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Stargate: Atlantis, SciFi, Airs Friday 9/8c

Episode: “Infection” (Season Five, Episode 17)

Synopsis: When a Wraith hive ship appears in orbit, the Atlantis team goes on alert. But a garbled message from Todd the Wraith prompts Woolsey (Robert Picardo) to send Sheppard’s team to the hive ship. There they discover that Dr. Keller’s (Jewel Staite) gene therapy has caused an infection to all the Wraith aboard. When Rodney (David Hewlett) and the team try to fix things, they discover that the ship is literally falling apart, and hungry Wraith are waking up with a new desire to feed.

Review: One of my favorite adversaries to the Atlantis team is Todd the Wraith (Christopher Heyerdahl), and it’s awesome to see him back in the game, if not a little grumpier than before. With only a few episodes left until the series finale, I’m excited to see how he comes into play on the ending of the show’s regular television run.

This particular episode falls somewhere between advancing the overall Atlantis storyline and serving as just a stand-alone story. While it deals with Todd and his wayward collection of Wraith, they don’t have much of an impact on the overall mythology (aside from discovering that there are severe flaws in Dr. Keller’s gene therapy plan).

It’s not the first time we’ve seen our heroes trapped in a Wraith vessel, but the writers continue to make things interesting. At least this time, they’re not a subject of a double-cross.

Still, what always makes me giggle about the entire Stargate universe is that the humans seem to make things worse every time they think they’ve got a handle on things. They defeated a Wraith queen in the first episode… but they woke up the entire race from hibernation. They tried to turn the Wraith back to humans… but that gave us the psychotic and persistent foe in Michael the hybrid. They triggered the Replicators’ anti-Wraith programming… but that sent the Replicators on a mission of genocide to the Wraith’s feeding source.

This episode opens a door to more problems with the cure that make it worse than the symptoms. If Dr. Keller’s gene therapy in its present form spreads to other hives, you’ll have Wraith that want to consume humans rather than just feed on their life force. If the series were going beyond the next three episodes, I’d think we had a new foe on our hands.

Ultimately, any episode that features Todd the Wraith is a winner in my book.

Up Next: Dr. Keller’s consciousness is switched with that of a mysterious fugitive named Neeva, and the Atlantis team has to save her from execution for Neeva’s crimes.

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Did you watch Stargate: Atlantis this week? If so, feel free to discuss below.