'The Kindred, Part 1' (418) General Discussion

[Chailyn]

This one was meh, which sucks since I was really looking forward to it and not even just for the Carson angle. I wanted to see what the Teyla story would be about because that whole "my missing people" plot has produced a big, fat nothing so far.

Anyway, the bright spots:

-Lorne's team was cool. Poor Lorne looked so whipped after he lost Teyla.
-Michael retains his nice ability to remain as the sympathetic bad guy.
-S1 virus re-explored.

The disappointments:

-I found Teyla's storyline completely boring. I know we're supposed to care that the Athosians are gone, but I didn't care much back during "Missing" and after dropping the story for the last several weeks, I could care even less now. Obviously, so could the writers as the Athosians have convienently been turned into space zombies. They're red shirt fodder now. I'm thinking no more development for them!
-The Teyla/baby/soap opera is going exactly as I feared.
-I was hoping that Teyla wouldn't have an easy decision to make and that she'd have to make the choice whether to stay with her (non-space zombie) people or return to Atlantis. Obviously, much like Ronon in Reunion, that hard decision is out of her hands now. She'll just go with the flow of the plot, gain very little character development by not actually having to make a tough call, and return to Atlantis in the end. It even has a nice, little bow tied on top.
-The fact that they had to use the same freakin Beckett scene in their teaser. Even if they faded to black during the promo with Carson yelling, "What took you so long?", I would have been happy to at least see Carson for the first time during the actual episode. I know this isn't SGA's fault, but it still sucked.

[GATEGOD]

-Michael retains his nice ability to remain as the sympathetic bad guy.

Yea. That is the best part of this episode in my opinion. It leaves you feeling that he's been pushed to this and that he's just trying to survive all be it at an extremely radical way. I love that about his character. If they had never did what they did to him he would still be that evil wraith but because of what they did he has the human quality to him and is forced to be an outcast. It makes you feel bad for him even though he is doing all these horrible things. I love it!

[Ruffles]

Well, do the Athosian pregnancies last as long as our ones do?? Perhaps theirs is longer and he impregnated her in vengance.

That's an interesting idea, but she's undergone quite a bit of medical treatment. Someone in the infirmary would have noticed that she wasn't advancing at the same rate as a normal pregnancy would dictate.

And Athosians in general are just as human as everyone else. Admittedly the miniscule amount of Wraith DNA she has could affect it, but Keller or someone would have noticed.

I still think its a normal baby with Teyla and Kanaan as parents. I think Michael has gone off the deep end and is saying things to push her buttons.

But I've been known to be wrong. Once or twice.

I will say the "sweet" Rodney/Teyla scene that I'd been looking forward to all season was a huge disappointment. I might have imagined S1 Rodney being that completely egotistical, but I don't expect it from Rodney now. That's not to say I expect him to be a sensitive people person, but this was going a little far, just for the sake of a laugh. And I'm starting to get really irritated about Rodney being used for comic relief this season. The Ronon/Rodney exchange on the way to the village wasn't funny either - that particular joke has been overdone on this show, and Rodney's always the brunt of it.

I saw both of these a little different.

Rodney's gift - He is actively taking interest in Teyla's child. In his mind, what could be greater than encouraging the baby to develop his love of science. Instead of assuming that a backward Athosian would be unable to understand it (like McKay would have in earlier seasons), he assumes Teyla's child can be brilliant and wants to give him a headstart. The very idea of Rodney thinking of a gift - and he had to spend a lot of time on this - shows sensitivity on his part. I find it incredibly sweet that he cares about Teyla enough to care about her son's well-being. He could have gone the easy way - had Jeannie pick something out from Baby Gap and send it. Instead, he spends hours recording his theories. For an unborn infant.

Ronon's teasing - I think Ronon's comment in and of itself is his way of showing respect and admiration of Rodney's abilities. He's fond of McKay or he wouldn't have said anything at all. He was obviously teasing, and the look they shared (to me) showed that Rodney understood it as well. Otherwise, a typical Conan zinger would have been tossed right back at him. Most guys I've been around seem to show affection by insulting each other. Weird, but a total guy thing to do.

[marielabbott]

I was looking forward to this episode, for the return of Carson and the end of a string of lackluster fillers. Well, I’m afraid I’m disappointed. The episode wasn’t as terrible as some we’ve seen this season, but it wasn’t the really good ep I was hoping it would be.

It was great to see Teyla again (finally). Though it was rather disturbing how everyone was treating her search for her people as a waste of time. Has the expedition forgotten how instrumental the Athosians were in helping them settle into the Pegasus galaxy? Hmm, well, I guess I forgot too, since they’ve actually been missing since season 1. I did initially LOVE the Teyla/Rodney scene (why do we so rarely see these two together??). It was sweet—and ruined by the very next scene where Rodney reveals to Sheppard he doesn’t actually believe Teyla and is all about moving on and forgetting her people. That’s the kind of friend I would lay down my life for.

Once again, I’m glad Carter is leaving Atlantis. The forced “Call me Sam” remark to Teyla reminded me of her lack of chemistry with the other characters.

I really liked Lorne in this episode. We learn he’s from the Bay area, an extremely expensive and beautiful place to live. Liked the interrogation scene with him and Teyla. Really liked his hang-dog expression after he lost her. And he’s really rather deadly with that P-90.

Also liked the call back to the Hoffmans. And loved Carson’s return, but if he turns out to be a replicator, I am not going to be at all thrilled.

Michael and his plans for Teyla’s baby…what’s the Athosian word for cliché, because that should be the child’s name. I really do not like where this is headed. And Kanaan and the other Athosians are now transformed into Michael’s evil hybrids…great, just great (sarcastic tone). Maybe we’ll also learn that Michael is actually Teyla’s biological father—maybe that’s the bond about which Michael was speaking.

I wanted to like this episode, but I didn’t.

[francis]

right I know most of you will ignore this but my guess as to how carson has come back is he ascended then deascended (like daniel did)propably in responce to what michael is doing (i.e killing people with a drug he invented).the signs are there in sunday for those with the wit to see them

[Falcon Horus]

right I know most of you will ignore this but my guess as to how carson has come back is he ascended then deascended (like daniel did)propably in responce to what michael is doing (i.e killing people with a drug he invented).the signs are there in sunday for those with the wit to see them

Except JM said no one ascended, unless he suddenly changed his mind.

[jelgate]

I hope its not ascension. That concept has been done to death. But I highly doubt ascension is involved

[Integrabyte]

Except JM said no one ascended, unless he suddenly changed his mind.

Hmm...funny how he remembered everyone . Daniel did not recognise anyone . No ascension is involved with Carson

[Falcon Horus]

Hmm...funny how he remembered everyone . Daniel did not recognise anyone . No ascension is involved with Carson

Good point...

[Integrabyte]

Good point...

...it comes with the Antiness .

[jelgate]

...it comes with the Antiness .

I thought they came up with bad points

*runs away*

[Briangate78]

I thought they came up with bad points

*runs away*

LOL, good one.

[shrap]

Do you think Carson has been worrying about his wee turtles the whole time?

[cabouse18]

Do you think Carson has been worrying about his wee turtles the whole time?

[ShadowMaat]

The disappointments:

-I found Teyla's storyline completely boring. I know we're supposed to care that the Athosians are gone, but I didn't care much back during "Missing" and after dropping the story for the last several weeks, I could care even less now. Obviously, so could the writers as the Athosians have convienently been turned into space zombies. They're red shirt fodder now. I'm thinking no more development for them!

I think part of the problem is that the Athosians have been portrayed more as a nuisance than anything else. Or at least that's the impression I always got. First they were underfoot and in the way and then they were interrupting tense situations with their weird need for rituals and then they were out of the way but still causing problems, and then they needed to be moved AGAIN. Other than a couple of eps in S1 we haven't really gotten to know any other Athosians, either as individuals or as a people. They're just a blob moving from place to place and now that they've gone poof, so what? Dunno about anyone else, but I never felt emotionally invested in the Athosians and their plight. And Kanaan? We should care about him because he's obviously important to Teyla and even has Wraith genes (and what an "oh, by the way" moment that was! ), but again there's no emotional investment in his story. He's just some random Athosian guy. Sure, we can feel some sympathy for Teyla on a generic "missing loved one" basis, but we don't even know what she sees in the guy beyond what little we've been told. Told, not shown.

I know that the whole pregnancy storyline wasn't where they originally planned to go with the character, but it would have been nice if there had been some kind of base for them to build on rather than making stuff up on the spot and pretending there'd been some background for it. Offscreen, of course.