Episode: “Lifeline” – Season Premiere Part Two (Season 4)
Air Date: Friday, October 5th, 2007
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Quick Synopsis: Atlantis is saved, but Dr. Weir may be lost.
Long Synopsis: Having almost lost power entirely on Atlantis, a last ditch effort to retrieve a power source is devised. McKay thinks he can modify a Jumper with a hyperdrive.
Sheppard, Ronon, McKay and Dr. Weir set out for the Replicator home world. Dr. Weir presently being kept alive by the modified nanites, is along because McKay thinks he will be able to access the Replicator systems through the nanites. This works well at first, as they are easily able to retrieve the power source, but McKay notices something else inside the Replicator system.
He thinks they could embed a program in the core of the city that would get the Replicators to attack the Wraith. While attempting to do so, Dr. Weir uses her connection with the system to take control, so the rest of the team can get away. The Apollo shows up just in time to help them make their escape, but Dr. Weir is lost on the Replicator planet.
Review: The “Lifeline” episode is part two of a two-part season premiere, but part three of the overall story arc that began on the third season finale with the episode “First Strike.” The main purpose has been to write the Dr. Weir character, played by Torri Higginson, out of the story.
To that effect, it has been done quite well. Bringing back something that happened to her in the past and working it into the story has been a great way to work her out of the role of the Atlantis commander. The way it ends allows for Dr. Weir to return in the future, with so many possibilities as to how it could happen. Will she be fully assimilated, or some other hybrid between her former self and that? It looks like we will find out later this season in episode 10, “The Mortal Coil.” That episode is part one of a two-part story that will end the first half of season four on December 7th. A month later on January 4th, 2008, you will be able to see how the story concludes, with “Be All My Sins Remember’d.”
Dr. Weir exiting leaves an opening for a new commander of Atlantis. Col. Samantha Carter will be taking over that position, but has not assumed command as of this episode. She spends most of the episode on the Apollo searching for the missing Atlantis. It will be fun to see how she assumes command and how the others on Atlantis take to this news. For more about Amanda Tapping coming over to Atlantis, read an interview with her and Jewel Staite.
The TVaholic really likes the balance of action and comic interplay between the characters. Stargate Atlantis falls nicely on the sci-fi spectrum between the comic fun of Eureka and serious action of Battlestar Galactica.
This three-episode arc, beginning last season and continuing with the first two episodes of this season, has created a new fan of the show. If you have been thinking about checking out the show, you might want to give it a shot. I have found it to be completely accessible to the new viewer, even though it has been on for three seasons now. While the TVaholic is sure that I probably missed a few things in these episodes that longtime fans wouldn’t have, I don’t feel like I have. This is a good thing for a show striking out on its own, out of the shadow of Stargate SG-1, and hoping to attracted new fans.
What did you think of the second episode of Stargate Atlantis season four?
Overall it was pretty good, but the scenes with Carter and Lee had a drag-down effect. I mean you’re zipping along and then snooze, you’re floating in the midway station.