merelyn | (no subject)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.