Template:ATL-3
- This episode is part 3 of 3; it is preceded by "Allies" and "No Man's Land".
"Misbegotten" is the second episode of season three of Stargate: Atlantis.
Synopsis
The Atlantis expedition stopped the Wraith from reaching Earth, and now that they turned Human, they send them to an isolated world to teach them to administer the Iratus bug retrovirus themselves. However, some of them, including Michael Kenmore, are starting to remember their past.
Previously on Stargate: Atlantis
With two Wraith Hive ships on their way to Earth, Dr. Elizabeth Weir sends the Daedalus and the Orion to intercept them. The Queen and the Wraith view Michael Kenmore as unclean. The International Oversight Advisory questions Weir's decisions. Michael helps Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Rodney McKay and Ronon Dex escape the Hive and beam to the Daedalus. During the battle, the Daedalus is badly damaged and loses life support. The crew beam the Iratus bug retrovirus to the Hive and board the ship to find the Wraith transformed into humans.
Plot
International Oversight Advisory agent Richard Woolsey is assigned to review whether or not Dr. Elizabeth Weir should maintain her command of Atlantis.
The Tau'ri-controlled Hive Ship over Atlantis.
Having successfully used the Iratus bug retrovirus to turn an entire Hive ship of Wraith into humans, the team returns to Atlantis with their prisoners in stasis. Meanwhile, Weir continues to defend her leadership in the face of an independent review being conducted by Woolsey.
Examining the Hive ship that the team hijacked in an attempt to restore it to full working condition, Dr. Rodney McKay determines that the Wraith prisoners cannot continue to be held in stasis indefinitely. The team decides the best thing to do is to set them free on the planet M8G-352 under the guise that they were exposed to a viral outbreak.
Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Carson Beckett remain on the planet to manage the Human-form Wraith, including a re-humanized Michael Kenmore. But when Sheppard returns to Atlantis they discover a Wraith ship approaching the planet and the team must act fast to keep the existence of Atlantis a secret.
Meanwhile, Woolsey has arrived at Atlantis, and is conducting interviews so that he can prepare a report on Weir's fitness to lead the Atlantis project.
McKay is trying to find out how to control the captured hive ship, but having little success. The controls require a neural interface with a wraith, much as Atlantean technology like the puddle jumper and the chair require someone with the Ancient Gene. Since Teyla has some Wraith DNA, they let her try. She has limited success, but cannot operate the weapons systems. McKay continues to try to build an override.
On the planet, Lathan, one of the Wraith prisoners, begins to suspect something is wrong but is subsequently killed by Michael and a group of humanized Wraith. They cover up this murder by setting up an accident site, where Lathan supposedly fell from a cliff. When Beckett discovers that something is amiss with the presumed accident, he finds that the Wraith are already reverting and that Michael didn't take kindly to this second betrayal.
As Beckett is returned to the camp, he learns that the soldiers have been killed and that the reverted Wraith intend to offer the remaining humanized Wraith as an offering to the coming Wraith Hive ship. Michael proceeds to strap Beckett to the operating room table, preparing him for something. He believes Sheppard must have left some kind of failsafe defense on the planet in case the Wraith reverted and he believes Beckett must know what it is. Meanwhile Atlantis cannot send Daedalus to the far off planet as their hyperdrive is still in repair.
Sheppard returns at the head of the stolen Wraith ship with Teyla piloting and McKay still trying to bring weapons online. Their goal is to save the prisoners and engage the fail-safe Nuclear warhead, hoping to kill all Wraith on the planet before they can relate what they know to the coming Wraith ship. As Beckett is rescued they find that they cannot set off the nuke, correctly assuming that the Wraith have found and disabled the device.
Just as they begin firing on the campsite from orbit, the Wraith Hive ship drops out of hyperspace and immediately begins attacking Sheppard's ship. When the Daedalus arrives at the planet, nothing but debris remains of Sheppard's Hive ship, but the five Atlantis members are still alive inside a cloaked Puddle Jumper. As they return to Atlantis, Woolsey briefs Weir about his report, telling her that she deserves to remain in command.
References
Ancient Technology Activation gene; Asgard; Athosian; Atlantis' hive ship; Battle of the Void; Cloak; Control chair; Daedalus; Drone weapon; Hermiod; Hibernation pod; Hive ship; Human-form Wraith; International Oversight Advisory; Iratus bug retrovirus; Long range sensors; M8G-352; Mark IX; Mess hall; Nuclear warhead; Off the grid planet; Orange; Major General Jack O'Neill; Particle magnum; Puddle Jumper; RG/BBT SG military mounted gun; Skirmish over M8G-352; Stargate Command; Elizabeth Weir's Office; Wraith; Wraith warrior; Wraith worshipper
Notable Quotes
Woolsey: Nothing renews your appreciation for the military like the threat of invasion from life-sucking aliens.
Woolsey: I've never met an Asgard.
Weir: You, I think, will love them. They have a great sense of humor.
Woolsey: Really?
Weir: No.
Sheppard: Just out of political curiosity, how much trouble is it going to cause you if I knock this Woolsey guy in the head?
Weir: May I ask why you'd like to do that?
Sheppard: It's just an impulse I had, really, one I suspect I'm going to have again next time I see him. He may not even have to say anything.
(Weir looks amused)
Weir: I've never seen you like this. What did Woolsey say to you?
Sheppard: Besides judging every damn decision you've ever made?
Weir: John Sheppard, are you defending my honor?!
(Sheppard hesitates a moment)
Sheppard: And judging me for agreeing with you.
Weir: Well, don't be too hard on him. I think of all the circling wolves, he's the least likely to actually bite. In fact, he might even convince the others to leave us alone.
Sheppard: Alright, so... no head knocking.
Weir: It's the thought that counts.
Sheppard: You're a genius Rodney.
McKay: Yes, I know... but I didn't do anything.
Sheppard: How're you doing with the weapons?
McKay: We couldn't hit the side of a barn.
Sheppard: Hive ships are a hundred times bigger—
McKay: A giant flying barn, we couldn't hit that.
Notes
- David Hewlett (Dr. Rodney McKay) voiced the "previously on Stargate: Atlantis" line.
- It is revealed that Michael Kenmore survived this confrontation in the later episode "Vengeance", but remains exiled and despised by his fellow Wraith until he was killed by Teyla Emmagan in "The Prodigal". It is unknown if any other Human-form Wraith survived.
- In the Season Four episode "The Kindred, Part 2", it is revealed that, while he held Dr. Carson Beckett prisoner, Michael took DNA samples from him, subsequently using them to create a clone of Beckett whom he was able to blackmail into forcing him to develop the Hoffan drug on a larger scale as part of his campaign against the Wraith.
- This episode was originally named "The Begotten" then "The Misbegotten" before receiving its final name, "Misbegotten".
- This episode reveals that Wraith Hive ships are flown using a mental interface, much in the same way Ancient ships are.
- The Wraith can join together and increase the power of their telepathy to communicate between the stars.
- In this episode, a Hive ship is destroyed by another Hive. Furthermore, the events of the Stargate SG-1 episode "The Pegasus Project", in which part of the SG-1 team destroy a Hive ship using Asgard Beaming technology on the Odyssey, occur shortly after this episode. This brings the total to ten since the expedition arrived in the galaxy.
- When Dr. Elizabeth Weir asks Richard P. Woolsey if he had ever been offworld, he responds with that he has tried it once and was almost killed. That might be a reference to the Stargate SG-1 episode "The Scourge" where an insect species almost kills an entire offworld team with International Oversight Advisory members visiting.
- Colin Corrigan (Lone Human Wraith) previously played Medical Team Leader in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Lifeboat" and a Guard in the Stargate: Atlantis episode "The Storm". He is best known for playing Marine Allan Nowart in Battlestar Galactica.
- Emy Aneke (Lt. Morrison) previously played Ba'al's Jaffa Commander in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Reckoning, Part 2".
- Robert Picardo (Richard Woolsey) also guest starred in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Morpheus", which was originally broadcast on the same day (July 21, 2006).
- Carson refers to the events of "Rising", Teyla and Michael discuss those of "Michael" and Woolsey refers to those of the Stargate SG-1 episode "The Scourge".
Goofs
- Shortly after the fail-safe bomb fails to detonate and Michael Kenmore is talking to the other Wraith, Lathan can clearly be seen near the back of the crowd, despite his death earlier in the episode.
- Michael somehow probed Dr. Carson Beckett's mind although it has been said that no Wraith can do this unless the Human has Wraith DNA and initiates contact first. Only a Hive queen has been shown to have enough telepathic capabilities to read a Human's thoughts when they do not have Wraith DNA.
First appearance
Planet
Deaths
External links
- Misbegotten on GateWorld. (backup link)
- Misbegotten on the official MGM website. (backup link)