when it first aired I guessed that there was a Wraith in the city, based on the beam used by the dart scout in The Brotherhood. Zalenka thought the dart was scanning Atlantis, but to me the beam looked like a culling beam, which has to work both ways if the humans that are loaded into it are to be offloaded. So it seemed reasonable to assume that the dart offloaded a spy who could keep sending intel to the approaching hives. That Tayla doesn’t detect the single Wraith in the city, what with her gift and all, seemed a bit odd.

And if the Wraith in the city is providing intel to the approaching Wraith, why keep him alive? Wouldn’t killing him immediately make more sense?

And why wouldn’t the Wraith come out of hyperspace closer to the planet? Why come out at such a distance? If they’re so keen on attacking, why not appear closer in?

The Awesome
The score, the score, the score. And the special effects.

Grodin sacrificing himself to get the satellite working was great. The reactions of his comrades (McKay and Miller) were really well-played. Rodney desperately trying to find a way to save Grodin is heartbreaking, as were the reactions of the other characters. I liked Grodin, so his death hurt.

Poor Rodney doing a spacewalk, scared out of his mind. Rodney can be very brave when he needs to be, and I love it when he is.

Weir’s “we’re screwed, but you’re all awesome” speech was terrific.

Rating
8 out of 10. Grodin’s sacrifice was poignant, but then there are those sort of continuity blips that bugged me.