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Enemy at the Gate

This one was really difficult for me because this was the last SGA episode ever and it didn't live up to my expectations. Not in the least. In fact it basically ended on a cliffhanger, although it wasn't a 'is someone going to die?' cliffhanger. Or a cliffhanger where the heroes have been killed a la Farscape

We open on a gorgeous shot of the city at night and the sound of a wormhole opening. In the control room, Amelia is telling John that they have an incoming wormhole. She puts the video feed up on a screen and it's Todd. John's surprised which tells me he thought Todd was dead, or he just never thought he'd hear from him again. Ever. When John reminds him that the last time we saw him he wasn't looking so good, he replies, 'Yes, well, you'll be pleased to know the treatment was successful, although excruciatingly painful.' And John replies, 'You're just saying that to make me feel good.' Todd chuckles a bit then tells John that he was able to resume his place as leader of the Alliance although he has had a setback. Todd steps back from the camera attached to the MALP and shows us the smoking remains of his shuttle. Todd says he was attacked by one of his underlings. Woolsey pipes up with 'Why should we care?' and I happen to agree with him. Todd's been nothing but a thorn in John's side since Common Ground and, like cockroaches and Michael, he just won't die. Todd informs them that it isn't the fact that this Wraith was able to defeat Todd but the way he did it that should concern our heroes and John has his 'I know I should be worried but I just can't seem to find the energy to care' face on. Woolsey asks Todd to explain and we're told that this underling has a ZPM.

Woolsey and John are talking to SGA-1 about it and Ronon and Rodney don't believe that Todd's underling has a ZPM because they're extremely hard to get a hold of and, as Rodney puts it, they don't grow on trees. Ronon's distrust of Wraith is coming out here and he doesn't like the fact that Todd is running to them every time he has a problem he can't solve on his own. Teyla thinks he mentioned the ZPM, which she calls a zero point module, simply to get their attention. Woolsey is inclined to give Todd the benefit of the doubt because he has to know that they'd discover the truth if he lied to them and because Todd has agreed to place himself into their custody. John, because he knows his secret lover so well, says he's positive there's something Todd's not telling them. Woolsey agrees that Todd hasn't told them everything but he says that doesn't mean that he's lying about the ZPM. Rodney says that if Todd's telling the truth then it's very, very bad because insufficient energy is the weak point of Wraith tech and if they get their hands on a ZPM, which is an extremely stable energy source, they could overcome this weakness. Woolsey says it's a threat they can't tolerate and they won't.

What passes for the opening credits for this season and commercials. I really hate that Geico commercial with the stack of money with the eyes on it. But not as much as I hate the HMS commercials with the asshole who basically told the one lady who objected to his use of foul language in his commercials to fuck off.

Back to the show. Woolsey enters a room where Todd is sitting at a table looking like he's more of a guest than a prisoner. When Woolsey says 'Well, here we are again' Todd replies, 'Indeed. This city has become quite familiar to me. Almost a respite from daily life' as if Atlantis is a spa where he goes to recharge. I believe he's the only Wraith, other than Michael of course, to leave Atlantis alive and return numerous times. He makes a comment about it being a shame to see the city destroyed and Woolsey takes this as a threat. Woolsey asks where the ZPM came from and Todd tells him he stole it from the Asurans. Woolsey asks just how many Todd took and is told that is an unnecessary detail. I happen to disagree. Just how many he has is very much an important and necessary detail. Woolsey asks why Todd waited a year to use the ZPM as his hive's power source and Todd tells him that it has taken this long to make the tech compatible. He had his best scientists working on the project and recently one succeeded only he doesn't want to turn it over to Todd, he wants to keep it for himself. So Woolsey says 'And now you want us to help you kick him to the curb' and Todd says yes in a very roundabout way by telling Woolsey that if he attacks now he just might be able to destroy it but if he waits it might be too powerful.

Cut to the Daedalus in hyperspace. Todd has been given 'quarters' and a grey jumpsuit to wear. John enters. Todd asks if it was necessary to remove his transmitter and force him to wear the stupid looking jumpsuit. John basically says yes and Todd then asks if that means that his request to be on the bridge when they make contact…John jumps in with 'Denied'. Todd accepts this. John tells him, 'Here's the problem… Every time we get involved with you, I feel like I'm walking around with a live grenade in my pocket. Just waiting for it to all go wrong, for that one thing you forgot to mention.' Todd tries to tell him that this time's different but John's been burned by his secret boyfriend too many times. He's not going back again and he's not going to be listening to anymore of his lies. As John's leaving Todd asks 'If you really feel that way, why would you let me go after our last encounter?' and John says 'We had a deal and you kept up your end of the bargain. And to be honest, I didn't think you'd live.' And now we know that Todd broke John's heart and he was hoping that if Todd died he could finally get over this stupid infatuation he has with him. And Todd realizes this too. John's parting words this time are 'If I find out you're playing us, I'm not gonna wait for authorization, there isn't gonna be any paperwork, I'm just gonna kill ya.' Oh, this is bad. Todd broke him so badly that he's gone cold-blooded and Todd is feeling the guilt for it, too. He hates that he hurt the Human he loves so much in this way.

SGA-1 enters the bridge all kitted up and Caldwell demands to know just where the frell they think they're going and John tells him to drop them off so they can go to the store, they forgot something in cloaked and check things out. If it's as Todd says Caldwell can then come in, guns blazing. Caldwell agrees but reminds them to be home before curfew careful.

In the jumper, John turns on the cloak and Rodney is intrigued by the higher than normal energy readings from the hive. Teyla asks if it could be from the ZPM, I wish the writers would be a bit more consistent here because earlier she called it a zero point module and now she's calling it a ZPM, and Rodney says he can't say for sure this far out. Caldwell asks for a sit rep and John says that they're going in for a closer look and you can tell that Caldwell doesn't want to be the bad parent anymore but also doesn't want the flagship team to get hurt. When they get closer Rodney says that the hive is growing bigger and adding a denser outter hull and John asks for clarification. Rodney says that hives have a limit of growth because if they grew too heavy or dense they wouldn't be able to enter hyperspace and would be difficult to maneuver. The really bad news about this is that when the hive's done, it will be all but impossible to penetrate the hull. Suddenly alarms sound and Rodney says they're powering weapons. Ronon demands 'They can't see us, right?' and Rodney thinks they're just running a test but the weapons fire goes right over the bow of the jumper. From years of watching NCIS I no longer believe in coincidences and so I'm fairly sure that the hive can now see the jumper due to the ZPM. Rodney confirms my suspicions. John turns tail and runs while calling for Daddy Caldwell to help. John says he's gonna drop the cloak since it ain't working no more and Rodney says 'Not to mention, you could fire back' and John has to remind his Mate that despite the fact that the jumpers respond to John's every thought he can't concentrate on dropping the cloak, flying and firing at the same time. They take a hit to a drive pod and someone, Rodney I think, says 'We're hit!' Thanks for the update, Mr. Obvious. Rodney jumps up to do what he does best; calm John with a blowjob find a way to fix the jumper.

The Daedalus arrives just in time to block what would have been a kill shot to the jumper. Caldwell tells Marks to fire at will and the hive fires back causing the shields to fail and for the ship to lose hyperdrive and all weapons. On the jumper, Rodney has restored power to the controls but not weapons. Teyla draws everyone's attention to the fact that the hive has opened a hyperspace window. On the Daedalus Caldwell is talking to SGA-1 while they remove their gear in the ready room. He can't figure out why the hive didn't finish them off. John is anxious to return to Atlantis but Caldwell says it could be days or weeks before they're back on-line. I'm surprised Rodney didn't demand to be the one to work on rebuilding the systems. I mean, c'mon. He's the smartest man in two galaxies so shouldn't he be the one fixing the problem? Marks comes in at this point and says he's found something they need to see. They all follow him out and to what I'm guessing is engineering where Kavanagh is looking at a monitor. Rodney demands to know what he's doing there and Kavanagh says, 'Reassignment. More fun and adventure in the Pegasus Galaxy' Caldwell interrupts with 'Show us what you got, please' in a tone that clearly says 'Don't make me pull this spaceship over, because I will'. Kavanagh tells them about a subspace signal that the hive got right before it jumped to hyperspace. He says it was a good thing he was monitoring the sensor or they'd never have picked it up at all. And here I thought Rodney's ego was the largest in the universe. Rodney says it's Wraith code and Kavanagh says, 'Obviously. We're having trouble deciphering it because the message is interlaced with a residual radiation and I've never seen it before.' Rodney has, though. Once when we met another Rodney and once when we encountered the other Daedalus. He tells everyone that it's from another reality. Caldwell can't wrap his brain around what this means so Rodney explains that 'some Wraith, somewhere in another reality, sent a coded signal, only whatever means they used to access subspace created a rift, allowing the signal to cross into multiple realities, including our own.' Ronon wants to know what it says and Rodney makes Kavanagh move so he can figure it out. And here we have the tie in with Vegas. The message has the coordinates for Earth.

John, Rodney and Caldwell leave engineering and head for, I'm guessing, the bridge. They're discussing what they just found out. Caldwell wants to send a message to Atlantis to contact Earth as soon as communications are back up. Rodney says he has an idea. He asks how many ships they have available and is told that there's the Daedalus, the Apollo and the Sun Tzu. John asks about the Odyssey and is told it's on some secret mission that not even he's [Caldwell] allowed to know about. I'm thinking that mission is supposed to be from the SG-1 movie Ark of Truth. Rodney says that two will have to be enough and details his plan. He thinks (he says he's positive) that the hive will still have to drop out of hyperspace for hull regeneration and he can pin-point where that'll be exactly and Caldwell says it's risky, if Rodney's wrong…and Rodney reminds him that he's always right, except for when he's not.

At Atlantis, the Daedalus has returned. When SGA-1 beam down, John asks what they missed and is told that the good news is that there are no other hiveships heading for Earth. John then asks for the bad news and Woolsey tells Chuck (yay, Chuck's in the final episode!) to show them. The bad news is that Apollo and Sun Tzu are out of the picture and the modified hive is still on its way to Earth.

John's striding through the city when Rodney catches up to him and they have one of those conversations where they're both on the same page only Rodney isn't actually aware of it. John goes to see his secret lover and tell him that things didn't go according to plan and Todd wants to know if John intends to hold him responsible. When John says 'All I know is that everything went sideways, the way it always does when you're involved. Are you going to tell me that's a coincidence?' Todd wants to know if he's going to make good on his threat. John sits down and asks about the other ZPMs. He offers to go easy on Todd if he tells what he knows and Todd asks if that means he'll let him go and John says 'Probably not' then reminds him that this Wraith betrayed Todd and got away with it so Todd might want to help our heroes out of pure spite, if nothing else. Todd laughs and tells John he knows how to sweet talk him. Lorne's team is sent to the planet where Todd's holding the ZPMs. He brings home two fully charged ZPMs. Woolsey is surprised that Todd told them the truth and now John's rethinking his stance on never letting Todd warm his bed again. Woolsey tells Lorne to get them to Radek right away and John says they might blow up once they're plugged in so Woolsey amends that order to 'Have Dr. McKay check them first' and Lorne looks at his Sire, says 'Right' and heads off to find his Sire's Mate. John turns and says he's heading to the chair room and Woolsey tells him he won't be flying the city and in fact he won't be coming with them at all. John's been recalled to Earth to help fight the Wraith in case they don't get there in time, which they just might not. You know they won't because that makes for great drama.

On Earth, Sam greets John.

Back in Atlantis, Rodney and Radek are getting the chair ready. When Rodney asks who's going to fly her, Carson enters and says it'll be him. Rodney doesn't understand because Carson doesn't really get along with the chair all that well. Remember how he almost shot down John and Jack in the pilot, writers? Hm? Do you? You'd think you would since you wrote both episodes! I want to know why Rodney or Lorne didn't fly the city. They both are more comfortable with their gene. When Rodney questions it Carson says that after John he's number two. Um, no. I'm thinking Lorne's gene is stronger than Carson's and Rodney's combined. Not to mention, Lorne's a pilot so he knows how to fly better than Carson does. Carson sits down and the chair reclines. We get a very funny shot of Paul in the chair that makes it painfully obvious that he's shorter than Joe and David because his arms are fully extended with his shoulders not flush with the back of the chair and his legs are straight with his feet on the footrest, a position that both Joe and David have to bend their knees to achieve.

Back on Earth, John and Sam are walking the halls and Sam tells John that she's in charge until Landry gets back from Washington where he's heading up a task force. She tells him that she's been given command of the new Daedalus-class ship; The George Hammond. I love the tribute to Don S. Davis here. His heart attack was very sudden and was felt throughout the entire fan community. I had a chance a few years ago to see him at a con here in Dallas, but I chose to go to the lake with friends for the weekend instead. Of course the fact that I would be paying the 'at the door' cost of somewhere around $200 was the deciding factor. But regardless, I still hate that I didn't go. John asks if he's gonna be taking a C-130 to McMurdo and is told 'Not exactly'. She introduces him to Major Davis, of course she forgot that they know each other since they're in the same Clan (she tends to forget John's a vampire). I can't believe that after all these years, Davis is still a lowly Major. *shakes head* Who did he piss off to get passed over for promotion? The hive has taken up orbit around the moon. Sam thinks its completing its upgrades and John suggests they attack before it can. John asks Davis to add nukes to the 302s. When he leaves the room, Sam turns to John and tells him that's not why she brought him to Earth. He tells her he can sit in the chair and wait for the Wraith to get stronger or he can take the fight to them.

Back on Atlantis, Woolsey finally calls Teyla and Ronon to his office to offer them a chance to join them in the fight. They should have been asked this before he had Carson take the city into hyperspace. He says that they are being asked to take part in what might very well be the losing part of a battle that isn't theirs and Ronon says 'You mean like everyone on this base has been doing for the past five years?' Ronon and Teyla decide to stay and fight with their adopted family. I wonder if Kanaan and Torren John were allowed to leave the city before all this and if there are any Pegasus peoples, other than Teyla and Ronon, still within her walls. If there are, has Woolsey offered to let them off too?

On Earth, John says it appears they're ready to go but Sam says it took too long. The hive is still in lunar orbit but it has released some darts. It looks like they're headed to Area 51 because that's where the chair was in the other reality. John says to let them hit the base, after they get all personnel out of course, then when the hive comes down they can surprise them with drones from the weapons platform. Sam and Davis look chagrined because the chair was moved to Area 51 less than a month ago because it was in violation of the Antarctic non-proliferation treaty.

John and a team of 302 pilots engage the darts. Two break off and head for their target. John loses a man then takes a hit to one of his wings. The two darts John was after, are on a suicide run and slam into the buildings, destroying them. John just barely manages to avoid biting the dust.

John heads out to space despite being ordered to return. His plan is to wait for the hive to enter orbit then fly inside and blow his nuke. I don't see how he's able to fly with only one wing, much less go into orbit. (plot hole!)

On Atlantis, they've dropped out of hyperspace too soon. Rodney says that the hyperdrive hasn't been run at full power in over 10,000 years so there are bound to be a few glitches. I thought they flew the city in First Strike, Adrift and Lifeline. Or am I not remembering that correctly? Or did they fly the city with only one ZPM? When Rodney goes to try and figure out what happened, Woolsey has Radek recalibrate the gate so they can dial Earth and alert them to their situation.

Sam and Davis are discussing what could go wrong with John's plan when Walter approaches and tells them the gate's off-line. Hm. Anyone thinking what I'm thinking? Sam and Davis apparently aren't because they look terrified at the thought that they're best means of escape, or rather the best means of 'protecting' the IOA, is not working.

In Atlantis, Woolsey is trying to contact SGC and Rodney tells him he's picking up an energy signature feeding back through the wormhole. Yep, I was right! The hive has a gate. Rodney now has an idea. Send a team onto the hive and destroy it from within. Since they know there'll be drone Wraith waiting for them, they toss some grenades through and wait a few minutes. Rodney asks if anyone thinks that did the trick, and Ronon says 'Only one way to find out' then steps through the gate, blaster drawn. Just before the gate shuts down, Lorne confirms that the guards have been removed from the equation and they're moving on. Woolsey turns and tells Radek he should have sent more Marines with them and Radek tells him that that would have just jeopardized their chances of success. Radek tells Woolsey about a project Rodney's been working on for a wormhole drive. He says if it works, it'll have them there in a matter of seconds.

Back at Earth, we get a shot of John's 302 from above and it appears to have miraculously repaired itself. There aren't even any scorch marks from weapons fire.

On the hive, the team is walking around when Ronon shoves Rodney out of the way of a Wraith stunner. Ronon and Rodney head off in another direction while Teyla and Lorne lay down some cover fire. Ronon and Rodney encounter some Wraith and a fierce fight ensues. It appears that one Wraith begins to feed from Rodney but we don't see him age. I'm guessing the Wraith couldn't get a 'lock' on him through his jacket. I want to know why Lorne allowed his Sire's Mate to go on a mission without a TAC vest. While Ronon is killing the Wraith that dared try to feed from Rodney, another pulls a knife and stabs Ronon in the kidney. Or so I thought. When Teyla shows up, Rodney tells her that Ronon's lung was hit which leads one to ask 'when did Rodney get a medical degree?' Ronon tells them to 'just go'. Teyla says they won't leave him, at which point he dies. Teyla gets very pissed and takes it out on the approaching Wraith with her P90, right beside Rodney's ear. When Lorne finishes with his group, he turns and pulls Teyla and Rodney from Ronon's side. John calls SGC and tells them he's made it inside. He tells Sam that he's arming the nuke and asks her to tell Atlantis he said good-bye when she shows up.

Rodney, Teyla and Lorne are running from the Wraith and they intercept John's call to SGC. Rodney convinces his Mate to not blow the place. At least not yet. He thinks he can get them off the hive and rig a remote detonator.

Woolsey goes to tell Keller that they're about to fire up the wormhole drive and if it works they could find themselves in the middle of a combat situation so her and her staff need to be prepared. She timidly asks 'And if it doesn't?' Um, little girl? Think about this. If it doesn't work then no one will need you because you'll be dead. Duh! Tell me again why this mouse of a woman is the CMO of a military base in a war zone?

John meets up with Lorne, Teyla and Rodney. John asks where Ronon is and both Teyla and Lorne's faces say it all.

A Wraith brings Ronon back to life and he just quips 'That was real nice of you'. The Wraith wants answers to some questions.

On Earth, Davis is telling Sam that the hive has completed its surface scans. Is it looking for the most populated areas? Or is it looking to see if we have any weapons we could use to try and fight with? Sam says it'll target the military installations first, then the power grids to send the population into a panic.

The Wraith demands to know how many humans are on his ship and when Ronon doesn't answer he steps on his wound, then demands 'Where are they?' just before P90 fire drops his drone guards and them him. John approaches and says 'How ya don' Chewie?' and helps Ronon up. Teyla remembers to pick up Ronon's gun before following her team out of there.

The hive is powering weapons and Sam asks for a sit rep from John. He says they got Ronon and are on their way to the gate. Rodney says 'Five minutes to get there, five minutes to recalibrate the DHD for local coordinates' John does the math for everyone and says 'Ten minutes'. Sam says no dice, the Wraith have powered weapons. John turns to Rodney and demands the detonator. Rodney tries to change his mind by saying he actually meant two minutes to recalibrate the DHD. John's not buying it this time. Just before John can press the button, Sam tells him to wait, they're detecting another ship. It's Atlantis! John and team resume their way to the gate. When they get there, John says 'Get to work, Rodney'. While he sets to work on the DHD, the rest of the team lay down cover fire. Atlantis is losing orbit and Carson can either keep shooting or fix their position, not both. Rodney finishes with the DHD and dials the Alpha site. Just before going through, John sets the detonator and blows up the hive. Atlantis doesn't have enough power to avoid falling to Earth but she does have enough to maintain the shield. Woolsey contacts SGC and tells them that Carson is going to try and land them in the water. Sam tells Walter to get the President on the phone.

In the infirmary, John stops by to see how Ronon's doing. Ronon doesn't think they'll be allowed to take the city back to Pegasus and John promises he'll get Ronon home, to which Ronon replies, 'This is my home'. Before John can respond, a woman with long hair walks up and asks if she's interrupting. I have no clue who she is but John and Ronon seem to know her. John leaves and she tells Ronon she heard he died than came back to life and now I know her! It's Amelia! She asks if he's up to taking a walk because there's something she wants him to see. In this scene there is some inconsistencies. In one shot, Ronon's on top of the covers and in the very next one, he's under them. Pay attention to this, guys! Us fans do notice this stuff.

John goes to see Todd. Todd gloats that the day was saved due to his ZPMs and John says 'That's right. Question is, what would happen next time?' and Todd asks if there will be a next time. John doesn't answer.

Amelia helps Ronon walk out onto a balcony and we see that Carson managed to land them in San Francisco Bay. Woolsey, Carson, Teyla, Rodney and *gag* Keller are all there enjoying the view. SGC has declared the area around Golden Gate Bridge off limits. John appears and takes his place between Teyla and Ronon. I'm not going to finish this scene because it just makes me gag. Keller should not be in that last shot! That just totally ruined my grief over losing my show. Of course the producers ruined it even worse by having an ad for SGU just after they faded to black.

So, that was the very last SGA episode. When this ended I was looking forward to a movie but have now heard that tptb are fucking around so much that it's possible there won't be one. Thanks for showing us fans how much we mean to you, assholes. I'll watch the first episode of SGU just to see what it's all about but if they kill off the older characters in that first episode, I won't watch a single one after that. Not even if they bring Joe, David, Michael Shanks, RDA and/or Jason in to guest star.