Doppelganger - Recap

Sheppard’s team is hacking their way through a jungle and Rodney is curiously enthusiastic about it. Sheppard finally calls off the mission but Rodney spots a glowing crystal in a tree. Sheppard instinctively reaches out and touches it, and is blasted back by the crystal. It’s now apparently dead and Sheppard calls the mission. Back on Atlantis, Sheppard is checked out as totally healthy. But as he touches Teyla to wish her good night, his hand glows with the crystal’s energy.

That night Teyla has a dream about Sheppard where she’s apparently having dinner with her while Ronon and Rodney look on. Then she hears her father call out and when she goes to investigate, Sheppard comes in and attack her. The next day Teyla reacts badly to Sheppard and goes to talk to Dr. Heightmeyer, who suggests she either talk things out with Sheppard or drop the matter. Dr. Keller prescribes sleeping pills for Teyla, but that night Keller is called to sickbay to find Teyla in stomach pain as Sheppard looks on. Something moves beneath Teyla’s stomach and then a spidery creature tears itself out, killing Teyla. Keller wakes up, realizing it’s a nightmare. She goes to sickbay to find Ronon and Sheppard there, with Ronon needing stitches for an injury. Sheppard leaves and after his injury is tended to, Ronon goes back to his quarters but finds everyone gone. Opening a door, he finds himself in a forest under fire. Ronon runs but Sheppard captures him, ties him up, and buries him alive. Ronon wakes up, realizing he’s back in sickbay with Keller tending to his wound.

The group discusses their nightmares and Keller wonders why Sheppard is in all of them. Only McKay seems immune so far. However, the group dismisses her concerns for now, so she goes to Sam. They’re interrupted when Major Lorne draws a gun on Sheppard and says he’s a Replicator. Sam agrees to administer a test but Ronon ends up stunning Lorne. When he wakes up later, Lorne doesn’t remember anything and Keller concludes he was sleepwalking and Sheppard is the key factor. Sam talks about other incidents she’s been involved in with alien doppelgangers and Keller wonders if the creature is feeding on their fear. Sheppard hasn’t had a bad dream yet but Heightmeyer figures it’s using Sheppard as a focus, and is spread by touch.

Sam orders the base into quarantine and Heightmeyer warns that the creature will escalate the fear. Sam suggests they go back to the planet to gather evidence, over Rodney’s objections. They take Zelenka with them and find the tree with the crystal. Another crystal starts glowing and they bring it back to Atlantis. An entranced Keller almost touches it before Zelenka stops her. They scan Lorne but find no trace of the creature, and Sam realizes the creature can conduct itself through the city’s structure.

Teyla comes out to find Dr. Heightmeyer balanced on a high perch, and when she tries to rescue the doctor, Sheppard stops her. It turns out to be another dream… and Teyla and Keller find Heightmeyer in her quarters, dead.

While Sam maintains the lockdown, Teyla goes to see Sheppard for comfort. Zelenka coordinates the sensors and track the signal to its host. Zelenka then calls in Rodney to an insulated chamber: he’s the host. Sheppard suggests they try to reason with the entity and they conclude they can hypnotize McKay and have him speak to the creature to leave so they can return it to its crystal on the planet. Sam comes up with a way for someone to get into McKay’s dreams, using the technology from the Gamekeeper’s planet. Sheppard insists on being hooked up to McKay since the entity is using his image. Sam warns that the machine may not work when interacting with dreams.

McKay goes to sleep and finds himself rowing through a storm toward Atlantis. A giant white whale approaches, based on his nightmares of Moby Dick. Sheppard appears in the boat and taunts him, but the “real” Sheppard appears behind Rodney and the two Sheppards spar over Rodney’s fear. The real Sheppard starts helping him row, but a clown appears in the back: Sheppard’s greatest fear. The entity-Sheppard continues to torment them and the whale comes up to swallow them. Sheppard wakes up to find Rodney in cardiac arrest… and then dead.

Sheppard goes to his quarters and the rest of the team blames him for the incident. Sam relieves him of duty and then the entity-Sheppard appears and Sheppard goes after it. The real Rodney revives in the medical chamber after electrical shock and they realize the entity is back in Sheppard.

In Sheppard’s dream, Sheppard battles with the entity in his image as it torment him with his fear of endangering the others. The two fight and the entity begins to win, while in the real world McKay tells them to hook him up to Sheppard.

The entity has all but crushed Sheppard, but McKay appears and reveals he’s still alive. The entity attacks him and Rodney reveals that the entity is vulnerable to electrical shock and their attempt to revive him drove the entity out of him. They use the defibrillators on Sheppard in the real world, weakening the creature. The real Sheppard throws the creature into the dream Stargate, driving it out. Sheppard thanks McKay and they both wonder why there aren’t any hot girls in Sheppard’s dreamscape.

The two wake up and later they return the two crystals to the planet. More of the crystals light up across the forest and the team quickly leaves. Back on Atlantis, everyone decides to have a late night snack since none of them want to go to sleep quite yet.

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