Stargate Atlantis/Recap/S02 E05 Condemned

"Well, I could kill you. But you strike me as the type of man who, despite being weak and cowardly on the outside, harbors a strength of character he doesn't even know he has."

- Torrell "motivates" Dr. McKay

Sheppard and his team find themselves on a world inhabited by technologically primitive people who keep shooting crossbows at them for probably no reason. They are swiftly rescued by local security, who reveal that they had accidentally landed on an island being used as a Penal Colony. While it is an admittedly odd place for the stargate, the rest of Olesia is quite civilized and remarkably technologically advanced, given that the Wraith rarely allow that sort of thing. Olesia, however, as the Magistrate explains, is untouched by the Wraith.

Well, not quite. The Wraith do come through the stargate, but they cull from the prisoners on the island, and leave the rest of the planet alone. The team has a bit of Values Dissonance at this (particularly our anti-death-penalty Canadian), but for once decide they're not the ultimate moral authority in the galaxy, and call in Dr. Weir to open up negotiations.

On their way back to the gate, they get shot down by the prisoners, who have manage to build a cannon. Torrell, the leader of the prisoners, wants the puddlejumper so they can return to the mainland - or, barring that, escape off-world. Unfortunately, the jumper has been irreparably damaged by the crash. Torrell ties up Ronon, Sheppard, and Teyla and sets McKay the task of fixing the ship, against his protestations that it is completely impossible. Torrell is not impressed, and offers to start killing off the other three until the ship can be made to work.

Meanwhile, a Wraith has come to visit the Magistrate. It turns out that feeding the prisoners to the Wraith was an explicit deal made centuries ago, with the full knowledge of both parties. Now that the Wraith are waking up, the visitor explains, many more prisoners will be needed. The Magistrate starts ordering arrests on ever more minor crimes, but Weir catches on and breaks off negotiations. She also finally realizes that Sheppard and his team are missing, and takes her Jumper in stealth mode to go rescue them.

They've already been somewhat rescued by a prisoner named Eldon, the local Smart Guy, who unties them all in exchange for their promise to take him back with them to Atlantis. McKay does have a plan, as it turns out. While the Jumper will certainly never fly again, it might be possible to get enough power to the DHD to dial the gate. Unfortunately, just as he gets it to work Torrell shows up again, and by the time they're all done fighting with each other the power is gone. And then the Wraith turn up.

Weir arrives in the nick of time (and happily cloaked). Her jumper dials the address to a potential alpha site world and they evacuate all the prisoners (except Eldon, who's coming back to Atlantis). Once they're gone, she dials Atlantis and they all make it home safely, as Wraith cruisers descend en masse on the (happy and peaceful) Olesian mainland.

Tropes:
"Sheppard: How much time do you need to rework the DHD?
 * All Crimes Are Equal: averted at first, but played ever more straight as demand for criminals increased (and supply decreased).
 * Deal with the Devil
 * Karma Houdini: Torrell
 * Meaningful Name: Olesia is a homophone of Elysia, the paradise of Greek Mythology
 * Oh Crap: The look on the Magistrate's face when he sees the Wraith ships at the end of the episode.
 * Penal Colony
 * Scotty Time:

McKay: Well, in a perfect world, two days.

Sheppard: Rodney!

McKay: Right now... 10 minutes, give or take."


 * Shout Outs: several!
 * Goldilocks and the Three Bears
 * McKay: What am I, MacGyver? Fix it with what?
 * Sheppard: Take it easy Chewie, you're gonna cut your damn hands off.
 * McKay: How ironic to have been shot down by the cast of Braveheart.
 * You Look Familiar: The Magistrate was also the Canon on the SG-1 episode "Demons" - another misguided leader of the community.