- If you kill even one of them, this means war.— Dr. Weir style negotitiation at its best.
Sheppard and his team are investigating a village where Major Lorne's team recently ran into trouble. Investigating a burned building, they find several charred corpses with Lorne's team's dog tags.
Meanwhile, back at Atlantis, a transmission comes in from Genii soldier Ladon Radim, last seen as part of Kolya's strike team: He's defected from the Genii, wants the Atlantis team's help, and has a ZPM to offer them in exchange. Weir is naturally suspicious, but a ZPM is too good to not check out, so they bring him through. He's hidden the ZPM somewhere safe, of course, but he wants their help with a coup he's planning to overthrow the Genii leader Cowen, who Ladon claims is planning to use nuclear weapons to subjugate other human worlds throughout the galaxy.
The team decides to check things out, so Sheppard and McKay go to Cowen and have a talk. He tells them that the Genii are focused on recovering from the latest culling, and that Ladon has been making up lies about him; in turn, Sheppard warns him about Ladon's plans and offers aid from Atlantis, and they part on friendly terms.
Returning to Atlantis, they conclude that it's better to side with Cowen than Ladon. And since they know where Ladon's base is, and that it's only lightly defended, why not launch a raid that both does Cowen a favor and nets them a ZPM? The raid is approved and launched with a little subterfuge: a dozen of Ladon's (surprisingly unsteady) men come through to pick up supplies, and are instead detained, leaving only eight men at the base for Sheppard's raid team to handle.
Back in the village Lorne disappeared from, Ronon and Teyla are unable to learn much from the locals- until they're handed a bag of pictures of expedition members, with writing indicating a reward for their capture. Curiously, Ronon and Teyla aren't among the pictures. Weir realizes what they do have in common: everyone in the pictures has had the ATA gene therapy. Weir decides to temporarily suspend them from missions, but it will have to wait- most of them are currently involved in the raid...
Beckett meanwhile has made two important discoveries. First, the charred bodies aren't Lorne and his team. Second, they didn't die in the fire- they were already dead, from advanced radiation poisoning. And there's only one group the Atlantis crew knows of who would regularly see that much radiation exposure: the Genii. Weir tries to warn Sheppard, but it's too late.
At Ladon's base, the raid of course is a trap. Ladon releases a gas that knocks out the strike team. They wake to find Cowen there, proudly informing them that 1. Ladon is a loyal soldier 2. the Genii prisoners at Atlantis base (including Ladon's sister) are all terminally ill volunteers and 3. Cowen will start killing his Atlantis captives unless Weir delivers ten Puddle Jumpers. There is a silver lining: Lorne and his team are alive, as Ladon's been using them to perfect his own version of the ATA gene therapy so the Genii can use the jumpers.
Beckett, on examining the prisoners, realizes that most of them, Ladon's sister included, can actually be saved; Genii medicine isn't quite up to Earth standards. Weir informs Cowen of this, offering to treat the prisoners and return them in exchange for Sheppard's team, but Cowen refuses, stating that they knew what they were in for and are as good as dead already. He orders Ladon to kill Sheppard. Ladon goes to the cells... and lets the Atlantis prisoners out. Turns out he did have a coup planned, and he's going to launch it rather than watch Cowen let his sister die. He sneaks the Atlantis personnel out to the gate, then sets off a nuke under Cowen. Back at Atlantis, Beckett assures Ladon that his sister will be fine with treatment, and Ladon makes plans for solidifying his leadership of the Genii.
Tropes
- Deus ex Nukina: How the coup is carried out.
- Foregone Conclusion: In-universe example when Rodney's arguing in favor of accepting Radim's proposal to acquire his ZPM. Despite faking the destruction of Atlantis in "The Siege, Part 3", the Expedition knows they can't keep the charade going indefinitely. Sooner or later, the Wraith are going to figure out they've been had. Also counts as Foreshadowing for "Allies".
- Heel–Face Turn
- Mama Bear: Weir, as per usual.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Ladon himself isn't mistreated, but Cowen's disinterest in saving his sister's life helps convince him to go through with the coup.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Cowen's plan basically goes off without a hitch, as he's captured key members of the Atlantis Expedition as his hostages and their own bargaining tools are a group of Genii who are already terminally ill... and then Beckett reveals that he can actually cure most of their hostages, including the sister of Cowen's current right-hand man, Ladon, which prompts him to turn on Cowen and stage a coup of his own in return for Atlantis's future support after they've cured his sister.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Atlantis team actually tries to deal pretty fairly with Cowen, attempting to help him out with a brewing coup. Which of course he's just using as a trap for them.
- No Kill like Overkill: Ladon assassinating Cowen with a nuclear bomb.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with this episode and Dr. Lindsay. She has a similar name and title with Dr. Lindsey Novak aboard the Daedalus who last appeared in Critical Mass. Notably, the subtitles in this episode’s cold open confuse the two, referring to Dr. Lindsay as “Novak”.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: From the Atlantis team's perspective, at least. The ZPM, as always, is useless.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Between Sheppard and Ladon.
- Uncertain Doom: Kolya's status in the year since "The Brotherhood". According to Ladom, the Commander went missing several months earlier. Ladom and his allies have no idea of his whereabouts and fears Cowen executed him. Next Season's "Common Ground" will subsequently reveal this is technically the truth, although Ladom's leaving out some important context...
- Written-In Absence: Since Kolya was intended to appear in this episode originally (prior to Robert Davi's scheduling conflicts), the Commander's written out via Uncertain Doom (while leaving his fate open-ended enough to bring him back down the road no— which happens in next Season's "Common Ground").
