There’s a lot to like in this series. We get new, complicate Wraith threats (Michael and Todd!), Replicators, lost Ancients, and some of the best McKay episodes in the show (McKay and Mrs. Miller and Tao of Rodney). Not to mention Lucius Lavin. No really. :) And then there’s Sunday… Man it sucks to kill off major characters just to raise the stakes, but it still works as an episode.

Onwards and Season 4-wards!

Mini-reviews (potential spoilers):

• No Man’s Land: The betrayed enemy of my enemy is my… Yeah, it’s complicated. Teyla in charge? Okay… On the other hand, Daedalus and Orion squaring off in a big ass space battle? Awesome!
• Misbegotten: Half politics (Woolsey is growing on me!), half seeing what can be done with the new Hive ship, half a whole pile of humanized Wraith. Quite an episode. The humanized Wraith are a weird and ethically plotline, for sure, but it’s interesting to see something so different.
• Irresistible: Oh Lucius Lavin (pronounced ‘Lovin’). That’s quite a character. Plus the first hints of the intergalactic gateway. That’s such a neat idea.
• Sateda: Ronan backstory! I like getting to know him. And McKay’s relationships with people are fascinating.
• Progeny: Another city of the ancients?! Not quite… The Replicators have always been one of my favorite enemies, so II seeing a bigger badder form is interesting. I think I prefer them as a more mindless foe though.
• The Real World: O’Neill! Other than that, it’s a ’everything you know is wrong’ episode, which has been done (better) in SG-1 03x04 with Daniel Jackson/Legacy.
• Common Ground: Todd, and a Wraith that can work with humans. An interesting take. I hadn’t realized he was played by Christopher Heyerdahl. He’s a wonderful actor. Distinct voice.
• McKay and Mrs. Miller: There’s something special about the relationship between McKay and his sister Mrs. Miller–probably because the actors playing them are real life siblings. It’s a very family dynamic. And we get to see more Carter! First time in a while. Not to mention two very different McKays .
• Phantoms: Mind bending, seeing what’s not there. Violent and what we’ve seen before.
• The Return, Part 1: Intergalactic Bridge! Ancients?! Of course they aren’t thrilled to find someone else on their couch. Nice to see some old faces. And that’s just the beginning…
• The Return, Part 2: Giving O’Neill a chance to once again be a Big Damn Hero is absolutely wonderful, as is the interplay between him and Woolsey.
• Echoes: That’s a wonderfully creepy episode. Ghosts speaking gibberish in terrible pain and eventually a scientific explanation behind it all.
• Irresponsible: Lucius and the Genii in one episode? Oh goodness. And he even actually tries to do the right thing… more or less.
• Tao of Rodney: O’Neill getting superpowered by an ancient device was pretty cool in SG-1, so imagine the same thing happening to someone who’s already… McKay. It’s a pretty neat episode.
• The Game: Ronon, Teyla, and Sheppard messing with McKay trying to explain the Trolley Problem is hilarious. The idea that Sheppard and McKay have been playing a game for months with real lives… perhaps just a bit less so.
• The Ark: Even given a galaxy at war for thousands of years, there’s a truly astounding number of people stuck in spaceships/orbits/suspended animation. This one is in a hollowed out moon.
• Sunday: Oy. Just… oy. Why is it always the doctors. :( A whole pile of other relationships, romantic and friendly alike. One of the better ones.
• Submersion: Sea floor Ancient tech? Abandoned for some reason? Awesome. Teyla doing her Wraithblood thing? Meh.
• Vengeance: Bugs. Why’d it have to be bugs. Major Xenomorph vibes there. Cool to see Michael back as a bigger bad.
• First Strike: Replicators. Everything is escalating–Atlantis especially. I can’t imagine having to watch this with a summer break before the conclusion in Season 4. Plus, introduction of Jewel Staite as the new Doctor!