(no subject)

[merelyn]

SG-1:

I should say first off that I don't really like SG-1, and I find it hard to follow/give a crap about most of the episodes I've watched. Eck. While I don't mind a little crossover action normally (loved GUP, for instance), mostly I just get an eck feeling from any SG-1 plots or characters that bleed into SGA. This episode, while it had some moments, was like that for me. Eck again.

It was worth it, almost, for the whole lemon/we're quite close exchange, and John saying that Rodney can do anything. Other than that, I didn't really like the way the show portrayed them. Their relationship, and Rodney's characterization in general, felt off to me. I normally love him and Carter, but their exchanges felt so awful and regressive and ugh, horrible. I hated the way Mitchell talked to him, and the patronizing looks between him and Carter rubbed me the wrong way liek woah.

I'm sure I'm overanalyzing this, but it felt like the writers got all the surface of Rodney and the John+Rodney relationship without getting the warmth and the good things underneath. It's almost as if they were cribbing of SGA cliffnotes and learned under the character descriptions Rodney McKay- a smug, whiny supergenius who has the hots for Sam Carter and hates lemons! and never bothered to read the book and go any further than that.

You know, we may complain sometimes about SGA sometimes turning into the Rodney show, and how biased all the writers are toward him, but this episode, I think, is proof of what happens when Rodney falls into the wrong writerly hands. Just no.

That said, SGA...

Holy crap, so much love. Including:

*Coughing, raspy John. Aww. Just, aww.
*Alien attraction pheremones = CANON. Yes. Yessssss.
*Richard Kind! I love him lots.
*Teyla having her go girl moment. Rock on, Teyla.
*The brain damaged kid. Oh god, what a horrible/hilarious bit that was.
*John and Rodney working together and being all teamy! The Catwoman exchange!
*John telling Carson to buck up. Okay, I (sometimes) love Carson, but I'm so glad somebody finally told that man to get an effing grip. Gah.
*John cleaning Rodney's quarters! !!!! !!!

Overall, I thought it was sheer cracked-out awesome fun, such a nice breather from the morally messed up Wraith plot of the past two eps. The main thing that was interesting about it, I thought, was how HAPPY they all were on the drugs, and SMILING and TOUCHING EACH OTHER. And there were NICKNAMES. I know some people have found it creepy, but I thought it was cute. (Drugged, grinning Rodney was so adorable I couldn't stand it, for one thing.) But I can see where these people are coming from. Because hey, what's the first indication that everyone on Atlantis has been mentally compromised? Holy crap, they're LAUGHING, something's not right. That's...really sad when you think about it. *squishes them all*

Also, Ronon pulling a gun on John will never not be wrongbadwrong-ness of the highest magnitude.

Comments

[porntestpilot.livejournal.com]

I just thought Lucius was a jackass, I didn't think it was creepy, I love when Rodney is all beamy and excited. //happy sigh//

Shep was awesome! That Catwoman exchange, like...they stared at each other for a really long time right? I'm not hallucinating that?

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

He, I wish that for once we could see them all happy without Alien drugs.

And no, no you weren't hallucinating. It was another one of those moments where you have to wonder what they were going for if it wasn't "John and Rodney are *so* doing it."

[gilenaki.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with everything. Yes. SO much pairing love! Also, Ronon and Teyla are *so* doing it.

You know what I wanted to see, though, was some kind of acknowledgement from SG-1 of how far the Atlantis team has come, especially Rodney. I mean, he's changed a lot since the beginning, and it would have been nice if they had recognized how valuable he acutally is instead of just mocking him all the time.

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree. I mean obviously, not everyone has to love Rodney, or even like Rodney, and I fully acknowledge that he can be a terrible person to work with, but you're right, it felt to me like they were mocking him.

There's been a lot of wank over the whole lemon thing, and the episode in general, and personally, my negative reaction to the treatment of Rodney- not so much the lemon thing, that I rather liked, even though it was kind of a cheap laugh- is mostly based on the fact that I don't like SG-1 much at all (except for Vala, love her). So it's really hard for me to get behind their characters when they come into the Atlantis bubble and act like that, seemingly in complete ignorance of just how many times Rodney has saved the day. Yeah, Rodney is a little ridiculous, but he deserves respect.

Through most of the episode I was stewing in waves of "nobody picks on my kid brother but me" annoyance. John, for example, can get away with threatening to shoot Rodney, because we know that John is kidding and that deep down he actually likes/respects Rodney. Mitchell, for me at least, does not fall into that category, hence the total 'picking on him' vibes.

I have a feeling my reaction would have been different if I was an SG-1 fan. Because then I would be invested in the other characters, I would have thought about them and their point of view. Cameron's reaction to Rodney would have been perhaps funny to me rather than irritating. But I'm not, so the whole thing felt more like, "Who are these people (and who is this writer?) and why are they being mean to Rodney??" Who knows, though.

(Oops, more lemon wank on the pile. Apologies.)

[gilenaki.livejournal.com]

I can definitely understand. I've never been much of an SG-1 fan either, mostly because the characters are so boring - which is why Vala sticks out, I think. Everyone else plays things pretty straight, and they completely fail to intrigue me. The thing that bothered me more than SG-1's reaction to Rodney, though, was the writing. It's been a while since he's been made out to be so petty and obnoxious. I think DH was trying to put some of his character development into it - like, did you notice how he didn't really actually hit on Carter? yeah, he thinks she's hot, but that was about it - but it seemed to me like the writers were ignoring his whole run on Atlantis and just repeating the guest star persona.