Atlantis fanatics will have to...

Atlantis fanatics will have to wait until January to see what that wicked Wraith chick has planned for Sheppard; the encounters with the missing Ancients and Ford's "Lost Boys" left us with plenty to ponder till then. As I suspected, that black left eye (and I'm not talking about a bruise) of Ford's was a side effect of the Wraith enzyme. Perhaps this enzyme plotline is an allegory for the dangers of steroid use. It would explain why everyone exposed to it acted like Jose Canseco. Ford kindly decided to share his stash, dosing Teyla, Ronon and Rodney against their will. Predictably, Rodney freaked out: "This is exactly what happened when I toked pot once in college!" Teyla and Ronon freaked too, only violently. I suspected they were beginning to lose control when they spontaneously began to spar at Ford's dinner table. Ford' s portrayer, Rainbow Sun Francks, has also developed as an actor. Ford's pining for home tricked Sheppard into revealing his planned double-cross. Holding Rodney as a hostage, Ford blackmailed Sheppard into flying a Wraith dart ship as part of a crackpot commando mission to get inside a Hive vessel and blow it up. Most adventure series have the given hand-picked team dance around a few dangers and then get away with their target blown to smithereenies. Didn't work here, hence Sheppard's encounter with said heinous Wraith chick.

The Aurora tale was a little misleading. It suggested that the team ran into Ancients, which they did, but they were of the pre-ascended variety. Sheppard had to put himself in stasis to interact with the crew, who have been living in a virtual reality environment for 10,000 years without appearing bored. That must be some program. Intrigue was provided by a Wraith that took control of the Aurora's first officer. I didn't understand why Rodney just didn't kill it off the bat. The only explanation is that Sheppard might have looked like a killer in front of the crew. Then again, he could have used the computer trickery (literally popping in and out at will) to convince the captain he was legit. Either that or made himself look even guiltier. Questions give me a headache and cause my nose to run. I've noticed that whenever the team comes close to a technology that will kill the Wraith, it always seems to slip through their fingers. We get the point folks. The denouement was dignified, as Sheppard led a toast to the doomed crew, whose ship was destroyed to keep it out of the Wraith's clutches.