*sigh* Critiquing "The Last Man"

[cherryblosomjen]

I'm left feeling pretty sad about the whole thing, for a number of reasons. Though there were certainly a number of well executed features.

Please, read my ramblings below. Note: SPOILERS for the finale, if you haven't seen it.

The episode certainly had its strong points:

John's little chat with Lorne at the start.

The desert sand engulfing the

Comments

[cherryblosomjen]

So, what, if Keller didn't die Rodney wouldn't have done anything??

You make an interesting point. I'm tying to think of a possible answer... This might be total bologna but I imagine that for Rodney, who struggles with acute paranoia (though I love him for it, it's probably more along the lines of extreme paranoia), the utter hopelessness of the Atlantis situation probably made the temptation to escape to earth all the greater. The fact that Keller made the decision to leave first, probably justified the ethics of it in his mind.

Another factor could be that, over the last year, he's lost so many people he cares for -- Elizabeth, Carson, now Teyla, Carson (again), Sam, Ronon and John. Keller's death could have pushed him over the edge in the sense that, after her, there was no one really of his Atlantis-family left.

Still, it is disappointing, isn't it? I know I didn't want him to leave Atlantis at all, I wanted him to fix it -there- or at least try like crazy. But, I guess 25 years of working on the same math problem makes up for some things. :) I love that line at the start of the ep, where Rodney says something like, "For all the years I've been planning this, I never really thought of what I'd say when it worked." That's so like him.

[chensuu]

I guess I just hate the idea a universe where Rodney doesn't at least ,try to rescue Sheppard when he knows his friend didn't die but is in fact alive somewhere in the future. Sheppard isn't dead, he's alive and probably very, very frightened and confused. And when Rodney leaves Atlantis it practically guarantees that Sheppard won't be coming home.

I can't think of any scenario or answer that is good enough to justify Rodney McKay leaving his team leader behind.

[cherryblosomjen]

I understand what you're saying.

I'm with you on not being a fan of that universe. I'm glad it's strictly AU form this point, and am hoping here's better things in store for the "real" characters from here on out. Might be wishful thinking, but I'll just have to see. :)

Thanks much for the discussion. It's what makes posting the review fun.

[chensuu]

Sadly the most I see for Rodney from this point on are subtle hints and eye-rolls that he belongs with Keller. By the end of next season mark my words, we're going to have seen at least two episodes that show them all "confused" and "uncomfortable" around each other because they are obviously destined to be. And if there's an episode where Sheppard even hints at McKay's other timeline life with Keller...well just shoot me now!

You have no idea how wrong I want to be about this! God, I just realized I've been up all night! Oh this show!