Stargate Atlantis/Recap/S01/E10 The Storm

"Weir: You just said the Ancients experienced these storms every twenty to thirty years. Atlantis must have some sort of precautions put in place. McKay: In the past, the Ancients have been protected by the shield or submerged deep enough in the water not to be affected. Sheppard: Okay, strike those options. What else have we got?"

A pair of giant hurricanes bears down on Atlantis, unprotected on the ocean's surface. Sheppard evacuates most of the personnel and Athosians to Manaria to wait it out. Because he's kind of a Jerkass about it, though, the Manarians immediately call up the Genii and tell them that Atlantis will be virtually undefended for the next couple of days.

Meanwhile McKay and Dr. Zelenka are working on a plan to possibly save the city. They realize that they can harness the lightning from the storm itself to power the shields - IF they turn off the mechanisms that allow lightning strikes to ground themselves harmlessly in the ocean. Sheppard, Weir, and McKay run around turning off grounding stations, while Teyla, Ford, and Beckett finish evacuating the Athosians from the mainland. Weir and McKay return finish their stations and return to the gateroom just in time to hear an Athosian distress call. They open the iris to let them in - but instead it is a Genii task force, led by Robert Davi Colonel Badass Acastus Kolya. The task force makes short work of the gateroom guards and take Weir and McKay hostage.

What they want is simple: All the C4, all the medical supplies, the interface device that Sheppard stole from them, and a Puddlejumper. McKay is clever enough to lean on a communications panel while this is going on, so Sheppard knows firstly to stay away and secondly to get to the armory ahead of them and hide all the relevant supplies. The message also gets back to Beckett, Teyla, and Ford, who have been grounded due to the storm, but they can't immediately rush back to help because, well, they've been grounded due to the storm.

Rather than playing games with Sheppard, Kolya sends two of his men to kill him, since, for one, they can track him via the Atlantis systems, and for two, they know where he's going. He still has to turn off the last grounding station (which Kolya persuaded McKay to reveal to him). Sheppard can also track lifesigns and manages to take out his pursuers, but not before they've damaged the grounding station control panel. Sheppard declares that they're now even (and, incidentally, doomed), but Kolya responds that "I don't like even" and shoots Weir in the face.

To be continued...

Tropes
"Guard #1: Bacon. Guard #2: The one thing you wish you had brought with you is bacon? Guard #1: It's the food that makes other food worth eating. Guard #2: You wish you brought bacon to another galaxy?!?"
 * Bacon Addiction:


 * Chekhov's Gunmen: The fact that Ford, Beckett, and Teyla are stranded on the mainland has to be significant eventually.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: The reason McKay reveals the plan to save the city. All we see is a Genii knife, but in the next scene McKay's arm is visibly bleeding, and the implication is pretty clear, as well as driving in Kolya's status as a Complete Monster.
 * Die Hard on an X
 * Fake Kill Scare: Though the shot isn't heard, the fact that Kolya threatens Weir, and then Sheppard doesn't hear any response is enough to garner this reaction from him.
 * Guns Akimbo: Kolya
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Kolya is Agent Johnson from Die Hard. The Die Hard on an X plot may even be a deliberate Actor Allusion.
 * Hostile Weather
 * Lightning Can Do Anything: in this case, power the shields so Atlantis doesn't get blown away.
 * Stock Episode Titles: 27 uses
 * What Would X Do?: Sheppard, wandering around the city, asks himself "What would McKay do?"