Coup D'etat

This article is about the episode. For the event, see Coup d'etat.

Coup D'etat
Production
Series	Stargate: Atlantis
Episode	2.17
Production #	217
Original air date	January 10, 2006
Written by	Martin Gero
Directed by	Martin Wood
More Information
Gallery
Transcript
Credits
Chronology
Preceded by	"The Long Goodbye"
Followed by	"Michael"

Template:ATL-2 "Coup D'etat" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of Stargate: Atlantis.

Synopsis

Ladon Radim of the Genii contacts Atlantis and wants their help in staging a coup against Cowen, in exchange for a Zero Point Module. However, not all has changed since the expedition's last encounter from the Genii.

Previously on Stargate: Atlantis

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Cowen, the leader of the Genii, decide to form an alliance but Sheppard informs him the Wraith have awakened and the Genii plan to destroy the Wraith as they sleep with atomic weapons five years from now was no longer possible. Dr. Rodney McKay warns the Genii that the shielding for their atomic weapons research was insufficient. A strike force lead by Commander Acastus Kolya invades Atlantis but Sheppard is able to retake the city and activate Atlantis' shield to protect it from a powerful storm. During the Wraith siege of Atlantis, Dr. Elizabeth Weir traded C-4 to the Genii for two of their atomic weapons.

Plot

File:117.jpg

Atlantis receives an emergency call from Major Evan Lorne's team on M1K-177 only to find them dead, having been burned in a fire. Shortly after this, Atlantis is contacted by Ladon Radim, a member of the Genii strike force, with the prospects of a new Zero Point Module in exchange for weapons to orchestrate a rebellion and overthrow Cowen, the current leader of the Genii. After informing Cowen of this plan, Atlantis decides to raid Ladon's base. Ladon sends a few Genii civilians, including his sister Dahlia Radim, all of whom are later discovered to be afflicted by terminal radiation poisoning. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard then leads a raid on Ladon's compound. However, though they stun all of Ladon's guards, they find that the ZPM has long run out of power, and they are gassed.

In the meantime, Dr. Carson Beckett determines that the remains of the men found in the fire are not those of Lorne and his team while at the same time Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex discover a hit list for members of the Atlantis expedition.

File:Lorne captured.jpg

Sheppard wakes to be confronted by Cowen, who planned Ladon's trap. He is soon thrown into prison, where he finds the rest of the raiding team, as well as the captured off-world team led by Lorne.

File:Medical operating room.JPG

In Atlantis, the team receives Cowen's demands. They inform him that Dahlia and the others can be saved, with their technology, from death. Ladon, who was still planning a coup the whole time, frees Sheppard and company, escapes through the Stargate, and detonates a Genii A-bomb, killing Cowen and his elite guard.

References

Ancient Technology Activation gene; Atlantis infirmary; C-4; Coup d'etat; Danger Beckett; Dira; Dog tag; Lt. Edison; Genii; Genii A-bomb; Genii homeworld; Acastus Kolya; Life signs detector; Lung; M1K-177; M6R-867; MALP; Manarian; Mensa; Lt. Lou Miller; Planet (Coup D'etat); Puddle Jumper; Radiation poisoning; Special Operations; Stargate shield; Stun grenade; Tea; Toriel; Underground Bunker; Wraith; Wraith handblaster; Zero Point Module

Notes

• Rachel Luttrell (Teyla Emmagan) read the "Previously on Stargate: Atlantis" line.
• This episode was supposed to feature the return of Commander Acastus Kolya (last seen in "The Brotherhood"), but because of conflicts with Robert Davi's schedule it was rewritten to feature Kolya's second in command Ladon Radim instead.
• This episode is featured in a special feature on the second season DVD set, entitled Road to a Dream: With Martin Gero. The feature chronicles Martin Gero's attempt at becoming an actor.
• This episode marks Colm Meaney's final appearance as Cowen.
• The shot of the village on M1K-177, before Ronon Dex and Teyla Emmagan question the bartender, is a reuse from the Stargate SG-1 episode "Demons."
• At just over 6 minutes (up until the beginning of the opening title sequence and including the "Previously on...") this episode has the longest teaser of any episode of either Stargate: Atlantis or Stargate SG-1 so far.
• Radim's mention that rumors of Atlantis' demise were greatly exaggerated is likely a reference to Mark Twain's infamous comment that "rumors of (his) death have been greatly exaggerated."

Notable Quotes

McKay: Look, we all know that eventually the Wraith are gonna discover we're still here. Having more power means that we have more options. We might even be able to light up the engines and get the city to fly.
Sheppard: Really?
McKay: .. No. But we still need it.

Goofs

• Rodney McKay has no military combat training and as such he would not be on point in a breach and clear situation. As a specialist in the squad he would be at the back and only allowed to enter once an "all clear" had been given.
• When Shephard's team raids Ladon's facility they are knocked unconscious by the gas however Ladon is not.
• Even if the people of Pegasus knew English, "Coup" is a French word so Ladon could not have known what the word meant.

Death

• Cowen

External links

• Template:SciFi
• Official Stargate Atlantis site. MGM. Visited June 8, 2006.
• Transcript from GateWorld. Transcribed by Callie Sullivan. Visited May 14, 2006.
• Summary from GateWorld. Visited May 14, 2006.
• Gatenoise from Moon-catchin'. Visited June 23, 2006.