'Harmony' (414) General Discussion

[jckfan55]

I found the episode pretty cliched and predictable, but I did laugh at the painting. Poor Shep.

[Mitchell82]

I wonder too. That makes at least 3 now, with the people from the Tower and those from the Aurora in a volcano settlement beinng the other 2.

Well in the Tower only a few did and as to those in the Volcano settlement I don't think they actually had the gene. All they did was open doors and use the computer.

You mean the one 'Work or die'?? where they had tealc and britak in prison?
he was also in that ep of SG1 where the Tok'ra and Jaffa fled to our Alpha site ut had a Asrak follow then and kill a few..

Uh no he was only in Orpheus. I'm preety sure he wasn't in Allegience.

Well we know he is selfless when others lives are on the line, as he willfully stayed back working on the doors in Before i Sleep,, when the AU atlantis had not rissen due to the ZPM being depleted..

Different Rodney though.

Part of me hoped they DID shoot her..

She was a bit annoying but not that much.

[Alan]

Okay...I've watched Harmony and as I predicted from the trailer...I didn't think too much of it. I'm not a McKay fan so that didn't help. He's always the one thing about Stargate: Atlantis that ruins it for me including the episodes of Stargate SG-1 he guest starred in. Sorry McKay fans.

Also it seemed to me that Joe Flanigan - an actor I like very much - didn't seem to be giving his all in this one. Maybe he was unwell when he filmed this or maybe the quality of the script didn't help bring out the best of him? He definitely didn't seem to be firing on all cylinders to me and I was hoping and counting on Joe to be the one good thing about Harmony.

There was something off about the whole episode. The entire thing just left me numb. I'm not even gonna give this a marking out of 10. I don't know what to make of this episode at all. The previous 13 episodes have been brilliant but this is the weakest of Season 4 so far.

Luckily Outcast looks much better and, if my maths is correct, from here on there are no more Sam-less episodes. Fantastic!

[SeaBee]

OK. At the risk of opening myself up to ridicule, scorn and derision I am putting down on this here thread what I thought of this episode.

I tried. I really tried. I watched it all the way through. I resisted the urge to change channel after 10 minutes. I stopped myself from throwing my coffee cup through the screen after 20 minutes. (the rental company wouldn't have approved) I even refrained from swearing every few minutes. (the kids were in the room)

This was, in my own opinion, the most annoying and pointless episode of SGA EVER.

I'm not sure which was more annoying, the whining drone from the mini drones or the whining drone from McKay. The man has been an immature whining egomaniac for four seasons, isn't it time he was allowed to grow up a bit? It was ok to be like that in the 3 SG-1 eps he was in because he was only a re-occuring character, and it doesn't matter if they are annoying, they won't be arround long. McKay, however, is on the show every week and, frankly, the one trick pony has got boring.

Shepherd, as the straight man to the two obnoxious children, was as boring a performance as I have seen.

Harmony was as annoying as she could be, which means she was exactly as written. That is not my problem. My problem was the choice of child actress for the role. As soon as I saw her I thought "Oh no! They're not introducing the Ori to this show, are they? And why is Adria a child again?"

Come on, there must be more young actresses in Canada than that.

And the Genii? Again? Couldn't it have been a small band of disaffected locals or a team of mercenaries hired by the signposted evil sister? While I'm on the subject, do they not teach Genii soldiers to count in basic training? They knew there were two escorts for the Princess, yet completly ignored the fact that one was missing when they first stopped McKay and Harmony, allowing Shepherd to get into position.
Sloppy, real sloppy.

All in all, this ep is not their finest hour.

[ciannwn]

I've just watched this episode and I loved it. First there were the 'fairy tale' clichés. It's always the youngest brother or sister who gets the kingdom or reward. Then there's the wicked sister trying to dispose of her rival (often it's the wicked stepmother doing this). The Genii were the equivalent of the villain's henchmen who try to kill the rival in the forest. Sheppard and McKay were like the 'helpers' which the fairy tale hero/heroine needs because they can do things which he/she can't.

I thought Harmony was wonderful because she was meant to be annoying. She was a typical 13 year old girl in many ways - thinking she knows it all, trying to act grownup one minute and being a complete brat the next. (I was once a 13 year old girl myself and I went to school with other 13 year old girls.) She's reckless but she's also courageous and has a sense of honour and obligation - yes, she could have gone back to the settlement and pretended that she'd completed the rite of passage but, as she points out, "I would know". She lies about the power bar and puts the blame on Rodney but there are some things which should never be lied about. She's also practical and down to earth because she catches a bird, builds a fire and cooks her own dinner.

Her falling in love with Sheppard and then going off him a couple of hours later is also typical of a kid her age. I thought her proposal of marriage was very funny. She's decided that he's going to be the King she'll need at an unspecified time in the future and misinterprets his discomfort as him being overwhelmed by the honour she intends to bestow upon him. Even her "There's no need to answer now," and "You shouldn't make your decision rashly" came across to me as her taking it for granted that he was going to agree so giving him time to think about it was just a formality.

What kind of Queen might she be when she grows up? It's impossible to tell at the moment. She's intellectually aware that she has to strike a balance between her people's needs and her own but it doesn't guarantee that she will do so when she's in a position of power. Far too many kings and queens throughout history have put their own wants first. She's highly intelligent and sharp as a razor, though, so I don't think it would be easy for anyone to cheat her on trades.

There were hints that there was a much darker side to life in this settlement. Harmony threatens Rodney in a way which suggests that punishments in her society are somewhat medieval and she also knows what thumb screws are. Mardola could be in for a very unpleasant time in prison but this, too, is very much in keeping with 'fairy tales' before they got watered down for children.

The dialogue was very entertaining and that painting at the end was priceless. Finally, a little detail which amused me was Harmony offering Sheppard the bird's heart and him refusing it as though the thought of eating it made him feel queasy. It just reminded me of that scene in 'Missing' when Teyla wanted Keller to eat that squidlike creature's insides.

[Jill_Ion]

{snip}

Also it seemed to me that Joe Flanigan - an actor I like very much - didn't seem to be giving his all in this one. Maybe he was unwell when he filmed this or maybe the quality of the script didn't help bring out the best of him? He definitely didn't seem to be firing on all cylinders to me and I was hoping and counting on Joe to be the one good thing about Harmony.

{snip}

JF had food poisoning during the filming of Harmony. I think that affected his performance a little.

[Alan]

JF had food poisoning during the filming of Harmony. I think that affected his performance a little.

Thanks for clarifying that, Jill_Ion. I knew that there was something off throughout that whole episode. Shame that it was an illness that kept him from his best in an episode that could really have done with Joe Flanigan at his best. Obviously if your ill, your ill and that's that and I in no way blame Joe for this episode failing to impress me. In fact I applaud him for continuing to work despite his illness. Well done that man.

[nx01a]

Food poisoning? Damn power bars!!!!

I was glad to hear that they managed to actually get information on something of value out of the database, despite not knowing where it was. What sense does that make?
"We have a drone experimentation facility. We won't say where it is."

[garhkal]

Uh no he was only in Orpheus. I'm preety sure he wasn't in Allegience.

Watch it again. When that Tok'ra funeral happened, he was teh one who got into it with them after asking a question, then later on when that Tok'ra was killed he was the one suspected of doing it.

Other than IMDB are there other websites to look at the actors and actresses in SG1/SGA>

[Jill_Ion]

Food poisoning? Damn power bars!!!!

I was glad to hear that they managed to actually get information on something of value out of the database, despite not knowing where it was. What sense does that make?
"We have a drone experimentation facility. We won't say where it is."

Well, McKay did say the Ancients kept secrets from each other. I suppose whoever was working on the mini-drones didn't tell the Ancients' IT people so it could be put in the database.

Silly Ancients!

[Jill_Ion]

Watch it again. When that Tok'ra funeral happened, he was teh one who got into it with them after asking a question, then later on when that Tok'ra was killed he was the one suspected of doing it.

Other than IMDB are there other websites to look at the actors and actresses in SG1/SGA>

Gateworld.net in their character section can be helpful. I love IMDb, though. Very good to see what else SG actors have been in.

[Matt G]

1. Sheppard + McKay + kid = meh!

2. Interesting to have the Genii as bad guys again though you have to wonder who this particular bunch were!

I'm thinking more rogue mercenaries, while this bunch did seem to have some respect for Sheppard and McKay in that "we have no quarrel with you", it seemed as though any half decent intel gathering on the establishment's part would have discovered the planet's ties to Atlantis and no Genii establishment figure with any brains would have wanted to get in Atlantis's way!

3. Mini-drones look good!

However this ep will certainly be filed down as this season's cackfest! Outcast looks better!

[nx01a]

The Genii are developing the ATA gene for themselves. I was hoping they knew about the Ancient technology supposedly back at the castle and were trying to get a foothold there so they could use it for themselves. That angle would make sense to me, but it wasn't touched on. I wonder what nasty side effects 1940s level gene splicing has?

[Mitchell82]

Watch it again. When that Tok'ra funeral happened, he was teh one who got into it with them after asking a question, then later on when that Tok'ra was killed he was the one suspected of doing it.

Other than IMDB are there other websites to look at the actors and actresses in SG1/SGA>

You're right they just looked so different.

[garhkal]

You're right they just looked so different.

Well he is quoted as being in that one and a few others, though i have not recognised him in any.