Stargate Atlantis: The Last Man

By Wolfen Moondaughter
Normally I can’t stand time-travel stories because of the issue of paradox, but like it’s predecessor, SG-1’s “Unending”, this one was worth it! There was some paradox, but it was negligible. Otherwise, my other issue was that it all went so fast, it was a little hard for me to emotionally connect at the level I wanted to — I didn’t really get very teary except for some key moments between Rodney and Shep, and one between Todd and Ronon. But part of that could have been because I knew that, at the end of the day, none of it was actually going to happen, so there was no reason to get truly sad. And that’s a good thing, really; it’s always fascinating to see the what-if, how characters would react in specific situations and live and die, without any lasting damage to the characters. It’s like having your cake and eating it too! And hey, I’m all for new takes on the concept of It’s a Wonderful Life, particularly with Sheppard and McKay in the respective roles of George Bailey and Clarence. Yes, lots of really great McShep moments with this one — lots of fanfic fodder, that’s for sure!

4.20: “The Last Man”

We see John approaching Lorne, near an outdoor Stargate. John was supposed to talk to a Genii about some intel on Teyla, but the man didn’t show. (Hmm, I wonder if we’ll ever find out why). Lorne expresses misgivings about trusting them after the whole Harmony assassination attempt. John believes that Genii leader, Laden, didn’t have anything to do with it, and is trying to get back in their good graces. John orders Lorne and his men to stay behind and dials the ‘Gate to go home himself.

When he steps into Atlantis, he finds it empty and powered down, with a reddish light coming through the windows. It’s also very hot. (And for now, I’m sincerely puzzled as to how this happened. I was spoiled enough going in to know that he gets sent to the future, but I assumed it would be through a different device! Poor Sheppard — what a creepy scenario to walk into after such an innocuous activity as walking through the ‘Gate …) “If this is a surprise party, it’s not my birthday!” John says to the emptiness. (*Snicker*) He tries his radio, asking if there’s anyone on the channel, but gets no answer. (“Try another channel!” my dad and I both say. Which is silly, since we know no one is there, but if I were in his shoes, it would be worth a shot …) He opens a balcony door — and discovers that the ocean’s waters have been replaced by a sea of sand! (Hey, did they ever name the planet they’re on now? Like Lantea 2 or something? *Snicker* Anyway, if I were in Sheppard’s shoes, I think I’d be falling on my knees and whimpering at this development ….)

Sheppard tries to activate the controls in the control room, to no avail, saying to himself that this is either the most elaborate practical joke ever, or he’s in serious trouble. (*Snicker*) There’s a crackle over the radio; he asks if anyone is on the frequency, and McKay answers, saying he can’t believed “it” worked. (Thanks to the images from and vague mentions in various entries in Joe’s Mallozzi’s blog, I make the deduction that this Rodney will turn out to be old — and a hologram. I’m also puzzled that Rodney’s voice doesn’t sound “old” — was it just that neither Hewlett nor the director thought to have him sound so?) John is understandably flustered, wanting to know what the hell is going on. Of course Rodney has to babble on without actually answering, musing that for John, only five minutes has passed. (For the unspoiled, I imagine that this must be where the notion of what’s going on starts to gel, ‘ey? That it’s not some alternate universe or catastrophe ….) Rodney asks what John sees and where he is; John tells him where he is first, adding testily, “By the way, did I tell you the ocean’s gone?” and telling him about how hot it is. Rodney is thrown by this info, musing that the planet must have undergone some massive climate changes. “If you don’t start giving me some answers pretty soon, here …” John begins threateningly. (*Snicker* You’ll what, hit him? Can’t exactly do that over the radio ….) Again, Rodney doesn’t answer, instead telling John to go to the hologram room. (What’d I tell ya?)

[nms:stargate atlantis,1,0]

John hurries though the dark, empty (creepy!) halls to the room in question. Rodney tells him to turn the hologram on. John points out that there’s no power; Rodney tells him that it’s hooked up to its own separate power source. John does as Rodney insists, and a hologram blinks into life. It’s Rodney. An older Rodney. And he’s delighted to “see” John, explaining that he’s hooked into the city’s internal sensors. (Um, did him getting “woken up” restore power to the city, or are the sensors being run off of his generator?) John can’t seem to wrap his head around the situation, wondering why Rodney’s hologram looks old. Rodney says that’s because John’s remembering him as how he last saw him. “What, you mean earlier today?“” John replies. (*Snicker* Personally, I would think John would be smart enough to have figured out that he’s in the future already, but he’s filling his role as exposition-prompter, I suppose. And he’s in shock, so I guess I can’t expect him to be at the top of his game.) Of course Rodney still rambles, musing that in the twenty-five years he spent setting this up, he never thought about what he would actually say when he finally saw John. (Does it matter when you’re a hologram?? Still, it’s a sweet sentiment — and a nicely McSheppy moment. Also, Rodney sounds slightly gravelly, but still not what I would expect — although I suppose he’s not really that much older. In fact, I think maybe they overdid the make-up just a tad — he should be about 65 and he looks more like 75 to me. And you’d think medical advances would make 65 the new 45 by the time he actually reached that age. Anyway, he does get more gravelly as the scene progresses.)

Eventually, Rodney answers John, starting by reminding him of the SG-1 mission report where a solar flare sent the team into the past. (He’s referring to the events of the ep”1969″. Oooh, I love it when they revisit old plotlines and explore new avenues within them! That’s why I never understand why fans get upset when plots are similar — so long as it’s not exactly the same, why not re-use plot devices? We’d run out of stories pretty quick if we didn’t!) “I was sent back in time??” John asks, incredulous. (And here we have him being obtuse again for the sake of exposition. It’s amusing, and again I guess we can still chalk it up to his disorienting situation, but … writer Paul Mullie could have had John making guesses as to what happened and have Rodney say if he’s right or not, instead of having John’s logic be soooo impaired. But this is one of my few real complaints about the ep.) Rodney clarifies that this flare sent John into the future. Alarmed, John asks how far; Rodney goes onto a ramble about how difficult it had been to determine that (without actually telling us how he managed to do so, — a lantern of sorts telling is just to accept that it was done and move on). “Rodney!” John snaps, interrupting McKay, his tone clearly telling the hologram to cut to the chase already. Rodney contritely answers that John’s now around 48,000 years into the future. “This is a practical Joke,” John says; Rodney assures him that it’s not. John has an amusing freak-out; Rodney’s unfazed, telling him to calm down. (Well there’s a switch! Usually it’s the other way around ….) A thought occurs to John: if he’s in the future, Rodney is … “Dead,” Rodney confirms. John (understandably) looks like he’s been sucker-punched as he stares hard at McKay. (*Squee!* Poor boy, realising that his best friend is long gone! Or, if you’re a McShepper like me, we can imagine that it’s even worse than just losing a friend … *Cough*) Rodney rambles on a bit in tones that are sad, resigned, and even a bit bored, about how everyone and everything John knew is gone. (Once again, much love to Flanigan for his facial expression; the look on John’s face is heart-wrenching. Mmmm, angst!) Rodney informs John that there’s not enough power to use the ‘Gate, adding that it wouldn’t be safe to use the ‘Gate without a MALP anyway. (Guess they took those with them when they finally left the city. Hell, I’m surprised that they left the city in tact when they left, instead of blowing it up to ensure that the enemy could never reach Earth … Hewlett, I note at this point, is making more of an effort to sound older now — as well as acting older, slower and arthritic, and seems to get more so as the ep progresses. He does it quite excellently, I might add. In fact, it’s kind of like Rodney was young-sounding when he was excited to see John, and got older sounding with the weight of history, so maybe it was intentional.)

Rodney adds that it’s possible that John is the last human being alive. (Man, is that a depressing thought! Twilight Zone eps that deal with that theme have always been the scariest ones to me ….) John remarks testily that Rodney’s not doing a very good job of cheering him up. Rodney laughs it off, referring to John as “young man” in patronising tones (reminding us that Rodney has done a lot more living than John now — he seems to have gotten calmer and wiser). Rodney remarks that he wasn’t even sure if the city would survive long enough for his plan to work. John latches on to that, asking what plan, but of course Rodney has to be roundabout in answering again. He explains (with a quiet glimmer of his old arrogance) that he was able to take advantage of strides made in the hologram tech to create this simulation. (So did they improve upon what the Ancients had, or did they just grow more able to use it?) The hologram can go anywhere in the city, and is programmed to respond just like “the Great Dr Rodney McKay”. John winces at the arrogance in the statement, asking, “Couldn’t use anyone else, huh?” Rodney chuckles, taking the ribbing with grace. (Age has mellowed him, but he’s still him, ‘ey? The more things change ….) Rodney goes on to explain, “I’m linked to the city’s main systems, but I have an independent core drive that’s sealed in the foundation of one of the outer buildings — along with a Mark 12 naquadah generator and a couple of other, ah, key components.” He says that it’s like a time capsule. (John’s expression here as Rodney rambles is priceless. I have to wonder at this point why Rodney sealed it in an outer building instead of in the city proper, though. Thankfully that’s sort of addressed later.) “It’s really nice to have company,” John begins impatiently, “but if what you’re saying is true, what good does it do me?” Rodney assures him that he wouldn’t have gone though all that trouble just for a chat, and informs John that he’s there to save him, beckoning for John to follow him.

John asks where they’re going; Rodney says that he wants to put John in a stasis chamber. Once again, John snipes about a lack of info. (*Snicker*) Rodney explains that they can send John back home the same way he got there, but they have to do it under very specific conditions, with other physical factors affecting the flare, to make sure that John arrives back at the proper time. (That’s an interesting added factor — I don’t recall the SG-1 scenario having any factor other than knowing when precisely solar flare would occur ….) John will have to be in stasis somewhere between 700 and 1000 years. (And so now we know why John has to go so far out in the city — Rodney probably couldn’t move the stasis pod, which doubtless is one of those key components …. Hey! Is Carson still there, in stasis himself?? What happens to him in the alternate timeline is never addressed ….) John’s not thrilled with this plan. Rodney explains that they need to be precise because they only have a two-month window. John asks what he means — and once again Rodney gets very roundabout in answering, saying that things got bad for them after John disappeared.

Rodney says that, when he realised what had happened to John, he also realised that there wasn’t anything he could do about it. The military declared John killed in action and had a nice military funeral with an empty casket. (Love how John winces at that. Poor Dave, losing his brother so soon after losing his dad! Wonder how they explained that they “knew” John was “dead” when they didn’t have a body ….) Rodney goes on to tell how, as they were lacking resources, they didn’t find Teyla until two months later — and she was dead when they arrived. (My heart breaks for Ronon and Rodney as they find her, more even than for Teyla herself.) Rodney figures Michael didn’t have a use for her anymore. (So … she was only seven, maybe seven and a half months pregnant when we last saw her, then? ‘Cause she’s pretty freshly dead in this scene, and if he was going to kill her, why wait two months? Maybe it took that long for Michael to work out another way to feed the baby without breast-milk. Or maybe he hadn’t originally planned to kill her? He did seem fond of her still, and it surprises me that he would kill her after going on about the connection they shared getting stronger after the birth. Maybe she just proved to be too much of a handful?) John, of course, looks broken-hearted as well.

They continue on to the pod, Rodney insisting that John’s not at fault. “I should have been there,” John insists; Rodney assures him that he will be — the fact that they now have the ‘Gate address to where Teyla was held prisoner will ensure that. “Save Teyla, save the baby, save the fate of the galaxy,” Rodney tells him. (What about “Save the cheerleader”?) At John’s prompting, he elaborates that the baby’s birth was the turning point of that fate, as it allowed Michael to perfect his hybrids. Michael then increased his infection of human populations with the Hoffan drug; Keller fought a losing battle against that. (We see scenes that McKay can’t know first-hand accounts of — rather than it being flashbacks of things he witnessed, it’s more like we’re turning back the clock to look on our own while he speaks). Rodney says that Michael took advantage of the infighting between the hives due to the dwindling food supply, attacking ships while they were busy attacking each other, and brought them to their knees in less than a year. We see an even-more-human-looking-without-being-totally-human Michael confront a Wraith queen captive, musing aloud about how he’d never asked for any of this: he’d been captured and experimented on by humans, and when he’d escaped and come back to his people, they’d scorned him. She gets mouthy. “You still have your pride — good for you,” he says, just before he kills her. (It’s very telling of his motivations — he couldn’t be proud, couldn’t maintain his sense of self-worth among Wraith or human, so he made his own species to adore him, giving him back what both races denied him.) He brandishes her head to his hybrid horde. (Does this scene make anyone else think of Medusa in Clash of the Titans?) Rodney tells us that Michael then turned his attention back to humans, turning the strongest and smartest of the survivors Hoffan drug into hybrids and killing the rest. John questions the notion that all this stemmed from the birth of Teyla’s baby and that it can be stopped by rescuing her, but Rodney is resolute. (And really, would you rather not go back to your time and save her, Sheppard? Maybe it won’t stop what Michael attempts, but you definitely won’t stop him if you don’t try ….)

John and Rodney find their way blocked by a sand drift in one of the corridors; Rodney says this could be a problem. John insists that they’ll just go around; Rodney informs him that there is no other way around. “The sand has penetrated the lower levels,” Rodney states, dumbfounded. “48,000 years into the future and you still got a knack for stating the obvious,” John tells him. (*Snicker* Funny, considering McKay’s other problem is sort of the complete opposite — being very roundabout when asked direct questions. And it’s also funny because Rodney’s accused John of the same thing in the past ….) John asks what he should do. Rodney doesn’t know — he wasn’t programmed for this variable. (I wonder how that works. Wouldn’t the easiest thing to do have been just to download his consciousness into it, a la Thor?) John gets frustrated, pointing out that McKay had 25 years to work on the plan. The hologram indignantly insists that the original McKay brilliantly anticipated a lot of potential problems … but this wasn’t one of them. John turns back the way they came, planning to go outside to make the trek on the surface instead. Rodney doesn’t follow, telling him that he can’t; the surface is too hot and there’s a sandstorm coming. “Ever been in one of those?” Rodney asks in a tone that says he doesn’t think so, and that John doesn’t ever want to find out what once is like. “As a matter of fact, I have,” John says, irritated. Pause. “Oh,” Rodney says. (Haaaaaa!) John hurries off, figuring that it’s the only plan they have, and Rodney follows reluctantly after. (It’s a mark of how well McKay programmed the hologram to think like him that said hologram doesn’t just disappear and reappear beside John, because the real McKay couldn’t, and it doesn’t seem to occur to him that he can .…)

When they get to a door that John could exit through, Rodney manages to talk him into waiting a bit. As John settles on the floor, Rodney asks if he’s hungry, then asks if John brought anything to eat with him (’cause obviously not even powerbars could last 48,000 years, so it’s not like McKay could have stashed any). John shakes his head no; Rodney seems to realise that it was a bad question in the first place, and tries to sound cheerful as he figures that they’ll get John out of there soon enough anyway. Well, aside from the 700 year-wait in a stasis pod. (*Snicker*)

John asks what happened to everyone else, figuring there’s no way they would have let Michael take over without a fight. (Man, I never imagined, when they introduced the character in the second season, that Michael would have such a huge impact on the lives of our heroes!) Sad and wistful, Rodney tells John how the IOA and the military were reluctant to commit resources to aiding another galaxy, but Sam stood her ground, and eventually they gave her a new ship — the Phoenix. Unfortunately, half of the Asgard tech in it wasn’t online yet when they got it, and the other half wasn’t working. (The look of glee on her face, despite the shape of the ship, is too adorable!) She and Rodney worked non-stop for a month to get it going. “Zelenka might have been there as well; I don’t really remember,” Rodney says. (Zelenka was indeed, and there’s a cute, subtle moment in the flashback where Radek lays a coffee cup next to despondent Rodney.)

[nms:stargate atlantis,1,3]

We see Rodney approach Sam, announcing that the ship is good to go. She praises him, then tells him to take Radek back to Atlantis, take a few days off, and get to work on boosting the city’s shields. She’s going to take the ship out; Lorne is in charge of Atlantis for the time being. (Poor Rodney, overlooked again, but in that climate, it’s better to have a military guy in charge, and Sam knows it.) Rodney protests that she needs rest too; she reveals that their intel says that Michael is on the move again. “So let someone else go!” he tells her, but quickly realises that it’s futile to argue with her and reluctantly lets it go. He starts to leave, when she frowns and says “Hey!” He turns back to her, perplexed; she gives him a look (similar to the one his sister gave him back in “Miller’s Crossing”, when Jeannie said she loved him and he had to be prompted to say it back). “Good luck?” he says wearing an expression that suggests that he has no idea what she wants. She gives him a contemplative look of her own, then says, sincerely, “Thanks, Rodney,” and leans in to hug him (awwwwww), adding “for everything.” He looks vastly uncomfortable. (Heh, you’d think he’d be happy to get a hug from Sam; I guess his discomfort with expressions of affection won out over his crush …. Anyway, this scene hit me harder this time than it did the first time watching it — excuse me while I hunt down some tissue ….) Rodney leaves, looking disconcerted, glancing over his shoulder for a moment. (I think he’s trying to laugh it off at first, like What are you getting all sappy for?, but that he then realises that she’s saying goodbye.) We see Sam face the camera, looking like she’s about to cry. (Dammit, where’s that tissue??)

We see the Phoenix take out a hive ship and do minimal damage to another; Sam doesn’t think it worth the risk to try to destroy the other, and gives the order to retreat. Rodney tells John that the Phoenix did wonderfully against insurmountable odds, but that eventually their luck ran out. Michael lured them into a trap with false intel; we see a few hives surround and fire on the Phoenix. Their ship critically damaged, Sam beams the crew to the planet below, then, when the transporter goes offline before she can escape herself (or so Rodney figures), she flies the ship into one of the hives. The resulting explosion takes out the other two. “And we buried another empty casket,” Rodney finishes sadly. (*Sniffle* In the primary timeline, I want Sam to retire and live happily with Jack, of course, but for an alternate timeline? I can’t help but feel a moment of pride for her, albeit tinged with sadness, for her willingness to die this way. Er, not that there was really any doubt that she would; she’s risked her life before. But I like to think that, if she couldn’t beat the bad guys, she’d at least go out fighting and take a bunch with her. Rodney is obviously as proud of Sam as I am as he shares the tale. I feel a moment of sadness for Jack, though.)

Time passes. We see John just standing around when Rodney’s hologram appears; John asks where the hell he’s been. Rodney says that he was inputting their solar flare requirements into the long-range sensors (I assume it would have been a waste of power to have them programmed with that info already, so better to wait until they actually needed to look for that info), when he discovered what had happened to the planet’s climate. John has to prod him to get to the important part, of course, which turns out to be that the sun is dying, and that, as it dies, it’s expanding into a red giant, which means the planet’s just going to get hotter. The planet’s going to be unlivable, it’s atmosphere burned off well before it’s time for John to leave the stasis pod, which means he won’t be able to make it to the ‘Gate — he’ll be killed the moment he steps out of stasis. (Oh crap! How the hell are they gonna get around this one? And of course we’re left wondering that for several agonising minutes as the show goes to commercial.)

In typical Sheppard fashion, John tells Rodney to think of something, which of course irritates the hologram as easily as if he were the real McCoy—er, McKay. Also typical of Sheppard, John gets an idea of his own, asking Rodney if the Mark 12 could power the shields. Rodney says yes, but adds that it wouldn’t be able to power the stasis pod, sensors, or his own program. John asks if the city has solar-powered generators. “Yes, which could come in very handy if we were trying to power a couple of electric golf carts,” Rodney replies tiredly. John tells him he’s still thinking like the old McKay. “I can’t really help that,” the hologram grumbles. (ROFL!) Sounding a bit like Sheppard when he wants answers, McKay asks him what he’s trying to say. John postulates that, as the sun becomes a red giant, the worse it gets, the more solar energy they’ll have available. (Ah-hah! There’s the smart Sheppard I know and love!) “Oh my god, that could work!” Rodney says, amazed. He says they can use the shield to protect the planet’s atmosphere — it could buy them a hundred years. (How does that help, if the atmosphere would become hazardous in 500 years, and John can’t come out of stasis until 700 years at the earliest, possibly 1000? I’m thrown by his use of “planetary” for a moment too, until I remember John’s going to have to walk outdoors to get back to the ‘Gate after he gets out of stasis.)

John says that that’s going to have to do for now, and, putting on a bandana to cover his face with, tells Rodney to open the door. Rodney tries to talk him out of it, but John’s determined; the storms already been going for hours, and could go on for days more. Rodney says it will be dark soon; John figures that’s all the more reason to get going, saying that he just needs to walk in a straight line. Rodney protests that that may not be as easy as he thinks. (I’m with Rodney, particularly since the idea of getting all that sand in one’s eyes and ears at high speeds sounds really dangerous, even with sunglasses — it’s not like they’re wraparounds ….) John says he knows, but he was hungry before he even came through the ‘Gate, and he’s just going to get weaker the longer he waits. (Helloooo, hypoglycaemia!) Rodney can’t argue with that, though he’s clearly worried for John.

As John starts to exit, Rodney tells John that he (Rodney) can’t leave the building himself, but he can keep in contact via radio and meet John in the other building when he gets there. As John plods along, Rodney calls out to him over the radio, sounding just a few steps away from a panic attack. John responds; Rodney asks if he’s okay. “Never better,” John tells him flippantly as he struggles along. (It can’t be easy to talk in that, even with the bandana!) Poor Rodney just stands there, looking hopeless. A long moment later, John asks Rodney to tell him what happened to Ronon. “What, now?” Rodney asks. “Yes, now!” John snaps. “Talk to me, Rodney!” (Heh, and to think of all the times John’s wanted Rodney to shut up …. Can’t say I blame him, though, wanting something to connect him to his only companion while he’s out in that storm alone — I’m still finding his current predicament rather terrifying. And it’s better to have Rodney tell a story so that he doesn’t have to try to talk himself, to keep up a conversation, under those conditions.)

Rodney says that Ronon didn’t seem to feel comfortable on the base anymore without John and Teyla there, and got Sam to let him go offworld to recruit a strike force. (I can understand Ronon’s feelings, to be certain, but I feel a little bad for Rodney — it sounds like he figures Ronon didn’t like him enough to stay.) Rodney adds that, as word of the threat Michael posed spread, they had no lack of recruits. We watch as Ronon trains villagers how to fight. (And suddenly I’m reminded that, among his own people, he was a leader of sorts, as we learned in “Reunion”. Interesting to think that the main ‘Gate team for Atlantis was comprised of nothing but leaders, then, with John being military commander for the expedition besides being team leader, Teyla a being leader of her own people, and Rodney being head of the science department! Hell, when Carson would come along, that would be adding the medical head as well!) Ronon even talked Sam into giving him some equipment — weapons and explosives and whatnot. Eventually, he had himself a pretty good fighting force with a number of successful ops under their belts.

And then, Rodney tells us, they got word of a Wraith lab that Michael was using to clone his hybrids. (The outside even looks like that cloning facility from “BAMSR”, but Rodney did call it a lab, and I’d had the impression that the cloning facility was the only one of its kind.) We see Ronon’s crew infiltrate the lab — and run into Todd. (Yay!) They hold each other at mutual gunpoint and soon determine that they’re there for the same purpose. As they continue their standoff, word comes of the arrival of a Wraith cruiser. When one of his men insists that they must abort the mission, Ronon tells the man to give him his C-4, and then get everyone to the ‘Gate and signal him when they get there. “You intend to complete your mission?” Todd asks. “You’re damn right,” Ronon answers, grinning ferally. “As do I,” Todd tells him, explaining that he was going to write a program that would slowly create a fatal error, but now there’s no time. “I was just gonna blow it up,” Ronon says, walking off. “Naturally,” Todd says, following. (Ohmygods, I love these two together — as much as Ronon and Teal’c, if not more!)

As they make their way through the facility, they get attacked, and fight hybrids off hand-to-hand. They end the fight with Ronon’s knife at Todd’s throat. “Force of habit,” Ronon says, showing no sign of standing down. “Indeed,” Todd says. (Heeeee! Bet Ronon had a Teal’c flashback at that point!) Ronon then looks down to find Todd’s own blade poised at his heart. Todd leads Ronon to a room that would be the most effective for detonation, with secondary explosions that would take out the whole lab. After Ronon plants the explosives, Todd starts to lead Ronon out, but company arrives, forcing them back into the room. Todd suggests that Ronon detonate the C-4 now; Ronon insists on waiting for his people to give the signal that they’re out. “Very well,” Todd agrees. There’s a shootout with the enemy; Todd says they can’t hold out forever, but Ronon still waits. A moment later, he gets his signal, and tells the remaining guy to leave too, no questions asked. “Are we done?” Todd asks, a strange smile on his face. “Yeah,” Ronon says, raising the detonator. Todd gives a small nod. Ronon smiles ruefully and pushes the button. (Surprisingly, despite all the McSheppiness, this was my very fave sequence of the ep, especially the look Ronon and Todd share in their last moment. As proud as I was of Sam, I’m quadruply proud of Ronon here, not just for his sacrifice, but for being able to let go of his hatred of Wraith in general enough to genuinely smile, with a sense of camaraderie, at this one Wraith who’d proven himself to be not such a bad guy. I guess his experience with Teal’c was good practice! And I’m proud of and deliriously pleased with Todd, too, both for not arguing with Ronon about waiting for the humans to escape, and for being willing to sacrifice himself as well, even eager to do so. I’d forgotten that he’s got a warrior side to him besides the scientist aspect. And I guess he cares for his own people after all, if he was willing to do this for them! It’s a shame no one will ever know about their final moments — what we saw wasn’t Rodney’s actual memory, after all, since he wasn’t there. Although, hey, glad they won’t stay dead!)

Rodney apologises to John, saying that he wished these stories had happier endings. When Sheppard doesn’t respond, he calls out to him several times, getting more anxious each time. The door opens, and John falls right through Rodney, hitting the floor. (Nice suspense — I knew full well that John would make it through, but I couldn’t help but still be anxious!) Rodney says that his bio-signature is barley registering; John, face-down in the floor, doesn’t respond, doesn’t even move. Rodney is at a loss. (Of course there’s another commercial break here.)

John stirs. A relieved Rodney offers words of encouragement. John rolls over and greets Rodney feebly. The hologram says that he’d help him up, but … he holds up his hands for emphasis. We learn that John was out cold all night. (Facedown in a pile of sand, ugh!) Rodney suggests that they need to get John to the stasis pod ASAP. “Agreed,” John says weakly. (Awwww! Nice Sheppard-whump and McSheppy interaction!)

Next we see them, they’re entering the room with the stasis pod, and Rodney is saying that he’s got the solar panels ready. As the approach the pod, a drawer slides out; Rodney tells John to take the first crystal in it, as it has the ‘Gate address to where Teyla is being held and other intel. Instead of going into the pod right away, though, John points out that Rodney never said what happened to him. (Be still my heart! It’s not like it really matters, since it won’t have happened now anyway, and there’s not a journey left to fill with conversation as the go, yet he still stops to ask after Rodney, even with the shape he’s in! While I’m sure he wouldn’t want any of the hardships that his friends suffered to be forgotten, I’d like to think that this story is the most important of all to him, both because it’s obvious that Rodney went though a lot to make all of this possible, and had to go it alone for so long, but also because it’s Rodney. I’d also like to think that the latter reason would be enough all on its own for John to ask what happened. So while the Ronon/Todd thing was my fave moment, this is a very close second.) Rodney, shockingly, doesn’t want to talk about it. “Well, why not? Obviously you survived …” John prompts. Rodney says that that’s only because he quit the Stargate program. “Well, that doesn’t sound like you …” John remarks, surprised and concerned. (Awwww. Doesn’t it, though? Rodney’s often a pessimist — it’s John that has always kept him going, even when he hasn’t believed he could be the odds. No mater how much John’s somewhat bullying attitude might strike me as unfair or unreasonable at times, even I can’t deny that it’s ultimately effective most of the time — and that makes it easy to believe Rodney would quit without him around.)

Rodney explains that Atlantis was put under “new management”, and tells John of a day when he happened to be in the infirmary, there for a splinter. (Heh, can anyone remind me what episode that’s a callback to? I almost would have suspected that he was making up an excuse to see Keller, similarly to what I suspected Ronon of doing before, if not for the vague memory of him in a similar scenario in another ep. Unless he was pulling the same I’ll get an injury so I can visit my crush scam on Carson? *Snicker*) Keller is a little irritated; Rodney points out that it may be just a splinter, but it still really hurts. She explains that, with how busy they are, he’s just come at a bad time. (Of course, that’s something akin to tempting fate by asking “Can this day get any worse?” You think you’re busy now, Keller? …)

Woolsey shows up just then, and we learn that he’s been made the new head of Atlantis. (*Shudder*) Rodney is clearly not happy about it and, truth be told, Woolsey seems rather uncomfortable. (Hey, why is his uniform grey instead of blue? Coupled with the burgundy stripes, it reminds me of one of Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s uniforms — which is funny, considering the actor who plays Woolsey is named Robert Picardo, he’s balding, and he was on another Trek series, Voyager ….) Sounding snappish, Woolsey asks Keller what her team is doing; she explains that they’re organising supplies for one of their refugee camps. He tells her that he has to “ask” her to stop, as the IOA is recalling personnel, and Atlantis is to become focused on defense. He informs Keller that that her staff is being downsized. He also points out that they need to keep a ship in orbit at all times, so without the space bridge, they won’t be able to re-supply so easily; they have to reprioritise. She protests that they’re short-handed as it is; he points out that if they aren’t helping other planets anymore and concentrate solely on their own base, they won’t be shorthanded anymore. (Ugh, I want to say some things, but in the interest of not wanting to spoil people, I won’t.) A mortified Keller points out that people are dying out there; Woolsey shows regret, saying that if he thought there was something he could do, he would. (Thing is, I think he really would if he were directly confronted with a dying person — it’s just that he just can’t even imagine acting outside of his little bureaucratic bubble, and uses that bubble to shield and distance himself from tragedy, mollifying himself with IOA party lines.)

Rodney asks, “What about Michael?” Woolsey reveals that the IOA figures that Michael knows what their defensive capabilities are, and would leave them be, so long as they don’t provoke him. (Oh really? He wouldn’t ever jump at the chance of destroying the homeworld of the humans that ruined his life? Even Atlantis couldn’t stand up to an attack by a whole fleet of hive ships!) Rodney’s expression says he thinks that the IOA’s reasoning is a little crazy, but it’s Keller who actually speaks up, disgusted with the idea of letting Michael take over Pegasus. Woolsey asks her how many of their own people have to die. (Uh, how about the fact that it was Earth-born expedition team that saw fit to create Michael in the first place?) Woolsey lists off the people who were her friends and died for the cause — including Sheppard. “Sheppard is not dead,” Rodney points out mulishly. (McShep *squeee!*) “Right,” Woolsey says, sounding like he doesn’t really believe that. “He’s just been transported 48,000 years into the future. I guess that makes him one of the lucky ones,” Woolsey adds, and departs. (I’m thinking John’d disagree with ya there, pal .…)

The hologram Rodney says that Keller couldn’t stand the thought of standing around doing nothing while the rest of the galaxy suffered, so she decided to leave; Rodney decided to do the same. On the long trip home on the Daedalus, they fell in love. (I can’t shake the sense that it’s a we’re one of the last two left sort of love, bonding over experiences that not many others can really share, but that could just be me. All the same, the soft-eyed looks Rodney gives her make me all melty, and the kiss they share is sad but sweet.)

“Wait a minute,” John interrupts, “You and Keller?” “Why do you find that so surprising?” Rodney asks in hurt tones. (I’m guessing he expected a reaction like that, really. Poor guy.) Looking deeply concerned for his friend, John says that all he means is that, if they mess with the timeline, things might not work out the same way for Rodney and Keller. (Ah, but they’d never know that, and you don’t know that they wouldn’t be happier with other people anyway, John. Besides, they still could end up together ….) Rodney says he’s counting on it. John doesn’t understand why — Rodney survived, he got the girl — it doesn’t sound so bad. (It’s kind of sweet that John seems willing to let the rest of Pegasus go to hell in a handbasket and die himself just so that Rodney’s happiness wouldn’t be erased. Not that I would want John to do that, but still. And isn’t it sweet that he’s thinking of the hologram as the real thing, asking if he’s sure he wants to erase the real Rodney’s happiness, even though the man is long gone anyway? And even if John wouldn’t sacrifice the rest of the galaxy, it’s nice that he recognised what would happen and felt bad about it.) Rodney wistfully says that it was great at first. He’d gotten a high-paying job in his field, and she’d started her own practice.

[nms:stargate atlantis,1,2]

We see Rodney and Keller together in a park, walking, when Keller starts coughing harshly, Rodney laying a comforting hand on her back (awww) and looking on worriedly. (Well, will you look at that? He’s actually touching her! He’s come a long way since Katie!) Keller looks at her hand — she’s coughed blood onto it. The holographic Rodney says that, less than a year after leaving it, they had to return to the SGC, since no regular doctor could tell what was wrong with her. It turns out that Keller is suffering from complications due to repeated exposure to the Hoffan drug — and there’s no cure. (So even if it doesn’t kill you right away, it could still kill you if you get multiple exposures? I guess it’s like some vitamins — take the right amount and you’re fine so long as you don’t have an adverse reaction to start with, but take too much …. Anyway, the look on his face when the doctor tells him Keller’s going to die … let’s just say that it’s tissue time again!) It’s all too much for Rodney, but in nearly breaking, he finally has a breakthrough, coming up with the beginnings of a plan on how to fix it all. Keller is against the idea, saying that what’s done is done and you can’t change the past. He protests that he can. “You think that’s what I want?” she asks, stressing to him that she has no regrets about her life and the things she got to see in her year on Atlantis. Rodney tells her that he has regrets — a boatload of them — and that he wants to do something about it. Keller tries to get him to promise that he won’t try to mess with the timeline — she doesn’t want him to obsess over it for the rest of his life. Hologram Rodney tells John that he couldn’t make that promise, though, and that Keller died three days later.

(On the one hand, I do think Rodney was endearingly sweet in these Rodney/Jennifer scenes — it’s nice to see him have a positive relationship experience with someone who knows and accepts what he’s like, and it’s nice to see such a soft, doting side to him. And there was set-up in “Trio,” so the relationship didn’t even come out of nowhere. But on the other hand, I still prefer Keller with Ronon. Rodney and Jennifer’s relationship had a sad cloud hanging over it the entire time, like it was more about shared grieving than genuine love — they had chemistry, and a better relationship together than he’d had with Katie, but it still seemed to me like something was missing. Granted, given their circumstances, I’m glad that they were able to find as much comfort together as they did. It was fine for an alternate timeline, but I don’t think I would care to see it in the primary one. Of course, I doubt the producers would move in such a direction anyway. At any rate, since I can’t seem to bring myself to get all shipper-y over their relationship, I have difficulty accepting Keller as the reason Rodney strove so hard to change the future. I can, however, buy it as the straw that broke the camel’s back — that her loss was the “one more bad thing” that he needed to actually think of the way to save them all. And, happily, Mallozzi has basically confirmed this. I can also believe that he would have made the effort just as easily if Keller hadn’t actually died — well, provided he didn’t let her talk him out of it. Perhaps he might have even done it if she hadn’t gotten sick, if something else had sparked the idea. Anyway, of course, I can’t help but want to think that his primary reason for doing it all was to rescue Sheppard ….

Now, while I can understand Keller not wanting Rodney to try so hard to change the past for her sake and possibly spend the rest of his life obsessing over it … she should have had more confidence in his ability to get it done, and shouldn’t have tried to hold him back from saving all the rest of their friends or the billions of people in Pegasus. John wasn’t supposed to go to the future, ergo the life they lived without him wasn’t supposed to happen anyway. It’s not an improper alteration of the timeline to correct John’s situation — it would have been improper not to bring him back to his proper time. Granted, the knowledge John will bring back about Teyla is something that he wasn’t supposed to be privy to, but it will allow them to fix the mess they made by meddling with other sciences besides physics, namely genetics. They created Michael — if they hadn’t, Michael would never have existed to kill all those billions. So yeah, I think they had a moral obligation to restore John’s proper place in time and do their best to stop Michael’s plan from succeeding. Maybe that’s even how time was meant to play out, so that John could get info he needed by the only means he really could — by learning of it after. I mean, if Seer Davos is right, things played out exactly as they were supposed to, and the efforts to change things are really just a part of the method to make them the way they are ultimately supposed to be. Besides, it’s not like McKay was trying to build a time machine and alter events that way ….)

Rodney quits his well-paying job to teach at a community college (and fanficcers everywhere go wild, as that’s a popular alternate-universe occupation for Rodney: being a college professor). Though it doesn’t pay well (as if he needs the money anyway), it allows him the free time to work on the equations he needs to fix the timeline. His sister tries to help him out for a while, but eventually gets fed up. (Yay for the Kate Hewlett cameo!) We see Rodney older, as he is now, unwavering in his task (and using a wickedly-cool screen that reacts to waves of his hand, in lieu of his former whiteboard). And finally, he figures it out. All that’s there is to do now is to get back to Atlantis and implement his plan; while he doesn’t have many friends at the SGC, all he needs is one.

That one turns out to be Lorne, who is in command there. (Yay, Lorne!) Lorne says that he’s read Rodney’s proposal; Rodney asks, panicked, if he’s told anyone else about it. Lorne says that he’s not stupid, but adds that he doesn’t see how he can get this approved. Rodney suggests that Lorne lie about what “it’s” for. (Uh, don’t you think someone will eventually notice? Even if the timeline will be erased; Lorne will have to live with the repercussions for the rest of his life ….) Lorne questions whether they have the right to change history. (I’ve already argued this point enough — now it’s Rodney’s turn.) Rodney points out that Lorne knows what happened in Pegasus, and what’s happening here. (We don’t know the latter! Tell us!!) He asks if Lorne really thinks this is the way things are supposed to be. (I wonder if it occurs to Lorne that he might never become the general in charge of the SGC if the timeline is altered? In fact, I could see John in the role — but only if there ends up being a reason he doesn’t spend the rest of his life in Atlantis ….)

Hologram Rodney doesn’t know if Lorne felt sorry for him or if he didn’t think it would work anyway, but whatever the reason, he let Rodney through. “The rest, you know,” he tells John. (Not really — did McKay die in the city? Did he come back? Wherever he ended up, did he live longer? What happened to him and Lorne? Or the SGC?) John remarks, sympathetically, that he himself may have had a bad day, but Rodney’s had a tough twenty-five years! Rodney just gives a small, sad smile and tells John that they’re ready, gesturing to the pod. John steps in. Rodney explains that he’ll be waiting right there for John when he wakes up (and McSheppers everywhere give a happy little sigh at the sentiment). He adds that, if the plan works, they won’t have much time to get John to the ‘Gate, but he thinks that they’ll make it. (Okay, I’m still confused by the fact that the solar panels will only give them an extra hundred years, when they need at least two hundred, possibly as much as five. But I assume by “make it”, Rodney means get to the ‘Gate while the flare would still make him travel in time when he goes through the ‘Gate.) John asks what will happen if it doesn’t work. Rodney tries to be comforting in his awkward way, saying that John won’t feel anything, he just won’t wake up. John grimaces. (Bet he’s thinking of Carson’s own fears about going into the pod and thinking déjà vu ….) John then asks if Rodney happened to notice, over the 25 years, who the Superbowl; of course, seeing as he’s not much into sports, Rodney didn’t, nor did he notice any winners of the Stanley Cup or the World Series. (John! Is that gambling problem you caught from Rodney getting worse?? *Snicker*) Rodney raises a hand in farewell, saying “Good luck, John.” (*Squee!* First name usage! Even if he’s just a programmed hologram, the original Rodney did such a great job with that programming that it might as well be the real Rodney saying it ….) Giving a small nod, John goes into stasis, and Rodney fades away.

Back in the present day, we see Chuck telling Sam and Rodney that the current unscheduled ‘Gate activation is Sheppard’s IDC. (Ah, so no shots of Sheppard’s mad scramble for the ‘Gate! Hey, whatever happened to GDOs, the devices they used in the old days to use to let the SGC know who was dialing in?) As she and Rodney approach the ‘Gate, Sam calls for security. (Better safe than sorry.) John rushes in, sans his tac vest and such. He stops short, arms spread non-threateningly, when he sees the guns aimed at him. He looks around the room in awed relief that the plan worked. “Rodney, you’re a genius!” he says emphatically. “Okay,” Rodney replies warily. Sam asks John what happened; instead of answering (he’s been learning from Rodney, it seems), he asks how long he’s been gone. Sam tells him twelve days. (So is John closer to the age he ought to be if not for hat time-dilation he spent six months in, or did Todd’s giving him his years back in “common Ground” restore him to that age already, and now he’s even younger than he ought to be?) John says to himself, “Okay, she won’t have had her baby yet,” then tells Sam that they’re on the clock — he knows where Teyla is.

[nms:stargate atlantis,1,0]

A bit later, we see him pacing in an isolation room, irritated as he talks to Sam, saying that they “don’t have time for this.” She reminds him that there are procedures to be followed. (This reminds me of Carson and Keller’s discussion at the beginning of the previous ep. Interesting how John’s situation is mirroring Carson’s in small ways — the stasis chamber, a life lived differently from others, his identity being in question, being kept in isolation …) He says that he’s not a clone, if that’s what she’s worried about. She assures him that they know from the tests that he’s not, then says that they have things to discuss, as his story’s a pretty wild one, “even for this place.” “But that’s my point: how could I make this up?” he protests. Rodney interrupts over the radio, telling them that he’s found a record in the sensor long of a solar flare occurring at the moment that, according to Lorne, Sheppard dialed the ‘Gate. Sam asks why the ‘Gate’s failsafe didn’t prevent the wormhole from locking. Rodney hedges that they’ve had some glitches since they last updated the operating system. (Isn’t that typical? Things made worse in the effort to make them better? I guess Rodney still needs to learn to leave well enough alone ….) “That’s what you call a ‘glitch’, huh?” Sheppard asks. (*Snicker*) Rodney assures him that he’ll give Zelenka a stern talking to. (And people wonder why I accuse Rodney of shifting blame to others.*Grin* Yeah, okay, maybe it really was Zelenka’s fault, for all I know, but the way Rodney’s acting, I think he feels at least partly responsible ….) John asks Sam, impatiently, if they can go now; she nods and they leave.

We see John and a number of military geared up and waiting by the ‘Gate; Ronon and Rodney join them. Rodney says that he knows John has been debriefed already on what future things they need to avoid, but there’s one more thing he needs to know: “Did I still have hair?” (Haaaaa! Trust Rodney to worry over something like that!) John looks away and thinks about it for a moment. Recognising a golden opportunity, he lies, telling Rodney no, then hurries the men through the ‘Gate. (Heheheheh …. I am very curious about what John did choose to divulge — did he tell Rodney that he and Keller end up together, or tell Lorne that he became a general, or did he keep quiet about it all, as Teal’c did in “Unending”? I’m thinking the latter.)

Sheppard and company arrive at the building where Teyla was found in the other timeline, and they split up. John radios Rodney, asking if he’s found anything. Rodney finds a data terminal a moment later, and tells Sheppard as much, adding that he’s going to power it up and try to hack it. John and Ronon, meanwhile, find the place where Teyla was kept in the alternate timeline, explaining that the other Rodney had described it to him. (Wow, that must have been pretty damn descriptive, considering what a mess the place is! Maybe the description included directions on how to move through the complex ….) John radios Rodney and tells him that they’ve found a “twisted version of a maternity ward.” (Wraith tech is pretty gross-looking, and Ronon found a scary-looking knife that I do not want to know the purpose of.) John conjectures that they got there too early, but this is where Michael will bring Teyla to have the baby. Rodney gets the data terminal up and running, and is thrilled to discover a wealth of information in it, such as ‘Gate addresses, subspace communication codes, and research into the hybrids. Lorne gives a pleased smile. And then, just like that, the info vanishes, to be replaced by a countdown. The building starts to shake. Lorne radios Sheppard, informing him that it was a booby trap, but it’s too late — the place is falling down around their ears. Rodney gets blocked off from exiting the room by a falling beam, and we see Sheppard and Ronon nearly hit by falling things as well. And then we see the building from the outside, collapsing.

Whoa. I’m a little breathless — that was pretty intense! How the heck are they going to survive that? I don’t suppose the Daedalus is going to swoop in, as a sort of dues ex machina? And what will they do about Teyla? So much for the intel Sheppard brought back! Man, if the series hadn’t been renewed, I would have been very upset at having to wait nearly a year for a movie to be made to resolve that plot! Thank Gaia we have a whole other season to look forward to! And on that note, I want to thank the cast and crew of Stargate Atlantis for a brilliant season that blew my expectations out of the water — and considering how high those expectations were, that’s no small feat! I don’t know when the new season will start — I don’t think even the producers know at this point — but you can bet I’ll be back here when it does! So this isn’t “Goodbye!” — it’s just “See you later!” And thank you for reading!

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Wolfen Moondaughter is on the editorial board for the comics industry webzine Sequential Tart for which she has written since late 2001. She’s also written for Newtype USA, contributed to Andy Mangel’s book Animation on DVD, self-published a novel (Memory of the Brightwing). Writing as “Anastasia Witchhazel”, her fantasy short story, “Chase”, is the title story in a homoerotic anthology from Wapshott Press. She’s an artist, too, having done spot illustrations for Dragonlance, a few panels for Barb Lien-Cooper’s webcomic series Gun Street Girl, and private commissions. In her spare time, she’s a fanficcer/fanartist. See more of her work at her site, Wolfen’s Webworld.