01-13 Hot Zone

[Colonel Carter]

Title:Hot Zone
Directed By:Mario Azzopardi
Written By:Martin Gero
Original Air date:November 22, 2004 (The Movie Network)

Synopsis:Inspecting the city for storm damage, a party of scientists unleash a virus that causes hallucinations and eventually... death. Now, nearly a third of Atlantis' residents have been infected, forcing a lockdown. It's up to Sheppard to keep it from spreading, and eliminate it for good.








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Oh my, what an episode!

Rodney is definitely improving imho. I am liking his character more and more since the new episodes started up.

Sheppard, who've I never much cared for, I ended up really liking in this episode. His character suddenly seemed more human to me in that scene where Weir made him stick around longer to discuss their controversy earlier in the episode. Just his reaction to her wanting him to say and just the way he was sitting there when Rodney and Carson showed up.

I'm quickly losing interest in Ford. I really liked him in the first half of the season, but since the new seasons have started up he's been getting on my nerves, seeming to be more short-tempered and rude.

Weir showed me just why I can't stand her character in this episode. First of all, she needs to show more trust and respect in her ranking military officer. She shouldn't have treated him like a baby by making him stay in the gym during such a critical situation. Second, her little moment in taking awhile when John asked her a question before she would finally give him an answer because she was so mad was just so incredibly childish and self-pity-like and not the kind of traits you expect in a leader. Third, after all was said and done and she told John to stay because they needed to talk about what happened, she lectured the guy, still saying he was in the wrong. I was like - HELLO?! If he had done what she said, many more people would have died. He saved the lives of many. Weir's response to him should have been, "I'm sorry, I was wrong to try and keep you there, good job." No, instead she tells him that O'Neill and someone else, Hammond I think, had warned her about his tendancy to break the rules.

That made me the most mad when she brought up that she had been warned about him. For starters, it was an incredibly childish and selfish thing to say. Secondly, the fact that O'Neill told her that when he himself on countless occassions violated direct orders, such as in "Within the Serpent's Grasp" when he led his team through the Stargate after Hammond told them no one was to go through under any circumstance. The difference between Hammond and Weir, when Hammond realized that Jack's rebellion towards him to go through the Stargate saved the entire planet, he was grateful to Jack, he did not start lecturing him (as I recall) about how wrong he was to have done what he did.

Hammond is a natural leader, Weir is not. Weir is trying to be a "Boss" which is like saying she's trying to be a manager. Managers boss their employees around and expect complete acceptance and for their orders to be followed without question or change. Leaders on the other hand look for the strengths in people and give them room to do what they do best. Managers are interested in the process. Leaders are more interested in the end result. Thus managers get mad if someone breaks rules regardless of how it ends up. Leaders can more easily overlook methods on reaching end results if the end results are positive. That's not to say they'll accept all methods - Hammond clearly would not tolerate his people stealing from other races and cultures. But you get the idea.

Weir is not a leader of her people, she's trying to be a manager, which mean's she's trying to get the boss and is more concerned with how people treat her than she should be. The problem is, she didn't earn that position. She was just handed it without ever having had any experience in leading people before. Hammond earned his position and he knew how to treat people under him to get the best results. And he put up with a lot of Jack's irreverance.

Furthermore, John is used to a military structure. He should be receiving his orders from a higher commanding military officer, not a civilian with a huge ego problem. And she dared to bring Jack O'Neill up as having said he didn't always follow the rules. But I would gurantee that if Jack was in John's place, he wouldn't have just sat around either and I don't think he would tolerate Weir very well if he was placed under her command.

[Anissa T]

First of all, she needs to show more trust and respect in her ranking military officer.

Trust maybe, but the respect thing goes both ways. Sheppard totally disrespected her as well. And as far as chain of command goes, Weir is still his "boss" regardless if she is military or not. That's like a soldier telling the President, I know your the commander and chief, but I don't have to do what you say because your a civilian. And that's just stupid!

I don't even think that the other soldier wanted to open those doors, but Sheppard being his ranking military officer, he was stuck and had to follow the orders.

Also, yes, Sheppard did help in the end, but he also caused additional deaths (dining facility). Even Teyla pointed out his fault with the situation. Although I do like Sheppards character, I found in this episode it showed some serious faults that he has. Short temper, impulsive (not good for their situation) and inability to see other points of view.

And as far as Weir waiting to answer him about the location of the infected person, I think she was hesitant not because she was being childish, but because by opening the additional cause ways risked those other people get out into other parts of the ship.

Lastly, I found the most childish person in this episode to be Sheppard. His little temper tantrum had more to do with him being mad at himself not having his radio (thus getting left out of the loop).

[Colonel Carter]

I was under the impression that nobody died in the mess hall. They got infected, but I didn't see any deaths there at all. The only deaths were the three or four people down in the area where the virus got out and then the one guy who was trying to get back. And the fact is, with or without Sheppard getting out there, that guy would have gotten back and infected people. Because as long as Sheppard would have been stuck in that gym like he had been, that guy in the corridors would have kept going. What if he reached the command center first and Weir was infected? She would have eventually died while Sheppard was sitting around and twiddling his thumbs in the gym. By Sheppard disobeying her, he saved more lives than he would have by obeying Weir. There would have been no one to stop the guy trying to return who had been infected. And those in the mess hall could have easily eventually broken out, like he did, and ran for help and infected others.

Yes, the respect thing is a two-way thing. The basic thing that I got is that neither really seem to respect the other, they're both on a level of merely tolerating the other person. I don't get the impression that they like one another very much. Sheppard should show respect as well. However, Weir is the top person. She sets the example. She will receive the amount of respect she shows. That's just how human nature works. It's rare to show someone over you more respect than they show you. I've just never heard of it being done. Except maybe in military basic training where trainers yell and scream at the soldiers.

So the way I see it, Sheppard shows Weir the same level of respect that she has shown him. If she wants more respect from him, she's going to have to show it first.

[Anissa T]

And the fact is, with or without Sheppard getting out there, that guy would have gotten back and infected people.

Actually, that's not quite accurate. One, the reason he was able to get to the dining facility was because the corridors were opened for Sheppard. Second, they also determined once he had gotten to the higher level corridors, Atlantis would have closed them off automatically by detecting the virus in that person who was running around.

[Colonel Carter]

Hmm... I thought that with his knowledge of the Ancient technology (which Rodney said about him) that he would have been able to get past even the areas that had not been flooded. Hmm... not sure. Though still, more people down below would have died if things didn't happen as they did. I think in the end, more people lived than would have because of what Sheppard did. I guess I'm just not fond of people I feel are trying to demand a respect in which they truly haven't earned. I think Weir should be respected to a point, but if it's believed that she is incompetent to do her job, then there could be a problem. I'm not sure if she's incompetent or not, but I didn't like how she handled everything. I understand quaranting most people, but not your senior people in charge, especially your senior military officer. She was trying to protect him from getting the virus, but it's the job of the military to go into dangerous situations all the time.

And Sheppard did have a point - he wasn't going to get infected just going from the gym to get a suit. Moreso, she sent people down there. And even though she had locked the transporter tube, it was not locked out by Atlantis, I feel confident the guy could have forced that door open as well and managed to get closer to home where Atlantis would have immediately detected the threat, but he might have, as I mentioned, made it to the control area instead. He was getting through the other doors the guy in the control area had sealed, why not one of the transporter tubes?

[kikaider2]

i thought weir was being a little to annoying blah blah iam in charge. anyways i found the part when rodney was going to die funny he was like tell them i died saving a bunch a kids that was hilarious. thats what i like about sg1 and sga there is a lot of humor especially between the characters:rollin

[Anissa T]

he was like tell them i died saving a bunch a kids that was hilarious.

I thought that was totally amusing. Had forgotten about that. I too am finding that they are softening his character some which is rather nice. I can't stand male shovenist (sp??) which he clearly was ever since Stargate. This is a very nice side of him (although he is still rather full of himself).

[Colonel Carter]

I think it's more like chauvenist. I'm being too lazy to get my dictionary out or use a spell checker. ;)

That was funny. I really am liking the way they are toning his character down and making him softer and more likable. Now they got to find him a girlfriend. :) And not Weir! He needs a girlfriend kind of like Carter. Someone who is highly intelligent so she can hold a lengthy conversation with him on an equal level, but kind enough not to brag about how smart she is to people so she's very much likable, and courageous as well. :)