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This episode is part 2 of 2; it is preceded by "The Storm".
Gallery Episode Transcript

"The Eye" is the eleventh episode of the first season of Stargate: Atlantis.

Synopsis[]

Major John Sheppard, who evades capture from Commander Acastus Kolya tries to take back Atlantis while the storm is zeroing in on the city. From the mainland, Dr. Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagan and Lt. Aiden Ford risk their lives to get to the city through the storm.

Previously on Stargate: Atlantis[]

A powerful storm on Lantea forces the Atlantis expedition to evacuate Atlantis. Cowen of the Genii sees this as a perfect chance to storm the city and retrieve the Wraith data storage device and sends a strike force lead by Commander Acastus Kolya. Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka come up with a plan to use lightning from the storm to power Atlantis' shield. While evacuating the Athosians from the mainland, Lt. Aiden Ford, Teyla Emmagan and Dr. Carson Beckett are stranded by the force of the storm. The Genii enter the city and take Dr. Elizabeth Weir and McKay hostage. Major John Sheppard attempts to stop them but Kolya threatens to kill Weir.

Plot[]

The Eye 2

McKay defending Elizabeth from the Genii.

Commander Acastus Kolya holds his pistol at Doctor Elizabeth Weir, intending to kill her. Major John Sheppard continues to beg with Kolya over the radio not to do this. Doctor Rodney McKay, in a moment or bravery, decides to speak up, standing in between Kolya and Weir. He attempts to convince Kolya that he needs both McKay and Weir in order to save Atlantis; there are codes only Weir would know to activate the shield, he could also fix the damaged grounding station, and if either of them dies, Kolya will not get what he wants. As McKay continues, Weir stops him as Kolya finally lowers the gun. Weir then attempts to show Sora Tyrus her appreciation for also standing up to her during McKay's monologue, but Sora coldly states she is just an asset the Genii needs. In the meantime, Kolya retreats to the Commander's office and talks with Sheppard, who is still near the last grounding station, drenched from the heavy rain. Kolya decides to lie and tell him Weir is dead, and McKay will join her if he does not stay out of his way. Sheppard vows to kill Kolya.

One of the Genii soldiers, Ladon Radim, is in Stargate Operations and manages to activate the city's biological sensors. After he spots Sheppard walking along the hallways, he tells another soldier to take two more men to track him down.

Doctor Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagan, Lieutenant Aiden Ford and three young Athosians are still on board the Puddle Jumper on Lantea's mainland as the storm continues in full force. A tree collapses in front of the Jumper, and in response Beckett adds more weight to the Jumper by resetting the inertial dampeners. Teyla asks how long until the storm passes. Beckett believes they should be half-way through. Moments later, the team is surprised to see the rain has stopped, and the sun is shining.

Sheppard in continuing to walk along the hallways and finds nearby signals from his life signs detector; three Genii are approaching him, and he begins to make his move by deploying smoke grenades.

Kolya, McKay and Weir arrive at the damaged grounding station. McKay quickly gets to work on the fiber-optical wires which have been severed, and announces to Kolya that the damage is not as bad as it looks. He should be able to bypass this switching station, which will likely take as long as twenty minutes. Kolya is pleased with the news, and Weir helps McKay get to work.

On the mainland, Beckett and Ford agree that they are now in the eye of the storm, its dead center. Presented with the opportunity, Ford wants Beckett to fly the Jumper back to Atlantis. However, Beckett does not believe that to be wise, as he claims landing is twice as hard, especially since the weather conditions on Atlantis would be poor. Ford believes that the storm is not yet in full force, and they have to return; by flying over the clouds then back to the city to assist Sheppard. Beckett protests and tries to get Teyla on his side. However, Teyla goes against him. Defeated, he curses to himself, "oh crap!"

Genii invasion of Atlantis 2

A hidden Sheppard prepares to shoot the Genii soldiers following him.

The three Genii soldiers, being guided by Ladon to find Sheppard, are lead to one of the rooms which is filled with smoke from another grenade. Sheppard appears to be standing still according to the biological sensors. Ladon notes that they are closing in on him. The soldiers walk to the middle of the room, and they are supposed to be on top of Sheppard, but they do not see him. The soldiers fail to see a laser sight on top of their heads. It is revealed that Sheppard is actually on top of them, hiding on the gantry. Ladon overhears P90 fire, and sees the four life sign spots on the sensors turn to one - Sheppard has killed three more men.

Sora reports to Kolya over the radio of the news. Kolya orders Sora to have the Genii fall back to the Gate room. As Kolya is distracted by talking with Sora, Weir colludes with McKay to make an excuse to stall the repairs, as after the repairs are completed and the shields are raised, they will no longer be useful. They should stall for more time to allow Sheppard the opportunity to take care of the rest of the Genii strike team, as he appears capable on his own. Kolya then returns and tells Sora to contact Cowen for reinforcements. Before McKay and Weir get back to work, Kolya warns them, "If you're hoping Major Sheppard can diminish our numbers, you are mistaken!"

Sheppard is walking all over the city again to make his next move. Meanwhile, Jumper Two is descending down to Atlantis. Ford notes Beckett is going down pretty steeply, believing his tampering of the inertial dampeners are a factor, even though Beckett claims he returned the settings to normal.

Sheppard arrives at a room containing one of the naquadah generators and pulls out its control switch. This disables the power into Stargate Operations, as well as the biological sensors; Ladon can no longer track Sheppard. Ladon and Sora get back to Kolya and appraise him of the situation. Sora suggests sending men to find him. Kolya, however, disagrees, as he does not want Sheppard to take them out in small groups, and thinks they should wait until more reinforcements arrive. Kolya is again distracted, allowing McKay and Weir to think of a plan to stall him. McKay insists that Weir should do most of the talking, as he's a "terrible bluffer". However, when Kolya asks about progress, both McKay and Weir manage to convince him they have hit a "small snag", which would take an additional half an hour. Then, the power goes out in the section, after Sheppard deactivated another naquadah generator. Now the power is out, they cannot repair the grounding station. McKay warns Kolya that even with one operational grounding station, not enough power from the lightning will charge the shield generator. Sora gets back on the radio and advises Kolya to have the soldiers repair the generators and guard the remaining active ones; Kolya agrees to this.

Ford returned

Beckett, Ford and Teyla return to assist Sheppard.

Jumper Two has returned to the Jumper bay, Beckett, Ford and Teyla exit, while Teyla instructs the Athosian passengers to stay there for the time being. Ford hands Beckett, who is not military, a P90 for protection. Beckett considers contacting Sheppard, but Ford believes the Genii will be monitoring communications. They find several dots on the life signs detector, which cannot tell who is who; Beckett posits the question, how will they find Sheppard? Ford merely responds, "he'll be the dot getting rid of the other dots".

Genii invasion of Atlantis 4

The Stargate shield activates on the Genii reinforcements.

The storm continues to increase in severity. In the Gate room, the Stargate activates; it is the Genii reinforcements. Ladon is left alone in the control room, allowing a hidden Sheppard to emerge and knock him unconscious, as there are fewer Genii on the lookout. Sheppard then activates the Stargate shield after six more Genii soldiers arrive. The rest of the 60 Kolya expected will be prevented from materializing in Atlantis, killing them. When Sora and what remains of reinforcements spot Sheppard, they shoot at him. Sheppard quickly runs and shoots back, killing another soldier. Sora finds an unconscious Ladon, and she cannot deactivate the shield, or stop the Genii from continuing to send more soldiers. Furthermore, Sheppard used his personal command code, and only he knows it.

Kolya throttles McKay in anger over the news, but McKay tells him he still needs them both to save Atlantis. Kolya calms a little and hears an update from Sora; only five of sixty have made it through. He asks her whether Idos, the son of his friend Athor, was one of them who made it, but is dismayed to discover he did not. Kolya is also dismayed to learn that there will be no more reinforcements until they can crack Sheppard's code for at least an hour, which will be too late as by then the storm will be in full force.

Kolya radios Sheppard again, and the conversation can be overheard by Beckett, Ford and Teyla. Kolya tells Sheppard his plan to destroy Atlantis to prevent it getting onto Genii hands is flawed, explaining that by sabotaging the invasion, Kolya will determine McKay and Weir obsolete, and he will kill them. Sheppard learns that Weir is still alive, McKay having talked Kolya out of killing her. However, he intends to follow through with the threat for real if the power to the grounding station is not restored within ten minutes. If the power is still out after another ten minutes, McKay dies, and the Genii will leave with what they can before the city gets destroyed. Sheppard decides to run to turn the naquadah generators again.

Beckett, Ford and Teyla make their way to the armory to get more ammunition. Ford also picks up a Wraith stunner rifle, in case one of the people he shoots is the major. They then start to search for the naquadah generator responsible for powering the last grounding station. Beckett believes it would be the one closest to it.

Sheppard makes it to the naquadah generator and is about to reactivate it, when he is stopped by two Genii. They alert Sora, who tells them to hold him until she arrives. Apparently she is unaware of Kolya's ultimatum. Meanwhile, Beckett, Ford and Teyla arrive at the wrong naquadah generator. They have two minutes until Kolya carries out his threat. They try their luck again. Sheppard tries to reason with the Genii, but they tell him to turn around. When he does, he spots Ford has made a timely arrival and stuns the Genii soldiers. Sheppard puts the control switch of the generator back, and the power to the grounding station is restored. McKay and Weir get back to work as Sora arrives in the generator room, and hears Teyla's voice. She decides to follow them.

McKay has managed to fix the control panel, and successfully separates the grounding rods. Now they have to return to the control room for McKay to build a subroutine to allow the lightning to pass by the hallways and be supercharged by the walls' conductive material, so they can power the shield generator, using Weir's command codes. Even though Sheppard deactivated the naquadah generator to the control room, primary systems are still operable, and the shield is considered one of those systems. All the Genii would have to fall back to the control room when the lightning hits. Meanwhile, Sheppard informs his team of McKay's plan as well; the Genii would all be in one place, in the control room, as it is shielded.

Kolya radios Sora, and he hears that she has found Teyla, and she wants to kill her to avenge her father's death. He orders her to return to the control room, but Sora's desire for revenge gets the better of her, and she decides to ignore the order.

Sheppard tells the rest of the team his plan to save the city; Beckett and Teyla will return to the Puddle Jumper with the Athosian passengers (the Jumper bay is part of Stargate Operations, and would also be shielded), send it down to the Gate room, which would distract the Genii, where Ford and Sheppard will engage them, take back the control room, save McKay and Weir, get the shields up, and "take the rest of the day off". He also tells Ford to drop the Wraith stunner, as his orders are to use lethal force.

McKay and Weir return to Stargate Operations and decide to start tricking Kolya and the Genii to evacuate, with Weir intentionally giving McKay the wrong codes. Meanwhile, Beckett and Teyla near the Jumper bay, when Beckett is suddenly ambushed by Sora, who orders Teyla to drop her weapon. Teyla asks why she would want her dead, as they have known each other their entire lives. She tells Sora that her father alerted the Wraith by killing an innocent person, and that if she is to die by his daughter's hand, she would die knowing there was nothing she could have done to save him. Ford and Sheppard arrive at their position, and wonder what is taking Beckett and Teyla so long. Sheppard radios Teyla, but he gets no response. They do not know that Sora has found her; she and Teyla start fighting, even though Teyla warned Sora beforehand that the former will win.

As Ladon is detecting a tidal wave approaching the West Pier, McKay is "almost finished" with the program. When the time comes however, the shield fails to engage, with McKay claiming the city's power conduits cannot handle large amounts of raw power. Kolya is frustrated as he was told McKay's plan would work. But McKay retorts, "I don't know if you noticed or not, but I'm an extremely arrogant man who tends to think all of his plans will work". Kolya punches him, calling him an idiot. Weir interrupts and tells Kolya that the reason the city was evacuated in the first place was in case McKay's plan would not work. She tells him she's now giving Kolya two options : evacuate and survive, or go down with the city. Kolya decides to have him and his men evacuate Atlantis, but intends to take both Tau'ri prisoners with them to serve the Genii as payment for what they have done.

Genii invasion of Atlantis 1

"And risk hurting Doctor Weir?"

The Eye 1

"I'm not aiming at her."

The Genii activate the Stargate and evacuate with some supplies they have stolen from the city. Sheppard has a change of plan; he and Ford wait until McKay and Weir are downstairs, and then strike. They surprise the Genii and kill the soldiers holding McKay. As they fire at the others, Ladon runs through the Stargate, while Kolya holds Weir hostage. Sheppard tells him to release her, or he will shoot. Kolya warns him he would risk hurting Weir, however Sheppard tells him that he is "not aiming at her". Seconds later he fires a single shot, wounding Kolya in the shoulder while just barely missing Weir. The force of the gunshot throws Kolya back through the Stargate, which later shuts down.

McKay return to the control room to activate the shield and save Atlantis from the approaching tidal wave that will hit in two and a half minutes. However, Beckett and Teyla are still unaccounted for. Sheppard convinces McKay to give them two minutes until they return.

Teyla wins the fight against Sora, who is exhausted. Teyla tells Sora that this is not what Tyrus would have wanted; the Athosians and the Genii were destined to be allied, and this feud must end. After hearing Sheppard, Teyla throws Sora's knife to the floor, and walks away. Sora decides to follow her, and help Beckett back to the control room.

Atlantis lightning rods

Lightning strikes the city to power its shields.

As the devastating tidal wave quickly approaches Atlantis, the trio make it back to the control just in time, and McKay activates the program to shield the city. Lightning strikes the rods, and the electricity makes its ways through the corridors. The power builds up, and just as the tidal wave is about to hit, McKay successfully raises the shield. The tall wave goes around the shield, missing the city. While everyone is relieved that the plan has worked, Sheppard notices that Teyla has made a new friend, Sora.

Later, the storm has passed over Atlantis and the climate has returned to normal. The Atlantis expedition arrives back from Manaria. Sora is being kept prisoner for the time being, but Weir tells Sheppard she intends to release her back to the Genii in an attempt to repair relations between them and Atlantis. McKay reports that the storm has flooded parts of the East Pier, but the water is being pumped out. Also, structural damage appears to be minimal. Sheppard then asks that by the time the next storm hit, "how far in advance can we book days off?"

Appearances[]

Appearances for The Eye

Locations

Events

Items

Vehicles

Sentient Species

Organizations

Mentioned

Notable quotes[]

McKay: (stepping between Weir and Kolya, who was pointing his gun at Weir) You can't do this. This is crazy. You need her.
Sora: She's right! Commander.
McKay: I'm not kidding there are codes required to activate the shields. Codes that only she knows! You can't do it without her. Well, you can't do this without me either. I mean ... We're a package deal ... You take us out of the equations and ... and ... and ... and you don't have an endgame. Uhmm ... granted ... that's a chess term ... I'm, I'm ... my point is ... we're the only ones who can fix the grounding station, we're the only ones who can activate the shields, we're the only ones who can solve problems that I can't even think of yet! You kill either one of us and you don't get what you want! That's how important we are ... It's impor-
Weir: Rodney, Rodney he gets it ...
McKay: Oh ...

Weir: Well, find another problem with it! Tell him that the power-loop interface isn't jiving with your walkabout! Something!
McKay: (incredulous) "Isn't jiving?!"
Weir: Rodney, you get my point.

Beckett: The dots don't tell us much about who's who. How do we know which one's the Major?
Ford: He'll be the dot getting rid of all the other dots.

Ford: Anything I see moving is gonna get shot.
Beckett: (concerned) So what if it's the Major?
Ford: Then he'll get hit with a Wraith Stunner instead of a P-90.
Beckett: What if he sees us first?
Ford: He'll probably hear you first.
Beckett: Are you telling me to shut up again?
Ford: Again.

McKay: (Kolya is holding him by the edge of one of Atlantis' balconies) Trust me, I'm not that brave. I would help you if I could.

Teyla: I intend to fight alongside you.
Sheppard: And I intend for you to fight with us. Once you get in position lower the ship into the gate room, open the weapons pods, that should create a distraction for Ford and me to go in. We take back the control room, get the shield up, city safe, Weir and McKay safe. Take the rest of the day off.
Ford: Sounds like a plan, Sir.

Kolya: You said this would work.
McKay: I don't know if you noticed or not but I'm an extremely arrogant man who tends to think all of his plans will work! (Kolya punches him)

Weir: Nice work, Rodney.
McKay: Did you ever doubt me?
Weir: Yes. Several times.

Sheppard: These things happen once every 20 years? How far in advance can we book days off?

Cast[]

Main Characters

Guest Stars

Notes[]

  • Atlantis has recovered at least four Wraith stunners, which are held in a weapons storage room. These were most likely acquired during the episode "Suspicion."
  • Parts of this episode and the the previous one resembles the movie Die Hard. Sheppard hunts down the enemy one by one in a closed building just like John McClane. Coincidentally, Robert Davi appeared in Die Hard as well.

Goofs[]

  • At the start, a conversation takes place between two different technologies, Major John Sheppard talking into the Genii communicator while Commander Acastus Kolya answers back on the Tau'ri radio. While this is technically possible, if they both are either FM or AM and on the same frequency, it is an unlikely coincidence made more problematic by military radios using encryption. Also, Kolya seemed unaware that Sheppard had one of his radios as demonstrated by Sheppard's ability to listen in on the Genii communications without suspicion. The goof is further indicated as later in the episode, Kolya uses the Tau'ri radio again and contacts Sheppard on his own Tau'ri radio. In the same scene, a person is visible shaking the plant on the balcony, simulating wind outside.
  • Though the episode starts immediately after the previous one ended, there's no sign of the two men Sheppard killed when he leaves the grounding station.
  • During the pre-intro conversation between Kolya and Sheppard, where Kolya lies that he killed Dr. Elizabeth Weir, crew members can clearly be seen shaking plants outside the balcony windows to simulate the wind from the incoming storm.

Awards[]

  • Nominated Leo for "Dramatic Series: Best Picture Editing" (Jeremy Presner)

Other languages[]

  • French: En pleine tempête (In the middle of the storm)
  • Russian: Глаз (The Eye)
  • Czech: Oko bouře (The Eye of the Storm)
  • Hungarian: A szem (The Eye)
  • German: Das Auge (The Eye)

External links[]

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Episodes and Seasons
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