Hot Zone (113)

[Merlin7]

What colour is it on your side of the fence?

From my position on top of the fence I thought Shep was totally in the wrong. To fail to follow orders in an emergency (non-military) situation when the decision had been made independantly of him and by minds with more of the pertinent info than he had himself; to unilaterally throw out the safety plan and do his own thing was really bad of him.

Once it's been established that Shep's not following the plan that everyone else is following, how can there be a plan at all? Weir and the scientists were trying to work stuff out, but in effect they now had to run everything by Shepherd, and they couldn't be sure that anything they wanted to do would be implemented because if Shep could commandeer the entire military contingent and give them contradicting instructions...

Firstly. Rodney didn't run anything by Sheppard. Rodney..who was so running the show. Rodney who said someone needed to go after Peterson. Rodney who asked for Shep's help. Rodney who agreed with Shep that the generator idea was good and that it was worth the risk and the time was NOW. Weir was deferring to Rodney in all things.

Actually....Shep broke out AFTER Rodney said someone had to go after PETERSON. RODNEY SAID. John followed ROdney for the most part and Rodney agreed with John's choices as well. Rodney was running the SHOW. Period. OVer Beckett the DoCTOR even.

And I still, firmly, believe that Bates opened that door because he agreed with Rodney. Someone had to stop Peterson. It was proven they could NOT stop him from the control area and Peterson would have reached them.

Weir wasn't trying to do much. It was really Rodney telling everyone what to do and Shep listened to Rodney. I was with Rodney and Shep on this one. Weir, if the choice had been hers and they had simply listened in the end, lots of people, including Zalenka and Ford, would have died.

Remember, Rodney kept agreeing with Shep too. So he wasn't listening to Lizzie either. Bottom line. RODNEY was calling the shots and even BECKETT and WEIR were following HIS orders. And HE said someone had to go after Peterson and THAT is when Shep decided to leave. He wanted to leave right away but he LISTENED to Weir and stayed put UNTIL Rodney said what HE said. And Rodney was totally calling the shots and he was totally right. And he agreed with Shep.

The Liz and Shep thing? Had to happen at some point. Like I said. They BOTH made mistakes and had he listened he wouldn't have gotten the messhall infected and he GOT her point on that. But..bottom line. Had he stayed locked in...and Lizzie got her way. More people would have died. Peterson was going to die anyway. John didn't get anyone else killed. And he fixed his mistake.

I expect more conflicts like this with Shep and Weir. I like them. They're both human and this is realistic and I could see BOTH their POV's. But I still would have done what Shep did. Listen to Rodney.

[LoneStar1836]

BTW, I’ve only read 30 or so posts back, and not the whole thread yet.

Another great episode, especially for McKay. Has he had a bad episode yet? Even the stick fighting scene was in good taste, imo. Poor Teyla. That’s about all she seems good for. Though, she actually had some good dialogue tonight. Maybe not a lot, but it’s better than nothing. And poor Ford getting picked on by the “nerds” cause he couldn’t even correctly guess between prime and not a prime. As always, I loved Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Beckett. It’s always nice when they write them into an episode.

Okay, Shep was being bullheaded in this one, but I think he did the right thing in going after Peterson. He may be in command of the military aspect, but Weir is in command of the entire expedition, and if she had been compromised and died, she would have been the greater loss. Shep is expendable. For me he’s not , but in the overall scheme he is because there are other officers to take his place. Peterson was headed strait for the command section and didn’t seem too intent on stopping no matter what, imo. The only hope was for him to die before he reached Weir and crew. Now I’m guessing the city would have gone into lockdown before he actually got to Weir, but no one knew the city would do this.

I see Shep’s decision to defy Weir as an attempt to save the leader of the expedition, despite the danger to himself. Yeah, he blundered and Peterson got away by accident, but what was the alternative? He do nothing, and Weir possibly become compromised. As soon as Shep got to Peterson, Weir should have ordered the power to the section be turned off again, until it was determined if Peterson was going to cooperate and go back or put up a fight. Imo, the guy needed to be stopped because obviously the city doors were no obstacle at the time. I see Shep as making the only decision he had available to him: protect the expedition by protecting the leader of it, even if it cost him his own life. That’s just the way I see it. I can see that his decision to defy Weir did hamper her attempts to resolve the situation, but in my opinion, I don’t think her plan of talking Peterson down was going to work. Someone was going to have to physically go out there and stop him. The episode makes Shep looks like an a**, but deep down he felt like he was doing the right thing in the heat of the moment, and I tend to agree. Though, now in the back of Weir’s mind, she’ll have that doubt that Sheppard does not trust her judgment and is willing to side-step her decisions. Does make for some interesting confrontation between her and Shep in this one and possibly in future episodes, imo. Previous confrontations about Shep’s decisions always seemed to be nicely brushed off by Weir not leaving a sour taste in either’s mouth. This time it is more serious and will seem to have later repercussions. Or I’m hoping and guessing it will. The writers may totally forget about it and move on like nothing happened.

As for the possible new enemy, I’m hoping they are still around, because I want something more than just the Wraith. The Wraith are a joke to me. I want something scarier. Though it could be interesting if we later find out that this was, in fact, created by the Ancients making them not the so nicey-nice race that we think they are. Makes you wonder why the Ancient gene makes you immune if it possibly wasn’t created by the Ancients. Maybe these “enemies” are not enemies after all. Then again, whoever created it may not have taken into account that the Ancients would be immune because they were mostly aiming at killing the human population or the Wraith. Maybe they didn’t like humans or Wraiths and wanted the monopoly on bad guys in the Pegasus Galaxy. Just as long as somewhere down the line they readdress this storyline and don’t leave it hanging in the cluttered closet designated for unresolved Stargate storylines.

Nice episode. I enjoyed it.

[SophieTucker]

I stayed up for the second airing so I could get those "blanked" minutes.

I thought Weir was wrong, in fact I am becoming less and less impressed with her leadership. You've got a hysterical individual ready to spread a fatal virus and she's going to try to negotiate. I have to agree with Sheppard and McKay. I was really impressed with Rodney by the way. He may be a whiner but, unlike Peterson, he would not risk the lives of everyone else while trying to save his own. He was very professional in a difficult situation. I think Sheppard was responding to how he'd been trained to deal with those types of situations.

Interesting topic because it is relevant. I am sure if we had a potential outbreak in any US city that our government would force a quarantine and wouldn't try to talk people down if they tried to escape. (I say US because not living there - I don't know how other countries would respond) I don't think risking the lives of the entire population to save one person is a good idea.

On the other hand, I have wondered how I would respond if I had been exposed to a deadly pathogen?

[Blue Banrigh]

I'm just wondering why, when the first realised Peterson was gone, Ford did not go out and drag his sorry ass back. He couldn't have gotten that far away. Or when Shep disobeyed why not just get a Wraith stunner and stun him?

Lol, I'm starting to think Rodney's solution to everything is to generate an EM pulse. Wasn't that his plan against Anubis in S6? At least it worked this time.

[derrickh]

Sheppard should be in the brig. What he did in this episode was so off the mark that it's a wonder how he stayed in the military so long.

Not only did he disobey Weir, he did it in a way that effectively strips her of any respect with her subordinates. Now everyone knows that when push comes to shove, Weir doesn't matter and Sheppard is the man in charge.

On top of that, his actions directly led to the lockdown of the base. If he hadn't needed his section powered up, the teleporters would've been off line and Peterson would not have infected the base.

But wait, theres more. Sheppard shot(and killed?) Peterson. At that point, Sheppard didn't know for sure what was going on. He just knew that Peterson needed to stay quarantined. Spreading his blood all over the place with 10mm bullets may have increased the infection rate. He didn't take a stunner or a zat gun, he shot at the guy's chest with a P-90. He didn't try to immobolize the guy, he wanted to kill him. An Atlantis team member.

And at the end, he had ZERO remorse for undermining Weir. He made it sound like he'd do it again if he thought he had to.

So we have another show where Sheppard kills someone other than a Wraith. The guy is a menace.

D

[Madeleine]

You've got a hysterical individual ready to spread a fatal virus and she's going to try to negotiate.

Yes! because if negotiation had worked then no one would have been risked by it, and if negotiation had failed she still had the option of having him met by a soldier at the end of a corridor before he reached her position and zatted. Weir's way didn't risk anyone who wasn't already compromised. Shep's way risked Shep and Teyla, and led to the infection of everyone in the canteen; unlike Weir the canteen bods didn't have any armed hazmat-suited soldiers to put inbetween themselves and the deadly-virus-bearing intruder. Good for Shep for pulling it out of the bag in the end, but it was more through luck than judgement.

[keshou]

Another solid episode. Of course I love quarantine/lockdown shows. You usually get a lot of character-development and angst and I'm a sucker for that stuff. This episode certainly delivered in that regard with good development for the regulars and the supporting characters.

McKay (as usual) rocked. He's come a long way from the arrogant man in "48 Hours" - the man who viewed Teal'c's death as an acceptable loss. Such a complex character and becoming quite the leader. Even though Beckett had the superior medical knowledge they were really all looking to McKay for a solution.

When McKay thought he was near death he was trying to deliver information that would help the others. Then his self-interest kicks in. "Tell them I died saving......kids". "That's it.....kids". How can he be so funny and so tragic at the same time? Anyway, love McKay. And David Hewlett continues to impress with his acting skills.

Shep and Weir. Well, this showdown was important and I have to say I came away at least respecting that Weir stood up for herself. But I honestly think both she and Shep made poor decisions in this one.

I think Weir should have let Shep out of the cell in the first place. He was the best person to try and stop Peterson (I mean didn't she see "The Eye" ), especially since McKay warned that Peterson was very familiar with Ancient technology and might be able to override the controls. If she had given Shep immediate permission he might have reached Peterson well before he ended up in the mess hall.

But when Weir said "No", I think Shep should have accepted her decision because if this thing is ever going to work Weir's leadership needs to be respected. Weir's decision, while I think it was incorrect, wasn't totally without merit. But Shep's kind of a hothead so off he goes. Luckily it all worked out.

But anyway it led to some nice dramatic moments that I enjoyed. It will be interesting to see how Shep and Weir's relationship plays out from here.

All the supporting characters were great - Zelenka, Beckett, the blond scientist gal. Ford kind of disappointed me though. He just seems kind of out in left field most of the time.

I actually liked Teyla better in this. She still has an odd manner about her but I thought the stick-fighting with Shep was pretty cool. Even if she was wearing a skirt that looked like she stole it from a car wash.

I really thought they were heading towards the Ancients being the ones who made the virus. I still think the Ancients - or at least a group of them - may not be so nice after all. But the potential of a new enemy is good too. I still have trouble with the Wraith being the enemy who destroyed the Ancients - they just don't seem that smart. Maybe there's someone else out there who's pulling the strings. Kind of a DS-9 Jem'Hadar/Founders thing.

So good episode. Atlantis continues to deliver a very consistent second half of the first season.

[kris]

I really enjoyed this episode. It was worth waiting for. From the transcript it seemed like it was going to play out very tensely and it did. A McKay fan’s delight.

Weir kind of drove me mad with her slowness. I would never want to work under her and the excuse of essentially “Beckett and his people are too busy” to bring Sheppard a hazmat suit was lame. And that's what started it all, their not getting along-ness. Instead of telling John, “I promise I will get one to you, wait, trust me, call you back in 20 minutes”, and approaching him right away on a more personal level, she maintained a distance in their relationship. As a leader, she should know things get done faster and more efficiently on the level of personal dynamics than in official mode.

If she had given him a little leeway from the beginning, got him to the control room in a hazmat suit, then she may have been able to keep him from becoming gung-ho to go after Peterson. People who are used to action get pretty itchy waiting and impulse takes over. If Weir had him next to her, then Sheppard could’ve seen what Grodin was doing and that is just might work.

Maybe this episode was too early in their working relationship to have that kind of ebb and flow. Wouldn’t seem like it. Sheppard is the ranking military officer, her right arm in a dangerous place. I suppose the ending scene tried to explain a little of Weir’s mistrust, her image of Sheppard. Finally she asks him to trust her but I think Sheppard is going to have a hard time doing that considering her cold management style. If John has a rep of not respecting the chain of command, then she needs to approach him on another level he can relate to.

Poor Beckett. He was reduced to a passive dumbfoundedness, especially in the blood pressure scene. Rodney was clearly in charge the whole time, I loved that. I would never be able to think straight if my life was in immediate danger like his but he kept plugging away and found the answer. The “ghosts” were menacing, great job on the effects. The deaths were horrifying.

The viral lab is an enigma that I hope produces an interesting new angle that uses nanotech again. They could wreak havoc in many ways.

All in all, a great 44 minutes of show and I ate up every minute.

[Ugly Pig]

OOooooo, SCIFI frakked up big time. Instead of the teaser, we got a black screen. Tsk tsk tsk.

Oy. That must've cost them quite a few viewers for the evening...

[GatetheWay]

I think the reason why TPTB made Beckett so usless was to make the situation more threatening. Beckett kept on saying he didn't see anything wrong with them and if a fully trained doctor couldn't spot the virus then this thing will be really hard to detect and fight. Regular medicine could not help them because the virus was in fact a bunch of machines.

[Wass]

I think the reason why TPTB made Beckett so usless was to make the situation more threatening. Beckett kept on saying he didn't see anything wrong with them and if a fully trained doctor couldn't spot the virus then this thing will be really hard to detect and fight. Regular medicine could not help them because the virus was in fact a bunch of machines.

Nano virus to be precise

[Merlin7]

I really enjoyed this episode. It was worth waiting for. From the transcript it seemed like it was going to play out very tensely and it did. A McKay fan’s delight.

Weir kind of drove me mad with her slowness. I would never want to work under her and the excuse of essentially “Beckett and his people are too busy” to bring Sheppard a hazmat suit was lame. And that's what started it all, their not getting along-ness. Instead of telling John, “I promise I will get one to you, wait, trust me, call you back in 20 minutes”, and approaching him right away on a more personal level, she maintained a distance in their relationship. As a leader, she should know things get done faster and more efficiently on the level of personal dynamics than in official mode.

This really was the RODNEY SHOW and by that I mean that everyone deferred to his knowledge and decisions. Even the Medical doctor. Weir wasn't in the loop. She offered nothing to solve the problem.

Sheppard stayed put until RODNEY said...Someone needs to go after Peterson. Rodney...who was the guy who figured out everything from start to finish, told Weir someone needs to stop the guy. That's when Shep went against Weir. And Rodney and Shep then worked together to solve the problem and save everyone.

The comment in another post about Shep being a menace and getting everyone infected. Only those in the messhall got infected by Peterson. They had more time than Rodney's people...but ultimately, John saved them all. Did he make a bad choice. Yes and no. But he tends to fix his mistakes. Does Weir? He choice/decision would have killed Zalenka and Ford.

I'll take Shep working with Rodney over Weir any day. And I like Weir.

[Easter Lily]

I'm convinced at least in this episode that Weir didn't really understand the kind of man Sheppard was... he really isn't the type of person to hang around and do nothing (for better or for worse)... but in The Seige II you'll see that both of them have a much better grasp of one another's character.

Sheppard did undermine her authority... naughty boy... but I think she was quite mistaken in thinking that the man who took on the Genii in The Eye was going to sit around and do nothing.

[smallgirl]

This really was the RODNEY SHOW and by that I mean that everyone deferred to his knowledge and decisions. Even the Medical doctor. Weir wasn't in the loop. She offered nothing to solve the problem.

Sheppard stayed put until RODNEY said...Someone needs to go after Peterson. Rodney...who was the guy who figured out everything from start to finish, told Weir someone needs to stop the guy. That's when Shep went against Weir. And Rodney and Shep then worked together to solve the problem and save everyone.

The comment in another post about Shep being a menace and getting everyone infected. Only those in the messhall got infected by Peterson. They had more time than Rodney's people...but ultimately, John saved them all. Did he make a bad choice. Yes and no. But he tends to fix his mistakes. Does Weir? He choice/decision would have killed Zalenka and Ford.

I'll take Shep working with Rodney over Weir any day. And I like Weir.

I agree that Weir was being too slow, she didn't respond quickly enough when Rodney advised that Peterson was perfectly able to get through the security lockouts in the system. She had Grodin working on it but when Rodney said someone needed to stop him, she didn't come up with idea of who could go and do it. However I think Sheppard acted too quickly. He had been itching to get out of the gym and do something ever since the alert first started and when Peterson escaped he decided it had to be him. I understand why he felt like that but I also understand why Weir acted the way she did but neither of them at that point showed any flexibility or frankly any logic. It was like the discussion Sheppard had with Teyla afterwards, both he and Weir were completely locked into their own decisions and neither were thinking clearly. Weir was following outbreak protocol and sticking to a lockdown and non-movement of all personnell which is completely correct. Sheppard on realising that the situation was in danger of escallating decided as the military CO that it need dealing with, which is also correct. I was angry at Sheppard for undermining Weir's authority and getting Bates to overide her decision, I thought it was very unprofessional but I do think that Weir at that point wasn't coming up with any ideas of how to deal with the situation. She looked lost and out of her depth which of course made it the worst possible occasion for Sheppard to disregard her authority. They were both being rather pigheaded and stubborn. It never should have escallated into a contest of wills over the radio.

Whilst watching that scene I was thinking that they both needed to take a breath for a second and logically sort something out. I don't know the layout of Atlantis, where the Control Centre is in relation to the gym and where Peterson was but the most sensible thing was to locate where he was, where he was heading ( they could see it all on the computer screen) and work out who (military wise) was the nearest to him and also able to get access to a hazmat suit to go and deal with him without having to open up too much of city that was already locked down. It may have been the case that Sheppard and Teyla were the most suitable people for the task but that was never addressed because the whole situation got out of hand. I remember thinking when Peterson first escaped and they were tracking him from the CC why didn't they just send Bates to deal with it. They could lock everything down after him as he passed through.

You're right about Rodney, despite being in another near-death situation ( and we all know how well he handles those ~lol) he was the only one keeping a cool head. Rodney saved the day. He worked out the nature of the virus and then how to deal with it. Sheppard did come up with the final solution and risked his life but only after Rodney had already done most of the groundwork. The combination of Weir's cautiousness and Sheppard overzealousness could have led to a lot more deaths than actually happened.

[kris]

I'll take Shep working with Rodney over Weir any day. And I like Weir.

Amen on Shep and Rodney. As for Weir, I'm trying hard to like her.