Sheppard and his team are taken prisoner and put on trial for crimes against the people of the Pegasus galaxy.
Tropes:
- Clip Show: With scenes from the previous 4 seasons. This also has the distinction of being the franchise's very last clip show episode (as Stargate Universe never had the chance to do one prior to its cancellation).
- Courtroom Episode
- The Federation: This is what the new Coalition of Planets is hoping to become.
- A Friend in Need: Woolsey's motivation for taking over the legal defense for the team. He later trades his watch, a precious memento from his father, to get a meeting with one of the judges.
- Guile Hero: Woolsey, of all people, shows a certain aptitude for this, which he uses to get the team off — he bribes his way into a private meeting with Kelore, who he has correctly identified as the Genii's man out of the three judges. He then points out that while the Genii can offer him a lot, the Expedition can offer a lot more — after all, they are a far richer, far more technologically advanced power, and one that is currently outside the Coalition of Planets. Accordingly, they are going to need someone to... represent their views, shall we say. Someone to whom they would be very... grateful.
- Humanity on Trial: Or rather the Atlantis Expedition.
- Joker Jury: Two out of three judges have ulterior motives.
- Kangaroo Court: The real purpose behind the trial, although the Coalition probably could have made a legitimate case for conviction on half of the charges, if they'd wished.
- Knockout Gas: Atlantis' first team is taken out by Knockout Gas in a cell, before being moved to another planet through the Stargate so the rest of the expedition can't find them.
- Man Behind the Man: The Genii turn out to be using the trial to kick the Expedition out of the galaxy, and establish themselves as the dominant political and military force in the galaxy.
- A Million Is a Statistic: Woolsey gets roped into making a statement that could be interpreted this way, which pushes one of the judges's Berserk Button:Woolsey: We know for certain of six Human worlds destroyed by the Replicators. But we know of at least a dozen Hive Ships that were destroyed. Hive Ships that almost certainly would have culled with the year. One could make the argument that, on balance, more lives were saved than lost.
Shiana: "On balance?!" Is that what we are to you?! Figures on a ledger? Pieces to be moved about in a game of strategy, some to be saved while others are to be sacrificed? - Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Coalition takes the Atlantis to task for all the times that their "help" has backfired and severely screwed up the Pegasus Galaxy for the native human population.
- Realpolitik: Sheppard argues that they haven't been fighting for right or wrong; they've been fighting for themselves.
- The Scapegoat: The Atlantis team is this for the new Coalition of Planets.
- Shout-Out: Woolsey and Sheppard end the episode on the balcony discussing the case while smoking cigars and drinking hard liquor, referencing how most episodes of Boston Legal end with the protagonists doing the same thing.
- Strawman Has a Point: Invoked throughout the episode, with the Coalition having some valid reasons for being angry at the Atlantis Expedition, such as their tendency to make unilateral decisions that affect the entire galaxy, with neither consent or any oversight from the people actually living there.
- Ungrateful Bastards: The Coalition, though the point is made that many of the victories the Atlantis Expedition has had are understandably beyond their ability to confirm. Pretty hard to count Hive kills when you're incapable of flying anything bigger than a kite. Also, they're being manipulated by the Genii.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Woolsey, who responds to the deck being stacked against the team by bribing Kelore to jump ship from the Genii to Atlantis.
- Worthless Foreign Degree: Interesting twist on this: Woosley has some quite impressive legal credentials by Earth standards, but they're worth bugger-all in an alien legal system (where the trial is rigged anyway). When he lists his law experience (and of course he's a Harvard Man), Ronon and Teyla just stare at him blankly. That said, the point that he's not exactly going to have a problem with dealing with the Council. And in the end, he doesn't really, albeit via bribing Kelore.
