SGA 3.16: The Ark

[trinityofone]

Well, that was definitely a Willow-song episode. Fill-er! There were some okay character moments though. In brief:

*Rodney's "should've used a Mac." !!!! I almost died. You could tell Hewlett got a huge kick out of it. Also, this Mac user approves!

*Ronon! Man, I loved Ronon in this. The way he wrenched his arm back into his socket was so hard core, and you could tell that John thought it was way hard core. "I don't like waiting." Ronon, you have won my heart with your impatience. I also loved their vow to go down fighting by fighting each other to the death. Awww! Boys. *smishes*

*John's shirt. Hot.

*John's little emo collapse when the doors shut. Dorky!

*John in welding goggles and gloves. Really dorky. (And also strangely hot.)

ETA: *John's "I don't want to die." I mention this only because I've seen a lot of "John's suicidal!" in things like fic summaries lately. Um, no. Being willing to die and wanting to die are two separate things. Please let's not rehash the post-'The Gift' BtVS fandom debate.

*Rodney's "we don't leave men behind!" and Lorne's reaction to it. Can we have some Rodney/Lorne bonding fic please? (Er, not like that. Or like that, whatever!)

*Um. The suicidal guy was kinda hot?

Mostly though: blah. Yawn. And why do they always have to have jokes like the "except Rodney" line? I mean, obviously John's kidding—canon has shown this. And possibly, it is a case of John PROTESTING TOO MUCH TO THE POINT OF HILARITY, MR. MY PLANET OF KINKY BONDAGE FETISH PEOPLE HAD HEARTS ON THEIR LEATHER TUNICS. But, man, as someone who has always worried that her friends don't really like her that much, and that they talk smack about her behind her back—as the team has been shown to do to Rodney; hello, parts of 'McKay & Mrs. Miller' that make me wince and want to hide behind the couch—why? Seriously, why? Why do a bunch of writers who were almost certainly outcast dorks themselves want to take the side of the cool kids ragging on the geek? I mean, I'm fully willing to admit that my own issues are coloring my interpretation of this, but jeeze. I was ready to leave this episode having been, y'know, just sort of bored (and note: giving Teyla more lines does not equal giving her something to do, if said lines could just have easily been spoken by Bob Redshirt); instead I left it with a sour taste in my mouth.

I'm probably making too much out of nothing, and should go back to pretending that when Rodney said, "Any last thing you want to say?" he was really asking, "Do you love me, Sheppard?" And when John answered, "You owe me a week's pay, Rodney," that was secret code for "Yes, and you owe me a blow job." THE END.

Also...anyone want to buy my Peg2 ticket? Please? trinityofone AT livejournal DOT com. Reasonable rates! Will throw in a story or something! I have to go to the dentist tomorrow and I need money!

Okay, that was just pathetic. Please ignore.

ETA2: Well, apparently they're non-transferable. I hate my life.

Comments

[siria]

I hesitate to point this out, but, um.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Fuck. Just...fuck.

*is not going to start crying at work*

[siria]

*hugs* Perhaps if you e-mail them, they might refund your money? Or agree to let you transfer the ticket to someone else? I think I saw something somewhere on the site about them transferring tickets if they were purchased as a gift, so maybe if you bullshit them?

I, on the other hand, have just found out that letting my mother and my sister use my credit card has pushed me over my limit, and I now cannot book my flights--so I can go to the bloody thing, but might have no way of getting over the sea.

I declare this Tuesday a LOSS.

[(Anonymous)]

Here from friendsfriends. I sold mine last year, by the simple expedient of emailing the email ticket I received to the person who purchased it and suggesting that if they were asked by any of TPTB to pretend to be me. It meant they knew my RL details, but, well, they knew those anyway. *g* I sold it to someone I already knew.

However, they were never asked to confirm identity, just presented the printed out email ticket when first attending the con and all was fine. The email tickets haven't been sent out yet, but it's easy to send it on once received, given that it's all done by email anyway.

Er, I've deliberately made this comment anonymous, just in case. You might want to do a friendslocked post offering the ticket for sale, and asking people to spread the word.

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

*Rodney's "should've used a Mac." !!!! I almost died. You could tell Hewlett got a huge kick out of it. Also, this Mac user approves!

This also made me squee in a crazy way. And I totally thought of you. Rodney approves of our computery habits! WOOT.

I mean, obviously John's kidding—canon has shown this. And possibly, it is a case of John PROTESTING TOO MUCH TO THE POINT OF HILARITY, MR. MY PLANET OF KINKY BONDAGE FETISH PEOPLE HAD HEARTS ON THEIR LEATHER TUNICS.

This is totally how I read it. And how Teyla seemed to read it too, from what I could tell. Her "uh huh, yeah, whatever, I think we both know how you feel about McKay" response kind of indicated that.

Oh, John. You're really not fooling anyone.

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow and I need money!

Yay! This is good. Now I don't have to nag you about it.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Teyla's so on to John. I loved her tone when John & Rodney radioed her in the jumper at the beginning. She was all like, "Can't you two flirt on your own time?"

Now I don't have to nag you about it.

True. However, the appointment's 1) painfully early in the morning, and 2) gonna hurt, I know it, ow.

[setissma.livejournal.com]

Okay, okay, I give in! I give in horribly! Please forgive me if this is awful because I am on heavy duty cold meds. But you sound so sad! And dentists are no good.

-

The first time Rodney realizes that having sex with John has changed their relationship is also the first time they fight, the first time he realizes that there are consequences to this, like dependent variables and errors in code. They’re out in the field and he sees something – glowing, he thinks, maybe ancient, and it’s easy enough to slip away from John and Ronon, who are arguing over which trail to take. Teyla sees him, and he thinks she’ll tell them, follow him, but when he comes back half an hour later (having discovered absolutely nothing save a tree) it’s to find Teyla with an arrow in her shoulder. John’s white-faced and a little wild, eyes a shade Rodney’s never seen before, and he thinks for the first time that maybe he’s done something wrong.

John doesn’t say anything until that evening, sitting in the dull light of the infirmary.

“John,” Rodney begins, but John doesn’t look up from his book – still War and Peace.

“Nioke,” John murmurs, and Nioke almost looks apologetic, if the emotion were possible, but then Tyk is out of his pocket and bristling on the infirmary floor, and Nioke slides down the leg of John’s chair.

As a child, Rodney never let his daemon fight – he won every battle with her kept away, like a treasured secret, and after they chose, it was always too awkward. No scientist wanted to pit their daemon against a mouse. Someone had tried it once, in Siberia, and Tyk had met the fox before he could stop her. “You were brave,” he told her, later, when the physicist had crept away in generalized shame. “You were stupid,” Tyk replied, and that was the end of that.

This is impossible, but somehow calculable, and Rodney remembers that imaginary numbers are only used for electricity, current and voltage. Nioke curls around her, tight, simple, and Rodney can’t breathe either. John looks tense and miserable, feeling it, and then it’s over. Tyk pretends nothing has happened, grooming herself – paws over her face and ears, smoothing fur back. Nioke loops around John’s chair again, an odd shade of blue under a heat lamp, and he looks at Teyla sleeping, at the floor, counts ceiling tiles.

“I’m sorry,” Rodney says, finally, and John looks up.

“I’m not going to lose you like that,” he replies, and that’s all, the end of it – he goes back to reading. Rodney goes back to his room.

“I won’t fight for you when you’re wrong,” Tyk says, finally, at one in the morning, the only thing she’s said all night, and Rodney realizes she’s not thinking, she’s unhappy.

“You love them,” he says, half way through an integral calculation, almost startled (as if Rodney McKay ever failed to predict the results of an experiment).

“You do, too,” she replies. He finishes his problem and she climbs in his palm, a safe place to ride until they get there, and at least John’s awake too.

“Maybe - ” Rodney begins, when he opens the door, glowing in the backlight, but Tyk merely jumps, climbing up John’s t-shirt to settle at the curve of his shoulder, watching Rodney across the gap of the door.

“We won’t do it again,” she interrupts, firmly.

“We won’t,” Rodney agrees.

“Well,” Nioke says, and Rodney’s alone for a moment before John reaches out to cup his face, drawing him in.

“Just so long as you take us with,” John says, simply, and kisses him. Nioke winds around his wrist, warm, and John draws him in further.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” Tyk murmurs, coy but hardly subtle, and John laughs, soft.

“Come on,” he says, and Rodney does, until it's just the four of them, again.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This is delicate and wonderful, again, although you're really not helping me with the "no-crying-at-work!" Though this is a much better, nicer kind of crying.

I can't express how much I've appreciated both of these ficlets. Just...a lot.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

WHAT DID WE DO TO LIFE SO THAT LIFE HATES US?

[wychwood]

You can probably get away with transferring the damn thing anyway - how are they going to *tell* it's not you turning up? It's not like you've provided them with Top Sekrit Information, or anything.

*pets*

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

They might ask to see ID, though. I mean, I did tell them my name.

[roaringmice.livejournal.com]

The risk then is on the poor person who buys it from her. They'll hand Trin the money, she hands them the "ticket", and then they can't get in? Not so cool. Not that Trin wouldn't reimburse them - of course she would - but they'd be left standing at the gates if the show sells out.

Yaaaaaay. Faint hope.

[miscellanny.livejournal.com]

Mostly I came away from that episode with 'Holy crap, it's Cyrus Bolt!' and 'Ronon's wearing trainers? Where did he find them? Who else's feet are that big?!'

Also, SGA should not do reaction shots. McKay looked admirably worried, but this is nothing new. Ronon looked bored, Lorne looked like he was posing for an underwear catalogue, and Carson went for the usual air of faint constipation.

Not a bad episode, just not what I'm becoming used to. I think I'm spoiled.

*sigh*

Re: Yaaaaaay. Faint hope.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Dude, Cyrus Bolt! No wonder that dude was creeping me out so bad. *is slow at recognizing actors*

The whole episode was just kind of...flat. It felt very regurgitated—I mean, I know I've seen THAT EXACT SAME PLOT many, many times before. Sigh.

[turtlespeaks.livejournal.com]

I still haven't seen this line, as the only version I have seen so far has been the one where the last minute is cut off. What is this line that John says that is so bad?

And when I watched this early in the morning hours, i was very exicted to see Teyla having lines, but as I rewatch this, your right. Besides looking pretty and having some things to say, she didn't really do anything. Though I am grateful she got a bigger part then normal.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

The last bit goes something like this (heavily paraphrased):

Teyla: Thank you for doing that for me.
John: Well, don't start feeling all special!
Teyla: You would do it for any of us, I know.
John: Yes, I would. Well...maybe not Rodney.
Teyla: I think even for Rodney.

End.

To which I say: pooh.

I'm grateful Teyla got lines, too—but how about something that illuminates her character, y'know? We know almost nothing about her—about her background, beliefs, likes & dislikes. We know more about John—even if it's just superficial, even though he's the one who's supposed to be all mysterious and hiding stuff. Grr.

[darcydodo]

I think that you should tell your boss that he lost you X number of dollars by changing the schedule and can he please refund you?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Oh, that would go over well. Seriously, I might just quit.

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

My job makes me want to die. Good Luck getting a new one, I wish that for you with all my heart.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

You're saying I'm screwed, aren't you? Damned if I do, damned if I don't... *hyperventilates*

But we BOTH deserve better things. I wish to God I knew the secret to making it happen.

[aurora]

Please let's not rehash the post-'The Gift' BtVS fandom debate.
Oh, there was wank about this? I've never been in the Buffy fandom, but I can see how it can spark debate.

As for the ep: meh, indeed. It had some nice moments - Ronon and John being stuck together, the glass breaking (I totally gasped), just some good team interaction - but something is still missing.

Also yes, stop using 'except Rodney' for ever statement about John-loves-his-team-so-much. *annoyed*

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in Buffydom there were a bunch of people who were all like, "OMG, Buffy was SUICIDAL! That's why she sacrificed herself!" Um, no. She sacrificed herself to save Dawn and to save the world. Willing to die ≠ wanting to die.

This went ON and ON...and then we switched back to your usual "Spike is evil/totally not evil" and "Buffy/Angel!" "No, Buffy/Spike!" debates. Those were goo—well, they were times, anyway.

Poor Rodney is always getting trapped in places with limited oxygen with the glass about to break! *pets him*

stop using 'except Rodney' for ever statement about John-loves-his-team-so-much. *annoyed*

I think we're just going to have to take it mean, "John loves his team, except for Rodney; Rodney he *wink wink, nudge nudge* likes very much in the way a friend feels about another friend! *cough*" They've forced our hands!

[raiining.livejournal.com]

It took me a moment, but when I got the "Willow-filler" comment I nearly died - wonderful reference, and well timed. *shakes head* How does it go again? "I think this line is mostly filler?"

-lol-

Great review: I have to say I agree that it was an okay ep, mostly a waiting game until the next one. IS the next one Sunday? I've heard so much about it (gateworld, etc.) that I'm really really hoping its as good as their marketing it to be. In the meantime we have ep's like this, though, which are good, but leave one wanting.

And as another slight-outcase dork, I'm with you on the treatment-of-Rodney-debate. John may have been the cool kid, but he should be dorky enough to know how much this can hurt, too. *sigh*

The good thing is that legions of McShep writers shall be spilling forth in porn-making-angst-flinging thunder and I'll get to drown myself in some lovely more McShepness before the week is out. How do I love thee fanfiction? Let me count the ways!

[mcalex22.livejournal.com]

I came here via the newsletter to read the review, and love your comments. I didn't squick to the ep the way I did the others but there were some moments that I simply adored (as you pointed out above).

I don't really pay much attention sometimes and I've obviously missed the mac reference but I'll go and check them out.

I had heard that you were going to P2 and I'm sorry to read now that you can't make it. I hope you find a resolution to your problem...