Stargate Atlantis "The Last Man" Spoiler review - "It's not such a wonderful life...."

[wraithfodder]

I'll stick it all under the cut since I'll be spilling spoilers.

Stargate Atlantis #420
"The Last Man"

This was the science fiction version of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, sorta. It shows the impact of one man's life on everyone around him, and apparently, Sheppard made a heckuva lot of difference since the universe sorta went to hell in a handbasket without him around.

While the time travel "what might have been" scenario is used in shows that last long enough to use 'em, and are sort of derivative, if done well, they can be enjoyable. I found this one to be fun, mostly because of the great scenes with Sheppard and hologram McKay. The banter was there, and we got a teensy bit of whump when Sheppard struggled through the storm, then passed out on the floor. All covered in sand, although there didn't seem to be any in 'teh' hair. Hmmm....

It was sad that Michael just bumped off Teyla, but well, if he can exterminate entire populations, one measly Athosian is no problem. I think it was also a matter of casting that Rachel was just too far along to participate as well.

Ronon? Well, he went out like he'd want to go out. Killing as many of the enemy as possible in the process. His scenes with Todd were great, and now I expect (if it doesn't exist already) there will be "TodDex" fanfic ;) *cough*  Todd giving this long winded explanation of how he was going to disable the base, while Ronon says "I was gonna blow it up."  was priceless. 

Sam? She went out with style as well, and I think it will be debated who had the more 'noble' death, but both she and Ronon were face with insurmountable odds, and both decided to make their deaths count. While Sam's death was more pretty with SPX, Ronon's was more fun (well, not quite the word I'm searching for) due to the dialogue with Todd.

Lorne? Ha! He's in command. So funny.

Rodney. Wow, well, he finally got the girl, Keller, and it was sorta foregone conclusion she'd die of something. As soon as she coughed up blood, i went, Pegasus Galaxy bug! Ah, it was soooo sad watching standing in the hallway as Keller is creeping closer to death. I loved his crabby old hologram, which was just as egotistical as the original, and Rodney must have spent a LONG time creating the hologram to have that range of depth. Oh oh, and Jeannie. So nice to see her there, until she got fed up with his obsession.

Sheppard: I absolutely adored his look of near panic when he opens the outside door to find out that the beach has extended right up to the door ;) And squabbling with the Rodney hologram. I guess nothing is too weird to him anymore. And the whumper in me had fun watching him stumble through the sandstorm, only to collapse to the floor (and right through Rodney!). And he so loves to torment McKay, telling the man he had no hair in the future. Watch Ronon's eyes during that scene. He practically rolls them when McKay asks about his hair. Bwahahahah!

And then the cliffie at the end.... I realized at the commercial break that, wait, where's the exploding building? Oh wait, it's a cliffhanger, so the very few last minutes were absolutely no surprise. And they're not going to kill Shep or McKay (and Lorne sure as heck had better survive) because they must rescue Teyla in episode one of season five, which if Alex Levine's blog is correct, we'll see in the summer (but there's no scheduled date yet).

Overall, I quite enjoyed this episode. I think what made it best was I probably saw few spoilers on it (besides the ones Skiffy dumps in its ads). I'm not going spoiler free for season five, but am avoiding lots of intense chatter on it.

Lastly............................

Quibbles: why did Sam, of all people, quibble about Sheppard's outlandish story? I mean, really, with all the time travel SG1 has done???

Where was Carson? 

Only eeeeuuuu moment. I am sorry, but that gray uniform SUCKS on Woolsey. Gray is not his color, not the stripes, not the cut, well, geez, if Woolsey is in a perpetually crappy mood, we can blame the suit ;) However, when those cast changes take place in season 5, I hope they remember that Sheppard already heard an AU version of Woolsey taking over and it would be nice to get a one sentence comment on it.

And I think that's it. It's been a very long day and I'm going to hit the sack.


And lastly, lastly, okay, season 4 is over. Time for fanfiction!

Comments

[libra-traveller.livejournal.com]

This may have been if not my favorite episode of the season, at least second favorite, I was squeeing the whole way through.

Oh and after watching the sneak peak of Ark of Truth, my mom and me made my sister order it on amazon for us. Can't wait!!!

[chensuu.livejournal.com]

I generally liked the episode too but one point bothered me.

It took Keller dying to make Rodney do something!!! Not poor Sheppard disappearing even though Rodney knew he was alive and lost somewhere in the far off future. Nope...nothing at all. It made me think that if Keller didn't die Rodney wouldn't have done anything at all except live out his life with her on Earth. I mean, to change things at that point would have ended his romance.

IMO it would have made more sense if Rodney at least tried to do something to save John and then continued with his plans as events unfolded. To show him inactive while knowing Sheppard wasn't dead bothered me.

[vecturist.livejournal.com]

Kavan did say at Peg3 he has eps in S5, so he doesn't die...

[leesa_perrie]

Loved it loved it loved it!! Full of wonderful banter, angst-ridden scenes, action... Oh, and the line that cracked me up most was when Rodney is saying how he and Sam worked together to fix the ship and 'Zelenka might have been there, I forget' (and in the scene Radek puts coffee on the console for Rodney and is only 'just' in the shot)!!!

That ending! Yeah, I said 'You can't leave it there' is a loud voice, knowing full well that they can and have, and that Sheppard, McKay, Ronon and Lorne survive...

The other lines that cracked me up was about the hair towards the end there - typical Rodney - typical John!! LOL!

[aelfgyfu_mead]

The episode didn't do a lot for me; I think I've just seen way too many "undo the timeline" stories on too many shows (Star Trek: Voyager did a good one, and then reused the trick at least twice and killed it stone dead).

I love what you said about Woolsey in gray! I saw him and said, "Oh, no! That looks awful!" I felt silly for worrying about a little thing like that, but it really bothered me!

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

There were a few glitches last night, e.g. if Sheppard had stepped outside in what he was wearing in RL the 75mph winds with sand blast included, would have stripped him down like it does in the desert to car paint when it goes through a sand storm.......
Also, there is no way Rodney could have been teaching astrophysics
in a CC......I realize this is all so what, but I think sometimes writers ought to look more closely at their material.....

HOWEVER, on the bright side, I am continually struck by
Ronon's loyalty to Sheppard and the rest of the fab four......in some episodes it is not so much what he says but his actions...
I believe it to be based on the fact that Sheppard really wanted him when no one else did....trusts him....never asks any questions other than 'are you ready to lock and load?'.....and last night they show him leaving Atlantis; his reason for staying was essentially gone.....wasn't it??

[melibabe.livejournal.com]

From what I've seen posted so far, this seems to be a "love it or hate it" episode. I enjoyed it, myself. It had a nice rhythm to it, it was a nice departure structurally from most episodes, and it essentially gave us a bunch of quick mini-story-might-have-beens to think about.

The nitpicker in me could go crazy (Why didn't the initial flare send him back to his starting point on M-whatever-planet, as it did in 1969? What address did he dial 48,600 years in the future to get back - couldn't dial Atlantis, right? Why hadn't Rodney/Sam considered the solar flare possibility yet in those first 12 days?) but I can also just let it go and enjoy it for what it is. :D

[pisces227.livejournal.com]

Great recap, you took alot of words out of my mouth. I didn't love the ep but I really really liked it. I think they should have ended the ep with Shep going into stasis, the rest of the ep seemed rushed. That would have given them more time to tell us about what happened to Carson and more of how they dealt with Shep missing/dead.

Todds "naturally" comment to Ronon was funny as was Shep to Mckay on his hair.

LOL on the hair defying even a sandstorm...the hair rocks!

I also wondered why Carter didn't make a comment on her time travel experience, she acted like it was something new.

Now bring on S5!