OMG, SGA 5x03 was great!
And by great, I do not mean that our characters used the common sense God gave a carrot (apart from one exception, of which more later), or that the 'plot' had any acquaintance with reality or plausibility or continuity or any of those other pesky things ending in -ity.
No, what I meant is that I actually laughed out loud -thank God no one was in the house to start wondering about it- and that I have discovered a new facet of SGA that compensates beautifully for the stupid lines they give to the poor main character (which TPTB never lose an occasion to insist is Sheppard) and the incredibly entitled and 'politically correct' attitudes they all seem to display. And by all, I mean Teyla, to my surprise.
I'll come clean and admit that I was all set to dislike Woolsey, even though his prior appearances on the show have been OK. That did not prove anything since anyone would seem reasonable and sympathetic when facing Elizabeth Weir in her bitchy mode, ie, very nearly always (which is why I've always liked Caldwell, surprisingly enough).
No, I was prejudiced against Woolsey because I identify the actor who plays him too strongly with Star Trek Voyager and it was breaking the 4th wall to see him in SGA.
But this episode -which is the usual plotless mess that has me squirming in embarrassment as the writers try to get to grips with motherhood (Teyla suddenly becomes a nasty, indecisive soccer mom who wants her cake and eat it too), manly bonding galore (Sheppard does not have 'feelings' for Ronon, no he doesn't! Instead, he apparently has 'feelings' for what it's like to be down and out and at the end of your rope... er, righty-o), Ronon is completely converted (except that for no reason whatsoever he turns on the bad Wraith and cuts off his hand, reverting 2 seconds later to evil - whatever, I did not even try to get the motivation bit: is Tyre ultimately evil, trying to redeem himself or simply a cipher for the next action scene or stupid empty dialog that the writers do not even bother ascribing a motivation to?) Anyway...
*turning towards the light*
The pluses which redeem the whole on-going disaster that is a good SGA episode! This week we have:
- Woolsey being more reasonable than everyone else (not that hard)
- Woolsey being more polite and consistent than everyone else (again, not that difficult)
- Woolsey discovering that Atlantis is a nasty, nasty person who will lock him in the conference room for making her baby look feckless ('Oh, let's indeed go rush off right this minute, who cares about actual planning!')
- Rodney meeting John in the cafeteria and giving him a blow by blow account of how he's spent his time ('Here's how I spent the night, because I know you want to know!')
- John immediately focusing on the most important part of Rodney's narrative (You were wet and naked! Ooooh, can I join you? Were there bubbles? Perfumed bubbles? *pout* Why didn't you invite me? You know I like perfumed candles and bubble baths and sparkly curtains! But Rodney is being the bigger man and ignoring John's vexed reaction completely)
Let's skip to the next Woolsey moment instead of trying to empathize with Tyre's plight of being a druggie who will sell his friends and his honor for a fix:
- Woolsey relaxing like a civilized being (ie, not reading golf magazines like an indolent playboy or DC comics like an overgrown schoolboy. Not that I have anything against comics, you understand, it's just that I would not entrust my life to someone who brought his comic book collection to Atlantis)
- Woolsey explaining the correct use of vocabulary to Teyla who was being bitchy and the difference between empathy and sympathy: that was so classy of him! Especially as Teyla was weirdly channeling Elizabeth and telling him unprompted that since he has no children, he cannot understand her dilemma. I was bracing myself to hear her say next that since he did not have long shining hair, he could not be expected to understand life in the Pegasus galaxy or some such entitled nonsense.
- Woolsey wearing a nice looking suit and reminiscing fondly about his Yorkie. In my opinion Sheppard and Ronon look terrible in suits: they are both good-looking men, but when wearing vaguely formal suits on Earth, they somehow manage to make them look ill-fitting and ridiculous.
Sidenote: my advice for people so good-looking that they can make a sack of potatoes look good -I am looking at you, JF and you, JM- is that I am glad it works for them and if said freaks could please move out the way so the rest of humanity can try to find clothes that makes us look good, I'd appreciate it. Instead of hypnotizing fashion designers who then force everyone to wear sacks of potatoes instead of flattering clothes.
- Woolsey and the baby... Finally someone who talks normally to a baby! That was majorly cute (and it was nice to see Teyla back to acting like herself and not being weird or nasty about entrusting Torren to Woolsey)
The less said about Ronon's detox the better (forcing JM to scream his head off for a good 2 minutes, cut to show that it corresponded easily to 6 hours) and John's insistence on standing around looking uncomfortable (JF clearly keeping his thoughts on his family's need for his paycheck and TPTB's insistence that 'you need to bond with Ronon to prove you have nothing going on with DH! So remember, try to look as if you are violently attracted to Rachel or Jason or a passing butterfly, we don't care, just do your best to dispel those McShep rumors.')
Poor actors! In my opinion, they really deserve every and any financial rewards they get and I wish fans were nicer to them at conventions instead of embarrassing them with their awkward questions and requests.
- we finally get a wet Rodney in his bath/jacuzzi which looks remarkably like it came from Bed Bath and Beyond -those Ancients knew just where to shop!- and just like Archimedes, being struck by the lightning of scientific discovery while relaxing! So cute... except that Archimedes jumped out of his bath naked to take notes while the puritanical SGA writers simply put a laptop within Rodney's reach. Rats.
So overall, season 5 has started quite well (I'm not too difficult as long as there are a few compensating moments for all of Sheppard's grandiloquence and obstinate stupidity. Thank God JF is such a subversive actor!)