SGA 4x01: Adrift reaction

[wickedwords]

Stargate Atlantis, how much do I love thee?

First of all, I squeed mightily over the John-n-Rodney show. I dance in gleeful abandonment on fannon's head regarding Rodney being in charge now that we know that running the city is a two-headed hydra, should Elizabeth be absent.  I love that Rodney agreed to the power sharing and went out of his way to keep John in the loop; I also loved that John's response was usually along the lines of 'good to know.  keep up the good work.' He let Rodney lead during all of the city-wide repairs, and the only time that they argued, really, was when the specter of Trinity arose.

(And how much do I love Martin Gero for brining Trinity back so clearly?)

  The whole 'reviving Elizabeth's nanites' so vividly calls up Rodney's attitudes during that ep, and how shaken John was by the whole thing that it laid some amazing groundwork for the motivations behind this argument.  Does Rodney really have it under control, or is this hubris again, and it will end up destroying them all?  Yummmy, yummmy, yummmy.

And Rodney understood what was going on!  That floored me, that he got the why of John's anxiety, and that he apologized for it. Plus John's immediate 'appology accepted'--he's not the type of guy to let that just hang around. This is really trinity in a nutshell guys. There's no long, drawn out groveling, no matter how fandom took the ending of the trinity ep; John and Rodney are good.  Even when they argue, they can get past it, without tormenting one another. They respect each another and this ep really brings out the fact that they are two sides of the same coin.

Just so damn awesome.

I missed the 'John' the first time, but going back, it made me so freakin' happy.  Plus the confirmation, again, that Teyla is in line to run Atlantis.  Elizabeth, JohnandRodney, and then Teyla runs the show--and I bet that last bit is so unofficial that the IOA and SGC doesn't know.  Most of the time, a woman is the leader of Atlantis.

Oh! and did it seem to anyone else that Atlantis's fanonical portrayal as a woman was more in evidence in this show?  'Atlantis won't let us', 'Atlantis is shrinking the shield', etc.  To me, it felt more like Radek, at least, talked about her as a person, not just this technologically advanced city.  There was no discussion of automated protocols the way there was in hot zone.  Instead, Atlantis just...did shit, in order to protect them, and the guys had to react to that.

Plus when did they make the screens talk English?  Back in season 1, all the displays were in Ancient, but I distinctly saw English on at least one of Atlantis's monitors this time out.

Patting myself on the back moments: the fact that the scientists who had the gene were called in to fly the jumpers in an emergency, and that John mentioned that they had 'little experience'--but not NO experience. In fact, one of the guys said that he'd only flown the jumper twice--which implies that yes, it's not just Rodney and the Military pilots using these things.  So my stories about Miko work, and I'm going to say that the Asian woman I saw in the background in science blues was Miko, only she has lasik's surgery and doesn't wear glasses anymore. ;)

The other bit is the Ronon/Weir scene.  Oh, how I would have loved for him to call her 'Elizabeth', but I'll take what I can get.  It really was a wonderful moment, and yeah, that's one couple of one scene from 'four couples not in season 4' that was pretty close to true.  Still waiting for the Teyla/Sam stuff though.  Maybe once they actually share the screen...

Radek is adorable.  He was brave and strong and dedicated, and I just want to hug him and pet him and tell him it's okay.  I hope someone gives him a little tea and empathy when this is all done.  He took a meteorite to the leg, and that has got to hurt.

My show, yay!

Comments

[larianelensar.livejournal.com]

I'll have to watch again for the English on the screens...I know the one time I was paying close enough attention, it was Ancient...but now I'm curious!

I had a moment there when I thought they were going to kill Radek off! I have been avoiding all but the BIG spoilers, so I thought maybe I'd missed this one and was getting all emo about it. NO! They can't kill Radek off NOW! I mean...he was all...'you made the right choice' and John called him Radek instead of Zelenka!

And that Ronon/Elizabeth thing...I think it would have been really (more) awkward for Ronon to call her Elizabeth. It was all heart-wrenching enough as it was, pretty sure something would have exploded if he'd called her anything but Dr. Weir. I'm glad they gave him that moment though, you could tell he was worried about her from the start of the show. (And that big piece of glass in his shoulder...OMG...OUCH!)

I was totally impressed by this episode. I mean, so many of the other premieres this week were a let-down, but this completely lived up to all my expectations and then some! I can't wait for the next episode, 'up for a little heist' ? *hee*

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

One more thing. It looked to me that as some point, John and Elizabeth had the DNR conversation, about what would and would not be okay to do to bring them back, which was why John was so freaked out at a personal level. Apparently, he's the one responsible for saying 'turn off the switch', which is kinda freaky. Rodney's eulogy, Elizabeth's DNR--wow. Way to saddle John up with the devastating emotional responsibilities. I did loved that John got teary-eyed when Keller told him that Elizabeth was basically gone. I'm not sure it's actual crying, but it's certainly bereft loss.

[miera-c.livejournal.com]

Radek is adorable. He was brave and strong and dedicated, and I just want to hug him and pet him and tell him it's okay. I hope someone gives him a little tea and empathy when this is all done. He took a meteorite to the leg, and that has got to hurt.

As I said last night, that's my brave lil toaster! ;)

Given that they always show him being scared (reasonably so) by things like spacewalks and a little nervous about flying and water, his insistence on finishing the job after he got hurt and then hobbling around the control room were just lovely. *cuddles Radek*

[shusu.livejournal.com]

Plus when did they make the screens talk English?

IIRC, it *should* be canon by The Return I, when the English on the monitors switched back to Ancient after they pressed the reset button. I think. Don't quote me.

[transtempts.livejournal.com]

i squee when they refer to atlantis as a woman. because, this only supports the idea that interacting with the city is like working with another member of the team, albeit on a bigger scale. and it gives me happy thoughts to think of those dynamics and the benefits people with the ancient gene get in communicating with her.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

On the Atlantis-as-a-woman front, I was fascinated during the first part of the ep by the implication that Elizabeth was a kind of metonym for the city: both of them failing, both of them in danger, both of them requiring heroic measures.

Yeah. This premiere made me really, really happy. :-)

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

I KNOW!

Oh! and did it seem to anyone else that Atlantis's fanonical portrayal as a woman was more in evidence in this show?

DEFINITELY some mighty anthromorphisation, no matter what the gender.

The other bit is the Ronon/Weir scene.

Same here. I just -- aw. I have a soft spot for that pairing because they were such FUN on-screen, Elizabeth going all awkward teenager around Ronon, and Ronon being all smirky and looking extra manly and...yeah. *g*

They respect each another and this ep really brings out the fact that they are two sides of the same coin.

And KNOWING EACH OTHER'S THOUGHTS -- the scene where John comes up with the jumper solution, but before he's finished the sentence, Rodney KNOWS.

[emyrys.livejournal.com]

I was very happy. I thought the interactions were perfect, and I swear there were word for word scenes from a lot of my favorite stories in there :-).

I, too, liked the command structure -- Teyla will be a better civilian leader than Rodney, but the 3 of them really work. And the apology! nicely done. I was afraid that they were going to make Rodney be pissy & demand an apology back, but they didn't -- the writer did a good job there.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Oh! and did it seem to anyone else that Atlantis's fanonical portrayal as a woman was more in evidence in this show? 'Atlantis won't let us', 'Atlantis is shrinking the shield', etc. To me, it felt more like Radek, at least, talked about her as a person, not just this technologically advanced city. There was no discussion of automated protocols the way there was in hot zone. Instead, Atlantis just...did shit, in order to protect them, and the guys had to react to that.

And yet at the same time, it was a big blow to sentient!Atlantis/connected-to-Atlantis!John because John couldn't feel Atlantis getting attacked when he was in the chair or anything. So haha, I say, to my most hated bit of fanon. :)

(Also I have a rant about personifying cities/boats/cars/etc. as women and how incredibly insulting and sexist that is, but I will save that for my own journal.)

[sinensiss.livejournal.com]

love, love, LOVE our show.

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

wonderful review! I completely agree with your analysis of the John & Rodney argument...

and yes, Atlantis is supposed to be run by a woman! ever since the start of Season 2, when we saw that Elizabeth left Teyla in charge while she & the Boys went back to Earth...

and oh, yes, you are so right--I loved Radek so much! and I was terrified they were going to kill him during the space walk...

[hawtboyluvin.livejournal.com]

In the Apology scene you can see Ronon in the background watching them and as Rodney started saying he was sorry...Ronon left the scene right as Rodney started.
He just left them alone.

And John was SOOOOO angry, he was visible shaking as he was yelling at Rodney.


LOVED the Episode