Grace Under Pressure (Stargate Atlantis)
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| Stargate Atlantis episode | |
|---|---|
| “Grace Under Pressure” | |
 |
|
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 14 |
| Guest star(s) | Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter Nimet Kanji as Dr. Bryce David Nykl as Dr. Zelenka Peter Abrams as Donaldson William MacDonald as Captain Griffin |
| Writer(s) | Martin Gero |
| Director | Martin Wood |
| Production no. | 214 |
| Original airdate | December 12, 2005 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Critical Mass" | "The Tower" |
"Grace Under Pressure" is an episode of the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Rodney McKay and a soldier by the name of Griffin are flying from the mainland back to Atlantis. Rodney is worried about the ship, considering it's the first flight its had since it was shot down in "Condemned". All seems to be going well until suddenly they experience a malfunction and the ship crashes into the ocean.
About an hour later, Griffin and McKay wake up to Radek Zelenka's relentless radio calls. McKay had suffered a blow to his forehead and was bleeding. They realize that the ship had sunk about 1200 feet and was sinking at the rate of 20 feet a minute. Suddenly the windshield started to giving away to the pressure of the ocean. Rodney immediately heads for the rear compartment and tries to seal the bulkheads, except the switch was damaged. Leaving Rodney in the rear compartment, Griffin stumbled into the front compartment and pushed the switch right before the windshield shattered. Griffin drowned. Up on the surface, Radek tries to pinpoint McKay's location while John Sheppard tries to find away to lift the sinking Puddle Jumper from the ocean.
Back in the Jumper, Rodney tries to stave off his claustrophobia and save himself. Turning on the emergency transmitter, he discovers that he only has 3 hours of power left in the Jumper because the inertial dampeners were using up most of the power. Rodney immediately commits to the idea of doom.
On the surface, Radek and a team of scientists continue to try and pinpoint the Jumpers position. They had figured out the direction of the Jumper due to the brief radio contact they had with them in the beginning of the episode. Unfortunately, the ocean currents could have pulled them in various directions. They realize that the area they're searching goes up to 6000 feet deep, so they have to find him before he manages to sink that low.
Meanwhile, Rodney turns up the heat to keep from dying of hypothermia. After realizing that it wastes too much power, he lowers the heat, to just barely stop him from freezing to death. After a few seconds, he begins to crack up at a comment he made. "Let's make a deal!" Suddenly frowning, he wonders what's making him so giddy. After going through all the possibilities out loud, he realizes that it's hypoxia and immediately moves to dial up the C02 scrubbers.
John is figuring out a way to lift the Jumper from the water by using a 1000 feet of cable and a magnetic grapple. After Dr. Weir asks him if the mechanism can lift the half flooded Jumper from the water, he shakes his head and explains that he only needs to get the Jumper near enough to the surface to get McKay and Griffin out with a cutting team and rescue divers.
Rodney breaths deeply after turning the CO2 scrubbers on at 100%. Suddenly, a loud groaning comes from outside the Jumper. A whale like creature crashes into the Jumper and Rodney panics for a moment before yelling at it. He suddenly has a light bulb moment and figures out a plan to try and drive the Jumper high enough so the emergency transmitter doesn't have to penetrate too much water. Grinning at the fact that he finally has a plan to go by, he immediately gets to work.
At Atlantis, Elizabeth steps into Zelenka's lab to inquire about his progress on pinpointing the Jumper's location. Radek informs her that they're making progress, but very slowly. When he indicates to her the area they've narrowed it down to it doesn't seem like it's been narrowed down at all. In fact, the area had increased slightly. But, as Zelenka tells her, they're finally not guessing. They now know that the Jumper is definitely in that area.
Rodney works as fast as he can to put his plan in action. Suddenly, Samantha Carter appears to McKay in his hallucinations. After taking a moment to take in the fact that he's hallucinating, Carter explains to him that she's there as a hallucination to help him and due to the rather bad concussion on his head. Rodney takes this in skeptically, immediately diving into an argument about who's smarter. Sam calmly explains to him that he's essentially arguing with himself, considering that his subconscious mind is creating her. This gives him a rather brief moment of false hope, trying to prove that none of this is real and that he is in fact, simply in the infirmary dreaming all of it. Sam calmly informs him that he isn't that far gone and that he is in a sinking Jumper. Rodney finally relents to this and begins to show Sam his plan.
Elizabeth, John and Radek are all in the Elizabeth's office, discussing on how to save Rodney and Griffin. (They are still unaware that Griffin had drowned.) Zelenka tells John that Rodney is too deep, even with 1000 feet of cable and the fact that the Jumper can dive at least 1000 feet. John suddenly has a bright idea. If they can turn the Jumper's cloak into a shield like the Atlantis shield was turned into a cloak, they could dive even deeper. Zelenka informs him that it would take up a lot of power and shutting down anything they don't need would take hours to reconfigure. John suggests that they make the changes as they get down there. Realizing what he's implying, Radek is quick to refuse to come along. He continues to refuse for a couple of minutes until finally Weir manages to convince him. He sighs and leaves the room to get his gear.
As Sam and Rodney huddle around his tablet, Rodney explains to Sam his idea to raise the Jumper to the surface so that Atlantis can pick up the emergency transmitter. Sam immediately puts it down, considering the fact if it doesn't work, most of the Jumper's power will be gone and he would most likely die. Rodney tries to make sense out of this because there is really no other option. Carter tells him not to give up hope because everyone on the surface is doing everything they can to save him and if he continues with his plan, he could ruin theirs.
Meanwhile, John and Radek fly over the search coordinates in another Jumper and lower the Jumper into the ocean.
As Rodney types into his tablet, Sam watches closely over his shoulder. She makes a slight indication to a mistake, but when he asks about it, she refuses to tell him. He starts to think that she's trying to slow him down, so that he won't have enough time to get his plan into action. Sam innocently denies it. Getting fed up, Rodney tells Carter furiously if she's not going to help him, then to leave him alone. Suddenly, the ship shakes violently, jolting Rodney to the floor. Shooting back up, Rodney yells at the Jumper, before realizing that they must have hit the bottom. He gets wrapped up in another moment of false hope, saying that if they've stopped sinking, the chances of imploding have been greatly reduced. When Sam interrupts to explain the situation, Rodney goes into a moment of denial, saying that he wants to take in the single good news he's had all day. Sadly, Sam points to the bottom of the Jumper. Rodney stares for a moment, realizing that she's right. The Jumper is taking on water.
In the rescue Jumper, John contacts Atlantis just before diving deeper, where they won't be able to contact them at all. Elizabeth wishes them good luck, before John guides the Jumper lower into the ocean. Radek and John both look up as the ship groans under all the pressure from the ocean. Zelenka quickly moves to turn on the shield.
Back in the sunk Jumper, Rodney examines the fissures along the hull. The water at knee level, Sam tells Rodney to increase the pressure in the ship. If they increase the pressure, the leaking will be slowed considerably. Rodney takes Sam's advice and hugs her after he realizes it works. After a few minutes of arguing, Rodney goes back to putting his initial plan in action. Sam tells him that he's too untrusting of people. Angry, Rodney tells her that he has every reason not to trust people. This whole thing is Zelenka's fault because he had been afraid to fly in the Jumper. He should have told Radek to suck it up, but he didn't, so now he's here. He snaps at Sam and tells her if you want something to be done right, you should do it yourself.
Finally onto something, Zelenka manages to get the shield up and running. But only a few seconds into it, he tells John that the shield is draining the Jumper's power at an alarming fast rate. Under the pressure of the ocean, the shield is continually draining power. They have about 30 minutes if the shield continues to drain power.
Rodney shivers violently due to the freezing cold water he's surrounded by. Wrapping her arms around him, Sam huddles up close against Rodney, saying "doesn't mean I can't get you hot." Diving into the water, Sam rises up in a blue bikini top, Rodney being seduced immediately. But not too far into it, he pushes her away, ranting that she's trying to distract him from trying to complete his plan. Throwing her off him, he finishes up, and presses the button. For a moment, the lights in the Jumper buzz on, but almost immediately after, they flicker off again as it loses power. Looking down at the tablet, Rodney tells Sam hopelessly that he only has 30 minutes left before he loses power completely.
Radek curses violently in Czech as he studies the computer screen, telling John that he can't seem to locate the Jumper. But, he has noticed a large sea monster in the ocean, asking John not to get too close, as it's 6-8 times as large as the Jumper itself. John ignores this and suggests they go deeper. When inquired why, he tells Radek that the monster seems to be circling the same area over and over again, which means it probably found something interesting.
The water now at neck level, Rodney strives to keep his consciousness. He starts to reflect on Griffin, about how he had been such a brave man to sacrifice himself like that, and how Rodney had treated him so badly. Concluding that he was a good man, Rodney barely keeps his head above the water as Carter tells him to hang on. He compliments Sam, telling her that she was wiser and she was right. Sam points out that he was right, subconsciously.
Outside Rodney's Jumper, John's rescue Jumper hovers over it. Relived, John says to get a grapple on it and head back. Radek has other thoughts on the matter. With the back compartment almost full, there's no way the cable can take that kind of strain. He realizes that they can extend the shield between the two Jumpers, though, that way Rodney can just walk between them. Guiding the Jumper down, John lands it right next to the almost full Jumper.
Rodney jumps at the loud thud outside. The headset on his ear buzzes on and he hears John's voice who tells him to open the compartment door so that they can get to him. He is relieved, until he starts second guessing himself again, wondering if it's just another hallucination the pessimist part of him created. Sam assures him it's not and for once, Rodney takes her advice and tries to open the hatch. Waiting a moment, Rodney realizes that the lever isn't working, and dives down into the freezing water to the secondary release. It works, and Sheppard and Zelenka hoist him up on their shoulders as they guide him off the ship.
As they walk, the gigantic whale being majesticly swims overhead. Rodney gloats that it isn't going to eat him, but Sheppard points out that it is thanks to the creature that they located the sunk Jumper. Setting him down in the rescue ship, Rodney looks to Sam, who is smiling and waving him off.
[edit] Quotes
- McKay: If you're not going to help me, you should at least take your top off!
Carter: Your subconscious mind knows I would never be into that.
McKay: This is the worst hallucination ever!
[edit] Notes
- The title is a reference to Stargate SG-1 episode 713, "Grace", involving a similar situation in which Carter was herself trapped in a stranded vessel - in this case, the Prometheus - in deep space and aided by hallucinations of SG-1 and her father.
- As in the episode Grace, it is possible that Carter was not actually a hallucination. The "sea monster" may have been helping McKay through an image of Carter, as the cloud seemed to do to her in Grace.
- "Grace Under Pressure" was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore). [1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Stargate Atlantis site. MGM. Visited June 8, 2006.
- Transcript from GateWorld. Transcribed by Callie Sullivan. Visited May 14, 2006.
- Summary from GateWorld. Visited May 14, 2006.
- Review from GateWorld. Reviewed by Sharon Fetter. Visited May 14, 2006.
- Gatenoise from Moon-catchin'. Visited June 23, 2006.
