I can't think of a subject line to save my life, Episode XXXVII
SGA 3.17 - "Sunday"
In the immortal words of Teal'c, "I do not understand why everything in this script must inevitably explode."
I was spoiled for the major development in this episode, and when coordinating watching it with other people, it probably wasn't a good sign that we were making plans for Exploding Tumor Friday. I have nothing against Beckett, who always seemed likable enough, but--and it bears repeating--exploding tumors. I just can't take this episode seriously at all, because taking it seriously would mean admitting that EXPLODING TUMORS are a valid plot point, and I am just not prepared to go there.
And then--AND THEN--the episode actually contained the line "The man you're working on right now has been infected with an explosive tumor." Where to start? I think that line actually broke something inside me. Oh, SGA writers, how do you sleep at night? When you were children, with your futures gleaming brightly ahead of you and the world spread at your feet, did you dream you'd grow up to make the plant-based cold fusion on your sister show look like a reasonable development? (And if so, did you at least wake up screaming and in a cold sweat?) When you look in the mirror, WHAT DO YOU SEE?!?
It wasn't a good death, exactly. Nothing that had to be described using the words "killed by an exploding tumor" could be. (Yes, I am not going to let that go.) The context was surely meant to illustrate unexpected peril in the middle of mundane, ordinary life on Atlantis, but came off as kind of an incongruously frivolous setting for the offing of a major regular character. And I was not fond of the cliched farewell between Rodney and Beckett's ghost at the end, which tidied up Rodney's guilt and grief far too smoothly and--perhaps more inexcusably--was set against CGI so awful that I have never in the history of this show seen people more blatantly acting against a green screen. But it seemed somewhat respectful of Beckett's place on the show, in an episode that was all about the characters and their relationships with each other, so.
In non-exploding-tumor news, Hewlett carried a lot this week, and while I found a lot of the Elizabeth romantic drahhhhma boring and inexplicable, I rather enjoyed the scenes between John and Ronon. Ronon doesn't get a ton of character development, but when they throw in the little moments about his past and his approach to life and play against the muscle stereotype, it tends to work well for me.
Promos for next week: the Wraith! Hey, remember them?
My post on Stargate 3.17 - "Talion".
* * * * *
Although I already did this the day of (or actually the day before), I want to once again wish the happiest of birthdays to brynnmck. You are one of the most generous people I know as well as one of the most talented, and you deserve the moon in return.
* * * * *
due South 2.06 - "Mask"
One thing I really liked about this episode is the way it contextualizes Fraser, his background and his history and his odd approach to life, as something he learned from others, and puts him somewhere in the middle between his Native friends and modern Chicago life. And I especially liked the wheels within wheels, and the way Eric (played by an actor who--wait for it--did a guest spot on Stargate later) and Fraser both understand the terms of the game they're playing, understand each others' priorities, respect them even if they don't completely agree, look upon each other as worthy opponents. There are some lovely parallels between Fraser and Thatcher, prickly and correct and formal, and Ray and Louise, antagonistic and flirtatious. Ray doesn't like Thatcher that much, because Thatcher's hard on Fraser, which is something Fraser understands and accepts as his due but Ray doesn't accept at all as something Fraser deserves, and it's especially pleasing to see the way Ray goes about defending Fraser with subtle digs that Thatcher can't really answer (pointing out that she's wearing what is most likely the museum curator's shirt) rather than with open statements that could reflect back on Fraser. (I don't for a second think Fraser didn't notice that too, or that he was as clueless as he appeared in the end about Thatcher's flirtation with the curator; he's too observant to miss it and too ethical and kind to even let Thatcher worry that he figured it out, much less that he'll say anything about it.) And Ray is right--it was so un-Canadian of the killer to be Canadian; she was the last person I suspected as well, especially with the dodgy, cigarette-smoking Frenchwoman as a red herring.
due South 2.07 - "Juliet Is Bleeding"
One of the things that's so effective about this show is that its scale is so small and personal, and here the gangland war and the rivalry with Ray both take place in Frank's personal space--his home and his restaurants and his family. Everything about Zucco is small, from the cheap intimidation tactics he tries to pull on Fraser in the restaurant, summoning him and trying to remind him that he'd had him beaten up (and Fraser understands very well what he's doing there, and refuses to remember) to his need, when his criminal enterprise is spinning out of his control, to control his sister, to dominate the women in his life. It strikes me that before the bombing forced the issue, Zucco was trying to hunker down and let the gangland rivalry blow over because he didn't know how to handle it; as the henchman points out, he's not his father, and he's always substituted petty bullying for real strength. And Irene, who is not stupid, who knows what her brother is and still loves him because he's her brother, and knows that Ray loves her but that he's not sorry their intimacy eats at Zucco, gets caught in the middle. It's a messy situation that has no winners, and it's terrible to see Ray lose someone he loves to someone he hates, and have to accept that sometimes the price of vengeance is terribly insidious--that Zucco will have to live with having shot his sister, and that Ray will have to live with the way his intervention precipitated that shooting, and with the way his insistence on going after Zucco rather than finding the real killer set the whole thing up, and with the way respecting Irene's wishes means letting Zucco go. Zucco was a terrible man, and the police weren't exactly wrong for wanting to use whatever means they had to put him away, but he wasn't the killer, he didn't commit this particular crime, and only Fraser understood that, and understood the cost of cutting corners when the stakes were so high, especially because the stakes were so high. Giardino didn't have a huge role on the show, but his death worked as a powerful catalyst, something that made the entire police department a little crazy and turned them against Fraser and his dogged insistence on evidence, on justice.
And after mourning Giardino's death, I also have to feel a little moment of sorrow on the passing of the Riv II, and on Diefenbaker's diet in general. Tracking by fast food in the previous episode was bad enough; he has now developed quite the taste for Italian.
* * * * *
In RL news, if I can get through this week intact, I can take a deep breath, take some vacation, and spend some time readjusting my life and putting some things in place that will keep my work/life balance from getting so drastically out of whack. I am too old for this, and I'm not that old.
Summer is here, which means dealing with the 30° temperature differential between where I live and where I work; layers only do so much good with that much of a temperature range. And I am totally cheating on Mr. Bento with the laptop lunchbox. I hope Mr. Bento understands. It's not him, it's me. I need something with a teeny salad dressing container, and the laptop lunchbox fits better in my satchel. But he will always be my go-to guy when I need insulation, and I will never forget the magical lunches we have shared.
So, today in the laptop lunchbox: roast salmon on tiny French lentils with bacon and herbs; salad of roasted chiogga and red beets, pecans, celery slices, apple chunks, currants, and scallions on mache with curry vinaigrette; slices of pluot.
claudia_yvr introduced me to both these wonderful bento containers, and has my eternal gratitude for that, but I discovered the magical world of Japanese bento boxes on eBay all by myself and it could get ugly. Send help plz.
