- Keller: Come on now, you're Dr. McKay. Remember?McKay: No, I'm not anymore. I'm not smart anymore. Doctors are smart, so I'm mister. Now.
Tropes:
- Anachronic Order
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Of the restorative abilities of the titular shrine. This, despite it being very likely to be Ancient technology, and it being far from the most unusual thing they've encountered in the Pegasus galaxy.
- Cave Behind the Falls: The shrine is hidden in a cavern behind a waterfall.
- Dying Declaration of Love: The final scene of the episode is Keller watching "Day 6" of McKay's recordings, in which he admits that he loves her and has for some time.
- "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: Inverted. Instead of temporarily getting smarter, Rodney briefly becomes incredibly unintelligent.
- Hidden Depths: When Ronon accuses Woolsey of not understanding the severity of Rodney's condition, he replies with a heartfelt story about his father's long battle and eventual death from Alzheimer's. Made more poignant as it's one of the few times we ever see Woolsey acting emotional and opening up to the team.
- Meatgrinder Surgery: Keller has to perform brain surgery on McKay in the field with a power drill and limited scanning equipment.
- Morton's Fork: The shrine temporarily cures McKay, but only because the radiation is suppressing the parasite. McKay can't stay there forever, and leaving causes the parasite to reassert itself aggressively, which will likely kill McKay. Sheppard then decides to take a third option: improvised surgery.
- No Kill like Overkill: When the parasite leaves McKay's head and Keller drops it to the dirt, Ronon vaporizes it with his Hand Cannon.Sheppard: You could have stepped on it.
Ronon: She told me to shoot it. - Reset Button: After what ends up being relatively minor surgery (a simple trepanation instead of a full laproscopic procedure as planned), McKay is back to his old self.
- Ship Tease: McKay, when distressed, calls only for John.
