Stargate: Atlantis 2.13: "Critical Mass"

Written by Carl Binder and Brad Wright
Directed by Andy Mikita

In which the Goa’uld-dominated Trust sabotage Atlantis, threatening the city’s survival, which leads to a hunt for the guilty party, while Teyla deals with the death of an old friend…


This is a very odd episode for a number of reasons, and I’m not really sure what to make of it. I find it hard to believe that Caldwell’s character was always meant to have this kind of encounter or that the whole Trust debacle was meant to have an impact on “Atlantis”. Perhaps it was just the manner in which the crossover took place. There were a lot of things to like about the episode, especially in the final act, but there were also elements that left me wondering how quickly the script was cobbled together.

Let’s cover the bad things first. I’ve never liked the idea of the Trust, since it’s never been well-defined and it seems like a needless way to insert conspiracy into the series after the NID plot threads have been played out to death. Of course, now the Trust is a gateway for the Goa’uld plot to take control of Earth, presumably led by Baal and his many, many clones. That’s all an issue for inferior “SG-1” episodes, however, so I wasn’t particularly thrilled at the idea that the mess had spilled over into this series.

It has, however, and the implication is worse for the overall “Stargate Universe” than perhaps even the writers might suspect. If the Trust can infiltrate the SGC so completely that the commander of the Daedalus is infested with a symbiote without anyone noticing, that’s a serious breach of security. Essentially, the entire operation could be crippled with no possibility of a counter-offensive.

On the other hand, there’s a certain logic to what the Goa’uld were trying to accomplish. If the Wraith do take control of Atlantis, they have the power and the will to invade Earth and begin an incursion of the home turf. This is as big an issue for the human population as it is with the beleaguered Goa’uld. Though even they didn’t consider the more subtle and logical approach: use the Humans as the first line of defense, but then set things up so if Atlantis is breached, the gate will switch to an address in the part of space currently held by the Priors! Deal with both problems at once!

Now, the good. As much as Teyla’s “B” plot was pleasant, for lack of a better term, the music in the final act was quite effective. I could tell that she was actually singing (though it was, of course, dubbed in), and that helped a bit. I’m still not pleased by the fact that other chanting voices joined her, since none of the extras in the scene were singing, but that wasn’t the point. It was a well-orchestrated sequence.

Also, I loved the return of Lt. Cadman to the series. I mentioned back in my review for “Duet” that it was a shame how little she was on screen. It actually looks like she’ll be a recurring character, a possible bone of contention between McKay and Beckett, and I couldn’t be happier. Yay for hot redheads! And between her and Cavanaugh, that gave the whole “traitor” plot thread something to work with.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 7/10