The Long Goodbye (216)

[Linzi]

I have to disagree with you Merlin. From the off in the first scene where he became Thalan I wasn't overly impressed. From there on in he even worse. That includes times when he was blatantly Thalan when he was talking to Phoebus and Dex. When you compare how distinctly different Higginson portrayed the second character I think you can see how Flanigan's effort by comparison was not all it could be.

I disagree with you. JF's Thalan was a completely different character to TH's Phoebos. Thalan seemed more manipulative,smarter and less keen to kill everything that moved. I also think Sheppard managed to reason with Thalan more, and stop him hurting others (using a stunner for example and calling for help for Ronon). TH's Phoebos was almost a caricature of a baddie, all evil,smarmy and OTT at times, IMO. I knew Phoebus was in control of Weir, I didn't know that Thalan was still in control of Sheppard when he found Ronon, or when Teyla had captured him. Yet when he snarled at Phoebos it was obvious to me Thalan was in control. I also don't think Thalan was that different to Sheppard whereas Phoebos was very different to Weir.
Maybe, as somebody posted somewhere else, a subtle performance is just missed by some people, whereas a 'smack-you -in -the-face' approach is more obvious to those who don't appreciate subtle.
I certainly don't see TH's performance as better than JF's, I thought they were good at what they both did, and quite honestly don't see why it's necessary to compare anyway. They aren't the same characters and Phoebos and Thalan were very different too. Comparison's are odious, and what exactly is achieved by them anyway? Not a lot.

[caty]

Wow, in my opinion, this was the strongest episode this season, if not ever.

It was so exciting, I found myself only about one inch from the computer screen a couple of times and that happens very rarely.

What exactly was so good about it has probably already been mentioned more than once (I'm too lazy to go through all the pages), but the best thing (besides the acting, of course) was the dialogue..

It proves again, that special effects aren't what's most important, even for a SciFi show. If you have a good story and good dialogue, who needs expensive special effects? I think they should spend more money and time on the writers to make sure the dialogue isn't as shallow as it has been in many episodes in Season 2..

Now I realize that there are probably people out there that think in the opposite way, but I thought it was important to point that out (I hope nobody did before) and I'm sure some of you are agreeing with me..

[Jarnin]

Looks like someone saw Mr & Mrs Smith and liked it so much they wanted to remake it in Stargate format.

If Phoebis wanted Thalin dead so badly, why didn't she just kill him when they cracked his pod? I mean, you could explain it all away with honor and whatnot, but that's just silly. They were at war. If she wanted to know her side won, then she would have killed Thalin when he was in his weakest position; inside his pod.
This would also alleviate the need to kill John Sheppard, who was totally innocent, but Phoebis apparently didn't care about that.

I didn't like how all the alien guns glowed in the dark, thus making the lights being turned off less suspenseful. I mean really, Ronan's gun glows red. Wraith stunners glow yellow. The lights are all off, so all you have to do is grab a P-90, hide in a corner and look for the glowing lights.

Another thing that bothered me was when Rodney was working on the power system, he had nobody else to help him. No engineers, no other scientists, it was just him and a guard. Meanwhile, Beckett has a full staff of support while he's working on Ronan.
In fact, Rodney being a catch-all engineer/scientist is really starting to bug me. Not only is he an expert in Quantum Mechanics, and Relativity, he also an expert in the fields of electrical & structural engineering, computer programming and encryption algorithms. I mean, seriously, nobody is that good. He's like Spock and Scotty rolled into one.

This episode was stronger than some of the previous episodes this season, but iI wouldn't say it was one of the best. I'd give it a 6 outta 10.

[Shep'sSocks]

I thought Torri looked like she was having fun, probably because she actually had something to do for a change. Joe looked bored witless.

[Callie]

Was that Hays in the background in the first scene in the lab? It certainly looked like him, but seeing as he died during “Hot Zone”, he really ought not to have been there!

Was Jumper 6 retrieved from the ocean after “GUP” (and if so, how?) or have they renumbered the Jumpers since then?

Is there a subliminal message in the fact that Ronon takes care of Carson after he has been stunned in the lab but neither Ronon, Teyla nor Caldwell take a blind bit of notice of an unconscious Rodney?!

I fervently hope that the real Marines aren’t as useless as the ones on Atlantis or we’re all in a lot of trouble. How do four grown men get beaten up in four seconds flat (I timed it) by a woman who, regardless of the knowledge she may have from Phebus, just can’t be that physically fit? Then again, when I rewatched the fight with the benefit of super slo-mo, I can’t work out how she took down one of the marines simply by kicking him in the knees. What kind of a wuss is he?!

As not-Elizabeth and not-John first talk over the radio to each other, John is fixing a dressing to his arm. I went back and checked and none of the shots that Rodney fired at him in the lab hit him – at least, there was no blood, so how did he get wounded?

[GatetheWay]

It was good to have Lorne back even though it was only to be beat up by Weir and locked in a hallway for two hours.

[ToasterOnFire]

Is there a subliminal message in the fact that Ronon takes care of Carson after he has been stunned in the lab but neither Ronon, Teyla nor Caldwell take a blind bit of notice of an unconscious Rodney?!

It means that the "Xena and Conan" comment finally got back to its targets.

[Vixen]

I truly enjoyed this episode. It had wonderful acting (TH and JF were brilliant!), nice camera work, good dialogue and simply fun to watch! It was interesting and refreshing to see these characters in a different light (particularly Weir). *thumbs up*

[Jeffer]

good ep the Jepardy joke was pretty funny

[Willow'sCat]

I have decided to post a positive rather that negative take on this episode, it will therefore be short.

The kiss was actually not so bad, the reactions, Carson and Rodney's *Post Duet* were perfect.

Teyla is so good in this episode it should of had twice the amount of Teyla she was in her element.

Caldwell has such potential to be a great part of SGA, I am glad they decided to mend some bridges.

I wouldn't dare rate this episode.

[helio9]

This has likely been stated already, but I found this episode to be very, very weak. The stupidity left me laughing at some points.

Gotta love how they "forgot" to change access codes even though two of their top ranking people had been compromised to the greatest degree.

Even better, when it came down to it, when the tough commander, the person who fought Weir for command, Col. Caldwell faced the tough call, what does he say? "I'm not going to tell you want to do Teyla". wow. Impressive. Nice work guys.

When Wier realized she lost control of the computer system, and Caldwell ordered the teams to continue searching for her, did it occur to anyone that maybe she'd actually want to acheive her goal? Maybe you should, oh I don't know, help out Teyla a little? Give me a break.

This from the civilization that beat the Goauld, not to mention fought a cold war for 60 years. This was worse than that episode on SG-1 where Carter gets screwed by her Replicator counterpart by being unbelievably, uncharacteristically naive.

So, anybody looking forward to that BSG ep on friday?

[Shep'sSocks]

This from the civilization that beat the Goauld, not to mention fought a cold war for 60 years. This was worse than that episode on SG-1 where Carter gets screwed by her Replicator counterpart by being unbelievably, uncharacteristically naive.

I don't think it was bad as that episode but yes, it was pretty bad.

Mind you, Shep's "ick" reaction to the kiss was pretty funny.

[dark_faith]

that's amazing the difference between some movies and Tv shows...

in DIE HEART, it takes Bruce Willis more that 1:30h to even feel dizzy.

In Atlantis, WEIR knocks down 4 trained military guys without even touching them ( okay maybe she kicked one of them in the knees)


It's hard to buy it isn't it?

[ToasterOnFire]

good ep the Jepardy joke was pretty funny

Oh, excellent time to repost that photomanip I did a while ago.

Another question - why didn't they lockdown the city immediately when they realized that Weir and Shep were after each other? Would have made it much easier to hunt those two down.

So, anybody looking forward to that BSG ep on friday?

Yes, yes, and YES. I'm certainly not rewatching the abomination that was Hive.

[Shep'sSocks]

that's amazing the difference between some movies and Tv shows...

in DIE HEART, it takes Bruce Willis more that 1:30h to even feel dizzy.

In Atlantis, WEIR knocks down 4 trained military guys without even touching them ( okay maybe she kicked one of them in the knees)


It's hard to buy it isn't it?

There's willing suspension of disbelief and then there's Atlantis?