20 50 minute episodes
The plucky human members of Atlantis continue fighting the Replicators and the Wraith.
This is the season that Dr Weir was replaced by Colonel Carter as Atlantis commander. Ironically, Weir has some of her best scenes in this season, as she is cured of her fatal injury but at a price, confronts the Replicators on their home ground, sacrifices herself for Atlantis, comes back in another form and sacrifices herself again, comes back in another form ... And Carter's role is wasted just like Weir's was, demonstrating that the fault lies not with the actor, but with the scripts.
Beyond this gripe, the season is much as before: lots of running and fighting, and lots of "best laid plans" that "gang aft aglae" as they try to get the Replicators and Wraith to fight each other. The "humorous" episode (Harmony the bratty princess) falls flat. The humour is better done in "Midway", with the Ronan/Teal'c stare-off, because it is only part of the plot, not driving the entire episode.
The season starts on a cliff-hanger, with Atlantis lost in space, and ends on a cliffhanger, with the entire team entombed in an imploded boobytrap. Necessarily, some of the bits in between are less thrilling, although there are some good episodes ("Tabular Rasa", "Missing", "This Mortal Coil").
[ unmissable | great stuff | worth watching | mind candy | waste of time | unfinishable ]
reviewed 24 August 2008