Landry (Beau Bridges) sends word to the Atlantis expedition, that there is a faction of the Trust (which could mean human villains or Goa’uld) working to hinder the humans in the Pegasus galaxy, and to do it they have set a bomb somewhere in the city.

First airing on 20 January, 2006, Critical Mass was written by Carl Binder from a story by Binder and Brad Wright.

Landry and Dr. Lee (Bill Dow) work on relaying the message to Atlantis without activating the gate. Instead the reach out to Caldwell (Mitch Pileggi) and the Daedalus (which also has yucky old Kavanaugh (Ben Cotton) aboard). If Atlantis activates the gate and dials Earth, it may set off the bomb.

While Weir (Torri Higginson), Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) and McKay (David Hewlett) work on looking for the bomb, there are other story threads going on as well.

Beckett (Paul McGillion) and Teyla (Rachel Luttrell) are involved in a special ceremony. Laura Cadman (Jaime Ray Newman) makes an appearance. And we get lots of moments at Stargate Command. In fact we get a lot of fun secondary characters popping up as Weir interrogates suspects.

When the gate doesn’t dial Earth, it automatically attempts it, and also launches a beacon to attract the attention of the Wraith, who believe the city was destroyed back at the beginning of the season.

So who set the bomb? Who is working with the Goa’uld… or is a Goa’uld? Kavanaugh is the easy choice. You want it to be him because he’s such a tool. But that’s all he is… a tool.

Grace Under Pressure was written by Martin Gero and it first aired on 27 January, 2006.

McKay and a talkative pilot, Captain Griffin (William MacDonald) are taking a recently repaired puddlejumper to the main land. Unfortunately, they go down before then, crashing into the ocean. They are sinking quickly, twenty feet a minute, and Zelenka (David Nykl) and others are trying to locate them before the ship implodes from the pressure.

Things get complicated for the pair really quickly, and Griffin sacrifices himself to save McKay, when they can’t seal the bulkhead.

With no way to contact Atlantis, McKay has to figure out how to get back to the surface, or at least be rescued. With a head injury, he’s not in the best of shape. Alone, he begins to hallucinate. So who does he conjure?

Some help, and flirtation, in the form of Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping). While McKay argues with his subconscious, Sheppard and Zelenka launch a puddlejumper of their own to find him.

Tapping and Hewlett are always wonderful together, and there’s lots of moments to really enjoy throughout this episode.

But is Carter a hallucination or something else?

I quite enjoy this episode. Hewlett is wonderful, throwing Tapping in there make it super enjoyable, and pairing Sheppard and Zelenka is just so much fun.