The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the first part of "Kindred" on the SciFi Channel series, "Stargate: Atlantis."

?Hey, I've been cocooned inside an alien space craft, I've had another person living inside me, I've encountered, not one, but two different versions of myself, so who am I to judge. If you say it was a vision then I believe it was a vision.? - McKay

The Pegasus galaxy is turned upside down with three intertwined plotlines: Teyla having mysterious visions (or are they just dreams?) of her missing lover Kanaan, a plague is spreading randomly from planet-to-planet and everyone?s favorite recurring character "Todd" the Wraith (Christopher Heyerdahl) pops up again.

After a few twists and turns, we discover that an old enemy, Michael (Connor Trinneer), is responsible for taking the Athosians. Michael has been busy creating a new Wraith-Human hybrid uber-race.

Todd wants to team-up with Atlantis to stop the plague. He doesn?t care that much about the 30% mortality rate for humans, but he isn?t thrilled with the idea that his next meal could kill him. He wants to find a cure for his hive only. Or so he says.

The plague turns out to be a modified version of the Hoffan drug that was originally created as a way of fighting the Wraith by poisoning their food supply ? humans. Guess who is responsible for that too?

Michael teases to Teyla that he had help modifying the Hoffan drug. At the very, very end of the episode (the writers are so cruel) Sheppard and Major Lorne?s teams discover who the mysterious prisoner is. It isn?t a surprise for regular readers of Airlock Alpha, but I just can?t reveal it here in case you were crazy enough to not have watched it yet.

What Worked

This episode did a great job of bringing together plot lines from past episodes: Michael ("Michael"), Todd ("Common Ground"), the Hoffan drug ("Poisoning the Well"), and the missing Athosians ("Missing").

The last few episodes focused too much on individual character development and not enough plot to balance it out -- "Midway" being a major exception. Of course Teal?c guest starring didn?t hurt. For example, not one but two of the previous episodes involved characters trapped in a room.

Finally we are back to an episode that has a little of everyone. There is a focus on the angry pregnant warrior Teyla, but everyone gets plenty of screen time and the episode weaves together a rich mixture of a continuation of past plot lines.

I?m very curious to see what Teyla?s baby turns out to be. Linking the pregnancy with Michael was a nice and surprising turn. In an odd way it makes sense, because of their unique connection of being experimented on.

There were some pleasantly classic McKay moments with his gift to Teyla and him worrying about catching the plague.

Needless to say, the "surprise" cliff-hanger ending was awesome. I can?t wait to see how they explain it. I hope he doesn?t just disappear forever after part two is over. The reveal was leaked months ago and confirmed by the show.

What Didn?t Work

I wish we could have had just a little more build-up to this pregnant Teyla story arc. If they could have just had one earlier episode with Kanaan, showing us their relationship, that would have made his disappearance and his appearance in Teyla?s visions far more powerful. I will give them kudos though for the beginning of this episode. I at first thought this was a ?start in the middle? approach for the episode, but I was pleasantly surprised by it being a vision.

Again, not much Carter, but at least what was there felt like it was her character and not "Weir talk" with Carter saying the lines. Honestly, she did about as much as would be expected for her in this episode. No need to pull out her military training or science knowledge, since she doesn?t know squat about medical stuff.

Overall, this was a great episode leading us to what promises to be a big season finale.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Kindred" was written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie; and directed by Peter F. Woeste. "Stargate: Atlantis" airs Friday nights at 10 p.m. on the SciFi Channel. The show stars Amanda Tapping, Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell and Jason Momoa.

Marx Pyle is a staff writer for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Vancouver, B.C. He can be reached at mpyle@airlockalpha.com.