SGA four-point-something, "Quarantine"
Jan. 18th, 2008 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicAttempting "live" reactions tonight.
Golf. Yes. *cough*
Oh, yay, Rodney's proposing! He's grown so much on this show. Except, no, that means Katie has to die tonight. Dammit. I like Katie.
It took me until almost the end of the scene to realize we'd just been given a billion screen caps of Rodney proposing to John, and John freaking out.
RODNEY AND KATIE ARE SO ADORABLE. He is intimidated by the tall phallic cactus. And she has endless patience.
So they're quickly pairing off interesting combinations of characters for the lockdown. I'm psyched for what they might do with Zelenka and Carter and with Keller and Ronon. John and Teyla will get to talk and fight with nobody able to run away, and Rodney will get lots of time to propose, if he's not too focused on the lockdown. Great storytelling device for forcing conversations that characters don't want to have.
Good thing it isn't Rodney stuck in the tiny, tiny transporter.
Rodney without a computer in a crisis? That's going to be maddening for him.
LOL, John's uncomfortable glance at the Big Pregnant Stomach.
LOL, John freaking out about Teyla having a miscarriage in the crisis because it always happens in the movies. We were all thinking it!
Zelenka's carrier/homing pigeons! They remembered. Aw.
It's wonderful to see John and Teyla be friends again, to see him trying to help her in his own awkward way -- to see it working. That cop analogy was good.
"You have to understand, your child has a family here." Oh. Oh, yes, that is sweet. Atlantis as family, and team as family, are some of the most poignant themes on the show, and it's great to see them being explored on screen instead of just in fic.
Note: Keller does not like violence.
Oh yes, Keller likes putting Ronon on his back whenever they meet. And she wants them to get to know each other better. ...But not that way. Except totally that way.
Where did Rodney just say he was taking midterms?
Rodney/Katie is still awesome, but Katie needs to hit some more notes than patience and sympathy if she's going to be in more than two scenes on this show. Except since she's GOING TO DIE, I guess it doesn't matter; we won't have been given any reason to dislike her, and we'll be sad like Rodney. Well, no, Rodney will be crushed. Even if she drives him a little crazy when they're stuck in a room together.
Rodney hasn't quite gotten over his (mis)trust in everyone else -- he won't, he can't believe that everyone else is working to fix the situation. Granted, he can't know that the others aren't stuck in computerless rooms like him or are otherwise unable to work on the solution, but Katie's right -- he's a catastrophist.
HA. Zelenka thought the whole thing could be blamed on Rodney.
"I'm fine." She's not fine. *whines* Katie's going to die.
John/numbers OTP. John/Rodney/numbers OT3. OMG MATH. OMG awesome.
Zelenka go boom. That was a pretty funny fall. The extra leg-waving at the end was great.
DUM DUM DUMMMMM
*happy whimper* Rodney's trying to cheer her up. Jeannie taught him that.
Rodney, JUST ASK HER! Before *you* get any pastier and drop dead. You'll beat yourself up for it later. "If only I'd proposed, maybe she wouldn't have died."
*gasp* Keller does remind Ronon of Melena. And Ronon's telling her. Maybe Keller won't be quite so afraid or disproving of him from now on.
Oh, this episode is just wonderful for character development.
Substitute!dad!John is fabulous. Awkward and awed all at once.
Aaaaaaah not a good idea, John! Not a good idea. Oh my God. Heights. Wind. Bad.
Note: prepare self for many rock-climbing John fics.
Biceps. Yes. Nice to see they're good for something useful (i.e. other than fangirl ogling).
Self-destruct is not good. Does Atlantis have a virus, or has it decided that the city has to be destroyed because the quarantine was broken?
Ha ha, Ronon does watch movies with John (and team?). Who's got the better deal, the guy who gets Hollywood or the guy who gets beaten up in the gym standing on one leg with an arm behind his back?
Did anyone in the control tower think that turning off the alarm would make all the other teams think the crisis had passed?
Yep, quarantine broke. Go John.
NO MORE CLIMBING, JOHN. YOU WILL FALL. At least bring a rope this time.
Hee, the proposal went totally wrong, and yet still worked. Katie was charmed. Rodney passed out. Probably the same thing that would've happened if they'd done it in a fancy restaurant.
WHAT? Teyla, you CRAZY PERSON, don't get on that ledge. What happened to all that stuff about protecting your baby?
Ronon's smirk when they're about to blow up the infirmary is priceless.
Annnnnd the teams start to join up with each other again. They were taken apart, and now each character/team gets to add their own expertise back in, one at a time, like adding ingredients to a recipe. Except no Rodney. Maybe no Rodney until after it's over. How does the recipe turn out with one of the two main ingredients missing? A disaster, that's how. Unless Rodney turns out not to be as important to the whole as everybody thinks.
Ooh, yes, Katie got a little mad. Will Rodney's fatalism defeat her, or will she continue to shine? I suppose it's too much to hope that she'll have a salutary effect on his happy pessimism....
Oh, no. Zelenka volunteered for something, and in place of a woman too. Does that mean HE's going to die? I love Zelenka!
Rodney thought Keller was weak, hm? I'd be surprised if he didn't think most of the expedition was too weak to be there.
Ooh, Keller is smart! Like, fanon!Rodney smart, education- and socialization-wise. Supports what we saw in ... that ep where she was stuck on New Athos with Teyla, reenacting Rodney's early days on the team.
Hee, muttering Zelenka in theJeffries tube conduits.
OMG, Ronon and Keller cuddling. It's almost cute enough to make up for Rodney and Katie looking like they're falling apart. RONON AND KELLER! Hair sniff! Smile! Smile! Kissy face!
It's like a marathon of AW, HEE, NOOO, AW, HEE! here.
ZELENKA HAMSTER. Yes.
Neat to see the team expanding/interspersing with Zelenka and Keller now.
Rodney's not there. The Katie thing must have gone badly. :(
No disease means Rodney freaked out means Rodney's susceptible to hysteria. Heh.
And now Rodney's proposing in a more heartfelt way than he might have before, and because of what they just went through, Katie's going to turn him down and break his heart. Oh, my heart.
Oh, twist! Semi-heartbreak. Hm. Well, maybe better this way, if retracting the proposal means Katie wouldn't have to say no to him.
Still, that feels like the end of an opportunity, not a postponement, and his face says he knows it.
Overall: I am very pleased. A nice respite from all the action, a chance to move things forward with character arcs and let different and unusual combinations of characters interact, and the show continues to intersect with fanon in the most excellent sort of way, where things that make sense happen and you get backstory and friendship and can admire fic authors' abilities to think in the same way as the show's writers. Rodney/Katie breaks my heart; it would have been easier if she had died, because then we could have imagined how awesome they'd have been together if only she hadn't been taken cruelly away before they had a chance. Ronon/Keller offers hope for a new adorable team couple, although it won't take Rodney/Katie's place. Zelenka gets a chance to shine -- perhaps for the first time since "Grace Under Pressure"? -- even though it involves some ungraceful moments -- mostly away from people's eyes, though, so he can pretend he was heroic the whole way.
ETA: Episode tag from apple_pi, Not Really All That Random by crysothemis
Golf. Yes. *cough*
Oh, yay, Rodney's proposing! He's grown so much on this show. Except, no, that means Katie has to die tonight. Dammit. I like Katie.
It took me until almost the end of the scene to realize we'd just been given a billion screen caps of Rodney proposing to John, and John freaking out.
RODNEY AND KATIE ARE SO ADORABLE. He is intimidated by the tall phallic cactus. And she has endless patience.
So they're quickly pairing off interesting combinations of characters for the lockdown. I'm psyched for what they might do with Zelenka and Carter and with Keller and Ronon. John and Teyla will get to talk and fight with nobody able to run away, and Rodney will get lots of time to propose, if he's not too focused on the lockdown. Great storytelling device for forcing conversations that characters don't want to have.
Good thing it isn't Rodney stuck in the tiny, tiny transporter.
Rodney without a computer in a crisis? That's going to be maddening for him.
LOL, John's uncomfortable glance at the Big Pregnant Stomach.
LOL, John freaking out about Teyla having a miscarriage in the crisis because it always happens in the movies. We were all thinking it!
Zelenka's carrier/homing pigeons! They remembered. Aw.
It's wonderful to see John and Teyla be friends again, to see him trying to help her in his own awkward way -- to see it working. That cop analogy was good.
"You have to understand, your child has a family here." Oh. Oh, yes, that is sweet. Atlantis as family, and team as family, are some of the most poignant themes on the show, and it's great to see them being explored on screen instead of just in fic.
Note: Keller does not like violence.
Oh yes, Keller likes putting Ronon on his back whenever they meet. And she wants them to get to know each other better. ...But not that way. Except totally that way.
Where did Rodney just say he was taking midterms?
Rodney/Katie is still awesome, but Katie needs to hit some more notes than patience and sympathy if she's going to be in more than two scenes on this show. Except since she's GOING TO DIE, I guess it doesn't matter; we won't have been given any reason to dislike her, and we'll be sad like Rodney. Well, no, Rodney will be crushed. Even if she drives him a little crazy when they're stuck in a room together.
Rodney hasn't quite gotten over his (mis)trust in everyone else -- he won't, he can't believe that everyone else is working to fix the situation. Granted, he can't know that the others aren't stuck in computerless rooms like him or are otherwise unable to work on the solution, but Katie's right -- he's a catastrophist.
HA. Zelenka thought the whole thing could be blamed on Rodney.
"I'm fine." She's not fine. *whines* Katie's going to die.
John/numbers OTP. John/Rodney/numbers OT3. OMG MATH. OMG awesome.
Zelenka go boom. That was a pretty funny fall. The extra leg-waving at the end was great.
DUM DUM DUMMMMM
*happy whimper* Rodney's trying to cheer her up. Jeannie taught him that.
Rodney, JUST ASK HER! Before *you* get any pastier and drop dead. You'll beat yourself up for it later. "If only I'd proposed, maybe she wouldn't have died."
*gasp* Keller does remind Ronon of Melena. And Ronon's telling her. Maybe Keller won't be quite so afraid or disproving of him from now on.
Oh, this episode is just wonderful for character development.
Substitute!dad!John is fabulous. Awkward and awed all at once.
Aaaaaaah not a good idea, John! Not a good idea. Oh my God. Heights. Wind. Bad.
Note: prepare self for many rock-climbing John fics.
Biceps. Yes. Nice to see they're good for something useful (i.e. other than fangirl ogling).
Self-destruct is not good. Does Atlantis have a virus, or has it decided that the city has to be destroyed because the quarantine was broken?
Ha ha, Ronon does watch movies with John (and team?). Who's got the better deal, the guy who gets Hollywood or the guy who gets beaten up in the gym standing on one leg with an arm behind his back?
Did anyone in the control tower think that turning off the alarm would make all the other teams think the crisis had passed?
Yep, quarantine broke. Go John.
NO MORE CLIMBING, JOHN. YOU WILL FALL. At least bring a rope this time.
Hee, the proposal went totally wrong, and yet still worked. Katie was charmed. Rodney passed out. Probably the same thing that would've happened if they'd done it in a fancy restaurant.
WHAT? Teyla, you CRAZY PERSON, don't get on that ledge. What happened to all that stuff about protecting your baby?
Ronon's smirk when they're about to blow up the infirmary is priceless.
Annnnnd the teams start to join up with each other again. They were taken apart, and now each character/team gets to add their own expertise back in, one at a time, like adding ingredients to a recipe. Except no Rodney. Maybe no Rodney until after it's over. How does the recipe turn out with one of the two main ingredients missing? A disaster, that's how. Unless Rodney turns out not to be as important to the whole as everybody thinks.
Ooh, yes, Katie got a little mad. Will Rodney's fatalism defeat her, or will she continue to shine? I suppose it's too much to hope that she'll have a salutary effect on his happy pessimism....
Oh, no. Zelenka volunteered for something, and in place of a woman too. Does that mean HE's going to die? I love Zelenka!
Rodney thought Keller was weak, hm? I'd be surprised if he didn't think most of the expedition was too weak to be there.
Ooh, Keller is smart! Like, fanon!Rodney smart, education- and socialization-wise. Supports what we saw in ... that ep where she was stuck on New Athos with Teyla, reenacting Rodney's early days on the team.
Hee, muttering Zelenka in the
OMG, Ronon and Keller cuddling. It's almost cute enough to make up for Rodney and Katie looking like they're falling apart. RONON AND KELLER! Hair sniff! Smile! Smile! Kissy face!
It's like a marathon of AW, HEE, NOOO, AW, HEE! here.
ZELENKA HAMSTER. Yes.
Neat to see the team expanding/interspersing with Zelenka and Keller now.
Rodney's not there. The Katie thing must have gone badly. :(
No disease means Rodney freaked out means Rodney's susceptible to hysteria. Heh.
And now Rodney's proposing in a more heartfelt way than he might have before, and because of what they just went through, Katie's going to turn him down and break his heart. Oh, my heart.
Oh, twist! Semi-heartbreak. Hm. Well, maybe better this way, if retracting the proposal means Katie wouldn't have to say no to him.
Still, that feels like the end of an opportunity, not a postponement, and his face says he knows it.
Overall: I am very pleased. A nice respite from all the action, a chance to move things forward with character arcs and let different and unusual combinations of characters interact, and the show continues to intersect with fanon in the most excellent sort of way, where things that make sense happen and you get backstory and friendship and can admire fic authors' abilities to think in the same way as the show's writers. Rodney/Katie breaks my heart; it would have been easier if she had died, because then we could have imagined how awesome they'd have been together if only she hadn't been taken cruelly away before they had a chance. Ronon/Keller offers hope for a new adorable team couple, although it won't take Rodney/Katie's place. Zelenka gets a chance to shine -- perhaps for the first time since "Grace Under Pressure"? -- even though it involves some ungraceful moments -- mostly away from people's eyes, though, so he can pretend he was heroic the whole way.
ETA: Episode tag from apple_pi, Not Really All That Random by crysothemis
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 03:19 am (UTC)*g*
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 03:26 am (UTC)If John's online (42 -- heh) and other people are online, shouldn't he be able to send emails and organize some kind of a conference about how to fix this problem?
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 03:38 am (UTC)I haven't been paying as close attention as I should because of all the chatting and posting, so possibly this was already disproved by what John said, but can we pretend computers can access the mainframe but not each other? Er, even though that's not really possible? Heh.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 04:15 am (UTC)I kept thinking of "The Empire Strikes Back" and half expected him to mutter something Star-Wars-y. (Especially since something Star-Wars-y happened on Torchwood Wednesday and someone did make a reference to it.)
This was a GOOD episode. They teased us with all these cliche setups (two people trapped in an elevator? did NOT make out! - Teyla did not go into any sort of pregnancy-related emergency - no one died.)
And aw, Zelenka. I like him.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 04:18 am (UTC)I like that they referenced the cliches they weren't succumbing to, too. Without being annoyingly meta about it.
We can pretend John said something Star Warsy in his head as he climbed, to save his breath.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 04:39 am (UTC)It was nice seeing John and Rodney relaxing together, and Rodney telling John his big secret. They're so cute together!
I really like Ronon/Keller. I've always thought Ronon had more of a big-brother relationship with Teyla; I couldn't really see them as a romantic pairing.
Yay Zelenka!
This season of SGA (and the back end of S3, I think) has had a very fanficcy feel, which is a positive thing. I like the fact that they're exploring characters and their relationships rather than just blowing up Wraith ships. Next week's episode has a plot summary that could have come from dozens of fan fics. I'm looking forward to seeing what the writers do with the concept. It could be horribly cliched, or it could be a lot of fun.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 04:47 am (UTC)ITA also on it being a better ending (if it's an ending :) ) for Rodney and Katie's relationship to falter than for her to have been killed. If I'd known at the beginning how much this episode would not only eschew cliches like that but acknowledge that they were eschewing them, I might have been less certain Katie would die the moment Rodney was ready to commit.
and Rodney telling John his big secret. They're so cute together!
They really are! And were they playing online golf at the beginning, or was Sheppard playing while Rodney worked? Either way, yay spending leisure time with friends. And I loved that John knew the numerical password and said Rodney wouldn't have expected that he could remember it. It reminds me of... "Transcendental" by shalott? The one where Rodney takes over Atlantis and locks John in Weir's office until he can crack the code Rodney devised.
I've always thought Ronon had more of a big-brother relationship with Teyla
Heh -- I was seeing it as a little-brother relationship, but same concept. It's neat that you can see platonic or romantic relationships in pretty much any pairing on the show.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 04:54 am (UTC)I assumed that they were, since John was trying to persuade Rodney to do another round. If Rodney weren't playing, that wouldn't have made sense.
Heh -- I was seeing it as a little-brother relationship,
You know, little brother might be a better description, since Teyla seems more mature than Ronon emotionally.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 01:21 pm (UTC)If Rodney weren't playing, that wouldn't have made sense.
Unless John were trying to convince Rodney to work a little later so John could play another round. But you're right, the other way makes more sense.
no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 05:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 19th, 2008 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Jan. 20th, 2008 01:29 pm (UTC)(Although having all numbers in a password is less safe than having a mixture of numbers and letters, which Rodney - and John - would know)
There was a lot of Chuck tonight! My husband and I laughed ourselves silly at John's face after Chuck said he'd only turned off the alarm, not the self-destruct.
It's been very obvious this season that they're splitting the actors up to be able to film scenes (episodes) simultaneously (that's the reason, I presume, that Hewlitt wasn't in the last scene with the team), but I think it has also worked dramatically. Different combinations of people have brought different vibes and let us get to know the characters. Cool.
no subject
Date: Jan. 20th, 2008 02:51 pm (UTC)They've mentioned that they have long passwords before, but the only specific thing I remember is from "The Long Goodbye" when Rodney snaps at Caldwell that he's going to use his code to unlock the city from possessed!Elizabeth's control:
McKAY: All right, but I'm using my command code.
CALDWELL: Why, 'cause you still don't trust me?
McKAY: No, because it is a sixteen digit alphanumeric code that I will have to enter God knows how many times, and I haven't got around to memorising yours yet.
...So maybe the command code is different from the password they were talking about this week?