SGA Rewatch: Search and Rescue

Well, hello there, and welcome to the first installment of the final season of the Stargate Atlantis Rewatch. Wow, how did we hit season five so quickly? Before we get started, I just wanted to take a moment to point out the new tab right up at the top of the page, above the post title. If you want to quickly find a review of a specific episode of the series, click on that and it will take you a list of all of my rewatch posts!

Anyhoo, after last week's crazy ending, I won't leave you hanging, so without further ado, let's jump into "Search and Rescue." Spoilers for the episode, of course, and any that came before it.

What Happened

When last we saw our heroes, they were caught in an imploding building while trying to find Teyla. So of course the episode starts off with John and Teyla drinking wine in a candlelit room with Teyla thanking John for rescuing her. He realizes he doesn't remember rescuing her and when he says so Ford appears and says he never did, just like he never rescued Ford. John looks down and sees blood appear on his side and then hears Ronon calling his name. He wakes up in the rubble of the building and finds that they are trapped together and he has a piece of shrapnel in his side. Also he is pinned under some heavy structural beams. He asks about the others but Ronon says he doesn't know, they were separated, and he can't get anyone on the radio.

Rodney and Lorne (who thankfully was with Rodney and so by the Laws of TV is fine, aside from a broken leg) are trapped together in another part of the building. Rodney is unhurt but anxious and Lorne tries to convince him to just sit still (so as not to collapse the building further) while they wait for help to come.

Zoom out via really cool but random visual effect and we find ourselves on Michael's ship, where we find him surrounded by his hybrid minions. Someone brings him a report and he declares that they are setting a new course, their compound has been compromised.

On Atlantis there is an unscheduled gate activation. One of the soldiers from John's strike team managed to make it out of the building before it blew. He comes through and tells them what happened. The Daedalus is still a few hours out so Sam has Jennifer assemble a medical team as well as a group of combat engineers to begin a rescue operation.

Rodney tries to occupy himself by going through the rubble and finds an intact hard drive with pretty much all of Michael's files and data. It means that once they are out they can finish him for good. They hear footsteps above them and start making noise. Up top Sam and Jennifer lead the team searching through the rubble. They have found four life signs in the wreckage. They hear Rodney and Lorne and get to work getting them out. But Rodney tells them that their time is short. His data shows that when the self-destruct went off Michael was notified, which means he is probably on his way. Sam says they will have to hope that the Daedalus arrives in time to beam out the other two life signs, which are much deeper down.

John and Ronon, meanwhile, are in pretty bad shape. Ronon is working to dig John free while John tries to convince him to dig a hole to the surface so a rescue team can get down to him. Ronon says once he gets John free, then they can dig out together.

On the ship, Michael gives Teyla another creepy ultrasound, excited that the baby should be arriving any day. Teyla is not enthused, knowing that Michael has less than honorable plans for her son's future. She calls him on not meaning to keep her around once the kid is born. Kanaan comes and tells Michael that "it is time" and Michael leaves to make preparations. Teyla tries again to get Kanaan to help her escape but he is clearly too afraid of Michael.

Sam's team gets Rodney and Lorne out of the building and then they get a notice that a wraith ship has arrived. Michael is there. Michael realizes that they are searching for survivors and scrambles darts to attack. Sam has the team fall back to the jumpers, reluctantly leaving the other two trapped men until they deal with Michael. They only have three jumpers against a cruiser and at least twenty darts, though, so they can't really fight back.

Michael activates the gate so no one can escape and goes after the buried survivors and Rodney wants them to do something. Sam points out that their best hope is to wait for the Daedalus to arrive. It will take Michael time to dig out their people the same as it would have them. From orbit they see Michael's cruiser and realize that Teyla is probably on board. So close but there's nothing they can do.

In the building John has been trying to convince Ronon to leave him behind and get out of there while he can. Ronon of course is refusing to do this. While they discuss the matter, they hear people digging above them and Ronon's hope is renewed.

The Daedalus arrives and sees the wraith ship. Before it can attack Sam sends them a message updating them on the situation and that they can't destroy the ship because Teyla is on it. When Michael realizes that the other ship's shields will sustain his attacks he orders his people to jump to hyperspace, calling the men on the planet "acceptable losses." Caldwell takes out his hyperdrive before he can jump, though, and so he turns to fight. Rodney and Sam tell Caldwell they still have two people trapped on the surface and ask if they can scan for their transmitters and beam them out.

John and Ronon wait for their rescuers to dig them out and John asks them a question about one of the engineers. They say that engineer is with them, but Ronon says he thought that guy was on leave. John nods. They realize that it is not their people but Michael's coming for them. They arm themselves and get into position to fire as soon as the hybrids are in range, planning to go down fighting.

Caldwell gets a lock on them and Sam asks him to beam them up. He tells her to bring the jumpers on board at the same time. They have to lower their shields to beam the people up and the ship takes significant damage before they get them back in place. So everyone's back on board (yay!) but the ship is pretty much dead in the water. Shields are holding for the time being though.

In the infirmary Jennifer gets to work patching up John and updates him on the situation. She also tells him that Rodney and Lorne were the only other two survivors. He wants to get patched up to go back out there. With Teyla so close he cannot sit still. Jennifer has objections, she says he needs surgery and recovery time, but he insists.

Sam and Rodney get to work trying to repair the ship. John and Ronon find them and say they have an idea to attack the ship with 302s to get Michael to launch his darts, allowing a cloaked jumper to sneak onto his ship through the dart bay. Then they can go rescue Teyla. The Daedalus and 302s would just have to hold the line while they do it. Caldwell is skeptical but Sam stands firm and he agrees.

Sam doesn't buy that John is actually fit for duty and Jennifer let him go willingly, but she lets him go on the mission anyway. As they get into place and wait for the darts to launch, even Rodney can see that John's in bad shape, suggesting maybe he should stay with the jumper while they are gone. They get into the cruiser and Rodney finds a spot to hack into its systems. He is alarmed to find that Michael already has the hyperdrive back online, they have maybe fifteen minutes to get Teyla and get out.

They find Teyla and she tells them she is in labor. She's not really in shape to move quickly and Rodney sees that the hyperdrive is powering up. He says they are near the main drive core though and if they put C4 on it that should shut it down for good. John and Ronon go to do that and leave Rodney to keep an eye on Teyla while they are gone. Of course, this is when the kiddo decides he is ready to see the world outside of mama. Rodney is thrilled.

John and Ronon get to the drive core and get the C4 in place. They get to a safe distance and detonate it, causing lots of ship-wide damage. Michael realizes they are on board his ship and wonders how they got on board.

Teyla's labor is well underway and she starts to crown. Rodney starts to freak out and she has to calm him down, telling him he just needs to catch the baby. The kiddo makes his debut and John and Ronon get back to find Teyla holding the baby and laughing in relief with Rodney. Ronon scoops up Teyla and the baby and they skedaddle to the jumper...which isn't there.

They go to plan B and decide to try to disable the ship's jamming code so the Daedalus can beam them out. On the way they run into Kanaan and Teyla convinces them not to shoot him. She shows him the baby and asks him one more time to help. He says he knows a way off the ship. Ronon doesn't trust him but Teyla says that she does. John asks Kanaan for his plan.

A dart approaches the Daedalus and hails them. It is John. He tells Caldwell he has the team and Teyla, and the baby (which he is holding in the cockpit, he did not beam it up, thankfully). He tells Caldwell to feel free to do what he wants to the cruiser and they blow it up. John then lands the dart and beams them out so they can take the stargate home.

Back on Atlantis, Rodney runs into Sam on his way to visit Teyla. She tells him she is headed back to Earth for some SG-1 related business and also so the I.O.A. can do an "exhaustive review" of her first year in command.

John and Teyla are in the hospital together, John waiting for surgery from his injuries and Teyla recovering from, you know, childbirth. She is cuddling her baby and totally in love with him. Jennifer comes to get John for surgery and as he is being wheeled off he asks Teyla what she will name her son. She said she was thinking Torren John, after her father and John. John is very honored.

Sam gets to Earth and is greeted by Woolsey, who informs her that she is being removed from command of Atlantis. She is gobsmacked by the news and asks who will be replacing her. Woolsey informs her that he will be the new commander of Atlantis.

Commentary

Wow, John's subconscious is clearly still harboring some self-recrimination about failing to rescue Ford. The accusation in Ford's voice when John is dreaming/hallucinating him speaks volumes. Although it led to a nice dovetail moment at the end when Teyla resolutely told John she never lost faith that he would save her. His team still has faith in him even when he doesn't, which is probably something he needs to know.  Also, I think it's kind of important to remember that Ford never wanted to be saved. As far as he was concerned, being on the wraith enzyme made him better and he just wanted to prove first that he was good enough for and then that he didn't need John or Atlantis anymore. You can't help someone who doesn't think they need to be helped.

Rodney with Teyla in labor, oh my goodness! Rodney delivering Teyla's baby! Words cannot describe the awesomeness of that whole scene. They just can't. It was wonderful.

So, Teyla is back safe and sound with her baby. Michael doesn't get his key to galactic domination and Rodney managed to recover the tool to destroying all of Michael's resources. So it seems pretty read that he is done with, especially with his ship getting blown to bits and all. Of course, there is the matter of the missing jumper to keep in mind. But for the most part, a happy ending here and a big threat dealt with, so all is well.

Of course, then there is the whole matter of Sam being removed from command. Logistically speaking, this was so Amanda Tapping could go work on Sanctuary full time, but from a story standpoint it is kind of screwed up and very sudden. Of course, it is totally in keeping with character for the I.O.A. They have been getting more and more grabby about trying to control Atlantis all through the past season. Deposing Sam and putting Woolsey in her place probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprising move.

Hmm, Woolsey in charge of Atlantis. Why does that seem familiar? Oh, right, because in the alternate timeline where everything went to hell that John just got back from, Woolsey was in charge of Atlantis. Uh oh. Though at least Sam is just reassigned and not dead, John isn't missing, Teyla's been recovered, and Michael has been neutralized. So...maybe it won't be as terrible as what we saw in our glimpse of the future last season, right?

I guess we'll find out.

Favorite Quotes


"I'm pretty sure my leg is broken." (Lorne)
"I think I'm remarkably fine." (Rodney)
"Well isn't that wonderful. That brings me great comfort, thank you." (Lorne)

"I'm fine. It's just a couple of scrapes." (Rodney)
"Wow. Rodney McKay refusing medical help. Now I really know there's something wrong!" (Jennifer)

"We're getting a reading. The gate's been activated." (Sam)
"It's a classic wraith battle technique. They dial the gate, lock everyone out, make sure they can't escape." (Rodney)
"Well it's a good one." (Sam)
"Yeah, well, they're not idiots." (Rodney)

"If we get outta here, beer's on me boys. What do you like, uh, Duff Beer or Oprah Ale?" (John)
"...Duff." (Hybrid)
"Well, they don't watch The Simpsons or drink beer." (John)

"All right, how do you wanna play this?" (Ronon)
"Shoot until we can't shoot anymore." (John)

"As a rule, I like to keep daring rescues down to one a day." (Caldwell)

"It's closing." (Rodney)
"I see that." (John)
"It's closing quickly." (Rodney)
"I got it." (John)

"Now you need to catch him." (Teyla)
"Catch him?!?" (Rodney)
"Yes. You need to catch him when I push him out." (Teyla)
"Oh god. Okay, well just underhand him all right? I've never been good at baseball." (Rodney)

"How the hell are we supposed to get off the ship now?" (Ronon)
"I just delivered a baby! That's not enough for today?" (Rodney)

~*~

Whee! Well, that's season five started off with a bang. See you back here on Wednesday for the next episode, "The Seed."

SGA Rewatch: Grace Under Pressure

Welcome back to the Stargate Atlantis rewatch. Thank you for stopping by. Today we have another shiny episode for you, this time season two's "Grace Under Pressure." As per usual, there will be spoilers for the episode and any that came before it. Some mild mention of Stargate SG-1 in there too, but no real spoilers for that.

With all that in mind, let's dive in, shall we? (Pun so intended.)

What Happened


Rodney and a soldier named Griffin are taking Jumper 6 on a test flight to the mainland and back after Zelenka and his team completed repairs to it. This is the jumper that was shot down by prisoners back at the start of the season in "Condemned." They have made it to the mainland and are headed back to Atlantis, Griffin giving Rodney crap about the fact that almost all scientific discoveries are eventually disproved. As they engage in the (more or less) goodhearted bickering, something suddenly goes wrong with the jumper and the ship crashes into the ocean.

Rodney is awoken by Zelenka calling to him over the radio. Zelenka informs him that Atlantis has been trying to reach the jumper for over an hour now and asks their status. Rodney wakes up Griffin and tells Zelenka they could both use some time in the infirmary but are otherwise fine. The jumper is sinking, however. It is already twelve hundred feet down and dropping a further twenty feet per minute. As they discuss rescue options (Zelenka says they are able to trace the direction of the jumper's radio signal but haven't been able to get a bead on the actual location), the front windshield starts to crack due to the water pressure. Rodney and Griffin scramble into the rear compartment and try to seal it off but the rear door controls aren't working. Griffin says he has an idea and runs back into the front, closing the doors and sealing himself in the cockpit just as the windshield gives way and the front of the jumper floods.

Rodney is appalled that Griffin did that for him. He tries to resume contact with Zelenka, but the flooding of the cockpit knocked out the jumper's transmitter and he cannot reach Atlantis. Realizing he is alone in a sinking jumper and cut off from his only known avenue of escape, Rodney starts talking to himself, trying to talk his way through the situation.

On Atlantis, Zelenka, Elizabeth, and Sheppard go over the situation. Sheppard is working on the assumption that the only reason they lost contact was the flooding of the cockpit and that Rodney and Griffin did make it into the rear compartment in time. Zelenka says that while they had theorized that the jumpers could be used as submersibles, the incident with the windshield indicates that they have a specific depth limit before the sinking jumper is out of their reach for good. With the jumper's transmitter out, they need to find a new way to track it, and they need to do it soon.

Never one to sit still, Rodney starts poking around in the back of the jumper trying to see if there is anything he can do to get himself out of a bad situation. He manages to activate the jumper's emergency signal, but it is not as strong as he would like. He decides that he needs to boost the signal so that it can penetrate all of the ocean above him and reach Atlantis. He runs a diagnostic to see how much power the jumper has so he can begin working on boosting the signal and is dismayed to learn he only has three hours worth of power (which is necessary for life support). He sees that the jumper's inertial dampeners are still active and, saying out loud that those are hardly necessary underwater, tries to shut them off. The jumper doesn't cooperate, however, telling him that action is not available at that time. He also realizes he is very cold and worries that his head injury might be worse than he had thought, but then realizes that it is likely due to the jumper being submerged in the ocean. He dials the heat up a bit to stave off hypothermia, but it costs him forty minutes of his power. He vents his disappointment about this in a tirade at the jumper.

While Zelenka leads a team in trying to narrow down a more accurate search area for the jumper, Sheppard starts assembling scientists to adapt a jumper for the rescue mission. He has them attaching a high strength wench with a thousand foot long cable so that when they find Jumper 6 they can pull it up to a depth where he can have a team of divers go out and cut their way into the jumper to pull out their people.

A sea creature, emitting a series of sounds akin to whale song, is attracted to the jumper's emergency signal and starts swimming around it, singing. Rodney starts talking to it for a bit but gets sidetracked when he is struck by an idea. If, as he has supposed, the jumpers were meant to be submersible, then the propulsion system should work underwater too. He realizes that with some tinkering, he can probably "drive" the ship from the rear compartment, since so many of the ship's controls are housed there. He talks himself through the plan, saying that even if he can't make it all the way to the surface he can hopefully at least get close enough that the signal can break through. As he sets to work on his plan, he laments that another pair of eyes to check his work would be helpful and a voice speaks up behind him offering to help. He turns to find Samantha Carter standing behind him. He quickly realizes that he is hallucinating her, but she sticks around and he seems glad enough for the company, imaginary or not.

Radek and his team manage to narrow down the search area significantly. The only real problem is that the area where the jumper fell goes down to six thousand feet deep. Even if the rear compartment of the sinking jumper can hold up to that kind of pressure, the rescue jumper won't be able to reach it if it gets that far down. Sheppard asks Zelenka if there is any way to reverse the process they used to turn the city's shield into a cloak and instead convert the jumper's cloak to turn it into a shield to help stave off the pressure. Zelenka says it is possible but would take too much time to get ready. Sheppard tells him to throw his gear together and work on it in the jumper while they are searching. Zelenka seems surprised at this, he had clearly not intended to go on the rescue mission, he is scared of the water and cannot even swim. Sheppard talks him into it, however, and he agrees, going to gather the necessary gear.

Rodney starts bouncing his plan off of Hallucination!Sam but when he tells her that it will consume most (if not all) of his remaining power she says it is a bad idea. She tells him he is better off doing nothing, concentrating on life support and staying alive as long as possible in order to give his team enough time to rescue him. If he does try his plan and it doesn't work, he is screwed. Better to just sit tight and wait. He says he can't do that, and it is clear that Rodney doesn't really believe (at least on the conscious level) that they are coming after him. He tells her they are already busy planning his memorial ceremony.

The jumper lurches suddenly and Hallucination!Sam points out that they've stopped sinking. The jumper has caught up on a ledge, right at the very edge of a steep drop off. Rodney is overjoyed that the ship has stopped, saying that implosion is no longer a concern, but Hallucination!Sam cuts his celebration short, pointing out the water leaking in from the door. The impact with the ocean floor damaged the jumper's hull and it is taking on water. Rodney manages to slow the leaking by amping up the pressure in the compartment, but it only buys him a little bit of time. Looking at the power supply, he realizes he only has about ten minutes left to implement his plan before it is no longer a possibility. He has a brief rant about how the whole thing is Zelenka's fault--Zelenka was in charge of repairing the jumper. He was the one who declared it ready for flight and he should have been the one on the test flight, but he was scared of flying at all, let alone on a test flight and asked Rodney to take his place.

In the rescue jumper, meanwhile, Zelenka, while terrified, is stepping up and has managed to get the converted shield up and running. Unfortunately it is drawing power at an enormous rate. He tells Sheppard that once they get into the deeper water, they are only going to have about thirty minutes before the shield gives out.

Rodney is getting very close to trying his plan when Hallucination!Sam starts putting the moves on him. He is momentarily distracted but then realizes that she is just trying to prevent him from going through with his attempt to drive the jumper. She tries to convince him one final time that his friends are coming and he just needs to wait, and to conserve power so he can stay alive as long as possible, but he ignores her. He fires up the drive pods and, of course, it doesn't work. Nothing happens except Rodney managing to burn all but twenty minutes of his remaining power.

Zelenka picks up the sea monster on the rescue jumper's sensors and suggests they stay away from it, as it is many times larger than their ship. Sheppard, however, sees that it is circling around one area as if it has found something interesting. He decides to go check it out, in case that interesting something is the crashed jumper. Zelenka picks up the jumper on their sensors but is alarmed to see that not only does it have no power, but it has also taken on a great deal of water. Their wench will not be able to lift it even a little of the way to the surface. Seeing that it is on flat ground, however, he tells Sheppard to land next to it and extends the shield to cover both jumpers. That way, they can get out and just walk over to the other jumper, hopefully finding their people still alive inside.

Rodney, without power, is starting to succumb to hypothermia. He is getting a bit introspective when he hears the sound of the shield engaging outside of the jumper and then Sheppard's voice over the radio. Sheppard tells him he just needs to open the back hatch and walk to the rescue jumper. Rodney makes his way to the door release and hesitates, worried that he might be hallucinating Sheppard, too. Hallucination!Sam reasons with him and convinces him to open the door, however, and he does. Sheppard and Zelenka run in and grab him, asking after Griffin and learning his fate. They carry Rodney to the other jumper and the sea monster swims overhead as they do. Rodney taunts it, telling it that it won't get to eat him today. Sheppard quips that it's the reason they found him. As the back hatch of the rescue jumper closes, Rodney takes one last look at the downed jumper and sees Hallucination!Sam standing in the doorway. He waves goodbye to her.

Commentary


This is just one of a series of standalone episodes this season but it is an amazingly powerful one. I suppose, given that it is a largely McKay-centric episode, it is no surprise that I really like this one, but I defy anyone to not be impressed with David Hewlett's acting in this one. Amanda Tapping also puts in a nice turn as Sam, doing a very good job of portraying Sam as Rodney would imagine her but still being clearly Sam. While character-wise it makes total sense that Sam would be the person Rodney imagines in this scenario to keep him company, it is also a nice tribute to the SG-1 episode "Grace," in which Sam was stranded alone on a derelict spaceship and trying not to succumb to hallucinations.

I really, really like that when Sheppard was putting together the rescue jumper, there was an explanation for why each piece of combined equipment was in Atlantis. It was nice to get a little bit of a window into the types of research that go on in the Pegasus galaxy. With Sheppard and his team being our guides through the world, it is easy to forget that they are, in fact, on a scientific expedition. This was nice little reaffirmation of that fact though.

One thing for the overall series is that this episode establishes the jumpers as underwater vehicles as well as space vehicles, so there's that.

I do think as far as the rest of the season goes and where this episode fits into it that "Grace Under Pressure" is the final stage in Rodney's redemption for the Arcturus debacle. As much as he consciously doesn't believe that his friends are out there looking for him, he subconsciously hopes that they are, and wants to be able to believe. The fact that not only are they really out there, but are also going to such lengths to get him back, shows that he is valued not only as a scientist but as a friend. Sheppard especially was extremely determined to get Rodney back no matter what, and that was very heartening to see. Sheppard and Rodney are my favorite bromance, and this shows that they are right back firmly in "best friends forever" territory despite all of the crap they have been through lately.

I was also quite proud of Zelenka for overcoming his fears and doing everything in his power and then some to help with the search and rescue. He may be second to Rodney on the science staff, but he is clearly equally as crucial to the expedition. I mean, someone has to be able to save Rodney when he's the one in trouble, right?

I think my absolute favorite thing about this episode is that Rodney absolutely positively could not stop talking. Even when he was by himself, even when the end was clearly upon him, he just kept up a constant stream of chatter. I am not even sure he realized he was doing it half of the time. I particularly enjoyed when he was formulating his plan and explaining it out loud as if he was telling his peons what was going on. I mean, I know from an outside perspective, he needed to keep talking so the viewer wasn't just watching forty minutes of him sitting there messing with his data-pad, but I also feel like it was entirely within character for him to react that way. It completely worked.

Favorite Quotes


"Well, we always theorized that jumpers could be used as submersibles." (Zelenka)
"Yes yes yes yes, I theorized it!" (Rodney)

"You do not need inertial dampeners while you sink!" (Rodney)

"Do you even have an opinion anyways, you, you...no. Why? Because you are an inanimate object, huh? Does that stop me from talking to you? Oh no no no no no, my inanimate friend, because I have been struck upon the head, you see!" (Rodney)

"You and Rodney have been bugging me for a chance to try a jumper as a submersible, but you sure went a hell of a long way to make me say yes!" (Elizabeth)

"Look, I need to be the one on the surface saving the poor bastard stuck down here, not actually be the poor bastard stuck down here!" (Rodney)

"You are very clever. I will even give you brilliant. But there is brilliant, and then there's me." (Rodney)

"You are essentially arguing with yourself. You realize that, right? Your mind is creating me." (Hallucination!Sam)

"I can't even hallucinate right today!" (Rodney)

"Don't play mind games with me!" (Rodney)
"I am a mind game." (Hallucination!Sam)

"I wonder why we never hooked up?" (Rodney)
"What, aside from the fact that you're petty, arrogant, and treat people badly?" (Hallucination!Sam)
"...Yes." (Rodney)
"Nope, that's pretty much it. Petty, arrogant, bad with people." (Hallucination!Sam)

"Oh wow, I'm arguing with myself about who had an idea first--me or me. I really am petty, aren't I?" (Rodney)
"And arrogant and bad with people, yes." (Hallucination!Sam)

"You're a figment of my imagination! The least you could do is take your top off!" (Rodney)
"Your subconscious mind knows that I would never be into that." (Hallucination!Sam)
"You are the worst hallucination ever!" (Rodney)

"[String of cursing in Czech.]" (Radek)
"I think my Czech's getting better, because I know what you mean." (Sheppard)

Phew! That's a lot of favorite quotes. Which is what you get, I guess, when you have no one around to make Rodney stop talking. That's it for today. Come back Monday when Sheppard gets sucked into royal intrigues in "The Tower."