Stargate Atlantis Rewatch: Instinct
A sympathetic Wraith? (Photo from GateWorld.net)
Instinct
Written by Treena Hancock & Melissa R. Byer
Directed by Andy Mikita
Guest starring Jewel Staite (Ellia), John Innes (Zaddik), Stephen Dimopoulos (Goran), Tom Bates (Callup), Jeffrey Robinson (Wraith)
WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!
Summary
The team encounters a juvenile Wraith Queen who wants to be human badly enough to steal Dr. Beckett’s untested retrovirus.
General Impressions
Here we get more of the moral dissonance that plagues the Atlantis expedition. There is also ominous foreshadowing of an ambitious—and morally ambiguous—experiment later in this season, an experiment that will come back to bite the expedition in the ass over and over again in subsequent seasons. The question is: Is it right to turn Wraith into humans? In this case, the test subject was a volunteer, but that won’t be the case in later episodes. I found it strange that it’s Dr. Beckett initiating the experiment. He’s usually a conscience for the expedition, the one who respects living beings, but here he’s developing a retrovirus to do something that I, at least, found reprehensible. His enthusiasm about it, with no hint of reluctance, is a bit disturbing.
The Good
A human loving and raising a Wraith is an interesting idea. If it hadn’t been established in the opening scenes that the villagers didn’t know what Wraith looked like, I wouldn’t have bought that a human wouldn’t connect the child he’d found with the life-sucking Wraith of legend and try to raise her as his own child.
Ellia the Wraith girl is very sympathetic and likeable, and her desire to be human is believable. It’s almost heartbreaking how hard she tries to please and be accepted. Jewel Stait does a great job with the character.
The Bad
This isn’t so much a deficiency in the episode as it is something that disturbs me about this show in general: The moral dissonance. I really, really think it’s wrong to turn Wraith into humans against their will. While it’s true that Ellia was willing, the fact that Beckett would even think of changing Wraith into humans, and no one would raise a red flag doesn’t speak well for the expedition.
Now this is a strike: I noticed in the scene where Ellia is opening the case containing the retrovirus that her right hand doesn’t have a feeding slit on it (although it’s visible in flashback scenes later). However, later in the episode Zaddick reveals that she’s been feeding on him, which is why he looks old. He also reveals that she hadn’t fed in two years (to his knowledge), so how did she feed without a feeding thing in her hand like other Wraith?
The Awesome
I love the look of this episode, especially the night scenes, with the creepy fog, not to mention the foggy forest. The inn and Zaddick’s cave lab are also great. I also liked the way the episode was shot. It gives it a spooky monster movie feel, which in a way is what it is what with the monster killing people in the forest.
Once again we learn something new about the Wraith: They can subsist on human food when they’re young, but at some point they lose the ability and can only survive on human life force.
Ellia changing. The effect was very convincing.
Rating
9 out of 10. Interesting premise, Jewel Stait is awesome and the sets are great. The moral dissonance thing bugged me, though.
