The John&Rodney Show is back! Let the world rejoice. But first: chess. We’re at the staring and thinking stage and Ronon is bemused by the whole thing. Elizabeth joins him at his table (politely sitting beside him so as to not block his view) and breaks the game down for him. "It’s all about strategy. He’s planning his next move. And the move after that, and the move after that."

Ronon’s not incredibly impressed (he should check out speed chess at some point) and he gets up, telling Elizabeth, "I’m leaving."

Hilariously (and I mean, really hilariously) Elizabeth completely misinterprets him, launching into an impressively heartfelt appeal for Ronon to stay in Atlantis a little longer.

"I meant, I’m leaving the table."

"Oh," says Elizabeth, and I come very close to dying of the laughter. I wanted to give Elizabeth a great big hug at this moment (while laughing), because that was incredibly sweet and incredibly embarrassing, and no one ever wrong foots her so effortlessly as Ronon.

Elizabeth attempts a rally and is mid-stutter when Rodney plays inadvertent "knight in shining armor" and rescues her with a radio call. Ronon, quietly amused, waits for her to leave before he heads out himself. I found the entire scene adorable and suspect Elizabeth made more of a positive impression on Ronon than she realized. (I doubt he’s worried about Elizabeth manipulating him for her own nefarious purposes at this point.)

What has Rodney all excited is the discovery of an Ancient warship (called the Aurora – just like this episode!). John is adorably excited by the possibility, too, eyes lighting up in a response Rodney notes as Pavlovian. Prompting John to give Elizabeth a "Yeah, but it’s a warship!" shrug. So Elizabeth is amused as well. (I love all this mutual team-love. This is why I love the show. Well, that and the deep sociological insights. One of those sentences is untrue. You decide!)

The giddiness is brought to a screeching halt when they realize there’s no easy way to actually reach the Aurora. And it’s going to take approximately forty two million years for the Aurora to reach Atlantis (per Rodney McKay, genius). Which means they’re going to need Steven and his Daedalus. Rodney does a frowny-face of "but we hate him" because he’s a team player that way. (I see Rodney’s hostility towards Steven as shaped by Elizabeth’s reactions to him. Especially as Rodney only interacted with Steven a few times, and those times were, on the whole, fairly positive.)

Cue Elizabeth chatting with Steven about a possible jaunt to the edge of the Pegasus galaxy.  Steven gives her a small amount of grief, but because he’s a standup guy and doesn’t appear to hold grudges (love him!), he quickly relents. And also because – it’s a warship! And yes, I love that Steven’s as excited about it as the next guy (who is John). So excited, in fact, he’d like to do the exploring himself and with his own people.

It’s an understandable desire, experience is a good thing. But Elizabeth’s desire to keep it in house is also understandable. (It’s a warship!) And her argument, "We discovered it; we check it out," seems fair. And possibly standard as Steven acquiesces with only a small amount of grumpiness. "Fine. Have Col. Sheppard’s team ready to go in one hour."

Which leads to a check and mate moment for Elizabeth. John’s team is already there, and ready to go. John’s casually chowing down on a powerbar (his getting ready to rumble ritual, and I think we’ve now seen more of John eating powerbars than Rodney) and it’s hilarious. I simultaneously love to see Elizabeth win a negotiation, especially with the implications that she had a thought-out strategy for doing so (hey! just like that opening chess game!), and feel a bit sorry for Steven getting so smoothly played.

So the Daedalus arrives at the site of the Aurora, and is greeted by a Wraith ship that they easily dispatch. Here’s what I found interesting about this scene: When the second ship is detected, Rodney heads straight to a viewing screen (or whatever they’re called), John on his heels. Rodney’s the one to identify it as Wraith, but he doesn’t announce it to the ship or to Steven. His conversation is with John, and John alone.

I don’t think Rodney is subtle enough to think up this sort of snub in any kind of conscious way. But I think he does feel a certain "us" versus "them" regarding Steven. I don’t know how he’s defining the two teams (is it science vs. military? Atlantis vs. the SGC?), but I think that for Rodney, Steven is definitely an outsider. Admirably, Steven doesn’t react at all to Rodney’s behavior. (Steven is such a grownup.)

Once the Wraith ship is destroyed, the ball gets rolling for real, and soon our team is over in the badly bruised Ancient warship, all dressed up in their spacesuits and looking for life support.

Fun fact aside: Jason Moma’s head would not fit into the spacesuit helmet. Not because of his dreadlocks, mind you. His skull was literally too big to fit inside the provided helmet. So the "Ronon" you see wandering around with the rest of the team is actually Moma’s stunt man. Which explains why we hear Ronon, but never see his face.

The only lights are what they brought with them (I love, love, love how this scene is lit – it reminds me of Firefly), and the ship is wonderfully creepy. They find the bridge, but it’s completely open to space. And then they find the stasis pods. The pods are active, and occupied, and many. There’s definitely something worth exploring here.

So Rodney works his science magic and gets the Aurora’s life support up and running (during a handy commercial break I’ll bet) and everyone’s able to get out of their suits. Which means, we can see Ronon again! And the world rejoices. Though it has to wait a little bit, because Teyla and Ronon are off doing recognizance (aka: counting pods).

In the meantime, Rodney is doing his science thing and providing random acts of exposition. Everyone (including Steven, via radio connection) is eager to hear what he’s learning, and Rodney is eager to share. The people in the pods (is that a good band name?) are alive, but too "moribund" (Rodney’s word; I love his vocabulary) to revive. However, their brain activity is as active as someone... not in a pod.

This gets Rodney incredibly excited, because it suggests the pod people are communicating with each other. (The show, cleverly, doesn’t try to explain the exact whys and hows; Rodney throws out some probabilities, and they leave it at that.) John grasps the implications pretty much as soon as Rodney does, asking, "Any way to figure out what they’re saying?"

"Yes, of course, it says right here: ‘Why is the smart one having to stop and answer so many questions?’" I giggle madly, because arrogant Rodney behaving badly is one of my favorite things. It’s good to have him back.

"It’s a fair question, Doctor," says Steven in John’s defense. (I’m seeing fewer and fewer signs of Steven having any serious problems with John, at this point.)

"Of course it is!" Rodney snaps back. And John makes a face because he realizes Rodney really was just being an ass. (The way these two pick on each other is another of my favorite things.) Also, Rodney’s really, really eager to actually talk to an Ancient and this is how he reacts. Snarking while he’s thinking, frustrated that he’s not thinking fast enough, the answer just on the tip of his brain... and Eureka!

John catches the "aha" moment and, when Rodney asks Teyla if she’s found any empty pods, I think cottons on to Rodney’s plan. (I loved that there wasn’t an empty pod conveniently nearby. And I loved that the work Teyla and Ronon were doing off-screen actually helped keep the story flowing; there’s still team-flavor despite half the team being off-screen.)

Rodney is, as usual, full steam ahead, ready to climb into the empty pod and start communicating. So John taps the breaks a little. He asks Rodney if he’s sure, and Rodney replies with a rather cocky, "What’s the matter, Colonel? Don’t trust me?"

"No," says John, with all the weight of past events behind him. And Rodney deflates a little. He’s still arguing for his plan, but he’s not quite as forcefully arrogant about it.

Teyla bottom-lines it, "Is it safe?"

Rodney non-answers, "Would I be volunteering to go if it wasn’t?"

"No," says Ronon. Because he doesn’t know Rodney yet. He’s not seen Rodney push the limits of something he doesn’t fully understand yet, confident in his ability to figure it out as he goes along. Rodney is cautious right up until he’s not.

John does know Rodney though (especially since their adventure in Trinity). So he’s going to take Rodney’s place in the pod. Since it’s so safe and all. Plus, if anything goes wrong, Rodney will be on the outside ready to fix it.

Rodney argues ("It won’t!"), John argues back ("But if it does."), and they’re about to devolve into an endless game of "won’t" vs. "if", so Teyla comes in with some not-so-subtle manipulation (because this is Rodney, and "subtle" would go right over his head). "Rodney, between the two of you, if something were to go wrong, which would be the greater loss?"

Unsurprisingly (and hilariously), this works. John’s going in, and now Rodney comes in with the cautions and scary phrases like "brain damage." Rodney’s sure John will be fine, but John definitely made the right call. Rodney still errs to the side of optimism when it comes to his tech skills.

And John’s in. I loved, loved, loved, how they cued entry into the virtual environment with a flash of static, like an old-school television flicker. And I love the icy-blue lighting. For one, John’s eyes stand out like whoa, for another, it makes a lovely contrast with the dark and dim real world. That he pops in where his pod is located was another nice touch. (I love it when little details are payed attention to.)

John’s wearing what we soon realize is the standard uniform of the Aurora, but no communicator and no weapon. He’s immediately taken in hand by security, because this is John, and this is how he rolls. Fortunately, security takes him to the Captain, and that’s who he wanted to speak to in the first place. Unfortunately, neither the Captain nor the rest of the crew realize they’re in a virtual environment. So John comes across as a wacky stranger who somehow invaded their ship. In a time of war. Next stop: the brig.

I loved seeing how John moved from being "man on a mission" with a side of "this is so cool!" (slightly cocky grin, a bit of flirty eyes with the First Officer); to frustration as the Captain refuses to believe him (unbuttoning his jacket in a gesture of exasperation); to sympathetic (his tone of voice when he said, "Sir, the war was lost.").

The Captain immediately takes umbrage at that suggestion. "Nothing is lost. Not yet." His dedication to completing his mission wins me over. I don’t like the Ancients much, mainly because they seemed so utterly impractical (and kind of fast and loose when it came to ethics and the use of power), but this Ancient I do like. I easily buy John’s quick found respect for the man.

It’s at this point that the driving motivator for the rest of the episode is introduced. The Aurora is carrying vital intelligence regarding the Wraith, intelligence that may well turn the tide of the war. Obviously, the information is too late for the Atlantis of the Ancients, but it could come in handy for John’s Atlantis. Of course John will do everything he can to get that intel.

And we’re introduced (though we don’t realize it at first) to the driving motivation of the First Officer/undercover Wraith: the technology behind intergalactic hyperdrive engines. Also, that the First Officer kept pushing the Captain, telling him he didn’t "have time" to deal with the nonsense that is John’s story, was our first clue that she wasn’t quite what she seemed. It’s all very organically set out in this scene. Which is lovely.

What’s also lovely is that John no-place-like-home’s his way out of the VE Aurora so he can confer with Rodney and Steven about what he’s just learned. We get John and Rodney banter moments (John perking up at the suggestion of an armory? hilarious), everyone is kept in the loop, and we see John actually asking Steven permission (with an amusing "can I, Dad?" head tilt) to go back in and see if he can’t get the Wraith intel. (Just like they’re in the military!)

So John tv-flickers back into the VE Aurora (popping up in the brig, as that was where he last was – which again, makes sense). And in the real world, the ticking clock gets introduced in the form of two incoming Wraith cruisers. There’s a hilarious moment where Steven asks Rodney for "the status," and Rodney starts telling him what all he’s learned regarding the VE Aurora.

"I meant Col. Sheppard’s status?" Hee! But more than just amusing, it’s a brilliant way to show us that Rodney is in the process of figuring the VE out. So he’ll become more knowledgeable as the episode progresses and therefore be able to manipulate the environment in a way he hadn’t been able to before. Again, the logical and organic story-continuity makes me happy. Really, really happy.

Meanwhile, in the VE, John is trying to win over the First Officer/Wraith. She’s not letting him speak to the Captain because his story is "so preposterous." Which was an incredibly clever way for the Wraith to get John to tell him all about the Atlantis expedition. Which John does with very little prompting.

It’s interesting to me that John doesn’t pick up on anything being off about the First Officer at this point. Generally he’s a really good judge of character, but not in this case. The First Officer is quite sexy, with tumbling blond curls and big blue eyes and a pouty mouth. Her uniform is different from the rest of the crew in that her arms are bare, which, while not overtly sexy, definitely displays a lot of skin. (Going from the soon-to-be-discovered corpse, this is just how the First Officer was, not anything the Wraith chose to tweak.)

So was John taken in by the sexy? I think he was. Not in the sense that he was so overwhelmed he lost all ability to think clearly, but in the sense that he saw her as approachable. Maybe he kind of related to her? After all, John himself skirts military dress code (his hair). Whatever the reason, John felt the First Officer would be susceptible to his charms. And while I’ve seen John dial up his charm to get what he wants, I’ve never seen him be so blatant about it.

He’d like to speak to the Captain. And he assures the First Officer of his sincerity with a voice filled with promise and bedroom eyes. "I would be very, very grateful," he says, and tries for a sexy body-displaying lean against the cell door. Unfortunately, the force field stings his hands and he has to fall back on dorky boyishness.

Fortunately, "dorky" seems to work and the First Officer smilingly promises to speak to the Captain for John. I do think the Wraith was amused by John, and maybe even a little charmed, but probably more in an "I shall enjoy eating you" kind of way. (The Wraith are always eager to eat John.) But that John actually buys the lie... I kind of love that. He definitely thinks there’s a meeting of the minds going on here.

Just in case the audience agrees (probably because the show expects the audience to agree), we cut back to the real world where Teyla and Ronon are still counting pods. There’s a cute bit where Teyla tells Ronon to not throw off her count and he responds with a litany of the numbers he’s come up with. At first I thought Ronon was just being an ass, which would have been hilarious. But I think he was in earnest, which isn’t quite as funny but is still cute.

And that’s when they stumble across the corpse which leads them to the Wraith in a pod. Teyla wants Rodney to join them. And when she insists, he immediately heads their way. Which is why John is alone when he briefly wakes up, which keeps him from realizing the ticking clock and making use of Rodney’s new knowledge of the VE. Still loving the believable story-logic going on.

I also loved how John used his own understanding of the how the VE worked to trick the guard. He’s a clever one, is John, and I like to see it displayed. Also, I really liked the guard. It was a tiny little role, but the smirk he gave when he told John the First Officer had told him to ignore anything John might say was pretty awesome. He knew John had been played (though not the full reason why, of course) and he was pleased about it.

Which gave a little extra lift to the line John gives after overpowering the guard and locking him in the cell. "I really don’t like being ignored." Flanigan gave an excellent delivery (he pretty much rocked this episode, I thought), but I especially loved that, because of the way the guard delivered his own lines, it was a mini-battle of the smartasses. The entire interchange was a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Rodney is stunned and horrified to find Wraith-tech attached to one of the Aurora pods. Ronon is stunned and horrified (in his subdued Ronon-way) that Rodney focuses on that and completely misses the actual Wraith inside the pod. Oh, Rodney. He’s really not impressing Ronon much, is he?

Steven, the ever cautious, beams the three of them back onto the Daedalus as soon as he realizes there’s a Wraith in the equation. There’s a lot of conversation about what to do next, with everyone sharing information and ideas and it boils down to not disturbing the Wraith and John voluntarily leaving the VE, if they want to avoid damaging John’s brain. The clock is still ticking, and it’s down to fifteen minutes.

It’s at this point that my husband was thrown out of the story. His issue was that Steven didn’t send a whole mess of soldiers to guard the pod Wraith. I think it could be argued that Steven thought Ronon and Teyla were enough, especially as he didn’t know the sort of hijinks Rodney was about to get up to. Steven thought Rodney was going to spend his allotted fifteen minutes figuring out what the Wraith had done, therefore working where the Wraith is located. But Rodney’s priorities get shifted.

John, after escaping the brig, tracks down the Captain and tries, once more, to convince him of his sincerity. Before he can get beyond asking for the chance to try, the First Officer shoots him in the back. Fortunately it’s a non-lethal stunner, but unfortunately it means his brainwaves now register as unconscious which worries his team, and it means he’s back in the brig.

There’s a brief scene between the Captain and his First Officer where the Captain wonders if John isn’t telling the truth. He senses something being off (special Ancient spidey-sense?) but is satisfied with the explanation that he’s exhausted. I suspect part of his exhaustion is tied to the poor condition of his physical body. But the scene also serves to separate the Captain from his First Officer. He’s sincere and earnest where she’s duplicitous and manipulative. (Huh. I’m not sure I want to get into this at the moment, but it’s very interesting that the villain in this episode is a sexy woman making puppets of all the men around her.)

Steven is insistent that Rodney just pull John out of the pod so they can all get out of there. His worry is valid (Atlantis is safe only so long as it’s secret), but Rodney’s worry is equally valid. At least, Rodney seems genuinely frightened by what forcing John out of the pod will do to his brain. His fear, and his decision to risk his life to save John, sells the danger to me.

I loved that Ronon finally got to see this side of Rodney. The brave little toaster side who knows what he’s about to do is crazy, but it’s got to be done so he’s doing it. The way his voice cracks when he tells Teyla they should have a medical team standing by if they need to manually remove John and Rodney from the pods was a wonderfully understated way to underline the risk. I also loved Rodney’s running monologue as he psyched himself up, causing Teyla to miss his first cue to send him into the VE. It was a nice little humor beat, that didn’t depend on undermining Rodney.

For more humor we get to see John woken up by Rodney’s dulcet tones as he insistently asks for "Colonel John Sheppard" with the "rakish" hair. "I came to help you!" Rodney tells John. And now they’re both locked up in the brig. "I feel better already," says John. "Hee!" says me.

From that mini-team moment, we move to another mini-team moment in the real world where Teyla and Ronon are doing their best to hide Rodney’s actions from Steven. Ronon starts them off, but Teyla does all the heavy lifting, throwing a lot of believable science jargon at Steven, impressing me since she’s obviously making it up as she goes. Steven buys it, and Ronon gives her a "you are so cool!" look. Teyla gives Ronon an, "I know," smile in return. It was all pretty awesome.

Meanwhile, John’s learning there’s a Wraith in the program (like a bug, only bigger and with more hair), and immediately links the Wraith to the First Officer. Mainly because she didn’t respond to his ‘guaranteed to work every time you use it’ John Sheppard Flirting Techniques (patent pending). Or as John put it, "There’s something very odd about her." Oh, and also she kept preventing him from speaking to the Captain.

Since Rodney’s learned all about the Aurora VE, they don’t need the Captain anymore. He can get the Wraith intel out of the computer. Also, he can get them out of the brig. Starting with an I Dream of Genie pose, disappearing with that tv-flicker, then opening the cell door and knocking out the guards before reappearing. Obviously, Rodney is the coolest VE wizard ever.

All of his cool points are rapidly squandered, however, when he spends a bit too much time drooling over the First Officer/Wraith. "That’s the Wraith?!? ...She’s hot! I mean, seriously hot." He does manage to keep a few points through sheer honestly. "I know. I disgust myself sometimes." Oh, Rodney. (Actually, I loved Rodney’s drooling, because it was so endearingly honest. I’m assuming a point count in John’s head, here.)

Honesty is in the air, so when Steven finally calls Teyla and Ronon’s bluff, Teyla decides it’s time to come clean. Steven is less than thrilled, but Teyla convinces him to wait until the last possible moment to forcibly remove John, and now Rodney, from the pods. Not only is the audience reminded (again) of the ticking clock, John and Rodney lose the backup of Teyla and Ronon. Which makes for a more action/adventure end scene. Which makes me happy.

Rodney has discovered that the intel on the Wraith is not in the database. Putting their heads together, John and Rodney realize the Wraith is learning how to make an intergalactic hyperdrive engine so the Wraith can reach Earth. All the loose plot threads are getting neatly sewn up, and in the doing, John learns about the ticking clock.

"There are Wraith ships on the way?" asks John, understandably annoyed that this information wasn’t shared at the outset.

Rodney fumbles and flusters and then it comes out that the Wraith knows all about Atlantis.

"You told her?" asks Rodney, moving from flustered to accusing in 0.6 seconds. "Why?" he demands.

And now it’s John’s turn to fumble. He handles it a bit better, in that he changes the subject, telling Rodney to go unplug the Wraith so he can talk to the Captain and hopefully get the intel on the Wraith directly from him. Before they split up, John asks, "Now Rodney, is there anything else you’d like to tell me?"

"Only that Caldwell is probably going to destroy the ship at any moment." Hee! Especially after John’s deadpan stare. This is not the professional he was hoping for.

Then it’s back to the I Dream of Genie pose, and Rodney’s off to work his mojo in the real world, while John works his mojo in the VE. John goes first, confronting the Captain on his bridge, and trying to convince him his First Officer is actually a Wraith. John and the First Officer argue, and the Captain is confused. John seems sincere, but this is his First Officer, someone he’s trusted for years. Fortunately, Rodney’s mojo starts working and in a truly awesome affect, the First Officer starts flickering, looking more and more Wraith-like before she finally flickers out.

Back in the real world, Rodney gives a "Ha!" of triumph, that quickly turns to an "Oh, no!" of fear as the Wraith’s pod starts to open up. Rodney pulls his gun, because he’s not a fool. And when the Wraith wakes up, he shoots like a madman while at the same time scampering for the door, because he’s not really an action guy. It’s hilarious, but I also note that his aim isn’t half bad for someone more running than aiming.

Back in VE world, the Captain is taking all the stunning revelations with the calm of the truly exhausted. Also, I think the Captain had suspected something was wrong for a while, only, he was so tired and his First Officer was so focused and certain. With the Wraith’s influence gone, the Captain is happy to help John. Unfortunately, he never knew what was in the communique he was delivering. So the Wraith intel is as gone as gone can be. (Frustrating! ::sigh:: I suppose it keeps the Wraith a formidable enemy. You don’t want to destroy your bad-guys too quickly, after all. So... I guess it’s okay.)

Back in the real world, Rodney is hovering over the computer monitoring John’s vitals, keeping one eye on the door. And then John wakes up, all stiff movements and sleep-thickened voice. Rodney turns from the door to better lambast John for making him worry ("What did you do, play a round of golf?" – first mention of golfer!John? I think?), cuing the inevitable Wraith attack.

The cool part was John shifting from stiff and sleepy to attacking solider in an eye-blink. He moves towards the Wraith, and his shots don’t miss. Rodney pulls his gun and stands beside John. The Wraith does the usual dying-Wraith thing, breathing threats and promised retribution. John responds in his usual fashion and kills the Wraith dead.

Steven radios in, all ready to beam everyone aboard, which John is cool with, after he takes care of something. No one says anything about the dead Wraith, but if the Daedalus was monitoring life-signs, I’m not sure how Steven would have missed what just happened. (This is where I’d start wondering about the standard operating procedure when it comes to handling Wraith and whether taking them prisoner is something thought best avoided, so maybe certain questions don’t get asked, but I suspect it’d take me deeper than the story is wanting to go.)

A quick beam (John looking cool, Rodney looking straight up – to better see the beam, maybe? – so not so cool) and finally Steven has all of his chicks in his nest and is ready to unload a world of hurt on the incoming Wraith cruisers. But, thanks to the Captain of the Aurora and the self-destruct codes he gave John, all the Daedalus needs to do is get out of the way. Which they do, making use of something called, "Military thrust." Insert your own adolescent joke here. (You know you want to.)

There’s a brief interlude where the Captain gives a final speech to his crew, and even though our time with him was short, I rather liked the man. So when the Aurora explodes in a great flash of light, taking the two Wraith cruisers with it, I’m kind of sad.

There’s a final scene back in Elizabeth’s office (hi, Elizabeth!), where Elizabeth is filled in on what happened and we’re told the cruisers were destroyed before gaining or sending any vital information. Atlantis is still safe. John asks everyone (and that includes Steven) to take part in a toast to the Aurora. There’s a brief moment where Flanigan looks at the camera while making the toast, so we viewers are included. It made for a pretty touching end scene for a one-off group of people, and I thought it added a nice patina of emotional depth to the episode.

But what I was most happy with in this scene was Steven’s inclusion (he’s really not the enemy and this episode went a long way towards making that clear), and that John and Rodney were sitting next to each other during the debriefing. This is the episode where the rift from Trinity is healed. Rodney hasn’t magically turned into a different person; his arrogance can still be his Achilles heel. But he’s becoming more aware of it. More importantly, John’s aware of it, and he’ll factor it into his decision making processes.

It was also nice to see Rodney risk himself for John, and trust Teyla and Ronon to support him while he took that risk. We’ve seen John and Ronon and Teyla and Rodney in the field before; now we’ve seen them actively working together as a team. It’s a beautiful thing.