Bean

The title of the episode is Sunday. The basic premise to the episode is that the Atlantis expedition is essentially ordered to "take a day off" which is done through the "mandatory rest day".

I think the writers wanted to show us that there was more to Atlantis than just exploring and fighting the wraith. Atlantis is also a community of people. This portion of it they showed us very briefly however as the pace of the episode is quickly given a shot of adrenaline as an explosion occurs in the mess hall at the base of the control tower.

The way they tell the story seemed somewhat like a Tarantino movie as we start off at the time of the explosion, but then through the use of "three hours earlier" or "five hours earlier" etc... until we get the stroy for each of the main characters leading up to the moment of the explosion. Ronin and Shepard struggle to find a common ground which is finally reached with the two of them hanging out in Shepards room drinking and talking about women.

Mckay in order to avoid a commitment to a fishing trip with Beckett finds himself spending the day with that chick that liked him (can't remember the name) and some good character development comes out of it. Weir explores the awkwardness of dating one of her subordinates which ends miserably.

Beckett spends the first half of the episode trying to get someone to join him on a fishing trip to no avail. The consequences of which are realized near the end of the episode.

It turns out that two of Rodney's subordinates had been exploring an Ancient outpost and activated a machine. The machine dosed them with radiation with no immediate results. After some clue work Rodney realizes what the machine did. It caused the two victims to grow explosive tumors (you must be joking?). The explosion is the result of one of the characters "going off". The second victim who was injured in the blast, was taken to be operated on for the injuries he received during the blast. Against everyones orders, Beckett refuses to abandon him and operates to remove the tumor. He does it successfully and takes the tumor to meet the incoming disposal unit. He makes the hand off and signals so to the others. We think it's over and everything is fine, but as Beckett is walking away, the tumor explodes, killing him and the disposal guy.

On it's own, the episode was kinda pointless. I mean, explosive tumors?? We got a little development from most of the leads, but not enough to justify an excellent episode. The whole point of the ep was to kill off Beckett, and man did that ever take me off guard. I have to admit, in the scenes following his death, I was genuinely disturbed. It took a few minutes for me to realize that they had indeed killed him. Mckay took it hardest, and they did a good job of showing his guilt at not joining Beckett on the fishing trip which would most likely have saved his life.

Overall, I'm happy that they took an entire episode to kill off a main character instead of taking a quick pointless route that has plagued so many other tv shows (Tasha Yar anyone?), but the episode still only served two real purposes:

1. Kill off Beckett in a heroic and noble fashion.
2. Show us yet another reason that the Ancients were actually mindless idiots who had no idea what they were doing.

__________________
"I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing."

--James T. Kirk

Brikar

I havent' seen it yet, but to be perfectly honest, it sounds like I'd rather prefer that we just had a nice, sweet episode about the characters taking the day off. I watched TNG's "Family" the other day, and there were no explosions or dire emergencies to take care of, but it's still one of TNG's best episodes (and I'd forgotten that it was written by Ronald D Moore).

Instead of rather artificially inflating drama by creating... exploding... tumors... What if Beckett left the show because his mother became ill? That sort of story works better with the "day off" premise of the episode, and leaves it open for a popular character to return as a guest star in a future episode.

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Sam Cogley

Well, with some of the other spoilers I've heard (for future episodes), killing him was essential. Going to visit his mother wouldn't have produced the same effect.

Brikar

Really? Well, if it turns out that way, I can accept it. But if it was a death for the sake of killing off a character, then, I say, BAH.

__________________
"A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown."

http://olympusmans.blogspot.com
http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

Sam Cogley

Beckett is a sharp guy with the Ancient gene...

Bean

I was reading some stuff on Gateworld last night and it seems like a whole lot is gonna change after the season finale. Sounds like a reboot is on the way...

__________________
"I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing."

--James T. Kirk