While Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) investigate the apparent death of Major Lorne (Kavan Smith) and his team, the Genii resurface to cause more problems.

Coup D’Etat was written by Martin Gero and it was first aired on 17 February, 2006.

Ladon (Ryan Robbins) of the Genii reaches out to Atlantis with the reveal that Cowen (Colm Meaney) is working to unite the Pegasus galaxy under one ruler. Something he thinks he can do as the Genii have finished their nuclear weapons program.

Ladon has defected and he is offering a ZPM in exchange for weapons to lead a revolution against Cowen.

Teyla (Rachel Luttrell) and Ronon (Jason Momoa) continue digging into Lorne’s death, while Weir (Torri Higginson) and Sheppard try to figure out the new Genii problem. Is it a ploy? Who can be trusted here? Both Ladon and Cowen are lying to Atlantis.

So what if the Sheppard and Weir try to act first, and grab the ZPM in case either Genii side tries to betray them?

Beckett (Paul McGillion) discovers that the bodies aren’t Lorne or his team… so what’s going on? Is it connected to the Genii? Nobody in this village seems to want to reveal the truth. The pair discover that there are bounties out on SG teams who possess the ancient gene across a number of systems.

Could the Genii be behind it? Knowing Sheppard would lead a team to claim a ZPM, could they have planned everything to capture teams with ancient genes for their own purposes? There are twists, turns, betrayals and reversals.

It’s a solid episode. And it’s fun to see our heroes slightly on the back foot. And it also reminds us that the Genii are a real threat to everything going on. Sure, they aren’t the Wraith, but they are definitely trouble.

And speaking of the Wraith…

Micheal sees the continuing appearance of Star Trek actors showing up in Stargate, this time it’s Connor Trinneer as the titular Micheal. Written by Carl Binder, with excerpts by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper, this episode was first broadcast on 24 February, 2006.

Micheal wakes up in the infirmary suffering from amnesia, but everyone else in Atlantis seems to be keeping an extra alert eye on him. Why? He seeks some counseling from Dr. Heightmeyer (Claire Rankin) but something seems to be bothering.

Beckett is hovering constantly, but soon Micheal’s true nature begins to reveal himself. He’s not human… he’s a Wraith. And his discovery of this jars him back to who he is. Beckett’s retro-virus removes the Wraith bug DNA, but there is a whole drug work-up to keep everything at bay.

Trinneer is awesome, and he turns in a layered performance. It also brings into question a lot of moral quandaries on whether or not we have a right to force changes on others for our own safety.

It’s a fun episode and has its requisite action beats to close out the tale, but the questions definitely leave you thinking.

And of course, there is going to be fallout from this for our characters down the line. Of that, I have no doubt.