With the stargate inoperable, probably due to McKay messing with it, everyone in Atlantis is acting a bit distant, stir crazy, or otherwise Not Themselves. A probe suddenly crashes into the city, and McKay worries that the Asuran replicators have finally found them - but Zelenka tells him it's probably nothing. Then Sheppard comes down with mad healing abilities - but Dr. Keller tells him it's probably nothing.
Tropes
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Acting for Two - Bus Crash: RepliKeller tells the team that the real Dr. Weir died some time ago. Although this turns out not to be true.
- Call-Back: Sheppard references the events of "Doppelganger" when he meets his clone.Sheppard: Great, the last time I met myself I ended up kicking my own ass.
- Continuity Nod: The prophecy that Carter saw in "The Seer" of Atlantis being destroyed by a ship in orbit comes true in this one. The only difference is that it was the Asuran Atlantis, not the real one.
- Despair Event Horizon: It is revealed Rodney is trying to stop himself from crossing his by burying himself in work to avoid his grief from losing Elizabeth. See Heroic Safe Mode below.
- Expendable Clone: The Asuran duplicates sacrifice themselves to allow the originals to escape.
- Friendship Moment: After Zelenka calls out McKay on being in Heroic Safe Mode and tells him You Are Not Alone (see below). As Zelenka leaves the room, McKay calls him by his first name and gives a sincere "thank you."
- Heroic Safe Mode: Rodney admits to Radek that he is distracting himself with fighting the Replicator invasion because he can’t face losing Elizabeth.Zelenka: I know what you’re trying to do.McKay: Yeah, what’s that?Zelenka: Lose yourself in your work to avoid thinking about Elizabeth.(Rodney looks up from his computer but doesn’t turn around.)Zelenka: You must realise it’s only a temporary distraction.McKay (his voice full of pain): That’s one of the perks of the job. Something terrible happens, you don’t have enough time to dwell on it ‘cause you’re too busy trying to stop the next terrible thing from happening. Seriously, if it wasn’t for the Replicators and their plan to wipe out every human in the galaxy, I’d be in pretty bad shape right now.(Radek looks at him sympathetically.)McKay: No, this is Carson all over again and I’m just not ready to deal. Not yet.
- I Say What I Say: The McKays do this, when they're not finishing each other's sentences.
- Literary Allusion Title: to Hamlet
- Oh, Crap!: Verbatim by McKay after seeing just how many battleships the Asurans have built.
- Recycled Script: This is pretty much the SG-1 episode "Tin Man."
- Stock Quotes: the title.
- Tomato in the Mirror
- Also for the viewer, it may only be obvious after the first viewing, but the Asuran duplicates wear the old-style Atlantis uniforms from S1-2, instead of the S4 new-style ones sported by the real team.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?
- You Are Not Alone: When Rodney mentions how hard he took Carson's death and that he can not face going through the same now that he's lost Elizabeth, Radek gently tells Rodney he's affected by their deaths too.Zelenka: You're not the only one who misses them, Rodney.
