SGA: Misbegotten thoughts and OH NOES
Jul. 22nd, 2006 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityofoneAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Okay, I just had to get that out of my system. This episode freaked me, man. And I know that on some level it was supposed to, but this much? We'll see where they take it.
Anyway. Poor Michael. Giving him "the cure" again without his approval was so, SO not cool. I mean, I recognize that they couldn't just let him out into the world—you can't let a serial killer go free, or perhaps more accurately, you can't release a great white shark into an ocean of seals and expect everything to be peachy. Michael was going to need to eat, and that was going to be a problem if he didn't decide, on his own, to take the retrovirus. So what they should have done was have somebody try to persuade him. I betcha Teyla could have done it. But you don't, DON'T do something like that to one of your allies, ESPECIALLY when the cure is impermanent and you're poised and ready with a nuclear bomb. That's just wrong.
Also, my Michael fic is jossed all to hell now, fuckity.
John really freaked me out in this episode. He was in full-on robot mode, and it was SCARY. When we saw him on the planet and on the hive ship, he really was machine-like, and even when he got worked up talking to Woolsey (just imagine how he would be if he were forced to have a session with Heightmeyer) he just seemed...it was really weird, okay? I mean, Elizabeth seemed less stiff and more companionable in that scene, but it was like she was flirting with a brick wall. (For the record, I liked her a lot in that scene, and I don't mean flirting in a bad way—just the kind of teasing everybody does with members of the opposite (or same, depending) sex. She seemed relaxed and friendly; John's lack of reaction was...did I mention weird?)
I know that John internalizes more than pretty much everyone else on the show, but man: he is either really, REALLY conflicted right now, and is burying it; or he's not conflicted at all, Mr. Replicant Man, and either way it freaks me out.
(BTW, I loved the Blade Runner reference in SG-1 when Vala was preparing for her psych exam. It was a great joke, but the SGA episode made it seem like NOT A COINCIDENCE, YIKES!)
I liked Ronon a lot in this, just because he seemed steady and consistent, and for whatever reason, that's comforting. You don't get the impression that, like Carson, he used to have empathy and now has less. And jeeze, Carson! If you don't like what's going on, speak up for yourself! Also, what exactly did Michael do to him? Did he get Carson to spill about the bomb with just the threat of torture, or was something actually done? Way to be frustratingly vague, show.
I also liked, as always, that Rodney was the dissenting moral voice, because it's a role he always looks so uncomfortable in—he never thought that he'd be the one in this position, being (or at least attempting to be) a better person than those around him. Not that it really matters, because he always caves to the others (to JOHN). God, if they really were sleeping together, there would be so much tension right now. It would not be good: I imagine John would be desperately trying to feel something when he was with Rodney, but Rodney would be distant and withdrawn, and they wouldn't talk to each other, they'd just keep going, feeling miserable, or slowly drift apart... I want to write this story, but not until someone tells me how to give it a happy ending.
Speaking of endings...WTF, Woolsey? What did you see that could POSSIBLY have convinced you that Elizabeth was making good leadership decisions in this episode? I'm not saying that I want her replaced; I'm saying that TPTB are clearly OUT OF THEIR MINDS if they think this is good leadership. To me, it looked like Woolsey saw a lot of evidence of poor decisions and good people in way over their heads and digging themselves deeper, and then decided to IGNORE all of that because he just likes Elizabeth, darn it! And we're supposed to think this is a good thing? ARE WE? Please tell me, because I am clearly confused.
Which brings me to one last, amusing thing: when Woolsey came out on the balcony to talk to Caldwell, he was eating an orange. How fucked up is it that I immediately thought, "Orange of EVOL, OH NOES!" Because Rodney is allergic, citrus has come to have a symbolic meaning of corruption and nastiness. (Never mind that I just ate an orange this morning for breakfast.)
And one last question: is anyone else confused about how the SGA/SG-1 timelines are lining up? When did Woolsey go to Atlantis, for example, and when did he mess with Vala's head? Was Elizabeth still at the SGC when some of that Vala stuff was going on? I'm confused!
Okay, I just had to get that out of my system. This episode freaked me, man. And I know that on some level it was supposed to, but this much? We'll see where they take it.
Anyway. Poor Michael. Giving him "the cure" again without his approval was so, SO not cool. I mean, I recognize that they couldn't just let him out into the world—you can't let a serial killer go free, or perhaps more accurately, you can't release a great white shark into an ocean of seals and expect everything to be peachy. Michael was going to need to eat, and that was going to be a problem if he didn't decide, on his own, to take the retrovirus. So what they should have done was have somebody try to persuade him. I betcha Teyla could have done it. But you don't, DON'T do something like that to one of your allies, ESPECIALLY when the cure is impermanent and you're poised and ready with a nuclear bomb. That's just wrong.
Also, my Michael fic is jossed all to hell now, fuckity.
John really freaked me out in this episode. He was in full-on robot mode, and it was SCARY. When we saw him on the planet and on the hive ship, he really was machine-like, and even when he got worked up talking to Woolsey (just imagine how he would be if he were forced to have a session with Heightmeyer) he just seemed...it was really weird, okay? I mean, Elizabeth seemed less stiff and more companionable in that scene, but it was like she was flirting with a brick wall. (For the record, I liked her a lot in that scene, and I don't mean flirting in a bad way—just the kind of teasing everybody does with members of the opposite (or same, depending) sex. She seemed relaxed and friendly; John's lack of reaction was...did I mention weird?)
I know that John internalizes more than pretty much everyone else on the show, but man: he is either really, REALLY conflicted right now, and is burying it; or he's not conflicted at all, Mr. Replicant Man, and either way it freaks me out.
(BTW, I loved the Blade Runner reference in SG-1 when Vala was preparing for her psych exam. It was a great joke, but the SGA episode made it seem like NOT A COINCIDENCE, YIKES!)
I liked Ronon a lot in this, just because he seemed steady and consistent, and for whatever reason, that's comforting. You don't get the impression that, like Carson, he used to have empathy and now has less. And jeeze, Carson! If you don't like what's going on, speak up for yourself! Also, what exactly did Michael do to him? Did he get Carson to spill about the bomb with just the threat of torture, or was something actually done? Way to be frustratingly vague, show.
I also liked, as always, that Rodney was the dissenting moral voice, because it's a role he always looks so uncomfortable in—he never thought that he'd be the one in this position, being (or at least attempting to be) a better person than those around him. Not that it really matters, because he always caves to the others (to JOHN). God, if they really were sleeping together, there would be so much tension right now. It would not be good: I imagine John would be desperately trying to feel something when he was with Rodney, but Rodney would be distant and withdrawn, and they wouldn't talk to each other, they'd just keep going, feeling miserable, or slowly drift apart... I want to write this story, but not until someone tells me how to give it a happy ending.
Speaking of endings...WTF, Woolsey? What did you see that could POSSIBLY have convinced you that Elizabeth was making good leadership decisions in this episode? I'm not saying that I want her replaced; I'm saying that TPTB are clearly OUT OF THEIR MINDS if they think this is good leadership. To me, it looked like Woolsey saw a lot of evidence of poor decisions and good people in way over their heads and digging themselves deeper, and then decided to IGNORE all of that because he just likes Elizabeth, darn it! And we're supposed to think this is a good thing? ARE WE? Please tell me, because I am clearly confused.
Which brings me to one last, amusing thing: when Woolsey came out on the balcony to talk to Caldwell, he was eating an orange. How fucked up is it that I immediately thought, "Orange of EVOL, OH NOES!" Because Rodney is allergic, citrus has come to have a symbolic meaning of corruption and nastiness. (Never mind that I just ate an orange this morning for breakfast.)
And one last question: is anyone else confused about how the SGA/SG-1 timelines are lining up? When did Woolsey go to Atlantis, for example, and when did he mess with Vala's head? Was Elizabeth still at the SGC when some of that Vala stuff was going on? I'm confused!
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-22 05:51 pm (UTC)is anyone else confused about how the SGA/SG-1 timelines are lining up?
Totally confused. Unless there are Woolsey clones running around, that man is doing double time. The only thing I can guess is that the SG-1 episode was meant to happen after he got back from Atlantis (even though it was aired before he even went to Atlantis). Either that or it was supposed to happen before or during No Man's Land, but the timing was bugging me as well (of course, I watched Atlantis first, so it really seemed off).
John really freaked me out in this episode. He was in full-on robot mode, and it was SCARY.
I was taking John's behavior as utter and complete exhaustion beyond the point of being able to respond correctly to anything (witness his confusion at the end when Caldwell asked him where he was and it took him several seconds to realize his jumper was cloaked).
he is either really, REALLY conflicted right now, and is burying it; or he's not conflicted at all,
My thought was that he is very seriously conflicted. I don't think he agreed with Elizabeth about the retrovirus in the beginning and now things have gotten out of control. He doesn't want to betray her and so he's doing the best he can to deal with the situation, both the human-form Wraith and the investigation by Woolsey, but he certainly didn't look happy about any of it to me. We probably won't ever see his fallout because TPTB like the bottle eps, but I think it's definitely brewing in him.
Speaking of endings...WTF, Woolsey?
Woolsey's really between a rock and a hard place here. The IOA is freaking out but they really don't want a military leadership of Atlantis. Woolsey has to acknowledge that a lot of f*&ked up stuff has gone on here, but find some way of reconciling things. I think he's got a lot more in his head than he's saying. The conversation with Caldwell was interesting, for one thing, and I wonder if we'll see more pushing for Caldwell to take over at some point.
To me, it looked like Woolsey saw a lot of evidence of poor decisions and good people in way over their heads and digging themselves deeper,
That's an excellent description of what's going on with the Atlantis people right now, pretty much all of them. I think for the most part, Elizabeth has been a good leader, but she really messed up with this Wraith retrovirus and now, trying to clean that mess up, she can't see the forest for the trees. However, provided the Wraith from that anonymous hive ship didn't get too much information about Atlantis (and isn't that a nice, optimistic thought) they may have muddled their way to a resolution. If Elizabeth has learned enough from the mess, they'll stop playing God and pretend the retrovirus never existed (but somehow I have very little faith in that).
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-22 06:43 pm (UTC)I was taking John's behavior as utter and complete exhaustion beyond the point of being able to respond correctly to anything (witness his confusion at the end when Caldwell asked him where he was and it took him several seconds to realize his jumper was cloaked).
Oh, thank you. I really like that theory, especially with the example you provide. I mean, it doesn't excuse him, but it makes the whole thing seem a lot more human.
You're right that we're probably never going to see a whole lot of fallout on screen, so I really hope that people write fic!
I understand that Woolsey is in a tough position, and I'm not faulting him so much as wondering what TPTB are intending us to get from the conclusion of the ep. What was there message, if any? I'm confused.
If Elizabeth has learned enough from the mess, they'll stop playing God and pretend the retrovirus never existed (but somehow I have very little faith in that).
What I'm wondering is: what's the next we're going to hear of Michael? I'm assuming that he's still alive. Where is that story going, and what does that mean: for him, for the Wraith, for all of Atlantis? It's not something that can just be swept under the rug.