- You may be able to make him look like a human, talk like a human, but he’ll still be a Wraith. Nothing you do will ever change that.— Ronon Dex
Michael Kenmore wakes in the Atlantis infirmary. He's unable to remember anything about himself, except a few vague recollections of Atlantis and the Wraith, but fortunately the senior Atlantis staff takes a personal interest in filling him in: He's a lieutenant under Sheppard's command, who was captured on a mission to infiltrate a Wraith ship and has been being treated for whatever the Wraith did to him while he was there- though Beckett's not completely certain what that was. He's even provided with a pair of security guards at all times.
However, not everything is quite alright. For one, he keeps having dreams about the Wraith- seeing them in the corridors of a hive ship, seeing one when he looks in the mirror, etc. For another, some of the other expedition members are acting strange around him. Specifically Ronon, who's really hostile to him for no apparent reason. And he's not quite sure how he instantly recognized Wraith data on McKay's computer.
One night the nightmares are especially bad, and he heads to Medical to check in with Beckett. There he comes across a series of CDs with his name on them. They're his treatment logs, ordered from newest to oldest. But the tape marked Day 1 doesn't show a human lieutenant- instead, it's an enraged Wraith on the table, being held down by Sheppard and Ronon and ranting at the humans while Sheppard gives him the name "Michael".
The truth: Michael Kenmore is a Wraith captured by the Atlantis team to test out an experimental retrovirus designed to strip out the Iratus bug aspects and turn them into normal humans. Physically the test has been successful, but pieces of his Wraith mind and instinct are slipping back in. And he's not happy about being lied to.
Tropes
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Michael Kenmore the human is a nice enough guy at first but then soon enough becomes suspicious at the actions and attitudes of the Expedition members. Once he learns his true natural as a converted-Wraith he quickly begins to adapt several of the traits though its unclear how much it is the revealation that he's been lied to this whole time.
- Subverted in one aspect according to Michael though is this nagging feeing he's had since he first awoke but couldn't describe. Once he learns the truth, he claims it was the Wraith's Horror Hunger.
- Call-Back: In the preceding episode, Rodney pointed out it was inevitable that sooner or later, the Wraith were going to realize that Atlantis hadn't been destroyed during "The Siege, Part 3". Now, that scenario has come to pass thanks to Michael.
- Catapult Nightmare
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Cry for the Devil: Michael starts as just a normal, friendly guy who wanted to help. The discovery that his entire life was a lie concocted by the Atlantis Team as part of an experiment, is what drives him over the edge and seeds his desire for revenge. - Downer Ending: The Retrovirus is only partially successful and Michael reverts. Worse, he escapes back to his people and has taken with him confirmation that Atlantis did survive. Another attack on the city is now a matter of time.
- Fantastic Racism: As shown by the above quote, Ronon simply refuses to see Michael as anything other than a Wraith, despite having no memory of his old life and physically appearing human.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Where Michael ends up at the end of the episode.
- Humanity Is Infectious: Subverted...or...something. Certainly what they were going for with Michael, until it backfired horribly. Played sort of straight in that he doesn't just eat Teyla.
- Inhumanable Alien Rights: Once again the Atlantis Expedition show their willingness to do questionable things when it comes to the Wraith. They kidnap one, perform an invasive and experimental procedure on him to change him on a genetic level, and then attempts Gaslighting him into thinking he's always been human.
- Jerkass Ball: Ronon is usually gruff, but he's really excessively hostile here. Justified by the reveal.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Ronon turns out to be correct in his assertion that Michael is still a Wraith. Amusingly, Michael later thanks him for his unrelenting hostility- he's the only person on Atlantis who's been honest with Michael.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Originally attributed to the trauma of being captured, but later revealed as a side effect of large doses of the treatment.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Michael realizes this is where his name from: Beckett has a desk calendar of scenic Scotland, and it's currently turned to the village of Kenmore.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Congratulations, you just turned a monster into a villain! While completely blowing the only thing that has kept you safe for the last season.
- Spot the Thread: A very minor example, since he learns the whole truth minutes later, but Michael realizes his surname came from Beckett's desk calendar.
- Tempting Fate: Right before the title sequence:Weir: Until we know more, we need to proceed with caution. This may just be the start of our problems.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Teyla's kindness to Michael is rewarded by...Michael kidnapping her as a hostage.
- The Virus
- Tomato in the Mirror
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The team is a little conflicted over their actions, but for the most part don't have any serious problems with their treatment of Michael. They also take it for granted that being human is better for him than being a Wraith.
