SGA 4.04 Doppelganger (commentary)
[Troy McClure] Hi, I'm girly_curl_3 . You may remember me from such commentaries as Miller's Crossing! Trinity! And Runner![/Troy McClure]
Okay, seriously, yes, after a very long hiatus where Real Life kicked my ass, I'm back with another commentary. Don't know how regularly I'll be able to do these but it is my goal to complete both S3 and S4 sometime in the next decade. :) So, without further ado, I give you...
Doppelganger
I have to keep saying this about season 4: Okay, look. You are not dreaming. This was an actual episode of television. The events of this show are canon. Try to contain your swoon.
Because for all that season 3 was the season of love and gave us Echoes and Tao of Rodney and suchforth, S4 has gone much darker and somehow, that's made these episodes…mean more, I guess. Like, S3 Sheppard can have all the candles and sparkly curtains and refusing to give Rodney's eulogy all he wants and it will make us squee and declare their big gay love is big gay canon and everything. But then S4 comes along and Sheppard staggers drunkenly through Atlantis' empty halls, broken because he thinks Rodney's dead and that makes your heart go all meep-clench-eee (™aesc) and you realize that it's not just big gay love, it's love. Slashy or straight, whatever kind you want to call it, it's there and it's real.
Okay, yes, yes. This is the one where John clearly never sleeps in his own bed because it's about a foot too short. And also where they kill off Heightmeyer. And where we get the awesome soaking-wet rowboat scene, complete with whales and clowns. And it's also the one that spawned a million Shep/Evil!Shep fangirl fantasies. Because, c'mon, Evil!Shep is hot. Continued props to Hewlett's hairstylist. Extensive props to whoever decided that the world needs more John Sheppard, particularly when he's got himself pinned to the gateroom floor. Y-U-M.
Oh, also, this is dedicated to poetryfiend because she asked for Doppelganger next when I was having trouble getting started. ♥
SCENE: Nighttime on M3X-387, or A Mysterious Dark Forest. The perfect place to look for useful technology to use in the fight against our enemies. Bwuh? Okay, uh, let's just go with it. Team Shep is "exploring" the Planet of Eternal Darkness. V.v. dark, hard to see anything, but they seem to be hacking through a jungle. There is a big long discussion about why they're there and it turns out Rodney and Zelenka have a bet about whether or not there is anything of value on the planet.
RODNEY: Do you have any idea how many gate addresses in the Ancient database have absolutely no accompanying information?
JOHN: 42.
FANGIRLS: EEE, we knew you were a giant geek at heart, John Sheppard.
~ John steps in a squelchy puddle with his princess boots and decides to call the mission. They're about to head back to the jumper when a NATURAL CRYSTALLINE GROWTH on a tree suddenly springs to light.
JOHN: *peering at crystal* Looks like one of those toys you play with when you were a kid.
NATURAL CRYSTALLINE GROWTH: *glows harmlessly*
RODNEY: Commodore 64?
RONON: Triple-barrel shotgun?
JOHN: *eyeroll of disgust* A kaleidoscope. *staring into the NCG*
NATURAL CRYSTALLINE GROWTH: And so, my plan begins. *evil cackle*
~ And John, who has apparently never learned anything, reaches out to touch the strange crystal. It flares and knocks him to the ground, going dark. Rodney scolds him, saying John killed it because it's not giving off any more energy and John says he has no idea why he touched it.
JOHN: I'm gonna recommend sending a science team back here to check it out.
RODNEY: I am a science team!
And then Ronon hauls Rodney off by the back of his jacket. Hee.
SCENE: Back at Atlantis, in the infirmary. Dr. Keller tells John he's in perfect health. He and Teyla leave the infirmary, each heading off to get some sleep. Keller warns John, "No more touching strange things." Hee. So I guess that mean's Rodney's on-limits?
CREDITS. Hey, have I mentioned the new credits? They're pretty much the same as the old ones, so I hate them equally. Later footage but styled the same as previous seasons. Starring The Flan, ATap, RLut, JMo and His Hewliciousness.
SCENE: Sleepytime on Atlantis. Teyla is sleeping with about eight lit candles scattered around the room. As you do. She's restless and having a nightmare. We know it's a nightmare because suddenly we are in a tent and Teyla is wearing her nightmarish Season 1 perm and her Hooker Coat of Many Colors. Shep's sitting at a table, creepily eating food. FYI, Shep being creepy is going to be a recurring theme this episode. Ronon accusingly says he knew those two would eventually hook up. Teyla defends, saying it's just dinner, while Rodney wanders around with the gameboy, saying something in there is giving off a strange energy reading. Now John's looming creepily over Teyla, telling her that nobody but him trusts her. She hears her father cry from outside and rushes to the door, only to be met by Bug!John coming in and grabbing her by the throat. He pushes her to the table and then smacks his feeding hand down on her chest. She wakes up terrified and gasping.
~ Okay, so wait - what's Teyla's nightmare, exactly? That people think she and John are together? That she won't be able to save her people? (Drink!) That everyone will think she's sleeping with a bug? I'm guessing it's more to do with the trust issue (Thank you, Bates) than anything else, but that was a wack dream.
SCENE: Morning time on Atlantis. In this beautifully-lit scene, Teyla, Ronon and Rodney are eating breakfast on a balcony at sunrise. Teyla is telling them about her dream. John joins them. They fall silent.
JOHN: What?
RODNEY: Teyla had a dream about you last night.
FANGIRLS: Didn't we all?
TEYLA: *scolding* Rodney.
~ Teyla is too creeped out by John and flees breakfast. John defends, saying he can't control other people's dreams.
RODNEY: Really? You think you can't control a person's dreams? My father read me Moby Dick when I was seven years old. I mean, seriously, what was the man thinking? Do you have any idea how long I had nightmares about, about being eaten by a whale?
RONON: They haven't stopped, have they?
RODNEY: …no.
~ Heh. So much for expanding your horizons. No wonder he hates English majors.
~ For those of you who are interested, it appears that John and Rodney are eating the exact same breakfast: cereal, grapes, strawberries and coffee.
SCENE: Teyla talks to a red-haired Heightmeyer. Blecch. She's so much better as a blonde. Blah blah blah, Teyla's afraid of falling asleep and John's creeping her out. She goes to see Keller, who tells her she's fine, just needs to rest. Keller gives her some pills to take.
SCENE: Sleepytime on Atlantis again. Dr. Keller wakes up being called to the infirmary for an emergency. It's Teyla, in severe abdominal distress. There's a couple of nurse-type people there, and John, who is looming creepily again. There appears to be something inside Teyla that wants to get out the hard way. Suddenly, an alien bug claws its way messily from Teyla's abdomen, Alien-like. John is still looming creepily, and then says, with this eerie sort of empty, bright look on his face and in a creepy, semi-excited voice, "Can you believe this?" and Keller wakes up exceedingly disturbed.
~ That one's easy, obviously the young new doctor is afraid of being faced with some crazy-ass Pegasus medical dilemma that she won't know how to handle.
SCENE: Keller heads to the infirmary to get herself some pills. As she turns from the cabinet, she practically runs into Ronon, who has appeared from nowhere with a bloody gash on his head. He is also doing the creepy looming thing. John pops out from behind him. They have apparently been sparring in the middle of the night. As you do. This part was weird and made me think somebody was dreaming. However, please note that sparring-John is wearing the black long-sleeve quarter-zip top (in which he looks really super hot).
~ And then the Keller/Dex ship is launched when Keller sort of watches John leave and Ronon completely unsubtly but totally charmingly says, "Ah, I don't think he's seeing anyone, y'know…" and Jennifer gets all flustered. Hee.
SCENE: Ronon's all patched up and heading back to his room, but the halls are eerily silent and empty. He runs from room to room, calling out, "Hello? Is anyone here?" but there's no answer. He goes to a transporter, which opens into the forest. Mysterious blue energy pulses shoot at him. He runs into a tree branch and is knocked to the forest floor. Sheppard approaches, one hand behind his back, asking what Ronon's running from. As Shep leans to help Ronon up, he hits him with a stick. Please note, this John is wearing the long-sleeve camp shirt with the shoulder tabs that we originally saw in 3.16 The Ark.
~ After a fade to black, Ronon wakes up, bound and gagged in a hole in the ground. As Sheppard cheerfully begins shoveling dirt over him, Ronon suddenly jerks awake, back in the infirmary with Keller tending to his head wound.
~ Okay, aww. How adorably woobie is it that Ronon's nightmare is being all alone again? And then having the first person he trusted in seven years turn on him. I just want to hug him.
~ Also weird, I thought the whole thing was the nightmare, but apparently the part where John and Ronon are midnight-sparring and John got in a lucky shot was real. Because here's Ronon, getting all stitched up by the hot doctor babe. Plus, who falls asleep when they're getting stitches?
SCENE: Jennifer, Rodney, Ronon and Teyla are having lunch. They discuss nightmares. Rodney tells about the time he took geeky Jocelyn Rutger to see Alien and puked when the monster burst out of John Hurt's chest.
RODNEY: I eat when I get nervous.
RONON: *dryly* Really. I hadn't noticed.
~ I love that Ronon has learned the art of sarcasm. Also, I love how much he wants to see Alien and his little happy smile here.
~ You know what else is awesome? How much TEAM there is this time. And I like that they're including Keller. And not just because she has the same first name as me. (A lovely coincidence, however, that affords me the opportunity to hear all my favorite boys say my name.)
~ Anyway, so Keller proposes that it's weird that they're all having dreams that feature creepy-happy Sheppard as the bogey man. And Rodney tells them about his recent nightmare.
RODNEY: blah blah Colonel Carter blah blah lemon chicken blah blah promoting Zelenka.
RONON: That's it?
RODNEY: …then I was eaten by a whale.
ME: HEE HEE HEE
SCENE: Keller and Carter walk-and-talk. Keller is telling Carter about her bogeyman-Sheppard dream theory, with its sequential pattern and the fact it happened right after John touched the NCG. They're interrupted by a no-name gate-tech (who I think has actually been around since S1 - I swear I just saw him in Poisoning the Well ) who reminds me of Vern Yip telling them there's an emergency situation in the "crew quarters atrium." Dammit, I cannot get a good look at Vern's flag patch so I don't know where he's from. He's Asian and the flag looks like it's all red, so I'm going with Chinese.
SCENE: Crew quarters atrium. Aw, the emergency situation is a sweet, precious, barefooted Lorne (Hi Lorne!) who has apparently gone batshit insane. And look, he's all squinty and sleepy and bedhead-y. I want to kiss him, even though he's pointing a pistol at QuarterZip!Sheppard. Lorne's calling for someone to shoot Shep with an ARG because he's a Replicator. There's a bunch of other people there, including Teyla and Kate, some Marines and some people with the blue science panels who are just standing around watching the show. As you do. Also, there's some person on the stairs and another in the background with yellow panels - what's the yellow for? I don't remember. Maintenance? Food service? Someone who knows, please tell me. ETA: Duh. Yellow is medical. Props to berlinghoff79 for pointing that out.
Sam gets there, susses out what's bugging Lorne and calls for an ARG.
LORNE: blah blah Replicator! blah blah I'll shoot him…
JOHN: *squinchy eyebrows of talking to the natives and/or your crazy 2IC* Whoa, whoa, that won't be necessary. I've got my hands up in a very non-threatening way.
CARTER: Call for an ARG.
JOHN: *scrunchy face of disbelief* What, you believe him?
SAM: Of course not, but it won't hurt you and it might help him to lower his gun.
And then Lorne decides Sam's a Replicator too and is about to shoot when Ronon stuns him from the balcony above. Oh, Ronon, never stop being your badass self.
Also, Teyla is in this scene, for whatever reason, and she's wearing her BDUs as well as one of her fancy embroidered midriff shirts. It's a…weird look. Her sleeve patch is missing, too, while the Marines and Sam have theirs.
SCENE: Bedhead!Lorne is sitting in the Isolation Room, talking up to Heightmeyer, Carter, Keller and Sheppard in the Observation Room. Turns out he was sleepwalking and doesn't remember a thing. They discuss the weird Shep nightmares everyone's been having and that it must be linked to the NCG. Heightmeyer thinks she sounds all smart by using the word "somnambulism" when the rest of them say "sleepwalking."
There's a little callout to when SG-1 found the crystal entity that impersonated O'Neil and to when Carter "got taken over by an alien." So at least the writers are giving a nod to "SG-1's been there, done that." But hey, it doesn't mean Sam automatically knows how to fix everything. Keller suggests that perhaps the NCG is feeding on their fear. Oh, so it's an evil crystal. And they decide it spreads through touch and has imprinted on John and that everyone who's had contact has to be isolated.
SCENE: Conference room. Team Shep plus Carter, Heightmeyer and Keller discuss a plan.
HEIGHTMEYER: blah blah the NCG is behaving much like a sociopath.
JOHN: *to Teyla* Did I have a goatee?
TEYLA: … *shakes her head*
ME: HEE HEE HEE BizarroShep!
Seriously, watch Teyla in this scene. The look she gives John here is too funny. Like, I don't understand you, but no, your evil nightmare self did not have a goatee.
~ Not foreshadowing AT ALL, Heightmeyer mentions that the NCG might be able to put someone in serious jeopardy. Aw, and it's sad because Kate actually looks pretty in this scene, red hair notwithstanding.
~ And then they decide they don't really know a lot so Carter is sending them back to '387 for more intel. Rodney is not happy about it.
RODNEY: But, but, uh, you, you said no more Gate travel. I thought that was a wise decision.
CARTER: I said on an as-needed basis, McKay. I think this qualifies.
RODNEY: Yeah, but don't you think a science team would be better suited for this kind of-
RONON: *walking by* You are a science team, remember?
RODNEY: Okay, fine, but it's a big planet you know. *calling after Sam* We could really use some more manpower!
SCENE: The same Mysterious Dark Forest on M3X-387. Everybody's in the red Hazmat suits. There appears to be extra manpower, including Zelenka, who Rodney is crowing at over losing the bet. Zelenka says the word "valuable" with every single one of its syllables, like "val-u-a-bul."
~ Teyla calls Rodney over to see an NCG that has lit up on another tree. Zelenka and Rodney decide it's a good idea to harvest an active one (lighted) as well as a non-active one (dark).
SCENE: Science lab. Zelenka and Rodney are working on the two NCG specimens. Keller is staring into the octagonal fishtank holding the live NCG. McKay and Zelenka do their blah blah sciencecakes-shared brain thing and Keller gets mesmerized by the live NCG. She's overcome by the compulsion to want to touch it. There's a cute little part where Zelenka and Rodney both need to get by Keller and they do a little shuffle where they try not to get too close to her as they slide around.
~ Um. I don't know exactly what the point of this scene is except to establish that Zelenka and McKay are dorks with a shared brain and that they can calibrate the city-wide sensors to detect where the entity from the NCG is.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Zelenka is scanning Lorne with a gameboy they've modified to pick up the NCG signature. Lorne still has no shoes. The NCG isn't inside Lorne anymore and Rodney and Carter realize that it's moving from person to person via the power conduits, which means it could be in anybody now. The power conduits. Right. Oh, hello, leap of logic. Meet my friend, suspension of disbelief.
SCENE: Teyla walks out onto a balcony where Heightmeyer is standing on the edge of the railing. Ugh, can't they dress Kate prettier? She's wearing khaki pants and trainers that do absolutely nothing for her. Kate asks for help and Teyla tries to talk her down. Teyla rushes forward to get to Kate, only to be blocked by TabShoulder!Sheppard and his squinchy eyebrow-face of creepiness. Teyla struggles with a smirking Sheppard as Kate cries out and then falls from the balcony. I like how they did the fall - instead of seeing Kate fall, we see the fall from Kate's point of view.
SCENE: Keller walks into Heightmeyer's quarters. All we see is a profile shot of Kate in bed with her eyes closed. At least she's wearing a pretty nightie. Teyla tells Jennifer that Kate didn't report for duty and Teyla couldn't wake her up. Jennifer does some blippy things with a gameboy and tells Teyla Kate's dead.
~ Okay, WOW, really? I dunno how I feel about this. On the one hand, I sort of hate them for arbitrarily killing off another well-known character. But I was never a huge fan of Heightmeyer and her stupid red hair and HIPAA-violating ways. So I could go either way here. Mostly, I'm wondering who'll replace her, because god, if there's anything these people need, it's a head doctor. Anyway, who knows. Maybe Claire Rankin wanted to leave the show.
SCENE: Control Room. Carter prepares herself for what she's about to do. She signals Vern and then makes a city-wide announcement that they've lost Heightmeyer. Keller endears herself to me even more with her little pep-talk after Sam's done.
KELLER: That was good. I mean, horrible, obviously - terrifying and horrible - but I just…meant…you sounded strong. I’m sure they were at least a little reassured hearing your voice. But you don’t need me to tell you that.
CARTER: A day like this, it doesn't hurt. Thanks.
~ I just really, really like Keller. It's sweet how she's competent but still so insecure and unsure. This whole episode she's been tossing out ideas and then being like, oh, I'll shut up now, but she's right.
~ Also, re: Keller. Okay, look, I know Carson was beloved and stuff, but if you recall, he spent most of S3 making me hate him. And you know, if he'd just listened to Sheppard and stayed where he was, he never would have been blown up by a stupid exploding tumor. Overall, I like the character of Carson Beckett - he was interesting and complex and not a saint as some people seem to believe, which is one of the things I enjoyed about him. But because of how much they loved him, for some people, Keller already has a strike against her just by dint of not being Beckett, but she started with a clean slate with me. And I like her. I like how she's insecure and fallible and really trying to fill Carson's giant clown shoes. This makes her also an interesting and complex character and I really hope people give Keller a chance.
SCENE: Sheppard's quarters. Where he obviously NEVER sleeps because he's laying on his bed, which is a teeny, tiny, elf-sized bed that is not only narrow but also literally a foot too short for him. With his head on the pillow, his legs are hanging off the end well above the ankles. Hee. Guess that prescription mattress of Rodney's is really pretty nice. QuarterZip!Shep gets up, intending to leave and as the door opens, Teyla is standing there. Teyla says nothing, but hugs him. She is wearing a GIANT wristwatch. John awkwardly hugs her back with a little uncomfortable pat-pat.
SCENE: Control Room. Zelenka retrieves Carter from her office to tell her they've calibrated the city-wide sensors to pick up the NCG's signature. They've found a positive reading.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Rodney comes in nonchalantly, asking what they need him for and Zelenka does a blippy thing with his tablet, saying, "I'm sorry, Rodney, I have to go." Rodney immediately catches on as an armed guard closes the door. He looks up to the Observation Room where Carter and Keller are watching. Carter gives him a sympathetic little hand wave as QZ!Sheppard walks in. Carter explains that blah blah because of science, the NCG can't jump out of Rodney. John is concerned for Rodney's well-being if the NCG feels trapped.
RODNEY: Someone want to get me some coffee? *flappy hands* Already feeling a little tired here.
Keller says they can only keep Rodney awake for so long before it causes pulmonary failure. Hm. Not actually on the list of effects of sleep deprivation that I know of, but perhaps that comes down the line. Y'know, just before the lab rats die. Rodney looks really exasperated that they lured him in to a padded room with nothing for entertainment. It's got to be killing him that he can't help figure this thing out now.
Also, I thought it was only Gero that had been reading the fanfic. Perhaps Robert C. Cooper has been cribbing off Gero's extensive knowledge of what exactly the fangirls want, because from here on out, it's another fangirl wet dream.
SCENE: Sheppard and Carter in Carter's office. Shep wonders if the NCG knows it's trapped now. Teyla and Ronon come in and they all discuss ideas of what to do. John's got nothing beyond "shoot it" or possibly "reason with it." Sam posits that if the thing knows it's trapped, wouldn't it take the last chance to do the most damage? And which Shep correctly interprets that means it would kill McKay. He is not happy about the idea as indicated by his scrunchy face and agitated pacing. JFlans plays it very intense this scene.
Teyla thinks maybe they could give it a chance to leave without a host to transfer to. They discuss getting Rodney into a waking dream and "persuading" the NCG to leave. Ronon, god love him, has no idea what they're talking about.
SAM: Maybe he could be hypnotized into a state where he could successfully communicate with it.
TEYLA: He has successfully meditated into an altered state before.
JOHN: Yeah, but that was after he was genetically altered.
RONON: I'm sorry…what? *hands*…you want…McKay to ask this thing to leave?
And then John, in his desire to protect his woobie, wistfully wishes for a way to get into McKay's dreams.
FANGIRLS: Oh, honey, you're already in his dreams.
Sam seizes the concept and abruptly leaves the room without speaking.
RONON: Where's she going? What's going on?
JOHN: I dunno…but I think…I'm about to see a side of McKay I never wanted to see.
SCENE: Isolation Room. John and Rodney are laying on adjacent hospital beds, getting hooked up to all kinds of monitors and things, preparing for John to join Rodney in his dream. Sam, Teyla and Ronon discuss the plan in the Observation Room. They're using Been There Done That Tech from SG-1 Season 2's The Gamekeeper . Basically, they're not really sure what's going to happen or if the tech will allow Sheppard to understand what's going on in McKay's brain but Sam hopes it will work.
RONON: So, who on the what now?
SAM: blah blah sciencecakes. I'm sure their big gay love will make it work somehow.
In the Isolation Room, Rodney looks anxiously at John.
RODNEY: Are you sure about this?
JOHN: …not really.
RODNEY: I'm…*pointy finger* …pretty screwed up.
JOHN: You're tellin' me.
KELLER: We're ready if you are.
RODNEY: (to John) …thanks.
JOHN: I haven't done anything yet.
RODNEY: For tryin' …and don't say I didn't warn you!
And then it's sleepytime for John and Rodney as Sam, Ronon and Teyla watch with concern from above.
~ Aww. Just, aw. This scene was played with equal parts snarkiness and affection. I like where both Hew and Flans went with this. Like, not real jazzed about doing it but of course, what else are we gonna do?
SCENE: Rodney alone in a rowboat in the rain on an empty ocean. He looks behind him to see Atlantis, miles away. Sopping wet, he rows ineffectually toward home. Christ, DHew's shoulders look even more broad in this scene than usual. YUM. Although, I will say the rain does nothing for his hair, which I generally like to be a bit more lively, as if in response to Shep's hair. Regardless, he rows futilely as a whale circles nearby.
TabShoulder!Shep appears in the stern of the boat. Despite the rain, his hair stays as spunky and spiky as ever. He belittles Rodney, telling him he'll never make it back to Atlantis because he's too weak.
Everybody's dreams come true when a second Sheppard appears in the bow of the boat, encouraging Rodney. This one's wearing the quarter zip and his hair is temporarily being subdued by the rain. That's how you know he's the Good!Shep.
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: *sneering* You're pathetic. Might as well jump in.
RODNEY: *shaken* …
QUARTERZIP!SHEP: *sweetly earnest* Don't be afraid.
~ Okay, EEE. I love JFlan's delivery on that last line. It's so…sweet and encouraging. And in such contrast to the derogatory delivery of Evil!Shep's line.
Rodney rows ineffectually some more and the Sheppards argue and then Rodney yells for John to help him row. In a flash of lightning, and a famous screencap, QZ!Shep appears at the oars with him, and mentions that Rodney's dream isn't as strange as Rodney'd led him to believe it would be. And then Rodney points out the perfectly normal and yet still TOTALLY CREEPY CLOWN sitting in the back of the rowboat.
JOHN: I hate clowns.
And then a giant whale eats them.
~ And that is seriously one of the most bone-chilling scenes in a TV show ever, when the whale comes up from underneath the rowboat to swallow them up. Great CGI.
SCENE: Isolation Room. John wakes up to the sound of Rodney flatlining. Keller and Zelenka try to revive him to no avail using the defibrillator. As John watches in mute horror, Keller tells Shep that Rodney's dead.
~ Okay, look, I know they weren't really going to kill Rodney. But just for a second, weren't you a little freaked out that he might actually be dead?
The pain on Sheppard's face here is palpable as he takes in the news. For all that I give The Flan shit about his eyebrow acting, he really does have an enormously expressive face. And one of the things about John Sheppard is that he doesn't say a lot with words, but the way The Flan plays him, you can always tell what he's feeling just by watching his face.
SCENE: The deserted halls of Atlantis. John shuffles along brokenly, looking lost and bewildered, clearly distraught over the loss of McKay. Again, gotta hand it to The Flan. Shep is painfully lost here and has no idea what to do. He's so broken, and not in a big sobby, dramatic way - it's quiet and understated and so very Sheppard, and really...I got nothin'. Just...meep-clench-eee. ♥
Sad Shep is Sad, and is accosted by versions of Teyla, Ronon, Sam and Jennifer accusing him of letting Rodney down. As Sam tells him he's relieved of duty, he spies a seriously evil looking TabShoulder!Shep across the way and rushes him.
JFlan's posture here as the Doppelganger is awesomely evil. In fact, just assume that for the rest of the scenes with Good!Shep and Evil!Shep that The Flan knocks it out of the park on a Hewlettarian level with his awesome evil. Seriously, dude is creepy.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Keller defibrillates McKay, who wakes up. Apparently, he aten't dead yet. Rodney's first thought is for John and how he's faring with the entity. Zelenka indicates the entity has now moved to Sheppard.
SCENE: Gateroom. In one of the most Guh-inducing scenes in SGA history, TabShoulder!Shep throws QuarterZip!Shep to the floor, silhouetted by the light of the active gate. (See icon for reference.)
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: *slams Good!Shep to the floor*
QUARTERZIP!SHEP: *growls at Evil!Shep*
FANGIRLS: *rewind*
~ GUH some more, and then the Sheps face off. Oh, Joe Flanigan, I salute you. Aside from being TOTALLY HOT X2, you acted the hell out of this one, using more than just your eyebrows. I like how we could almost always tell when you were Evil and when you were Good.
TS!Shep taunts QZ!Shep by saying himself is the one thing QZ!S is afraid of and that he failed his friends and now there's nothing he can do to stop it. They fight, with TS!Shep continually getting the best of QZ!Shep.
Then there's a really awesome scene where TS!S throws QZ!S up the stairs, and as we get a floor-level view of QZ!Shep groaning in pain, TS!S comes menacingly up the stairs. Love how that looks.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Keller says John's heart rate is dangerously high and that waking him up might just make things worse. Zelenka notes that also, the entity would still be in him. Rodney, ever sacrificing for his beloved, says, "Hook me up to him again."
~ Let's just pause a moment to reflect on the awesomeness of McKay. This is one of the reasons I like this character so much. I mean, all kinds of props to His Hewliciousness for playing McKay so well - I'm sure so much of the character comes from him and not the writing. Genesis aside, what I love about McKay is that he knows exactly what he's getting in to and yet he asks to go back in anyway. There's no way he'll let Sheppard go through it alone. And even if I weren't shouting, "THEIR LOVE IS SO CANON, LET ME SHOW YOU IT!" I'd still be saying, dude, McKay is awesome for going back in, no matter the motivation.
SCENE: Gateroom. TS!S beats up QZ!S some more. Man, the CGI and editing and, yes, JFlans, the acting totally rocked in this Shep fight.
And then TS!S throws QZ!S off the balcony, goading QZ!S to fight back.
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: *creepily* Get up. C'mon, John…FIGHT!
QUARTERZIP!SHEP: *writhing in pain* …no…that's what you want.
TS!S: It's your fault Heightmeyer's dead. Your fault McKAY is dead!
QZ!S: *looks pained and on the verge of giving up*
MCKAY: I'm not dead.
FANGIRLS: EEEEE!
A WHITE STALLION: *stands to the side, waiting for sunset*
~ Okay, look, this part where Rodney's walking slowly down the gateroom stairs? NNGH. Whatever it is, the cadence with which he's walking, the fabulous Hewlett shoulders, whatever, it just really does something for me. In the NGGH area.
~ And then TS!Shep and his eyebrows grab McKay by the lapels and slam him up against the wall and wow, there's a serious eyebrow competition going on. McKay, in his defiance of TS!Shep, might actually look more deranged than the doppelganger.
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: You. Can't. Win.
MCKAY: *squinchy eyebrows of derangedness* Yes, I can…you're vulnerable to electric shock, that's why I'm still alive…you left before you could finish the job!
TS!SHEP: *is electrocuted*
GOOD!SHEP: *tosses TabShoulder!Shep through the gate*
MCKAY: Which one are you?
SHEPPARD: Me.
MCKAY: Good!You or Bad!You?
SHEPPARD: ME!Me…is that You!You?
MCKAY: I think so…
SHEPPARD: Thanks.
MCKAY: …okay, this is really weird.
SHEPPARD: You're tellin' me.
MCKAY: *looking around* I thought there'd be more…hot girls.
FANGIRLS: Not so, Rodney. You, being bisexual, may often have hot girls in your dreams. John, however, is GAY GAY GAY and his dreams feature mostly men, mostly you.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Zelenka is securing the NCG into a fishtank as Keller unhooks the leads from Rodney's temples. Rodney and John wake up, each turning to see if the other is okay. From the observation room, Sam, Ronon and Teyla look on with relief. Ronon's little knee-bend of happiness is super cute.
SWEEPING MUSICAL SCORE: *assures us that everything will be all right*
SCENE: Back in the Mysterious Dark Forest on M3X-387. The two live NCGs are dumped unceremoniously to the forest floor by a Hazmatted team. In response to the return of their brethren, NCGs throughout the forest begin lighting up, as far as the eye can see.
MCKAY: Hey, I have an idea…how 'bout we get outta here?
SHEPPARD: Sounds like a plan.
SCENE: Sleepytime on Atlantis. John is sitting alone at their usual breakfast table, reading a book and having a snack. He is soon joined by Teyla, Rodney, Ronon, Jennifer and Sam. None of them can sleep, but it's okay, because they have each other.
Fade to black.
ETA2: Thank you, kind person who pointed out I was misspelling Doppelganger. *headdesk* Also, in case you missed it, check out this Doppelganger review complete with pics by ladyflowdi .
Okay, seriously, yes, after a very long hiatus where Real Life kicked my ass, I'm back with another commentary. Don't know how regularly I'll be able to do these but it is my goal to complete both S3 and S4 sometime in the next decade. :) So, without further ado, I give you...
Doppelganger
I have to keep saying this about season 4: Okay, look. You are not dreaming. This was an actual episode of television. The events of this show are canon. Try to contain your swoon.
Because for all that season 3 was the season of love and gave us Echoes and Tao of Rodney and suchforth, S4 has gone much darker and somehow, that's made these episodes…mean more, I guess. Like, S3 Sheppard can have all the candles and sparkly curtains and refusing to give Rodney's eulogy all he wants and it will make us squee and declare their big gay love is big gay canon and everything. But then S4 comes along and Sheppard staggers drunkenly through Atlantis' empty halls, broken because he thinks Rodney's dead and that makes your heart go all meep-clench-eee (™aesc) and you realize that it's not just big gay love, it's love. Slashy or straight, whatever kind you want to call it, it's there and it's real.
Okay, yes, yes. This is the one where John clearly never sleeps in his own bed because it's about a foot too short. And also where they kill off Heightmeyer. And where we get the awesome soaking-wet rowboat scene, complete with whales and clowns. And it's also the one that spawned a million Shep/Evil!Shep fangirl fantasies. Because, c'mon, Evil!Shep is hot. Continued props to Hewlett's hairstylist. Extensive props to whoever decided that the world needs more John Sheppard, particularly when he's got himself pinned to the gateroom floor. Y-U-M.
Oh, also, this is dedicated to poetryfiend because she asked for Doppelganger next when I was having trouble getting started. ♥
SCENE: Nighttime on M3X-387, or A Mysterious Dark Forest. The perfect place to look for useful technology to use in the fight against our enemies. Bwuh? Okay, uh, let's just go with it. Team Shep is "exploring" the Planet of Eternal Darkness. V.v. dark, hard to see anything, but they seem to be hacking through a jungle. There is a big long discussion about why they're there and it turns out Rodney and Zelenka have a bet about whether or not there is anything of value on the planet.
RODNEY: Do you have any idea how many gate addresses in the Ancient database have absolutely no accompanying information?
JOHN: 42.
FANGIRLS: EEE, we knew you were a giant geek at heart, John Sheppard.
~ John steps in a squelchy puddle with his princess boots and decides to call the mission. They're about to head back to the jumper when a NATURAL CRYSTALLINE GROWTH on a tree suddenly springs to light.
JOHN: *peering at crystal* Looks like one of those toys you play with when you were a kid.
NATURAL CRYSTALLINE GROWTH: *glows harmlessly*
RODNEY: Commodore 64?
RONON: Triple-barrel shotgun?
JOHN: *eyeroll of disgust* A kaleidoscope. *staring into the NCG*
NATURAL CRYSTALLINE GROWTH: And so, my plan begins. *evil cackle*
~ And John, who has apparently never learned anything, reaches out to touch the strange crystal. It flares and knocks him to the ground, going dark. Rodney scolds him, saying John killed it because it's not giving off any more energy and John says he has no idea why he touched it.
JOHN: I'm gonna recommend sending a science team back here to check it out.
RODNEY: I am a science team!
And then Ronon hauls Rodney off by the back of his jacket. Hee.
SCENE: Back at Atlantis, in the infirmary. Dr. Keller tells John he's in perfect health. He and Teyla leave the infirmary, each heading off to get some sleep. Keller warns John, "No more touching strange things." Hee. So I guess that mean's Rodney's on-limits?
CREDITS. Hey, have I mentioned the new credits? They're pretty much the same as the old ones, so I hate them equally. Later footage but styled the same as previous seasons. Starring The Flan, ATap, RLut, JMo and His Hewliciousness.
SCENE: Sleepytime on Atlantis. Teyla is sleeping with about eight lit candles scattered around the room. As you do. She's restless and having a nightmare. We know it's a nightmare because suddenly we are in a tent and Teyla is wearing her nightmarish Season 1 perm and her Hooker Coat of Many Colors. Shep's sitting at a table, creepily eating food. FYI, Shep being creepy is going to be a recurring theme this episode. Ronon accusingly says he knew those two would eventually hook up. Teyla defends, saying it's just dinner, while Rodney wanders around with the gameboy, saying something in there is giving off a strange energy reading. Now John's looming creepily over Teyla, telling her that nobody but him trusts her. She hears her father cry from outside and rushes to the door, only to be met by Bug!John coming in and grabbing her by the throat. He pushes her to the table and then smacks his feeding hand down on her chest. She wakes up terrified and gasping.
~ Okay, so wait - what's Teyla's nightmare, exactly? That people think she and John are together? That she won't be able to save her people? (Drink!) That everyone will think she's sleeping with a bug? I'm guessing it's more to do with the trust issue (Thank you, Bates) than anything else, but that was a wack dream.
SCENE: Morning time on Atlantis. In this beautifully-lit scene, Teyla, Ronon and Rodney are eating breakfast on a balcony at sunrise. Teyla is telling them about her dream. John joins them. They fall silent.
JOHN: What?
RODNEY: Teyla had a dream about you last night.
FANGIRLS: Didn't we all?
TEYLA: *scolding* Rodney.
~ Teyla is too creeped out by John and flees breakfast. John defends, saying he can't control other people's dreams.
RODNEY: Really? You think you can't control a person's dreams? My father read me Moby Dick when I was seven years old. I mean, seriously, what was the man thinking? Do you have any idea how long I had nightmares about, about being eaten by a whale?
RONON: They haven't stopped, have they?
RODNEY: …no.
~ Heh. So much for expanding your horizons. No wonder he hates English majors.
~ For those of you who are interested, it appears that John and Rodney are eating the exact same breakfast: cereal, grapes, strawberries and coffee.
SCENE: Teyla talks to a red-haired Heightmeyer. Blecch. She's so much better as a blonde. Blah blah blah, Teyla's afraid of falling asleep and John's creeping her out. She goes to see Keller, who tells her she's fine, just needs to rest. Keller gives her some pills to take.
SCENE: Sleepytime on Atlantis again. Dr. Keller wakes up being called to the infirmary for an emergency. It's Teyla, in severe abdominal distress. There's a couple of nurse-type people there, and John, who is looming creepily again. There appears to be something inside Teyla that wants to get out the hard way. Suddenly, an alien bug claws its way messily from Teyla's abdomen, Alien-like. John is still looming creepily, and then says, with this eerie sort of empty, bright look on his face and in a creepy, semi-excited voice, "Can you believe this?" and Keller wakes up exceedingly disturbed.
~ That one's easy, obviously the young new doctor is afraid of being faced with some crazy-ass Pegasus medical dilemma that she won't know how to handle.
SCENE: Keller heads to the infirmary to get herself some pills. As she turns from the cabinet, she practically runs into Ronon, who has appeared from nowhere with a bloody gash on his head. He is also doing the creepy looming thing. John pops out from behind him. They have apparently been sparring in the middle of the night. As you do. This part was weird and made me think somebody was dreaming. However, please note that sparring-John is wearing the black long-sleeve quarter-zip top (in which he looks really super hot).
~ And then the Keller/Dex ship is launched when Keller sort of watches John leave and Ronon completely unsubtly but totally charmingly says, "Ah, I don't think he's seeing anyone, y'know…" and Jennifer gets all flustered. Hee.
SCENE: Ronon's all patched up and heading back to his room, but the halls are eerily silent and empty. He runs from room to room, calling out, "Hello? Is anyone here?" but there's no answer. He goes to a transporter, which opens into the forest. Mysterious blue energy pulses shoot at him. He runs into a tree branch and is knocked to the forest floor. Sheppard approaches, one hand behind his back, asking what Ronon's running from. As Shep leans to help Ronon up, he hits him with a stick. Please note, this John is wearing the long-sleeve camp shirt with the shoulder tabs that we originally saw in 3.16 The Ark.
~ After a fade to black, Ronon wakes up, bound and gagged in a hole in the ground. As Sheppard cheerfully begins shoveling dirt over him, Ronon suddenly jerks awake, back in the infirmary with Keller tending to his head wound.
~ Okay, aww. How adorably woobie is it that Ronon's nightmare is being all alone again? And then having the first person he trusted in seven years turn on him. I just want to hug him.
~ Also weird, I thought the whole thing was the nightmare, but apparently the part where John and Ronon are midnight-sparring and John got in a lucky shot was real. Because here's Ronon, getting all stitched up by the hot doctor babe. Plus, who falls asleep when they're getting stitches?
SCENE: Jennifer, Rodney, Ronon and Teyla are having lunch. They discuss nightmares. Rodney tells about the time he took geeky Jocelyn Rutger to see Alien and puked when the monster burst out of John Hurt's chest.
RODNEY: I eat when I get nervous.
RONON: *dryly* Really. I hadn't noticed.
~ I love that Ronon has learned the art of sarcasm. Also, I love how much he wants to see Alien and his little happy smile here.
~ You know what else is awesome? How much TEAM there is this time. And I like that they're including Keller. And not just because she has the same first name as me. (A lovely coincidence, however, that affords me the opportunity to hear all my favorite boys say my name.)
~ Anyway, so Keller proposes that it's weird that they're all having dreams that feature creepy-happy Sheppard as the bogey man. And Rodney tells them about his recent nightmare.
RODNEY: blah blah Colonel Carter blah blah lemon chicken blah blah promoting Zelenka.
RONON: That's it?
RODNEY: …then I was eaten by a whale.
ME: HEE HEE HEE
SCENE: Keller and Carter walk-and-talk. Keller is telling Carter about her bogeyman-Sheppard dream theory, with its sequential pattern and the fact it happened right after John touched the NCG. They're interrupted by a no-name gate-tech (who I think has actually been around since S1 - I swear I just saw him in Poisoning the Well ) who reminds me of Vern Yip telling them there's an emergency situation in the "crew quarters atrium." Dammit, I cannot get a good look at Vern's flag patch so I don't know where he's from. He's Asian and the flag looks like it's all red, so I'm going with Chinese.
SCENE: Crew quarters atrium. Aw, the emergency situation is a sweet, precious, barefooted Lorne (Hi Lorne!) who has apparently gone batshit insane. And look, he's all squinty and sleepy and bedhead-y. I want to kiss him, even though he's pointing a pistol at QuarterZip!Sheppard. Lorne's calling for someone to shoot Shep with an ARG because he's a Replicator. There's a bunch of other people there, including Teyla and Kate, some Marines and some people with the blue science panels who are just standing around watching the show. As you do. Also, there's some person on the stairs and another in the background with yellow panels - what's the yellow for? I don't remember. Maintenance? Food service? Someone who knows, please tell me. ETA: Duh. Yellow is medical. Props to berlinghoff79 for pointing that out.
Sam gets there, susses out what's bugging Lorne and calls for an ARG.
LORNE: blah blah Replicator! blah blah I'll shoot him…
JOHN: *squinchy eyebrows of talking to the natives and/or your crazy 2IC* Whoa, whoa, that won't be necessary. I've got my hands up in a very non-threatening way.
CARTER: Call for an ARG.
JOHN: *scrunchy face of disbelief* What, you believe him?
SAM: Of course not, but it won't hurt you and it might help him to lower his gun.
And then Lorne decides Sam's a Replicator too and is about to shoot when Ronon stuns him from the balcony above. Oh, Ronon, never stop being your badass self.
Also, Teyla is in this scene, for whatever reason, and she's wearing her BDUs as well as one of her fancy embroidered midriff shirts. It's a…weird look. Her sleeve patch is missing, too, while the Marines and Sam have theirs.
SCENE: Bedhead!Lorne is sitting in the Isolation Room, talking up to Heightmeyer, Carter, Keller and Sheppard in the Observation Room. Turns out he was sleepwalking and doesn't remember a thing. They discuss the weird Shep nightmares everyone's been having and that it must be linked to the NCG. Heightmeyer thinks she sounds all smart by using the word "somnambulism" when the rest of them say "sleepwalking."
There's a little callout to when SG-1 found the crystal entity that impersonated O'Neil and to when Carter "got taken over by an alien." So at least the writers are giving a nod to "SG-1's been there, done that." But hey, it doesn't mean Sam automatically knows how to fix everything. Keller suggests that perhaps the NCG is feeding on their fear. Oh, so it's an evil crystal. And they decide it spreads through touch and has imprinted on John and that everyone who's had contact has to be isolated.
SCENE: Conference room. Team Shep plus Carter, Heightmeyer and Keller discuss a plan.
HEIGHTMEYER: blah blah the NCG is behaving much like a sociopath.
JOHN: *to Teyla* Did I have a goatee?
TEYLA: … *shakes her head*
ME: HEE HEE HEE BizarroShep!
Seriously, watch Teyla in this scene. The look she gives John here is too funny. Like, I don't understand you, but no, your evil nightmare self did not have a goatee.
~ Not foreshadowing AT ALL, Heightmeyer mentions that the NCG might be able to put someone in serious jeopardy. Aw, and it's sad because Kate actually looks pretty in this scene, red hair notwithstanding.
~ And then they decide they don't really know a lot so Carter is sending them back to '387 for more intel. Rodney is not happy about it.
RODNEY: But, but, uh, you, you said no more Gate travel. I thought that was a wise decision.
CARTER: I said on an as-needed basis, McKay. I think this qualifies.
RODNEY: Yeah, but don't you think a science team would be better suited for this kind of-
RONON: *walking by* You are a science team, remember?
RODNEY: Okay, fine, but it's a big planet you know. *calling after Sam* We could really use some more manpower!
SCENE: The same Mysterious Dark Forest on M3X-387. Everybody's in the red Hazmat suits. There appears to be extra manpower, including Zelenka, who Rodney is crowing at over losing the bet. Zelenka says the word "valuable" with every single one of its syllables, like "val-u-a-bul."
~ Teyla calls Rodney over to see an NCG that has lit up on another tree. Zelenka and Rodney decide it's a good idea to harvest an active one (lighted) as well as a non-active one (dark).
SCENE: Science lab. Zelenka and Rodney are working on the two NCG specimens. Keller is staring into the octagonal fishtank holding the live NCG. McKay and Zelenka do their blah blah sciencecakes-shared brain thing and Keller gets mesmerized by the live NCG. She's overcome by the compulsion to want to touch it. There's a cute little part where Zelenka and Rodney both need to get by Keller and they do a little shuffle where they try not to get too close to her as they slide around.
~ Um. I don't know exactly what the point of this scene is except to establish that Zelenka and McKay are dorks with a shared brain and that they can calibrate the city-wide sensors to detect where the entity from the NCG is.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Zelenka is scanning Lorne with a gameboy they've modified to pick up the NCG signature. Lorne still has no shoes. The NCG isn't inside Lorne anymore and Rodney and Carter realize that it's moving from person to person via the power conduits, which means it could be in anybody now. The power conduits. Right. Oh, hello, leap of logic. Meet my friend, suspension of disbelief.
SCENE: Teyla walks out onto a balcony where Heightmeyer is standing on the edge of the railing. Ugh, can't they dress Kate prettier? She's wearing khaki pants and trainers that do absolutely nothing for her. Kate asks for help and Teyla tries to talk her down. Teyla rushes forward to get to Kate, only to be blocked by TabShoulder!Sheppard and his squinchy eyebrow-face of creepiness. Teyla struggles with a smirking Sheppard as Kate cries out and then falls from the balcony. I like how they did the fall - instead of seeing Kate fall, we see the fall from Kate's point of view.
SCENE: Keller walks into Heightmeyer's quarters. All we see is a profile shot of Kate in bed with her eyes closed. At least she's wearing a pretty nightie. Teyla tells Jennifer that Kate didn't report for duty and Teyla couldn't wake her up. Jennifer does some blippy things with a gameboy and tells Teyla Kate's dead.
~ Okay, WOW, really? I dunno how I feel about this. On the one hand, I sort of hate them for arbitrarily killing off another well-known character. But I was never a huge fan of Heightmeyer and her stupid red hair and HIPAA-violating ways. So I could go either way here. Mostly, I'm wondering who'll replace her, because god, if there's anything these people need, it's a head doctor. Anyway, who knows. Maybe Claire Rankin wanted to leave the show.
SCENE: Control Room. Carter prepares herself for what she's about to do. She signals Vern and then makes a city-wide announcement that they've lost Heightmeyer. Keller endears herself to me even more with her little pep-talk after Sam's done.
KELLER: That was good. I mean, horrible, obviously - terrifying and horrible - but I just…meant…you sounded strong. I’m sure they were at least a little reassured hearing your voice. But you don’t need me to tell you that.
CARTER: A day like this, it doesn't hurt. Thanks.
~ I just really, really like Keller. It's sweet how she's competent but still so insecure and unsure. This whole episode she's been tossing out ideas and then being like, oh, I'll shut up now, but she's right.
~ Also, re: Keller. Okay, look, I know Carson was beloved and stuff, but if you recall, he spent most of S3 making me hate him. And you know, if he'd just listened to Sheppard and stayed where he was, he never would have been blown up by a stupid exploding tumor. Overall, I like the character of Carson Beckett - he was interesting and complex and not a saint as some people seem to believe, which is one of the things I enjoyed about him. But because of how much they loved him, for some people, Keller already has a strike against her just by dint of not being Beckett, but she started with a clean slate with me. And I like her. I like how she's insecure and fallible and really trying to fill Carson's giant clown shoes. This makes her also an interesting and complex character and I really hope people give Keller a chance.
SCENE: Sheppard's quarters. Where he obviously NEVER sleeps because he's laying on his bed, which is a teeny, tiny, elf-sized bed that is not only narrow but also literally a foot too short for him. With his head on the pillow, his legs are hanging off the end well above the ankles. Hee. Guess that prescription mattress of Rodney's is really pretty nice. QuarterZip!Shep gets up, intending to leave and as the door opens, Teyla is standing there. Teyla says nothing, but hugs him. She is wearing a GIANT wristwatch. John awkwardly hugs her back with a little uncomfortable pat-pat.
SCENE: Control Room. Zelenka retrieves Carter from her office to tell her they've calibrated the city-wide sensors to pick up the NCG's signature. They've found a positive reading.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Rodney comes in nonchalantly, asking what they need him for and Zelenka does a blippy thing with his tablet, saying, "I'm sorry, Rodney, I have to go." Rodney immediately catches on as an armed guard closes the door. He looks up to the Observation Room where Carter and Keller are watching. Carter gives him a sympathetic little hand wave as QZ!Sheppard walks in. Carter explains that blah blah because of science, the NCG can't jump out of Rodney. John is concerned for Rodney's well-being if the NCG feels trapped.
RODNEY: Someone want to get me some coffee? *flappy hands* Already feeling a little tired here.
Keller says they can only keep Rodney awake for so long before it causes pulmonary failure. Hm. Not actually on the list of effects of sleep deprivation that I know of, but perhaps that comes down the line. Y'know, just before the lab rats die. Rodney looks really exasperated that they lured him in to a padded room with nothing for entertainment. It's got to be killing him that he can't help figure this thing out now.
Also, I thought it was only Gero that had been reading the fanfic. Perhaps Robert C. Cooper has been cribbing off Gero's extensive knowledge of what exactly the fangirls want, because from here on out, it's another fangirl wet dream.
SCENE: Sheppard and Carter in Carter's office. Shep wonders if the NCG knows it's trapped now. Teyla and Ronon come in and they all discuss ideas of what to do. John's got nothing beyond "shoot it" or possibly "reason with it." Sam posits that if the thing knows it's trapped, wouldn't it take the last chance to do the most damage? And which Shep correctly interprets that means it would kill McKay. He is not happy about the idea as indicated by his scrunchy face and agitated pacing. JFlans plays it very intense this scene.
Teyla thinks maybe they could give it a chance to leave without a host to transfer to. They discuss getting Rodney into a waking dream and "persuading" the NCG to leave. Ronon, god love him, has no idea what they're talking about.
SAM: Maybe he could be hypnotized into a state where he could successfully communicate with it.
TEYLA: He has successfully meditated into an altered state before.
JOHN: Yeah, but that was after he was genetically altered.
RONON: I'm sorry…what? *hands*…you want…McKay to ask this thing to leave?
And then John, in his desire to protect his woobie, wistfully wishes for a way to get into McKay's dreams.
FANGIRLS: Oh, honey, you're already in his dreams.
Sam seizes the concept and abruptly leaves the room without speaking.
RONON: Where's she going? What's going on?
JOHN: I dunno…but I think…I'm about to see a side of McKay I never wanted to see.
SCENE: Isolation Room. John and Rodney are laying on adjacent hospital beds, getting hooked up to all kinds of monitors and things, preparing for John to join Rodney in his dream. Sam, Teyla and Ronon discuss the plan in the Observation Room. They're using Been There Done That Tech from SG-1 Season 2's The Gamekeeper . Basically, they're not really sure what's going to happen or if the tech will allow Sheppard to understand what's going on in McKay's brain but Sam hopes it will work.
RONON: So, who on the what now?
SAM: blah blah sciencecakes. I'm sure their big gay love will make it work somehow.
In the Isolation Room, Rodney looks anxiously at John.
RODNEY: Are you sure about this?
JOHN: …not really.
RODNEY: I'm…*pointy finger* …pretty screwed up.
JOHN: You're tellin' me.
KELLER: We're ready if you are.
RODNEY: (to John) …thanks.
JOHN: I haven't done anything yet.
RODNEY: For tryin' …and don't say I didn't warn you!
And then it's sleepytime for John and Rodney as Sam, Ronon and Teyla watch with concern from above.
~ Aww. Just, aw. This scene was played with equal parts snarkiness and affection. I like where both Hew and Flans went with this. Like, not real jazzed about doing it but of course, what else are we gonna do?
SCENE: Rodney alone in a rowboat in the rain on an empty ocean. He looks behind him to see Atlantis, miles away. Sopping wet, he rows ineffectually toward home. Christ, DHew's shoulders look even more broad in this scene than usual. YUM. Although, I will say the rain does nothing for his hair, which I generally like to be a bit more lively, as if in response to Shep's hair. Regardless, he rows futilely as a whale circles nearby.
TabShoulder!Shep appears in the stern of the boat. Despite the rain, his hair stays as spunky and spiky as ever. He belittles Rodney, telling him he'll never make it back to Atlantis because he's too weak.
Everybody's dreams come true when a second Sheppard appears in the bow of the boat, encouraging Rodney. This one's wearing the quarter zip and his hair is temporarily being subdued by the rain. That's how you know he's the Good!Shep.
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: *sneering* You're pathetic. Might as well jump in.
RODNEY: *shaken* …
QUARTERZIP!SHEP: *sweetly earnest* Don't be afraid.
~ Okay, EEE. I love JFlan's delivery on that last line. It's so…sweet and encouraging. And in such contrast to the derogatory delivery of Evil!Shep's line.
Rodney rows ineffectually some more and the Sheppards argue and then Rodney yells for John to help him row. In a flash of lightning, and a famous screencap, QZ!Shep appears at the oars with him, and mentions that Rodney's dream isn't as strange as Rodney'd led him to believe it would be. And then Rodney points out the perfectly normal and yet still TOTALLY CREEPY CLOWN sitting in the back of the rowboat.
JOHN: I hate clowns.
And then a giant whale eats them.
~ And that is seriously one of the most bone-chilling scenes in a TV show ever, when the whale comes up from underneath the rowboat to swallow them up. Great CGI.
SCENE: Isolation Room. John wakes up to the sound of Rodney flatlining. Keller and Zelenka try to revive him to no avail using the defibrillator. As John watches in mute horror, Keller tells Shep that Rodney's dead.
~ Okay, look, I know they weren't really going to kill Rodney. But just for a second, weren't you a little freaked out that he might actually be dead?
The pain on Sheppard's face here is palpable as he takes in the news. For all that I give The Flan shit about his eyebrow acting, he really does have an enormously expressive face. And one of the things about John Sheppard is that he doesn't say a lot with words, but the way The Flan plays him, you can always tell what he's feeling just by watching his face.
SCENE: The deserted halls of Atlantis. John shuffles along brokenly, looking lost and bewildered, clearly distraught over the loss of McKay. Again, gotta hand it to The Flan. Shep is painfully lost here and has no idea what to do. He's so broken, and not in a big sobby, dramatic way - it's quiet and understated and so very Sheppard, and really...I got nothin'. Just...meep-clench-eee. ♥
Sad Shep is Sad, and is accosted by versions of Teyla, Ronon, Sam and Jennifer accusing him of letting Rodney down. As Sam tells him he's relieved of duty, he spies a seriously evil looking TabShoulder!Shep across the way and rushes him.
JFlan's posture here as the Doppelganger is awesomely evil. In fact, just assume that for the rest of the scenes with Good!Shep and Evil!Shep that The Flan knocks it out of the park on a Hewlettarian level with his awesome evil. Seriously, dude is creepy.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Keller defibrillates McKay, who wakes up. Apparently, he aten't dead yet. Rodney's first thought is for John and how he's faring with the entity. Zelenka indicates the entity has now moved to Sheppard.
SCENE: Gateroom. In one of the most Guh-inducing scenes in SGA history, TabShoulder!Shep throws QuarterZip!Shep to the floor, silhouetted by the light of the active gate. (See icon for reference.)
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: *slams Good!Shep to the floor*
QUARTERZIP!SHEP: *growls at Evil!Shep*
FANGIRLS: *rewind*
~ GUH some more, and then the Sheps face off. Oh, Joe Flanigan, I salute you. Aside from being TOTALLY HOT X2, you acted the hell out of this one, using more than just your eyebrows. I like how we could almost always tell when you were Evil and when you were Good.
TS!Shep taunts QZ!Shep by saying himself is the one thing QZ!S is afraid of and that he failed his friends and now there's nothing he can do to stop it. They fight, with TS!Shep continually getting the best of QZ!Shep.
Then there's a really awesome scene where TS!S throws QZ!S up the stairs, and as we get a floor-level view of QZ!Shep groaning in pain, TS!S comes menacingly up the stairs. Love how that looks.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Keller says John's heart rate is dangerously high and that waking him up might just make things worse. Zelenka notes that also, the entity would still be in him. Rodney, ever sacrificing for his beloved, says, "Hook me up to him again."
~ Let's just pause a moment to reflect on the awesomeness of McKay. This is one of the reasons I like this character so much. I mean, all kinds of props to His Hewliciousness for playing McKay so well - I'm sure so much of the character comes from him and not the writing. Genesis aside, what I love about McKay is that he knows exactly what he's getting in to and yet he asks to go back in anyway. There's no way he'll let Sheppard go through it alone. And even if I weren't shouting, "THEIR LOVE IS SO CANON, LET ME SHOW YOU IT!" I'd still be saying, dude, McKay is awesome for going back in, no matter the motivation.
SCENE: Gateroom. TS!S beats up QZ!S some more. Man, the CGI and editing and, yes, JFlans, the acting totally rocked in this Shep fight.
And then TS!S throws QZ!S off the balcony, goading QZ!S to fight back.
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: *creepily* Get up. C'mon, John…FIGHT!
QUARTERZIP!SHEP: *writhing in pain* …no…that's what you want.
TS!S: It's your fault Heightmeyer's dead. Your fault McKAY is dead!
QZ!S: *looks pained and on the verge of giving up*
MCKAY: I'm not dead.
FANGIRLS: EEEEE!
A WHITE STALLION: *stands to the side, waiting for sunset*
~ Okay, look, this part where Rodney's walking slowly down the gateroom stairs? NNGH. Whatever it is, the cadence with which he's walking, the fabulous Hewlett shoulders, whatever, it just really does something for me. In the NGGH area.
~ And then TS!Shep and his eyebrows grab McKay by the lapels and slam him up against the wall and wow, there's a serious eyebrow competition going on. McKay, in his defiance of TS!Shep, might actually look more deranged than the doppelganger.
TABSHOULDER!SHEP: You. Can't. Win.
MCKAY: *squinchy eyebrows of derangedness* Yes, I can…you're vulnerable to electric shock, that's why I'm still alive…you left before you could finish the job!
TS!SHEP: *is electrocuted*
GOOD!SHEP: *tosses TabShoulder!Shep through the gate*
MCKAY: Which one are you?
SHEPPARD: Me.
MCKAY: Good!You or Bad!You?
SHEPPARD: ME!Me…is that You!You?
MCKAY: I think so…
SHEPPARD: Thanks.
MCKAY: …okay, this is really weird.
SHEPPARD: You're tellin' me.
MCKAY: *looking around* I thought there'd be more…hot girls.
FANGIRLS: Not so, Rodney. You, being bisexual, may often have hot girls in your dreams. John, however, is GAY GAY GAY and his dreams feature mostly men, mostly you.
SCENE: Isolation Room. Zelenka is securing the NCG into a fishtank as Keller unhooks the leads from Rodney's temples. Rodney and John wake up, each turning to see if the other is okay. From the observation room, Sam, Ronon and Teyla look on with relief. Ronon's little knee-bend of happiness is super cute.
SWEEPING MUSICAL SCORE: *assures us that everything will be all right*
SCENE: Back in the Mysterious Dark Forest on M3X-387. The two live NCGs are dumped unceremoniously to the forest floor by a Hazmatted team. In response to the return of their brethren, NCGs throughout the forest begin lighting up, as far as the eye can see.
MCKAY: Hey, I have an idea…how 'bout we get outta here?
SHEPPARD: Sounds like a plan.
SCENE: Sleepytime on Atlantis. John is sitting alone at their usual breakfast table, reading a book and having a snack. He is soon joined by Teyla, Rodney, Ronon, Jennifer and Sam. None of them can sleep, but it's okay, because they have each other.
Fade to black.
ETA2: Thank you, kind person who pointed out I was misspelling Doppelganger. *headdesk* Also, in case you missed it, check out this Doppelganger review complete with pics by ladyflowdi .