I'm a bit conflicted about "Conversion". And for various reasons.

From a fannish point of view, the episode was quite good. It was part of a (short) story arc, it referred to "38 Minutes", it had action, character development and a happy ending.

As a McKay fan, I'm not so thrilled, because this was certainly the episode with the shortest amount of screen time for Rodney McKay. He had no great idea to suggest, he didn't save the day (and thereby perhaps make up for his mistakes in "Trinity").

And as someone with McShep as her OTP, I was less than delighted, too. "Conversion" was definitely the episode with the least McShep interaction we've seen so far, instead we were surprised with a Teyla-Sheppard kiss (even if it was less than consensual), and an intensity of interaction between Weir and Sheppard that should send all Shippers into virtual orgasms. Is this supposed to gently introduce a romantic relationship between the two of them? Because it certainly felt like it. The worry, the care, the need on Weir's part to visit Sheppard and tell him about all new developments personally... this worries me. A lot. At least she finally stood up to him when she refused to let him go to the Iratus bug planet the first time, but the rest? Made me uncomfortable.

As a science fiction fan, I had two instances in which the storyline made me cringe, and that was first when it became obvious that entering the cave to take the Iratus bug eggs would be too dangerous. The writers should have thought of the Daedalus' nifty little Asgard transporter and simply beamed a small square cube of cave floor (or ceiling) into a secured area. The second instant was when Beckett was explaining to Weir and the others that keeping Sheppard alive and himself was limited to approx. 24 hours. They should have thought of the stasis chambers in Atlantis, and simply put him into suspended animation while they worked out how to reverse the Iratus bug effect. Once again, the writers screwed up and didn't even introduce that idea to shoot it down in the next sentence. They simply ignored the point and evidently hoped no one would notice.

This is a Stargate series, I know. I shouldn't expect too much.

Due to the lack of McKay bashing, this episode didn't make me furious, but it also didn't make me ecstatic.

It was -- mediocre, I guess. I ought to get used to that quality level, I suppose.

The SGA-fan part of me can't help but mourn a little.