Stargate Atlantis/Recap/S03/E01 No Man's Land

"McKay: I'm going to be responsible for the destruction of my own planet!!! Ronon: If it was anyone, it was going to be you."

The Daedalus is badly damaged, Sheppard is missing in action, Earth is screwed, and Rodney won't shut up. Things are looking pretty bleak for our heroes. The one good thing is that, being organic technology, the two Hives will have to stop at some point to recover from "hyperspace radiation." The Daedalus and the Orion should be able to just catch them - although without time for desperately needed repairs, this will probably end in their destruction. Earth, however, has no other options.

At this point, the International Oversight Advisory (I.O.A.) decide to recall Dr. Weir to answer for her last two seasons of leadership. She heads out, leaving Teyla in charge of Atlantis. The IOA needs a scapegoat, and Weir is the likely (and justified) target. General Landry is confident she'll come out of it all fine ...presuming the Earth doesn't get destroyed of course.

Working on that is Colonel Sheppard, alive and well in his F302, which managed to hide out on one of the Hive Ships as it went into hyperspace. He tries to raise Ronon and McKay on his radio...but reaches Michael instead. Not to fear - Michael is pretty irritated at the Hive Queen for not sticking to the retrovirus plan (which he really thought was a good one) and for treating him like a second-class citizen. Realizing he's as much a pariah (or more) among the Wraith as among the humans, he offers Sheppard his help in taking out the Hive Ships. Sheppard manages to take out the hyperdrive on the first ship, then comes aboard to resue McKay and Ronon - who have already escaped and are trying to cause trouble with the computers.

At this opportune moment, the Daedalus and the Orion arrive and manage to destroy the other Hive Ship. Michael's Hive takes down the Orion, however, and Major Lorne and his crew have to be beamed to safety. Michael and Sheppard meet up with Ronon and McKay and together they steal a transport ship. They are able to destroy the dart bays, before they too must be beamed to safety aboard the Daedalus. It is a stalemate - the Hive ship can't escape or attack them, but the Daedalus is out of nukes and severely damaged.

Worse, the Daedalus is venting atmosphere and life-support is down. They stop the leak, but even if they somehow managed to destroy the Hive, there wouldn't be enough hours of breathable air for the return journey to Atlantis. And because they're between galaxies, the only source of O2 for lightyears is...that hive ship right next to them. It's also full of Wraith - but that can be solved. Michael proposes returning to the original plan - using the Daedalus to beam in the canister of aeresolized retrovirus (remember that?), thus turning hostile Wraith into amnesiac humans.

Waiting for the retrovirus to run its course takes up almost all their remaining time. Sheppard and his team beam in to find that the retrovirus has succeeded almost perfectly. Many of the Wraith killed each other when the transformations began, but the nearly 200 survivors are all human. Oh, except the Queen, but they shoot her. They put the ex-Wraith into stasis and let Michael fly their shiny new Hive Ship back home.

Tropes
"Sheppard: I've got to pay more attention to those guys!"
 * Almost Out of Oxygen: the final third of the episode
 * Chekhov's Gun: The canister of aeresolized retrovirus from the last episode.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Sheppard, in a flashback where McKay and Zelenka are discussing some information that would have been really useful in the present.

"Sheppard: Operation "This will most likely end badly" is a go."
 * Fantastic Racism: Michael gets this from the other Wraith on account of his transformation.
 * Heel Face Turn: Michael
 * Idiot Ball: everyone gets their turn!
 * Macross Missile Massacre
 * Neck Lift: How Major Lorne learns that the retrovirus doesn't work on Wraith females
 * Operation Blank:

"Sheppard: Saw it in a movie once."
 * Shout-Out: Sheppard's trick of hiding the F302 on the hull of Hive Ship is right out of Star Wars. He even says so:


 * Stealth in Space
 * This Is Gonna Suck: Operation "This will most likely end badly"
 * Xanatos Speed Chess: Sheppard's moves throughout the episode.