SGA 4.3, "Reunion"
Oct. 19th, 2007 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicI realize that five of the last seven entries -- now six of the last eight -- have been TV reviews of two shows. I'm sorry for that; it's not a very good balance. The best explanation I can offer is that I haven't been feeling much like myself for many weeks now, and I haven't been able to write much of anything, including stories, posts and work-related stuff, and I don't like to post when (a) I can't think straight, (b) the sentences suck, and (c) I'm depressed and feeling mean. But today isn't so bad, and with luck the weekend will be the same, and things can start looking up again.
Anyway, I thought I'd write a reaction to last week's Stargate: Atlantis episode before tonight's ep airs.
Highlights for me included:
- Ronon's voice breaking on, "After what they did to Sateda?!"
- I wonder if McKay managed to (secretly) program anything useful into the Replicator test subject.
- John's reaction when Sam says she won't send him on a suicide mission. That quick look away while he gets himself under control. Nice.
- John saying "we can't help these people" when they pass the cocooned victims in the Wraith compound. Pegasus seems to have taught him a lesson about stopping in the middle of missions in Wraith territory to rescue innocents -- especially since they're not always innocents. Maybe the reference to the last time he tried was meant to not only highlight the change in John but also bring to mind Wraith worshippers.
- Rodney has made some progress of his own in the field, too. Where at the end of season two he was completely freaking out about being trapped on a hive ship in the goo, this time he thought fast on his feet, didn't take a chance with the firearm he still can't reliably use, and deliberately slipped into the cocoon that once terrified him (and still might terrify him, but he's braver than ever and overcame that fear) -- and it worked. Go, Rodney!
- Ronon said in "The Return, Part One" (I think) that the reason he'd packed so quickly was that he didn't have a lot of stuff. I guess he's collected much more since then, because his quarters look pretty packed. I wasn't expecting that he'd have so many belongings. Also, if he did become more of a packrat in the last few months, wouldn't that suggest that he finally felt at home enough to settle in a bit, let himself own more than he could carry, more than he could pick up and Run with at a moment's notice? If so, how was it so easy for him to decide to leave? Aie, that's a bullet point in itself, how his friends played off the lingering insecurities he apparently has despite all the evidence of episodes past that he means far more to Atlantis than an ally -- especially to his team.
- I wish the "Ronon meets up with old comrades, frets over whether to leave Atlantis, tries to get both sides to cooperate, is betrayed, and decides to come home" arc could have lasted more than one episode, and as a B-plot rather than an A-plot, at least at first. Let his friends have time to win him over; let him have time to measure the pros and cons of leaving; let them have a successful mission before the critical one; let his friends and acquaintances and enemies -- he must have his detractors -- on Atlantis speak their minds to him and/or to each other about him leaving; let him brood afterwards about the betrayal. Well, I guess we had some brooding. But cramming it all in to one episode made everything feel rushed, and not in the appropriate way where we empathize with Ronon caught up in the rush of meeting his friends who he'd thought were dead, but rather in the predictable TV drama way where we know these guys will only be around for 40 minutes and they'll do something awful that turns Ronon away from them and back to Atlantis.
(Speaking of which: Ronon only came back to Atlantis in the end because his friends turned out to support the one thing he's dedicated himself to destroy in the galaxy. Not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the "my friends are right here" sentiment, but nothing happened that made him reassess the idea of leaving Atlantis for surviving Satedans in general, except some regret/longing when Rodney, Teyla and Sheppard went off in one direction and he didn't follow; another group of long-lost friends who don't happen to worship the Wraith could come along, and he might make the same decision again. Not as heartwarming as it presented itself to be.)
- Awwww, Rodney! Even though I wanted to thwap you over the head thirty seconds ago when you assumed you'd be getting the position and were rubbing it in Zelenka's face without even realizing you were rubbing it in Zelenka's face, I now want to give you a hug because you are so clearly disappointed. (Quite the contrast to stoic Sheppard, who must also have been hoping in some part that he'd get to be in charge of Atlantis, even if he could rationalize the let-down at Sam's appointment by saying he wouldn't have wanted to deal with the bureaucracy.)
- I still am boggled by the lack of concern for the fact that the Atlanteans have let the Replicators loose with all their base-programmed aggression, even if that aggression is targeted at the Wraith. It feels like one of those disasters where a government introduced a natural predator to a new environment to take care of a pest, only to find that once it had eliminated the pest, it took over the land and couldn't be controlled. Not to mention: whoever wins this war is not going to be a fun or easy enemy to beat in battle afterwards.
- I do like the reappearance of the Wraith as scientists. Much as I feel they could be far better villains with a little extra work on the writers' part, at least rather than allowing them to be mindless life-drainers, the Wraith get to be technologically advanced and smart every once in a while besides the occasional abandoned experimental lab. I liked the explicit comparison last season of Michael to McKay, and the way McKay and Beckett et al worked with the Wraith to develop and distribute the retrovirus the season before; in this episode, the Wraith had a fairly cogent conversation with McKay about how to manipulate complicated computer code -- they'd done it thousands of years ago, and McKay can do it now, and they could each learn from and help each other, despite differing goals, sort of like Sheppard and his Wraith-brother in "Common Ground." Very cool.
- It is perhaps not much of a secret that I love characters getting attacked, imprisoned, knocked unconscious, beaten up, shot, threatened, weakened, tortured, etc. So I was a very happy camper when Teyla and then Sheppard and then Rodney got stunned and dragged around by their vests. Yes.
- And! When they plucked Rodney out of the cell and they all thought he was going to be tortured -- and Sheppard fought them, and Teyla called out for Rodney to be strong, and Rodney was all babbly-terrified -- yes yes yes. Drama! Hurt! Heroes in danger! Plus, it bolstered some choices I made in a WIP.
- Random recurring observation: There are only six small tables in the mess hall for an expedition of hundreds, and yet there are always empty seats. Conclusion: All the characters we see there are eating at extraordinarily unpopular times? Everyone eats at their desks? There are secretly only a couple dozen people staffing the city?
- Good for them for letting the characters talk about what we're all thinking: for instance, Sheppard voicing his concerns to Ronon that the mission would become a pissing match between the Atlanteans and the Satedans, compromising everyone. It suggests the ep will move beyond that and/or go in a different direction.
- Re: pre-mission tensions in the 'jumper: Rodney/Satedans non-con, Y/N?
- The Satedans can't all have been boorish, drunken reveler-fighters, despite what sightings of them on SGA suggest. They had an incredibly technologically advanced civilization before the fierce culling. Theories: the survivors have become boorish, drunken reveler-fighters in an attempt to cope with the destruction of their homeworld; only the boorish, drunken reveler-fighters stir up enough of a reputation for word of them to make it back to Atlantis; they're not boorish, drunken reveler-fighters all the time, but only between battles and/or for recreation; only the boorish, drunken reveler-fighters made it off Sateda alive, not having fought on the front lines or stayed behind as civilians to honorably defend themselves and/or die for their principles; feel free to insert other possibilities here. In other words, I'm not thrilled with the characterization of Ronon's kinspeople so far, and I hope we'll see another side of them someday.
- Awwwww, Rodney! Cock-blocked by John "I did the same thing to your fangirl on the supervolcano planet" Sheppard, who's not even interested in Sam except as a boss he wants to ingratiate himself to (notice, though, that giving her Rodney's fruit basket did not earn you permission to run off and rescue Elizabeth). Again, even though I wanted to smack him earlier (in an adoringly exasperated way) for trying to get in Sam's pants, it still hurts to see him hurt. And he didn't even tell her the fruit basket was his idea.
(Ha -- I wonder if he got the sprig of ... whatever that was, from Katie Brown. It'd be just like him to not realize how inappropriate it is to ask your girlfriend for a bouquet to give your crush.)
- Two moments that made me happily think of two excellent fanfics: first, when Rukai was giving Ronon the new tattoo, and we got canonical proof that the Satedans use the traditional East Asian techniques![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spike21 theorized in Kept by Ourselves in Silence and Apart. (And so Ronon now carries that permanent, physical reminder that he must be constantly wary; as if he needed that reminder; as if he'd been growing too comfortable on Atlantis after so many years Running, too eager to get back into the thick of the fight every day; as if this is what he needs to worry about, or this is who he is, after Rodney helped him erase the scars that branded him as a Runner.) Second, when Teyla spoke to Ronon about the conflicts she feels in having left her people for Atlantis, feeling as though she's betrayed them even though she can do them much more good on Atlantis than if she'd stayed with them; fiercelydreamed addressed this in a poignant scene between Teyla and Elizabeth in Pegasus Ethics.
Tonight looks like the good fic brought to the screen, the happy, campy, shamelessly melodramatic sci fi tropes of yore coming out to play. I'm really excited for it, not least because of the enthusiastic response it's been getting from fans who've watched it early. Because, come on! Evil!KirkJohn! John touches mysterious Ancient machinery without knowing what it does, and adventure ensues! Character-based adventure! Exploring the innermost fears of our team! Sadly, it did look from the preview -- though hopefully there's more to it than what they showed -- that those fears are more universal than intimately personal, such as being buried alive and enclosed in a small space. And -- being pregnant? I guess being pregnant with an evil alien baby, because they couldn't possibly be brave enough to argue that a woman's worst fear might be pregnancy, period. If they go there, I'll fly to Vancouver and hug them all. Or maybe just write them a letter. Or maybe just do a little dance. But it would be fantastic.
ETA: linabean's recap, and friendshipper's
Anyway, I thought I'd write a reaction to last week's Stargate: Atlantis episode before tonight's ep airs.
Highlights for me included:
- Ronon's voice breaking on, "After what they did to Sateda?!"
- I wonder if McKay managed to (secretly) program anything useful into the Replicator test subject.
- John's reaction when Sam says she won't send him on a suicide mission. That quick look away while he gets himself under control. Nice.
- John saying "we can't help these people" when they pass the cocooned victims in the Wraith compound. Pegasus seems to have taught him a lesson about stopping in the middle of missions in Wraith territory to rescue innocents -- especially since they're not always innocents. Maybe the reference to the last time he tried was meant to not only highlight the change in John but also bring to mind Wraith worshippers.
- Rodney has made some progress of his own in the field, too. Where at the end of season two he was completely freaking out about being trapped on a hive ship in the goo, this time he thought fast on his feet, didn't take a chance with the firearm he still can't reliably use, and deliberately slipped into the cocoon that once terrified him (and still might terrify him, but he's braver than ever and overcame that fear) -- and it worked. Go, Rodney!
- Ronon said in "The Return, Part One" (I think) that the reason he'd packed so quickly was that he didn't have a lot of stuff. I guess he's collected much more since then, because his quarters look pretty packed. I wasn't expecting that he'd have so many belongings. Also, if he did become more of a packrat in the last few months, wouldn't that suggest that he finally felt at home enough to settle in a bit, let himself own more than he could carry, more than he could pick up and Run with at a moment's notice? If so, how was it so easy for him to decide to leave? Aie, that's a bullet point in itself, how his friends played off the lingering insecurities he apparently has despite all the evidence of episodes past that he means far more to Atlantis than an ally -- especially to his team.
- I wish the "Ronon meets up with old comrades, frets over whether to leave Atlantis, tries to get both sides to cooperate, is betrayed, and decides to come home" arc could have lasted more than one episode, and as a B-plot rather than an A-plot, at least at first. Let his friends have time to win him over; let him have time to measure the pros and cons of leaving; let them have a successful mission before the critical one; let his friends and acquaintances and enemies -- he must have his detractors -- on Atlantis speak their minds to him and/or to each other about him leaving; let him brood afterwards about the betrayal. Well, I guess we had some brooding. But cramming it all in to one episode made everything feel rushed, and not in the appropriate way where we empathize with Ronon caught up in the rush of meeting his friends who he'd thought were dead, but rather in the predictable TV drama way where we know these guys will only be around for 40 minutes and they'll do something awful that turns Ronon away from them and back to Atlantis.
(Speaking of which: Ronon only came back to Atlantis in the end because his friends turned out to support the one thing he's dedicated himself to destroy in the galaxy. Not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the "my friends are right here" sentiment, but nothing happened that made him reassess the idea of leaving Atlantis for surviving Satedans in general, except some regret/longing when Rodney, Teyla and Sheppard went off in one direction and he didn't follow; another group of long-lost friends who don't happen to worship the Wraith could come along, and he might make the same decision again. Not as heartwarming as it presented itself to be.)
- Awwww, Rodney! Even though I wanted to thwap you over the head thirty seconds ago when you assumed you'd be getting the position and were rubbing it in Zelenka's face without even realizing you were rubbing it in Zelenka's face, I now want to give you a hug because you are so clearly disappointed. (Quite the contrast to stoic Sheppard, who must also have been hoping in some part that he'd get to be in charge of Atlantis, even if he could rationalize the let-down at Sam's appointment by saying he wouldn't have wanted to deal with the bureaucracy.)
- I still am boggled by the lack of concern for the fact that the Atlanteans have let the Replicators loose with all their base-programmed aggression, even if that aggression is targeted at the Wraith. It feels like one of those disasters where a government introduced a natural predator to a new environment to take care of a pest, only to find that once it had eliminated the pest, it took over the land and couldn't be controlled. Not to mention: whoever wins this war is not going to be a fun or easy enemy to beat in battle afterwards.
- I do like the reappearance of the Wraith as scientists. Much as I feel they could be far better villains with a little extra work on the writers' part, at least rather than allowing them to be mindless life-drainers, the Wraith get to be technologically advanced and smart every once in a while besides the occasional abandoned experimental lab. I liked the explicit comparison last season of Michael to McKay, and the way McKay and Beckett et al worked with the Wraith to develop and distribute the retrovirus the season before; in this episode, the Wraith had a fairly cogent conversation with McKay about how to manipulate complicated computer code -- they'd done it thousands of years ago, and McKay can do it now, and they could each learn from and help each other, despite differing goals, sort of like Sheppard and his Wraith-brother in "Common Ground." Very cool.
- It is perhaps not much of a secret that I love characters getting attacked, imprisoned, knocked unconscious, beaten up, shot, threatened, weakened, tortured, etc. So I was a very happy camper when Teyla and then Sheppard and then Rodney got stunned and dragged around by their vests. Yes.
- And! When they plucked Rodney out of the cell and they all thought he was going to be tortured -- and Sheppard fought them, and Teyla called out for Rodney to be strong, and Rodney was all babbly-terrified -- yes yes yes. Drama! Hurt! Heroes in danger! Plus, it bolstered some choices I made in a WIP.
- Random recurring observation: There are only six small tables in the mess hall for an expedition of hundreds, and yet there are always empty seats. Conclusion: All the characters we see there are eating at extraordinarily unpopular times? Everyone eats at their desks? There are secretly only a couple dozen people staffing the city?
- Good for them for letting the characters talk about what we're all thinking: for instance, Sheppard voicing his concerns to Ronon that the mission would become a pissing match between the Atlanteans and the Satedans, compromising everyone. It suggests the ep will move beyond that and/or go in a different direction.
- Re: pre-mission tensions in the 'jumper: Rodney/Satedans non-con, Y/N?
- The Satedans can't all have been boorish, drunken reveler-fighters, despite what sightings of them on SGA suggest. They had an incredibly technologically advanced civilization before the fierce culling. Theories: the survivors have become boorish, drunken reveler-fighters in an attempt to cope with the destruction of their homeworld; only the boorish, drunken reveler-fighters stir up enough of a reputation for word of them to make it back to Atlantis; they're not boorish, drunken reveler-fighters all the time, but only between battles and/or for recreation; only the boorish, drunken reveler-fighters made it off Sateda alive, not having fought on the front lines or stayed behind as civilians to honorably defend themselves and/or die for their principles; feel free to insert other possibilities here. In other words, I'm not thrilled with the characterization of Ronon's kinspeople so far, and I hope we'll see another side of them someday.
- Awwwww, Rodney! Cock-blocked by John "I did the same thing to your fangirl on the supervolcano planet" Sheppard, who's not even interested in Sam except as a boss he wants to ingratiate himself to (notice, though, that giving her Rodney's fruit basket did not earn you permission to run off and rescue Elizabeth). Again, even though I wanted to smack him earlier (in an adoringly exasperated way) for trying to get in Sam's pants, it still hurts to see him hurt. And he didn't even tell her the fruit basket was his idea.
(Ha -- I wonder if he got the sprig of ... whatever that was, from Katie Brown. It'd be just like him to not realize how inappropriate it is to ask your girlfriend for a bouquet to give your crush.)
- Two moments that made me happily think of two excellent fanfics: first, when Rukai was giving Ronon the new tattoo, and we got canonical proof that the Satedans use the traditional East Asian techniques
spike21 theorized in Kept by Ourselves in Silence and Apart. (And so Ronon now carries that permanent, physical reminder that he must be constantly wary; as if he needed that reminder; as if he'd been growing too comfortable on Atlantis after so many years Running, too eager to get back into the thick of the fight every day; as if this is what he needs to worry about, or this is who he is, after Rodney helped him erase the scars that branded him as a Runner.) Second, when Teyla spoke to Ronon about the conflicts she feels in having left her people for Atlantis, feeling as though she's betrayed them even though she can do them much more good on Atlantis than if she'd stayed with them; fiercelydreamed addressed this in a poignant scene between Teyla and Elizabeth in Pegasus Ethics.Tonight looks like the good fic brought to the screen, the happy, campy, shamelessly melodramatic sci fi tropes of yore coming out to play. I'm really excited for it, not least because of the enthusiastic response it's been getting from fans who've watched it early. Because, come on! Evil!
ETA: linabean's recap, and friendshipper's
no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2007 12:46 am (UTC)To hypothesize along with you, re: some of your questions:
-Cafeterias: I can think of two other explanations. One, there isn't just one cafeteria, but a few. The city is very big, after all; we could just be seeing the one located near the gate hall/command center. Two, we could be seeing a different of the cafeteria set aside for senior staff, as it were - the Atlantean equivalent to an Officer Mess. (Here be fanwanking, but it can still make sense...)
-Don't forget that all the boorish, drunken reveler-fighter Satedans we have seen have been military. (I think; I'm right, right?) So, they're military who could have survived due to their quick reactions under stress but also hot semi-suicidal kinda-half-insane tendencies. The army makes you wacko. And there's a certain kind of military camaraderie that they really do fit into, that explains the vulgar jokes and violence and over protectiveness (and getting drunk.) And you're right that they're definitely not all like that; rather, to me it seemed obvious that it was Ronon's military buddies who were like that. And the Stargate universe has a record of technologically advanced but not culturally advanced peoples, which I guess explains why they have Wraith stunners but still look like they just popped out from Middle Earth.
-WORD and all the AWW! and YAY! moments.
-And finally, I don't know if you follow Joe Mallozzi's blog, but he made two posts about this episode that you might be interested in reading. In addition to Many Awesome Cut Scenes, he also refers to what you mentioned re: Ronon's choice and Ronon's possessions. (His two posts about ths episode are here and here.)
no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2007 01:30 am (UTC)Yes, yes, about the other Satedans we've seen all being/having been military. Left that out -- oops! That's got to be a factor -- a "fight hard, play harder" type of philosophy. I like your point about the possibility of the more unhinged soldiers making it out alive, too.
Good theories about the cafeteria. They help ease my pain. :D Unfortunately, no evidence (yet?) for other cafeterias. But maybe one day.
no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2007 01:51 am (UTC)1. A cut scene from Reunion, about Ronon's stuff:
#INT. RONON'S QUARTERS - ATLANTIS -- DAY
Ronon is clearly getting ready to leave.
CARTER: “Packing?”
RONON: “Yeah.”
The place is decorated with keepsakes from Sateda and some of the other worlds Ronon has visited. Carter's eyes are drawn to a painting, a Frazetta-like depiction of a group of Satedan warriors triumphant in battle.
RONON: “That used to hang in the military museum - the Satedan victory over Vetariss. After my life as a runner ended, I went back and sorted through what was left of my homeworld.”
Carter points to a portion of a marble column.
CARTER: “What was this?”
RONON: “Part of an archway, at the entrance to the academy where I did my training.”
Carter picks up a necklace of withered fingers.
CARTER: “And this?”
RONON: “It's a necklace made from the fingers of the first wraith I ever killed.”
Off Carter's look -
RONON: “It holds a lot of sentimental value.”
2. About Ronon's decision to leave:
Ronon makes the decision to leave: In the end, it’s his loyalty to his former friends and his concern for their safety (ie. he doesn’t want them to end up like Marika and Hemi) that dictate his decision. To those who have complained that the wraith-worshiper revelation robs Ronon of having to make the choice, the fact is he does make the choice here.
So, yeah. Definitely not as heartwarming as you'd expect; in fact, I think it'd be interesting to read fic that addresses this. Does the Atlantis team still trust Ronon as much as they used to? Do they feel betrayed? Or is everything still the same?
no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2007 07:12 am (UTC)Anyhoo, this was a great read, and I'm totally with you on wanting to simultaneously hit and sympathise with Rodney. The expression on Zelenka's face was absolutely priceless, but I felt so, so sorry for him when he saw the fruit basket in Sam's quarters. Because it was sneaky and kind of funny but also kind of mean.
I think
another group of long-lost friends who don't happen to worship the Wraith could come along, and he might make the same decision again. Not as heartwarming as it presented itself to be.
I quite like this idea. I much prefer my sci-fi in shades of grey (which SGA does better than most, but doesn't always do at all) and this definitely creates the future possibility. I doubt we'll see it explored, which is a shame, but it's interesting all the same.
And like you, I love 'competent Wraith'. I mean, I know they have to get beaten because "Atlantis Good! Wraith Bad!", but it's nice to see them getting a chance to show that they are the ones who beat the Ancients, and it's not just through numbers - they have the ships and the technology to be a real threat.
Thanks for the fic recs - I've been slowly working my way through years of backlog and generally having a great time :)