Tao of Rodney

"Tao of Rodney" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of Stargate: Atlantis.

Synopsis
Dr. Rodney McKay gets "zapped" by a device, where his brain quickly evolves to that of the Ancients to achieve Ascension, and he gains super powers. However, he must learn to ascend, or he will die, but it isn't going to be easy.

Plot
In order to conserve power, Dr. Rodney McKay and a scientist crew (including Dr. Radek Zelenka and Dr. Rafaela Esposito) are heading through a recently flooded area of the city, shutting down systems recently activated by the Ancients during their short period of controlling the city.

McKay powers up the machine and is suddenly surrounded and circled by a giant spiral of what appears to be DNA or some sort of energy (then subsequently gets hit by bolts of electricity from the machine) and stands there, surprised. Everything appears normal, except for the fact that McKay just survived a few lightning strikes with no damage to his body.

Later, McKay discovers that his hearing has improved greatly, and he overhears the team talking about him, so he grabs his tablet, which has moved across the table into his hands, and walks over there and has a very minor rant. An announcement comes over the Atlantis PA system calling Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and his team to Stargate Operations. There they receive a transmission from Major Evan Lorne's team. They are under attack with enemy soldiers closing in fast. After they head out to start the rescue, Zelenka talks to Dr. Elizabeth Weir. He has discovered that the device is designed to manipulate human DNA (a DNA resequencer, presumably)

Sheppard's team returns with Lorne and according to McKay, the enemy attacking Lorne's team were defeated when McKay "thought 'wouldn't it be great if all their weapons jammed all at once?' and then it just happened". Weir, of course, does not believe him, and neither does anyone else, so to prove it, he uses his telekinesis to pick up Dr. Carson Beckett right off the floor. Everyone stares at McKay. Weir tells McKay to put him down, which he promptly does.

McKay is in the infirmary on a bed, hooked up to a vitals monitor, and a few other machines. Apparently there is a dramatic increase in synaptic interaction throughout all the sections of the brain, much higher than normal levels. Weir mentions an incident at Stargate Command "just over a year ago" where they found a highly evolved being in stasis, caused by altering of the DNA by a DNA resequencer by a Goa'uld named Anubis, designed to artificially accelerate the human physiology to the point of ascension.

McKay stays a while in the infirmary, and then is let out with Ronon Dex keeping him company. He discovers he can read people's minds, so he heads to Weir's office and 'asks' permission to utilize the control chair of the city and reconfigure the power systems to increase the efficiency of the Zero Point Module, as it will dramatically lower the city's power usage, and thus increase the ZPM's life. While he is fiddling with it, the lights in the DNA resequencer lab where Zelenka is trying to fix the device (it was damaged in the initial explosions/lightning when McKay had his DNA resequenced), go out. He heads to the control chair room to talk to McKay, but McKay is arrogant and keeps working. Zelenka heads back to the lab, very angry at McKay. Weir is going over the research log that the Ancients left behind, in her office, when Sheppard walks in and asks how she's going with it, she says she's just getting to what she thinks might be the "good bit". Sheppard leaves, but before he goes, Weir says that they need to talk to McKay right away.

They walk into the control chair room and McKay reads their minds. He realizes what is happening: If he does not ascend near the peak of the evolution, he will die soon afterwards. He is faced with a choice: Ascend or die. At this point, a massive power surge starts going through the city – Zelenka is struck by a bolt of electricity and badly wounded. He is rushed to the infirmary and has a massive wound, in very unstable and critical condition, with no pulse. Beckett prepares the paddles. McKay tells Beckett to "MOVE!" and Beckett protests that "the man is dying!" and McKay says "I know, just give me a second". A look of concentration comes over McKay's face as he puts his hands above the wound. It begins to heal very quickly. In a few seconds the wound is gone. When the wound is healed, McKay is amazed that he could do it. In a panic, he runs out of the infirmary; probably scared of what other powers he has and to continue his scientific research into greater technologies.

McKay goes on an inventing spree, inventing a new type of math, a way to increase the shield power on the Daedalus, designing a hyperdrive prototype for the Puddle Jumper and figuring out why light behaves as particles and waves in quantum physics.

McKay goes through some emotional changes, realizing his fate is coming; he takes meditating lessons with Sheppard, who learned from the Ascension-seeking villagers he was trapped with the People of the Cloister, so that he will be ready when the time comes. He apologizes to Zelenka for being very mean to him during the past few years, and even calls him a "brilliant scientist". Zelenka is touched, and even a little confused as McKay walks away.

McKay also speaks with Teyla Emmagan and helps her with the "tea ceremony for the anniversary of her father's death." He comments that "I know you're not supposed to do it alone." Teyla appreciates this sudden and strange show of compassion and caring. He then finds Ronon and asks him about the scars on his back from the Wraith. He asks, "Are those like a badge of honor or just a constant reminder of something you'd rather forget?". Ronon responds "I try not to let the things I can't change bother me". McKay hugs Ronon and squeezes him tightly for a few seconds, and then says "Hope you don't mind… I just healed them." He also typed out a 500 page book for Elizabeth of all the "good things [she's] done".

Eventually McKay ends up back in the infirmary, as his body starts to die: the advanced cerebral cortex is affecting the lower functions of the brain and his body is losing its natural ability to keep itself alive. McKay and Sheppard have another go at the meditation, and McKay slowly sinks to the required level of activity.

He slowly goes to 1 Hz and suddenly his eyes open and he grabs Beckett violently. He lets him go and relaxes back into the bed. No pulse. Beckett says they need to bag him and get him on the ventilator. Weir protests, saying "He gave us strict orders to – " and Beckett cuts in "No, you don't understand. He just told me how to save him."

At the lab, they place McKay in front of the controls, where he was resequenced before. The machine is turned on, and McKay is returned to normal. Apparently (according to the now normal McKay) "The device was designed to manipulate your DNA, and it couldn't reverse the evolutionary process because everyone's DNA was different, it makes certain changes that cause the DNA to evolve, in-in ways specific to your own unique physiology." Zelenka cuts in: "In order to manipulate the DNA to its previous state, the program required a precise reference point." Beckett says "Fortunately we keep blood samples from all the Atlantis team members for base-length comparisons." McKay is back to normal, and is no longer "a dead man", however he has regrettably lost all his newfound powers, including the ability to understand the theoretical work he did while he was "advanced".

Notable Quotes
(Sheppard and Weir discussing the Ancient device activated by McKay)

Weir: John, I agree, this device may have great potential.

Sheppard: And with great potential comes great responsibility, I know.

Weir: Like a lot of other things we have found in this city, it is a very advanced piece of technology. For all we know, it could be very dangerous.

Sheppard: I am just saying...

Weir: Yes, you can be next.

Sheppard: Thank you.

(Weir sighs and turns back to working. Zelenka leans in.)

Zelenka: You know, if you're compiling a list, I'd...

Weir: Could we stay focused, please?

(Ronon and McKay are leaving the infirmary. On the way out, McKay uses his new telekinesis to snatch Beckett's doughnut)

McKay: You know, we could be a team. You could be my sidekick.

Ronon: Sidekick?

McKay: Yeah, it&apos;d be, like, "Batman and Ronon." Has a nice ring to it.

Ronon: Yeah, you keep eating like that and it&apos;s going to be more like "Fatman."

(McKay has just discovered his newest power: the ability to read minds. He and Ronon go to Weir's office.)

McKay: Oh, I'm fine. No, yes, and it doesn't.

Weir: What?

(Weir is in her office reading. Sheppard walks in.)

Sheppard: Well, how's it coming?

Weir: Actually, I think I'm just getting to the good bit.

Sheppard: Don't you hate it when people interrupt just when things are getting good?

McKay: Now, is Sheppard still bugging you to let him use the ascension device to turn himself into some kind of superhero?

Weir: Oh yes.

McKay: Despite the fact that the Ancient database states that its effects on people are wildly unpredictable and that I'm just lucky I wasn't instantly melted down into a pool of protoplasm

Weir: Yes.

McKay: Huh. Well, maybe you should let him.

Weir: I think not.

McKay: If you’re a highly-evolved super-genius, put up your hand. (He looks around the Infirmary hopefully, then pretends to look surprised and raises his hand, smiling.) Oh!

McKay: Those scars on your back from your encounter with the Wraith, you know, with the tracking device? Are those, like, a badge of honor for you, or are they just a constant reminder of something you'd rather to forget? I mean, I know it's none of my business. I just...

Ronon: I try not to let things I can't change bother me.

McKay: That's very healthy. (Hugs Ronon, who awkwardly pats him on the back.) I hope you don't mind. I just healed them.

Goofs

 * Near the end of the episode, with Dr. Rodney McKay near death, Lt. Colonel John Sheppard is standing with Dr. Elizabeth Weir on the right side of the bed. From a different camera angle he is shown on McKay's left, then again on his right.
 * In this episode Weir and Sheppard both comment on how he helped Ancients ascend in the episode "Epiphany". The people he helped were Human not Ancients
 * When Rodney is leaving Becketts lab and snatches the doughnut from across the room watch closely as the carmara shifts to him as he walks toward the camara, for a moment you can see that he already has the doughnut in his left hand and when the camara pans away from his right hand to the doughnut on the table you can see him move just slightly as he shifts the doughnut to his right hand so it looks like he brought it across the room.

Character

 * Dr. Coleman