SGA 4.15, "Outcast"
I will not say that this show is like fic, but I will say that it is increasingly doing the sort of things that we write fic to do, and it is glorious.
Like tonight --
So much about John, all at once, I don't know where to turn first (father! brother! the ex-wife! his family home! wealth! absent mother! family business!), especially when there were volumes in every detail. Like how he buttoned his jacket when he stepped inside to stand at his father's casket; right there, you can read years of discipline and decorum, and John eventually resisting, and now recalling those habits out of habit or respect. Like the thousand-and-one faces he pulled from the minute Carter delivered the news to when he arrived for the wake to when he stepped up to the front door again to make peace with his brother.
Older brother or younger? Dave looked older, and his condescending disapproval reeked of older sibling, but I also caught a whiff of worship in there, as though Dave had looked up to him growing up and soured with time, as though he'd envied him getting to leave while he was stuck at home running the business and taking care of the old man.
This is going to be all over the place in people's reviews, I'm sure, but I loved how, when John showed up with big hot hulking Ronon in tow, the feeble introduction of "civilian contractor" translated not to "top secret military program we're involved in" but to "my boyfriend/lover/partner." The look on Dave's face, giving them both the once-over-and John, who had to have recognized the possibility of misinterpretation, didn't acknowledge it in the least, even to crack a joke about it, just let Dave think what he would about the two of them. As if he were perversely happy to have another reason to be outcast from the family he'd rejected. Or as if they'd already been through this years ago.
I don't really buy that guy (actor) as John's brother, but okay.
Action! New sets! Lots of shooting! Ronon being outrun by somebody!
Replicator v. Replicator! It's like watching Wolverine duke it out with what's her name. Adamantium, neutronium, whatever. Although neutronium is clearly the inferior material, as it vaporizes within four seconds of reentry.
Have I ever mentioned this Deep Space Nine paperback by Peter David, The Siege, where at the end a shapeshifter goes unprotected through the wormhole and gets torn to pieces and comes out the other side as a spray of molecules? And they're all scattered in vacuum beyond hope of pulling back together as the single entity they'd been, but each discrete particle remains eternally conscious, unable to move? I wonder if any of the Replicators left in space have ended up like that, split into individual nanites each self-aware but unable to do anything about it. Creepy.
Oh, hey, cool to see Bates again and find out where the hell he disappeared to, even if the backstory got filled in with that terrifically stilted, "honorable discharge due to my injuries," etc. Poor guy needs to learn not to work for Sheppard; it'll only bring head trauma and heartache in the end. Did you see him pinch his nose and rub the back of his head during the meeting with Lee around the laptops afterwards? Hee.
The ex-wife! I hadn't even hoped to ever meet her, and there she is! Jeez, good thing it was Ronon there with him, because if it'd been anyone else, that would've been quite the awkward three-second explanation as she walked over. ("Hey, ah, Rodney, did I mention I was married once?" "What? No, you did n-" "Great, well, here she is.") Oh, the awkwardness between them is on a level with Teyla- and Harmony-hugs. So John's father had his life planned out from the age of 14, and he thought Nancy was the best thing that had ever happened to John (while John clearly thought no such thing, and while there doesn't seem to be animosity between them, there isn't any heartbreak either, at least not on his part); it sounds as if John were steered into marrying her, like some sort of arranged marriage. I can picture John's father-Patrick, did the headline say? Or something Patrick?-introducing them at some function, and making pointed remarks afterwards, and nudging it along and pressuring until he proposed.
Nancy looks like Chaya. That's got all sorts of fun implications for why John may have been attracted to her (Chaya). Aside from their ATA genes calling out to each other.
Also, Nancy looks like Larrin. Ditto on the above, plus they seem to share a ball-busting competence and independence.
Dave thinks John's home for the money, when John just traveled across two galaxies to try to come to some sort of peace with the memory of the man he's spent his life struggling against, a man whose death has left John shaken for all that their relationship was "complicated." How interesting that John was the one who left, and John was the one who never got along well with his father, and yet it looks like he's the son who loved the man more, despite the conflict? ... But then the end, and it looks like Dave's talk of money really was more defense against what he thought of John than a cold interest in business.
Rodney. Where to start on the awwww that was Rodney coming by to pay his condolences and see if John needed to talk, regardless of his own discomfort and haplessness? Hovering in the doorway, trying in his own painfully, awkwardly sincere way to get John to open up, and letting it go when John said again that he was fine even though clearly he was not fine; and that little throat-clearing as he left, because they get all phlegmy and uncomfortable when one of them tries to talk about anything serious... Awwww.
Whether from a shipping or a friendship point of view, it's too bad that Rodney once again is not privy to personal information about John. (And interesting that it is Ronon again.) You know John isn't going to talk about it when he gets back. The only way Rodney'll find out anything is by pestering Ronon, and I don't know whether Ronon is the type to share because he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it because they're team, or not divulge a thing because he knows it's terribly private, just stare at Rodney until he stutters (with the comical lingering fear you know he has of the man who could crush him with one hand) and goes away.
Also, that was totally "Critical Mass" coming back to bite Rodney in the ass. If he hadn't marooned Zelenka on PX-whatever with the kids from Hook, he doubtless would have been able to send him this time and thus be available to accompany John to Earth. Hee hee hee.
Also: Ronon stuffing his face and charming the waitstaff! John in suit jacket/white shirt/jeans/boots again! With his hands in his front pockets! Yum. Ronon's dreadlocks looking extra dready! Wisps of hair curling free as the action got more intense! (I did not know his hair was curly; or is that a side effect of being dreaded for so long?) A second Replicator for the side of Good (and both dark-haired young women)! Sunburned Dr. Lee, and John dispensing sunblock advice worthy of Rodney! New special effects shots of the Apollo!
Yes. I am quite pleased. The only thing I might have asked for (other than some Teyla, plz; poor woman never gets to play with the guys on Earth missions) was for the whole middle section with the Replicator hunt to more closely reflect John's struggle to reconcile with his family, so that when he went back at the end, it didn't seem as if it were only because the hunt had bought him extra time in which to think about what had happened and decide to try again.
And next week! Next week is more like-fic-ep! This time, we're heading into friendshipper territory. Splendiferous.
ETA: Family by sheafrotherdon, It's Not That We're Scared by siriaeve, Still Haven't Found by xparrot
friendshipper's rxn + comments, hth_the_first's
Like tonight --
So much about John, all at once, I don't know where to turn first (father! brother! the ex-wife! his family home! wealth! absent mother! family business!), especially when there were volumes in every detail. Like how he buttoned his jacket when he stepped inside to stand at his father's casket; right there, you can read years of discipline and decorum, and John eventually resisting, and now recalling those habits out of habit or respect. Like the thousand-and-one faces he pulled from the minute Carter delivered the news to when he arrived for the wake to when he stepped up to the front door again to make peace with his brother.
Older brother or younger? Dave looked older, and his condescending disapproval reeked of older sibling, but I also caught a whiff of worship in there, as though Dave had looked up to him growing up and soured with time, as though he'd envied him getting to leave while he was stuck at home running the business and taking care of the old man.
This is going to be all over the place in people's reviews, I'm sure, but I loved how, when John showed up with big hot hulking Ronon in tow, the feeble introduction of "civilian contractor" translated not to "top secret military program we're involved in" but to "my boyfriend/lover/partner." The look on Dave's face, giving them both the once-over-and John, who had to have recognized the possibility of misinterpretation, didn't acknowledge it in the least, even to crack a joke about it, just let Dave think what he would about the two of them. As if he were perversely happy to have another reason to be outcast from the family he'd rejected. Or as if they'd already been through this years ago.
I don't really buy that guy (actor) as John's brother, but okay.
Action! New sets! Lots of shooting! Ronon being outrun by somebody!
Replicator v. Replicator! It's like watching Wolverine duke it out with what's her name. Adamantium, neutronium, whatever. Although neutronium is clearly the inferior material, as it vaporizes within four seconds of reentry.
Have I ever mentioned this Deep Space Nine paperback by Peter David, The Siege, where at the end a shapeshifter goes unprotected through the wormhole and gets torn to pieces and comes out the other side as a spray of molecules? And they're all scattered in vacuum beyond hope of pulling back together as the single entity they'd been, but each discrete particle remains eternally conscious, unable to move? I wonder if any of the Replicators left in space have ended up like that, split into individual nanites each self-aware but unable to do anything about it. Creepy.
Oh, hey, cool to see Bates again and find out where the hell he disappeared to, even if the backstory got filled in with that terrifically stilted, "honorable discharge due to my injuries," etc. Poor guy needs to learn not to work for Sheppard; it'll only bring head trauma and heartache in the end. Did you see him pinch his nose and rub the back of his head during the meeting with Lee around the laptops afterwards? Hee.
The ex-wife! I hadn't even hoped to ever meet her, and there she is! Jeez, good thing it was Ronon there with him, because if it'd been anyone else, that would've been quite the awkward three-second explanation as she walked over. ("Hey, ah, Rodney, did I mention I was married once?" "What? No, you did n-" "Great, well, here she is.") Oh, the awkwardness between them is on a level with Teyla- and Harmony-hugs. So John's father had his life planned out from the age of 14, and he thought Nancy was the best thing that had ever happened to John (while John clearly thought no such thing, and while there doesn't seem to be animosity between them, there isn't any heartbreak either, at least not on his part); it sounds as if John were steered into marrying her, like some sort of arranged marriage. I can picture John's father-Patrick, did the headline say? Or something Patrick?-introducing them at some function, and making pointed remarks afterwards, and nudging it along and pressuring until he proposed.
Nancy looks like Chaya. That's got all sorts of fun implications for why John may have been attracted to her (Chaya). Aside from their ATA genes calling out to each other.
Also, Nancy looks like Larrin. Ditto on the above, plus they seem to share a ball-busting competence and independence.
Dave thinks John's home for the money, when John just traveled across two galaxies to try to come to some sort of peace with the memory of the man he's spent his life struggling against, a man whose death has left John shaken for all that their relationship was "complicated." How interesting that John was the one who left, and John was the one who never got along well with his father, and yet it looks like he's the son who loved the man more, despite the conflict? ... But then the end, and it looks like Dave's talk of money really was more defense against what he thought of John than a cold interest in business.
Rodney. Where to start on the awwww that was Rodney coming by to pay his condolences and see if John needed to talk, regardless of his own discomfort and haplessness? Hovering in the doorway, trying in his own painfully, awkwardly sincere way to get John to open up, and letting it go when John said again that he was fine even though clearly he was not fine; and that little throat-clearing as he left, because they get all phlegmy and uncomfortable when one of them tries to talk about anything serious... Awwww.
Whether from a shipping or a friendship point of view, it's too bad that Rodney once again is not privy to personal information about John. (And interesting that it is Ronon again.) You know John isn't going to talk about it when he gets back. The only way Rodney'll find out anything is by pestering Ronon, and I don't know whether Ronon is the type to share because he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it because they're team, or not divulge a thing because he knows it's terribly private, just stare at Rodney until he stutters (with the comical lingering fear you know he has of the man who could crush him with one hand) and goes away.
Also, that was totally "Critical Mass" coming back to bite Rodney in the ass. If he hadn't marooned Zelenka on PX-whatever with the kids from Hook, he doubtless would have been able to send him this time and thus be available to accompany John to Earth. Hee hee hee.
Also: Ronon stuffing his face and charming the waitstaff! John in suit jacket/white shirt/jeans/boots again! With his hands in his front pockets! Yum. Ronon's dreadlocks looking extra dready! Wisps of hair curling free as the action got more intense! (I did not know his hair was curly; or is that a side effect of being dreaded for so long?) A second Replicator for the side of Good (and both dark-haired young women)! Sunburned Dr. Lee, and John dispensing sunblock advice worthy of Rodney! New special effects shots of the Apollo!
Yes. I am quite pleased. The only thing I might have asked for (other than some Teyla, plz; poor woman never gets to play with the guys on Earth missions) was for the whole middle section with the Replicator hunt to more closely reflect John's struggle to reconcile with his family, so that when he went back at the end, it didn't seem as if it were only because the hunt had bought him extra time in which to think about what had happened and decide to try again.
And next week! Next week is more like-fic-ep! This time, we're heading into friendshipper territory. Splendiferous.
ETA: Family by sheafrotherdon, It's Not That We're Scared by siriaeve, Still Haven't Found by xparrot
friendshipper's rxn + comments, hth_the_first's