'Reunion' (403) General Discussion

[Erised]

justhere1971, yep she did. I think they questioned her leadership skills... And we saw a LOT of angry posts about how Weir can't lead. Now I bet we won't see any of that stuff from those who are for this change.

Indeed like SR pointed out, this episode was Sateda and Rising, though I can't remember what Trinity was about so I can't compare that.. Next week's episode

Spoiler:

is a cheap copy of Cold Lazarus.

and I just can't wait to see what episode they copied next.

[FallenAngelII]

I have to say Mckay sorta ticked me off in this episode. He is all happy because he thinks he will be in charge of SGA, where as Sheppard did not care at all or even thought about it. He was only concerned about finding Elizabeth and made it known to Carter that they all have not given up on her. Ronon even had words with Carter and in a way was expecting Carter to say yes, so Carter threw in the "I'm not Dr. Weir"

Mckay had some good moments last season, and I hope he can go back to that caring person he was when Carson died or when he was about to die in "Tao of Rodney".

Just because he we didn't see him go up against Sam with a "I want to mount a rescue mission!"-stance does not mean he doesn't care. We never saw Teyla express such a wish. Does that mean Teyla doesn't care?

John doesn't want the position because he knows the downs. Rodney, however, does, despite knowing the downs. They're just different people. At least with Rodney as leader, the rescue mission would be a given.

Spoiler:

Regarding the future Alliance with the Wraith:
What's so hypocritical about that is that the spoilers speak of an alliance with Wraith which sounds like one they make on their own accord! The Saint Carter-lovers will defend her decision to make the alliance to their dying breath!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was forced into making hers! What the idiots (because they were idiots!) failed to comprehend with "Allies" is that they had no choice. Their choices were:
* Make an "alliance" with the Hive and give them the gas (which couldn't possibly be used against humans) to help them take out enemy Hives
* Let the Hive alert all the other Hives to Atlantis' continued survival and face a good 60 Hive Ships coming down on them

Yeah... what great choices. And while she made said "alliance", she still had everyone on guard. I mean, Rodney was subtly sabotaging their systems while fixing the broken ones!

It wasn't an alliance. It was a bunch of people black-mailed into doing something!

But the Saint Carter-fans will probably forget all about it and defend her through thick and thin.

[Pegasus_SGA]

What a great ep! From start to finish it was pure class.

What I loved about this eppy.

Ronon and his backstory, i've always enjoyed the Satedan story arc for him, and this took it to another level for me. Jason did a great job throughout the ep, and for me it felt very team based even though it was centered on Ronon. The angst, the tension, the betrayal. I really enjoyed how the team were trying to help him find a place that he could call home, that was very endearing... and yep, I did snuffle a few times.

*snort* I really can't imagine Rodney running Atlantis, and I have a feeling Zelenka feels the same! I'm glad Shep and Carter had that talk about command. I never wanted Shep to be commander to be honest, I prefer him and the team out in the field getting into trouble. And it was nice to hear he didn't want it either.

Nice lil tidbit for the SJ Shippers to.

The fight scenes were excellently (that's my new word btw) choreographed, so my hat goes off to Bambam, Rachel and Jason and all those involved. The only strange bit on the fight scene was the initial one with Teyla, did they supe it up to make her faster than neo?

Some great character interactions between Shep and Ronon, and Ronon and Teyla, Sam and Teal'c. But what I loved the most was the scene between Ronon and Sam! I adored the intensity in the that, and the throw back to Weir and how Sam and Weir are very different. Loved that Ronon threw the 'Weir would have trusted me.' Back in her face. Great scene, and it's nice that their building up of trust is going to take time, because for me it's very realistic.

Sam for me in this was as i'd known her in SG1, and she fit right in there. Quite a contrast from my thoughts of her in DG, and maybe that's because I needed to see her taking over and finding her feet first. Plus, it may have been Amanda feeling nervous in DG, i'm not sure. For me though I think she's going to make a really good addition. I didn't feel as if she took anything away from the core cast, and I like that everyone has made her feel welcome.. I've not seen her interacting with Teyla yet, so can't comment, but I love that she and Ronon are testing the waters.

I had to giggle at Rodney's 'lust' with Sam, and his attempting to cover up the awkward moment. And for those concerned over the name issue, she called him Rodney several times, not McKay.

I also had to laugh at Shep trying to get one over on Rodney with the fruit basket, and the pineapples. The scene in the cafeteria with Shep felt honest and real, and you could tell Shep didn't want him to go. *sniff*

As for the activation code... ah so it was the Wraith that deactivated it... interesting.

@ Rodney stealing Ronon's painting... I wonder if he painted that himself or if Lorne did it for him, or Lorne's been giving Ronon painting lessons?

Nice to see Teyla getting some really good stuff in this, and it was great that we got to see her internal struggles again with moving to Atlantis, and how she feels about being there and not with her own people. I hope this is the start of Teyla's arc.

Overall, and i'm sure there's a tonne of things i've missed. I loved every minute of it and my hat goes off to Mr M, he really did a great job with this!

And last but not least... Shep whump! Woohooooo. I love unexpected whump. *does her happy dance*

So in short, yes, I do short on occasions. Great character moments, loevly team bonding, lots of sniffly moments with heartfelt emotions and a fab storyline. I wonder how this will affect Ronon's feelings towards his friends and what sort of an impact this will have on him and the team and his learning to trust people?

From me 10/10

[Briangate78]

Just because he we didn't see him go up against Sam with a "I want to mount a rescue mission!"-stance does not mean he doesn't care. We never saw Teyla express such a wish. Does that mean Teyla doesn't care?

John doesn't want the position because he knows the downs. Rodney, however, does, despite knowing the downs. They're just different people. At least with Rodney as leader, the rescue mission would be a given.

Never said he did not care, it just seemed a little cold that he was so quick to take over as leader. Sheppard had the well I did not even think about it attitude, meaning his mind is elsewhere.

[Pegasus_SGA]

Just because he we didn't see him go up against Sam with a "I want to mount a rescue mission!"-stance does not mean he doesn't care. We never saw Teyla express such a wish. Does that mean Teyla doesn't care?

John doesn't want the position because he knows the downs. Rodney, however, does, despite knowing the downs. They're just different people. At least with Rodney as leader, the rescue mission would be a given.

Exactly. Shep doesn't want it, and to be honest I was a bit surprised that Rodney had given it a lot of thought. The thing is with Rodney being in command, given the situation in the PG he's not a good choice, he has no strategic military expertise, and while yes he has saved the city umpteen times over, the position in the Peg requires someone with military training, from my perspective. Do you really think Rodney would be able to send a team into hostile territory knowing that they may not make it back? he hasn't really had to make those sorts of choices yet. When/if he does, Rodney under those sorts of circumstances thinks not with his head, but with his emotions, and he can't always be objective. (See Adrift and the Weir situation). So i'm not sure if Rodney could make those hard choices.

But I agree with you about Teyla in that she does care, and that Shep wouldn't want the command positions.

Spoiler:

Regarding the future Alliance with the Wraith:
What's so hypocritical about that is that the spoilers speak of an alliance with Wraith which sounds like one they make on their own accord! The Saint Carter-lovers will defend her decision to make the alliance to their dying breath!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was forced into making hers! What the idiots (because they were idiots!) failed to comprehend with "Allies" is that they had no choice. Their choices were:
* Make an "alliance" with the Hive and give them the gas (which couldn't possibly be used against humans) to help them take out enemy Hives
* Let the Hive alert all the other Hives to Atlantis' continued survival and face a good 60 Hive Ships coming down on them

Yeah... what great choices. And while she made said "alliance", she still had everyone on guard. I mean, Rodney was subtly sabotaging their systems while fixing the broken ones!

It wasn't an alliance. It was a bunch of people black-mailed into doing something!

But the Saint Carter-fans will probably forget all about it and defend her through thick and thin.

We don't know if Carter is the one to make that decision though do we? How do we know she's not forced into the same position that Weir was? Given the little bits of info out there, it's not that clear. So you might want to jump off the anti-carter bandwagon for just a little while until we see what happens and how it's done. Though I concede it's your perogotive to see things how you want to see them...

As a Carter fan, who says i'll defend her to the end? I am perfectly able to see things objectively. I understand some people can't be objective in their views about favourite characters, but i'm not one of them.

Shutting up ow.

[Lord batchi ball]

I have to say Mckay sorta ticked me off in this episode. He is all happy because he thinks he will be in charge of SGA, where as Sheppard did not care at all or even thought about it. He was only concerned about finding Elizabeth and made it known to Carter that they all have not given up on her. Ronon even had words with Carter and in a way was expecting Carter to say yes, so Carter threw in the "I'm not Dr. Weir"

Mckay had some good moments last season, and I hope he can go back to that caring person he was when Carson died or when he was about to die in "Tao of Rodney".

I liked Mckay in this episode. It was quite funny.

[Strix varia]

I thought the episode was predictable, but I enjoyed it anyway. It had a nice pace and a good balance between character interaction and action. I particularly liked the scene with Teal'c and Sam. I also liked the fact that Teyla had some good lines, and I enjoyed the focus on Ronon.

I agree that it didn't make sense for Sam to go on the rescue mission as commander of Atlantis. But it's happened before on both SG-1 and Atlantis (Shepp was in command in Adrift, and he kept putting himself in dangerous positions, too; it would have made more sense to send someone else with Zelenka for the spacewalk, for example...). But the writers will always use characters/actors with whom the audience will identify before plugging in someone unknown. Viewers are going to be more emotionally attached to the story if Sam is on the mission as opposed to some unknown marine. Lorne might have been a better choice in both Adrift and Reunion, but in any case, believability gets sacrificed in favor of familiarity (and perhaps budget issues).

I don't see it becoming a common occurrence because I don't see Shepp habitually getting his team captured. In this case, somebody had to go with Ronon to make the rescue, but it would get old fast if that scenario repeated itself often.

I'm looking forward to next week's ep.

[Wilson3Girl]

I love that she said "stay strong Rodney" -I found something extremely endearing about that line.

I liked Teyla saying that too. I think you could tell that she was very worried for Rodney---not necessarily because she thought he would give up any secrets, but also because she was truly worried about his welfare.
As someone else said, Rodney is not a soldier like the rest of the team. He's first and foremost a scientist. Obviously John, Ronon and Teyla have helped to train him a bit, but his instincts are not those of a soldier and I thought it was very realistic for him to try and escape when the Wraith captured John and Teyla. I also liked how he didn't become hysterical when the Wraith took him from the holding cell. He was scared, but he went without incident. If they hadn't stunned John, I don't think they would've gotten Rodney out of that cell without a fight from Shep........which would've ended up with Shep being stunned anyway. Oh well, still, exciting stuff.

Wilson3Girl

[FallenAngelII]

Never said he did not care, it just seemed a little cold that he was so quick to take over as leader. Sheppard had the well I did not even think about it attitude, meaning his mind is elsewhere.

Cold? They needed a leader. The city can't survive without a leader, there'd be anarchy and confusion. It's not like he went straight from Asuras to the IOA to demand the position. The fact that he wants it and John doesn't doesn't make him any less of a person.

Exactly. Shep doesn't want it, and to be honest I was a bit surprised that Rodney had given it a lot of thought.

A lot of thought? He read the description of the new leader and assumed it was he. Obviously that constitutes "a lot of thought".

The thing is with Rodney being in command, given the situation in the PG he's not a good choice, he has no strategic military expertise, and while yes he has saved the city umpteen times over, the position in the Peg requires someone with military training, from my perspective.

Yes, because obviously having a military commander means nothing. Why even have John there if the expedition leader has to be military as well? Do you think Rodney would be incapable of recognizing bad strategies from good ones given by John?

Do you really think Rodney would be able to send a team into hostile territory knowing that they may not make it back? he hasn't really had to make those sorts of choices yet. When/if he does, Rodney under those sorts of circumstances thinks not with his head, but with his emotions, and he can't always be objective. (See Adrift and the Weir situation). So i'm not sure if Rodney could make those hard choices.

He can be objective. What people fail to grasp with "Adrift" is that Rodney had disabled the nanites' ability to contact other nanites and to take over Elizabeth. The only people whining about it are the ones saying "But he could not be 100% sure!", but you never can.

Rodney can send people into hostile territory. After all, he goes into hostile territory all the time.

We don't know if Carter is the one to make that decision though do we? How do we know she's not forced into the same position that Weir was? Given the little bits of info out there, it's not that clear. So you might want to jump off the anti-carter bandwagon for just a little while until we see what happens and how it's done. Though I concede it's your perogotive to see things how you want to see them...

You're already defending Sam. Meanwhile, tons of fans (a lot of them Saint Carter fans who will undoubtedly defend Sam this time around) berated Elizabeth (and John and Rodney) and demand her head for "Allies", despite the fact that it wasn't their choice.

As a Carter fan, who says i'll defend her to the end? I am perfectly able to see things objectively. I understand some people can't be objective in their views about favourite characters, but i'm not one of them.

We said Saint Carter fans. Not the generic Carter Fans. I'm a fan of Rodney's and John's but I often criticize John.

[Strix varia]

Spoiler:

Regarding the future Alliance with the Wraith:
What's so hypocritical about that is that the spoilers speak of an alliance with Wraith which sounds like one they make on their own accord! The Saint Carter-lovers will defend her decision to make the alliance to their dying breath!

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was forced into making hers! What the idiots (because they were idiots!) failed to comprehend with "Allies" is that they had no choice. Their choices were:
* Make an "alliance" with the Hive and give them the gas (which couldn't possibly be used against humans) to help them take out enemy Hives
* Let the Hive alert all the other Hives to Atlantis' continued survival and face a good 60 Hive Ships coming down on them

Yeah... what great choices. And while she made said "alliance", she still had everyone on guard. I mean, Rodney was subtly sabotaging their systems while fixing the broken ones!

It wasn't an alliance. It was a bunch of people black-mailed into doing something!

But the Saint Carter-fans will probably forget all about it and defend her through thick and thin.

Yeah, you know, Carter is never referred to as a saint. And really, I don't see any Carter fans referring to her as a saint, either. For myself, I'd prefer you to use "Carter, the National Treasure," so when you call us hypocritical, the dig you use will at least be approaching canon. Thanks!

[Wilson3Girl]

Shep doesn't want it, and to be honest I was a bit surprised that Rodney had given it a lot of thought.

I didn't perceive it as him giving it a lot of thought. Rodney hears that they are going to promote the "utmost expert" and believes that they're talking about him. =) I think all it would take is Zelenka or John saying, "Rodney, do you have any idea blah blah blah..." and he'd say, "Yeah, forget it." The whole thing seemed out of character anyway. No word about Weir.....just a strange scene.


Wilson3Girl

[Leliana McKay]

I'm glad that some people liked this episode and some people didn't. It was a difficult episode because they brought in Carter and Joe Mallozzi said it was a slower episode.

I for one was a bit disappointed by some parts in this episode, but in overall it was still great.

First, well I love Sam, Teal'c also, but the goodbye scene was a bit overdone. I mean this is Atlantis not SG1 and the sad tears should be left in a corner. It's not like someone died or she will never see Earth again (ok maybe). Sam is a strong character and I felt she was taking her departure very bad. Anyhow, I still love Sam, just not what I expected from her.

McKay so happy about the rumour, well his interpretation of the rumour was sweet. Him as a leader? Well no, it wouldn't work but the sheer hapiness when he told Zelenka made me very happy! I like Rodney better when he is happy than grumpy.
Then the "they couldn't have picked a better person" line from Rodney has he thought he was the new leader, and Sam's "Thank you Rodney" really crushed my heart. Rodney's confusion and then understanding to Sheppard's "Yeah she is our new boss" was a great job. Thanks David!!
I really felt so sorry for Rodney but hey, who are we kidding, this is Rodney! Not a very diplomatic boss!

Sam's speech and arrival was average. Rodney's fruit basket (which I thought was a very sweet and good idea) made me laugh but stupid Sheppard (who I wanted to strangle for saying to Rodney he should have brought flowers) had to ruin it. I mean Rodney doing something nice is... well ... rare, so John was kinda mean. I thought they were good friend, so this was no a very friendly gesture. Especially when John stole the basket fruit and gave it to Sam. Rodney was pissed, and I like a pissed Rodney too. But still, it was old McKay and not the new McKay we have had since Tao or Sunday.

The "I'm seeing someone" line, I was really looking for, since it has been in all Amanda, David and Joe Mallozzi interviews. However, it came out as a joke and embarassed Rodney. I felt back in SG1. Please let Rodney grow!!

Ronon was great, well it WAS his episode after all. I didn't like his Satedan friends from the beginning but the plot was good.

I thought it difficult to see Sam as the leader, since I watch all the sg1 seasons and kept waiting for Elizabeth to somehow come back. I think it will take time for me to get used to the new leader. She is so different and her phrasing orders just seemed odd.
I'm however glad that she stays strong and determined. Saying "No" to Ronon first, then Sheppard ( about rescuing Elizabeth without a good plan) was well done. Like some of you I didn't like her calling him John.

Ronon and the choice of leaving Atlantis was very touching. Jason was great during the entire episode. From the meeting his friends, the tatoo (funny scene), the speech with Carter in his room, to the Wraith laboratory scenes. I loved how he just ran back to the Atlantis team when he heard the gun shoots.

I agree with the people who say that Carter should not have left Atlantis. Yes she is military but she is in charge. She should send people and not go to the front line and get herself killed.

A scene I loved was when the wraiths took Rodney from the cell. Teyla looked so worried and asked him "Be strong Rodney" to which he answered "I'll try". I think there's a great friendship going on since Tao and hopefully we will see more.

Rodney and the replicator reprogramming. I felt like it was a : its been done before scene.

And what an ending!!
Ronon finding out his satedan friends betrayed him and were working for the wraith was amazing. The flashbacks of the wraith feeding and giving back their lives to his friends creeped me out. But the best was the fight scene. He actually killed one of the three himself.
Best line of the episode Sheppard "where are your friends?" and Ronon's answer "Right here" sweet!!
I love team friendship episodes!


A 8/10 for Reunion.

[Killdeer]

Hmmm. First impressions. Let's get the bad out of the way first. Most of it is actually just details....

Cons:

*I agree with those who said Zelenka using a scanner is a little weird. Maybe it's not a LSD, but...it looks like an LSD, so it seems a little odd. And he's remarkably calm walking into a Wraith lab considering the last time we saw him off-world (Duet) he was about to jump out of his skin. Although we did see him going to the "Mr. Mom" planet, so evidently he's had quite a bit of off-world experience since then.

*Was anyone else bugged by the Wraith's hair? Wow that was a bad wig. Usually it's not so bad, but this one was so obviously a wig that it was sparkling.

*Speaking of hair, Carter's hair really bugged me in this episode. I'm not a fan of it long, I'll be honest, but in the other episodes this season, it's at least been neat. This was...not so much.

*I didn't care for her calling Sheppard John. It's not a big deal, but I'd prefer they not be so buddy-buddy. It seems a little unprofessional.

*And now for my big, major, grip with the episode-and that was the opening scene with Rodney. OK. I love Rodney. He's probably my favorite character, although Shep is a pretty close second. But.....I hated this scene. With a deep deep hatred. Normally this would be classic Rodney, and not a problem. But under the circumstances, I felt like it was almost grotesquely inappropriate. They've just lost Elizabeth, someone who Rodney was very close to, and respected a great deal. And Rodney carries some of the responsibility for what's happened to her. One of my major gripes with Lifeline was that we never got any sort of a reaction from Rodney losing Elizabeth, other than his shocked look in the jumper. But Lifeline was so packed that I was willing to let it go if they addressed it in the next episode. But here, not only is Rodney NOT mourning Elizabeth, he's practically vibrating in excitement about being chosen to replace her. Bad bad character continuity. They threw away the chance for some depth from Rodney in favor of trying to add some laughs. Well, I wasn't laughing. And yes, I know we don't know how much time has passed. But....I'm sorry. The way Lifeline went....I needed more than that. Hopefully sometime later we'll get some reaction from Rodney about Elizabeth, and I'll be able to forgive this scene. Right now, not so much.

The pros:

Honestly, the rest of the episode I liked. Starting out with:

*Teyla and Ronon going to look for the Satedans. Somehow I feel like we've been here before. The whole Teyla looking for a husband thing was funny, and wonderfully acted by both Jason and Rachel. I loved Teyla's scene in the bar, and the fight.

*Sam and Teal'c goodbye scene(I'm possibly slightly a closet Sam/Teal'c shipper, sorry Caladria ). Although I was a little disappointed-I had been under the impression from vague spoilers that we would see her being ordered to go to Atlantis, and her not necessarily being happy about it. This almost made it sound like she was given the option of refusing. I'll have to watch that scene again. Anyway.

*The scene in the gateroom with them greeting her was also well done. John stealing Rodney's basket was classic John & Rodney warfare. Great touch. EDIT: After reading other comments, I have to agree, however, that there should have been a salute, although I didn't notice it when I watched the episode. But now that I'm thinking about it...it should have been there. Are they trying to downplay Sam being military I wonder?

*The Sam/Rodney scene in Carter's quarters was awkward, but not as bad as I'd feared - I was afraid of a more public smackdown. I'm glad they didn't go that route. And am I the only one that thinks that a possible interpretation of Rodney's "unrequited lust" line is him speaking of himself and recognizing that he needs to clear the air about that if they're going to work together? Because I'm just having a hard time believing that Rodney is self-deluded enough to deny that he has had lustful feelings for Carter-in fact, he's admitted it. In the past he's always claimed that she returned those feelings but was just hiding it. The term "unrequited" seemed to me to be a recognition of reality. It's just that the way he stumbled over himself Sam ended up misinterpreting him. But I'm probably the only person who thinks that-that's ok.

*The scene with Ronon and Carter - I liked that Ronon got in her face, and I liked that she didn't give in.

*The balcony scene was a rather blatant callback to Rising, and I thought I would have more of an issue with it after reading spoilers, but...it was handled well. And I didn't feel like John was out of character - I thought he was actually rather IN-character, trying to sweet-talk her into letting him go look for Elizabeth. His attitude visibly changed when she said no, but him not putting up more of a protest is actually rather in line with what we've seen from John IMO. John's not an in-your-face rebel like O'Neill was - in fact, the only time I can remember seeing him directly get in the face of a superior officer was in Sateda, to Caldwell. And Caldwell isn't in his chain of command. No, John is much more passive-aggressive. He'll back down on the face of it, but if he feels strongly enough about it, he'll just go ahead and do it anyway when you're not looking. Like when he staged the rescue attempt in Return. He didn't fight Landry all that much about it-he just went behind his back.

*Teyla and Ronon's fight-and their discussion. This was a great scene for Teyla.

*John and Ronon's discussion at the table...also good...

*Going into the Wraith lab. Ronan being torn between the two teams. John and Teyla getting captured, and Rodney having the sense to hide. Good for you Rodney, but how in the world DID you get in there anyway?

*Ronon coming back for reinforcements, and Carter giving them to him. And yes, philosophically I have a little issue with Carter going off world with the team, but, logic aside, I didn't mind how it was handled. It seemed by the little scene in the jumper that Carter going off-world this time was clearly intended as a bonding-thing between Ronon and Carter. And...yeah, maybe it's a little fast, but I thought it worked. I guess maybe I'm so used to seeing her on a gateteam that it doesn't feel that out of place, although it's true that as a leader, she should have stayed behind. But according to AT, she only goes offworld

Spoiler:

three time this year, and one of those is Trio, so I didn't mind it being used this time.

*Oh, and I liked that they were smart enough to use two jumpers-one as a decoy. Was that Lorne's voice in the other jumper? I'll imagine it was.

*Rodney being taken to work on the Replicator, and his dismay when he discovered that they had one captured. It almost seems like Rodney's more afraid of the Replicators than the Wraith at this point.

*Ronon's horror at finding out his friends are wraith worshippers. And yeah, using the Wraith gift of life to break them seems strange after Common Ground, but I had an idea that this was all staged by the Wraith to get Rodney. It's probably not a normal usage, but the Wraith needed to get to Rodney, and they (presumably) know Ronon is with the Atlantians now. So they broke Ronon's friends and used them to lure the Atlantians in.

*I liked that Ronon didn't kill his last friend, but I wonder if there'll be consequences from leaving him alive. I notice that he didn't tell anyone that. And saying "they're right here."

*And I did like the last scene with Ronon and Teyla.

My rating...7/10 - losing points for the beginning scene with Rodney.

[Pegasus_SGA]

Cold? They needed a leader. The city can't survive without a leader, there'd be anarchy and confusion. It's not like he went straight from Asuras to the IOA to demand the position. The fact that he wants it and John doesn't doesn't make him any less of a person.

A lot of thought? He read the description of the new leader and assumed it was he. Obviously that constitutes "a lot of thought".

Can you honestly see Rodney giving it 30 seconds thought. He's probably been thinking about it for a while. I know I would in his position. It's natural. What he did/didn't read isn't known to the audience, but if you note since Siege II, I think it was, he's always felt as if a Science leader should play a bigger part in the leadership... and Letters from Pegaus comes to mind to. So it's not (for me anyway) something that comes from a whim, or just reading the description of whose become the leader. McKay and Carter's science backgrounds are very similar, so it's natural for him to think it was him that was chosen. So, yes, a lot of thought.

Yes, because obviously having a military commander means nothing. Why even have John there if the expedition leader has to be military as well? Do you think Rodney would be incapable of recognizing bad strategies from good ones given by John?


He can be objective. What people fail to grasp with "Adrift" is that Rodney had disabled the nanites' ability to contact other nanites and to take over Elizabeth. The only people whining about it are the ones saying "But he could not be 100% sure!", but you never can.

I didn't say the leader had to be purely military, I said that given the situation it's understandable and logical that they'd want someone who had experience in those fields that could bridge the gap between science and military. Rodney can fire a P90, but can he plan a military offensive if required? No. It's not his area of expertise, but Carter as I said above can bridge the gap. I really don't think McKay would be comfortable ordering a strategice offensive/defencive if he was the leader. Sometimes he can be obective, but when it comes to his friends, like Weir he struggled. He didn't want Weir's death on his conscionce knowing full well he could have prevented it. He couldn't see the bigger picture with Weir, and i'm not bashing him for it, she was his friend. Some people can't make those hard choices, and it's not a slight on him if he can't.

Rodney can send people into hostile territory. After all, he goes into hostile territory all the time.

name me one ep where he's done that? He goes into hostile territory, but he's ever SENT anyone into hostile territory, that's the difference, and it's a biggie.

You're already defending Sam. Meanwhile, tons of fans (a lot of them Saint Carter fans who will undoubtedly defend Sam this time around) berated Elizabeth (and John and Rodney) and demand her head for "Allies", despite the fact that it wasn't their choice.


We said Saint Carter fans. Not the generic Carter Fans. I'm a fan of Rodney's and John's but I often criticize John.

How am I defending Sam? Because I thought she fitted in well here? Well, if that's defending her, then yes I am. However, if you note in my DG post, I wasn't so 'defensive' ergo I can be objective. I'm not saying you're not entitled to your opinion regarding the other characters, i'm saying that if you dish it out, you need to bear in mind that you may have to take it, if people disagree.

[FallenAngelII]

Yeah, you know, Carter is never referred to as a saint. And really, I don't see any Carter fans referring to her as a saint, either. For myself, I'd prefer you to use "Carter, the National Treasure," so when you call us hypocritical, the dig you use will at least be approaching canon. Thanks!

To my understanding, "Saint Carter" is a quasi-derogatory term us anti-Carters (I only became an anti-Carterian recently) invented to use for the character of Sam Carter, who can't ever do anything wrong. Or if she does, it's never anything big. 10 years on Stargate and she's got an almost perfect record.

She's the perfect little girl who does everything right and is always right. When I say "Saint Carter"-fans, I mean the fans who are a fan of her and view her as perfect.