SGA: 5x18 "Identity"
Dec. 14th, 2008 04:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotHmmm. Okay, the bit of Zelenka h/c at the beginning was pretty much worth the rest of the ep right there. Rodney & John in Woolsey's office, looking so concerned, awws. (What can I say, I'm easy to please these days.)
The rest of the ep. I didn't hate it. I definitely didn't love it, but it didn't inspire any particular rage. I was more confused, really. (McKeller fans probably want to stop reading now...)
The thing is? Far as I can tell, Carl Binder has not abandoned the Ronon/Keller. He is the one who christened that particular 'ship, and it looked to me like he's going down with it. Ronon is as concerned for Keller as Rodney is, if not more. He realizes something's wrong with her at least as fast as Rodney does, when he wasn't even with her that we saw; and on the planet he's very gungho to the rescue, while Rodney is whining about the long walk. Maybe it's just friendship. But it could be more. I'm not really on that 'ship myself anymore, but, hmmm.
Ironically, I actually could see the Rodney/Keller in this ep better than just about any previous. Rodney actually seemed reasonably comfortable around her at points, sounding mostly himself (if too eager to second-guess himself, assuming he's done something wrong...) And they were going to the movies together, which is still standard dating rather than real bonding, but at least it's something vaguely hobby-related. And Keller likes James Bond! She likes something!
The irony is, of course, that it wasn't really Keller for most of the ep. And yes, I know I'm biased, but DH and this actress had some actual chemistry, where I've never been able to see any with Rodney & Keller. The Neeva character was only supposed to be faking it, but she still came across as more interested in actually touching him, and he in getting touched, for all Rodney was supposed to be turned off. I'm not sure what made it work better, whether it was the direction or the acting, but, yeah, the scene in the jumper had a bit of a spark, and their first conversations came across as more comfortably close, too.
More than that, though, the end of the ep underlined why I can't see this relationship working in the longterm, no matter what certain writers want (and I don't think it's all of them; I'm thinking that Binder isn't seeing Rodney/Keller as a permanent thing after all, but as another Katie Brown, by the way he's handling it.) Because yeah, Rodney was making a sweet romantic gesture at the end, and it is out of character for him, and I don't blame Keller for being either surprised or touched by it.
But thus far in their relationship, the only things we've ever seen Keller touched about in Rodney are such gestures - those things which don't come naturally to him, the clear displays of affection that he has to put a great deal of effort into and can't often be bothered to (witness his treatment of Zelenka at the end, for all we know he was genuinely worried for Radek.) Rodney can be sweet, but not in obvious, normal ways; affectionate gestures are hard for him. And yes, he is working on it, but it's always going to be work; I doubt being "sweet" by any standard definition is ever going to come naturally to him.
And Keller wants sweet. She likes sweet, she likes the romantic tropes and gestures, going to the movies and lying under the stars together. There's nothing wrong with that, a lot of women love such things. The thing is - a lot of men love them, too. Plenty of guys are hopeless romantics; they enjoy making the gestures as much as some women like receiving them. While as it's cute that Rodney makes the effort for her, but it's also exhausting watching him try to fit into that ideal, try to figure out how to do this the "right way," because that's what she wants (maybe what he thinks he wants, too; he did tell Katie Brown he dreams of the 2.5 kids and all.)
But that's not the kind of guy he is, by nature. And the guy he naturally is doesn't really seem to be anything Keller's interested in. Rodney's an extraordinary man - extraordinarily obnoxious, extraordinarily egotistical, extraordinarily brilliant. But Keller seems to like best those aspects of him which are more ordinary, stunted and undeveloped. It's sweet that she can help him develop those traits - but it shouldn't be all she's there for. It's not fair to Rodney, letting him go on thinking that the only parts of him that are lovable are those parts that he doesn't measure up to many other men, when by other measures he's so much more. And it's not fair to Keller, either, that she's settling for these little bits of what she wants, when there're guys out there who could give her so much more, who would be suggesting picnics under the stars for the first date, instead of only after the idea is put into his head by an alien intruder.
(Interestingly, ironically, Ronon has a suppressed romantic side, according to certain cut scenes; he used to be a poet and an artist, before he was a Runner. And there's his fascination with movies, too. If only he'd had a chance to explore that aspect of himself again, finally let it out...)
A few other non-squeeish points about the ep:
Oversensitive fangirl alert: okay, I have had it up to here with Rodney being the most undesirable, awful man in the universe. Yeah, he's obnoxious. We know. But to have Sheppard agreeing with an alien antagonist that it's hard to believe he's dating Keller, to have Keller be told she could do better and she doesn't even snap a "Hey!" in protest - yeah, I'm so done with this. Is it too much to ask that his best friend or his loving girlfriend exhibit a modicum of loyalty?
Why did Beckett come with them on the rescue mission? In the end it was useful for him to be there (though it would've been cooler if Keller had had to operate on "herself") but what logical reason did they have to bring him along to begin with?
I was mopey that Neeva and hersubs henchmen got killed off. The universe can always use more teams of amoral rogues. (Unless the hot black dude didn't actually shoot her, in which case they can go find a new guy to complete their threesome and run off to plunder another day.)
Lastly, Carl Binder as Keller's dad, hee. (Or else creepy, depending on your view of the SGA writers' room, but as I only see Gero & Mullie as the drooling fanboys, and Binder more a guy who actually dares attempt to write female characters - hee.)
The rest of the ep. I didn't hate it. I definitely didn't love it, but it didn't inspire any particular rage. I was more confused, really. (McKeller fans probably want to stop reading now...)
The thing is? Far as I can tell, Carl Binder has not abandoned the Ronon/Keller. He is the one who christened that particular 'ship, and it looked to me like he's going down with it. Ronon is as concerned for Keller as Rodney is, if not more. He realizes something's wrong with her at least as fast as Rodney does, when he wasn't even with her that we saw; and on the planet he's very gungho to the rescue, while Rodney is whining about the long walk. Maybe it's just friendship. But it could be more. I'm not really on that 'ship myself anymore, but, hmmm.
Ironically, I actually could see the Rodney/Keller in this ep better than just about any previous. Rodney actually seemed reasonably comfortable around her at points, sounding mostly himself (if too eager to second-guess himself, assuming he's done something wrong...) And they were going to the movies together, which is still standard dating rather than real bonding, but at least it's something vaguely hobby-related. And Keller likes James Bond! She likes something!
The irony is, of course, that it wasn't really Keller for most of the ep. And yes, I know I'm biased, but DH and this actress had some actual chemistry, where I've never been able to see any with Rodney & Keller. The Neeva character was only supposed to be faking it, but she still came across as more interested in actually touching him, and he in getting touched, for all Rodney was supposed to be turned off. I'm not sure what made it work better, whether it was the direction or the acting, but, yeah, the scene in the jumper had a bit of a spark, and their first conversations came across as more comfortably close, too.
More than that, though, the end of the ep underlined why I can't see this relationship working in the longterm, no matter what certain writers want (and I don't think it's all of them; I'm thinking that Binder isn't seeing Rodney/Keller as a permanent thing after all, but as another Katie Brown, by the way he's handling it.) Because yeah, Rodney was making a sweet romantic gesture at the end, and it is out of character for him, and I don't blame Keller for being either surprised or touched by it.
But thus far in their relationship, the only things we've ever seen Keller touched about in Rodney are such gestures - those things which don't come naturally to him, the clear displays of affection that he has to put a great deal of effort into and can't often be bothered to (witness his treatment of Zelenka at the end, for all we know he was genuinely worried for Radek.) Rodney can be sweet, but not in obvious, normal ways; affectionate gestures are hard for him. And yes, he is working on it, but it's always going to be work; I doubt being "sweet" by any standard definition is ever going to come naturally to him.
And Keller wants sweet. She likes sweet, she likes the romantic tropes and gestures, going to the movies and lying under the stars together. There's nothing wrong with that, a lot of women love such things. The thing is - a lot of men love them, too. Plenty of guys are hopeless romantics; they enjoy making the gestures as much as some women like receiving them. While as it's cute that Rodney makes the effort for her, but it's also exhausting watching him try to fit into that ideal, try to figure out how to do this the "right way," because that's what she wants (maybe what he thinks he wants, too; he did tell Katie Brown he dreams of the 2.5 kids and all.)
But that's not the kind of guy he is, by nature. And the guy he naturally is doesn't really seem to be anything Keller's interested in. Rodney's an extraordinary man - extraordinarily obnoxious, extraordinarily egotistical, extraordinarily brilliant. But Keller seems to like best those aspects of him which are more ordinary, stunted and undeveloped. It's sweet that she can help him develop those traits - but it shouldn't be all she's there for. It's not fair to Rodney, letting him go on thinking that the only parts of him that are lovable are those parts that he doesn't measure up to many other men, when by other measures he's so much more. And it's not fair to Keller, either, that she's settling for these little bits of what she wants, when there're guys out there who could give her so much more, who would be suggesting picnics under the stars for the first date, instead of only after the idea is put into his head by an alien intruder.
(Interestingly, ironically, Ronon has a suppressed romantic side, according to certain cut scenes; he used to be a poet and an artist, before he was a Runner. And there's his fascination with movies, too. If only he'd had a chance to explore that aspect of himself again, finally let it out...)
A few other non-squeeish points about the ep:
Oversensitive fangirl alert: okay, I have had it up to here with Rodney being the most undesirable, awful man in the universe. Yeah, he's obnoxious. We know. But to have Sheppard agreeing with an alien antagonist that it's hard to believe he's dating Keller, to have Keller be told she could do better and she doesn't even snap a "Hey!" in protest - yeah, I'm so done with this. Is it too much to ask that his best friend or his loving girlfriend exhibit a modicum of loyalty?
Why did Beckett come with them on the rescue mission? In the end it was useful for him to be there (though it would've been cooler if Keller had had to operate on "herself") but what logical reason did they have to bring him along to begin with?
I was mopey that Neeva and her
Lastly, Carl Binder as Keller's dad, hee. (Or else creepy, depending on your view of the SGA writers' room, but as I only see Gero & Mullie as the drooling fanboys, and Binder more a guy who actually dares attempt to write female characters - hee.)
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Date: 2008-12-13 08:18 pm (UTC)But seriously now. I think it's pretty much in character for John to say it. Just like Rodney keeps accusing John of being Kirk. They are just that kind of friends - one of them has to be dying for them to drop their acerbic comments. But that Keller didn't say anything... *shakes head*
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Date: 2008-12-13 08:48 pm (UTC)YES. To the nth degree. I suppose the writers mean it to be humorous, but it's not. It just comes across as mean-spirited. And it also implies that OMG Keller is the most wonderful, darling person in the world by comparison. (I actually do like the character, except for the way she's written when it comes to Rodney).
While as it's cute that Rodney makes the effort for her, but it's also exhausting watching him try to fit into that ideal,
Yes to that too. (Pretty much to everything you've said here). I wish she could just be fond of Rodney because of all his quirks, not despite them. And accept him for who he is. ::sighs::
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Date: 2008-12-13 09:09 pm (UTC)Carl Binder sounds like a guy I could get really fond of. XD I love the image of this disgruntled writer supremely irritated with what the Voices of the Show (Gero, Mallozzi, etc.) want to do and sabotaging them as much as he can.
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Date: 2008-12-13 10:23 pm (UTC)No it frilkken is not! I am sick of this too. It's like shunting Rodney back to the guy he was in SG-1, and forgetting all the times since that he's shown how he's grown as a person.
I haven't even seen the ep yet, but I can already tell it's going to be another nail in the coffin of canon for me.
I've kind of had it with the show. Thank god for fandom.
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Date: 2008-12-13 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 05:10 am (UTC)OK, this is awesome to know, since I am working on a Ronon-centric fic that very much explores this side of Ronon and works with a very similar backstory...
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Date: 2008-12-14 05:55 am (UTC)More seriously - John teasing Rodney among their friends is one thing, but when he's doing it with an enemy stranger, that's kind of pushing the asshole envelope. Oh well; John's whole reactions to the McKeller situation are strange. Shouldn't you be happy for your friend bagging the hot blond chick? Even when I'm not wearing my slash goggles there's something awful weird in how uncomfortable John seems with Rodney & Keller.
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Date: 2008-12-14 06:05 am (UTC)...Umm, yeah, bitter much? ^^; I'm actually not trying to cast aspersions on Keller, just the writing of her. I liked her when she was introduced, then started to dislike her on account of the discrepancies in her character. But truth be told, she's been so poorly written recently that I'm coming full circle back to liking her, because I feel sorry for what the writers are doing to her. I want Keller to wake up one day, look at herself and go, "DAMN, girl, you can do better, you can be better!" and actually make the effort to improve.
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Date: 2008-12-14 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 06:20 am (UTC)Yeah, at this point I'm looking forward to the show being over. We got four seasons and change of great eps, and the characters will be ours - we can take better care of 'em than these writers!
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Date: 2008-12-14 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 06:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 02:25 pm (UTC)I really hate when the writers get a crush on a character. They've totally Mary-Sue'd her and you're right, she deserves much better.
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Date: 2008-12-14 06:02 pm (UTC)That's a little harsh. No one indicated anything of the sort. Rodney complained about having to WALK for a couple of hours to rescue his girlfriend, Neeva was perplexed that this guy, who is moaning and grumbling, and Keller are an item and Sheppard said "Yeah, it's hard to believe", which - under the circumstances - it is. Rodney should have been setting the pace instead of whining about insoles. Besides, it is what we've all been saying these past few weeks. Maybe Carl Binder is as baffled about this romance as we are and this is his subtle way of telling us.
But it's actually the reason why I didn't mind the McKeller all that much in this episode. This episode showed me that Rodney is still himself: a workaholic, consumed by his thirst for knowledge, putting his own comfort ahead of anything else, not quite on the same page with his g/f about the romantic stuff, still awfully determined to get it right, but not as defeated as he was in Brain Storm, when he doesn't. If they show me that Rodney still hangs out with Sheppard in his spare time, I might be at peace with this pairing. ;)
I really enjoyed Neeva. I don't know the name of the actress, but excellent job. Sheppard never saw Neeva, did he? He would've fallen for her looks like a ton of bricks, she looks exactly like Nancy and Larrin. :)
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Date: 2008-12-14 06:34 pm (UTC)Heh, I warned I was an oversensitive fangirl! I don't mind a bit of picking on Rodney, honest. He can be an ass, a lot of times. And if John is sometimes petty with him, well, John's also saved his life and talked a guy into suicide for him, he's proved he cares. But I'm tired of the way Keller is IN TOTAL COMPLETE LIFE-FULFILLING UNCONDITIONAL LOOOOOVE with Rodney (according to Gero, anyway, I agree that Binder seems to see it different) but doesn't even make a peep of protest when she's told she can do better. She's so in love with him that she's embarrassed to be with him, won't bother defending him to anyone. And she hasn't saved his life (except once, in "The Shrine", when John put a drill in her hand and probably would've put a gun to her head if he had to, and also it was her job) - while as Rodney's saved or helped save hers a bunch, and I'd like a bit of reciprocation, please? At least a Jessica Rabbit, "He makes me laugh." Show me the love!
Or else admit that this isn't overwhelming all-important 4-EVAH love, but a fairly casual, low-key affair between two people who are both romantically lonely and looking for something, and have found a hint of it in someone else even if not enough to really go anywhere. And give Jennifer something else to do with her time off, so I stop thinking Rodney won't have any time to spend with John because Keller will be desperately lonely without him, as she has no other friends or hobbies...
(Heck, I'll admit that I'm also tired of the writers one-step-forward, two-step-backing Rodney's emotional progress, so that in "Brain Storm" he's dropping saving the world to go axe down a door to save Keller while in this he's whining about walking a couple hours. Fangirl whiplash!)
I did like Neeva. And yeah,
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Date: 2008-12-14 06:59 pm (UTC)Oh Fandom! What fresh hell will they foist upon us?
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Date: 2008-12-14 10:11 pm (UTC)Honey, I hear ye. XD I'm as fed up with this romance as the next fangirl and if I have to read one more Gero interview in which he spouts his tripe about this pairing to the uninformed Beckett lovin' masses, I'm not buying the DVD season 5 set. And I want that set, so I'm tuning Martin Gero out for the rest of the season. This was Carl Binder's episode though and all in all I think he did a good job with the pairing without catering to Gero's wet dream. (also, ficcing: yo *\o/*)
My comment was more in defense of Sheppard than (Mc)Keller. I've been missing the love lately. First people are down on his case because he's so mean to Todd in Infection (Todd, who set the Daedalus on a crash course towards the planet with Sheppard's team on board, that Todd). In this ep he was a bully who "forced the locals to help the Lanteans like he's some sort of George W. Bush", when all I saw was a bunch of bureaucrats that stood around looking at Keller's bleeding body and did nothing. And then came your 'he needs to show some loyalty' and I thought "GET OF HIS CASE Y'ALL!".
Talk about over-sensitive. *G*
And give Jennifer something else to do with her time off, so I stop thinking Rodney won't have any time to spend with John because Keller will be desperately lonely without him, as she has no other friends or hobbies...
Me thinks her sparring lessons probably fell through shortly after Lost Tribe. :(
I'm with you on Keller. She should be more supportive of Rodney, I was totally put out when she didn't come to his defense when his old study friends harassed him in Brain Storm, and she should have been way quicker to silence Neeva.
And yeah, cesperanza remarked that the casting director must have a kink for that sultry dark blonde 'type'
Haha. I swear I did not read that post. The likeness with Larrin and Nancy was just too obvious. Oh wow, what if Keller's body had died and Keller had had to live on in Neeva's body! Keller might not be Sheppard's type, but Neeva totally is. We could have had a love rectangle. Or a love pentagon, if Vega's gay lust had been allowed to make it on to the screen. We should count our blessings. *g*
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Date: 2008-12-14 11:46 pm (UTC)Keller same old whiny person in peril in the woods and yes, why she's with Rodney when she doesn't defend him or seem to really connect with him I just don't know. I just wish they would have the inevitable break up already.
Neeva was cool, but as soon as I saw her I thought of Larrin. They even have the same tailor. Jewel did not pull off the leather look at all. Someone else had the idea of Sheppard and Neeva switching bodies, that would have been a whole lot different.
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Date: 2008-12-15 12:45 am (UTC)God, YES.
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Date: 2008-12-15 01:35 am (UTC)There were talks of making John gay in the Vegas verse?!
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Date: 2008-12-15 01:59 am (UTC)I meant Lt. Alicia Vega (the woman who died in Whispers). According to Joe Mallozzi, Lt. Vega was gay and would have asked Keller out in Search & Rescue. They had to cut that scene though, because they ran out of time (and she's US military so it wouldn't have have worked anyway).
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Date: 2008-12-15 02:27 am (UTC)Oh, I would have loved it if the writers had made Neeva Larrin's rogue little sister. Heck, this episode should have aired in season 4 (sans McKeller) and Neeva could have popped up every now and then to sell the Lanteans stolen artifacts and give them the latest gossip and flirt with Sheppard. Atlantis is kept too isolated anyway. The only recurring non-Lantean characters are Michael and Todd. Shouldn't the Lanteans have contacts all over the Galaxy after four years?
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Date: 2008-12-15 02:54 am (UTC)As for Neeva - go girl- get those digs in! I liked her smartmouthed comments. heh. And yea, Binder hasn't given up the Ronon/Keller.
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Date: 2008-12-15 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 06:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 06:05 am (UTC)Neeva was fun...liked having her around more than Keller, I gotta admit XP
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Date: 2008-12-15 06:15 am (UTC)I admit to being a bit confused about how they're writing John re: the McKeller. He is so disparaging of it, and Rodney - what the heck? Usually guys are complimentary when their friends manage to bag the cute blondes, aren't they? Not to mention, in my personal experience, if a guy with a BFF starts going out, the girlfriend gets to know the BFF quite well (in college I knew my boyfriend's BFF almost as well as I knew my boyfriend!) So that John is staying so far away means to me either that he's not really Rodney's BFF...or he's jealous. And since he's not interested in Keller that we've seen...yeeeeeah, I don't know if the writers know what they're doing, but it's very interesting that they're doing it!
(Regarding fan reaction to John, I also admit to being baffled by the fans who thought John owes Todd. I've never seen any debt between them - they both let each other live the first time, and since then they've kept the scales even...)
But, yeah. I was much more on Keller's case than John's with this...
Heh, if Keller had stayed in Neeva - that might've been interesting. She'd have chemistry with Rodney, anyway! And if John did get a thing for her - love triangles are easily resolved in threesomes, no problems here XP
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Date: 2008-12-15 12:14 pm (UTC)Well, you already know what I think .. *g*
From a non-slash POV, I think that Sheppard's distance has a lot to do with how Rodney and Jennifer are acting at this point in their (poorly written) relationship. Jennifer is far too intimidated by Sheppard the Military Commander to become close friends with him, and Rodney is the type to focus solely on his new girlfriend and neglect his friendship with BFF John. (In his defense, I bet Rodney has a hard enough time juggling work and Keller time as it is).
But all in all, it wouldn't make John feel too charitable towards Rodney and his new relationship right now. I know he's a big boy, but he's not a saint and his position as CO is pretty lonely. Rodney is the only person on Atlantis on par with Sheppard's quirks and into the same games. Sheppard has Ronon of course, but Ronon is under Sheppard's command and acts like a sulky teenager a lot of the time - everything Earth related is 'dumb' and 'stupid'. Plus, there is the fact that Ronon was really into Keller as well, so I think Sheppard prefers to stay neutral on the subject.
Crap, the writers could do so much with this and we get NOTHING.
And if John did get a thing for her - love triangles are easily resolved in threesomes, no problems here XP
Oh wow. Someone should totally write that! :D
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Date: 2008-12-16 05:12 pm (UTC)The same thing about comment that Rodney does not complain when he's asleep. I could totally see a fic where Rodney is sleeping beside John and John is thinking how this is the only time Rodney is ever silent, not complaining, etc.
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Date: 2008-12-18 07:40 pm (UTC)