Argh. Halfway done with my post and accidentally deleted it. This is why I should update on desktops and not laptops; less chance of me screwing up.
On the issue of the plot being overdone/predictable: yeah, and? Read the synopses of the eps before you watch; the show's much more enjoyable if you go in knowing whether to expect character eps, information vital to the season's plot arc, or fun one-offs with guns and running and fighting.
I think I may be one of the luckier ones in this fandom in that I'm young enough not to know the earliest incarnation(s) of Star Trek and too busy too have watched much other sci-fi. So while you guys are going, "They did this so much better in episode 513 of Show X," I'm going, "Hmmm, Alien-in-a-box. Should they be bringing that back to the city? Did no one get the Possession=Bad! memo? Oh well, let's see where they take this."
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And now on to actual episode comments.
John & Rodney telling the Alien Twins about TV was much fun. "fictional representations of ridiculously attractive people in absurd situations" *cough*Stargate*cough*
Love Liz's "talking to old people" voice; it's so much softer and gentler than what we usually see. It's nice to remember she has that side.
Torri Higginson flat-out rocked in this ep. The difference between Weir and Phoebus was evident from the moment she opened her eyes in the infirmary, and she injected just enough extra girlishness into Phoebus-as-Weir to give the feeling that something was off, even if you couldn't tell what that something was.
I loved Rodney's line, "You're remarkably sanguine about all this," and only partially because that word always reminds me of Mal from Firefly.
Shep was very Shep-ish-ly reluctant to enter the pod, which makes you wonder why he agreed to it. Did he do it just because Weir asked? Did he know Rodney would mock him mercilessly and he'd end up doing it anyway? Shep doesn't like being under the command of someone else, being unable to do things his way (see Season 1's "Hot Zone"), so his reluctance to do this was very IC. I think he was just taking Weir's word that it was okay, which shows his trust in her. I may be making all of this up, though; I tend to read more into characters than was meant in the writing.
Yes, it was remarkably stupid of them to believe Phoebus-as-Weir and let Shep be taken over, but I think they were comparing her possession to Rodney's extra-consciousness episode, rather than Caldwell's Goa'uld possession, which was much more similar to this. Hey, the whole command staff has been possessed now; they have something in common. Expect this to come up in season 3 or 4 when someone on Earth wants to make changes to the command of the Atlantis expedition.
Rodney's power tripping on Caldwell: nice to keep in character. Dear, dear, Rodney. Also nice to see that Caldwell is not used to the Rodney-panic, using an order instead of just saying his name like Weir or Shep would have done. That just drove home the fact that this was a stranger at the wheel and that our fearless leaders were in danger.
Caldwell handled the situation well; props to Kindler on not harping on the power-play issue, which would have been really easy and entirely pointless here.
Ronon=entirely too trusting of Sheppard. Guess it makes sense for a Runner, he's used to depending on his senses and field logic, which does not include alien possesion. If it looks like a Shep and quacks like a Shep, it's a Shep.
More evidence that McKay hates being taken for granted. Something we already knew, but it's fun to see from time to time.
I loved Teyla's "I do not believe you". Depending more on what she knows than what she sees. The reluctance to harm Sheppard but her willingness to do it when there's no other option was a good character scene. She cares about John but will do what is necessary. You gotta wonder what John was screaming inside his/Thalan's head at that moment. I was kinda hoping it would be revisited at the end, but oh well. I liked the ending we got.
Phoebus was definitely more ruthless that Thalan. Even after he disparaged Ronan for giving him the stunner he still used one, and he also called a med team, which was more than Phoebus did on her hunt. I think that might have just been because we know Shep can kill and be cool about it; it's more interesting to see Weir (even if it's not Weir) shoot someone without thinking about it.
Teyla's saying to John "You would have shot her either way." It makes sense. Neither Thalan nor John was in any rush to die. Teyla did the only thing she could in the situation and didn't stop to fret unneccessarily. I'd love to see her and McKay stuck off-world by themselves, if only to see Teyla as a tactician. It could be interesting.
Caldwell got the McKay stamp of approval (even if McKay will never admit it). That makes me smile; if McKay likes him, he has to be cool.
I'd kind of relegated the kiss to the non-important things about this episode until Caldwell mentioned it at the end. Their reactions (especially Weir sliding down in the bed) were so high-school-embarrassed. It was fun.
Shep not paying too much attention to Weir when she was talking in the hospital bed was fun, too. She's all, "let's talk about it" and he's "you know, you shot a member of my team, good, you feel bad, now let's forget this ever happened."
When I first heard about The Kiss in this ep, I had a fully formulated rant about pseudo-ship on the show, but after watching it, my rant is unneccessary. This was a fun ep (made more so by the fact that it followed The Tower, which I detested), and the pseudo-romance was such a minor part that it didn't tick my Irk-o-Meter.
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I must finish by giving mad props to the DOP and the director for bringing back the helicopter shots of the city first seen in the Siege eps. They gave this episode even more of an action feel.
And this post has gone on way too long already, so I'm gone for now.
On the issue of the plot being overdone/predictable: yeah, and? Read the synopses of the eps before you watch; the show's much more enjoyable if you go in knowing whether to expect character eps, information vital to the season's plot arc, or fun one-offs with guns and running and fighting.
I think I may be one of the luckier ones in this fandom in that I'm young enough not to know the earliest incarnation(s) of Star Trek and too busy too have watched much other sci-fi. So while you guys are going, "They did this so much better in episode 513 of Show X," I'm going, "Hmmm, Alien-in-a-box. Should they be bringing that back to the city? Did no one get the Possession=Bad! memo? Oh well, let's see where they take this."
---------------
And now on to actual episode comments.
John & Rodney telling the Alien Twins about TV was much fun. "fictional representations of ridiculously attractive people in absurd situations" *cough*Stargate*cough*
Love Liz's "talking to old people" voice; it's so much softer and gentler than what we usually see. It's nice to remember she has that side.
Torri Higginson flat-out rocked in this ep. The difference between Weir and Phoebus was evident from the moment she opened her eyes in the infirmary, and she injected just enough extra girlishness into Phoebus-as-Weir to give the feeling that something was off, even if you couldn't tell what that something was.
I loved Rodney's line, "You're remarkably sanguine about all this," and only partially because that word always reminds me of Mal from Firefly.
Shep was very Shep-ish-ly reluctant to enter the pod, which makes you wonder why he agreed to it. Did he do it just because Weir asked? Did he know Rodney would mock him mercilessly and he'd end up doing it anyway? Shep doesn't like being under the command of someone else, being unable to do things his way (see Season 1's "Hot Zone"), so his reluctance to do this was very IC. I think he was just taking Weir's word that it was okay, which shows his trust in her. I may be making all of this up, though; I tend to read more into characters than was meant in the writing.
Yes, it was remarkably stupid of them to believe Phoebus-as-Weir and let Shep be taken over, but I think they were comparing her possession to Rodney's extra-consciousness episode, rather than Caldwell's Goa'uld possession, which was much more similar to this. Hey, the whole command staff has been possessed now; they have something in common. Expect this to come up in season 3 or 4 when someone on Earth wants to make changes to the command of the Atlantis expedition.
Rodney's power tripping on Caldwell: nice to keep in character. Dear, dear, Rodney. Also nice to see that Caldwell is not used to the Rodney-panic, using an order instead of just saying his name like Weir or Shep would have done. That just drove home the fact that this was a stranger at the wheel and that our fearless leaders were in danger.
Caldwell handled the situation well; props to Kindler on not harping on the power-play issue, which would have been really easy and entirely pointless here.
Ronon=entirely too trusting of Sheppard. Guess it makes sense for a Runner, he's used to depending on his senses and field logic, which does not include alien possesion. If it looks like a Shep and quacks like a Shep, it's a Shep.
More evidence that McKay hates being taken for granted. Something we already knew, but it's fun to see from time to time.
I loved Teyla's "I do not believe you". Depending more on what she knows than what she sees. The reluctance to harm Sheppard but her willingness to do it when there's no other option was a good character scene. She cares about John but will do what is necessary. You gotta wonder what John was screaming inside his/Thalan's head at that moment. I was kinda hoping it would be revisited at the end, but oh well. I liked the ending we got.
Phoebus was definitely more ruthless that Thalan. Even after he disparaged Ronan for giving him the stunner he still used one, and he also called a med team, which was more than Phoebus did on her hunt. I think that might have just been because we know Shep can kill and be cool about it; it's more interesting to see Weir (even if it's not Weir) shoot someone without thinking about it.
Teyla's saying to John "You would have shot her either way." It makes sense. Neither Thalan nor John was in any rush to die. Teyla did the only thing she could in the situation and didn't stop to fret unneccessarily. I'd love to see her and McKay stuck off-world by themselves, if only to see Teyla as a tactician. It could be interesting.
Caldwell got the McKay stamp of approval (even if McKay will never admit it). That makes me smile; if McKay likes him, he has to be cool.
I'd kind of relegated the kiss to the non-important things about this episode until Caldwell mentioned it at the end. Their reactions (especially Weir sliding down in the bed) were so high-school-embarrassed. It was fun.
Shep not paying too much attention to Weir when she was talking in the hospital bed was fun, too. She's all, "let's talk about it" and he's "you know, you shot a member of my team, good, you feel bad, now let's forget this ever happened."
When I first heard about The Kiss in this ep, I had a fully formulated rant about pseudo-ship on the show, but after watching it, my rant is unneccessary. This was a fun ep (made more so by the fact that it followed The Tower, which I detested), and the pseudo-romance was such a minor part that it didn't tick my Irk-o-Meter.
------------------------------
I must finish by giving mad props to the DOP and the director for bringing back the helicopter shots of the city first seen in the Siege eps. They gave this episode even more of an action feel.
And this post has gone on way too long already, so I'm gone for now.
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