Silly Suspicions

[redthroatedloon]

Maybe it's just me, but can I grouse a bit and say that the latest Atlantis episode made absolutely no sense to me?


Okay, so they're meeting the Wraiths in a dismaying number of places. So how the heck do they jump immediately to the conclusion that there is a spy in their midst? My immediate reaction was (a) somebody's wearing a bug, (b) the Wraith can track Stargate activity, (c) the Wraith can track their ship.

Even assuming that they are right, and that there is a spy, how does that lead to "The spy has to be one of the planet people"? (Sorry, I've totally forgotten what they're called.) What kind of security sweep is that? I'm not at all trained in this stuff, and my first reaction is that you have the leaders vet each other, and then you slowly start vetting everybody, going down the line. After all, how do they know it's not, say, Ponytail Guy from last week's episode, who got irritated that Weir wasn't listening to him and decided to find somebody who would? Or perhaps that the Wraiths got hold of a Goa'uld, and now there's got a snaked human wandering around the base? (Yeah, I know they want to keep the two series separate. But still, it is in the same universe...)

You know, if I were one of the planet people, I'd get outta there asap, not only because of the unwarranted suspicion, but because these Earth people? Obviously morons.

And who the heck was that security guy, anyway? How does a sergeant (not a very high ranking to be a security expert, btw) get to talk to a superior officer that way? And I wasn't impressed with how he was obviously immediately set out to be a bad guy, being rude to the nice Teyla and everything -- to the point that he seemed totally incompetent. Not good writing.

And Teyla? She's supposed to be the leader of her people -- the equivalent of Weir -- and she totally capitulates on everything. This is really turning into a thing where the two nice ladies (Weir and Teyla) pretend to be in charge -- although always politely and keeping their femininity -- but are always shown up to be wrong by the obviously more competent guys.


Okay, sorry. Rant over. I'll just go back to admiring Stargate SG-1 now, which I've been very impressed with this season.

Comments

[sheron]

So how the heck do they jump immediately to the conclusion that there is a spy in their midst?

I thought that went back to one of the first episodes, when they wondered if someone gave them away to the Wraith. So yeah, they didn't consider the other possibilities, but this idea of a spy was already on their mind.

But the rest: I'm with you on all counts.

[redthroatedloon.livejournal.com]

Huh -- I didn't remember a previous mention of a spy, but that makes sense.

Still and all, I think we both agree that it could have been handled better -- both within the context of the series, and by the story writers....

[sheron]

Yup, but at least they have an excuse this way.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

You're so right. It made no sense to me that they would focus on who it was when they had such broad suspicions. (And Weir's interviews were ridiculous--would she really get to know someone in that atmosphere of suspicion?) Rather than start a witch hunt, why not focus on the mechanism of communication? If information was being passed along, it had to follow some path or another, and tracking that down probably would have been much easier than casting a wide net of suspicion.

[redthroatedloon.livejournal.com]

Excellent point about the communication system! That didn't occur to me, and in an environment where technology is everything, it would be the logical place to start.