TV episode review
US premiere 15 August 2008 (Sci Fi Channel)

While returning from a mission Sheppard’s jumper loses power for a time, but there seems to be no faults. But when Atlantis’s systems all start behaving oddly and there are power fluctuations there too, they all realise something very odd and dangerous is going on. Then Rodney’s laptop starts to broadcast messages for help from Elizabeth Weir…

What a mediocre way to bring both Weir and the Replicators back – in a ubiquitous storyline that just about every other science fiction series has done at one time or another (and the very same title has been used for at least half of them!).

Taken on its own merits the episode is neatly constructed and emotionally satisfying (especially with some intriguing twists of character from Woolsey and Sheppard), but as the conclusion of a substantial story arc and grand Weir/Replicator scheme it falls flat.

Firstly, Torri Higginson doesn’t return – her consciousness inhabits the Replicator form of FRAN, McKay’s Trojan Horse from season 4’s Be All My Sins Remember’d, and she doesn’t seem quite in character. Secondly, this seems merely a fizzle and a pop to end the Weir arc, an anti-climax after the final shot of her after the destruction of the Replicator world in that same episode. This seems just a way to tie off a subplot, before the series ends, but at least the visuals, effects and execution are up to standard. Brigid Cherry

VERDICT: 6/10

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