Yeah, I was surprised by how much I liked the characters. I'd got a bad impression about the actress who played Dusty from the photos I'd seen, but she was great.

The "romance" was a little sick making - I totally understand why Dusty wanted to get out of there.

The plot - have the characters not seen horror movies? Do they not have common sense? I too kept on thinking "Are you stupid? Don't go out there on your own!" Very, very poor.

Vega's death - maybe there was more about that but it got cut? Must check out JM's blog.

Oh and I can't believe that a moment has occurred that made me simultaneously want to slap Sheppard and Beckett - yep their little hand signal. BOYS! Still I did like Teldy's crack about the best and the brightest. Oh and John saluted again - albeit reluctantly.

I reckon Joe and David have "Must appear in every show" written into their contracts. Poor Rodney at the end - he must have his gossip....

And let's not forget Sheppard's surprise at an all-female team - hello? Military commander anyone? Shouldn't he know the teams, or at least which teams his underlings are on?

Otherwise, quite a useless and typical redshirt-episode. I found the Carson-Porter-thing quite amusing, as well as Dusty's comments.

Fifteen minutes in, I was rooting for the monsters. And plotting the angsty Carson/Ronon breakup that was the real reason for Carson's quick decision to leave Atlantis.

I *so* want this to be the Season of Squee, but this episode? Felt like it was there to balance out The Shrine.

I've only watched half the episode so far, and had to give up, at least for the time-being. The illogic made my brain hurt. The fact that this was written by Mallozzi & Mullie makes me even more worried what we're going to get by way of the movie.

Was Dusty the Sergeant? Because, yes, I liked her.

Sheppard not knowing what personnel are on away teams is beyond stupid.

In conclusion, what I've seen of this episode so far pretty much sucks.

This episode sure had stupid written all over it, but, oh my God. So. Funny.

Loved Dusty and that team's interactions. Loved Sheppard being his usual idiot self - 'I am your CO: if I say I'm going to stand beside the explosion, then I will!'

And then he lost the C4, and told Carson he had! ROFL And pressed some random button on a door in the Zombie!Facility. Oh, Sheppard, when will you learn. I eventually gave up on the creepy of this show, and just enjoyed the silliness. The theme to Benny Hill would have done wonders for this one.

As for the fact that John didn't know that Teldy's team was all-girl mentioned in comments: well, chain of command, anyone? I understand that, in general, military commanders don't interact with every single person they command. That's why there are a whole lot of officers hanging around - Lorne's not just there for his pretty eyes and witty replies. It also seems odd to me that John Sheppard would be expected to know every single person by name and sight, as he doesn't seem the type for micromanagement.

Oh god yes.

But I'm inclined to place the blame for stupid character moments at the feet of the writers when they happen.

Love for:

Sheppard and Carson boy-bonding over a mission with ALL GIRLS.
Sheppard not wanting to get buried under rubble...again.
The Sarge. Seriously, best thing to come out of this episode.

Hate (mmm dislike maybe, hate's too strong of a word):

The stupidity written into it. Sheppard not knowing who is under his command? Maybe if you command an actual military base, but Atlantis is more like a station and most station commanders meet their people at least once during their tour! Splitting up -- okay, when is that a GOOD thing? when there are creepy monsters hunting you as prey...no. So, cmon writers, take a stupidity check pill and call me in the morning.

The plot -- ummm, was there one? Because to me it seemed like running around in the fog, shooting and oh, yeah, making stupid decisions.

Teldy and Vega. Hmmmm. Not feeling the love for these 2D cardboard characters, but wait, one is dead, and her team didn't even bat an eye. Guess they didn't like her either. *ouch*

The village/villager. More of the campy, cheesy sets/stereotype.


It's kind of funny. I love my show, I really do, but JM and PM, no no no, if they are going to write an episode they need to...what am I saying, just, please don't write anymore. Do your producing thing and stop writing, for the love of god, because it's not good.

For the most part I liked the other team, except for the first scene. That silly little regression of John, where a man who has never had issues with women above or below him in the chain of command acts like an ancient Greek in the land of the Amazons. Teldy didn't impress me in that scene either, but made it up in the rest of the episode. Bucking the trend my least favourite character was Dusty who kind of bothered me, spunky is good but she was a bit much, like she's supposed to be in a life-threatening situation but wasn't taking it seriously. She got some funny lines in but as far as horror survival goes I would have put her chances at lower than Carson's, at least he has the brains to be scared. Say what you will about Ronon or John's cavalier attitude towards danger but neither of them blows bubblegum bubbles while lying in ambush. I was expecting her to get eaten when she was the first one to go off on her own.

Apart from that, I was trying to rewrite the episode while watching it, and that's a bad sign. It was your basic horror stuff, with nothing added to really to make it spark. I'm sure there were the makings of a real scary episode underneath all this, but this wasn't it.

This was supposed to be an episode for Carson, so I understand the personnel mix. He was familiar with Michael's labs and his work so it made sense to me that he went.

No, the Stargate was not just right there. They were talking about all the hiking they were having to do plus repelling.

Carson: "...my legs are seizing up"
John: "6 months of doing nothing on earth...."
Carson: "plus two months in stasis...."
John: "try 800 years that'll give ya rubber legs"

hahahaha!

I was not wild about the 'all girl' team. The scientist girl (what's her name? - see what I mean?) fell kind of flat and I wasn't really wild about Teldy. Vega was okay, but didn't last long. Dusty was a little too blase' about everything. I have no problem with women in these positions, but come on...)

I don't buy Colonel Sheppard not knowing about who made up the team. Lorne may handle more of the day to day things with the teams, because John trusts Lorne and is not one to micro-manage but he is the type of officer that is very involved with those under him. (Simply because he cares about his people and his responsibility.) It was totally OOC for Sheppard not to know. He would have at least been familiar with who is on duty and where.

It was funny when Carson and John gave each other the rock before heading uphill. (Although John has never shown anything but respect for women, he was still there with women and not four other men - haha)

I like John's comments about not touching things and not wanting another 3 tons of rubble coming down on his head.

The fog and missing creatures was creepy for me. (If you think about it, being alone in the dark, in a strange place, in fog so thick you can't see five feet in front of your face, with Michael's creatures hunting you........yeah, that's creepy.

As for them wondering around out in the fog, it really didn't start until Sheppard, Vega and Teldy left for the next village over. It was clear when they left. They experienced it on the way and were subsequently attacked.

This is where they go wrong:

Gunfire prompted Dusty to go running off. (Dusty disobeyed orders, leaving Beckett & the other girl Dr. unprotected) Sheppard gave her a direct order to stay and take care of the civilians. (After all, isn't that what everyone gives Sheppard grief over. He disobeyed orders and went after a downed pilot - to save his life?) Yet, Dusty leaves her charges unprotected against orders and it doesn't seem to be a big deal? Um...okaaaayyy.

Beckett going out into the fog after Dusty was ill-advised, but I can see him doing that. Still not sure what was up with the girl doctor wondering away after that though.

John did show his irritation at their poor judgement shortly thereafter when he commented "Great! All we need now is for the prom queen and the kid in the wheel chair to wonder off and we're all set!" (rofl)

I was very put out by the way they treated/responded to Sheppard. The total lack of respect. He is their Commanding Officer and Cheif Military Officer of Altantis. If not his rank, his record should speak for him. They were condecending and very disrespectful. From directly disobeying his orders to arguing with him when he issued them, like he was some green Lt. fresh from the academy that didn't know his P-90 from his 9 mil.

All in all, I liked the episode, I just was not impressed with their 'all-girl team' They didn't show Col. Sheppard the respect he deserved and in an effort not to appear 'weak' they grossly overcompensated by appearing bored.

I wasn't expecting more of the creatures to come out of the woodwork right at the end. It looked like they were going to get over-run for a second.

The ending was cute when Beckett and Sheppard did a little verbal reversal from their initial meeting in the beginning.

Poor Rodney not in the know......

Over-all, I liked the episode with the exception of the 'all-girl' team. They just seemed too flat and blase' about the whole thing, and had no respect what-so-ever for their commanding officer.