Stargates
Meeting with Landry. I like that Vala is only interested in the conversation when Daniel is brought up. Plus the little look between Cam and her is just cute. And how much do I love Ba'al's casual greeting. He's so laid back now. It's funny. I think being Anubis' whipping boy has been good for him.
"They want me dead."
"That makes all of us."
And Barrett! Hi Barrett! Hit on Sam again, we saw McKay do it last week. It's still in fashion.
Have I mentioned that I love Cliff? He's fabulous.
When Daniel isn't around, Vala flirts with Cam. It's so Farscapy, my head hurts. Also I like that Landry got a good one liner this ep. That whole "I learned long ago that I don't control anyone." "Get used to it." bit was good. Then we turn around and get Vala being smart with the sneaking on the base which is just fun. I was worried that they wouldn't find a use for her on the show but they're slowly finding ways of working her in. Now if they could just find a way to do it that isn't so obvious...
The only bad thing about this ep is that I could see where they were going with it. Why couldn't SG-1? They're totally bringing their own invasion to them. *sigh* Sam, I'm disappointed in you.
All the Ba'als/balls jokes were actually pretty good, but I totally lost it with Barrett's line "I understand you have a few extra Ba'als." The uncomfortable way he delivered it to Landry was just perfect. I died laughing.
Who couldn't guess that Vala's interrogation method involves throwing herself at the suspect? I was glad that Ba'al called her OBVIOUS bluff. But she totally made up for it by trying to arm wrestle Teal'c. Hee.
And of course I was right. *sigh* Idiots. I love how they've mastered the effect of multiples of the same person in the same scene.
SILER! Hey look, it's Siler! Where have you been dude?
And of course everything goes to pot and Barrett is a dumbass, which we knew. I liked the ending with Cam and Sam. Their friendship/co-leadership thing is fun. Ooh look, next ep the Landry gets in on the fun.
I liked the blue color wash they did on the alien planet and again on Sateda. We get a little Rodney and Teyla moment at the beginning which was nice. They don't have nearly enough interaction in the show. And then Rodney goes and gets shot in the ass. Between his screaming and whining, and Sheppard helping him to the gate... It's fucking fanfic people. I think I've read that story. I was laughing my ass of at Rodney's escape through the gate. The village guy just looked bumfuzzled. So funny. That was a great opening.
And then we start off with the flashbacks. I liked how they were used in the ep, especially the quick cuts we got whenever Ronon saw something that reminded him of something. Very much like real memory. Well done. Also, I don't know if anyone caught it, but in the flashback of what happens to the village after Ronon shows up, we get to see one of the thug Wraith feed. That's not something we've seen since Ford got nabbed. Most every other Wraith that we've seen feed has been one of the more people looking ones.
And of course drugged up Rodney asks for his Sheppard first. So funny. Between his stupor and Carson's dryness, I was smirking...and then his realization of what Carson said. "Oh my god, that's in my ass isn't it?" Comedy gold.
Then whiplash again when we see Ronon in the cage threatening to kill himself to save his friends. I was surprised. Jason can act. Who knew? ....well okay maybe I should say Jason can OVERact, but you know points for doing something besides grunting and beating people up.
Chuck! Chuck is my happy place. I still want to see him in an ep with Walter. The actor and Gary Jones need to go on the road together. :D
Also interesting in this ep besides seeing Thug-Wraith eat, we also get our first MALE hive ship leader. Hmm... I wonder how that works. I've been relating them to bees in my head, but this is new. Or is it just the hunting hives that have guys? Weird. Something else we get, the Wraith glowy eyes/eye shine. We've not seen that before have we? It figures that they can see in the dark better because their Hives are awful dark. The moment Ronon starts to move it's all shaky camera! shaky camera!
Then we cut to Rodney laying on the floor and Sheppard coming to annoy him. I swear this is just some body's fanfic printed out and given to the set! (PS Shep in the leather field jacket...it looked good in the promos, but is uber cool on the show. Nice. Rawr.) "How about I leave the bad jokes to you, and you leave the brilliant science to me?" Hee.
Have I mentioned that I like the ring in Ronan's dreads? It's neat. The flashbacks get more and more artsy. It's neat that they're trying new things on the show. Also, this ep has some really good stunt work going on.
The scene with John and Teyla... OMG! First of all his little toy thingy. Ha! He is so not doing work on that. I like Teyla's increasingly insulting finishing of John's sentences. "Feelings?" "Social skills?" "Friends?" IT'S STRAIGHT OUT FIC PEOPLE! I like that John admits that he doesn't have anyone else and that his team and Carson and Elizabeth are his family. Apparently we're actually going to get more about John this season, and I couldn't be happier. Then in response to all this uncomfortable sentiment on John's part he pats her hand awkwardly, just like he awkwardly tried to get Carson to "Buck up." Oh John!
Then we cut to Carson checking out McKay's ass. I just... I can't... the smiley face boxers. Fic fic fic! (Only in the fic they'd be frowny face ones because Rodney believes in truth in advertising...but I digress.) Rodney talking about his 'close' relationship with Ronon. Heh.
Then John and Teyla show up to save the day. I loved how they edited McKay mid-sentence and then had John translate. "McKay says..." something much nicer than I'm sure what he's screaming in John's ear. Funny. And if that's not enough, then John's head count which he keeps inflating to make him sound better than the girl...and Teyla's expressions after each were priceless. Actually, Teyla's face through this whole ep was a thing of beauty. I like that Rachel does get to do funny stuff too, but she does it much more subtly.
Rodney and Carson arguing in the ship on which one of them should go was good. It shows how very different the characters are from the guys that first stepped through the gate. I mean think about early first season Rodney or Carson... neither one of them would dream of picking up a gun to go help anyone, much less arguing over the pleasure.
I liked the ending too. Again Shep inflates his numbers, Rodney and Carson do their best Stan and Ollie and then there is hugging and passing out. Plus a small McShep beat at the end. Well done. This ep was a lot funnier than last weeks episode which was supposed to be one of the quirky humorous eps. I understand that they needed the humor to balance all the violence from the A story, and it was possibly a little too much, but this is Stargate so you have to cut them a little narrative slack. At least they attempted the idea, and came out pretty well all things considered.
I think this episode has been the best one so far this season.