Secrets and lies and lying, lying cookbooks
So I guess the theme of the episode is how well you can know someone, and how well you can think you know someone without knowing them well at all.
Keith and Wallace both think they know Alicia, but she's obviously got some very big secret from her past that she's trying to cover up. And I could swear that Wallace's alleged father had some pretty serious ear bling of his own going on, though I may have been seeing things.
Veronica thinks she knows Duncan, but he's got this whole interior life he never even hints at--he's been visiting Meg in the hospital all along, which is especially odd given both his outward lack of emotion over the bus crash and Meg's parents' hostility. I can't help but be reminded last year of what a number of secrets he was carrying around--his meds, concealed from his friends; his struggle against the meds, concealed from his parents; his conviction that Veronica was his sister, and what happened between them at Shelley Pomroy's party, concealed from everyone. He seems like someone who's capable of being a different person for different groups of people, of molding himself to his surroundings--of being the young scholar and athlete for his parents, the supportive boyfriend for Veronica, and yet carrying around all that rage at Logan this year, all that anguish last year, without even hinting at it--and I wonder what he was to Meg, why she was so angry with him before the crash and why her parents were so angry that he was visiting her. Breaking up with her to date Veronica doesn't seem like enough justification.
And Duncan thinks he knows Veronica, but still doesn't have much of a clue that she's heavily involved in detective work, that she's investigating not only the cases of the week but the bus disaster. And he's not willing to share with her, shuts her down when she asks questions in a really petty and passive-aggressive way (you asked a question that made me uncomfortable, so no sex for you!). Veronica may accept that kind of treatment at first, because it surprises her and because she wants to badly for this relationship to work for reasons that have very little to do with Duncan himself, but Duncan doesn't know her very well at all if he doesn't understand how likely she is to remember that behavior when the clues start coming in, to try to fit it in as one of the pieces of the puzzle.
Jackie thinks she's got a pretty good read on the situation in Neptune, and to some extent she's right--Wallace is very easy to manipulate, up to a point, uncomplicated and forthright in what he wants, what he responds to. But she seems to be putting Veronica in the category of typical female rival, and she's underestimating both Veronica and the strength of Wallace's friendship with Veronica.
Who really knows what's going on with Meg, and what was in those files? Meg's parents were trying to know everything about their children, keep a tight grip on information, but Meg was hiding things, things her sister or Duncan may know about, things Veronica now has access to (and I really don't think she'll be able to resist looking at those files, not for long and especially not if more information comes to light tying Meg to possible motives for the bus going over the cliff).
And all this is in contrast to the few open and honest relationships on the show--Veronica and Wallace, who know and have a lot of affection for each other, but also Veronica and Weevil, who have the wariness but also the grudging respect, and Veronica and Logan, whose interactions are so barbed, so laced with hurt and resentment on Logan's part and frustration and sadness on Veronica's, but Logan knows that Veronica's investigating a case, doesn't even stop to remark that she's looking into the bus crash, takes it as a matter of course, and Veronica fearing how far Logan's self-destructive impulses are taking him, that he could be getting mixed up in some truly dangerous things. Oddly enough, Keith and Lamb have that same rapport, that same fundamental understanding, lack of illusions, though they don't like each other at all.
The case of the week, while not stellar, at least fit with this thematically--the girlfriend determined to prove that she knows what her boyfriend's up to, only to discover that she actually did know him for what he was; the fact that there are lines, that pushing too hard into the lives of the people around you just because you can, you have the resources, isn't always a good idea. I had very mixed feelings about Veronica's little seduction gambit, because on the one hand, parts of it were sort of amusing--especially Wallace's eye-rolling help--but I don't like the tarty, flirty, fake flavor of Veronica at all, so mostly it made me uncomfortable. She's using her body as a trick of the trade rather than her cleverness and in doing so revealing her awareness of what she's got and the fact that she does know how to use it, and that's not really what I signed up to watch on this show.
* * * * *
D. was supposed to come over for dinner last night, so I made a polenta souffle with mushroom ragout and Cambozola fonduta. He called to cancel after I'd gotten the souffle started--work craziness--so I made it anyway. It was a recipe out of a cookbook of well-known dishes from San Francisco restaurants and I think the cookbook editor must have must collected the recipes without testing them all because only the fact that I am a pretty experienced cook saved me from making an inedible mess by following the directions. The souffle recipe called for three tablespoons of baking powder. I thought that looked high and used one, and there's still a faint taste of baking powder in the souffle, but three would have been a disaster. The polenta thickened way before the recipe indicated it would. The ragout was more of a sauce what with the amount of liquid called for. I know exactly how to alter the recipe now to make it work perfectly next time, and the combination of flavors in the dish are wonderful, but the carelessness of the cookbook really pissed me off. These were the kinds of things that drove me to tears when I was teaching myself to cook and assumed that every recipe disaster was my fault, my lack of skill or understanding.
* * * * *
I am sloooooowly working through my Stargate TiVO backlog.
3.03 - "Fair Game"
* The SecDef is a pencil-necked geek, but at least he's appreciative of the SG teams. And Sam gets promoted to Major--good on her.
* Why do I get the feeling that getting beamed out mid-speech might actually have been a relief for Jack? That looked like an Asgard beam? Yep.
* The Asgard have chosen Jack to be the diplomat? Are they nuts?!
* It's not a tremendous surprise that the system lords are fractious, egomaniacal children. And three goa'uld cultures means three distinct types of fashion disaster. I'm kind of surprised that they make and abide by treaties, though.
* Have the goa'uld control our development? Take away the stargate? This treaty is going nowhere fast. And Jack is not helping. Seriously, what were the Asgard thinking?
* Why does the US government get to negotiate on behalf of the entire planet? I guess he who has the stargate makes the rules?
* Also not a surprise--that the system lords are so backstabbing and untrustworthy, even with each other. But hey, it got Earth a favorable deal, so yay.
3.04 - "Legacy"
* Hm. It seems like this is a murder mystery/haunting episode?
* A minor league of goa'uld who were challenging the system lords before they ended up all dead and stuff? On top of the Tok'ra? The system lords are really unpopular.
* I know in my heart that Daniel's not crazy but... he sure is acting crazy. It seems like Jack is having the same dilemma.
* Okay, I never see much of any romance or UST on this show (though I see them occasionally try to push some pretty unconvincing and artificial UST between Sam and Jack), but I am seeing the Jack/Daniel all over the place here.
* Oh man, nobody's going to believe poor crazy Daniel. Poor crazy Daniel! He's killing me here, and so is the way the team is so upset about his condition.
* Organic recording? Okay... That darn Macchelo.
* Ew! Ewewewew! Wormy things that crawl under your skin and drip out your ears are responsible for Daniel's hallucinations. Ew.
* I was wrong--it's a ghost story and a medical drama. And Janet's idea saved the day--yay!
3.05 - "Learning Curve"
* The people on this planet are so developed and perfect. Hm... What's wrong with them?
* Yes, their children are far too obedient and well-behaved.
* Teal'c is not having any of this replacement child crap.
* The child actor who plays Merrin has a lot of charm. And it's very in-character of Sam to be vaguely jealous of Merrin's knowledge, her ability, her lack of need for sleep, since she doesn't understand the context.
* Whoa! So removing the nanites from the children doesn't hurt them, just makes them normal rather than brilliant, but this society has no understanding of or patience for what we consider to be the learning process. So they're shunted aside. Interesting.
* Oh, the terrible devotion of children to the ideals of their elders.
* DadJack is out in full force in this episode. At least this time, it isn't with a doomed boy kid named Charlie, so that's different.
* New knowledge in system--knowledge of how to teach and learn, introduced through the old way, the nanites. There's so much about this episode that's very Prime Directive--they have to hand Merrin back, they can't interfere with these people's way of learning--but it's an unusually subtle storyline to have Jack use their own system for transferring knowledge to teach them other things too.
* * * * *
And because I live to bring y'all unusual snake news, how'd you like to have that pop out of your toilet?. I think my favorite part is that they named the snake Keith.
Keith and Wallace both think they know Alicia, but she's obviously got some very big secret from her past that she's trying to cover up. And I could swear that Wallace's alleged father had some pretty serious ear bling of his own going on, though I may have been seeing things.
Veronica thinks she knows Duncan, but he's got this whole interior life he never even hints at--he's been visiting Meg in the hospital all along, which is especially odd given both his outward lack of emotion over the bus crash and Meg's parents' hostility. I can't help but be reminded last year of what a number of secrets he was carrying around--his meds, concealed from his friends; his struggle against the meds, concealed from his parents; his conviction that Veronica was his sister, and what happened between them at Shelley Pomroy's party, concealed from everyone. He seems like someone who's capable of being a different person for different groups of people, of molding himself to his surroundings--of being the young scholar and athlete for his parents, the supportive boyfriend for Veronica, and yet carrying around all that rage at Logan this year, all that anguish last year, without even hinting at it--and I wonder what he was to Meg, why she was so angry with him before the crash and why her parents were so angry that he was visiting her. Breaking up with her to date Veronica doesn't seem like enough justification.
And Duncan thinks he knows Veronica, but still doesn't have much of a clue that she's heavily involved in detective work, that she's investigating not only the cases of the week but the bus disaster. And he's not willing to share with her, shuts her down when she asks questions in a really petty and passive-aggressive way (you asked a question that made me uncomfortable, so no sex for you!). Veronica may accept that kind of treatment at first, because it surprises her and because she wants to badly for this relationship to work for reasons that have very little to do with Duncan himself, but Duncan doesn't know her very well at all if he doesn't understand how likely she is to remember that behavior when the clues start coming in, to try to fit it in as one of the pieces of the puzzle.
Jackie thinks she's got a pretty good read on the situation in Neptune, and to some extent she's right--Wallace is very easy to manipulate, up to a point, uncomplicated and forthright in what he wants, what he responds to. But she seems to be putting Veronica in the category of typical female rival, and she's underestimating both Veronica and the strength of Wallace's friendship with Veronica.
Who really knows what's going on with Meg, and what was in those files? Meg's parents were trying to know everything about their children, keep a tight grip on information, but Meg was hiding things, things her sister or Duncan may know about, things Veronica now has access to (and I really don't think she'll be able to resist looking at those files, not for long and especially not if more information comes to light tying Meg to possible motives for the bus going over the cliff).
And all this is in contrast to the few open and honest relationships on the show--Veronica and Wallace, who know and have a lot of affection for each other, but also Veronica and Weevil, who have the wariness but also the grudging respect, and Veronica and Logan, whose interactions are so barbed, so laced with hurt and resentment on Logan's part and frustration and sadness on Veronica's, but Logan knows that Veronica's investigating a case, doesn't even stop to remark that she's looking into the bus crash, takes it as a matter of course, and Veronica fearing how far Logan's self-destructive impulses are taking him, that he could be getting mixed up in some truly dangerous things. Oddly enough, Keith and Lamb have that same rapport, that same fundamental understanding, lack of illusions, though they don't like each other at all.
The case of the week, while not stellar, at least fit with this thematically--the girlfriend determined to prove that she knows what her boyfriend's up to, only to discover that she actually did know him for what he was; the fact that there are lines, that pushing too hard into the lives of the people around you just because you can, you have the resources, isn't always a good idea. I had very mixed feelings about Veronica's little seduction gambit, because on the one hand, parts of it were sort of amusing--especially Wallace's eye-rolling help--but I don't like the tarty, flirty, fake flavor of Veronica at all, so mostly it made me uncomfortable. She's using her body as a trick of the trade rather than her cleverness and in doing so revealing her awareness of what she's got and the fact that she does know how to use it, and that's not really what I signed up to watch on this show.
* * * * *
D. was supposed to come over for dinner last night, so I made a polenta souffle with mushroom ragout and Cambozola fonduta. He called to cancel after I'd gotten the souffle started--work craziness--so I made it anyway. It was a recipe out of a cookbook of well-known dishes from San Francisco restaurants and I think the cookbook editor must have must collected the recipes without testing them all because only the fact that I am a pretty experienced cook saved me from making an inedible mess by following the directions. The souffle recipe called for three tablespoons of baking powder. I thought that looked high and used one, and there's still a faint taste of baking powder in the souffle, but three would have been a disaster. The polenta thickened way before the recipe indicated it would. The ragout was more of a sauce what with the amount of liquid called for. I know exactly how to alter the recipe now to make it work perfectly next time, and the combination of flavors in the dish are wonderful, but the carelessness of the cookbook really pissed me off. These were the kinds of things that drove me to tears when I was teaching myself to cook and assumed that every recipe disaster was my fault, my lack of skill or understanding.
* * * * *
I am sloooooowly working through my Stargate TiVO backlog.
3.03 - "Fair Game"
* The SecDef is a pencil-necked geek, but at least he's appreciative of the SG teams. And Sam gets promoted to Major--good on her.
* Why do I get the feeling that getting beamed out mid-speech might actually have been a relief for Jack? That looked like an Asgard beam? Yep.
* The Asgard have chosen Jack to be the diplomat? Are they nuts?!
* It's not a tremendous surprise that the system lords are fractious, egomaniacal children. And three goa'uld cultures means three distinct types of fashion disaster. I'm kind of surprised that they make and abide by treaties, though.
* Have the goa'uld control our development? Take away the stargate? This treaty is going nowhere fast. And Jack is not helping. Seriously, what were the Asgard thinking?
* Why does the US government get to negotiate on behalf of the entire planet? I guess he who has the stargate makes the rules?
* Also not a surprise--that the system lords are so backstabbing and untrustworthy, even with each other. But hey, it got Earth a favorable deal, so yay.
3.04 - "Legacy"
* Hm. It seems like this is a murder mystery/haunting episode?
* A minor league of goa'uld who were challenging the system lords before they ended up all dead and stuff? On top of the Tok'ra? The system lords are really unpopular.
* I know in my heart that Daniel's not crazy but... he sure is acting crazy. It seems like Jack is having the same dilemma.
* Okay, I never see much of any romance or UST on this show (though I see them occasionally try to push some pretty unconvincing and artificial UST between Sam and Jack), but I am seeing the Jack/Daniel all over the place here.
* Oh man, nobody's going to believe poor crazy Daniel. Poor crazy Daniel! He's killing me here, and so is the way the team is so upset about his condition.
* Organic recording? Okay... That darn Macchelo.
* Ew! Ewewewew! Wormy things that crawl under your skin and drip out your ears are responsible for Daniel's hallucinations. Ew.
* I was wrong--it's a ghost story and a medical drama. And Janet's idea saved the day--yay!
3.05 - "Learning Curve"
* The people on this planet are so developed and perfect. Hm... What's wrong with them?
* Yes, their children are far too obedient and well-behaved.
* Teal'c is not having any of this replacement child crap.
* The child actor who plays Merrin has a lot of charm. And it's very in-character of Sam to be vaguely jealous of Merrin's knowledge, her ability, her lack of need for sleep, since she doesn't understand the context.
* Whoa! So removing the nanites from the children doesn't hurt them, just makes them normal rather than brilliant, but this society has no understanding of or patience for what we consider to be the learning process. So they're shunted aside. Interesting.
* Oh, the terrible devotion of children to the ideals of their elders.
* DadJack is out in full force in this episode. At least this time, it isn't with a doomed boy kid named Charlie, so that's different.
* New knowledge in system--knowledge of how to teach and learn, introduced through the old way, the nanites. There's so much about this episode that's very Prime Directive--they have to hand Merrin back, they can't interfere with these people's way of learning--but it's an unusually subtle storyline to have Jack use their own system for transferring knowledge to teach them other things too.
* * * * *
And because I live to bring y'all unusual snake news, how'd you like to have that pop out of your toilet?. I think my favorite part is that they named the snake Keith.