The Hive

"The Hive" is the eleventh episode and mid-season premiere of the second season of Stargate Atlantis.

Plot
Before the Wraith queen can interrogate Sheppard, she senses that a second Hive ship arrives (which is also sensed by Teyla) and he is brought back into the cell. Meanwhile Dr. McKay, still in Ford's hideout planet, tries to convince his guards to let him go since the mission seems to be gone awry but they refuse. After much hesitation he decides to inject himself with a massive amount of the Wraith enzyme. Thanks to this he easily disables the guards, then takes the control crystals Ford has removed from the DHD. He replaces them, and escapes to Atlantis where he babbles excitedly and then collapses due to enzyme overdose.

Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla, Ford and Kanayo are able to escape from the cell by throwing knives into the device that controls the cell door. They then try to escape with the Wraith darts. Soon, however, they are captured once again after stopping to rescue some cocooned live humans. They are separated into two cells, with Teyla, Ronon, and Kanayo in one cell, while Ford, Sheppard, and the woman they rescued earlier are in another.

At Atlantis the Daedalus arrives to help while McKay is facing withdrawal from the enzymes. Because they have none, McKay faces a hard withdrawal which causes him to become very hyperactive and speak excitedly. Dr. Beckett tries to help him by talking with him but in the end Rodney has to make it alone. Meanwhile, the people on board the Hive ship who have taken the enzyme experience the same withdrawal. While Teyla and Ronon are able to withstand it without damage, Kanayo dies shortly thereafter because he was addicted too long. Ford also is near death but Sheppard convinces him to fight. The former Lieutenant is later taken away by the Wraith to be cocooned while they also take Kanayo's corpse away.

Later the woman (named Neera), imprisoned with Sheppard, flirts and snuggles and tells him about herself, her world and what has happened to them. She then tries to acquire information from him, particularly the name of his world. He refuses to tell her anything, and is taken away to be interrogated by the queen again. During the interrogation, the woman in the cell is revealed to be a "Wraith worshipper" like thousands of others in the galaxy. Sheppard then tells her that he is the same and has made "deals" with the other queen that arrived earlier in the episode. Suddenly Ford appears and rescues Sheppard. After giving Sheppard Ronon's weapon, Ford stays behind to cover him while the Lt. Col. escapes and also rescues Teyla and Ronon. Sheppard then boards a Wraith dart with Ronon and Teyla dematerialized in the "cargo hold". He then leaves the ship while hundreds of other darts leave both Hive ships.

McKay in the meantime finally became free of the enzyme and informs Weir about what has happened and that the Wraith plan to cull a planet. The Daedalus then travels to the system where the culling is to take place and arrives just when it begins. When they try to contact Sheppard they get no answer and prepare to destroy the ships. The attempt to transport nukes onto the ships fails due to the transport inhibitor the Wraith have developed, and immediately after, the ships attack Daedalus. Sheppard saves the day by using his dart to attack the other Hive ships, causing them to fire on each other, while he escapes through the local orbital Stargate prior to the explosion, which destroys everything in a 15,000 meter radius. He later returns to Atlantis with Teyla and Ronon after dialing in from another planet. He did not go directly because he doubted the dart would fit in the gateroom.

In the end the command crew discuss the current situation of the Wraith and that their battles among each other can be used for their advantage. Sheppard pointedly reminds the others that Ford, presumed killed when the hive ships exploded, "was last seen aboard one", but may have escaped once more.

Goofs
When McKay is activating the DHD a protruding arm reveals that someone is hidden behind the dispositive

At the end of the episode when the gate activates with an incoming wormhole, Chuck says they are receiving Sheppard's IDC, yet you can hear the wormhole still opening in the background.