Before I Sleep is episode 15 of season 1 of Stargate Atlantis, first aired in 2004.
In a sealed laboratory, the expedition finds a sleeper in stasis: Elizabeth Weir, ten thousand years old. This other Weir comes from a first version of events in which the expedition drowned along with the city, saved at the last moment by a trip through time and the sacrifice of an Ancient named Janus. She crossed the millennia asleep, so that the second chance could exist.
Why it matters to the mythology
Atlantis's founding time loop is revealed: without old Weir and Janus, the entire expedition would have died on day one. The three ZPMs, meanwhile, launch the season's quest.
First appearance
Janus (in flashback)
The review
The season's most beautiful intimate episode: Torri Higginson acts opposite her own ancient self, and the story of this sacrificed Weir, ten thousand years of solitary sleep to offer her friends a future, is sumptuously melancholy. Janus, a romantic inventor who disobeys out of compassion, enriches the Ancient pantheon with a finally likable face. The peaceful death of the old woman, surrounded by those she saved without their knowing, brings a tear to my eye every time. Superb.
Written by Sebastian
Founder and editor-in-chief of Stargate Initiative
Gallery · 9
Stills from the episode, via TMDb.
The community watches the episode
Creators watch it, react to it, break it down. We're just the bridge: the views stay on their channels.
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