Review: SGA: 3x16(The Ark) & SGA: 3x17(Sunday) [i think those are the right numbers]
~~~
Alright, so the beginning confused me a bit, and I thought I had a crappy copy that started halfway through, but the file length was right, so I waited it out and realised "oh! it's one of those. O.o"
The whole "fight to the death" thing was cute. Especially John's muffled reply through the space helmet. "I look forward to it" hehe, too cute! Also, does anyone else just DIE whenever Ronon grins? He's so adorable: his eyes crinkle up and his whole face just glows. Yay.
oh! and the shoulder thing? "that's disturbing." ahahahaha. his EXPRESSION! and ronon's all "eh, whatever," and john's just. O.o O.O [twitch] ahahahaha. I loved it. John should say 'disturbing' more often. it is muy sexay coming from his lips. eheh.
"Yayyy, faint hope." Oh, Rodney. Ever the snarkastic pessimist. Haha, I love him. I really do. Also, pinatas and christmas presents? Oh, the crack!fic coming from that will be monstrous, I bet. [Can't wait for it to start showing up on the flist, :P... maybe I'll have to write some of my own or something]
When Teyla was talking to Jameson, or whatever his name was, and he was going on about the poets and the children, and she was all O.O, I had tears pricking in my eyes, I did. It was kind of sad.
When Rodney is telling John "You know, if you have anything you'd like to say, now would be the time" and John's all, "nope", Rodney just looks crushed. You KNOW he was hoping for a confession of undying love and lust. And John knows it. I bet at the end, after Teyla tells John that she thinks he'd have done it for Rodney, too, he goes to find him and then tells him, and explains he couldn't risk it because if he'd survived [as he did] then Lorne would have known, and that woulda been a big boo boo. Then we would have ended up with my fic, haha, :P Anyways, after the offscreen confession of undying love and lust, they of course had copious amounts of boysex. wee!
Um.
Overall, I liked it. It was a good episode. Nothing really to complain about. Some cute moments that made it good. the story was intruiging, if sueprcliche, as far as sci-fi goes, but i liked it. woo.
...
off to watch Sunday. c.c
~~~
Oh god, I'm still crying. I'll admit that's the first episode of Atlantis to make me cry. (remember, I haven't seen most of seasons 1 and 2, so)
Okay. Deep breaths. Calmmmmmmm the breathing... Okay, not crying anymore... I was actually sobbing. Like, gasping for breath sobbing. Carson's not even a favourite character or anything, but that was awful...
Okay, lets see what I can make of this. Mandatory day of rest my ass. This is Atlantis. Everyone dies. [cough] sorry. still a little bitter.
Teyla in yoga pants is weird. Her wiggling out of golfing? Cute. Her having lunch with Elizabeth (or planning to, anyway) okay, not too much of a surprise. Since when does she have other friends though? This chickie she was teaching whatever-fighting. Eh? And who's the crush? I bet it's Ronon. They're setting up for a Ronon/Teyla thing, connecting with the Ronon/John convo later...
Elizabeth trying to get out of lunch? Yeah, it seems like something she'd do. She's great at mediating other people's problems, but I think she has issues when it comes to dealing with herself or her own life. Heightmeyer should look into that.
Elizabeth's admirer = adorable. I want to scrich his beard. It looks so scrichable. And he's got nice eyes. Yes, he's rather charming. Kissing? Eh. Elizabeth kissing people = not a huge turn on.
Ronon and John having male-bonding time. The golf was funny. Also, the look on John's face when he tells Carson (Oh, Carson! -sobs-) they'll pass on the fishing... too precious. He's just kinda like. "Err.... how do I get out of this without sounding rude?" haha. Ronon's just like. =.=
Also, didn't Carson tell Jimbo there that Dr. B...something was on duty? And then that doctor he changed his mind about asking because she was all "OMG IM PSYCHIC!!!", didn't he call her the same name? It sounded the same... Anyway...
John: "You seeing anyone?"
Ronon: "You mean like a woman?"
John: "...or a man."
Oh, John. See - John wouldn't care if anyone on his team was gay. So of course, this means he himself is. [-cough- it's my fanon, leave me alone]. So what if he was married? He SAID he wasn't good at it. Read: "she caught me sleeping with her brother."
Though, I have to wonder about the details. Before he was in the military, or after he joined? How old was he, and how long did it last (obviously not very, but I'm still curious)? I can see him not being good at it though. He's so detached from most people. Honestly, the only people I see him have any connection with are his team. Since the marriage was, of course, a cover, he would have been aggravatingly cool towards her. Hm. He doesn't have a wedding ring on in the flashbacks in "Phantoms," so it was obviously before Afghanistan. Hm.
Ronon thought John and Teyla would get together, eh? And John considers it, haha.
John says "tunes"... I love it. ^.^
Katie Brown... seems whiney? Eh, I guess they'd get along. Haha, poor Rodney, with the whole marriage thing. [snort] Way to go Rodney - accidentally propose to your girlfriend. I love him. "There's not a lot of subtext with you." Haha, that is so true.
See, Rodney isn't totally socially incapable... he's just socially stunted. He needs someone who can see past the stuntedness and see who he really is. Although, it should be JOHN and not KATIE. But... I don't know. He seems to like her. I could maybe put up with her for the sake of seeing Rodney smile more often? He doesn't smile enough on the show. And it could lead to some great Angsty!John fic, where he pines for Rodney, who's given up on John ever returning his affections and moved on to Katie... he'll bring up to John that he's thinking about marriage, and John will go all "damn..." and retreat to Ronon for warrior sex. [cough]
I can actually see Rodney as married. He's ridiculously loyal, he really is, so I can see him trying really hard to be good at being married, but he's so consumed by his work, that he'd end up ignoring the spouse for ages at a time, and then making it up in some way... like babysitting ferns. He's putting up with squishy science for her. That's pretty incredible. Also, he was totally honest with her about why he was coming to her that day, and she was still all "yeah, thats wonderful!" O.o. she must be desperate. I bet she's a hypochondriac, too. Haha. Maybe they are meant for each other. Nice to see they covered for the whole lack of Katie from "Duet" until the mention she got in "The Game"...
Also, bedhead? cute.
They all looked so pretty in this episode. Well. Ronon looked no different than usual, but. John in civvies is always exciting. Rodney wasn't dressed as awfully as in M&MM... that was awful (when he first visited jeannie? ergh). Actually, I liked that blue shirt on him. He looked really good.
Zelenka's getting a swedish massage eh? What kind of betting is that?! Let me in on this chess club, jeez. No wonder Zelenka's a nerd... Also... is this person a male or female? I only heard a title and last name... o.O Also, the little cluck? ahaha. Oh, Dr. Z, you're so cute.
Lorne paints? He would, too. He's so pretty. He's totally gay, and he would totally be on bottom. [pats major lorne on the head] Also, what exactly does he plan on doing with those paintings? They should have an art show. Now THERE'S a piece of crack!fic.
And so, I think we're left with Carson. He wanted to go fishing so bad. Poor Carson. [sobs] I dunno what to say. We didn't find out as much about him as we did everyone else. He doesn't like to golf. He thinks only boring kings like horse racing. He likes to fish. Apparently a lot. We also just have reaffirmed what we learned in Phantoms... he's ridiculously empathetic and can't give up on a patient. EVEN IF IT KILLS HIM. WHICH IT DID OH MY GOD.
I knew it was going to happen. I had my hands over my mouth as he was carrying that stupid tumor (im with everyone else - exploding tumors? wtf?) And then boom and I'm like well, crap.
And then, the tears started when Rodney was putting his stuff away. And he looked at the picture (Which is what? the most popular McBeckket screencap on the interweb ever? I see that shot EVERYWHERE. And who took that picture? I mean... do they carry little digital cameras in their tac vests with them for those Kodak Moments? I bet they do, hah) and his eyes were all teary and then Ronon came in and the talking and the teary eyes and the "that's what's killing me" and oh god, that's when it started.
And then the memorial! Oh god. I've never seen two men look more miserable than John and Rodney in that scene. Holy shit, I think it was definately hitting John right then (who, by the way, looked so cute in his formal uniform. lots of people are all 'he looks so sexy in uniform like that', but... i thought he looked so boyish - it didn't suit him!) because the look on his face was... well... like one of his best friends had just died. And Rodney (who, by the way, looks damn fine in a suit) just. Oh God, he feels so guilty. I bet everyone there who turned down his fishing trip felt guilty as hell, but Rodney felt the guiltiest, because it was their plan to begin with, and if he had just kept his word...
By this time, by the way, I was openly sobbing. It was pretty pathetic.
The look John and Rodney exchanged over the coffin? Heartbreaking. The bagpipes? I love bagpipe music, I think it's beautiful and sad, and so fitting what with Beckett being Scottish. So, heartbreaking. Walking slowly through the 'gate? HEARTBREAKING.
And, our final scene. This, this was the clincher. He's out there, alone, feeling guilty as hell. The Carson walks up, and it doesn't phase him at all. But perhaps after Grace Under Pressure, he just accepts that.
But you know, I can see that Rodney would look at Carson as being his best friend, and not John. I think he still thinks of John as being too cool to be his friend. He knows John respects him and appreciates him and all that, but... I don't think he thinks John would have befriended him under any other circumstances. Carson... Carson is more on his level. He's a nerd. He's a scientist, of sorts. They're in the same league, so to speak. He didn't feel like he had to impress Carson, like maybe he feels he has to with John? (which brings me back to the Katie Brown scene for a moment - the man has no self esteem; he doesn't think anybody will actually like him. he knows he's a jerk, and he does it to protect himself. it weird him out when people do actually like him, and i don't think he trusts it. also, he used the word baffling, you have to love that.)
I think this brings up something else, too, this scene with him talking to Beckett. "the universe is a big place" etc, and just being there, talking to him. What exactly are Rodney's beliefs? It seems as though he might believe in something. Maybe it's the endless possibilities of science, now that he's seen proof that there's so much more possible than anyone on Earth thinks. He's seen ascension and people coming back, he's seen all this stuff. Maybe he has so much faith in science, that he believes miracles are possible through it. Is science his religion? Or maybe, maybe the meditating and stuff from "Tao..." made him think about other sorts of spirituality? Maybe his comment about the universe being a big place, maybe he's suggesting that there's room for spirituality and beliefs beyond the realm of science, alongside science? Hmm.
The very last part, as Carson fades away, and Rodney's left there alone... I think that's interesting that they would do that. Normally, a scene like that would have John or even Teyla come up from somewhere and comfort him... but they leave him to just stand out there, alone... Is this a foreshadow? Is he going to retreat back into himself? How does this bode for him and Katie Brown? Or any of his relationships? Now that his best friend has died - and he essentially blames himself for it - will this scare him off his other relationships? Will he cut himself off so he can't be hurt again? Or will he go the opposite route, and throw himself into his relationships? Try to make up for everything, a la "Tao..." only for the opposite reason? Not because he's going to die, but because he knows they may not have long? Hmm.
I feel so bad for him, out their on the pier, alone. :(
Superb acting on David Hewlett's part - I think he did an amazing job of showing Rodney's grief while not straying from Rodney's character. And just... wow. Really amazing piece of acting, yeah.
I really hope they carry this into the following episodes. I mean, they wouldn't just get over it and go on, so I hope there's continuity, maybe some painful and awkward moments when something happens Carson would have thought funny or whatever, you get the idea. I would hate to see this just dissapear into canon and not be carried into the further stories.
So, all in all, I liked the tidbits of information we got about the characters, and then I bawled my BRAINS out, like a big, pathetic baby. Go figure.
And one last thought... when WILL they bring the navy onto the show? They're an ISLAND. There should be navy. The only thing I can think of to stop that is how they'd get navy boats (ships, :P) to the planet?