SGA 5x14: "The Prodigal" Talkback (Spoilers)

[JME2]

The team fights to retake control of Atlantis when the control room is infiltrated by an old enemy.

***

Well, with the break for Halloween programming over, here's the usual talkback as Atlantis continues on with its final 10 episodes...

[Chris OFarrell]

From what I've heard, this episode has a LOT of plot handwaving which is going to make me cringe when I watch it, but I'm going to give it a shot.

[JME2]

From what I've heard, this episode has a LOT of plot handwaving which is going to make me cringe when I watch it, but I'm going to give it a shot.

Even if this hadn't been the last season, I would still be going into this episode hoping this was the last hurrah of Michael. There are some villains that work well in the long term and others that need to be put out of their misery and Michael unfortunately falls into the latter IMHO.

[Strider]

The Stun-Bubble was a really good microcosm of the entire episode: It was a completely handwavy idea to shore up lack of thought on the part of the writers, and that only worked because the Atlanteans are dumb enough to have all their control systems in the gate room. At the same time, it precipitated an awesome Zelenka/Rodney argument and resulted in high comedy over the course of the episode as various clowns stumbled into it and got knocked out.

I think this is really Atlantis at its best, with character byplay liberally sprinkled into some half-assed enemy scheme resulting in lots of people running around Atlantis and wacky hijinx had by all, possibly even with some real character development by the end. Though it wasn't as good as "The Storm" (IMO, the defining Atlantis experience), it reminded me of it in a good way. My only regret in the episode was the lack of Jewel Staite action.

[CaptainChewbacca]

And, finally, Michael is dead.

Unless he cloned himself.

[Strider]

And, finally, Michael is dead.

Unless he cloned himself.

If Todd is the Ba'al in spirit for Atlantis, Michael is the Ba'al in substance. Teyla got to be a real badass killing him though, it's nice that after all this time her character finally got somewhere. Now I'm sorta starting to hope something sets her off the edge and she goes all Darth Rosenberg with her Wraith powers for the Series Finale. There was some heavy foreshadowing in "The Queen", and we got some more here.

[Zac Naloen]

I agree this type of episode is what Atlantis does best.

Corny action.

and if anyone doesn't like it they have been watching the wrong show for the last 6 years.


"Mission report, Michael invaded Atlantis, tried to blow it up, we stopped him. End of report."

[Bilbo]

At least they didnt end it stupid by trying to save Michael. Tayla kicking his hands off one at a time was what any of us would expect a mother to do to a psycho who was tried many times to their their baby.

[NecronLord]

Personally, I loved it. Glad to see that they didn't go for the 'help the villain' cliche. It was good to see Michael go at last, and the manner of his going actually improved my opinion of the whole Michael arc. I liked the reference to the Wraith's computing skills again, too, in the form of the Wraith knowing some effective Integer Factorisation algorithms. From various episodes (Intruder, Reunion and this) it seems to be one of their main competancies, without actually being overblown and un-cool 'TV hacking.'

The Stun-Bubble was a really good microcosm of the entire episode: It was a completely handwavy idea to shore up lack of thought on the part of the writers, and that only worked because the Atlanteans are dumb enough to have all their control systems in the gate room.

It's worth remembering that no one left really knows the details of those systems in full. A real live ancient was able to just wave her hand (admittedly in the control room) and take control of the city. There could be a way to switch primacy to another tower, or the secondary control room, but the Tau'ri needn't know how.

[Stargate Nerd]

Ronon got his ass kicked by Michael.

It was a decent episode, nothing really bothered me and nothing really stood out either, except for the character interaction as others have mentioned already.

[Zac Naloen]

Just a thought, I wonder how much time has passed since they blew up the control room.

It's looking well repaired all things considered.

At least we know they have matter conversion technology now, which makes the repair more believable.

[Themightytom]

Ronon got his ass kicked by Michael.

It was a decent episode, nothing really bothered me and nothing really stood out either, except for the character interaction as others have mentioned already.

I disagree, Ronan had the upper hand until he was pushed over the edge

The only thing that bothered me was the chick doing the crazy jump kicks but I suppose it could be possible that michael's minions are so tough that punches or grabs are ineffective. I DEFINITELY forecasted exactly how the jumper would die though, when it flew in and parked in ffront of the stargate they had already telegraphed that "Something was wrong" and the thought crossed my mind that een iff they were all knocked unconcious, they could ahve started a dial-out which would ahve coninued and taken the back off the jumper.

[Xon]

I love how they did the password cracking on the self-destruct, running integer factorization is basicly how RL would do it if we had the processing power.

[Stile]

snip

It seemed like Michael was the tougher of the two and Ronon realized this. He seemed to compensate by fighting more viciously and faster to not give Michael time to react.

[Themightytom]

snip

It seemed like Michael was the tougher of the two and Ronon realized this. He seemed to compensate by fighting more viciously and faster to not give Michael time to react.

I would say "stronger" if he were tougher Ronan wouldn't have been able to keep himof balance for so longer, and frankly neither would Shepherd. Shepherd has always been weak tea compared to Ronan or even Tey'la and yet there he is trading blows with Michael Epic style for a good few minutes. SHEPHERD got his ass kicked, but Ronan held his own until Micahael's one hit wonder.

[Stile]

Yeah, okay. I guess stronger was the word I was looking for.