Stargate: Atlantis 3.8: "McKay and Mrs. Miller"
Written by Martin Gero
Directed by Martin Wood
When I saw that this episode was about McKay, I was a little worried. The writers tried to hit McKay with their “poor character exploration” stick in the second season, and it never really went anywhere. Sure, Rodney blew up a planetary system because of his arrogance and stubbornness, but why make that a trigger for long-term character change? This is, after all, “SGA”, where characters need to stay the same, regardless of mistakes or trauma.
I’m not saying that this episode is necessarily going to mark a new phase in McKay’s life, since the writers will have to prove that out in the rest of the season, but it does have a lot of potential. Bringing in McKay’s sister in this fashion was quite a creative coup; bringing in Hewlett’s actual sister was even more impressive. They brought a certain “reality” to the sibling rivalry that gave the episode a little more flavor.
I was most impressed by the fact that the issue in this episode, which could have easily been stand-alone to the hilt, led to something that should have long-term consequences. The ZPM is now depleted, leaving Team Atlantis with a major problem should the Wraith or Asurans come calling. In fact, they would probably have trouble resisting the Genii at this point. McKay made the right decision given the stakes, and he had lots of people backing him this time around, but ultimately the experiment was a major disaster for Team Atlantis and their viability.
Much like McKay’s character development, this is something that could be fumbled by writers in future episodes, but I have to believe (until the next episode, anyway) that it will play into the whole situation with the Asurans and this very tentative season arc that may be developing. With the mid-season break coming, complete with cliffhanger, I see this as being a stepping stone to the troubles ahead.
So I give the writers credit for finally doing something that they should have done several times before: mixing character development with plot development. And what was the result? One of the better episodes of the season. I finally found myself ignoring my typical annoyance with McKay’s two-dimension characterization, because there was finally something to sink my teeth into, above and beyond good one-liners. Even the humor was better in this episode, especially once his doppelganger emerged from the parallel universe. It was enough to help me ignore the incredibly fake laughter used to introduce the “breakfast club” scenes.
(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Recent episodes cover the “Stargate: Atlantis”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Directed by Martin Wood
When I saw that this episode was about McKay, I was a little worried. The writers tried to hit McKay with their “poor character exploration” stick in the second season, and it never really went anywhere. Sure, Rodney blew up a planetary system because of his arrogance and stubbornness, but why make that a trigger for long-term character change? This is, after all, “SGA”, where characters need to stay the same, regardless of mistakes or trauma.
I’m not saying that this episode is necessarily going to mark a new phase in McKay’s life, since the writers will have to prove that out in the rest of the season, but it does have a lot of potential. Bringing in McKay’s sister in this fashion was quite a creative coup; bringing in Hewlett’s actual sister was even more impressive. They brought a certain “reality” to the sibling rivalry that gave the episode a little more flavor.
I was most impressed by the fact that the issue in this episode, which could have easily been stand-alone to the hilt, led to something that should have long-term consequences. The ZPM is now depleted, leaving Team Atlantis with a major problem should the Wraith or Asurans come calling. In fact, they would probably have trouble resisting the Genii at this point. McKay made the right decision given the stakes, and he had lots of people backing him this time around, but ultimately the experiment was a major disaster for Team Atlantis and their viability.
Much like McKay’s character development, this is something that could be fumbled by writers in future episodes, but I have to believe (until the next episode, anyway) that it will play into the whole situation with the Asurans and this very tentative season arc that may be developing. With the mid-season break coming, complete with cliffhanger, I see this as being a stepping stone to the troubles ahead.
So I give the writers credit for finally doing something that they should have done several times before: mixing character development with plot development. And what was the result? One of the better episodes of the season. I finally found myself ignoring my typical annoyance with McKay’s two-dimension characterization, because there was finally something to sink my teeth into, above and beyond good one-liners. Even the humor was better in this episode, especially once his doppelganger emerged from the parallel universe. It was enough to help me ignore the incredibly fake laughter used to introduce the “breakfast club” scenes.
(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Recent episodes cover the “Stargate: Atlantis”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
posted by John Keegan | 18:34
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