The Real World (Stargate Atlantis)

"The Real World (Stargate Atlantis)"

"The Real World " is an episode from Season 3 of the science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis..

Plot

Waking up in a psychiatric hospital outside Washington, D.C., Dr. Elizabeth Weir is shocked to discover that her entire experience in Atlantis over the last two years was solely a figment of her imagination. Through the help of her psychiatrist Dr. Fletcher, she learns that a car accident that killed her fiance left her in a near catatonic state and suffering from delusional psychosis.

Forced to come to terms with this new reality, Weir is visited by her mother and General Jack O'Neill, who assures her that he has never heard of a Stargate program, let alone the lost city of Atlantis. Yet as she starts to pick up the pieces of her life, she continues to have unsettling visions warning her that she must return to Atlantis.

Back on Atlantis — which is not the product of a deranged imagination — the team holds a vigil for the comatose Weir, who in reality has been infected by Replicator nanites, which were passed on to her by Niam's attack in Progeny, that are quickly taking over her body and mind. Beckett tries to eliminate the nanites by injecting Weir with Wraith cells. The nanites will then fulfill their programming and destroy the Wraith cells, breaking up into their individual forms and leaving them susceptible to an electromagnetic pulse. The attempt is partially successful, destroying most of the nanites. Unfortunately, some nanites have survived. Ultimately, Weir's fate is now in her own hands.

In Weir's head, the destruction of the majority of the nanites results in her believing that she must return to Atlantis. However, the nanite-induced visions attempt to stop her. Sheppard, risking a nanite infection himself, enters Elizabeth's isolation chamber, gripping her hand and arm in the belief that physical contact may help him to get through to her, and urges her to fight the nanites. In her nanite-induced delusion, Weir then sees Sheppard lead the way to the Stargate, which will take her back to Atlantis. Again, the nanites try to stop Weir, but she ignores them and walks through the gate. Weir then wakes up in Atlantis' infirmary, breaking the hold the nanites had over her.

External links

• Official Stargate Atlantis site. MGM. Visited June 8, 2006.
• Spoilers from GateWorld. Visited May 14, 2006.
• The Real World The Fanlistings Network listed episode fanlisting, opened September 14, 2006.