The Shrine

DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (The Shrine)

'Absolute Clarity' would have been a better title, in honour of the touching story Wolsey told about his Alzheimers-stricken Father, as 'The Shrine' gave it a completely different impression. You could say the whole episode was a waste of time, as other than Rodney admitting where he stands to our Dr. Keller, nothing of importance happens. Except that it is important because it shows how close this little band has grown - I can't imagine them putting themselves at such risk so Rodney could have one day of normal brain function back in Season 1. Ronon wasn't even known then and it was his knowledge that enabled them to find this 'shrine' that can somehow temporarily heal loss of brain function, but here they're willing to do whatever is necessary to see that their friend gets a moment to say his goodbyes. He doesn't take it in the way they intended, however, considering it a kind of torture when he'd been living in this increasingly muffled shadow world of inability to process or remember things, and now suddenly they bring him to and tell him he's not cured, he's going to die. I quite liked that he was horrified by the whole situation as that really is the McKay we know, he's not just going to sit down and have a last meal and talk of old times before dropping dead!

There was a short moment at the beginning when I really wondered if they might kill him off... until I remembered he appears in an episode of the next series, 'Universe,' and they wouldn't be stupid enough to kill off the best character on the series. What it does do is gives David Hewlett a chance to stretch, and instead of merely alternating between complaining and arrogantly solving the latest problem, he shows the mental degeneration of someone losing their mind, and it is affecting. Once I realised he wasn't going to die it could have become a mere nuts and bolts 'adventure' of getting him to this location (typically, the planet upon which this special place rests is occupied by a large Wraith force), before pulling off a handy solution and then he's cured. I actually really liked the way they dealt with it - they could have pushed things up a notch and had Wraith bearing down on their position, Ronon and Teyla having to hold them off while Keller performs her precarious operation, but it would have taken away from the already dramatic premise. I thought I was watching 'ER' at one point when Keller's opening up part of his skull, except they don't usually have creepy alien parasites burrowing out of a man's wound, which was a bit much, though as I said, a logical development and a way to complement Keller's battlefield surgery!

What works most about the episode is the closeness you sense between these friends and it really came across as classic 'Stargate': there's even a moment when we see the four (McKay, Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla), walk towards the 'gate like SG-1 used to do, though sadly there was no shot of them all going through together like we always saw as the final shot of the opening titles on 'SG-1,' which would have been even better. But it was a great concept to have a 'gate trapped underwater by a melted glacier, so they're all perched atop the 'gate itself (a nice shot pulling back to reveal water all around), and sending in MALPs, and that feeling of a small team's camaraderie... it all took me back. Wolsey has more sympathetic play again, either in the humour or in the story I mentioned, and really we haven't actually seen the old Wolsey, he's been extremely accommodating, which may have lost something of his abrasive character. It doesn't help that I'm also currently watching 'Voyager' so I'm seeing Robert Picardo as the genial later seasons Doctor in that series, and while he is different here, maybe he's playing it a bit too friendly so far and perhaps we need to see him exert his authority a bit more, make himself less cuddly, just as Carter didn't get on with Ronon right away, or Teal'c didn't get on with Ronon right away, or... well just about anyone doesn't get on with Ronon right away...

But I loved how devoted Ronon was to his friend, and despite their differences that's what they've become - McKay is so different to all of them (I'd have liked a scene with Zelenka where he bests him in some small way and is embarrassed about it, and maybe Rodney notices, but you can't have everything), and to see him reduced so much to dependence and loss of all his intellect and ability it reminded me of 'Riddles' an episode of 'Voyager' where Tuvok loses his mind and becomes childlike, although that was a bit more touching as Trek tended to be. But they certainly got the friendships right as they each try to come to terms with McKay's deteriorating condition, and we see recordings of different points in his illness, and then his sister comes into it, too. I can't help feeling such a large creature would have done more physical damage to his brain if it was crawling around in there, and from the graphic I thought it'd be much spindlier and easier to accept as something that would only have light contact with the brain, but as a whole the story was on the right side of quality for the series, though I can imagine it being difficult to watch in later years if you know anyone who suffers from losing mental control.

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