Sfdebris.net

Chuck makes a great point about the Protagonist Centred Morality on display in this show - particularly Atlantis. It reminds me of an earlier episode where Teyla unbeknownst to her (and everyone else) was carrying a wraith tracking device. Every world she went to, wraith attack. Each and every time. The natural response is to assume that Teyla was feeding information to the wraith and Sgt Bates said so. (The man who, BTW, was in charge of security and thus it was very much his concern).

What happened? Ridicule and a punch to the face. He didn't get an apology when the emotions died down neither. Yeah, he turned out to be wrong, but could you imagine Sisko doing that to Odo if he brought legitamate concerns to him? No. you can't. Because that show is better written.

It has to be said that PCM only applies if your name isn't MacKay on this show though. The body swap episode where Atlantis forgets that having your body stolen is what the Goa'uld do for example. How DARE Mackay hold a grudge? He deserves all of that eye-rolling.

I actually really quite like Atlantis but this bugs me no end.

I haven't seen much of Atlantis, but I know on SG-1 their go-to move was to make anyone who disagreed with the heroes be blatantly incompetent and/or an utter jackass, so we're free to dismiss any and all criticisms they might have.

That's how Rodney was introduced, actually - they had valid points about how Teal'c was almost certainly dead beyond recovering, and SG-1 was jeopardizing the Stargate program with their elaborate efforts to save their friend. However, since Rodney was a huge dick throughout the episode, the audience is invited to cheer as they're reassigned to Siberia for their troubles.