SGA 5x02

[xparrot]

New SGA = yaaaays!

Okay, what excites me most, is that judging by the first couple eps, this will be the season of TEAM! Everyone had stuff to do! (even if Teyla kinda mysteriously disappeared at the end...out walking the Teylet?) And they sat around tables and gathered around computers and worried about each other and whee~!

I think Mullie has proven himself the superior writer to Mallozzi - this was his ep, and while it was incredibly random (oh, SGA, never lose that precious 'the what now?' feel) and the pacing was all over the place (and lucky timing, what, with waking up Carson just as Keller succumbs to the parasite she's had for the last month), but it had more fun than not. I rather liked the scifi of the parasite using its host's mind (even if rather inefficiently, why didn't it realize Sheppard was a threat again?)

Kanaan is not forgotten! I am still holding out for house-husbandry...

Radek is back! And Marie is around (she can officially join the B-team supporting cast of awesome. Zelenka and Lorne host the tea party every Tuesday.)

Tentacle-rape for everyone! With bonus stabbing for John, because, you know, he didn't get enough of that last week. And John throws himself on the sword of possible death for his people - that's what he's there for, and I think Woolsey already knows, judging by the meaningful looks he was sending in John's direction. Did Elizabeth or Carter leave a note: "Need a volunteer for a dangerous duty? Your head of the military will always be happy to serve!"

Ronon got strangled, got a bruised larynx and can't speak? Why did that sound so familiar?

Liking Woolsey thus far, his tension with everyone as he learns what Atlantis is all about is entertaining. I am going to miss Sam SO DAMN MUCH but this is gonna be fun. At the end, you could so see it in John's eyes - "Rules? What are these 'rules' of which you speak?" Also, during the conference room scene, Teyla at one point got this look: "The last two commanders were women. You are the first head of Atlantis who I can grab by the balls and squeeze. And I will, if the necessity arises. *pleasant smile*"

The Rodney/Keller - I am very DONOTWANT and it's half irrational OTPing and half why the hell do they have to pair her off - oh yes because what other purpose does she have, with Beckett around (cesperanza's premiere post clarified this point for me - why is Keller even on Atlantis? Okay, so she was a child prodigy, but now? In "Intruder" Carson's complaining that every applicant is more qualified than him, with physical skills as well as medical genius - and Carson's a brilliant geneticist who can somehow double as a chief surgeon, so to outshine him is pretty impressive. Keller doesn't have a scientific specialty that we know of (we know more of her personal backstory than most of the chars, but nothing of her professional resume); she tries hard and all, but she cannot possibly have much experience heading a department, she doesn't have the scarily confident competence of Frasier or Lam, and she's clever but has yet to pull off medical miracles...how the heck did she get this job? That she didn't even want? They couldn't find one other doctor in the SGC willing to take over...? Um. Where was I?)

Anyway, not on board with Rodney/Keller, especially the couple scenes they were forcing it (why was Rodney the only one to go talk to her in the isolation room?) but I can forgive it because a) John's jealousy is delightful (and why else would he be so weirded out by a girl liking Rodney? is it that shocking? is John that mean? I prefer him gay, thank you), b) I can't really blame Keller for crushing on Rodney, and c) I'm seeing the Teyla/Keller more anyway. What with having the tablet all ready for Rodney to go and break into her quarters. Speaking of which, the Teyla-Rodney-ness was lovely, the way she went to him first and then was relaying his ideas - more of that plzkthx! (And yet, for all John's "that wasn't the weirdest thing" his possessive protectiveness of Keller indicates she's in his circle, as she didn't seem to be last year - because he's thinking of her as Rodney's, Rodney's shot at happiness?)

McSheppiest line - "The fact that Sheppard's here makes all the difference, right?" - okay, he meant it prosaically, that the timeline is fundamentally different, but oh, Rodney, your faith! <3

In conclusion, most importantly: TEAM!

Comments

[naye]

"The fact that Sheppard's here makes all the difference, right?"

I squeed. And flailed my arms about. And grinned.

♥

Teyla & Rodney make a great team! Love that they're writing them together. And, yes, reading Elizabeth's and Sam's "memos to my successor", it would be interesting to see if John's name is followed by "suicidal" or merely "self-sacrificial tendencies".

I love my random, random space show - now with more tentacles!

[devin-chain.livejournal.com]

As I wrote in someone else's comments last night, John penetrated by a tentacle is now canon. Yikes!

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Ronon got strangled, got a bruised larynx and can't speak? Why did that sound so familiar?

LOL, that is so completely what I was thinking during that scene. (Was it Sheppard who said something along the lines of "Not sure anyone will notice"?)

Teyla/Keller in the "she didn't show up for breakfast" scene, YES.

And thank you for the episode recap. I was kind of meh afterwards, but you pointed out lots of low-key things that were cool, so yay.

And yet, for all John's "that wasn't the weirdest thing" his possessive protectiveness of Keller indicates she's in his circle, as she didn't seem to be last year - because he's thinking of her as Rodney's, Rodney's shot at happiness?

<3 for this (the scene was awesome, your interpretation even more so). I would love to see more fanfics along these lines (are they out there and I'm just not seeing them? I can only think of one I've read...). I keep assuming that Rodney being with Keller in the alternate timeline is something John kept to himself, and wondering how much of the rest of it he did or didn't share, and how he's dealing with keeping those secrets, and how can they NOT deal with that on the show at some point?

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

That line made me squeak. And I am so happy to see Teyla & Rodney together even for bits, please to be keeping that up!

The tentacles - oh, the tentacles. Did they know what they were doing?? (the original Evil Dead movie has an extended and infamous tree-rape scene that this was awful reminiscent of...)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

XDD I'm trying to figure out if they knew what they were doing there, or...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I actually had several issues with the ep (Mullie's a better writer but that's not saying much, he's 'emotionally tonedeaf' a lot in that he sets up situations with good character interaction but fails on the follow-through...) But it's been so long since new SGA (I watched the premiere when it was leaked last month) that I was just tickled to see everyone again! And being so teamy, too. You put the team in a room together, it makes me happy ^_^

I think this ep made it pretty clear that John didn't mention the Rodney/Keller future thing, and, yes, I'm very curious how he's dealing with it...I admit my pathetic OTP bias is such that I have a hard time seeing him as anything but jealous, but...well, doing the self-sacrificial "I want Rodney to be happy, even with someone else" - that's so very John.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I'm in love with this season so far! Huzzah! So much Shep!whump *swoons* But I've noticed that this season, they keep pushing the Sheppard/Ronon scenes (which makes me happy, because Sheppard! Ronon! \o/) and Sheppard/McKay is being pushed in the background (which makes me sad :/). Maybe the amount of McShep scared them?

But I love, LOVE Woolsey. The last scene with John and Woolsey in the infirmary... Aww, that was so cool :)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes, the Shep-whumpers are definitely getting a full meal here! (now if only they could throw a sop to the Rodney-whumpers...) And I'm a bit worried myself about the lack of McShep, but Mullie's got some issues writing the chars...am hoping some of the other writers will deliver.

And Woolsey is fun, isn't he? ^^

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I'm comforting myself with the big Rodney ep that will come up, the one where he should be "bonding" with Shep.

What I also miss, some final scenes with the whole team. Sort of like in McKay and Mrs. Miller. That was awesome!

[aerynvala.livejournal.com]

Rodney/Jennifer just creeps me right out, I know the actors are only 14 years apart in age, but Jewel comes off MUCH younger seeming and I dunno, it's just skeevy. Also, it really is okay for women not to be instantly turned into love interests, no really.

Aside from that, yes, I enjoyed this kinky-ass bondage and tentacle rapetastic epsiode.

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

I've wondered this myself, while I'm a HUGE fan of Ronon and John moments..I love Rodney ahd John.

I know Rodney's gonna have an eppy with Ronon and Keller..yes..sigh..And yep again later in the year its Rodney and Keller.

But I've seen nothing of a John and Rodney eppy and keep my fingers crossed that they'll be moments in "The Shrine" which will be the McKay eppy.So...still leaves room for a John an d Rodney avd.

Is it too much to get another action one like the "The Defiant One"?

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I just don't get it. The Rodney+John banter is something that 99% of fans seems to agree on loving. Why do they keep writing eps completely devoid of it, than? Is it just the Mallozzi/Mullie duo? They should have only two more eps coming - at least I hope so. Where's the awesome banter of S1-3? And I also don't get why they keep forcing romance on the show. This is a sci-fi/action series, not a soap opera X(

[aworldinside.livejournal.com]

(And yet, for all John's "that wasn't the weirdest thing" his possessive protectiveness of Keller indicates she's in his circle, as she didn't seem to be last year - because he's thinking of her as Rodney's, Rodney's shot at happiness?)

Oh, I love that interpretation, because I was thinking while I watching that John seemed to have moved Keller onto another level, and this would make perfect sense. Oh, John.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

(Just a request - I don't have many spoilers myself, and some of my flist is totally unspoiled, so if you're going to mention anything about upcoming eps (even obliquely as here - some of my flist doesn't even know the titles of future eps!) please put them in spoiler tags:
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I love the team, but, well - the Rodney-John interaction is my favorite part of the show, and if it gets cut back to this nearly-nonexistent level for the whole season...I'm afraid my frustrations with various aspects of the show might outweigh my enjoyment.

That being said, according to Mallozzi, "The Shrine" is supposed to have a particular McKay-Sheppard emphasis - which is in keeping with Wright's other eps - so I have my fingers crossed!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately Mullie is writing another ep and Mallozzi is writing 3 this season. But they've never had much Rodney-John compared to other writers - if Carl Binder gives us an ep without any banter between them, then I'll really worry.

I don't get the need for romance, it really, really turns me off - one of the reasons I like the SG-verse is that romance is usually such a small part. I want to blame M&M for that, too, since they're now show-runners, and I don't think it's coincidence that the Sam/Jack of SG-1 started in s4, right when they joined the show...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to figure out if Keller is meant to be older than JS, considering if she's only, what, 26, there is no way she has the experience to have the position she has on Atlantis, even if she was a prodigy. That being said - yeah, age differences don't bother me that much, but I don't like the way she's all...shyly flirty with Rodney, or whatever. It's very high school, not to mention it feels like Katie Brown all over again, and that relationship was so awkward and tentative (after over a year!) that it was dysfunctional.

The tentacles, though, hee - I want to know if the writers had any idea what they were really doing!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The lucky thing about John is that he is so unwilling to express his true feelings that you can read all sorts of motivations into anything he does. But, yeah, this was my first thought, watching...just as Teyla's baby is part of his 'family', so Keller might be, too, if Rodney wants her...