When asked to use one word to describe “Reunion”, tonight’s episode of Stargate Atlantis, during the episode’s development, executive producer, co-showrunner, and episode writer Joseph Mallozzi wrote in his personal blog: “roots.” He explained this choice further in an MSN TV Blog interview: “In the episode called “Reunion,” she [Col. Samantha Carter] settles in. It’s not an easy first day. In that particular episode, her settling in is the B-story, where the A-story is Ronon encountering some Satedans that he thought were killed in the fall of Sateda, his former friends and the unit he fought with. He’s drawn to his past and has to make a decision, the decision between remaining with the life he’s built on Atlantis or returning of the roots he knew. In the same episode, Carter is letting go of the roots she knew and building a new home on Atlantis. It’s kind of interesting how those two stories intersect. Carter kind of runs afoul of Ronon, who doesn’t appreciate her coming in and establishing certain protocols. She doesn’t exactly run afoul of Sheppard, but they have a certain disagreement about mission priorities.”
Script coordinator Alex Levine wrote in his scifi.com blog that “the first half of the Atlantis season contains episodes that key on specific characters, and this one is really about Ronon, as he runs into some old Satedan comrades-in-arms. He’s torn, because they’re out there battling the Wraith their own way, and he feels like he should be loyal to them and perhaps leave Atlantis. Well when the first script came out, one of the notes was that the beginning of the script was too much character stuff as the action doesn’t start up right away. But Joe [Mallozzi] stuck to his guns, and I think rightly so.”
Although the action might not start up right away, there is plenty of it in this episode. Levine wrote, “I think it’s a great episode, with a big OP (read: combat operation) and tons of fights and stunts. Maybe even the best fight sequences we’ve ever done (big ups to James Bamford, our fearless stunt coordinator and fight choreographer).” Most likely, these stunt fight sequences were enhanced by Mark Dacascos, an expert in the martial arts (see Solutions Blog casting story) who plays Tyre, one of Ronon’s Satedan friends.
Concerning Carter’s character-driven B-story, in a sneak peek video posted at Yahoo TV, fans get to see Carter say good-bye to Teal’c (in a cameo appearance by Christopher Judge) as she finishes her packing and heads off to Atlantis as its new commander. Through her tears, Teal’c can see how much the ten years on SG-1 have meant to her and reassures her that “SG-1 will not be far away.” Calling back to his famous “undomesticated equines” line he used to reassure his team leader O’Neill that he wouldn’t leave his side when he was literally pinned to a wall and in pain (“Message in a Bottle”), Teal’c shows the depth of the roots that all of the members of SG-1 have nurtured over the years.
“Reunion” premieres tonight at 10pm Eastern on the Sci Fi Channel (and re-airs again at midnight). If you’re recording the episode, keep in mind that it might be running a little late as there are Battlestar Galactica clips being shown during Atlantis‘s lead-in show Flash Gordon. After watching, please visit the Solutions on-site forum to cast your vote and discuss the episode.