- Athar provides all that we need.— Chaya Sar, High Priestess of Athar
The episode opens with the team desperately flying a puddle jumper away from a few Wraith darts, just when it looks like it's all over, a huge ball of lightning passes through the ships.
The darts are destroyed, and the jumper is unaffected. The team lands on the surface to investigate the mysterious weapon but the natives they meet seem to have no idea what they're talking about, praising the local deity "Athar" for the rescue.
One thing leads to another, and we meet High Priestess Chaya Sar whom Sheppard promptly falls in love with. Chaya is invited back to Atlantis in the hopes of discovering exactly what the lightning was and perhaps finding a way to use "Athar's power" to defend the city.
McKay is distrustful of Chaya, due to her suspiciously flawless health and the ability to activate an ancient device. Chaya and Sheppard go on a picnic and make out for a bit.
During a meeting the next day McKay, with permission from Weir, discreetly scans Chaya to ascertain whether or not she is what she claims to be. Midway through the meeting, Chaya calls him out on it but McKay counters, calling her out on being an ancient, calling it "The only logical explanation". To everyone's surprise, Chaya admits it.
After experiencing visions of the Wraith attacking her homeworld, Chaya runs trough the stargate to defend her people. John chases after her in a puddle jumper and arrives in time to see the Wraith forces being wiped out.
On the planet, Sheppard and Chaya (or is it Athar?) have a heart to heart wherein she explains protecting the planet from the wraith caused her to be exiled from the ancients, and her punishment for that is to protect only this planet. Sheppard and Chaya share their souls and the screen fades to black.
Tropes
- Blunt "Yes": Sheppard's response to Teyla's incredulity.Sheppard: I am an ambassador and she is a diplomat.
Teyla: On a late night... picnic?
Sheppard: Yes. - Boldly Coming: Lampshaded mercilessly by McKay.McKay: It is very 1967 of you.
- And then again, later:McKay: Oh my God! He is Kirk!
- Love at First Sight: Sheppard and Chaya. Lampshaded by McKay with an eye roll. Later he says:McKay: You got Sheppard to watch her? That's like asking the fox to guard the henhouse!
- Mayfly–December Romance: Sheppard and Chaya.
- Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: Definitely McKay's approach, which he takes a lot of flack for. Chaya however isn't bothered by it at all. When Sheppard apologises for McKay's behaviour, she points out that McKay is simply acting according to his beliefs, making him no different from her people who act according to theirs. This episode is one of those weird unclassifiables, in that, while the people of Proculus are being deceived, they also really are protected and cared for by a nigh-omnipotent being.
- Perfect Health: Chaya's is cause for concern.
- Really 700 Years Old: Chaya is really an Ancient who is thousands of years old.
- Revealing Skill: McKay suspects Chaya to be more than she appears and Weir gives him permission to covertly scan her during a meeting. Chaya calls him out on it during said meeting, but as McKay points out, that she could tell what he was up to proves him right.
- Superweapon: What Chaya's defense of Proculis looks like, and what the team initially assumes is hidden on the planet somewhere.
- Unishment: When Chaya uses her powers to save her homeworld, the Ancients punish her by... forcing her to stay there and protect her homeworld. However, she's not allowed to help anyone else at all, and has to live with that knowledge.
