Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

A stand-out piece of art

A season finale is always a hard thing to judge but combine it with being the 100th episode and the series finale and it almost becomes impossible. Sentimentality is so mixed up with a wish list of expectations; a great story, action, drama, and a happy conclusion for the characters that we love. Enemy at the Gate makes a fair attempt at delivering a season finale and at delivering a showcase 100th episode, but ultimately, like so many shows where the timing of cancellation results in a restricted timescale to respond, it fails to deliver a satisfying series finale even if the story provides a fortuitous conclusion.

As a season five season finale, the episode does provide a rousing finish even if the story is far too stand alone despite its tenuous connections to Be All My Sins Remembered, Vegas and Infection. The linkage is too fragile to suggest a true arc although provides a nice sense of continuity. While it could be argued the heart of the story – the Wraith attacking Earth and the Atlantis team saving it – is the overall theme of the series, unfortunately it just doesn’t compensate enough as the lack of the episode being the climax to an arc is the main weakness of the plot.

The idea of the Wraith building an uber-Hive by marrying their technology with the ZPM is a clever one and establishes a clear threat to the Atlanteans and Earth. It is a shame that this wasn’t the basis of the season arc where the idea of the Hive could have been seeded earlier, perhaps Sheppard being warned by Todd, working with him to find the Hive, and ultimately just as they find it, it receiving the data burst from the other reality. As it stands, the audience is subjected to an episode where too much time is spent in the set-up and where we have to accept huge swathes of time pass between various scenes leading to an issue with pacing; plodding in some places, breakneck speed in others.

The other main issue with the story in that regard is the sudden mention of *new* stuff and information; Todd’s ZPMs, the Sun Tzu, the wormhole drive, Carson’s newfound confidence with the Chair, Ronon’s romance with Amelia and let’s not forget the Odyssey’s secret mission – so secret that even a threat from the Wraith doesn’t justify it’s call back to Earth despite its being laden with Asgard technology. All of these things could have been worked into previous episodes so they made sense in this episode. While I give props to the production team for improving their overall arc-building skills with the arcs they chose to highlight this season (Michael’s demise, the Wraith feeding experiment, and the McKay-Keller romance), this story almost ruins all that hard work as I wonder why they didn’t realise this story could have made a great over-riding arc in amongst the others this season (or perhaps replacing the Wraith one).

Where the story does excel is in the action sequences; the attack of the new Hive on the puddle-jumper and then the Daedalus, the dart-302 dogfight, the Hive and Atlantis duking it out in Earth’s atmosphere. There was tension and drama; the action was well-paced and visually stunning. The shot of Atlantis rising to stand between Earth and the Wraith is incredibly powerful and intensely symbolic; great CGI.

The episode also provides some great character moments; Sheppard and his suicide run with his heartbreaking goodbye in the dart bay, Ronon’s death and defiance when he’s brought back to life, McKay’s and Teyla’s reaction to Ronon dying, all their reactions in being reunited on the Hive, Woolsey’s commanding presence in the fight, Sam’s calm authority on the ground. All of it is nicely sewn together. As a season finale, it ultimately doesn’t do a bad job, nor as a 100th episode.

I’ve always sat in the camp that believes the milestone episodes should be epic tales and Enemy at the Gate does have story potential – Atlantis travelling back to Earth to save it from a Wraith attack – to be epic although ultimately not all this potential is realised in execution because of the lack of build up. The episode also nicely guests many of its recurring characters; Beckett, Sam, Zelenka, Lorne, Todd, Kavanaugh, Caldwell, Ellis, etc, although disappointingly Weir and Ford are not mentioned in some way. Importantly, Don S Davis’s wonderful Hammond is remembered.

However, if it works as a season finale (with what would have been a great set-up for season six), and just as a 100th episode, as a series finale, it doesn’t feel enough. Perhaps because it fails to fully highlight the ‘endings’ for the characters; Teyla and her baby seem forgotten and while the rest get something (Woolsey’s strong leadership, Beckett’s confidence in the chair, McKay and Keller finding love, Ronon finding a home, and Sheppard, unlike his Vegas counterpart, having his team to save him from killing himself on yet another suicide mission) it’s all buried by the focus on the action. For me this has been Atlantis’s main flaw as a series: its characters and their journeys are generally subtext and yet it is when they take centre stage that the show excels such as in Before I Sleep or Sateda or Common Ground to name but a few.

In conclusion

I am sad to see Atlantis disappear from its weekly TV serial format. While there is at least one movie to look forward to, I can’t help feel that it still had great potential to tell more stories. Enemy at the Gate nods at that potential; it is an epic story on an ambitious scale delivering action and drama. Yes, it had its flaws and works more as the season finale and 100th episode it was intended to be than the series finale it became, but there is synergy. In the first episode Atlantis left Earth and in the final episode, it returns. Even if this isn’t the ultimate end for Stargate Atlantis, for this TV serial version, it provides a satisfying conclusion.

Bravo to all involved for five years of entertainment.