The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "The Seed," the second episode of the fifth season of "Stargate: Atlantis."

"That's not exactly by the book." -- Sheppard
"Don't get used to it." ? Woolsey

A new commander comes to Atlantis, and an old teammate is brought out of stasis.

Dr. Keller becomes obsessed with finding the formula to heal Dr. Beckett after receiving Michael's research notes from the last episode. But it takes a push from the new boss, Woolsey, to convince her to try it.

Success! Beckett returns to the living, and just in time. Keller has an alien disease that is growing out of her like a plant from a seed. The final product ... a Wraith ship. It looks like everyone who was on Michael's planet from the last episode is infected. So, while the "A Team" is in quarantine, the "B Team" has to find a way to cure Keller.

After a number of twists and turns and some ignoring of the rules, Sheppard manages to inject Keller with the cure. Sadly, Beckett's health won't be back to 100% anytime soon, so he has to head off to Earth.

What Worked

Overall, this was a good episode. It started slow and built up to a quick pace. Plus, that was some great CGI near the end.

The plot is an old favorite from both this series and "SG-1." But this episode wasn't really about the alien disease, it was about the character development, and did a good job with it. But they made a good choice making this into Wraith ship technology, turning what could have been a bland "I got infected by an alien disease and lived to tell about it" story into something that adds to the mythology of the show's universe.

This episode highlighted three characters: Woolsey, Beckett and, to a lesser extent, Keller.

This was the big test for Woolsey as new commander and, needless to say, he has a controversial record. After all, he was first brought in by the NID to investigate Dr. Frasier's death and threatened the status quo at Stargate Command. But, to be fair, he did turn on the shady organization once he learned the truth. He is a conflicted character wrapped inside the ultimate bureaucrat. And while he has made some bad calls, deep down he means well.

Hmm ... a flawed character often imbued with a touch of humor, often causing conflict, but means well. I remember a time when McKay would have been an unlikely choice to be the main science guy on Atlantis. But he has become one of the best characters in the cast and perhaps one of the most memorable in scifi TV in recent history.

I don't know if that is how Woolsey will turn out, but I do think he will make a better fit with the overall cast than Carter. Like I've said before, you want characters that bring something unique to the table. Carter, with all of her years of experience, was too much on par with McKay in science and too much on par with Sheppard in military leadership experience. In order to balance things out, the commander role needs a bureaucrat that means well.

It was great to see the return of Beckett. Okay, technically clone Beckett, but close enough. He was typical Beckett facing a medical threat with determination, caring and humor. It was sad to see him go, but at least things are left open for him to return in the future.

I loved how they mirrored events between the two doctors: Keller finds a cure for Beckett, and then Beckett finds a cure for Keller, both cures being shots with untested formulas.

Thankfully, they acknowledged that Sam needed to be quarantined on Earth. All too often last season, they would just never mention her when she wasn't in the episode.

What Didn?t Work

Woolsey's integration into the team happened pretty smoothly overall, perhaps too smoothly. I was expecting a few more bad calls from him and more tension between him and Sheppard. The only real bad calls he made were deciding to not keep looking for Michael and not to let the hybrids out yet. Honestly, he has a point, and I'm betting General Hammond would have made the same call. Now, we as viewers know that Michael is going to be back, but from his POV, Woolsey made a call that makes sense.

I hope, as the quote in the beginning of this review hints to, that things won't be to smooth at first. I would like to see some classic military vs. non-military viewpoint conflicts and bureaucratic bad calls.

It was a good call having Woolsey say out loud that killing Keller may be the only choice. While it is hard to hear, it is sometimes a strategically necessary move, yet something you would have never heard Weir or Carter say. I do feel that Picardo is a talented enough actor to pull this role off, so I feel pretty good about his addition. We will just have to wait and see what the writers give him.

I have one major gripe. There was a big deal made about how "fragile" Beckett was, but we never saw it from him. It would have been nice to see him stumble or cough or something. Plus, the other members were infected, but we never saw any real symptoms. Remember this important rule: show, don't tell.

Also, how the heck did Sheppard manage to get so close to KellerShip? He was no longer infected, which means he should have been attacked. Even if somehow the "ship" couldn't tell, he did do some major damage to it, which should have caused a reaction. The only thing I could figure was that the "ship" was stunned from the puddle jumper smashing into it.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"The Seed" was written by Paul Mullie & Joseph Mallozzi, and was directed by William Waring. "Stargate: Atlantis" airs Friday nights at 10 p.m. on the SciFi Channel. The show stars Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell, Jason Momoa, Jewel Staite and Robert Picardo.

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