SGA 2x13

[eretria]

Just a few choice words before I wrap my mind around it:

Fucking brilliant.

I have my problems with Teyla's elaborate song (too damn symphonic, the choir in the background was jarring and generally it was too bombastic for a funeral scene. If they had made it simple, like Pippin's song for Denethor, that'd have been so much more effective. However, great voice, Rachel Lutrell), but the rest? Good god. This is exactly why I prefer Atlantis over SG-1: Things are just so damn messy.

Wonderful to have Kavanagh and Cadman back.
And, damn, I really love the guy, because he is telling Elizabeth some home truths. And what's worse (or better, actually): He's right. She really is far from being a good leader. I do hope she thinks about this a little.

Speaking of Elizabeth: She needs to grow the fuck up when dealing with Caldwell. She behaves like a snappish teenager. And while yes, the scene in which she claims control over the investigation was necessary from a narration standpoint, it just makes her seem petty and damn narrow-minded. And I usually like her, so I don't know what the hell her problem is with Caldwell. (And speaking of Caldwell, what will happen to him now? I really liked him.)

Random note: Whenever I think John couldn't get any hotter, he does.
He worried me a little, though, to agree to the idea of torture so quickly. I mean, yes, he's military, but seriously, torture? When they weren't even sure it was Kavanagh?

Love Novak. LOVE her.

Carson didn't annoy me for the third week in a row - any chance that they've changed the writing and actually make him a likeable and good guy again?

And also, hilarious moment with the LOTR reference (and damn if I wasn't thinking the very same thing when the strategy was mentioned (which, seriously, they couldn't think of for themselves? Please, what do they pay you for?!))

Zelenka. Zelenka!!!!!! Oh, Rodney will have hell to pay for that. I'm just waiting for the revenge-fics.

And the inevitable "John mimics Rodney's gestures" fic.

Interesting that John intentionally put Rodney and Cadman together over and over again. I love team-maker!John.

Also, is there any chance that dear Dr. McKay is a little sweet on Cadman?

And finally: If Elizabeth doesn't apologise to Kavanagh, I'm going to be severely pissed.

Comments

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

Things are just so damn messy.
YES! I was afraid it wouldn't be as dark as in the first season, but it is! Lucky us.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

I'm so relieved about that, too. That was the one thing I didn't like about SG-1: No really dark themes. Everything somehow always worked out.

Uh, tell me, though, what did you think about Teyla's song?

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

If it had been plain singing, it would've been okay. Well-- it might have been okay.
Putting her in that terrible dress, the reverb, the instrumental accompaniment? *facepalm*

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'm just going to back to my corner and laugh. Maybe I'll be in a better mood tomorrow.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

From your reaction on your LJ I gather that you didn't like it at all?
Yes, it was a little crammed, and the SGC scenes were mostly very, ridiculously redundant, but the rest? I must agree on Teyla's singing, that way way overdone, but the rest?
I'm feeling love here.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

There were elements that I liked, like how they haven't addressed the insider threat issue since Suspicion, and yeah, it's about time for it to come up again now that the writers have introduced Wraith sympathizers twice this season (the folks on the hive ship were more worshipers than sympathizers, but the folks on the island-prison planet count, too). The Atlantis people are going to have to deal with this, and torture should come up.

But overall, 1) there really was too much crammed into one episode and it was so rushed that logistics were getting missed, 2) the last-second save thing is very, very old, and they did it multiple times in this one episode, and 3) the premise of this particular threat just didn't make sense.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

the last-second save thing is very, very old,

But, dear? Every show and every movie does it. It's like a requisite thing.
Yes, it's old and yes, it needs to go and not come back for a good long while, but in all honesty, you can tell that to every single show out there that ever scrapped along the line of creating suspense.

Also, Kat and I are assuming that they managed to plant the wreckage red herring and that the Wraith bought it while Atlantis was shielded. But that may just be fanwanking.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Yes, the last-second save is standard practice on TV, but I don't like it being shoved in my face quite so much. There's a difference between using it and relying on it, and they've crossed the line a couple of times in the last few episodes.

Anyway, they managed to go a season and a half without getting on my nerves with it, so I expect I was already irritated by the rest (the Trust making this move still makes no sense) and so couldn't manage to not be irritated by this usually little thing.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Oh, but since I think you're a competent person to ask and I have no idea since I'm still stuck somewher in season 5 of SG-1 (not feeling the big love, there):
Who's the trust?
What happened to the Goa'uld?
Where are Jack, Daniel, Sam and Teal'c?
Who are the Ori?

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Oy. Okay, one at a time.

The Trust -- Basically what's left of/took over from the NID. Their thing is that "any means necessary" is an acceptable way of securing Earth from whatever threatens. This includes stealing from friends, exterminating allies, and all kinds of fun. The NID had ties to U.S. politics (and sort of to the Russians), but the Trust have truly infiltrated all level of world politics. And some of them have been taken over by minor Goa'uld.

The Goa'uld -- They're still out there, but the system lords are basically gone. Those that the SGC hasn't killed off, Anubis took care of last season in a fit of "there can be only one!" Ba'al is really the only system lord left, and he's...hiding. Sort of. On Earth. I dunno. It was the hiatus cliffhanger.

(The Jaffa, btw, have won freedom from the Goa'uld and set up their own world and a council and everything, but it's awfully hard to reverse centuries' worth of beliefs and attitudes, and they're not exactly what one would call truly free of the Goa'uld mindset.)

SG-1 -- Jack is a general and has been kicked up to Washington. We're...not quite sure what he's doing now. The SGC reports to him, but I think he still reports to Hammond, who is now head of Homeworld Defense or somesuch. The SG writers haven't been nice enough to tell us, exactly. The rest of SG-1 is still around, although they're not really much of a team any more. They're now "headed" by Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder), and really don't seem to give a crap any more. Why they weren't around in this episode, and Sam only got a mention, is likely because TPTB didn't feel like paying any more of the SG regulars than they had to/they didn't feel like putting in the time.

The Ori -- Oy. Um, they're Ancients. Except not. (Okay, some of this is known, some is speculation. I'll try to note the difference.) They and the Ancients came from the same planet originally. There was (I assume, although it's never been spelled out specifically) a split in the group because they'd all gotten powerful enough -- maybe figured out how to ascend, maybe not -- that being worshiped as gods was a possibility. The Ancients thought that was a bad idea, the Ori loved it (apparently when worshiped, the Ancients/Ori get stronger, so more worshipers = more power), and boom. Split. The Ancients left that galaxy and came to the Milky Way (and the timeline gets a little screwy, because it's not clear if they went Earth-Pegasus-Earth or what, but I think that's the order). The Ori stayed in their galaxy and started getting everyone they could find to worship them, and it's a "if you don't worship us, we kill, no debating" sort of thing. The Ancients have been "hiding" themselves and the humans in the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies, but they are still of the mind that direct involvement is BAD, so when Daniel got the bright idea to check out this fun Ancient device and then TELL THE PEOPLE AT THE OTHER END, who he could already tell were BAD NEWS, that hey, guess what, we've got people over here... Yeah. That's gone well. The Ori are now looking to take over the Milky Way (Daniel, at least, had the sense to not mention Pegasus), and they're doing it through their human "priests" (who they've given at least a portion of their god-like powers) so the Ori themselves are not directly involved and the Ancients refuse to get directly involved. They've managed, unsurprisingly, to convince a number of the formerly-Goa'uld worshiping planets/peoples to worship them, because they really look even more like gods than the Goa'uld did. They've even managed to convince the new leader of the Jaffa (who's a bit of a hidebound ass, and Teal'c can't stand). Part of their thing is not only "if you worship us, we won't kill you" but also "if you worship us, you will ascend when you die," even though it doesn't exactly work that way.

Anyway. That's (sort of) the short run-down.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

I love my Eli. Truly, madly and deeply.
Thank you for putting up with me, dear, and thank you for the run-down. I think I can see now where part of your anger about the episode springs from.

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Always glad to help, hon.

And I do wonder how much is just that I'm already getting too much "but this makes no sense!" from SG. SGA has been my refuge from that, and I don't like it annoying me on this level.

[eretria.livejournal.com]

Look, I don't enjoy seeing you with sad drooping ears here. How about considering it a glitch and overlook it? If you can?
Just remember, it's calling itself Sci-Fi, but there has yet to be a Sci-Fi invented that has actual science in the fiction. And, well, I'm guessing we could include political and strategic science here.
But really, consider it glitch, like Sanctuary. At the very least, the characterisations were pretty good, wouldn't you agree?
(And yes, I'm frantically trying to restore your faith in SGA)

[elishavah.livejournal.com]

Oh, I haven't lost faith in SGA, I'm just frustrated with this episode. There is very little about TV that annoys me more than shows not making sense within their own ruleset.

And yes, I know that sometimes storylines just don't make sense at that particular point, and that there will be explanation later that will make it all fall into place (Farscape was terrific at that in the first three seasons). But SG has been very bad at that the last few years, and I was so happy that SGA wasn't falling into that pit, and I hate thinking that this looked awfully familiar.

...I'm a little gun-shy, I guess. And this ep caught me on a bad day.