The ending of Vegas left me with the unavoidable conclusion that soon Earth and Wraith will meet, and all hell will probably break loose. I’ve heard the spoilers saying this final episode is going to leave me with a cliffhanger ending. I’m glad they’ll have something to do in the movie that’s such a strong tie-in to the series, but I don’t look forward to the wait!

I really enjoyed the camera work and the editing of Vegas. How cool was the  look of the episode? Very cool!

Vegas is a visually appealing episode, with a plot that manages to tie in very nicely to our Atlantis’s universe and reality. I missed some of the regular characters, but it would have been weird if the writers had tried too hard to fit everyone into the episode.

Overall, I liked Vegas and I’m sure to be watching again sometime soon (while I wait for the Stargate Atlantis movie).

Not only was I amazed by her physical changes, I was amazed by how the episode just zipped right past them. I guess I’m supposed to understand how she went from human to Wraith and back again, without any apparent lasting physical reminders of the surgery. It was surgery, right? I’m pretty sure I saw Dr. Jennifer Keller wielding medical instruments, an anesthesiologist putting Teyla under…. What was that if not surgery, and what purpose might it have had if it wasn’t to physically alter Teyla and turn her into a Wraith?

I can suppose and speculate as to how the whole thing happened, but I would rather have had Keller explain it to me, even if it were only a short thirty second comment or two.

I was able to overlook these issues simply because that’s the kind of viewer I am. I don’t usually dwell on issues of believability when it comes to the science of the matter, because I believe wholeheartedly that science fiction is more fiction than science most of the time. That’s the way it should be.

When you take the transformation out of the show, you’re left with one of the best episodes of the series. This has been a one-two shot with Whispers and now The Queen. Although I wasn’t that sure it was going to be great, because I’m not usually a big fan of Teyla centered episodes, I can’t say enough good things about how this episode played out.

Not only is there action and intrigue, there was Todd. Todd is one of my favorite recurring characters and I loved seeing his plot line carried forward. Todd is someone I definitely want to see again. He has given me a glimpse of what the Wraith should have been from the beginning–complex villains who are shaped by their society and their genes, not the cardboard bad guy monsters they’ve mostly been portrayed as.

The Queen rules, and with those parting remarks from Teyla at the end of the episode, this one just screams for a sequel. Let’s just hope it’s not too late, since Atlantis won’t be back for season 6.

Other views of The Queen:

• Science Fiction Stuff – Stargate Atlantis “the Queen”
• TV Squad – Stargate Atlantis: The Queen
• Film School Rejects – Stargate: Atlantis 5.8

Dr. Beckett and Dr. Alison Porter stay behind in the lab to go through the research while Sheppard joins Major Anne Teldy and the rest of her team, Sgt. Dusty Mehra and Capt. Alicia Vega, as they explore the surrounding forest and make their way to a nearby village.

They find the village abandoned, except for one man who appears to have been watching them. He tells Sheppard and the rest of the team about the curse believed to be haunting the village. People had begun to disappear from the forest around the village leading the villagers to eventually abandon the village entirely. When it starts to get late, the man seems overly eager to leave and Sheppard decides to let him go.

The team returns to collect Carson Beckett and Alison Porter from the research lab and they all decide to stay overnight in the village, but when Sheppard and the others go out into the forest to explore further, they discover the hybrid lifeforms have been released from their stasis pods.

In the thick fog and mist, the Atlantis team must fight off a nemesis they can’t see to survive.

What did I think about this episode? Read Whispers, Reinvigorating Atlantis

Admittedly, Whispers could be summed up with the same summary used for the Vengeance episode. Take out a few parts and here’s what you have…

…it appears the [blank] have…abandoned their village…. Searching the dark winding corridors of the abandoned tunnels the team comes upon…a lab that appears to have been used for Wraith experiments. …the team has little time to piece the puzzle together before they themselves are attacked by a…monster. (See the full Vengeance episode description)

Compare that to Whispers. Team goes through the gate, finds one of Michael’s abandoned labs, finds abandoned village, gets preyed upon by Michael’s failed Wraith experiments. There you have the plot in a nutshell.  Only—there’s more to the episode than that.

Despite the apparent similarities, Whispers goes off in a direction I didn’t expect, and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

Although Atlantis episodes are typically science oriented, this episode had only Doctors Beckett and Porter to speak tech-talk. Because of that, the episode relied heavily on the characters and their emotional reactions to the threat from Michael’s abandoned experiments.

I came away from the episode feeling like I’d just watched a horror film, and I admit I spent some time biting my nails during this one. Whispers definitely qualifies as one of my favorite Atlantis episodes this season. It was a refreshing change of pace and an invigorating episode for what’s turned out to be the final season of Atlantis.

I worried about Dr. Beckett in this one. I worried about the other team members I hadn’t met before including Major Anne Teldy and her away team, Sgt. Dusty Mehra, Capt. Alicia Vega and Dr. Alison Porter. I even worried about Sheppard. I worried a lot. That’s one reason I so enjoyed the show. There was tension there, and action, and it all kept me entertained in a way the last few episodes of Atlantis haven’t. So, cheers! I hope this is a sign of things to come. Stargate Atlantis, reinvigorated!

• Download Whispers
• Download Vengeance
  —from Amazon.com