Rising (Part 2) is episode 2 of season 1 of Stargate Atlantis, first aired in 2004.
The rescue of the prisoners from the hive ship turns into a founding tragedy: Colonel Sumner, drained of his years by the Keeper, receives the only release possible from Sheppard. The team escapes, awakening the wrath of an entire species: the Wraith come out of hibernation en masse, and all of Pegasus will pay. Atlantis, for its part, gains its first refugees and its default military commander.
Why it matters to the mythology
Sumner dies, Sheppard inherits command, and the Wraith rise decades too early: the series' original sin is complete.
The review
The second part owns an opening act of rare darkness: the hero executes his superior out of mercy, and that bullet will haunt Sheppard for a long time. Wraith feeding, that hand pressed to the chest draining life away, immediately establishes itself as the franchise's best horror idea. Atlantis's tone is set: more isolated, more fragile, more guilty than SG-1. A series born under an ill star, in the most fruitful sense of the phrase.
Written by Sebastian
Founder and editor-in-chief of Stargate Initiative
Gallery · 12
Stills from the episode, via TMDb.
The community watches the episode
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