The Kindred, Part 2

From SGCommand

Atlantis Season 4
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Season 3				Season 5

This episode is part 2 of 2; it is preceded by "The Kindred, Part 1".

"The Kindred, Part 2" is the nineteenth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis.

Plot

After finding Dr. Beckett in the last episode, the team takes him back to Atlantis where he is examined to find out who or what he is. They finally learn that this Beckett is just a clone, as the real Beckett has been dead for months now (see Sunday): this Beckett is a clone that Michael created, but he has Carson's memories of events up until Misbegotten, however instead of being rescued after he was captured by Michael (see Misbegotten) he has been held prisoner ever since and was forced to help develop the plague which Michael is now spreading throughout the Pegasus galaxy. Unfortunately the clone's cells are degenerating, as Michael used an "old" cell with a reduced telomeres to clone Beckett. He will die if a cure is not found, but Carson insists on helping the team.

Using the Gate address Beckett saw one of Michael's men dial, the team proceeds to a village on a planet where they look for information. After visiting a local pub on the planet, the team comes under fire from Nabel, one of Michael's operatives whom Teyla and Dr. Keller have encountered before. Ronon manages to shoot him and they take him back to Atlantis for interrogation. There they promise to protect him from Michael and he gives them the Gate address where Michael is holding Teyla. Once the bunker's details are explained to him, Beckett is able to draw a diagram and believes he can guide the team since he had been switched around through all of Michael's bases before.

On that planet, Teyla encounters her people, including Halling, who are Michael's prisoners. Some have been turned into wraith-human hybrids like Kanaan, the father of Teyla's child, but most of the Athosians are still normal humans. Michael takes Teyla and explains that since her child is the child of two people who bear the Gift (Kanaan also has the Wraith gene like Teyla), its abilities are going to be needed by Michael. Teyla tries to convince Kanaan to help her but is unable to fully break through to him when Michael approaches.

The team arrives and Michael decides to flee in his cruiser with Teyla and some of his men, killing the experiments in the bunker. Sheppard and his team discover and finally rescue the Athosians who head to the Stargate to escape, but the team comes under fire in the lab. Beckett heads off to try to rescue Teyla on his own while Ronon, McKay and Sheppard fight Michael's men. Beckett kills the two men escorting Teyla, and although she is surprised to see Beckett, she refuses to leave without Kanaan. Beckett attempts to convince her to come with him but is ultimately stopped by Michael. Although Beckett wants to kill Michael, his is unable to, due to the ability Michael has to mind-control any of his clones or hybrids. He stuns Beckett and leaves with Teyla. Sheppard, Ronon and McKay win the fight and find Beckett but only arrive to watch Michael escape in his cruiser.

Beckett ultimately weakens to the point where the expedition decides to put him in stasis until a cure for his degenerating condition can be synthesized. Carter, Sheppard, Ronon, and Mckay promise to pull him out one day again and cure him. In stark contrast to Sunday, the team is able to give a proper goodbye to Carson, and the show ends with Carson walking into the pod and being put in stasis.

Notes

• In the beginning of a scene where Carson is lying in bed, he says, "No wonder I've felt like a dog's breakfast since I got here." This may be a reference to the movie Paul McGillion made with David Hewlitt titled, A Dog's Breakfast. It is, however, also a common British expression for feeling ill. It is natural that he would be using such expressions. However, the common British phrase actually refers to a "dog's dinner", not breakfast.
• Originally, the Beckett found in these episodes was supposed to be the original and the one appearing during season 3 was to be the clone but the writers were unable to explain how Michael would have been able to manufacture a perfect clone and how that clone could have matured fast enough given the limited medical resources available on the "quarantine" planet.

Sources

Gateworld Spoilers: The Kindred, Part 2, gateworld.net, retrieved 19 August 2007.

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at The Kindred. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with SGCommand, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.