There is no apostrophe in team
Happy birthday katie_m!
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Veronica Mars 3.14 - "Mars, Bars"
I got home fairly late last night and wasn't focusing well, and I really have no idea what to make of the episode. The resolution of the MoT(2)W was nicely ambivalent-not a murder, not a wrong to be righted, and Veronica, who seems to be developing more compassion, was for once holding back, waiting to see how things developed before charging in to administer what she thinks should be justice. Getting Cliff and Vinnie in the same episode was an embarrassment of riches, seeing both Mac and Wallace too was almost too much. (And I love that Mac is still seeing Bronson.) I liked Logan's visit to Veronica in jail-they've talked through those bars so many times, though usually on opposite sides of them, and Veronica was a little rueful, defensively humorous, but trying to do this non-bitter ex thing, and Logan was tamping down stronger emotions, trying to stay low key, and that worked. So did his interactions with Parker, which came across as natural and not calculated on either side, and I don't blame Veronica for being chagrined, but I hope she continues to be as mature about things as she has in the past.
But--why exactly did they kill Lamb off? It was fitting that he went out in a blaze of his own incompetence, or at least in a series of improbable and all-too-human mistakes, but I hope there was a good plot reason for it-such as Richard Greico laying a trap for Lamb at the behest of someone who had it in for him-because dramatically, it makes very little sense.
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Stargate 10.17 - "Talion"
I was very glad I was sitting down when this episode began, because y'all! They gave Teal'c something to do! I KNOW! And yes, it was a Jaffa politics storyline, but it tied neatly into the current political factions of the galaxy and how the Ori invasion fits into it. I like the hints that there is friction between human and Jaffa populations, that they once shared the oppression of the Goa'uld but that the Jaffa experienced a more privileged form, in human eyes, and that now they're fractious and resentful. And they did not actually kill Bra'tac! I am delighted.
The emotional core of this show is the team; it's always hard when they're separated, but it's almost unbearable to see them fighting against each other. Mitchell anchored the team in this episode as he has ever since "Avalon" when he began pulling them all back together again, sitting by Teal'c's bedside, getting his heart broken when Teal'c left again. As important as they all are to each other, I think Sam and Daniel and Teal'c have been through too much, separately and together, to feel like they'll always get what they want, or that duty and the vicissitudes of life and death might not inevitably lead to parting; Teal'c and Sam lived for a year with the loss of Daniel. Mitchell still has that little spark of childlike wonder, that faith in what they can do together, and it's only a little spotted and tarnished. And he's the leader of that team, so it was left to him to experience the full heartbreak of losing Teal'c to a different cause, to having to lead the team against him, and to fight him hand-to-hand. Mitchell's loyalty and commitment are two strong constants of his character, and one thing I think has been happening, very slowly, is that they've been transferring themselves from institutions-the government, the military, his commanders-to the team and the people of the team. It's something that started out as duty and responsibility and not a little starstruck awe for the people under his nominal command, but it's grown into something fierce and familial. I can't imagine the Cameron Mitchell who bit back his disappointment and put on the reaction of the perfect soldier when Landry told him that he'd have to form a new team falsifying a mission report.
There are some comforting certainties: the Earth revolves around the sun, night turns into day, water flows downhill, and heading into the last two or three episodes of the season, Stargate introduces a previously unknown threat that will suddenly menace Earth in a cataclysmic season finale. I am sad that this is the last time it will happen.
I'm not entirely comfortable with the methodology Teal'c employs on his single-minded quest, but it is incredibly true to him and to the Jaffa culture of revenge killing, and after playing a supporting role for so long, it was a treat to see him deal with motivations and relationships of his own, and to generally be a badass motherfucker.
I also liked the way reactions played out for the rest of SG-1 when they went on the mission to stop him. None of them wanted to be there, but Sam and Cam were both military and emotional about it-prepared to carry out the mission they'd been ordered to perform, concentrating on all the different ways the inevitable confrontation could play out physically and unhappy about all of them-while Daniel and Vala were both approaching it like a puzzle, a problem to be solved, more intent on figuring out what Ar'kad (I made up that spelling, but am inserting an apostrophe with a 99% level of confidence) was up to as a way of averting a confrontation. (And it's been a gradual transition, but last week Mitchell immediately went to Vala for help on the museum security system, and this week Daniel automatically gave Vala's speculation on Ar'kad's plans the consideration it deserved, and when he corrected her English idiom, it was absently and without rancor; he's not snarking anymore, he's genuinely teaching, and she's not having to fight to get heard any more when she has something to contribute, and that's lovely.)
The scene between Bra'tac and Teal'c at the end was also lovely, Teal'c ending up right back where he'd started, in the SGC infirmary, and Bra'tac in his comfy flannel robe, and Mitchell watching, covering up for Teal'c, giving Landry a lie that I have no doubt the entire team will line up behind, because Teal'c was right, and because keeping them all together is the most important thing in the world.
* * * * *
Veronica Mars 3.14 - "Mars, Bars"
I got home fairly late last night and wasn't focusing well, and I really have no idea what to make of the episode. The resolution of the MoT(2)W was nicely ambivalent-not a murder, not a wrong to be righted, and Veronica, who seems to be developing more compassion, was for once holding back, waiting to see how things developed before charging in to administer what she thinks should be justice. Getting Cliff and Vinnie in the same episode was an embarrassment of riches, seeing both Mac and Wallace too was almost too much. (And I love that Mac is still seeing Bronson.) I liked Logan's visit to Veronica in jail-they've talked through those bars so many times, though usually on opposite sides of them, and Veronica was a little rueful, defensively humorous, but trying to do this non-bitter ex thing, and Logan was tamping down stronger emotions, trying to stay low key, and that worked. So did his interactions with Parker, which came across as natural and not calculated on either side, and I don't blame Veronica for being chagrined, but I hope she continues to be as mature about things as she has in the past.
But--why exactly did they kill Lamb off? It was fitting that he went out in a blaze of his own incompetence, or at least in a series of improbable and all-too-human mistakes, but I hope there was a good plot reason for it-such as Richard Greico laying a trap for Lamb at the behest of someone who had it in for him-because dramatically, it makes very little sense.
* * * * *
Stargate 10.17 - "Talion"
I was very glad I was sitting down when this episode began, because y'all! They gave Teal'c something to do! I KNOW! And yes, it was a Jaffa politics storyline, but it tied neatly into the current political factions of the galaxy and how the Ori invasion fits into it. I like the hints that there is friction between human and Jaffa populations, that they once shared the oppression of the Goa'uld but that the Jaffa experienced a more privileged form, in human eyes, and that now they're fractious and resentful. And they did not actually kill Bra'tac! I am delighted.
The emotional core of this show is the team; it's always hard when they're separated, but it's almost unbearable to see them fighting against each other. Mitchell anchored the team in this episode as he has ever since "Avalon" when he began pulling them all back together again, sitting by Teal'c's bedside, getting his heart broken when Teal'c left again. As important as they all are to each other, I think Sam and Daniel and Teal'c have been through too much, separately and together, to feel like they'll always get what they want, or that duty and the vicissitudes of life and death might not inevitably lead to parting; Teal'c and Sam lived for a year with the loss of Daniel. Mitchell still has that little spark of childlike wonder, that faith in what they can do together, and it's only a little spotted and tarnished. And he's the leader of that team, so it was left to him to experience the full heartbreak of losing Teal'c to a different cause, to having to lead the team against him, and to fight him hand-to-hand. Mitchell's loyalty and commitment are two strong constants of his character, and one thing I think has been happening, very slowly, is that they've been transferring themselves from institutions-the government, the military, his commanders-to the team and the people of the team. It's something that started out as duty and responsibility and not a little starstruck awe for the people under his nominal command, but it's grown into something fierce and familial. I can't imagine the Cameron Mitchell who bit back his disappointment and put on the reaction of the perfect soldier when Landry told him that he'd have to form a new team falsifying a mission report.
There are some comforting certainties: the Earth revolves around the sun, night turns into day, water flows downhill, and heading into the last two or three episodes of the season, Stargate introduces a previously unknown threat that will suddenly menace Earth in a cataclysmic season finale. I am sad that this is the last time it will happen.
I'm not entirely comfortable with the methodology Teal'c employs on his single-minded quest, but it is incredibly true to him and to the Jaffa culture of revenge killing, and after playing a supporting role for so long, it was a treat to see him deal with motivations and relationships of his own, and to generally be a badass motherfucker.
I also liked the way reactions played out for the rest of SG-1 when they went on the mission to stop him. None of them wanted to be there, but Sam and Cam were both military and emotional about it-prepared to carry out the mission they'd been ordered to perform, concentrating on all the different ways the inevitable confrontation could play out physically and unhappy about all of them-while Daniel and Vala were both approaching it like a puzzle, a problem to be solved, more intent on figuring out what Ar'kad (I made up that spelling, but am inserting an apostrophe with a 99% level of confidence) was up to as a way of averting a confrontation. (And it's been a gradual transition, but last week Mitchell immediately went to Vala for help on the museum security system, and this week Daniel automatically gave Vala's speculation on Ar'kad's plans the consideration it deserved, and when he corrected her English idiom, it was absently and without rancor; he's not snarking anymore, he's genuinely teaching, and she's not having to fight to get heard any more when she has something to contribute, and that's lovely.)
The scene between Bra'tac and Teal'c at the end was also lovely, Teal'c ending up right back where he'd started, in the SGC infirmary, and Bra'tac in his comfy flannel robe, and Mitchell watching, covering up for Teal'c, giving Landry a lie that I have no doubt the entire team will line up behind, because Teal'c was right, and because keeping them all together is the most important thing in the world.