SGA 4x20: "Last Man"

[xparrot]

(or is it "The Last Man"? anyway...) My immediate response here (and here, have a couple ep tag drabbles) and now coherent-ish review series of babbles:

Mallozzi, sorry, still don't think you should be allowed to draft any script, but Paul Mullie, you can write an ep for me anytime you want. "Travelers"? Totally forgiven.

Yeah, in case you couldn't tell, I liked the ep. This is mostly because I'm easy and this was practically a previously unwritten favorite fic made glorious flesh; the whole story was pushing some of the biggest fan buttons I have. Alternate timelines, spitting in destiny's face, risking all to change history for the better? Yup! Long-term presumed dead (well, actually dead but let's not quibble as it gets fixed)? Yes! Holograms not able to touch but oh-so-wanting to? Right-o! (Hey, I was a Quantum Leaper back in the day...)

First things first - David Hewlett is always great but here - he knocked this one so far out of the ballpark that I think it broke orbit. His eyes. And his voice, oh man but he could be a VA, what he does with his voice...not any obvious aged quaver, but the weariness of it, and how that grows as the ep goes on, as if telling Sheppard is sapping the hologram's power...

(also soul-shattering heartbreak is a good look on Rodney--especially in his flashback, he was gorgeous.)

The music! Usually SGA's score is serviceable at best, but this time they went for the Epic, at least in some moments, that overwhelming Who-sian orchestration that I am such a sucker for. The scene with Sam on the last flight of the Phoenix was about the first time that I've watched the show that I've sat up and gone OMG OST WAAANT~!

The direction, the lighting! The lights coming on and off on Atlantis was just such an eerie and effective effect, and the red glow and the sands and the eeeeee!

To get my two quibbles with the ep out of the way:

The end...it felt like A.I., kept reaching good endings, several times, and then not ending. I kinda wanted it to end with Sheppard getting put into cold storage, or else with him coming back through the gate. I don't find the cliffhanger that hanger-y, especially knowing casting spoilers; while I'm curious how they're going to get out I'm fairly certain they will, and probably not with as much h/c along the way as I'd like (though it is Gero writing the premiere, so...)

And Zelenka! What happened to Zelenka? We see him for that brief moment on the Phoenix (and that silently offered coffee mug was so much squee I cannot contemplate it long without asphyxiating) but never hear what happened to him. Missing scene? This bothers me a bit because at the end, Rodney/Jennifer worked wonderfully for me, but only as the last survivors, and if Radek were around, too...I'm wondering if there might be a cut line/scene there, as it seems an odd omission, after we get Todd and Lorne and all. (Or did I miss a line? I've not had the chance to rewatch the whole ep.) It makes sense in some ways, holo!Rodney was only answering the questions John asked him, pretty much, but...I still wanted to know!

Otherwise - otherwise, pure, pure squee.

The frame story! This whole season we've noted that they seem to make a particular effort to give us a Sheppard-McKay scene every ep. So to top it off they give us an entire ep - no alien princess, just the two of them alone in an empty future and talking. And oh, the look John gives Rodney, when he realizes what 48,000 years means - it's everyone, of course, and John's focusing on Rodney because it's Rodney/not-Rodney standing before him and it's too big to handle otherwise, but the way he's looking him up and down, the "you're..." that he can't finish, we've seen that breaking in John's eyes before, that's the "Doppelganger" look, that's "Miller's Crossing"...

Teyla, and the look on Rodney's face...

Sam!! Oh oh oh, if she had to go, what a way to, down with her ship and her crew survives and the score and oh! And before that, assembling the Phoenix (My twisted little Carter/McKay heart read things into the moments we saw between them there, I will spare you, but they made me burble happily. Also, hug! Rodney has rarely needed them so badly.)

TODD!! I am sad he didn't ally himself with Michael to help take over the galaxy, but being a (hacker-style, Rodney-style) guerrilla warrior was the next best thing, and he and Ronon are PURE JOY. Up until the point they blow up real good and aww and ouch and that's yet another empty coffin Rodney buried.

Rodney's supposed to be the egotistical one but he doesn't want to talk about himself; John has to drag it out of him. And John has to know, because Rodney matters.

Rodney+Jennifer is something I never want to see on the show proper (preserve us from canon pairings, I like my show platonic and my ships subtext) but they were beautiful here, the last survivors clinging to the last bit of happiness.

And then Jennifer is the straw that breaks Rodney's mind (how much do I love the "I thought I would go mad, and then I had the idea" and really the distinction is pure semantics). I barely see any actual romance in their relationship - love, yes, but the love of friends, of family, holding on. No rings and only the single kiss. And Rodney is so willing to let their relationship go without a blink or a second thought, because it's about escaping from pain and he's going to fix it so there's nothing to escape from.

And John, in the future, worries about changing that, worries about Rodney losing a chance for happiness even if the price is the loss of Atlantis and Pegasus and almost everyone he cares for and John, oh John, how you love your team, how you love Rodney, beyond all sense or reason.

Jeannie is such a brief mention, but so much heartbreak, what it must have taken for her finally to turn her back on her brother (if ever she really did.)

I kinda loved the future computer even if the VR glove should've been lighter and simpler (well, maybe computer tech goes retro again, or maybe Rodney could only afford an old model).

Lorne decorates his office with a painting of Atlantis! (also, was there anyone still stationed on Atlantis by then, or was Rodney was sent through to an abandoned city? gnine and I couldn't decide.)

What happened to Rodney after he installed the hologram on Atlantis? Because (unless you follow friendshipper's cracktastic theory) I doubt he long outlived the completion of his life's work. I'd like to think he actually died on Atlantis - the only one who did, out of all of them. (save possibly Carson, but as with Zelenka we don't know; they might've brought him back to Earth.)

I want to see when John came out of the coldsleep, when Holo!Rodney bade him goodbye, bade farewell to 48 millennia of pain and loss.

Then, John coming through the gate at the end, breathless and panicked like John never gets, not in front of people, and he's been gone for twelve days but Rodney isn't even relieved to see him, because you can see him wondering if this is really John; that if it is, something's gone wrong enough that he doesn't know how to handle it.

And now we have to wait - until the summer, or longer - and aaaahhhhhhh don't wanna! But at least we're guaranteed a fifth season (the cliffhanger would've sucked as a series finale, definitely...!)

(and if you don't want the squee to be over yet, don't miss naye's picspam here!)

Comments

[naye]

Agh, have to eat breakfast and go into work (where I might peek at LJ depending on how many people feel like going out in the rain to poke around the library on their Sunday) so I can't stay and squee for as long as I would want to, but this is BEAUTIFUL and sums it all up perfectly for me! Especially the way you linger on John's and Rodney's interactions in the future, and Rodney's reaction to the returned Sheppard and... oh, yes. (I wondered about Radek, too. I wondered if he died, or if he was another one who tried to make Rodney stop what he was doing, and that it broke Radek's heart and ended their friendship which broke RODNEY'S heart... Since this was basically an apocafic AU, I could see something as sad as that happening, and Rodney not wanting to talk about it unless John asked.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I feel a little guilty, focusing so much on the John & Rodney-ness - because I really do love the team. But, yes. John & Rodney have something special and it was especially special in this ep.

And I so want to know what happened to Radek! The problem with him breaking his friendship with Rodney is that he's not mentioned at all after Rodney returns to Earth, even though Jeannie is. Maybe he stayed behind on Atlantis after Rodney & Jennifer left, dealing with the IOA as best he could...

[naye]

It was very special specialness in this episode, especially stuff like John asking about Rodney...! Aww.

I want to see when John came out of the coldsleep, when Holo!Rodney bade him goodbye, bade farewell to 48 millennia of pain and loss.

ME TOO! Yes, I missed this! I was hoping it was going to be shown, but then again... they had one goodbye, having two would have been a bit strange. Doesn't mean I don't wanna see it!

And I so want to know what happened to Radek! The problem with him breaking his friendship with Rodney is that he's not mentioned at all after Rodney returns to Earth, even though Jeannie is. Maybe he stayed behind on Atlantis after Rodney & Jennifer left, dealing with the IOA as best he could...

And maybe Rodney viewed that as a betrayal? Maybe Radek was killed, too, and Rodney's so tired of talking about loss that he didn't mention it. But it sounded more like Radek just drifted out of Rodney's life. After all, Rodney's obsession with fixing everything made his life very... limited. (WAH, Rodney! 25 years in that tiny apartment, and not even a cat to show for it!)

[sholio]

oh John, how you love your team, how you love Rodney, beyond all sense or reason.

He does! This is what's made this show lodge in my heart so deeply, and it's just become more and more evident and surface-textual in the last couple of seasons. Regardless of what sort of interpretation one's inclined to put on it, John is, well, head-over-heels for Rodney in some fashion (best-friendship, brotherly, sexual, whatever), and vice versa. And that love is there for all of this little circle of people he's let into his heart (a select few which, tragically, keep getting even fewer...). And all of them have it for each other, but, in my admittedly biased perception, it seems like John and Rodney have it a little deeper than everybody else. It just ... melts me into a fan puddle!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, the first couple seasons I really didn't see the John&Rodney...they seemed to be teammates but not much more. (I'm kinda impressed by all you folks who got it earlier, because you were totally right!) Then s3 really starts to make it clear what 'team' truly means to John, and at the same time he and Rodney are becoming best friends...and then s4 they've gone to the next level - not necessarily in the slashy way (though lately I've been having an increasingly hard time seeing John otherwise) but the way they emotionally support each other, even when they're both so bad at that...yeah, their relationship is something special, and I am pretty much OTPing them - not always in the slashy way, but friendship, slash, whatever - together forever!

--it's odd, I saw a couple comments to a review of this ep, saying that they didn't like s4 because it was less McSheppy, and that they hated Last Man because it was 'all about the romance between Rodney and Keller', and I could only think, what show were you watching? gnine was saying that "Last Man" is to Rodney what "Miller's Crossing" is to John - MC proved how far John would go for Rodney (as far as it takes) and LM proved what Rodney would do for John (and for everyone, but I don't think he ever, ever forgot that saving John was the direct goal - that he counts John's disappearance as when everything started to go to hell, and fixing that would fix all, and that faith...oh, Rodney...!)

[naye]

Err, um, what? Yes, have to break in here because - all about Rodney and Keller, what? Rodney was ready to let that go in an instant, if he could save his team, his friends, his city. He spent one year with Keller - the last survivors, the only ones who could really know how much the other had lost - and then twenty five years trying to save John and make everything right. Which obviously included Teyla and Ronon and Sam being alive, but NOT his relationship with Jennifer! Or he would have said something, done something, voiced some hope that they would always be together no matter what... I've actually seen another show do future-changing kind of like this, and there it really WAS about the romance, and the characters there DID say things like that.

Anyway, yes. John and Rodney and what they do for each other and their little family unit, that's the episode I saw. ♥

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know! If you want to see the discussion yourself, it's here, but be warned, craziness abounds! Seriously, I don't know what the heck show they're watching. (What show did you see the future-change romance thing? I swear I've seen it before but I can't recall where...?)

I think it's telling that Rodney didn't even mention the Keller thing to John until after John pushed him - he was perfectly content to have that part of his life (as well as everything else about him) totally forgotten like it never happened.

[naye]

Errrrrrr. Dot dot dot now my brain hurts? *clings*

Ummmmmmm. Of course, they obviously missed the "Goodbye, John" as Sheppard "went into status" (sic!!) too, so - maybe they were watching a different show than I was? Hmm. Annnnnnnyway. It's fandom. ♥

he was perfectly content to have that part of his life (as well as everything else about him) totally forgotten like it never happened.

Exactly. He was NOT perfectly happy with his team dying. He was never okay with Sheppard disappearing into the year 50K and dying there, but even for Rodney... it took 25 years to get it right, and he had to invent a whole new kind of math just to be able to work on it! I mean - it's not like he just didn't want to push the magic "get Sheppard back" button. No sane man would ever have come up with the plan he hatched - it had to come from that moment when he cracked for good had his idea.


(PS - have read friendshipper's spoiler post & commented there!)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Actually it's "Good luck, John" - but that means just as much, considering how Carter had to pull it out of him...it's not Rodney's usual thing (and heh to the "went into status"...typos never cease to amuse.)

I just wrote a 1500 word rant about this. Um oops?

(we didn't even hardly discuss the spoilers on the phone! Oops again! But no heartbreak, right? ^^)

[naye]

"Good luck", yes, same difference - but that's how I watch the show. (I don't really get how, if it IS a failure to read between the lines, how can that apply to slashers, who do nothing BUT read between the lines...?)

Anyway, OOPS, yes. Crazy person, you need SLEEP! Gah! Sleep is good, and I worry. *hugs*

(No heartbreak! I'm really curious to see what they'll do, though...!)

[sholio]

I saw a couple comments to a review of this ep, saying that they didn't like s4 because it was less McSheppy, and that they hated Last Man because it was 'all about the romance between Rodney and Keller', and I could only think, what show were you watching?

I KNOW! I ran into this at seperis's LJ, and then started seeing it elsewhere, and all I can say is WTF, people?

I get the idea that some hardcore OTP'ers think Rodney should have dropped everything at the time that John vanished and poured all his resources into getting him back, because true love conquers all or some such malarkey. Never mind that they were in the middle of a WAR and trying to find TEYLA! I mean, how much of an asshole would you have to be to tell your friends, "Later guys, sorry I can't help with the war and saving people and all; I have to get my boyfriend back from the future; hope you don't get killed"?!!! I was incredibly impressed with Rodney's resilience; he went on trying to help win the war, through the loss of all of his friends, and after losing Atlantis too, he tried to put a life together for himself on Earth and be happy. I mean, that's admirable! We should all be that strong! Only after his second chance blew up in his face did he sacrifice any chance of having a normal, happy life to try the INCREDIBLE LONG SHOT of bringing John back -- which in all likelihood shouldn't have worked, which apparently Jeannie thought he was nuts for even trying? And it was OBVIOUSLY not to resurrect his relationship with Keller; they specifically addressed that in the episode, when John brings up the topic and Rodney clearly knows that there's a very good chance he won't end up with Keller if he changes the timeline.

This is precisely the aspect of the OTP mentality that really bugs me -- the idea that it's some kind of betrayal of your sweetheart if you aren't willing to screw over everybody else (including yourself) for their sake. The idea is utterly ridiculous to me that it's better to have a Rodney who is unhappy and obsessed and pining for John rather than a Rodney trying to build a happy life for himself -- especially since the very BEST outcome he can possibly hope for is to recover John for some OTHER version of himself; this particular timeline is hopelessly screwed up and he's not going to get back what he's lost no matter what. Don't get me wrong, I'm all heart-fluttery that he did end up making that sacrifice -- but I'm just floored at fans who castigate Rodney for trying to make a place for himself on Earth with Jennifer rather than immediately sacrificing his own life and happiness (and hers as well) for the outside chance that he might be able to recover John.

Ahem. Yes, I'm quite opinionated on the topic! ^_^

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I just posted a rant on this subject (I hadn't seen seperis's post, it got to me!) - but, yes, yes, and yes!

I think one problem with OTPing is that it encourages one to view all romance as incredibly significant. If Rodney & Keller became "more than friends" then it had to be true love - we the TV audience were supposed to see it that way. Even though I don't think that's what was intended by the writers or the actors. That Rodney came to love Keller (to whatever extent) doesn't diminish his feelings for his team. But they were gone and he was left - and they all would have wanted him to be happy!

...Besides, well, I kinda am an OTPer (and getting moreso with John&Rodney, though it's in a semi-gen way?) and even 'interrogating the text' from that perspective - I still don't get it. It's not like Rodney knew what to do and refused to do it until Keller died. Rodney didn't have any idea what to do, he makes that clear! As soon as he figures out how to save everyone, then he does it - he takes the long shot as soon as he figures out there's actually a shot to be taken, as opposed to just impossibility. I rather suspect that if Keller hadn't died, but Rodney had figured it out anyway, he would've gone ahead and devoted himself to that obsession, even if Keller argued for him to put it behind him. He certainly had no interest in listening to her advising him such when she was on her deathbed.

Not to mention, Rodney clearly never gives up on John. A year later, even not knowing how to save him, he's still saying, "Sheppard's not dead." Heck, you could argue that Sheppard's death didn't break him because he never allowed himself to believe Sheppard was truly gone.

(I think the ep might work better from the gen-OTP perspective at any rate. A slasher can get depressed that Keller is replacing John as Rodney's love interest; but we see no sign that he makes another best friend!))

[sholio]

I need to go read your other post! I like seperis, and she often makes good points about the show, but in this case? I hated her suggestion that the whole thing was a "gotcha!" on the part of the writers -- hated it with the power of a thousand ZPMs. :D

And ... shamefaced look ... I *am* kind of a gen-OTPer about John and Rodney myself, it's true! I think that's why the "best friend" comment at the end of "Sunday" rubbed me so totally the wrong way -- I found myself reacting to it in exactly the same way I always complain about when I see OTP slash people getting all bothered about something like this! Oh dear.

But still, if John's DEAD ... I mean, if Rodney had gone on, in this case, to get very close with Radek (which, by the way, you've got an excellent point about ... what DID happen to him? It couldn't have been good!) I don't think I would have minded. In fact, it would have been nice if he'd had Radek's support in recovering John! I certainly wouldn't have considered it a betrayal of John. John's dead at this point; even though Rodney didn't give up on him, he's still basically accepted the idea that John's gone beyond all hope of retrieval, at least until he has that little moment of epiphany that he might be able to bring him back.

Maybe that's why I'd rather have friendship OTPs -- because there's no jealousy there. (Well, with a few exceptions, like that comment in "Sunday".) You can have more than one friend. In fact, I'd much rather see a character with a healthy social circle rather than having their whole life revolve around one person!

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you said here and I'm totally a hardcore OTP'er. For me, the division exists more between those McShep fans that are more John oriented and those that are more Rodney oriented. I'm a Rodney girl myself so I was furious at the idea that so many John fans thought Rodney should've thrown everything up in the air in the middle of wartime to save John when he didn't even think it was possible at that time. That fans actually begrudge Rodney the one year he was on earth and found some comfort with Keller just makes me crazy. He spent the next *25 freakin' years* working to bring John and everyone else, including the Pegasus galaxy itself, back so maybe he could be cut some slack for y'know trying to make a life for himself.

All that said, I'd like to think that if it'd been reversed and it'd been John instead of Rodney, I would've still been able to see the big picture. I saw it in Trinity so I'd like to think my love for Rodney wouldn't have completely blinded me here.

[sholio]

I hope it didn't sound like I was being too hard on OTP'ers -- as noted in one of my other comments, I have definite tendencies in that direction myself, and I've caught myself being just as irrational in some situations as I accuse other fans of being!

But I agree with everything you've said here, and I think you're right that it is a very John-centric point of view -- it's one thing to laud Rodney for sacrificing everything to bring John back (because he does deserve praise for that!) but to castigate him for not doing it until he'd lost everything ... that's just ... *sigh*. And I really do agree with Xparrot that if there was ever an episode that demonstrated the depth of love and loyalty between John and Rodney, this is that episode -- which makes it all the more bizarre (to me) that it receives criticism for being supposedly all about the Rodney/Keller ... because it's so very NOT!

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

I hope it didn't sound like I was being too hard on OTP'ers

Oh, not at all. I just thought it was interesting that in McShep circles it really did seem to come down to which guy the viewer identified with.

And I really do agree with Xparrot that if there was ever an episode that demonstrated the depth of love and loyalty between John and Rodney, this is that episode -- which makes it all the more bizarre (to me) that it receives criticism for being supposedly all about the Rodney/Keller ... because it's so very NOT!

Yeah, I don't get it at all. The finale was a perfect capper to this season of insane McShepness.

[sholio]

The funny thing is, the first couple seasons I really didn't see the John&Rodney...they seemed to be teammates but not much more. (I'm kinda impressed by all you folks who got it earlier, because you were totally right!)

LOL! For what it's worth, I'm equally impressed by people who were able to see it all the way back in early season 1! Some of the h/c-friendship people were writing darned good fic for them as early as "Storm/Eye".

I think it has a lot to do with seeing the potential there, and reading between the lines, and wanting more but not quite getting it in canon. It's one of those cases where I (and apparently a lot of other people) saw the character relationship in a certain way and really wanted it to go in a specific direction, and it actually DID, unlike a lot of ensemble shows where I'll fixate on a particular character relationship and then it won't go that way at all. (I imagine that if it had lasted long enough to develop the characters, Firefly would have done that last thing to me in a major way -- I was kind of like a compass needle swinging around in search of North when I watched that show, wanting a specific character relationship to fixate on but not really finding one. Several of them had a bit of promise for becoming the kind of thing I love to watch, and Mal/Zoe/Wash had a LOT of promise, but Whedon being the kind of writer he is, I suspected even at the time that romance or death would have eventually derailed most of the character dynamics that I liked.)

Ironically, we've had SO much fantastic character interaction with John and Rodney in canon over the last couple of seasons that my drive to write them isn't as strong as it used to be. I mean, most of the scenarios that I've done in fic, or wanted to do, have actually been done on the show by this point! I'm certainly loving it, but I don't have that corresponding burning urge to write fic for them, the way I get when canon refuses to "go there". (I think we've discussed this in the past, but that has a lot to do with why I never really was inspired to write much for YGO, because canon gave us all of that and then some.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I know! I've read some early fic that's OOC, but others that get them pretty exactly, from way early on. And yes, I think that's what makes SGA so satisfying, as you read between the lines and then they actually give you evidence that you're not hallucinating, that it's really there. Not sure which direction this is going - the writers are so tuned in to the fan-base that I suspect they're writing things like McShep partly in response to how we've glommed onto it, but it's a more subtle interaction than, say, SPN.

And yes, the infamous 'if you get it in canon you don't need it in fic!' that kept me away from SPN fic even before the show went to pot. (and YGO, well, we never got enough stuff with the Kaiba bros anyway, and that was all I wrote! XD) Though with SGA, they still haven't given me everything I want to see...then again, the fic doesn't either (there's a surprising dearth of 'presumed dead' in canon or fic - and you know how I love that trope - especially given that SG-1 barely could go 3 eps without Daniel seemingly dying on them. We have this private theory that it's because no one, neither the screenwriters nor the fic writers, know what Sheppard would do if he actually thought he'd lost a teammate for more than about 30 seconds...)

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, the first couple seasons I really didn't see the John&Rodney...they seemed to be teammates but not much more.

I didn't see the slash potential 'til S3 either, but what was funny was that once I did, I could look back on the first two seasons and see some subtle stuff I'd missed the first time around.

gnine was saying that "Last Man" is to Rodney what "Miller's Crossing" is to John - MC proved how far John would go for Rodney (as far as it takes) and LM proved what Rodney would do for John

I commented to another person's ep review yesterday that S4 was the big fat season of canon McShep for me. After all, S4 brought us Millers Crossing and lots of smaller, but no less important moments scattered throughout the rest of the eps where John is so transparently in love with Rodney in this intense, *earnest* sort of way. And then we got the finale where Rodney finally responds to John's virtual love letter this season and gives him 25 years of his life in return. I do not care what the writers were thinking when they wrote this season, I will only squee over the fact that they unwittingly told the love story of John Sheppard and Rodney McKay in the process.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I commented to another person's ep review yesterday that S4 was the big fat season of canon McShep for me.

Hee, yes, we've been saying the exact same thing! We're pretty new to SGA (just got into it in October, after steadfastly avoiding it for years. Mainly because I knew it ate fangirl souls, but then my best friend got eaten, and after that it was inevitable...) but until 3rd season we weren't really seeing even the John-Rodney friendship. s3 sold us on that, but we didn't see it as slashy (I'm a gen fan about half the time, so...) - and then we watched s4. John...after "Doppelganger" and "Miller's Crossing" and "Quarantine" and now this, I have a hard time seeing John as anything but totally in love. And then in the finale, Rodney gives Sheppard everything, gives him the galaxy to save, and, yes...omg their love is so canon! (maaaaaybe platonic love - I don't know, don't care, it's beautiful regardless!)

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of jumping in here, but I have to say that this:

After all, S4 brought us Millers Crossing and lots of smaller, but no less important moments scattered throughout the rest of the eps where John is so transparently in love with Rodney in this intense, *earnest* sort of way. And then we got the finale where Rodney finally responds to John's virtual love letter this season and gives him 25 years of his life in return.

is the best summing up of season four that I've read. (And the reason I've adored this season.) Thank you. :)

[ezazahaz.livejournal.com]

Eeeee! Thank you for giving me a chance to relive the squee of watching the ep--you pointed out so many of the beautiful parts of this ep, and even some things I missed (like Lorne's painting of Atlantis). Watching it the first time was awesome, and then reading reactions like this just emphasize just how much I love this show and its fans and OMG David Hewlett and JFlan and the writers and EEEEEE!! :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Far as I'm concerned, this ep was made of squee! Eeeee! And there were many lovely details - I didn't notice Lorne's painting myself until the second time. And the way Rodney's apartment changes in 25 years - there's new buildings outside the windows. Lovely details.

And DH and JF really gave it their all! I must say again, EEEEE!

(XD to your icon ^^)

SGA 4x20: "Last Man"

[maxinemayer.livejournal.com]

I've watched the episode a few times, now, and I still see it as the John&Rodney show! I'm not saying there's obvious romance there, but the level, the depth of devotion to one another *is* there. I was content enough with Rodney's relationship with Keller, but it certainly didn't appear to be *central* or *vital* to the story: Rodney could just as well have returned to Earth to mourn for a year before he got his big idea of how to fix things, bring John back, save Teyla and her child, and hopefully, defeat Michael and save the entire Pegasus Galaxy. Rodney's relationship with Keller was interesting, not intrusive, not made into a love affair of epic proportions. Not like Rodney's 25 year quest to save John Sheppard and restore him to Atlantis! Now, *that* was "a love affair of epic proportions," even if you only want to regard it as a Platonic one!

But you know, people see what they want to see. Very few are completely objective, even about things that aren't the source of great joy to them, like fandom and pairings! So, when it comes to OTP's, it's hard for people to be even moderately objective! And I've no wish to harsh anybody's squee!

I love your insights and joy with this episode - it so matches up with my own! Thank you for sharing.
Love, max
P.S. - And you expressed my feelings about David Hewlett's acting in this episode perfectly when you said:

"First things first - David Hewlett is always great but here - he knocked this one so far out of the ballpark that I think it broke orbit. His eyes. And his voice, oh man but he could be a VA, what he does with his voice...not any obvious aged quaver, but the weariness of it, and how that grows as the ep goes on, as if telling Sheppard is sapping the hologram's power...

"(also soul-shattering heartbreak is a good look on Rodney--especially in his flashback, he was gorgeous.)"

Re: SGA 4x20: "Last Man"

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee - it seems like this ep is pretty polarizing, but having rewatched it again, yup, I'm definitely in the LOVE IT camp & happy to be here! (as for Keller & Rodney, I just posted a rant on this, as I saw it just as you - Keller maybe was the catalyst for Rodney's brilliant idea, but saving John was what it all came down to!) Yeah, I understand about OTPs...but it amuses me that some see it as denial of McShep, and others of us see it as the ultimate validation! 'far as I'm concerned, "Last Man" is to Rodney's commitment to John what "Miller's Crossing" was to John's commitment to Rodney...platonic or otherwise!

And David Hewlett, yeah...he just keeps on impressing me!

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

I am so, so glad you responded to my comment on seperis' lj because if you hadn't I never would've found my way over to your posts about the finale. And can I just say how happy-making it is to finally have found someone who saw the events of Last Man in the same light that I did? I will definitely have to check out your flist for more like-minded commentary.

The end...it felt like A.I., kept reaching good endings, several times, and then not ending. I kinda wanted it to end with Sheppard getting put into cold storage, or else with him coming back through the gate.

Yeah, I could've done without the tagged on present ending because we all know they're gonna survive and be on to their next adventure in like the first fifteen minutes of the premiere so it's not much of a cliffhanger.

This whole season we've noted that they seem to make a particular effort to give us a Sheppard-McKay scene every ep. So to top it off they give us an entire ep - no alien princess, just the two of them alone in an empty future and talking.

As a McShep fan, I thought there was a real lovely symmetry here to the finale.

Rodney's supposed to be the egotistical one but he doesn't want to talk about himself; John has to drag it out of him. And John has to know, because Rodney matters.

This was one of the most significant bits of McShepness for me in the ep. That Rodney doesn't offer his history to John, including the lengths he went to to save him is big and that John questions that omission right before he steps into the pod and demands to know is even bigger.

I barely see any actual romance in their relationship - love, yes, but the love of friends, of family, holding on.

Yeah, that's the impression I got, too. I'm surprised so many people read more into it.

And John, in the future, worries about changing that, worries about Rodney losing a chance for happiness even if the price is the loss of Atlantis and Pegasus and almost everyone he cares for and John, oh John, how you love your team, how you love Rodney, beyond all sense or reason.

This was a moment that I missed the first and second time around. I was so focused on Rodney's answer that I missed the magnitude of John's query. But you're right, it's incredible that John's mind goes to it possibly being right that Rodney's happiness should win out over the fate of Pegasus and its inhabitants including John and the rest of his team.

Lorne decorates his office with a painting of Atlantis!

Aww, I missed this, too. Thanks for pointing it out!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, I'm glad I wasn't too presumptive, jumping into your comments like that. I know how weird it can be to have a dissonant take on an ep from everyone else, and I thought you'd like to know you weren't alone. And besides it gives me more chance to squee! So many chances for squee!

Yeah, the McShep was really taken to the next level this season (eee!) And those are the bits that got me the most, John specifically asking about Rodney's past, and Rodney's painful modesty about all he did, and then John wanting him to be happy no matter what...wow.

(I'm still confused by all the people who seem to think Rodney & Jennifer were married? You see their hands clearly; they're not wearing rings...)

[darlulu.livejournal.com]

After seeing post after post, fic after fic naming Keller Rodney's wife, I imagined I'd missed something huge in canon. I sat down and watched their kiss up through the infirmary scene again, but didn't see any bands or any reference by the doctor or anyone else to them being married.

Feeling crazy, I ended up asking aurora_84 on my lj what her impression was and she said she, too, had assumed Jennifer and Rodney had dated then maybe lived together for some of that year, but that she hadn't gotten the impression they were married either. What's weird to me is that people are *stating* it as fact, not simply offering it as a possible interpretation (one that isn't backed up by any facts in the ep, mind you; you'd need at least bands for that).

well done

[(Anonymous)]

Good post!, bro