I'm watching SGA first season now because it's been a while I watched it last time and boy this season was good... It's a shame it didn't stay at the same quality in the later seasons, some of the best military action sci-fi the franchise can offer... But that's not the point.
If one looks at the great "38 minutes" episode or not that great "Suspicion", one can see that Rodney is out there already, battling the Wraith, getting shot in the face with Wraith stunner... In "Suspicion" we see him coming in hot with Sheppard wounded and yelling at Weir that "We have to get back there" (without even thinking about that there are Wraith on the planet) because Ford and Teyla stayed behind. In "The Defient One" he empties 2 magazines from his gun into the menacing Wraith, he maybe does not now what he must do but he is not that afraid that he can't even pull the trigger- he can and he shoots well. In the following episode "Hot Zone" he basically takes charge of the team of scientists, orders lockdown because of infection, orders all the people to stay where they are, is calm and even though is scared, works hard till the last minute when he is supposed to die.
Now in "The Siege" it started to go wrong... Rodney now is so scared of Wraith that he obviously has forgotten how to handle a gun (in "Aurora" too). We don't see scared and arrogant but still competent and adequate Rodney, we see a comic relief- he gets shot in the ass, he is afraid of solar radiation and wears a stupid costume in "The Runner" (when he was possibly calmer as Shep when dealing with Genii atomic bomb radiation in season 1). And we see him completely lose his mind in another "infection" episode "Quarantine", in the one where they tried to ship Ronon and Keller... (that was only one of the wrong things with the episode).
I know that the producers saw Rodney as one of the viewers favorites and obviously wanted to please the fans but why, in many cases, they went much further than they did with him in season 1 and made him a complete joke? Of course, I liked the humor but it was painfully to watch SGA to go from season 1 quality to seasons 3, 4, 5... and that all started in season 2-3 you know... Ford, Weir, Beckett... Shep becomes a clichee and Rodney a joke...
I know some fans think that season 5 was an improvement... well, "Shrine" mid-season two parter, last two episodes and probably two more- that's 7 episodes, 1 brilliant, 6 better than good... but still not much of improvement... So I'm glad they ended the suffering...
If one looks at the great "38 minutes" episode or not that great "Suspicion", one can see that Rodney is out there already, battling the Wraith, getting shot in the face with Wraith stunner... In "Suspicion" we see him coming in hot with Sheppard wounded and yelling at Weir that "We have to get back there" (without even thinking about that there are Wraith on the planet) because Ford and Teyla stayed behind. In "The Defient One" he empties 2 magazines from his gun into the menacing Wraith, he maybe does not now what he must do but he is not that afraid that he can't even pull the trigger- he can and he shoots well. In the following episode "Hot Zone" he basically takes charge of the team of scientists, orders lockdown because of infection, orders all the people to stay where they are, is calm and even though is scared, works hard till the last minute when he is supposed to die.
Now in "The Siege" it started to go wrong... Rodney now is so scared of Wraith that he obviously has forgotten how to handle a gun (in "Aurora" too). We don't see scared and arrogant but still competent and adequate Rodney, we see a comic relief- he gets shot in the ass, he is afraid of solar radiation and wears a stupid costume in "The Runner" (when he was possibly calmer as Shep when dealing with Genii atomic bomb radiation in season 1). And we see him completely lose his mind in another "infection" episode "Quarantine", in the one where they tried to ship Ronon and Keller... (that was only one of the wrong things with the episode).
I know that the producers saw Rodney as one of the viewers favorites and obviously wanted to please the fans but why, in many cases, they went much further than they did with him in season 1 and made him a complete joke? Of course, I liked the humor but it was painfully to watch SGA to go from season 1 quality to seasons 3, 4, 5... and that all started in season 2-3 you know... Ford, Weir, Beckett... Shep becomes a clichee and Rodney a joke...
I know some fans think that season 5 was an improvement... well, "Shrine" mid-season two parter, last two episodes and probably two more- that's 7 episodes, 1 brilliant, 6 better than good... but still not much of improvement... So I'm glad they ended the suffering...
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