The Seer

"The Seer" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis.

Synopsis
The Atlantis Expedition find a man named Davos, who can somehow see into the future. Teyla hopes to use him to find the missing Athosians. Richard Woolsey performs a three-month evaluation on Carter, while an old Wraith acquaintance from Sheppard's past comes back, who gives him some disturbing news about the development of the war with the Replicators.

Previously on Stargate Atlantis
John Sheppard was captured by the Genii, and discovered that a Wraith is also held prisoner. They both managed to have formed a partnership and escaped from Acastus Kolya. They both agreed that after they help each other, the next time they would meet, all bets are off. A year later, McKay uploaded a directive for the Replicators to attack the Wraith, which worked. The Replicators are now destroying several Wraith factions. A few months later, Teyla was going on a routine check up on her people, only to find them missing, wondering what has happened to them. She then tells her team that whoever was responsible will pay, but Keller gives her some concerning news.

Plot
With the Athosians now missing for several weeks, there is still no new information on their whereabouts, even the forensics team is coming up with nothing on New Athos. Teyla Emmagan however, proposes that they go to a world where it is rumored that a seer into the future named Davos resides. The rest of her team, particularly Rodney McKay], has doubts on the so-called seer. Despite this, Teyla is hopeful that he will provide answers, and the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team has been given the go ahead on the mission to Vedeena. On the way to the Stargate, McKay makes his own prediction, that it will be a complete waste of time. John Sheppard then warns them that, since they've never made contact with them before, they may be unnerved by a bunch of heavily armed people and tells them to be on their best behavior. Strangely though, when they arrive, they are stunned to see a group of Vedeenans greeting them, as if they have been expecting them.

Meanwhile, Richard Woolsey arrives for the scheduled three-month evaluation on Samantha Carter. He complains about the mandatory 24-hour quarantine on the Midway space station, a new order from the IOA since the Kirsen fever outbreak on Atlantis. Woolsey says that he will be an observer only and will not interfere in her work. Shortly after he arrives, another team from M2R-441, a planet recently culled by the Wraith, and to which the Expedition is lending aid, dials Atlantis. Captain Robbins informs Carter that another Hive ship showed up, but did not cull anyone. The people were given a message, a particular Wraith wants to speak only with Sheppard.

Back on Vedeena, a woman named Linara tells Sheppard's team about Davos' prediction two years ago. He predicted that Hive ships would arrive over the planet, so he and the others hid in caves while the Wraith searched for them. The Wraith never found any of them and not a single Vedeenan was killed. They also need the Expedition's help, since Davos has recently fallen ill. Linara tells them that Davos is important to them, especially herself, because Davos is her father. They meet Davos in a tent, where he seems to be the leader.

Davos is pleased to meet them, and notices McKay's skepticism. He claims he has the ability to show other people his vision, and offers his hand to McKay. As McKay holds his hand, he is stunned when he has a vision of himself and his team on a misty planet with ancient ruins, when they are surrounded and captured by the Wraith. Shortly after, Davos falls ill and is unable to provide further visions.

They return to Atlantis where McKay recounts his vision. There, Carter tells them the a Wraith wants to meet them on M2R-441, where strangely enough, has ancient ruins very similar to McKay's vision. Also, the Wraith described by Carter is also the same one Sheppard had an acquaintance to last year when they both escaped the Genii. With no option, apart from Woolsey stating the obvious, they go to the planet expecting an ambush.

When the team arrives in the ruins, McKay recounts that this is the exact same ruins from his visions and starts to believe in them. Seconds later, a group of Wraith surround them. The Wraith approaches them and wonders why they didn't come in unarmed like he requested. However, since Sheppard's team anticipate an ambush, two Puddle Jumpers de-cloak, and the Wraith surrenders.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Keller diagnoses Davos on Vedeena and informs Carter over the radio. Davos has a form of lymphatic cancer, which they can't do much on treating. With no option, they decide to bring Davos in to Atlantis, where Keller wonders if they're here to help him, or study him.

Sheppard goes to the Wraith in the brig, where he plans to interrogate him. The Wraith tells Sheppard that he knows McKay was the one who uploaded the Wraith attack code on the base code. The Wraith managed to have shut down the code with a virus 10,000 years ago, but since McKay tampered with the base code, the Wraith computer virus is now ineffective and wants help on shutting them down. Sheppard however, tells him why he should care about the Wraith being wiped out. He tells Sheppard that the Replicators' latest strategy is to attack the Wraiths' food source, destroying human worlds to carry out this plan.

As proof, they dial M5S-768, a planet the Expedition visited last year. They send a MALP, where they see the planet in ruins. Worse, the residual radiation from weapons fire matches the Replicators' technology, not Wraith. All 150,000 people on the planet are all dead. The Wraith is telling the truth.

As McKay feels responsible for their deaths and questions his original decision to change the base code. He works on trying to deactivate the code. Woolsey however, suspicious of the Wraith, disagrees and decides to contact the IOA on what to do next. However, they take the decision "under advisement", something Sheppard points out as something the IOA are very good at, stonewalling them. Carter begins to feel why Sheppard never wanted the job of leader in the first place. Keller then calls Carter and discovers something. From a brain scan of Davos, she found abnormally high synaptic activity, similar to the one McKay once experienced with the Ascension machine. However, this isn't advancing, meaning he was born with the gift.

Davos then awakens, and meets Carter. He then takes his hand out, as he has been given another vision he would like to share with Carter. In the vision, the city gets attacked by a Replicator-built Aurora class warship. The inhabitants try to escape, but the city gets entirely destroyed. Woolsey believes the vision is more evidence that an alliance with the Wraith is the wrong decision. Their meeting is cut short when the city's Long range sensors detect an approaching Wraith Hive Ship. Their captive Wraith admits he has an implanted Wraith tracker and activated it when he arrived, and broadcast his location. He says the hive ship is loyal to him and is carrying the Wraith's original anti-Replicator virus, and claims the ship will not reveal Atlantis' location if the humans help him develop a Replicator virus. However, he does warn Sheppard that if he blows it up, the Hive will launch a Subspace communication on the location of M35-117 to every Hive in the Pegasus Galaxy, before telling him that all he wants is an alliance.

Teyla approaches Davos with questions about the Athosians. He confirms that they're still alive, but says he doesn't know where they are. He also tells Teyla he knows she is pregnant, though she wishes to keep it a secret. Davos suddenly collapses, but grasps Teyla's hand to show her a vision. She sees Sheppard attacking and destroying a hive ship with drones.

Again, the vision only serves to make Woolsey more paranoid about the alliance with the Wraith. The team agrees they only need obtain the virus from the Wraith, and then can destroy the Hive Ship. Carter approaches the Wraith and sets down strict terms for their cooperation. The Hive Ship must stay in orbit and transmit the virus to a non networked computer in Atlantis, all work will take place in the city, the Wraith will remain their prisoner, and when the programming is done, they keep the virus. Any breach of the terms will result in the destruction of the Hive Ship. The Wraith agrees to the terms and reveals that this plan will not only benefit the Wraith and humans by eliminating the Replicators, but also himself because such a plan would help ensure him a seat of power in the Wraith hierarchy. He then offers a hand shake, only to be stopped, since the Wraith hands have the feeding organ.

The Hive Ship then arrives and transmits the virus. After working on it, McKay discovers that part of the code is missing. He reports the findings to Carter and Woolsey. He suspects the Wraith are hiding something, something they both know, since they detected another Hive Ship is approaching the city. They believe it doesn't yet know of Atlantis' location, but instead had tracked the first Hive Ship. They may have no choice but to cloak the city when the second ship arrives, leaving them vulnerable to attack from either ship.

Worried, Carter consults Davos for answers. He says that all his visions have proved true, as they were seen. He tells Carter the galaxy is at some kind of crossroads and that never before has the fate of so many depended on the actions of so few. Carter is left to ponder what to do. Sheppard encourages her that whatever her choice, it will be the right one, and that all of Atlantis supports her.

Shortly before the second hive ship arrives, Carter orders the city cloaked, with Sheppard standing ready to launch a drone attack. Meanwhile, Davos succumbs to his illness and dies. The ship arrives and the two exchange communications while the Atlantis team monitors for a possible attack. Suddenly both ships begin to power weapons. Sheppard wants to launch the drones, but Carter tells him to wait. Woolsey, clearly believing the hive ships are going to attack Atlantis orders Sheppard to fire, but Carter countermands him. Her instincts prove true as the hive ships begin firing on each other. Both ships end up destroyed in the battle, and McKay verifies neither had sent off a subspace message. With this turn of luck, Atlantis is safe, their location remaining a secret.

Afterwards, Linara plans to take her father to be buried to Vedeenan customs on her home, and admits that for the first time, she is afraid of the future, but Teyla assures her otherwise. When they leave, Teyla tells Keller that Davos knew of her pregnancy. Keller tells Teyla that she won't be able to keep her pregnancy a secret much longer. Meanwhile, Woolsey, embarrassed by his behavior, returns to Earth, telling Carter he'll give her a favorable report to the IOA. McKay and the Wraith continue to work on the new virus. In the end, John misses Woolsey's departure, regretting to say goodbye to him. He then tells Sam that her vision of Atlantis being destroyed by Replicators might not come true for a thousand years. Or it could be tomorrow, she agrees.

Notable quotes
Todd: I believe among your people it is customary to shake hands. (Offers his hand to Carter, every guard now aims their guns. He begins to laugh.) Just a little Wraith humour.

McKay and Ronon see the "superweapon" being uploaded into a computer

Ronon: That's it! That's your superweapon?

McKay: Well, what do you expect?

Ronon: Big gun? Something that goes boom?

Background notes

 * Rodney McKay announces the "Previously on Stargate Atlantis" in the beginning of the episode
 * This episode may be inspired by the SG-1 episode "Prophecy".
 * It is later revealed that the vision of the destroyed Atlantis does come true was in fact a Replicator version of the city on "This Mortal Coil".
 * The Atlantis Expedition country members seen: Canada, Germany, United States.

Production

 * The CGI scenes from "Misbegotten" (where a Hive ship exits hyperspace over a planet) and "The Hive" (where two Hives destroy each other) were used again in this episode.
 * Christopher Heyerdahl reprized his role as the Wraith later known as "Todd", after his debut appearance from "Common Ground"
 * Michelle Morgan was originally cast as Linara, Davos' daughter. However, she was later played by Kimberley Warnat, and Morgan would later play the Friendly Replicator Android in "Be All My Sins Remember'd".