walkingshadow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
walkingshadow) wrote2005-09-17 04:05 pm
walkingshadow) wrote2005-09-17 04:05 pm
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these three cubic feet of bone and blood and meat are all i love and know
it looks like a delayed reaction, but i finally watched cousin m.'s tape of last week's atlantis.
208: conversion
first of all, whenever beckett starts talking about "science," all i hear is white noise. it's just easier that way. otherwise i get all confused and incredulous and sometimes laugh myself sick, and that's time that could be better spent staring at john, so.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nuhiep posted this great and simple explanation and correction of the science they keep spouting, starting with the ATA gene: a brief examination of biological concepts in stargate: atlantis, or, beckett—dude—it doesn't work that way!
i was kinda suprised john didn't immediately twig to something being wrong with him when he could run faster than ronon and suddenly beat teyla at the sticks with one hand behind his back omg. and then the kiss. which freaked them both out pretty badly. but i can't believe *that* didn't send john screaming to beckett saying something was very, very wrong. i was worried for a minute that he did know but was already compromised, and that he was going to cover up the recurring wound on his arm, so i was therefore pleasantly surprised and relieved to see him immediately reach for his radio.
someone had a theory about john's new wraith genes hearing the siren call from teyla's wraith genes, but i don't know. i know john has never had any chemistry at all with weir; i know john and teyla's conversation at the end of the episode was awkward and tense and john really, really didn't want to be having it, was really glad he was getting away with "and we will never speak of this again."
of course, there's the issue of the virus affecting his judgment (i'm not even going near the virus's cognitive abilities), so it's not totally out of the question that he wouldn't be able to notice himself acting out of character at first. though that makes the way he pulls back from teyla incredibly impressive and also very telling. john sheppard responds to losing control by redoubling his hold. as soon as they figure out what's going on with him, all subsequent scenes show john on highest alert, code red, defcon-five. it reminded me of "home," a situation where you expect to finally see something of him revealed, and instead he goes into lock-down mode and he's a thousand times more tightly controlled than ever. he's so self-aware and self-conscious, able to tell elizabeth he's not safe to be around, that she needs to double his security detail and also get the hell away from him. he's fighting himself so hard, and it's impressive how he's able to wrench himself back, after kissing teyla and after smashing elizabeth's window. compare him to ford. john compares himself to ford, because he can feel himself changing and he likes the feeling (or he should like the feeling, but he can't let himself enoy it); but ford never even thought about controlling it or stopping it, not where we could see it. and he sure as hell wouldn't have been *successful*.
seeing more of elizabeth only makes me hate her more, as she has more opportunities to be useless or stupid or useless AND stupid, and she always leaps at every single one. speaking of which: elizabeth. you want to hit that. WE UNDERSTAND. i didn't think it was weird that john's team never visited him, because based on the way john so very, very obviously did not want elizabeth to see him, it's pretty clear who has the better understanding of what john would want. of course, they probably also weren't allowed to visit; just because elizabeth blithely disregarded john's own warnings and the security detail doesn't mean those two marines weren't instructed to keep everybody else away, as opposed to just keeping john in.djinanna has a theory that some of elizabeth's scenes should have been rodney's.
and god, elizabeth and caldwell. i bet most of caldwell's improvements would be good ones, and i bet john would admit it. i don't think he'd ever agree to reassigning the teams (at least, not *his* team), but john's never been in charge of anything like a *base* in another *galaxy*, and i bet he's making rookie mistakes right and left, just as caldwell said. it must be frustrating for caldwell to watch them happen, but i also think there's an honorable and tactful way for him to try and enact change. seizing his chance the minute john was laid up was not that way. but elizabeth's threats are so personal and so empty.
the bugs are one of the only things we know for sure that john hates, hates even talking about, and he was turning *into* one, he had to go into their lair where there were thousands of them, and he had to let their stem cells into his body, let them *cure* him. ford, "trinity," turning into a wraith bug . . . is season two the put-john-through-the-emotional-wringer season? because i could get behind that.
i suppose it's nice for beckett that he's getting more screentime this season, but why? why is beckett suddenly the scientist cum action hero? and why at the expense of mckay? was his character too well-drawn and complex? he and john had too much chemistry? david hewlett's acting was too good? not to mention the fact that beckett needs to get a grip on his science before he tries on the action-hero. notice that almost everything he's ever done has backfired. and i'm still not going anywhere near the veracity of his claims and theories, but he should feel *guilty*, he should be culpable somehow. there was the perfect opportunity for it, and then john explicitly let him off the hook, said he wasn't to blame for last week's shenanigan's or this week's metamorphosis. if people can get angry at rodney for being wrong, why can't they blame beckett when he is?
ronon and teyla are AWESOME, they just ARE. i love that ronon quietly went off to do his own thing and was the only one who predicted what john would do, the one who efficiently brought him down. i like that teyla mirrored john's "please don't make me do this" from the last episode, though it's hard to tell with these writers whether that was an intentional mirror or just, you know, lazy writing. also i couldn't help but notice that teyla wasn't able to make the kill shot, and ronon got her off the hook. par for the course.
in short: the team has bonded and kicks ass, john is hot like FIRE, and i'm almost ready for elizabeth to take a long walk off a short balcony. also, can the real rodney mckay please come out and play?
208: conversion
first of all, whenever beckett starts talking about "science," all i hear is white noise. it's just easier that way. otherwise i get all confused and incredulous and sometimes laugh myself sick, and that's time that could be better spent staring at john, so.
nuhiep posted this great and simple explanation and correction of the science they keep spouting, starting with the ATA gene: a brief examination of biological concepts in stargate: atlantis, or, beckett—dude—it doesn't work that way!i was kinda suprised john didn't immediately twig to something being wrong with him when he could run faster than ronon and suddenly beat teyla at the sticks with one hand behind his back omg. and then the kiss. which freaked them both out pretty badly. but i can't believe *that* didn't send john screaming to beckett saying something was very, very wrong. i was worried for a minute that he did know but was already compromised, and that he was going to cover up the recurring wound on his arm, so i was therefore pleasantly surprised and relieved to see him immediately reach for his radio.
someone had a theory about john's new wraith genes hearing the siren call from teyla's wraith genes, but i don't know. i know john has never had any chemistry at all with weir; i know john and teyla's conversation at the end of the episode was awkward and tense and john really, really didn't want to be having it, was really glad he was getting away with "and we will never speak of this again."
of course, there's the issue of the virus affecting his judgment (i'm not even going near the virus's cognitive abilities), so it's not totally out of the question that he wouldn't be able to notice himself acting out of character at first. though that makes the way he pulls back from teyla incredibly impressive and also very telling. john sheppard responds to losing control by redoubling his hold. as soon as they figure out what's going on with him, all subsequent scenes show john on highest alert, code red, defcon-five. it reminded me of "home," a situation where you expect to finally see something of him revealed, and instead he goes into lock-down mode and he's a thousand times more tightly controlled than ever. he's so self-aware and self-conscious, able to tell elizabeth he's not safe to be around, that she needs to double his security detail and also get the hell away from him. he's fighting himself so hard, and it's impressive how he's able to wrench himself back, after kissing teyla and after smashing elizabeth's window. compare him to ford. john compares himself to ford, because he can feel himself changing and he likes the feeling (or he should like the feeling, but he can't let himself enoy it); but ford never even thought about controlling it or stopping it, not where we could see it. and he sure as hell wouldn't have been *successful*.
seeing more of elizabeth only makes me hate her more, as she has more opportunities to be useless or stupid or useless AND stupid, and she always leaps at every single one. speaking of which: elizabeth. you want to hit that. WE UNDERSTAND. i didn't think it was weird that john's team never visited him, because based on the way john so very, very obviously did not want elizabeth to see him, it's pretty clear who has the better understanding of what john would want. of course, they probably also weren't allowed to visit; just because elizabeth blithely disregarded john's own warnings and the security detail doesn't mean those two marines weren't instructed to keep everybody else away, as opposed to just keeping john in.
djinanna has a theory that some of elizabeth's scenes should have been rodney's.and god, elizabeth and caldwell. i bet most of caldwell's improvements would be good ones, and i bet john would admit it. i don't think he'd ever agree to reassigning the teams (at least, not *his* team), but john's never been in charge of anything like a *base* in another *galaxy*, and i bet he's making rookie mistakes right and left, just as caldwell said. it must be frustrating for caldwell to watch them happen, but i also think there's an honorable and tactful way for him to try and enact change. seizing his chance the minute john was laid up was not that way. but elizabeth's threats are so personal and so empty.
the bugs are one of the only things we know for sure that john hates, hates even talking about, and he was turning *into* one, he had to go into their lair where there were thousands of them, and he had to let their stem cells into his body, let them *cure* him. ford, "trinity," turning into a wraith bug . . . is season two the put-john-through-the-emotional-wringer season? because i could get behind that.
i suppose it's nice for beckett that he's getting more screentime this season, but why? why is beckett suddenly the scientist cum action hero? and why at the expense of mckay? was his character too well-drawn and complex? he and john had too much chemistry? david hewlett's acting was too good? not to mention the fact that beckett needs to get a grip on his science before he tries on the action-hero. notice that almost everything he's ever done has backfired. and i'm still not going anywhere near the veracity of his claims and theories, but he should feel *guilty*, he should be culpable somehow. there was the perfect opportunity for it, and then john explicitly let him off the hook, said he wasn't to blame for last week's shenanigan's or this week's metamorphosis. if people can get angry at rodney for being wrong, why can't they blame beckett when he is?
ronon and teyla are AWESOME, they just ARE. i love that ronon quietly went off to do his own thing and was the only one who predicted what john would do, the one who efficiently brought him down. i like that teyla mirrored john's "please don't make me do this" from the last episode, though it's hard to tell with these writers whether that was an intentional mirror or just, you know, lazy writing. also i couldn't help but notice that teyla wasn't able to make the kill shot, and ronon got her off the hook. par for the course.
in short: the team has bonded and kicks ass, john is hot like FIRE, and i'm almost ready for elizabeth to take a long walk off a short balcony. also, can the real rodney mckay please come out and play?