Line #15 Recap/StargateAtlantisS02E04Duet


1	-->''I'm not crazy. I just have another consciousness in my brain.''
2	---> -- '''[=McKay=]'''
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4	Searching a planet for survivors after a recent Wraith culling, [=McKay=], Beckett, and the marine guarding them, a Lieutenant Cadman, are beset by a Wraith dart. [=McKay=] and Cadman are taken, but Sheppard and his group manage to shoot it down before it can make it through the gate. Unfortunately, they kill the pilot and damage the ship, leaving them no way of retrieving their captured people.
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6	Zelenka is able to rig something up, but there is only power to rematerialize one of the two life signs detected. They go ahead anyway, and [=McKay=] appears and immediately passes out. They bring the rest of the dart back to Atlantis to begin the effort to retrieve Lt. Cadman. When [=McKay=] finally comes to, however, it turns out that, rather than being trapped in the dart, she is in fact trapped in [=McKay=]'s head. HilarityEnsues.
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8	While [=McKay=] goes about arguing with himself, hitting on Dr. Beckett, and preparing for his date with sexy botanist Dr. Brown and Zelenka tries to fix the dematerialization mechanism enough to get Cadman her own body back, Sheppard is trying to make friends with Ronon Dex. Ronon is not terribly impressed by Sheppard's efforts, but decides to join the team after talking with Teyla. Sheppard in the meantime manages to wheedle permission out of Weir, and Ronon officially replaces Ford in main-character-ville.
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10	Zelenka's efforts continue to produce little more than charred mice. On the upside, [=McKay=]'s date meets with partial success, due mainly to Cadman taking over partway through (although it is hampered by her inability to keep his eyes off of Dr. Beckett). The strain of hosting two consciousnesses is starting to take it's toll on [=McKay=]'s body, however. Dr. Beckett tells them that if one of the two doesn't "let go" it's only a matter of swiftly dwindling time until they have a fatal seizure.
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12	In the midst of arguing over which of the two of them is going to make the [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice]], [=McKay=] suddenly realizes that the dematerialization-rematierialization buffers from the ''stargate'' do basically the same thing as the Wraith transporter. He and Zelenka quickly [[MacGyvering macgyver]] the dart device and some of the gate crystals together, but there's no time left to test it on a fresh batch of mice. After a hearty kiss for good luck from a startled Dr. Beckett, [=McKay=] dematerializes into the Wraith device, and rematerializes as two not the least bit charred people. And there is much rejoicing.
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14	!!Tropes
15	* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi: Continues the franchise's wildly incoherent approach to bodily autonomy. Cadman takes over [=McKay=]'s body at several points. She waits until he falls asleep then takes his body for a run, then showers and sleeps naked, takes control from him to force him to kiss two different characters!
16	** It's a comedy episode and the audience is not meant to take it particularly seriously, despite [=McKay=] and his therapist calling out Cadman for doing it. Also note, Cadman did not choose to share a mind with [=McKay=] and while taking over the body is something she has to choose to do, you could also argue she is forced to have to witness whatever [=McKay=] chooses to do otherwise regardless of her own wishes, which is why the therapist was encouraging them to share the body for them to both co-exist to start with.
17	** The comedy aspect is rather less funny when one remembers that, over on ''Stargate: SG-1'', the idea of another consciousness living in your body, taking control over it and making you watch while it acts without your consent or input is the exact MO of the Goa'uld, and this has consistently been portrayed a AFateWorseThanDeath. Especially if one remembers "[[Recap/StargateSG1S2E17Holiday Holiday]]" (which "only" involved body-swapping, not implanted consciousness subjugating a body's resident consciousness) the "villain" was explicitly called out as being no different from a Goa'uld, stealing someone else's body to prolong his life. Cadman takes over Rodney's body because. . . she's bored and annoyed.
18	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Sheppard and Teyla both observe early on that the Wraith's post-"Siege" cullings are getting more intense. With access to Earth lost to them, there are now too many Hives awake and not enough Pegasus humans to go around. The seeds of the Wraith Civil War are thus planted here.
19	* GrandTheftMe: it doesn't take long for Cadman to start taking over [=McKay=]'s body against his will.
20	* HandCannon: Ronon's is demonstrated for the first time here.
21	* JabbaTableManners: Ronon Dex. [=McKay=] might also be a mild example, and has to be coached by Cadman.
22	* MistakenForGay: Beckett makes a joke that [=McKay=]'s date is with a woman.
23	* NameMcAdjective: Blaming Zelenka for his predicament, a pissed-off Rodney dubs him 'Fumbles [=McStupid=]'.
24	* NowOrNeverKiss: [[strike:[=McKay=]]] Cadman and Beckett.
25	* PlayingCyrano: Cadman really wants to play this role for [=McKay=] on his date with Dr. Brown, up to the point of exerting her GrandTheftMe powers when he fails to listen to her advice.
26	* ProfessorGuineapig: Averted then played straight. Zelenka does all his testing on mice - who die horribly - but when [=McKay=] reconfigures the machine he can't afford the extra time to test it.
27	* RockPaperScissors: [=McKay=] vs. [[strike:himself]] Cadman. He loses.
28	* SharingABody: [=McKay=] and Cadman.
29	* SplitPersonalityTakeOver
30	* TeleporterAccident

Context Recap / StargateAtlantisS02E04Duet