SGA 4.9, "Miller's Crossing"

[bironic]

So I was all excited for this episode because of John and Ronon in suits (hot) and Jeannie being there (yay!) and Rodney getting kidnapped during his rescue attempt (double yay!) and John sitting with Madison (cute, but very very short) – and I loved all of those things, but – but –

Rodney got a clue and didn't want to lose his sister. He entreated – he went all quiet and intense and wobbly and said John's first name. And was willing to sacrifice himself for her. That's brave little toaster Rodney from "Hide and Seek," only now he's asking permission from his team leader instead of not thinking about anyone else and just going forth to do what he wants.

And John – wouldn't let him do it. Said it was because Rodney was valuable to Atlantis. And when that didn't work, claimed higher rank. And when that didn't work, came a step closer to the truth and said he was important to John's team. And when that didn't work, actually said he (John) couldn't do it. He couldn't let Rodney do it.

He won't – he can't lose him.

His voice all soft, too, and just as intense.

And then John killed a man so Rodney wouldn't die.

I have never felt the love and dedication between Sheppard and McKay on the show that could be the basis for Sheppard/McKay like I felt it tonight.

And then, they didn't drop it! John sought refuge in his comic book, and Rodney came chasing after him, grateful and maybe a little freaked out. And even if they didn't talk about it, really, they kind of did. And they're okay. More okay than they've ever been: they both know how much Rodney means to him. And then they hung out – more midnight snacks and brooding about ethics and death, but in the company of friends.

And talked about whether Rodney is as hot as John. I can't believe they went there. Twice.

Family. Wraith may not have them (we never did get an answer on that), John may not have or acknowledge his, IT tech guy may have lost all he had, but they all (except possibly the Wraith) understand their importance. Rodney realized how much Jeannie means to him; John went to a very dark place for the sake of his adopted family, and IT tech guy sacrificed himself, so that Rodney could preserve his own family. Caleb threatened to cut Rodney out of his and Madison's lives if anything happened to his wife. Jeannie asked Rodney if he's planning to settle down with Katie. Teyla was off dealing with her own impending little family. John asked after Jeannie's family at the end.

Jeannie appealed to IT guy's humanity and love for his family, and failed. Rodney appealed to the Wraith's love for his equivalent-of-family, and failed; then went for the selfish angle, and succeeded. (House thinks) Wilson should pay attention.

Otherwise for the win:

- The Wraith. I continue to adore him and sincerely hope he sticks around for a while and proves trustworthy. He's awesome, and not just because he's always in a bondage getup that seriously needs to appear in some fanfic, stat. He's smart and complicated and mysterious and useful and doesn't sneer as much as most other Wraith do. First Wraith member of Starfleet Team Atlantis!

- Zelenka! With haircut and excellent understanding of Rodney's brain. Also: gotta love Rodney as a leader.

- Nanites cure leukemia! Where's Wilson? ... Oh, wait, they don't.

- Ronon getting characteristically itchy at being made to sit around and do admin things instead of running out somewhere to shoot stuff. Loved the glare he leveled on the glasses guy whose name I still haven't learned. And did Ronon still not get a snack, while John stole the fry? Oh, John. Oh, Ronon. Oh, jokes about General Landry.

- John, Ronon and ... other guy all sitting around the table digging through paperwork, in various combinations of rumpled suits and guns. Total cop/detective AU.

- Rodney making his wincey face when they cut the plastic restraints off, like the one he made in "Condemned" when the guy shoved him to his knees. Mmmm.

- Anecdote about Rodney's father having to call the police to find him in the mall. And he complains about Sheppard's lack of directional sense.

- Rodney said "our CIA" when he was explaining the Canadian special forces to John, suggesting that he considers himself American more than Canadian.

- John's head-skritch of frustration.

- Some line Rodney said to Jeannie about activating the nanites that was clearly more about Elizabeth than Shannon. Wish I could remember it. Oh -- something about how the IT guy should never have done it. Residual guilt much?

- John dressed Ronon. Ronon said so.

- Rodney shooed them off because it could take ten hours to get the computer debugged and the virus traced. I'm sure John and Ronon (would have) found something to occupy themselves with.

- Rodney cracking a joke about unicorns.

- So they activated nanites on Earth that were based in large part on Replicator code, and nobody was worried they'd alert the Replicators to their location? Even if it wasn't a great risk because these were independently manufactured nanites, I'd think it would warrant a mention. Kind of like bringing a Wraith to Earth and planning to send him back to Pegasus afterwards. Someone sure pulled some strings for Jeannie.

- Rodney's "Duh, I love you too," so quick but clearly not a lie. You know he's like that with Katie too. Oh, God, the first time they both tried to say it to each other? What a stutterfest.

Yes. I don't know. Still happily dazed by that soft-intense Rodney and John scene.


ETA: That was fast! Consolation by sheafrotherdon. If I Could Walk On Water by apple_pi (adult). Brother to the Executioner by xparrot.

ETA: Commentaries: moonlash, Pru, Lenore, friendshipper, xparrot

Comments

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

YES! YES! YES!

OMG RODNEY BECAME A MENSCH!!

Hee. But he totally did! I was interested in this episode because I still haven't seen "McKay and Mrs. Miller," and so I was watching and then I kind of drifted away and we were eating dinner and then all of a sudden there was That Scene.

And I knew -- I knew what Rodney was going to suggest and I couldn't fucking believe it. And then he and John had The Conversation, and Rodney called him "John," and it was just WIORGT4RYHFDHBGFUWRA! And FJ42890HFWQ!

You saw it! It was! God, I love this show!

And I thought "Wilson!" when they were talking about curing cancer. Hee. Again.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

YES! I didn't know if they'd really have Rodney volunteer himself, and then they did, and then not ONLY did they did (heh), John REFUSED TO LET HIM and DIDN'T BACK DOWN. And their voices got quieter instead of louder. And beyond THAT, the scene with John in the interrogation room, and then I thought, No, they wouldn't -- have John try to convince him -- and if the guy doesn't want to, what if John still -- And. And. YES.

"McKay and Mrs. Miller" has better Jeannie, and more about how Rodney feels about himself and about her (they hadn't spoken in years before that episode). It's a great ep, although not as tight as it could be, like this one, and it didn't take advantage of some of the ... things it set up. /cryptic

[perspi.livejournal.com]

OMG TOTALLY!

I had to come see who else I could squee with, and I am so glad for you, bironic, to provide a forum for the squee! It was really an awesome episode.

Ronon and John in suits! EEE! THAT SCENE! All of your eloquent observations, because I was finishing the episode while you had time to compose yourself!

Except Rodney's pants were rather...um. Tragic.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Happy to provide!

See, the series has already shown that Rodney is willing to sacrifice himself for Atlantis/the expedition ("Hide and Seek," "Before I Sleep"), and I think he would die for Sheppard, and Teyla, and pre-Replicator Elizabeth, and maybe even Ronon and Sam, and tonight Jeannie joined that list. ♥

Suits! Suspenders! Deep, deep friendships!

(I did not notice the pants. Yay?)

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Except Rodney's pants were rather...um. Tragic.

LOL! That's typical Rodney. He obviously shops at Geeks R Us. Compared with some of the other "casual" outfits he's turned up in, though, this one was almost unremarkable. Obviously, John's having some influence on his sartorial sense.

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

Wow, I am awfully impressed by how many coherent things you had to say. I was mostly all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!Q$%@#$%@T ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

ASDHGAEHITJKLFGJADLIFHJ!!

It took a few minutes to calm down and think of something to say.

Mostly I want to watch that scene over and over and over.

[kimberlyfdr.livejournal.com]

I just posted my commentary. I cannot believe how AWESOME this episode was. Jeannie rocks, Rodney's emotional (and he said JOHN) and John's just...he can create so much emotion in just two words and he plays dirty, but he does it because he loves Rodney and he cannot let him put himself in danger.

As Joe Flanigan said, John is a pretty pretty psycho princess. This would be proof positive of that fact.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Nothing much to add just - Woo hoo! This was such a great episode. The sets continue to be ST:TOS flimsy, but the acting and story were top-notch.

IT Guy's daughter had ALL, which is what I gave Wilson's daughter in one of my stories, so I was boring my husband with a few facts from my research.

When Ronon was listening to Glasses Guy's story, I could see him thinking, "This guy's head would squish just like a grape."

I am impressed (as I have been in previous episodes) by the show giving John the willingness to kill. Shows like Star Trek, and others who escape me now, try to pussyfoot around the fact that military people have killing as one of their options, and sometimes that is the best choice. The episode with the Genii -- John totally took those guys out; it wasn't some "Shoot 'em in the leg and put 'em in the brig" thing.

With that said, it takes extra strength to push a guy into sacrificing himself, above what you need to shoot someone in battle. Well-played and well-acted.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yes! This was not a "shoot them before they shoot you/your friends" decision, but calmly calculated. On Star Trek, John's decision would either make him one of the villains, or it would be the focus of a Very Special Dark Episode, like "In the Pale Moonlight" on DS9 (if you know that one, where Sisko pushes himself, and others, far beyond his ethical comfort zone in order to achieve something he thinks is right, and someone dies because of it, even though he himself didn't pull the metaphorical trigger).

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit late for the squee-fest, but what the hell: AGJASD;FJAE;RJ!

Rodney said "our CIA" when he was explaining the Canadian special forces to John, suggesting that he considers himself American more than Canadian.

Hmm. I interpreted that line as Rodney saying CSIS was "our" (i.e., "Canada's") version of the CIA. That makes John reply more logical, which was something along the lines of "Couldn't you guys do any better?" Frankly, I think both Rodney and John now consider themselves Lantean rather than Canadian or American.

The Wraith. I continue to adore him and sincerely hope he sticks around for a while and proves trustworthy.

Agreed. On a side note, I'm pretty sure that's the same actor who used to play Halling.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I interpreted that line as Rodney saying CSIS was "our" (i.e., "Canada's") version of the CIA.

moonlash_cc said the same thing at lunch yesterday, and I think you're both right. It threw me to think that Rodney suddenly identified as an American. And yes, I do think they identify as Atlanteans now more than anything; at least John does, and I wouldn't be surprised if Rodney's the same. Ronon and Teyla are trickier: do they think of themselves as Atlanteans first and Satedan/Athosian second, or the other way around? Did Ronon settle in more firmly after "Reunion"? Would Teyla leave Atlantis to find/save her people if it came down to it? *ponders*

I'm pretty sure that's the same actor who used to play Halling.

Oh! That would explain why his name keeps coming up in the credits with no Halling to be found. And also the Wraith's height. Wow. He's a far more impressive actor as the Wraith than as Halling.

[krisdia.livejournal.com]

And then John killed a man so Rodney wouldn't die.

And it's not like he hasn't killed people before, shot them, to protect/save Rodney; but here he somehow seems even more deadly by calmly manipulating a man into sacrificing himself. So calm and collected. It was chilling, but you know, in a 'that worked for me' way.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Definitely. This wasn't taking someone out in battle before they could hurt Rodney; it was calmly, logically, fiercely convincing the man responsible for all this to sacrifice himself and make things right again. What I think a lot of us loved was the suspicion that John would have made the guy do it even if he hadn't "seen the situation he'd presented."

In short: Yay dark!John.

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

Once I've finished my porridge, I'll be able to think of something coherent to say...In the meantime, I think you've said it all for me :D

I've got to be honest and say that the first 2/3 didn't really grab me. Sure, some cute moments, but it was a kind of "and then this happens and then this happens and then this happens" episode, which tend to see me wandering off to do other things.

Then...then...

Even though I knew what was coming, the John (hee! he called him John again!)/Rodney scene just blew me away. The last 15 minutes of the episode were some of the best, ever - writing, acting, story, everything just came together perfectly. I'm still far too 'guh' to think properly about it, because there's just so much going on. In the commentary on 'Conversion', JF said that he'd been pushing the writers to let him make Sheppard a darker character. I think he won that battle...

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

Yes! Their voices! And John's eyes gleaming, for like a moment, but OMG! And thank you for spelling it out: John killed a man so Rodney wouldn't die - because I'm already seeing the tendency to, ah, romanticize John's responsibility in Wallace's death, and I refuse to have any of it. He TOTALLY killed off a civilian for Rodney! Oh, John.

And yes, it was definitely Family with the capital F. Excellent point. I sort of love that Rodney still feels guilty in his final scene with Jeannie (he's more uncomfortable than usual with the hug and her "I love you"), and that he evidently feels like he can share that weight with John - who MAY appear to be ice-cold and ruthless, but he's certainly feeling the guilt, no matter how strongly he forces the rationalization.

OMG SHOW. *flails*