reviewed by Charity Bishop
     

The explosion that took out half of Michael's secret medical compound has trapped members of the Atlantis expedition team in its rubble. Colonel John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) is badly injured and pinned underneath a beam which Ronan (Jason Momoa) cannot shift without assistance -- but they are buried several stories beneath McKay (David Hewlett) and Major Lorne. To make matters worse, McKay suspects it has also triggered a homing beacon that will draw the half-human, half-Wraith to their location. The result of a bad experiment in an attempt to humanize the Wraith, Michael is now on a mission to destroy both humans and the Wraith. Believing Teyla's unborn child will assist him in this venture, he has kidnapped Teyla (Rachel Luttrell) and intends to kill her once she has delivered her son. His appearance out of hyperspace coincides with the arrival of the Daedalus, sent on a rescue mission from Atlantis.

Beaming up the surviving members of the team just in time, the Daedalus engages in a vicious firefight with Michael's ship. In spite of his injuries, Sheppard wants to use this distraction to rescue Teyla and explode the hive ship. Maneuvering successfully on board, the team succeeds in locating Teyla just as goes into contractions. Without much time and knowing Michael will soon jump back into hyperspace, Sheppard and Ronan set out to disarm his main defenses, leaving a horrified McKay to deliver the baby. Problems are only compounded further when Internal Affairs determines that Colonel Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) has taken too many risks in how she heads up Atlantis, and decides to replace her with Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo). His lack of military experience and concern for the rules puts him at odds with the team and may threaten the future of Atlantis.

The final season of this series suffers somewhat from cast changes and departures as well as takes a different turn in its writing, but still provides some memorable and terrific episodes -- among them, one in which a hive ship begins to literally grow in one of Atlantis' main towers -- out of a human being. There are several winks to fans of the original franchise with a guest appearance by Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson (his ongoing banter with McKay is a thing of beauty) and even the introduction of the Asgard. The Wraith resume as major villains and this means we get a lot of face time with Todd (Christopher Heyerdahl), as well as an ultimate resolution to the Michael struggle in a truly fantastic episode in which he takes over the city from the control room. Teyla goes undercover as a Wraith Queen and Dr. Carson Beckett is in a half dozen episodes, including the creepiest one in the history of the show -- "Whispers," in which the team battles zombies. It also finally pairs up Jennifer and McKay in a genuinely sweet and unexpected romance.

Where this season falters is the departure of Samantha Carter. Tapping went on to star in her own successful independent series (Sanctuary) but the absence of a powerful woman as the head of Atlantis makes a huge impact. Woolsey tends to grow on the patient viewer but since he was one of the most-hated characters in the original it takes awhile to warm up to him and he simply lacks the emotional presence of his predecessors. That is not to say that he doesn't up his game significantly but that the fans did not take to him well in that position of authority. It's also unfortunate that the other women fall into the background once again -- we see Jennifer now and again but not as often as we might like and Teyla is not as present once she overcomes her doubts about whether or not to rejoin the team. (However, her participation in bringing about Michael's demise is great.) There's just something missing this season and I'm not sure what it is. One or two episodes are rather dull, especially "Vegas." It's a different reality episode that places the characters in altered roles (Sheppard is a cop, for example, who knows nothing about Wraith). It's a risky episode that fell flat for me.

Since the series was cancelled mid-season there isn't full closure on the main plot but it does resolve some of its primary threads and also ends with a bang in bringing Atlantis to earth to combat the Wraith. The content is on par with previous installments and includes a great deal of heavy combat violence. Wraith and humans are shot down and killed (non-gory results) and/or stabbed. There is an immense amount of hand to hand combat, sometimes with related deaths. Characters are knocked unconscious or badly beaten in fights. Sheppard is pounded in the face by an enemy until he is black and blue; a character's hand is cut off (not shown). There seems to be a bit more profanity this time but none of it is extreme (except one half-uttered, partially muffled s**t). Some playful romantic dialogue and occasional mild innuendo appears between dating couples.

Familiar faces from television pop up in various episodes, among them a one-time appearance from Bill Nigh the Science Guy. While I regretted that the series did not end with the strength in which it began, it was an entertaining and satisfying conclusion to the stories of a group of individuals the audience has come to not only know but empathize with and truly like. It is rare when you find a series that features a host of characters that are all likable in spite of their faults and treat one another with respect (and the occasional barb). Some of the better instances are the less significant ones, such as the sight of Sheppard and McKay racing mechanical cars in an abandoned corridor. It is that sense of friendship that truly makes the series memorable.