SGA: Reunion quick reaction

[wickedwords]

I thought a lot of the Sam stuff was very awkward, and I ended up having to pause and deep breath for a bit to work my way through those scenes. It squicked me so much, from the moment it's clear that Rodney thinks he's been chosen to lead Atlantis through the 'goodbye' scene between Sam and Teal'c (which really makes the most sense if Teal'c and Sam got together during 'Unending', but I don't remember exactly why I thought it at the time.) and the welcoming speech and the fruit basket--yeah.

I was incredibly stunned to see how deeply Ronon felt about Elizabeth. I mean, in my head, I was a total Elizabeth/Ronnon shipper, but the intensity of his reactions only make sense if that context is there. He's abandoning Sam and everyone else the way they are abandoning Elizabeth. John preaches 'leave no man behind' but then they go ahead and leave Elizabeth back on replicator world. Extreme grief clouds his judgment throughout the episode.

Oh, I did love watching Ronon's eyes roll back into his head whenever Sam talked her technobabble, and I loved that his reaction was different with Rodney. The fact that how Rodney was treated by team Sateada was a clue to their evilness was fun, as the whole point of the set-up was to grab Rodney--and obviously pissed-off insane-knife guy really hated that.

But I still think Teyla should have kicked their butts in the teaser. She would have been cleaning them up off the floor when Ronon walked in, and then mentioned how rude they were to attack her. Of course, that would have stopped the whole show, so I know why it wasn't done, but that doesn't mean I don't think that it was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Shallow ending notes: Rodney looked *great* while John looked stressed; he's obviously having trouble dealing with having a commander who might actually care about that whole 'don't ask, don't tell' thing. (Once he gets used to her, he'll realize that it's not that big a deal, I'm sure.)

Oh, man--Zelenka. He's got good rapport with Sam already, and he's just calmly sliding into the job of going offworld to a wraith infested lab on a rescue mission without even thinking twice about it. How far my cute little scientist has come--and how pragmatic he is at the change in leadership, as long as it's not Rodney. Personally, I wonder what happened in his past--i.e. who in his family suddenly just disappeared and could never be mentioned again--that made him react like that.

I also wonder if maybe Radek finds Ronon drinking heavily on one of the balconies after this, and joins him. Ronon needs a good cuddle.

Comments

[mercury973.livejournal.com]

At least Sam didn't just jump in an make some drastic changes. I felt a little better about that. I can totally see Elizabeth/Ronan, but I can also see Elizabeth/Radek, so who am I to judge.

This episode was 1000x better that Adrift and Lifeline. It almost left normal.

Radek- man, he recovers quickly. But how awesome is he? They really need to make him a regular. Three episodes in a row with Zelenka. SGA writers for the win! More of him, please.

Let's talk about McKay's shoulders in the new leather jacket. :melts: I really needed a bib to contain all the drool. Damn, that man gets hotter every year. Sex on legs, he is.

John was much better this time around. I thought he was being a ass-face in 4x01 and 4x02. He's not 100% back to normal, but it's an improvement.

Teyla handing a beat-down to Ronan blindfolded. You go girl! Ronan, I knew you would stay. You had to come back to get your painting that looked like some bad 80s metal band cover. What was that all about? And why would Rodney steal it? I would think he has better taste than that *Cough* John *Cough*

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

It sounds like Sam's going to toe the line with the IOA more than Elizabeth did, which seems fair. There may be other changes down the road, but she's a good enough manager to know she's an outsider here and not to put her stamp on things too quickly, so we're going to have to see how it goes.

McKay's shoulders--yes! More of those please. I liked the new outfit, but I swear, the first part of the ep he was possessed by the spirit of Rod.

[miera-c.livejournal.com]

I was incredibly stunned to see how deeply Ronon felt about Elizabeth. I mean, in my head, I was a total Elizabeth/Ronnon shipper, but the intensity of his reactions only make sense if that context is there.

Heh. I know logically that Ronon doesn't trust people easily, and they showed in "Adrift" that he was aware it was ultimately Elizabeth who agreed he could stay. (That scene of him talking to her while she's in the coma suggested to me Ronon was kind of on the verge of collapse when they found him. He says something like "I don't think I'd be..." and it seems like he means he doesn't think he'd still be alive.) So Elizabeth helped save his life. And he'd been around long enough to trust her judgment. He doesn't know Sam at all, except that she's part of the military.

Still, if Elizabeth had been there, she still wouldn't have let his buddies back onto Atlantis, because that was the IOA's rule (about freakin time, too). I could see her maybe offering to go meet with them herself, though

But yes, my inner shipper was all "he can't take the pain of losing Elizabeth!!!"

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

All good points, and if I was trying for a gen interp, I'd go there. The only thing I disagree with is how Sam is talked about in this ep--it's all about the sciences, and her scientific prowess. We already know that Ronon has grown more uncomfortable with his lack of knowledge in that area--he knows about being a soldier, but he's mentioned maybe needing to learn some science stuff. I wonder if that isn't part of his distrust of her, that she's been sold to the expedition as a scientist, and Ronon isn't terribly keen on having a scientist as his boss.

Oh, man. And Elizabeth would have gone to meet with them, rather than letting Sheppard's team do it on their own. She knows that's an area that they are weak in and could back them up on it.

I'm wondering what I can take away from the Elizabeth/Ronon thing, maybe a scene where they meet up again later, and how that messes with Ronon's head. Hmmmm.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

Given where and when Zelenka grew up, somebody disappearing and not being mentioned again isn't too big of a stretch. It just depends if you think it happened in 1968 or after.

I have yet to watch all of it. Rodney going to Sam's quarters and the fruit basket thing was the last straw. My humiliation squick was hit so hard and so often to that point that I'd already skipped about half of it. I decided the better part of valor was to read people's reactions and be forewarned before trying again.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Man, my embarrassment squick was pressed a lot as well. My husband turned the show off at one of the Rodney/Sam interactions, too, because he couldn't take it. There was so much bad in this on a public humiliation level is made me squirm.

Tell me, did the guy who wrote this ep write any others this season? I know Rob Cooper only did "Doppleganger", as he was working on the movie. Is it too much to hope that Joe M was pulled off onto something else as well?

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

It is my understanding that Joe M wrote this ep. I really hated this episode because of what he did to Rodney. That was just uncalled for.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I just looked up his writer credits in SGA, and he has consistently created some of my least favorite eps, ones that are supposed to have a funny side but the humor falls flat, like in Irresponsible. I was already worrying about Travelers from the promo I saw, and the fact that he wrote it is just icing on the cake.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. His sense of humor is about as funny as a knife to the gut is. I'm already planning to read fanfic while Travelers is on so I won't spit at my tv screen.

[writerlibrarian]

I have to say I fastforward thru the Sam/Tealc thing and the Rodney in Sam quarter thing. Too much for me. Way too much.

Sam is not going to be an easy fit in Atlantis.

The good parts were Ronon and his new tattoo, John stepping in front of Rodney, Ronon turning and running toward "his" team at the sound of trouble. Teyla whipping Ronon, blindfolded no less and another episode with Zelenka.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Sam was *awkward* in this ep, and I loved her in SG-1. She's just so much bigger than life, a real heroic character, and Atlantis is oddly more human scale. I really hope they drop the Rodney/Sam stuff, but I can't image that they would; the feedback is going to get to them after the season is closed. Such a bummer about that.

*Loved* the tattoo. And that we got to see Ronon react to pain instead of just saying 'pull it out'.