Rodney McKay - The Weakest Link

[jenks]

Don't like Rodney, never have and never will. I vote him for Wraith-bait! He wihines, he is arrogant, he is simply a jerk! (I'm surprised Zelenka hasn't found an untraceable poison and used it!) He needs to mature a bit (at his age he should be over the childishness...but that could be why he is still single!) and stop the DARN WHINING!!!!!! (ok whining is my pet peeve I admit! ) So stake him out for Todd to feed on! (atleast Todd has a sense of humor )

Oh I don't know, he doesn't do too bad with the ladies...

Spoiler:

[KindlyKeller]

Don't like Rodney, never have and never will. I vote him for Wraith-bait! He wihines, he is arrogant, he is simply a jerk! (I'm surprised Zelenka hasn't found an untraceable poison and used it!) He needs to mature a bit (at his age he should be over the childishness...but that could be why he is still single!) and stop the DARN WHINING!!!!!! (ok whining is my pet peeve I admit! ) So stake him out for Todd to feed on! (atleast Todd has a sense of humor )

I love Keller, but it's interesting to hear a Keller fan condemn another character for whining.

[Naonak]

I can see how you'd get that impression. That may well be how it's meant. But to me, it's just him being thrown in as an afterthought. Like, that emotional scene with Teyla in "Sateda." He tosses Rodney in begrudgingly at the end, and then Teyla doesn't even mention Rodney, saying that (paraphrasing) "Shep and Dr. Weir have been very welcoming and helpful," as if McKay hasn't been.

This is coming from someone with an enormous Rodney bias, obviously, so one might take this all with a grain of salt.

I see that Teyla line as mentioning John and Weir as them being the ones in charge, not just that they've been the only ones that are friendly with her. I mean, she doesn't mention Carson, either...

I agree with Reiko that the "even Rodney" stuff is just a kind of jokey thing. Even Rodney, despite all his... "quirks"...

There's a difference between having respect for what someone can do and caring about them on a personal level. I have no doubt whatsoever that Ronon and Teyla have a great deal of respect for what Rodney can do. They're quite well aware of his value to the expedition and the team. But valuing him as a friend is something completely different, and that's the part I have a hard time seeing sometimes.

Oh, there I was just replying to what I took the previous poster to mean (Ronon not appreciating Rodney's skills), although I might have misunderstood them.

Anyway, Ronon isn't the kind of guy to show his feelings much, and he probably is the one who gets most annoyed by Rodney's whining, etc., but I think the big bear hug at the end of Tao, and various little teasing moments in other episodes show that there is a friendship there. On the other hand, Teyla doesn't do anything much... Rodney/Teyla is probably the main - if not only - relationship that still needs a lot of development. I did like the scene at the start of The Kindred I, though.

[Killdeer]

Anyway, Ronon isn't the kind of guy to show his feelings much, and he probably is the one who gets most annoyed by Rodney's whining, etc., but I think the big bear hug at the end of Tao, and various little teasing moments in other episodes show that there is a friendship there. On the other hand, Teyla doesn't do anything much... Rodney/Teyla is probably the main - if not only - relationship that still needs a lot of development. I did like the scene at the start of The Kindred I, though.

With that I agree. And I suppose I didn't care for the Kindred scene - I just felt like it was another example of regressing Rodney for a laugh. He may have been at that point in S1 - I don't believe he's there now.

Ronon and Rodney did make some progress in the last half of S3. Unfortunately they seemed to forget about that in S4.

[Constanza]

Oh, there I was just replying to what I took the previous poster to mean (Ronon not appreciating Rodney's skills), although I might have misunderstood them.

I meant emotionally, as true friends
(I have no doubt Ronon appreciates McKay as a scientist).

[farcue]

personally i think the difference in personality and background of all the team members makes it far more interesting between them.

To me i'd say the weak link in the team is Tayla. When the show started off i really had the feeling she was her peoples representitive as opposed to another member of the expedition. Now she just seems like somone who ended up on atlantis. I know she's still the same but somehow her motivation didnt seem to stick/be as well portrayed. In comparison to say Jacksons constant looking for his wife or Tealcs wanting to bring down the gould which didnt really, to me at least, get old.

[ykickamoocow]

BUMP

Hopefully the writers have been listening to us as here are as

Spoiler:

- McKay will be delivering Teyla's baby early in the season and im hoping that this wont be used as a humour scene at McKay's expense. If done well it could be a good friendship episode for McKay and Teyla.

- McKay and Ronon have a episode together (508 "Tracker") so im hoping that will have some good moments between the two characters.

Hopefully both these things are done well as they both show promise but i guess only time will tell.

[stclare]

BUMP

Hopefully the writers have been listening to us as here are as

Spoiler:

- McKay will be delivering Teyla's baby early in the season and im hoping that this wont be used as a humour scene at McKay's expense. If done well it could be a good friendship episode for McKay and Teyla.

- McKay and Ronon have a episode together (508 "Tracker") so im hoping that will have some good moments between the two characters.

Hopefully both these things are done well as they both show promise but i guess only time will tell.

I was also pleased with these spoilers untill i realised this

Spoiler:

its rodney/ronan/keller in tracker that seems to me where the love triangle will be played out. unless im confusing my spoilers which is possible i suppose

thats not the kind of interaction i want to see.

[Rac80]

I love Keller, but it's interesting to hear a Keller fan condemn another character for whining.

call me old fashioned but there is simply something SO WRONG about a man's whining! I don't mind Keller's (not that I think she whines very much) mainly because she is a young woman in a new and very scary situation (she is about 25, I guess). It's normal and natural. A guy rodney's age needs to be A MAN and get a backbone! But as I said I am a bit old-fashioned and a bit older so I don't find whiney men amusing at all.

[elliecat]

I would have to say that I don't think Rodney is the weakest link. He has been there from the start and is a vital part of the team. I think he is very funny, any scenes he has with people like Ronon or Sheppard or Carson etc are very funny. And he is a brilliant scientist who may whinge but gets the job done at the end of the day.

[Reiko]

Ronon and Rodney did make some progress in the last half of S3. Unfortunately they seemed to forget about that in S4.

» Yeah. I agree, Rodney and Ronon in Tao especially was real sweet. Seemed to be forgotten in S4, along with several other aspects of the show that were important to me

» stclare - can't agree with you more. The last thing I want to see is Rodney and Ronon bickering over Keller. Keller of all women.

[Linda06]

I would rather have Zelenka as a regular than Rodney...I don't know how much more of that incessant whining i can take.....I am so glad remotes have got mute butons on them!!!

[Reiko]

» For me, Rodney can border close to unbearable when he doesn't have Beckett or Weir to counter him once in awhile. Just saying ...

[Yeade]

You know, I can't be sure I'm separating canon from all the fanfic I've read, but I have a hard time seeing McKay's relationships with his three team members as anything less than friendship.

Sheppard and McKay unquestionably have the deepest, strongest bond, IMO. Besides countless moments, big and small, of interaction over the past four seasons, in "Miller's Crossing" and "The Last Man," I think the two essentially pen love letters to each other. All slash aside, lol, there's something of a perhaps unhealthy codependency between them. Let's review!

In "Miller's Crossing," when McKay comes to Sheppard with his plan to feed himself to the Wraith in order to save Jeannie, Sheppard refuses to allow it because, explicitly, McKay's a valued member of his team. Now, I dunno about anybody else, but I mentally translated "team" to "family." That is, I felt Sheppard has a much more personal stake in whether McKay lives or dies than his general distaste for letting Wraith eat people he knows. I think this view is supported by how emotional Sheppard seems in that conversation and his final "I can't"--emphasis on the 'I.' Rodney's prepared to sacrifice himself on behalf of Jeannie; John does sacrifice Wallace on behalf of Rodney. A pretty clear and telling parallel, IMO.

On the flip side, in "The Last Man," McKay stubbornly denies Sheppard's death after everyone else has lost hope. He desperately seizes upon the frankly crazy idea of changing the timeline, figures out how to do the impossible with over two decades of obsessive work and, instead of sending himself back in time or any number of other viable options, he chooses to gamble on jumping Sheppard almost 50,000 years into the future, giving him all the knowledge of what will happen, and returning him. No assurance that things will turn out all right, that his life's labor will come to anything at all, besides Sheppard being Sheppard. And this is enough for McKay. That kind of absolute faith is painful, IMO. Especially for someone like McKay, who I imagine hasn't believed in much outside his own skills. More even than Sheppard counts on McKay to whip up one brilliant scientific solution after another, I think Rodney trusts John to, well, make everything right.

Then Sheppard proceeds to underscore just how much he cares for McKay by hesitating. I mean, he's been given the facts of how the galaxy went to hell in a handbasket and been told he can fix it all, yet he's concerned about ruining the little bit of happiness McKay found with Keller after the apocalypse. McKay, of course, doesn't hear Sheppard out because he's determined to have John, Teyla, Ronon, Atlantis, Pegasus--his entire world--alive and well.

So, I think calling Sheppard and McKay anything less than friends is kind of willfully obtuse. Honestly, I find the level of devotion these two hold toward one another frightening in the implications of there being nothing they wouldn't do for each other.

McKay's interactions with Ronon and Teyla are harder to pin down simply due to lack of screentime, IMO. Let's tackle Ronon first.

In some ways, I think McKay's stated relationship to Ford ("Runner") can serve as a base for his to Ronon. As I understand the matter, McKay was never that close to Ford because their interests and views were so different and neither sought the other's company outside team activities. More acquaintances, I guess, than friends. Though, what with the constant mutual lifesaving, comrades is perhaps a better description.

While I believe McKay and Ronon began on the same ground, I also feel they're closer than McKay was to Ford because their approaches to life are surprisingly similar. They're both blunt, practical people confident in their respective areas of mastery, unwilling to suffer fools, and capable of great loyalty to those who earn their trust, IMO.

They bond over food in "Condemned." McKay knows enough of Ronon's feelings in "Tao of Rodney" to make such a touching and insightful gesture as healing the scar Ronon bears from the Wraith tracker. He steals Ronon's fugly painting in "Reunion," too, lol. Ronon's patient and often gruffly amused with Rodney's antics, I find. Lately, in "Doppelganger" and "Spoils of War," IIRC, Ronon's been casual with manhandling McKay by the back of his tac vest. I don't think Ronon allows many to touch him outside sparring, medical situations, etc., and he rarely initiates anything himself though he's far more comfortable with hugs and whatnot than, say, Sheppard. When you count up who else Ronon's been physically affectionate and playful with--Melena, his former squadmates, Sheppard, probably Teyla, Beckett in "Sateda"--they seem to be either sudden bursts of emotion or people Ronon cares for. McKay's in the second category, IMO. Note also that Rodney doesn't complain about Ronon dragging him around.

Maybe that's not much of an argument for McKay and Ronon being friends, but it's all I got, lol. Ronon's more a man of action than words, so I personally wouldn't expect any big declarations of friendship. McKay hardly ever talks about mushy feelings either. Under pain of death, more like. Or the apocalypse a la "The Last Man."

As for McKay and Teyla, well, I suppose there's Rodney's odd sense of chivalry toward her. About the only time I can think of without hitting some references where McKay's rude and dismissive to Teyla is his Xena comment in "Epiphany." Granted, Teyla has a sort of stately self-possession that's hard not to respect. OTOH, McKay's rude and dismissive of practically everyone regardless of relation, race, age, gender, rank, ability, etc. With the exception of Katie Brown, actually. Which is a matter of him badly wanting her to think the best of him, IMO. Could the same not apply to Teyla? Not necessarily the romantic aspect. Rather that his relationships with Teyla and Katie are so important to Rodney that he'd go against his grain to cultivate them.

Teyla's end of this is really difficult for me to figure out. She's as understanding, likely more, of McKay's quirks as Ronon. Partly because she's known Rodney longer, I imagine. Partly because she's good at managing people in general. About the only thing I can think of is that, if Teyla doesn't consider you a friend, you'd know, lol. She wouldn't put up with your juvenile behavior, would probably tell you as much in so many words, and would be as inviting as a long swim in the Bering Sea come winter. I don't get that impression in her few interactions with McKay.

Um. I think too much, huh?

[Cautious Explorer]

McKay is the weakest link in the sense that he's a crutch for the writers' laziness, self-absorption, whatever you want to call it.

They have admitted that McKay is easiest to write for, easiest to identify with. Rather than strectch their range, put some effort into developing all the characters, McKay is repeatedly overused.

The same goes for storytelling. Rather than worry about complex plots that involve the entire expedition or exploration of the Pegaus Galaxy, it's far easier to write a buddy episode short on plot but full of McKay and Sheppard banter. Why worry about how to resolve a situation when it's so convenient to have McKay discover a scientific miracle to save the world week after week (alway within the last few minutes of the show). Who needs character development when you can just write another "everybody loves Rodney despite himself" episode, or "Rodney's lovelife gone bad" or throw in another round of "Rodney the clown".

I'd love to see McKay's screen time cut in half. Maybe it would force the writers to start thinking creatively and build up some of their forgotten characters.