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dr-futbol-blog · 2 months ago

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Conversion, Pt. 5

While Sheppard is off doing something that appears to take some time but we never find out what it is, Colonel Caldwell visits Weir's office where she appears to be working late. The scene is relevant to what is going on with McKay, especially as Caldwell shares some of his observations with Weir.

Caldwell: You're working late. Weir: No, not really. Caldwell: Yeah. We keep trying to remove that from the terminals on the Daedalus, but somehow the crew keeps finding a way of putting it back. Weir: Never get between a genius and a computer game.

First of all, let us note the fact that Caldwell has dressed up for this late night visit into Weir's office. He is wearing a sweater instead of his usual overalls. There seemed to be some sweet feelings developing between Weir and Colonel Everett after they had warmed up to each other, even though she had been involved with a man on Earth at the time. It could be that Caldwell is intentionally trying to cozy up to Weir here, even though it does not seem like they have any exceptionally warm feelings toward each other, just to get what he wants out of her. But he finds Weir playing Solitaire here, and Solitaire is a lonely man's game. It is also about choices and consequences, a reminder that each choice has ripples down the line that effect the outcome.

Caldwell makes the observation that Weir is working late but instead of working, she is actually playing a game. She also suggests that this is something that geniuses also do, that members of the science corps keep installing games on the Daedalus. Likely they also have the same sets of games on the terminals on Atlantis. Now, obviously we learn about Sheppard and McKay having played "the game" only later on and it is an obvious retcon. We are asked to recontextualize everything preceding the episode The Game (S03E15) in light of the information that Sheppard and McKay have played the game together behind the scenes the whole time. They both call it "our game" because it was their thing, it was what the two of them did together where Sheppard has been running with Ronon and sparring with Teyla. In their own words:

Sheppard: We've been playing for a while now. McKay: Yeah, off and on in our spare time. You know, at night, between missions. I could have sworn we told you about it? Weir: What game? McKay: Well, it started a while ago, a few months after we arrived here.

Sheppard and McKay have been having secret rendezvouses with each other for over two years at night, between missions. They started doing it a few months into their stay on Atlantis. This is main text. And this is why we need to keep an eye on those pockets of time that are left without explanation here and there, where we are clearly shown the passage of time but the activities of Sheppard and McKay are left unaccounted for. Whether you believe they were playing the game or "playing the game," they had spent time with each other where the audience was not invited. Not only are we allowed to think that there was something going on behind the scenes, between the scenes, after the scenes -- we are invited to do so. And so, Weir is up late playing a game and since it is something geniuses also do, McKay may well have been up doing the same thing. And this is important because during this scene between Weir and Caldwell, we have precisely such a pocket of unaccounted for time for both McKay and Sheppard. Sheppard is losing himself but he is not entirely gone yet.

Caldwell, who we know has been hankering for Sheppard's job ever since he had been promised the post by the SGC, had approached Weir to offer his services should they need an interim commander for Atlantis while Sheppard is incapacitated. It is a job for which he is obviously qualified but because Weir does not want the military encroaching on what she sees as her domain, she is reluctant to let him take over. There were several reasons why Weir had picked Sheppard for the position over everyone else (none of which had to do with any quivers in her nethers, just to make it clear). But one of those reasons surely was Sheppard's natural aversion for both wielding and submitting to authority, which meant that while Sheppard might occasionally make calls that she could not support, he would never try to take the command away from her. With Sheppard in charge, the military would always be in a supporting role only. But if Sheppard was incapacitated, there was little she could do when Caldwell outranked Lorne. She tries to evade the issue.

Caldwell: If I need to, I have some time. Weir: OK, let me think about it. Caldwell: Thank you. You got chess on there? Weir: As a matter of fact, I do. Caldwell: Well, I have to warn you that I'm a career military strategist. Weir: Well, I'll have to take my chances.

This is meant as innuendo for the fact that Weir and Caldwell are playing a game already on the political arena, both trying to outmaneuvre the other. Chess is a game of strategy where players take turns in trying to out-think the other. But significant here is the fact that Sheppard is also a career military strategist. There is a genius and a career military strategist that we are later told have been playing a game with one another at night, between missions.

And because we saw Sheppard running with Ronon and sparring with Teyla, the implication here may be that he has been playing a game with McKay during this time, as we next find Sheppard returning to his room from somewhere, where we had previously seen him vacate the infirmary with his hips swinging. It had been daytime when he was sparring with Teyla, and Caldwell had just pointed out that Weir was "working late". It has been less than six hours since he left the infirmary but given that Weir was bored enough to be playing a game in her office, it must also have been more than a while. And we get absolutely no hint as to Sheppard's whereabouts during this time. None.

Now, this is the first time that we get a glimpse of the inside of Sheppard's quarters ever since Home (S01E09). Yes, it has been that long. Teyla had a dream about Sheppard's quarters in The Gift (S01E18), where it seemed as though the interior did not actually match reality, and where the fact that she found only the dead body of Sheppard on his bed may have hinted at the fact that she knew at least on a subconscious level that Sheppard no longer occupied those quarters. We were explicitly told that Sheppard and McKay were looking for new and better quarters in Before I Sleep (S01E15), and given that we saw McKay behind Sheppard's door in Trinity (S02E06), this leaves quite a long time unaccounted for. I have suggested that the fact that we see Sheppard use the transporter as probable means of getting to his quarters since Runner (S02E03), but did not witness him doing this once in the latter half of the first season, suggests that may have been living somewhere else before moving back into his original quarters.

But yes, the last time we saw the interior of his quarters was in Home, when Weir entered to have a talk with him while he was on his bed reading War and Peace. These episodes are connected through the fact that we first saw the poster of Johnny Cash as "The Man in Black" in Sheppard's fantasy bachelor pad in Home (where he did not yet have it in his actual room on Atlantis at the time), the poster appeared in Teyla's dream in The Gift (I have proposed that this was a precognitive vision on her part and he did not have the actual poster in his room yet because they had not yet re-established contact with Earth; and let us recall that Teyla had been a part of Sheppard's constructed reality and had seen the bachelor pad of his dreams for herself), and we finally see the poster in his room in this episode -- but more on that later.

But to iterate, it has been a long time since we have been able to see Sheppard's living space and now that we do, we can immediately tell that there have been some changes. The most obvious one is the guitar. He had not brought it with him when they first arrived, so it is likely something that he had brought from Earth when they returned with the Daedalus in The Intruder (S02E02). We also saw that McKay had brought many more personal effects with him in Duet (S02E04), which indicates that both of them had made the choice of relocating to Pegasus on a permanent basis now that making that choice had become possible. Neither had much of a life back on Earth, and what life they had they had packed up and taken with them. But between Before I Sleep and Runner, we have no evidence of Sheppard having occupied these quarters. This is where he lived during Home. And this is where he moved back into after the end of The Intruder, as they returned from Earth.

As mentioned, we do not know where Sheppard is coming from. He removes his jacket and ear piece as he takes a seat on his bed, but we have had a few indications that he had been sleeping in his jacket more than once recently (Runner, Duet). Because he only now notices that there is a mark on his arm, it means that where ever he had been he had kept his jacket on. Given that we saw him wearing a sweater when he answered the door to McKay previously, since insects are ectothermic this may indicate that he is feeling overheated. The iratus seem to be ambush predators that capture their prey via stealth, luring or instinctive strategies utilizing an element of surprise, remaining motionless and sometimes hidden, waiting for prey to come within ambush distance before pouncing on them. The more of Sheppard's DNA that gets overwritten, the more he starts to resemble them.

Sheppard: Hey, Doc? This is Sheppard. Beckett: Yes, Colonel? Sheppard: We may have to bump up our first check-in.

Important here is that Sheppard makes the choice to contact Beckett right away as he notices the mark, instead of delving headfirst into denial. It is not that he is hankering to discover just what the hell is happening to him so much as that his instinct is to protect people and he is starting to suspect that something is wrong with him. Something to note is also the fact that Sheppard is not wearing his watch here, where he definitely was wearing it while he was running with Ronon and sparring with Teyla. He was also not wearing the watch as he returned from their last mission with McKay. It is not a sports watch, he has no reason to be wearing it during exercise and to be taking it off while he is not exercising. He had lost his watch somewhere along the way. We are literally missing time here.

Now, whether or not Sheppard and McKay had been playing a game or what ever at the same time that Weir and Caldwell were starting theirs, this is the latest that Sheppard would have cut McKay off from himself. We discussed instincts earlier, and the main instincts of insects are to feed, fornicate and fight (kill), some insects do all three at once. But while Sheppard is turning into an insect as his DNA is being written over, his main instinct is to protect other people, even from himself (or especially from himself). Who is the character that we see in the episode the least? McKay. Who is the person whom we have seen Sheppard most want to protect in the past? Also McKay. These things are not unrelated.

Following this moment, Sheppard made damn sure that McKay would not be able to get anywhere near him. We are later even confirmed that Beckett has been keeping McKay away from Sheppard on purpose. And this is entirely on brand for Sheppard. Later on in the season in Michael (S02E18), we see that Sheppard has put a security detail on McKay, and only McKay. And similarly during The Gift (S01E18), Sheppard seems to have removed McKay from the site as they were putting Teyla under wraith hypnosis, not allowing him anywhere near her just in case. Sheppard does not take chances with McKay's life. It was the fact that Sheppard thought Ellia had saved McKay's life that had got him in this mess in the first place.

Continued in Pt. 6

#sga #stargate atlantis #john sheppard #sga meta #sheppard is bi #rodney is gay #rodney mckay #mcshep #ep. conversion #ep. home #ep. before i sleep #ep. the intruder #ep. the runner #ep. the gift #ep. duet #ep. trinity #ep. the game #ep. michael

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