SGA 3.01 -- *almost* coherent thoughts

[trinityofone]

Okay, so because I'm the coolest cool kid to ever walk the face of this cool earth, last night I watched the SGA premiere with my mom.

And it was pretty cool. I loved the episode, even though the big season openers/closers are far from my favorite type. But my boys are back! (As for the girls...well, more about that later.)

Okay, so this is from memory and thus probably not very coherent, but here are my scattered thoughts:

The first half of the episode went almost exactly as I expected it to go. Not just the Boba Fett/Han Solo thing that I TOTALLY CALLED, but also the whole Michael bit--oh course he would feel ostracized, and of course he would provide the key help they needed. (Gero and I? We're like this. Or else that was the obvious way for the plot to go, whatever.) However, if the plot always continues to go exactly the way I want it, I'm fine with it being a little predictable. (Next episode: John and Rodney have sex. And Teyla and Michael, too. And how about some Weir/Caldwell? This was a good episode for that.)

Besides, there were some little touched that I really liked: the Queen calling Michael "Michael"--like an insult, clearly. And even more interesting that he continues to respond to it, that he's allowed himself to be so named. John keeps trying to name the Wraith; here he finally succeeded. *suddenly starts wanting John/Michael* *slaps self* I really, REALLY hope they keep Michael around. There are just so many interesting ways that could go. Yum.

And it doesn't hurt that Connor Trinneer? Also yum.

ETA: More specifically, now that Michael has allied himself with Atlantis, is he going to voluntarily take the retrovirus? Can he continue to work with them if he does not? Not long term: he has to eat, and unlike on Buffy, he can't take his blood life force in bags. So is he even intending this to be a long-term alliance? Beyond staying alive, what does he want? Does he even know?

(And okay, yeah, I really do want Michael/everybody. Or at least, Michael/Teyla, Michael/Ronon [that would be explosive], and all right, bring on the Michael/John, too. Michael/Rodney is actually the least interesting to me. Huh.)

Besides all the explosions, there were some interesting character moments in this. I loved the Weir/Caldwell scene--she called him Steven! At that point I turned to my mom:

Me: Oh, she's so using the fact that he has a massive crush on her.
Mom: He does? How?
Me: She called him Steven. In this universe, using someone's first name can be the equivalent of second base.

So yeah, let the Weir/Caldwell commence!

Also striking was the easy trust and cooperation between Elizabeth and Teyla. They work well together. I guess the Elizabeth/Teyla should commence, too! Although I really wish there'd been more Teyla in this episode. I like Teyla.

I did think that Elizabeth did well in this episode. I want to believe that she really is competent and kick ass at her job. But I also hope they give her some sort of personal storyline that doesn't suck this season. Preferably something that doesn't have to do with a baby and/or a man, as those seem to be the only storylines men can write for women. Or something about a dying relative. Or a pet! Yes, no storyline about how Elizabeth's dog is dying. Thank you.

But something other than the same old "Is Elizabeth really a good leader? Is she?" I, I don't know, want her to find an Ancient library or something and become obsessed with translating it. And Radek can help her and be very concerned and cute, and then some other stuff will happen that I don't know what it is. But an Ancient library would be cool.

ANYWAY. Isn't it fun how the more heterosexual they try to make John look, the gayer he seems? How is that possible? charlidos said that in the mess hall flashback, she thought at first that John was looking at Rodney. I did, too. I was like, "Whoa, John! Not in public!" But of course it's Random Chick We Will Never See Again. Don't you think if John were really interested in that girl, or any other, he'd do something about it? And maybe we are meant to think that he's some intergalactic slut who's working his way through Atlantis in his down time, but I don't. I think he flirts and flirts--very casually, no more than those smiles--and then does nothing. Whatever the reason ("repression" is good, and I still like "emotionally closed off"), poor John. *pets him*

That scene also made me want to write a ridiculous high school AU (John's the "floater," and he eats with the geeks), but I feel that smittywing has the AWESOME high school AU covered, so.

Okay, this is getting rambly and I'm actually supposed to, you know, start moving today, so just a few more things.

*I loved all of Rodney's doooooooooooooom dialogue. Oh, David Hewlett. I missed you. And the Rodney/Ronon relationship is really fun. (Er, I mean that in a non-slashy way, but it's all good.) I think there's genuine affection, or at least respect under it. A little, anyway. And hey, do we have a vote on where we think Ronon was hiding the knife this time? I want to say hair, 'cause I loved the way his dreads were sticking out when he broke free, but I think it may actually have been somewhere lower. That sounds wrong.

*I loved Lorne and Zelenka, although I'm very upset about the Orion. Rodney just got John that spaceship! Now he's going to be like, "See? See? This is why we can't have anything nice!" But anyway, back to Zelenka. Oh man, I love him. I'm impressed with his bravery even getting on the ship, because you know he's not as naturally gung-ho as Rodney, and when you're not as naturally gung-ho as Rodney, you do not want to be flying a spaceship into battle. But he did! So I liked the little bit of cowering and fleeing he did, because it makes it an arc of progress, not a jump from point to point.

*Lorne, I was really scared was going to die by the Wraith Queen, which would have sucked, 'cause I would have had to break up with Gero. But he didn't, hurrah! And I loved Rodney helping him up, and Lorne accepting. I know it's a simple gesture, but I do think that relationship's come a long way since the start of last season. (Lorne/McKay, anyone?)

*Actually, it's interesting that Rodney went with that first team into the hive ship at all. They didn't really need him, but he was all, "I have a P-90!" What level of weapons competency have we decided McKay is at this week, writers?

*_inbetween_ mentioned John and Rodney's non-reaction when they saw each other. I don't know why I like that, but I do. I mean, I really can't explain why it works for me--if I try, this is going to devolve into some flowery thing about how their souls are connected so of course they knew that neither of them was dead, and of course Rodney never doubted that John would come for him and John knew Rodney would stay alive and be waiting for him and now I'm going to barf up my toast--it just does. It's them. They're weird about each other.

I also want to briefly share something my mom said when we were stuck in traffic and I was explaining two years of SGA to her. Somehow we got to the subject of women who have flirted with Rodney, and I was explaining the whole 'Inferno' thing.

Me: And then John totally cockblocked him!
Mom: What's 'cockblocked'?
Me: Er, cockblocking is when one guy stops another guy from getting a girl, by flirting with her or just getting in the way or otherwise interfering.
Mom: Oh. *pause* That sounds kind of gay.

Heh.

Oh, and siriaeve? It is downloaded and burned and I am sending it to youuuuuuu!

Comments

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

I would *rather* there be a storyline about Elizabeth's dog than one about How She Wishes She Had a Man.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Yes, but in the dog story she'd just end up having boring UST with her vet. Or something.

What about a story where She Wishes She Had a Dog? And she bonds with Rodney, who misses his cat?

(Seriously, we ought to be able to think up something good for Elizabeth!)

[graycastle.livejournal.com]

(Seriously, we ought to be able to think up something good for Elizabeth!)

you'd think so, wouldn't you? I feel bad, now. I mean, it's all well and good to make fun of the writers and bitch about the boring, sexist girl-plots, but what is elizabeth actually good for? has she actually been written as so boring that there is no conceivable interesting plotline for her?

maybe they should start by showing her using skills. I mean, john gets to fly, rodney and radek get to play with technology, ronon and teyla get to kill things and bum around pegasus...why have we had a linguist as head of atlantis for two years and seen her translate something, like, twice? she's boring because she's a leader who never evidences being a leader in an interesting way. why has she never had to resolve a dispute between random expedition members of various nationalities, all babbling in various languages? where is the stock-standard racism-is-bad episode where she stops someone from being discriminated against? or the one where she orders someone to their death - for real - to save the city and has to deal with it? it's not like I'm asking for much here.

sigh. poor girls in scifi. I think I miss Cadman.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is what I'm worried about too: that after two years of boring writing, there's no way to save her. I think you're right, they ought to do something with her linguist skills. This is why I like my library notion ("notion" because it's too ill-formed to even be called an idea). Or, at the very least, give the lady a hobby!

And bring back Cadman!

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

She's not actually a linguist. She's a negotiator and diplomat. It makes sense that she'd be good with languages, but we really need to see more scenes like the one where she talked the Genii into handing over their nukes.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I know she isn't a linguist, but isn't she supposed to have neato linguistic skills? She's an expert on Ancient, at least (hence her going on the mission in 'Epiphany'). And I liked the scene with the Genii, but if that's all they ever do with her...it's dull. At least if she's always triumphant, and they use that as their kind of "See? Elizabeth's cool!" get-out-of-lame-writing free card. There's never any arc with those scenes or how they relate to her character; they're just plot points.