Jennifer (Jewel Staite) is the ME and mentions the ageing DB and other Vics. He'll get her report when she's done, ooh stroppy! She doesn't look old enough to be out of medical school. Sheppard comments he got the life sucked out of him. Even the police HQ was similar to a CSI set.
A man in a hotel suffers a nose bleed and loud music plays in the next room which is occupied by a Wraith, but they're not meant to know that. Sheppard looks at the files, Woolsey (Robert Picardo) is part of the FBI. Sheppard wonders why the ME didn't show radioactive isotopes on the DBs. The nurse (Jody Thompson) tells him about the man and he says he'll call her, yeah as if he will. Don't hold your breath, wait she's a nurse, she may be good at it, ha. Sheppard goes to the hotel room and the Wraith (Neil Jackson) disguises himself to look more human, well more 'rock rebel' human.
Sheppard follows him to a poker game and plays poker with him and others. The Wraith runs and falls over the edge of the building, then walks away as if nothing has happened, glancing up at Sheppard. The sick man is dead and Sheppard takes the Wraith's money from his room, for himself of course. Well he figured he owed him. The FBI arrive. Sheppard: "it's a CS." There's a sat locator on his car. Rodney (David Hewlett) says he should tell him even if Sheppard hasn't signed a confidentiality document. "I have the power to ruin your life." He's welcome to "the little I have to lose." Sheppard passed his detective exam after 4 years and 2 attempts, yeah rub it in Rodney, obviously he's the same Rodney as ever. He likes spearmint gum and was a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan. He disobeyed orders for staging a rescue. He managed to live with himself with the deaths of others on his head.
Rodney has met another version of Sheppard. "He was very different to you." They want to keep the planet safe and tells him practically what the show is about. Wraith has flashes to a battle and being blown up. He landed on earth 5 years ago. (When the show began.) Found a ZPM and Darts attacked 3 months ago and a chair was found on earth. He shows Sheppard a real Wraith in Todd (Christopher Heyerdahl) locked up. Todd speaks about a "fish in a pond". Rodney explains he's delirious from starvation. "The harvest moon is rising...I know the future" and calls him by his name 'John Sheppard.' Jennifer is there too.
Rodney says the Wraith was exposing himself to radiation when building the device. Zelenka (David Nykl) gives a talk on the worst case scenario of the device being a bomb. Rodney believes he's signalling the Wraith and Zelenka talks of the inter-dimensional rift. He reminds Rodney of it and they bicker. Rodney mentions Sheppard being involved with the field medic he rescued and he made a tough choice, "things just don't always go the way we planned." Sheppard dons his shades again.
Rodney says the other version of Sheppard opened the space/time rift. Sheppard was the leader and was a hero. There's no difference between him and this Sheppard. He'd like to believe "you have the same strength of character." Which is why Rodney told him the truth. Sheppard packs up his stuff from the station and his Johnny Cash poster (the same one at Atlantis) and ends up just taking the poster. Cue song: Solitary Man by Johnny cash, cos that's who Sheppard is. He told him the money was a few thousand dollars.
Sheppard heads for the desert re Todd's words and the dessicated DBs. Yeah and the destiny was no more show! Sheppard locates the Wraith in the trailer which is near power lines. Woolsey says they have Sheppard's co ordinates. In which case, why didn't they come to rescue him when they attacked the trailer. Sheppard engages the target again in a shoot out and is shot several times over. Thus reinforcing Rodney's assertion Sheppard was a hero.
Sheppard is saved from being fed on by the planes and the Wraith manages to send out the co ordinates to earth in a transmission - encoded in Wraith. Rodney doesn't think the message reached the Pegasus galaxy and could be sent to other realities. Zelenka: "the transmission will be stronger in any other reality exposed to the rift." Sheppard is dead and died alone. Like a solitary man.
This was Joe's fave episode and I have to agree with him. It over stepped the bounds of a normal Stargate Atlantis episode, but managed to maintain the overall mythology and premise of the show. Yet it showed another Sheppard in another reality and how no matter how many realities over, he always stays the same: always a hero.
Rodney pronounces the ZPM as 'Zed PM' as said in the UK and he's Canadian, this line was also said by Daniel Jackson in the episode Rising, commenting on Rodney's pronunciation. Wraith have the ability to read human minds in this reality, as Todd manages to read Sheppard's. Rodney managed to open an inter-dimensional bridge and landed in an alternate dimension. Also the chair has been relocated to Area 51, significant for the final episode. Rodney also wears a wedding ring. Suggesting he and Jennifer are married in this reality.
Rodney and Zelenka talking about the Wraith, "he probably got a job as a Klingon at the Star Trek Experience."
Woolsey: "that's shutdown." (he'd know ha, being the holographic doctor in Star Trek Voyager.)
Zelenka: "...really, I wanted to see that."
Teyla and Ronon are not in this episode, they could have got them as extras. Begging the question, where were their alternate selfs in this reality. The poker scene was filmed at Planet Hollywood and they had to buy all the other rooms too, located on the same floor, to film there. The casino scene shows Brad Wright and his wife Debbie at the Blackjack table. John Smith's wife, Lynn was at the roulette table. The poker game included: Charles Cohen the Senior Vice President of MGM. Joel Goldsmith composer, Frank Vincent and Steve Schirripa from The Sopranos. Roy Winston and Todd Brunson are professional poker players.
The working title for this episode was CSI:Atlantis. Jody Thompson was a bounty hunter in Stargate SG1 Bounty. Carmen Moore was in the Stargate SG1 episode Cold Lazarus and Neil Jackson was in the episode Prototype as Khalek.
Joseph Mallozzi on his blog, wrote, "Vegas is very different from anything we've ever done on Atlantis before. Different in a very good way and I'm sure fans will agree." Apparently a lot of fans didn't agree. You see, they don't like change and prefer to stick to the old tried and tested methods and episodes. I thought this episode was good and made a change from the obvious ones set in the galaxy, in the realms of space. Also it was a one-off and the show didn't return after that. Hell, we didn't even get any Atlantis movies, huh!!
He also wrote: "a bittersweet time for all; me in particular. Bitter in that it's been a great 5 years and I will sincerely miss the show and the many wonderful people who made it all happen. Sweet in that I like to sleep in." Well as I say, any old excuse to watch Joe Flanigan. Oh hang it, don't need an excuse!
The Vegas desert scenes were partially shot on location in Las Vegas and only Joe was present for these. The location shooting was the final days of filming for the final season.
1 comment:
One of my fav episodes :)
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