Ahh, sorry, I was referring to the essay I linked about watching different shows. I don't mean that the Rodney & Keller show is the only one you're watching, but that it's one show. You now watch the Rodney & Keller Show, as well as the Team Sheppard Show and the SciFi Action Lite Show, and various others. While as I don't enjoy the Rodney & Keller show, but do like the others. It's not gear shifting for you, but it's an addition you didn't mind, and I did.
But that's nothing new. Rodney has always gotten the character-arcs, especially compared to the rest of the cast.
But Rodney's never gotten a character arc as consistent across multiple episodes as the McKeller. It's true that he is the character who's gotten the most character growth, but that growth is nowhere near consistent (Gero resets his development every dang episode!) And there's never been another *strictly* character arc - for Rodney or anyone else - in the show. Things like Rodney & John's friendship or Rodney & Katie Brown developed largely off-screen and were only sporadically textually referenced; the actual plot arcs were always scifi-plot-related. While as the McKeller arc isn't a plot arc at all; the development of their relationship coincides with various events, but it's not the impetus of them, nor has it tied in to larger events. If you removed the McKeller, the plots of any episode would scarcely be altered; it's extraneous to the scifi of the show. The same could be said of most of the other relationships (SGA is, as written, more plot- than character-driven) but no other relationship has gotten the emphasis of the McKeller.
Really, though, I don't think the McKeller is the actual change in tone, but rather a consequence of the true change, which is that this season has shifted the role of the main protagonist from John to Rodney. While John never got the most development, he was always central to the major events - e.g. last year, Teyla got a major arc with her baby but it was the effect of that on her relationship with John that was the most emphasized, and John spearheading the charge to save her from Michael. While as this season, Rodney's been the center of the major moments.
Which is why it's not a perceptible a gear-shift for a lot of us, because a lot of us have always been watching the Rodney McKay Show. The problem I'm having is that as much as I love Rodney, I especially love the Rodney & Team show, in all its incarnations - the Rodney & John show, the Rodney & Ronon Snarkfest, and the Rodney & Teyla Really Need a Show Dammit. And this season's been more the Rodney & Carson and Rodney & Daniel Jackson and Rodney & Keller show (along with moments of the Ronon & Keller and John & Woolsey shows), and not enough of the Rodney & Team Show ("The Shrine" is the only Rodney-episode that's had a full team presence - none of them even talked to him in "Brainstorm", and for all I loved the John & Rodney & Teyla of "The Prodigal" Ronon wasn't with them for any of it...)
(And I admit, too, the lack of McShep gets to me. It's hard to explain what it's like to be an OTPer, but if you think of my OTP as my favorite character - I love Rodney and I love John, but I especially love Rodney&John - it's like my favorite character's been in a third as many scenes as it was last season, and that just makes me mopey!)
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But that's nothing new. Rodney has always gotten the character-arcs, especially compared to the rest of the cast.
But Rodney's never gotten a character arc as consistent across multiple episodes as the McKeller. It's true that he is the character who's gotten the most character growth, but that growth is nowhere near consistent (Gero resets his development every dang episode!) And there's never been another *strictly* character arc - for Rodney or anyone else - in the show. Things like Rodney & John's friendship or Rodney & Katie Brown developed largely off-screen and were only sporadically textually referenced; the actual plot arcs were always scifi-plot-related. While as the McKeller arc isn't a plot arc at all; the development of their relationship coincides with various events, but it's not the impetus of them, nor has it tied in to larger events. If you removed the McKeller, the plots of any episode would scarcely be altered; it's extraneous to the scifi of the show. The same could be said of most of the other relationships (SGA is, as written, more plot- than character-driven) but no other relationship has gotten the emphasis of the McKeller.
Really, though, I don't think the McKeller is the actual change in tone, but rather a consequence of the true change, which is that this season has shifted the role of the main protagonist from John to Rodney. While John never got the most development, he was always central to the major events - e.g. last year, Teyla got a major arc with her baby but it was the effect of that on her relationship with John that was the most emphasized, and John spearheading the charge to save her from Michael. While as this season, Rodney's been the center of the major moments.
Which is why it's not a perceptible a gear-shift for a lot of us, because a lot of us have always been watching the Rodney McKay Show. The problem I'm having is that as much as I love Rodney, I especially love the Rodney & Team show, in all its incarnations - the Rodney & John show, the Rodney & Ronon Snarkfest, and the Rodney & Teyla Really Need a Show Dammit. And this season's been more the Rodney & Carson and Rodney & Daniel Jackson and Rodney & Keller show (along with moments of the Ronon & Keller and John & Woolsey shows), and not enough of the Rodney & Team Show ("The Shrine" is the only Rodney-episode that's had a full team presence - none of them even talked to him in "Brainstorm", and for all I loved the John & Rodney & Teyla of "The Prodigal" Ronon wasn't with them for any of it...)
(And I admit, too, the lack of McShep gets to me. It's hard to explain what it's like to be an OTPer, but if you think of my OTP as my favorite character - I love Rodney and I love John, but I especially love Rodney&John - it's like my favorite character's been in a third as many scenes as it was last season, and that just makes me mopey!)