Oh
no! Kolya, the rogue Genii commander,
has captured Lt. Col. John Sheppard! And
as Dr. Elizabeth Weir is holding a diplomatic conference on Atlantis with
Radim, the new leader of the reformed Genii, Kolya channels in and offers a
bargain to Dr. Weir: hand over Radim for Sheppard’s freedom. If they don’t, Kolya will keep on torturing
Sheppard with his “secret weapon.” Will
the Atlantis team locate Sheppard in time and set him free?
If
it rings true that a story is only as good as its villain, then Kolya (played
by Robert Davi) totally makes this episode.
Right now, he covets the position of the Genii head of state, which is
why he’s trying to crack that deal with Weir; in other words, this guy is
bargaining a coup. (Jeez, didn’t the Genii go through one of those, already?)
The fact that he is willing to kill
Sheppard slowly by Wraith is a
perfect underlining of how dastardly evil he really is. And you know what’s the worst part? Kolya doesn’t seem to hesitate when he gives
the orders. Quite often, he coldly
shrugs it off and acts like this is just the usual business. That’s what makes him truly threatening and
terrifying—the fact that he’s so indifferent about the brutal torture he is
inflicting upon Sheppard. He doesn’t
care if a person dies, just as long as he finally gets the position he
seeks. Now, that is pure evil.
Did
I just mention Sheppard’s sentence is death
by Wraith? Because it turns out,
Kolya’s secret weapon is a Wraith. And
not just any Wraith—it’s actually Todd!
Yes, “Common Ground” marks the debut of the show’s arguably most
prominent (and most popular, with the fandom) Wraith character. However, this is not the Todd who we would
come to know and love (as in, the antiheroic Wraith known for his dark sense of
humor) when we meet him again during the Carter & Woolsey seasons. In his first appearance, he has been
imprisoned and starved by the Genii for quite some time. So he’s hungry. And angry.
As such, he basks in feeding on Sheppard when given the chance to. After all, he’s acting like a human who had
been starved for days only to be suddenly given an extra-large bucket of fried
chicken. He is mainly seeking his own
ends, but is willing to cooperate with Sheppard when necessary.
Since
Sheppard is inmates with his own torturer, he might as well get to know
him. The discussions that Sheppard has
with Todd make for some nuance, allowing for a new perspective on the Wraith. While this is not the first time the Wraith
have been humanized (although Michael’s humanization at the end of Season 2 was
more literal than figurative), Todd is given a platform to speak about his
species’ biological nature and defend their primal instincts of feeding on
humans. He is also quick to remind him,
“There is much about Wraith that you do not know, Sheppard.” This is a hook that adds to the mystery and
is properly built upon at the end of the episode in quite a satisfying way.
(On
a side note, hats off to the makeup artist for making actor Joe Flanigan look
like an old man when after Sheppard gets fed upon. He not only looks old and wrinkly, but also
weak and frail. It is so convincing
it is almost terrifying.)
In
the meantime, the scenes at Atlantis between Dr. Weir, the Atlantis team, and
Radim are where the plot is at its most standard, to say the least. This formula of debating on how to rescue Lt.
Col. Sheppard has every reason to come off as repetitive, but it works thanks
to not only how spaced out their scenes are throughout the episode, but also to
how the perspectives of Weir, Radim, and the Atlantis team differentiate and
interact with one another. The climax is
more action-oriented, a straightforward action sequence that culminates with a
resolution that may come off as a deus ex machina if it was not properly
foreshadowed and built up just by Todd’s reminder earlier on. Furthermore, this resolution also introduces
a new element of the mythology about the Wraith that future episodes would also
address and build upon.
You
know what? This was actually a really good
episode. It was engaging, suspenseful,
and actually quite nuanced, too. It
presented another worthy effort to characterize and humanize the Wraith, and it
did so successfully. Plus, Kolya once
again proves himself as one of the most evil and threatening characters in Stargate Atlantis.
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