(no subject)

[merelyn]

I put this up at sga_noticeboard, but there were spoilery comments for "Trinity" on it, and the post got accidentally deleted instead of the comments (and actually, I don't think you're supposed to have discussions on there anyway, oops, just links). Anyway, I was asked to repost it, and decided to put it up here and link to it.

I have a random question about "Condemned":



Okay, so after I watch the episode on Friday, I was talking to my sister about it, and both of us were kind of confused as to what was going on with Rodney fixing the Puddle Jumper. I re-watched it, and I'm still confused. The different reviews I've read seem to say to different things about it as well.

Was he bluffing about not being able to fix it? If so, what for? The jumper was pretty much a sunk cost, and powering up the gate for the convicts wouldn't have been that bad; it certainly wasn't presented as such in the episode.

Did he know how to fix it but didn't realize it consciously, and somehow Eldon and John picked up on it better than Rodney himself?

Or is it a case of everyone assuming that Rodney could fix it, and him honestly not being able to (which you know, is technically true, because he *couldn't* get the thing the fly). Was Torrell's comment about Rodney waiting to fix it at the last minute in order to make himself out to be a bigger hero completely off the mark or not? (Considering that Torrell nailed him pretty well otherwise?)

What do you think?

Comments

[zoerayne]

I think that Rodney had considered the possibility, but rejected it as being a) not terribly useful, and b) almost impossible. I think he's telling the truth when he keeps saying that he can't do what they want him to do; he doesn't think that something like a one percent chance of being able to reroute secondary power to the dialing device (and intermittent power at that) is actually going to do them any good.

I just don't get the same body-language cues from him that I got when he was bluffing Kolya, and I think DH is a good enough actor to keep those things consistent.

Also, I think the look he gives John (when John agrees that they'll take Eldon with them when they escape) is very telling. It's half "Oh my God, you are on crack! It's broken!" and half an awed "Oh my God, you really believe I can do anything, don't you?"

So there. My 2¢ worth. *g*

[terrie01.livejournal.com]

I thought some of it was "Look, if we tell Rodney we KNOW he knows how to fix it, he'll come up with something." A bit like Dumbo's magic feather, I suppose.

[zoerayne]

The power of positive thinking? Rodney would so mock that idea ("Oh, yes, I'm sure if we were all to wish it better, it would happen. I'll bet you clapped for Tinkerbell, too, didn't you Colonel?"), but I think you might be right to some degree. *g*