SGA 4.2, "Lifeline"
Oct. 5th, 2007 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicMan, why does this show have to be on so late?
Well, the thing with Elizabeth went pretty much as badly as Sheppard and Elizabeth had feared. He didn't even get a clean kill out of it, painful as that would have been. No closure; no certainty that the Replicators aren't extracting extremely damaging information out of Elizabeth, even if they're also busy with their new goal of attacking the Wraith. Completely FUBAR. That scene where Sheppard and Rodney were back in Atlantis' control room, trying to pick planets? You could see the both of them struggling to make decisions and move forward to save the city while knowing that at that very moment, Elizabeth was probably being tortured and/or having her entire being "reprogrammed" because (a) Rodney activated the nanites instead of letting her die last week, (b) John didn't kill her on sight as soon as he realized what had happened, and (c) Rodney and John agreed to push their luck and carry out the mission to upload the Wraith activation code*. I know it's more complicated than that, and that if they hadn't reactivated the nanites, they wouldn't have been able to infiltrate the Replicators' homeworld and save the city with the stolen ZPM, but I imagine they're both feeling the weight of their guilt.
*Although: What the heck kind of explanation was it that Elizabeth couldn't have a second chance to help them with that part of the plan? The Replicators would trace the ZPM theft back to her? How?? Not buying it.
I liked Elizabeth and John's conversation before they shipped out. It confirmed that the two of them were on the same page about her tenuous lease on life and the necessity of shutting her down the moment the Replicators connected to her, which supports John's assertion to Rodney last week that he understood her better than Rodney did. Interesting how, face to face, John wavered when Elizabeth made him promise to kill her; last week, he was the one insisting on it, the one who had his gun out when he walked into the infirmary to see what happened when she woke**, and while he still held firm tonight, making sure Rodney stayed with her in the 'jumper and flipped the switch when the time came, he still looked sad and hesitant when Elizabeth spoke to him about it, and it seemed like more than just the discomfort of agreeing you'll kill someone to their face.
** Thank you for pointing that out,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
moonlash_cc!
HUGE BONUS POINTS for yet more gender inversion with (fake!)Sheppard in the prison cell. You had him forced to his knees, again, the damsel in distress, again, held still while the physically imposing, domineering, sneering man-villain penetrated him, taking what he desired by force, and all Sheppard could do was wince. Until the assailant found himself inexplicably impotent. And then Sheppard morphed into a woman and laughed at him and told him he'd underestimated her. YES.
Also, first, we had Rodney say "penetrate," and then Sheppard called him on it. Then we had Rodney harping on needing to find the right angle and position so they didn't burn up on entry. Then we had him yelling, "Nice kiss." And I think at one point Sheppard said "I need you..." or "I want you..." with that slight pause, followed by (paraphrase) "to stay in the jumper and keep an eye on Elizabeth." All obvious, perhaps, but still silly and enjoyable for subtext, which was surely put in on purpose, along with all the other 'shippy biscuits.
WTF happened to David Nykl's accent? It's been spotty before, including a few wince-worthy lines in the season premiere, but today it completely fell apart.
I wish the last balcony scene had been Sheppard and McKay instead of Sheppard and Carter. Probably people are going to harp on it for setting the stage for Carter coming between them, usurping their friendship/antagonism/shared screen time as the season progresses. I do hope that's not the case, but I don't mind her in general. It's just that Sheppard and McKay had numerous serious issues they needed to discuss, or pointedly not discuss, e.g. Elizabeth being captured and/or dead and their joint roles in that and Rodney having once again overestimated the extent of his power over technology and the fact that they're on a new planet now and..., and instead we skipped over that and had a scene about five moons and a promotion. The scene itself wasn't bad, but it felt too light for a conclusion without having also addressed some of the other subjects. Perhaps Sheppard and Rodney's continuing tension was meant to suffice (most palpable as they bickered during the landing, until Carter stepped in and congratulated Sheppard for his successful landing, because McKay obviously wasn't going to do it).
P.S. Carter, it's "General Landry wants Dr. Lee and me," not "Dr. Lee and I." Thanks!
Bill Lee made a fun entry point for us fans, with his excitement over going off-world through the gate, and his taking pictures of -- well, the Apollo. *g* I thought it was cute.
So the Replicators may ease the burden of the battle against the Wraith for the rest of the Pegasus civilizations. I wonder if it'll work. What happens if/when they run out of Wraith? Or when they reprogram themselves again and decide to attack someone else?
Ronon was fun tonight -- losing patience with McKay, making Zelenka nervous just by being huge, being all Serious Commando with the ZPM container and enemy-disarming and hallway-scouting, stepping forward when Oberoth walked into the cell (even though it wasn't technically Ronon), comforting Teyla. Oh, Teyla. *sniff* Despite the fact that her friendship with Elizabeth was inserted in the past two episodes, her crying scene was still moving.
(Where did she disappear to while the returned team chose planets at the end, though? She was supposed to be in charge of the city before, and then she wasn't even there. Or if she was there, she didn't contribute anything. Boo.)
HEY, I WONDER WHO WILL TAKE OVER ELIZABETH'S POSITION, NUDGE NUDGE, OTHER WOMAN IN CHARGE WHOM SHEPPARD ASKED EARLIER TO RUN THE CITY IN HIS ABSENCE. ( = unsubtle)
The heist felt a bit Firefly-y to me, in a good way. Specifically, "Ariel": the blue and gray futuristic city, the tension of infiltrating an advanced society whose inhabitants would very much like to capture you if they knew you were there, the covert ops, the mission going wrong, the escape. That's about where it ends, though. So mostly the blue and gray futuristic city with underlying tension. ETA: And Rodney's leaf reference as they struggled to land the city echoed Wash's mantra in Serenity. "I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar." *SLAM*
Re: next week's preview: One of Ronon's old friends is the guy from Iron Chef, isn't it? The acrobatic host who announces the secret ingredient and the winner? Ha! I love him. ETA: It totally is! I am psyched; he can out-hot much of the SGA cast. It kind of makes me want to write Ronon/his character slash already.
ETA: linabean's review
Well, the thing with Elizabeth went pretty much as badly as Sheppard and Elizabeth had feared. He didn't even get a clean kill out of it, painful as that would have been. No closure; no certainty that the Replicators aren't extracting extremely damaging information out of Elizabeth, even if they're also busy with their new goal of attacking the Wraith. Completely FUBAR. That scene where Sheppard and Rodney were back in Atlantis' control room, trying to pick planets? You could see the both of them struggling to make decisions and move forward to save the city while knowing that at that very moment, Elizabeth was probably being tortured and/or having her entire being "reprogrammed" because (a) Rodney activated the nanites instead of letting her die last week, (b) John didn't kill her on sight as soon as he realized what had happened, and (c) Rodney and John agreed to push their luck and carry out the mission to upload the Wraith activation code*. I know it's more complicated than that, and that if they hadn't reactivated the nanites, they wouldn't have been able to infiltrate the Replicators' homeworld and save the city with the stolen ZPM, but I imagine they're both feeling the weight of their guilt.
*Although: What the heck kind of explanation was it that Elizabeth couldn't have a second chance to help them with that part of the plan? The Replicators would trace the ZPM theft back to her? How?? Not buying it.
I liked Elizabeth and John's conversation before they shipped out. It confirmed that the two of them were on the same page about her tenuous lease on life and the necessity of shutting her down the moment the Replicators connected to her, which supports John's assertion to Rodney last week that he understood her better than Rodney did. Interesting how, face to face, John wavered when Elizabeth made him promise to kill her; last week, he was the one insisting on it, the one who had his gun out when he walked into the infirmary to see what happened when she woke**, and while he still held firm tonight, making sure Rodney stayed with her in the 'jumper and flipped the switch when the time came, he still looked sad and hesitant when Elizabeth spoke to him about it, and it seemed like more than just the discomfort of agreeing you'll kill someone to their face.
** Thank you for pointing that out,
moonlash_cc!HUGE BONUS POINTS for yet more gender inversion with (fake!)Sheppard in the prison cell. You had him forced to his knees, again, the damsel in distress, again, held still while the physically imposing, domineering, sneering man-villain penetrated him, taking what he desired by force, and all Sheppard could do was wince. Until the assailant found himself inexplicably impotent. And then Sheppard morphed into a woman and laughed at him and told him he'd underestimated her. YES.
Also, first, we had Rodney say "penetrate," and then Sheppard called him on it. Then we had Rodney harping on needing to find the right angle and position so they didn't burn up on entry. Then we had him yelling, "Nice kiss." And I think at one point Sheppard said "I need you..." or "I want you..." with that slight pause, followed by (paraphrase) "to stay in the jumper and keep an eye on Elizabeth." All obvious, perhaps, but still silly and enjoyable for subtext, which was surely put in on purpose, along with all the other 'shippy biscuits.
WTF happened to David Nykl's accent? It's been spotty before, including a few wince-worthy lines in the season premiere, but today it completely fell apart.
I wish the last balcony scene had been Sheppard and McKay instead of Sheppard and Carter. Probably people are going to harp on it for setting the stage for Carter coming between them, usurping their friendship/antagonism/shared screen time as the season progresses. I do hope that's not the case, but I don't mind her in general. It's just that Sheppard and McKay had numerous serious issues they needed to discuss, or pointedly not discuss, e.g. Elizabeth being captured and/or dead and their joint roles in that and Rodney having once again overestimated the extent of his power over technology and the fact that they're on a new planet now and..., and instead we skipped over that and had a scene about five moons and a promotion. The scene itself wasn't bad, but it felt too light for a conclusion without having also addressed some of the other subjects. Perhaps Sheppard and Rodney's continuing tension was meant to suffice (most palpable as they bickered during the landing, until Carter stepped in and congratulated Sheppard for his successful landing, because McKay obviously wasn't going to do it).
P.S. Carter, it's "General Landry wants Dr. Lee and me," not "Dr. Lee and I." Thanks!
Bill Lee made a fun entry point for us fans, with his excitement over going off-world through the gate, and his taking pictures of -- well, the Apollo. *g* I thought it was cute.
So the Replicators may ease the burden of the battle against the Wraith for the rest of the Pegasus civilizations. I wonder if it'll work. What happens if/when they run out of Wraith? Or when they reprogram themselves again and decide to attack someone else?
Ronon was fun tonight -- losing patience with McKay, making Zelenka nervous just by being huge, being all Serious Commando with the ZPM container and enemy-disarming and hallway-scouting, stepping forward when Oberoth walked into the cell (even though it wasn't technically Ronon), comforting Teyla. Oh, Teyla. *sniff* Despite the fact that her friendship with Elizabeth was inserted in the past two episodes, her crying scene was still moving.
(Where did she disappear to while the returned team chose planets at the end, though? She was supposed to be in charge of the city before, and then she wasn't even there. Or if she was there, she didn't contribute anything. Boo.)
HEY, I WONDER WHO WILL TAKE OVER ELIZABETH'S POSITION, NUDGE NUDGE, OTHER WOMAN IN CHARGE WHOM SHEPPARD ASKED EARLIER TO RUN THE CITY IN HIS ABSENCE. ( = unsubtle)
The heist felt a bit Firefly-y to me, in a good way. Specifically, "Ariel": the blue and gray futuristic city, the tension of infiltrating an advanced society whose inhabitants would very much like to capture you if they knew you were there, the covert ops, the mission going wrong, the escape. That's about where it ends, though. So mostly the blue and gray futuristic city with underlying tension. ETA: And Rodney's leaf reference as they struggled to land the city echoed Wash's mantra in Serenity. "I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar." *SLAM*
Re: next week's preview: One of Ronon's old friends is the guy from Iron Chef, isn't it? The acrobatic host who announces the secret ingredient and the winner? Ha! I love him. ETA: It totally is! I am psyched; he can out-hot much of the SGA cast. It kind of makes me want to write Ronon/his character slash already.
ETA: linabean's review
