'Quarantine' (413) General Discussion

[Agent_Dark]

Keller: "And I'm a child prodigy, see, I graduated before I could vote and..."
Interviewer: "Can you stitch?"

Keller: "... yes"
Interviewer: "Excellent. Now we can get rid of the noob Beckett"

[marielabbott]

I love character moments. The characters are the reason I loved Atlantis when I first saw Rising. But when character moments are forced, or feel awkward, or when the characters are actually out of character…I do not like that at all. And while there were some nice moments in this episode, most of them felt this way to me.

There were some notable character scenes that I liked. Sheppard reacting to Rodney’s pathetic engagement ring was great. I especially appreciated a partial answer to the overriding question I had from last week’s episode—how will Teyla deal with being part of the team after her child is born, if there is a chance of leaving him an orphan. Sheppard’s reassurance that he would have a family in Atlantis if anything happened was nice. I loved Zelenka climbing through the ventilation shafts, muttering Czech (I can’t wait till we get a translation!), and his fall into the power room. Zelenka saves the day!

However, there were a number of moments that I felt were awkward and forced, or even out of character. Sure Rodney’s panicky and despairing under stress, but I can’t remember when I’ve seen him this bad. And I find it pretty unbelievable that Katie isn’t well acquainted with this part of his personality; doesn’t she say in Sunday that she knows him pretty well, because there isn’t much subtext with him? And how many years have they been dating? It looks like the end of the episode implies the relationship has ended at any rate.

I didn’t like how Zelenka was portrayed in the transporter scenes. It seemed he was used as almost comic relief, and somewhat silly comic relief at that. He seemed…bumbling, and while I know McKay always says he is, I don’t think he’s ever been truly portrayed that way, until now. Carter also seemed rather testy with him, which I thought was odd and unnecessary. And what’s up with the Atlantis men sneaking a peek at women this year? First Sheppard and now Zelenka. Unnecessary, guys.

The Ronon/Keller sequences…they felt forced and awkward to me. It was nice to get an explanation about her young age, but I didn’t feel sorry for her after her speech about what she missed out on. Do you really expect me to think Ronon felt a lot of sympathy for her, after he witnessed the destruction of his planet by the Wraith, the death of his girlfriend, and spending years on the run for his life, totally isolated? And Keller missed out on a social life? Sorry, but I’m not buying them as a couple.

All in all, a few nice moments, but not a good episode.

[Willow'sCat]

This ep was awful. It's going down at the bottom of my list along with Travelers.

I found the McKay/Katie scenes to be both boring and cringe-inducing thanks to Rodney's behavior. I expected some fumbling and OTT reactions from Rodney, but it was nonstop to the point that I tuned out whenever their scenes came on. Katie may have lived, but if their relationship is truly over then we won't see her again anyway. No loss on my end, I never thought much of her character.

Well this one goes right next to TRW marked "never to be watched/only use for fanvidding" and as for Katie's character? What character? We hardly know her, and for me above all my ranting that is the one reason I never wanted this ship, you cannot ship a practically unknown character with a very central and well known one and think it will just work! That should be script writing 101. Of course just to completely annoy me they will now probably have loads more Katie so we do get to know her and Rodney can marry her!

[wraithfound]

I've seen all Keller's episodes, and all I see is a self-conscious, spineless, whining, tactless, incompetent doctor, who never seems to have the ability to actually SAVE someone. But at least she can do stitches! Wow, I'm impressed.

I thought the same for the first half of the season, but in this episode I actually like her....maybe I'm just getting used to the whining. *shrugs*

Anyway, great episode! My only complaint is John scaling the central tower of Atlantis, I mean get real people, like anybody would ever do that, and then where he jumped to get ahold of one of the design things, eck.

[Chezlee]

I thought the same for the first half of the season, but in this episode I actually like her....maybe I'm just getting used to the whining. *shrugs*

Anyway, great episode! My only complaint is John scaling the central tower of Atlantis, I mean get real people, like anybody would ever do that, and then where he jumped to get ahold of one of the design things, eck.

Him climbing the tower was kinda cool with the effects and everything, but how about the idea of john, Lorne, chuck and the girl teck ALL climbing down with no difficulty...

[jelgate]

I've seen all Keller's episodes, and all I see is a self-conscious, spineless, whining, tactless, incompetent doctor, who never seems to have the ability to actually SAVE someone.

Most of those terms I saw out of Beckett when he first started as a CMO in S1.

[wraithfound]

True, I mean if he could barely climb up, how could they climb down?!

[Chezlee]

Most of those terms I saw out of Beckett when he first started as a CMO in S1.

didnt he figure out how to save shepperd in 38 minutes?? that was the 4th episode of s1

[Kribby]

Wow, the writers certainly wanted to make the shippers go crazy in this episode.

Haven't had this much character development in a long time. A few interesting surprises that I never saw coming.

I have dreamed about free-climbing Atlantis; to see it happen was simply incredible, although Sheppard's form is disappointing.

Finally: Why isn't Radek a main character by now? He's in every episode!

Oh no. The TPTB's can't make Radek a main character-- I'd hate to see him disappear like Beckett if the writers can't figure out an interesting story line for him.

[Uranium118]

I liked the episode. It's what I call a "funny" episode, as opposed to a "story" episode. I won't do a review, just point out a few funny moments.

- When Zelenka stares at Carter's boobs
- When McKay feel awkward because Katie says her plant grows "bigger and bigger..."
- Zelenka's pigeons
- 42: Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything
and a few others.

[Kribby]

He isn't part of the TEAM that was proven in Tao and in M&MM.

Seems like I should just give this one a miss really.

What do you mean-- he isn't a part of the team?

[1138]

I'm pretty sure Mckay / Katie is over. The door closing was pretty final. Katie was also clearly carting the Rodney cactus to the waste disposal in that final scene.

And what’s up with the Atlantis men sneaking a peek at women this year? First Sheppard and now Zelenka. Unnecessary, guys.

But who can blame him? I was waiting for Sam to unzip the jacket the whole time. Zelenka had a better view though.

Him climbing the tower was kinda cool with the effects and everything, but how about the idea of john, Lorne, chuck and the girl teck ALL climbing down with no difficulty...

My mental image of the scene is that Chuck piggybacked on Sheppard and the female tech piggybacked on Lorne.

[Lythisrose]

Overall I could enjoy this episode because of some of the individual character moments. I guess I would give it a B.

Things I liked:

John and Teyla – really like the relationship between them more and more. I liked the Rodney and John moment at the beginning, John knowing Rodney's code and thought John’s city climbing was fun, if not exactly realistic.
Radek – great that he gets to save the day. And pigeons.
Carter got to be sciency again for a few minutes
Ronon smiling

So So
I don’t mind Keller, but I just can’t see her as CMO or a brilliant medical prodigy. I wish she was there in some other capacity, as I do like Jewel’s acting.

Didn’t like: the way they made Rodney so defeatist and fatalistic here, he was always over the top hyper but, in the end, brave; this attitude was depressing. I felt bad for him at the end.
(I’m glad they didn’t go through with the engagement and also that Katie didn’t actually die). I’m kind of happy that no one died!

[talula]

I was two inches from the television

And people on other levels of the house were telling me to stop yelling.

I've only watched it once and am waiting for my sister-in-law to get here to watch it again. But on first thoughts:

Oh John- it's no use to mask how upset you were when Rodney said he was going to propose to Katie Brown. His last ditch effort: get drunk together and *make* him change his mind. Seriously. I want to read fanfic where this happens.

My first thought when you could see Rodney changing his mind about asking Katie Brown to marry him was this: He thought he was going to die and this was not the person he wanted to be with. Even taking away my belief of Johnlove- Katie Brown wasn't part of his self-made family. And he didn't want to be dying with her. So he realized he didn't want to marry her.

And on the subject of Katie Brown- I was holding out judgement for her because we didn't get much of her to judge. But she has no depth. One dimensional 'nice girl' is not interesting. Especially the way these characters have become so multi-dimensional.

Oh I got one more thought about why he decided not to marry her. His reason at the end was that he had things about himself to work on. But I think this: Katie Brown was telling him his whole outlook on life was wrong. He realized she wouldn't accept him the way he was. And John does. Okay. I went back to Johnlove. Sue me. I would also read fanfic about Rodney telling that to John.

Final John/Rodney note: when John saw Rodney's radio and realized he was probably somewhere without access to a computer he didn't say anything about him not being able to save the city. He said (something like) "He must be freaking out." And he knows his password. Come on. They're not even hiding it anymore. (loved the 42 reference!)

TWO MAIN CHARACTERS OPENLY LIKE EACH OTHER ON THE SHOW! Sorry. Didn't mean to yell. But I yelled at the television. The best part was that I completely believed it. It seemed natural. Liked the extra backstory on Keller. I always smile and have an innner squee every time Ronon smiles and does that thing with his eyes. You know. The thing he does with his eyes. Liked that character development actually got them to like each other and not just physical attraction (see: Carter's boobs).

Ronon referenced Jaws! Keller standing there with the eye protection looking scared to death (so cute!) vs. Ronon having a great time; whatever happens in their relationship- it's gonna be adorable. This episode has made the addition of Keller (which seemed to have little to no point in my eyes) an awesome part of the show.

Loved the way that Teyla saw right away that Ronon and Keller liked each other. I mean- it was in the first second of her walking over. Just reinforces the bond those two have. And goes back to when Ronon knew about her and Mr. Guy-We've-Never-Seen when no one else did.

Zelenka: Pigeon. Adorable. Overall I thought the scenes with Zelenka and Carter were not so interesting. Plus they made me feel all claustrophobic. Did like the part when Zelenka was telling her she couldn't hook the tablet up and she started doing stuff while he was talking. Reminded me of real Samantha Carter. Here's hoping she's making a comeback.

Oh. I almost forgot. When John said (something like) 'Your child will always have a family here if something should ever happen' almost made me cry. I always love a team=family reference. But I think it also said that whatever is pissing John off about Teyla's pregnancy is something he won't hold against the child. And Teyla kind of making a traditional family isn't going to make Teyla less a part of their family. I think she really needed to know that.

*sigh*
I love these guys. I loved this episode.

[ravinia]

have to agree... the pace was verrrry slow. Rodney wasn't the only one lying around on the floor waiting for something... anything... to happen.

I just still find it weird that ship-mania is ok on Atlantis but over at SG-1 god forbid there was any shipping whatsoever unless the other person was killed at the end of the episode, or was from an alternate reality, or it was all a dream. LOL.

Carter's character was wasted this ep, her role could have been played by anyone.

sorry to be so whiny. looking forward to better episodes to come.

Ravinia