Actor Allusion: McKay mentions Star Trek: The Experience, with Woolsey commenting that the attraction was closed. Woolsey actor Robert Picardo suggested the line. Picardo reprised his Star Trek: Voyager role as the Emergency Medical Hologram for the Borg Invasion 4-D attraction.
Alternate Reality Episode: It takes place in another reality where Sheppard is a Vegas cop after the whole Afghanistan thing.
And You Were There: In this universe, set (and filmed) in Las Vegas, Sheppard never joined the Stargate program and instead became a private eye. Unfortunately, there's a homicidal Wraith on the loose...
Big Brother Is Watching: Sheppard is a washed-out police detective who spends his time drinking and gambling. When alternate Rodney has him brought in, this exchange happens:
McKay: I realize you have no way of grasping what's going on here. There's really only one thing you need to understand: if you fail to co-operate, I have the power to ruin your life. Sheppard: Well, then, you don't realize how little I have to lose. McKay: I know everything about you. You've never been married. The only thing you own is a car. You have two thousand, three hundred and sixty-three dollars in the bank and are thirteen thousand dollars in debt, not counting off-the-books gambling losses to a guy named Mikey. What else? You finally passed your detective exam after four years and two failed attempts and now barely scrape by on quarterly performance reviews. [Sheppard smiles ruefully] McKay: Am I getting this right? Sheppard:[smiles sarcastically] I also like spearmint gum. McKay:[takes a packet of gum out of his pocket and tosses it onto the table] Have some. Sheppard: I was joking. McKay: No, you weren't.
Bittersweet Ending: Sure, the Wraith has been stopped, but Sheppard is lying dying in the Vegas desert and there is no way of knowing if help is on the way.
Dirty Cop: Detective John Sheppard barely manages to keep his job by scraping by on his quarterly performance reviews, has illegal gambling debts and quits the force to skip town after stealing money from a crime scene. Rodney McKay is extremely disappointed in him, since he met another version of him that was honest and determined and a member of the Earth's defense against alien threats. He turns around before it is too late and dies stopping the villain.
Expendable Alternate Universe: In this universe, Sheppard is a CSI-style detective in Las Vegas hunting down a rogue Wraith that somehow got to Earth. However, before the Wraith dies, it transmits a signal throughout the multiverse shouting Earth's location. The alternate Woolsey's response to this is that it's pointless to worry about saving every possible universe and is sufficiently pleased to have prevented the invasion in his own. Unfortunately for the primary versions of the cast, the message makes it to their universe, setting up the finale.
Heroic Sacrifice: Sheppard takes the Wraith's cash, quits his job, and leaves to live the life of a rich man (or lose it all in the nearest casino). However, on the way, he has a change of heart and manages to find the Wraith and radio his location in time for the alien to be destroyed by an airstrike before he can call in the others. Unfortunately, he himself is shot in the process and is shown bleeding severely in the middle of nowhere.
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Wraith really lucked out being stranded in the Wretched Hive that is Las Vegas. Long-haired sketchy creeps are a dime a dozen; he doesn't need much in the way of a disguise.
Left the Background Music On: Used constantly throughout. First when a man in a hotel room is ill, ominous music plays in the background, before he suddenly starts banging on the wall and demanding that his neighbor turn it down. Later, Sheppard drives away from the city to "Solitary Man", and eventually inverts this by turning up the music in his car, allowing the audience to hear it over his plot-relevant flashbacks. Also, when the Wraith's hideout is introduced, Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" (don't ask — Wraith apparently like hardcore music) plays at the backgr— wait, is that a boombox on the bed?
Mad Artist: Todd the Wraith is captured after his Hiveship was destroyed in a failed invasion of Earth and held in Area 51. He eventually goes delirious from starvation and starts reciting Wraith poetry.
Todd: Fish in a pond, busy busy, lots to do, here and there. Dry as a desert outside, no place to go. Eat up, get stronger, think and hope, think and hope. Don't look now! Oh, keep dreaming. There must be some other reason for your existence. Defiance tastes like life itself. No river. No water. Dry as a desert. Darkness all around. The harvest moon is rising. Wraith are never-ending. I know the future. Come inside. I'll show you your destiny... John Sheppard.
Mundane Utility: As expected, a being like a Wraith, with low-level telepathy and no ethics, can make a killing at the Las Vegas casinos. Sheppard does ask McKay why the Wraith doesn't just rob a bank, but McKay points out that it would attract far too much attention, so he has to keep his winnings low.
Paranormal Gambling Advantage: A Wraith is hiding on Earth using prosthetics to appear human and gathering funds by playing poker. Since Wraith are a highly telepathic species, he always wins. McKay points out that it's also less risky than to rob a bank, since the Wraith is specifically trying to avoid detection.
Point of Divergence: It's implied that the event that differentiates this alternate universe from the main one is John Sheppard during his tour in Afghanistan refusing orders to retreat and performing a failed rescue mission that gets multiple people killed. In the main reality, he performed a similar mission (also against orders) but without the same loss of life. There he was punished by being sent to Antarctica, here he was dishonorably discharged. Antarctica led to him joining the Atlantis mission, instead of him becoming a cop in Las Vegas.
Quip to Black: "Detective John Sheppard" pulls a one-liner at the end of The Teaser, just like in a CSI episode.
