User Reviews

Not much happens in Epiphany. It is a gentle filler episode, but it is good for a number of reasons:

1. We learn more about the Ancients and their thinking regarding Ascension.

2. It was clever how the Ancients had decided to speed up the process because of the threat from the Wraith. It was all quite convincing.

3. It was a welcome change from the last two episodes, which were all about action (fighting the Wraith).

There was one other aspect of Epiphany that reminded me of Forbidden Planet, a film that I must have first watched 30 or more years ago. I think that may have led me to a minor Epiphany of my own :-)

A great beginning with Sheppard going through some sort of force field into a cave, losing touch with McKay, Teyla etc. Then develops into a semi romantic episode for Sheppard as he gets accepted by a bunch of benign villagers. Then it gets tedious. McKay is prominent as his usual whining, unreasonable, fast talking, annoying character. And why is it that all planets through the Stargate look the same, ie Canadian woodland and grassland? At least The Wraith don't make an appearance for a change.

This is a clever plot, based on another piece of Ancient technology which is both really astonishing and quite easy to understand; as a result, the plot develops without a bump. Oddly enough, however, a bump or too might have been nice, because Sheppard's holidays at the Ascension B&B get a bit boring after a while. Granted, he has one horrible monster to fight, apparently on his own at that, but since he is unable to deal it any damage, his part of the story doesn't seem that essential to the episode. I like that the monster is invisible and partially intangible (which is meaningful since it embodies Fear), but I tend to think that this particular plot is a bit childish (so basically, what prevented those people from Ascending was the thought of a big bad monster under their bed?)

In fact, the most interesting moment in the episode is when Sheppard's stuck in the cave and we slowly realise that despite appearances, what is happening on his side, and what McKay and the rest of the team are going through, simply doesn't take place in the same time frame at all. That's an interesting conundrum, and I appreciate the various obstacles and solutions that Atlantis has to deal with. On the other hand, it also means that Ronon and Teyla once again don't get much to do, even though Teyla can be rather resourceful.

So intellectually speaking, this is a really good episode. It also has good moments, and once again we meet two of the shows's gimmicks: one, that Sheppard will seduce anything female in the Pegasus galaxy, whether he tries to or not. Second, that any Ancient the team comes across is bound to leave early and without helping any. Also, Ascending is clearly not all that and a bag of energy bars. But on the whole, I think the episode lacks a bit of action, and a lot of teamwork, to be really memorable.

While most of the episode is ok, the ending very much feels rushed. Like the show only had 42 minutes so they had to wrap things up. Which is too bad given that it could have been a cool episode. The villagers all go from being against fighting the beast in one minute to all standing up against it. It doesn't feel particularly earned.

Also operating a time dilation field for 10,000 years, even a small one, seems like it would be well outside the power of a single ZPM. Especially given what later episodes establish. At the very least this point about powrt should have been properly addressed and not just handwaved away.