I spend most of my time here in the anti-threads and have pretty much given any hope of SGA being anything more than 'slightly entertaining'. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the show could still make me care about the characters enough to move me to tears. "Sunday" was, without a doubt, my favourite SGA episode in a long time and among the very best of the series.
There are two things that separate this episode from the standard SGA fare and really elevate "Sunday" to a whole new level. Obviously, the death of a regular character is something special and a chance for some great drama. On the other hand, killing off a popular character and doing it badly can be a good way to alienate a lot of fans (Lost with Eko would be my recent example).
While I'm going to miss Beckett, I think the episode was a wonderful send-off for him. His characterization has been inconsistent in the series, but here he was shown as a kind and caring man who would risk his own life without hesitation if he could save another's. While some may feel he should've died in a more heroic matter, saving the galaxy or whatnot, I disagree. He did die as a hero, doing his job and saving another man's life which is what his work is of course all about. The relative mundaness of the situation and of his death just goes to show that the everyday life of the Atlantis expedition is very dangerous and anyone could potentially die. Of course, I realize that this is TV and the main characters can't be killed off in the vein of, say, George R.R. Martin, but it's nice to know that not everyone in the main credits is immortal.
The second thing that made this episode great was that it was so character-focused. I can easily overlook all kinds of stupid plot holes if the writers allow the characters to feel, think and interact with each other believably. We often get bad characterization because the characters service the needs of the plot, but with little plot to speak of in this episode, the characters were allowed to shine. I'm not saying every episode should be balanced like this, but if TPTB were to focus more on the characters, SGA's future would look a lot brighter.
The episode was not without any problems, of course. The way some characters were introduced felt pretty jarring as they've never been mentioned before but our main characters still know them. With better planning we could have at least found out about their existence earlier. Also, some relationships such as Rodney/Katie and Sheppard/Tayla were yanked out of stasis rather abruptly. I know I'm not the most avid SGA fan, but were we supposed to know that Rodney's still actually dating Katie? Furthermore, Mike's scenes with Weir weren't my favourites, but I was happy to see how she handled herself in the end.
I just wish the writers continued treating their characters like this in the future, but I remain skeptical. In any case, I'm happy to give the episode a scientifically accurate grade of
9/10
There are two things that separate this episode from the standard SGA fare and really elevate "Sunday" to a whole new level. Obviously, the death of a regular character is something special and a chance for some great drama. On the other hand, killing off a popular character and doing it badly can be a good way to alienate a lot of fans (Lost with Eko would be my recent example).
While I'm going to miss Beckett, I think the episode was a wonderful send-off for him. His characterization has been inconsistent in the series, but here he was shown as a kind and caring man who would risk his own life without hesitation if he could save another's. While some may feel he should've died in a more heroic matter, saving the galaxy or whatnot, I disagree. He did die as a hero, doing his job and saving another man's life which is what his work is of course all about. The relative mundaness of the situation and of his death just goes to show that the everyday life of the Atlantis expedition is very dangerous and anyone could potentially die. Of course, I realize that this is TV and the main characters can't be killed off in the vein of, say, George R.R. Martin, but it's nice to know that not everyone in the main credits is immortal.
The second thing that made this episode great was that it was so character-focused. I can easily overlook all kinds of stupid plot holes if the writers allow the characters to feel, think and interact with each other believably. We often get bad characterization because the characters service the needs of the plot, but with little plot to speak of in this episode, the characters were allowed to shine. I'm not saying every episode should be balanced like this, but if TPTB were to focus more on the characters, SGA's future would look a lot brighter.
The episode was not without any problems, of course. The way some characters were introduced felt pretty jarring as they've never been mentioned before but our main characters still know them. With better planning we could have at least found out about their existence earlier. Also, some relationships such as Rodney/Katie and Sheppard/Tayla were yanked out of stasis rather abruptly. I know I'm not the most avid SGA fan, but were we supposed to know that Rodney's still actually dating Katie? Furthermore, Mike's scenes with Weir weren't my favourites, but I was happy to see how she handled herself in the end.
I just wish the writers continued treating their characters like this in the future, but I remain skeptical. In any case, I'm happy to give the episode a scientifically accurate grade of
9/10
...
I loved how in his first scene with her he seemed so comfortable, not awkward for once. Sure, things got awkward over lunch but only because they got into discussing icky relationship stuff and that's enough to freak any man out! 
i'm too soft 
Comment