I do believe in subtext. I DO, I DO!
Beware a massive attack of the poorly-edited tl;dr.
SGA 5x06: Slashy subtext? What slashy subtext? Oh, THAT slashy subtext.
OH MY GOD JESUS CHRIST I HAVE NO WORDS I AM FLAILING AND CAPSLOCKING AND CRYING AND JUST GENERALLY LOSING MY SHIT OVER THIS.
IF I NEVER SEE ANOTHER EPISODE OF SGA- IF I NEVER SEE ANOTHER EPISODE OF ANY SF- HELL, IF I NEVER SEE ANOTHER EPISODE OF ANY TV, EVER, THAT IS OKAY. I AM GOOD. THIS WAS IT. THIS WAS EVERYTHING I COULD EVER WANT OR HOPE TO GET FROM A SHOW
This just went on the shortlist (the very, very short list) of the greatest, most emotionally affecting episodes of anything ever made. Disclosure: this one was personal for me. I mean to say... I don't know how to say what I mean, as I am too emotional over it still. But there is this about me: Flowers for Algernon was the single most frightening book I have read in my entire life. My mind is everything. It is what I feel confident in, what I rely on, what my entire self-image is based on- deeper than self-image, what my entire conception of self is based on. My worth- my ONLY worth, the one thing that I will ALWAYS rely on and ALWAYS be confident about. There is nothing you could promise me- endless wealth, eternal life, nothing- that could persuade me to give up one damn IQ point, and I would give up ANYTHING- literally, with no reservations, anything- to keep my intelligence intact.
I am not saying this is good. It is, in fact, damned problematic. And that is the point of connection between Rodney McKay and myself, because that is the single, most stripped down, most basic conception of his character: his mind is everything. It always has been everything, and everything else has fallen by the wayside as unimportant, and this is the man that resulted. And it IS problematic and over his time in Atlantis we have seen him struggle so much, and with such great difficulty and inconsistency, to balance that and rectify that.
I have often seen the writing advice "what is the worst thing you can do to this character?" That is what this episode was. This was Rodney McKay's worst nightmare, in the absolutely most literal and non-exaggerated sense. This was the worst thing that could ever happen to him, and it made me cry and disturbed me on a level I haven't seen on television in a very long time. The writing was phenomenal, at stripping him away layer by layer, at showing us how he struggles to retain his hold- setting up the video protocol, his pride at little things he remembers, admitting to John he's faking, asking to say his goodbye's while he's still himself. They stripped it ALL away from him and left the character with simply nothing, until that horrible scene where he is completely unable to understand what's going on around him and lapses into muttering pi under his breath. That was... I had to pause it, and couldn't start watching again for a very long time.
And even if there were no John Sheppard and no subtext at all, this would still have affected me more than any TV episode I've watched in a damn long time.
But, of course, there is John Sheppard.
Look, my fundamental objection to the SGA writing is that the writers do not seem to have a clue what they are actually writing, you know? And this is the prime example of that. Because they wrote 42 minutes of the most intense ship manifesto I've ever seen, the most intense story of love and devotion and dedication and genuine care and connection between two people, and they just... did not notice that those two people were Rodney and John, not Rodney and Jennifer? That kind of amuses me. But seriously, of course Day-6-and-fading-fast-Rodney loves Jennifer. She is nice to him and she cares about him and she takes care of him and she's pretty. There truly was something sweet and genuine between them, and it was nice to see. And, ironically, the reason it was so genuinely nice to see was that my 'ship was so utterly unthreatened by it. Because Jennifer is pretty and nice to him and he loves her like a very shiny thing. But when he wakes up in the cold and the dark and he is all alone and his mind is leaving him and he is losing himself and he is more terrified than he has ever been in his life... there is only one person he could possibly think of running to. With everything else taken away from him, he keeps hold of "go to John."
Dude, I actually was NOT OTP about John/Rodney before this.
I tend to keep a few episodes on hand to show to people who don't get slash (okay, I have only done this twice). Once I used the ep of Sports Night where Casey admits to Dan that he turned down the career of a lifetime and more or less lost his wife in order to stay with Dan. Another time I used the episode of Rome where Vorenus jumps into the gladiator pit for Pullo. I think... I think, if I ever have anyone ask me again, I will use this one. Because I have NEVER seen a more direct illustration of "why slash?" in my life. Play Rodney's love confession to Jennifer next to the peir scene. Just do it. I dare you. *dazed headshake*
The pier scene. John's refusal to say goodbye. "Then I'll remind you." "You're stuck with me." "You're a good friend, Arthur." The spit take.
I just... I have nothing else to say. I could capslock forever and it would all be redundant.
I mean, there are other things to say about this episode. Hell, I even have a negative thing to say: Why the hell did they not believe Ronon? Seriously, why don't they all immediately think, "Oh! Ancient artifact now regarded as a shrine that disables the parasite!" because that was the most obvious conclusion in the whole damn world and they should have just assumed that. But that is, I think, the only negative thing I had.
Here, other positive things, as I think of them: Woolsey. I just... Woolsey. Robert Picardo knocked his little Alzheimer's speech out of the park. The writers are loading more characterization and more humanization onto him, in a shorter period of time... *dazed headshake*
Ronon is looking good again. The Wig Of Awfulness seems to have retreated somewhat, so he has a face again, and now that he has a face again, he is Awesome. Everything about him was awesome. Especially the beginning of his first scene with Jeannie. I just... That was astonishing.
David Hewlett deserves an Emmy for this. There is simply no way around that. (JFlan too, kind of, except I'm pretty sure they won't give out an Emmy for "most heart-wrenching secret gay love")
John Sheppard's pajamas. I think anything I can say here would be superfluous.
Everything about Jeannie was perfect. I have never liked her more, which is impressive, cause I liked her a lot before.
And, lastly... I really liked the interactions between Keller and Jeannie. They both care for Rodney so much, and there was such genuine warmth between them, such a feeling of being each other's support system in this. I just... yeah. SGA has actually had some incredibly good female-only scenes, between Teyla and Elizabeth, then between Sam and Keller, and Sam and Jeannie, and now Jeannie and Keller. They just tend to strike me, for some reason. I don't expect them (because I am used to not getting them, in SF), and I don't expect to like them as much as I do (because I don't actually think about the lack of them, all that much). I feel the same way whenever Janet and Sam interact on SG1, and for Inara and Kaylee on Firefly. (BSG was in interesting phenomenon, because it had so many more female characters with such very interesting power dynamics between them, but never once gave me this feeling of genuine warm support and friendship). I have just missed that so much ever since I stopped watching Gilmore Girls, and I didn't even know I missed it 'til I saw it.
SGA 5x06: Slashy subtext? What slashy subtext? Oh, THAT slashy subtext.
OH MY GOD JESUS CHRIST I HAVE NO WORDS I AM FLAILING AND CAPSLOCKING AND CRYING AND JUST GENERALLY LOSING MY SHIT OVER THIS.
IF I NEVER SEE ANOTHER EPISODE OF SGA- IF I NEVER SEE ANOTHER EPISODE OF ANY SF- HELL, IF I NEVER SEE ANOTHER EPISODE OF ANY TV, EVER, THAT IS OKAY. I AM GOOD. THIS WAS IT. THIS WAS EVERYTHING I COULD EVER WANT OR HOPE TO GET FROM A SHOW
This just went on the shortlist (the very, very short list) of the greatest, most emotionally affecting episodes of anything ever made. Disclosure: this one was personal for me. I mean to say... I don't know how to say what I mean, as I am too emotional over it still. But there is this about me: Flowers for Algernon was the single most frightening book I have read in my entire life. My mind is everything. It is what I feel confident in, what I rely on, what my entire self-image is based on- deeper than self-image, what my entire conception of self is based on. My worth- my ONLY worth, the one thing that I will ALWAYS rely on and ALWAYS be confident about. There is nothing you could promise me- endless wealth, eternal life, nothing- that could persuade me to give up one damn IQ point, and I would give up ANYTHING- literally, with no reservations, anything- to keep my intelligence intact.
I am not saying this is good. It is, in fact, damned problematic. And that is the point of connection between Rodney McKay and myself, because that is the single, most stripped down, most basic conception of his character: his mind is everything. It always has been everything, and everything else has fallen by the wayside as unimportant, and this is the man that resulted. And it IS problematic and over his time in Atlantis we have seen him struggle so much, and with such great difficulty and inconsistency, to balance that and rectify that.
I have often seen the writing advice "what is the worst thing you can do to this character?" That is what this episode was. This was Rodney McKay's worst nightmare, in the absolutely most literal and non-exaggerated sense. This was the worst thing that could ever happen to him, and it made me cry and disturbed me on a level I haven't seen on television in a very long time. The writing was phenomenal, at stripping him away layer by layer, at showing us how he struggles to retain his hold- setting up the video protocol, his pride at little things he remembers, admitting to John he's faking, asking to say his goodbye's while he's still himself. They stripped it ALL away from him and left the character with simply nothing, until that horrible scene where he is completely unable to understand what's going on around him and lapses into muttering pi under his breath. That was... I had to pause it, and couldn't start watching again for a very long time.
And even if there were no John Sheppard and no subtext at all, this would still have affected me more than any TV episode I've watched in a damn long time.
But, of course, there is John Sheppard.
Look, my fundamental objection to the SGA writing is that the writers do not seem to have a clue what they are actually writing, you know? And this is the prime example of that. Because they wrote 42 minutes of the most intense ship manifesto I've ever seen, the most intense story of love and devotion and dedication and genuine care and connection between two people, and they just... did not notice that those two people were Rodney and John, not Rodney and Jennifer? That kind of amuses me. But seriously, of course Day-6-and-fading-fast-Rodney loves Jennifer. She is nice to him and she cares about him and she takes care of him and she's pretty. There truly was something sweet and genuine between them, and it was nice to see. And, ironically, the reason it was so genuinely nice to see was that my 'ship was so utterly unthreatened by it. Because Jennifer is pretty and nice to him and he loves her like a very shiny thing. But when he wakes up in the cold and the dark and he is all alone and his mind is leaving him and he is losing himself and he is more terrified than he has ever been in his life... there is only one person he could possibly think of running to. With everything else taken away from him, he keeps hold of "go to John."
Dude, I actually was NOT OTP about John/Rodney before this.
I tend to keep a few episodes on hand to show to people who don't get slash (okay, I have only done this twice). Once I used the ep of Sports Night where Casey admits to Dan that he turned down the career of a lifetime and more or less lost his wife in order to stay with Dan. Another time I used the episode of Rome where Vorenus jumps into the gladiator pit for Pullo. I think... I think, if I ever have anyone ask me again, I will use this one. Because I have NEVER seen a more direct illustration of "why slash?" in my life. Play Rodney's love confession to Jennifer next to the peir scene. Just do it. I dare you. *dazed headshake*
The pier scene. John's refusal to say goodbye. "Then I'll remind you." "You're stuck with me." "You're a good friend, Arthur." The spit take.
I just... I have nothing else to say. I could capslock forever and it would all be redundant.
I mean, there are other things to say about this episode. Hell, I even have a negative thing to say: Why the hell did they not believe Ronon? Seriously, why don't they all immediately think, "Oh! Ancient artifact now regarded as a shrine that disables the parasite!" because that was the most obvious conclusion in the whole damn world and they should have just assumed that. But that is, I think, the only negative thing I had.
Here, other positive things, as I think of them: Woolsey. I just... Woolsey. Robert Picardo knocked his little Alzheimer's speech out of the park. The writers are loading more characterization and more humanization onto him, in a shorter period of time... *dazed headshake*
Ronon is looking good again. The Wig Of Awfulness seems to have retreated somewhat, so he has a face again, and now that he has a face again, he is Awesome. Everything about him was awesome. Especially the beginning of his first scene with Jeannie. I just... That was astonishing.
David Hewlett deserves an Emmy for this. There is simply no way around that. (JFlan too, kind of, except I'm pretty sure they won't give out an Emmy for "most heart-wrenching secret gay love")
John Sheppard's pajamas. I think anything I can say here would be superfluous.
Everything about Jeannie was perfect. I have never liked her more, which is impressive, cause I liked her a lot before.
And, lastly... I really liked the interactions between Keller and Jeannie. They both care for Rodney so much, and there was such genuine warmth between them, such a feeling of being each other's support system in this. I just... yeah. SGA has actually had some incredibly good female-only scenes, between Teyla and Elizabeth, then between Sam and Keller, and Sam and Jeannie, and now Jeannie and Keller. They just tend to strike me, for some reason. I don't expect them (because I am used to not getting them, in SF), and I don't expect to like them as much as I do (because I don't actually think about the lack of them, all that much). I feel the same way whenever Janet and Sam interact on SG1, and for Inara and Kaylee on Firefly. (BSG was in interesting phenomenon, because it had so many more female characters with such very interesting power dynamics between them, but never once gave me this feeling of genuine warm support and friendship). I have just missed that so much ever since I stopped watching Gilmore Girls, and I didn't even know I missed it 'til I saw it.