Thoughts on SGA 4x15: "Outcast"
Finally, some decent backstory on John!
So. This episode did not disappoint. In fact, this episode was better than I expected for a number of reasons, including Bates being happy and well-adjusted, and Dr. Lee being present. I don't know why I love him so much. He was so very sunburnt. I literally cheered when he showed up! XD
Joe's acting during all of this was wonderful. He's mentioned in interviews that he occasionally gets into disagreements with the directors when they want John to be overt in his expression of emotion and Joe thinks that it's far more powerful to portray John as holding back emotion (it's also more of a challenge to act). I think this episode is a great argument in favour of Joe's view. He's very, very good at it, too.
Ronon watched BLADES OF GLORY. I -- there are no words. I personally love figure skating, and I can't watch that. (Or maybe that's the reason.)
I can't help but wonder how Elizabeth would have delivered the news. Probably not in a hallway. Possibly with the unspoken question about his father being alive. Sam just seemed uncomfortable and sympathetic -- hey, she's been there, her dad died in SG-1 after all.
The scene with Rodney (the only Rodney in the episode! woe!) was just... how can I possibly describe this? Okay, let me put it this way: this scene is a demonstration that Rodney loves John. Family, platonic, other -- it doesn't matter what you think it is, it's undeniably love. He wants to be there for him -- because hey, John's been there for him, especially with family matters. He asked for leave so he could go with John! John is so clearly not okay, and Rodney so clearly knows it, but also knows that John's repetitions that he's fine means he'd like to be alone.
I love that the emergency keeping Rodney in Pegasus is to do with M7G-677, the planet with all the kids from "Childhood's End". He really does have to stay, and much as he gets irritated when they meet new people and a kid inevitably latches onto him, his constant repetitions of wanting them to tell his sister he died saving a bunch of kids? C'mon, he likes kids.
Rodney tells John he can't go, and he can't get out of not going, and John picks up and violently hurls his duffel off the bed. It's just a little thing, but it's so clearly an unintentional outletting of his emotions.
I gotta wonder if Ronon decided to go all on his own, or if this was sort of a team decision. I can see it either way, and it's not like Teyla could go. I mean, as much as showing up at his dad's funeral with an unmarried pregnant friend would have been interesting, a) Keller would so not okay that, and b) she'd probably rather stay in case they get word about her people. Ronon is a good choice, though, because he's a very supportive guy. As much as Satedans seem to be characterized as a fighty people in general (see "Irresponsible" and "Reunion") they're also obviously very emotional (see "Sateda" and "Reunion" ;3). Passionate warriors who form close bonds. My point being that he's very sensitive to the emotional needs of his team. (Even if what Rodney needs from him is usually a verbal swift kick to get him to stop panicking and focus.) Throughout the episode, we see him deciding when to give John some room (with the coffin, with his ex) and saying the right things.
I'm glad they decided to go with Ronon accompanying John instead of Rodney. That probably shocks some people. ;3 The thing is, John doesn't worry about impressing Ronon. Ronon kicks his ass regularly but that will never mean John's not his leader. That's how his loyalty works. Rodney, on the other hand, John still tries to impress. As much as he totally lets his guard down about various geeky things, I think there are still situations in which John feels the need to retain his cool so that Rodney argues less when it comes to important team leader decisions. This is something he started doing after "Trinity" (when Rodney not only talked John into something, but ignored his warnings) and after he got his head together about losing Ford. It's not that they aren't friends; it's not that Rodney doesn't know him as extremely well as Teyla or Ronon do; it's just different. Rodney needs to see him (or John needs Rodney to see him) as the fighty guy. Rodney is the one he lied to about Wraith kills in "Sateda". Rodney is the one who John has learned how to handle (see him quietly asserting command in "Adrift", and getting Rodney on track with a single quiet McKay in "Be All My Sins Remember'd") and as much as Rodney is willing to be there for him right now, Rodney hasn't learned how to handle John the same way.
Wow, that was a huge aside. Back to the episode!
The articles Ava has printed out are interesting. I'm amused that John's dad's name was Patrick, given that in my personal head-canon for Rodney, that's his dad's name. There's also something there about Rodney getting a huge research grant, but I betcha that doing that is part of his cover, arranged by the SGC. If we could read it, and it weren't gobbledygook (I have no idea, the camera blurred a bit with the pan) maybe it would say something about the grant being for classified research, either for the US government or for the UN (the IOA is affiliated with the UN Security Council). That way the scientific community is aware that he's still a going concern, and it gives an excuse why they aren't seeing him publish. It would also be handy as documentation when and if his work is declassified, and who knows? Maybe that grant represents how much money is being allocated to providing Rodney with resources being sent to Atlantis for his use.
(You see? He doesn't need to be all through the episode for me to talk and talk about him. X3)
I have to say, when I saw the house where the funeral was, I wondered if it was the same set used for the movie Family Album. X3 I mean, I doubt it, but still. Giant mansion, pool, stables -- though I thought it was weird to have the pool that close to the stables, personally. Ah, well, what do I know? All the stables I've visited have been businesses.
The meeting between John's brother Dave and Ronon was great. Dave's expression encompassed so many reactions: classist disdain of Ronon's tattooed and dreadlocked rasta appearance, conviction that John brought him just to be rebellious in the face of their father's social peers, incredulity that Ronon had something to do with John's work, and, for those of us slashing from home, disapproval of John's choice in boyfriend and bafflement that he would risk his career by bringing someone who stuck out so much. It was a very expressive look. XD
Is it just me, or do Dave and John look nothing alike? Also, I wish we knew who is older. It's hard to tell in this age of botox, especially with John's face scrunching into lines of distress and Dave's hair being a good colour for hiding grey. John's shorter, which amused me because he's not really a short man, and his behaviour seemed to me more baby brother-ish, but maybe that's just a case of being uncomfortable. The thing where John was supposed to be his Dad's heir, though, indicates he might be oldest. Unless that was a smarts thing.
So his dad was a "utilities mogul" and this mansion was just one of the houses John grew up in. (I wonder where the others were? I wonder which was his favourite? I wonder when John's mother left the picture, and how?) Teenage rebellion was choosing Stanford over Harvard (and despite what some people are saying, I do think that means he chose Stanford and isn't just a metaphor for Ivy League blah blah). Interesting.
John's reaction of "crap" when he spotted his ex was priceless. I'm glad that their marriage failed because he was always off doing black ops stuff and not because he "didn't see it coming" and cheated on her or something. Given her job, I'm going to guess that one of the things they had in common was a heroic impulse, protecting the people kind of thing. She seems like an okay person, but I can see why it didn't work. There was no spark; I think maybe she was more a pretty friend he married because his dad wanted him to. John's comment about his father thinking marrying her was the best thing John ever did was probably meant to be delivered as a combination of "my father liked you and so I have no actual objection to your presence at his wake" and "my father didn't approve of most everything else I did", but the way it was delivered, and the expression on Nancy's face in that little pause before she responded, both gave it a bit of edge, like John was saying he disagreed and that marrying her wasn't a good thing, and she knows that's what he means.
I think he really did forget her husband's name, though. Maybe Rodney's name displacement issue is contagious?
I like that Ava mispronounced Ronon when she greeted him. I think she said, "and you must be Ronon" to try to subtly break the ice, let them know she knew about them -- but it was even more of a give-away than she knew, because she pronounced it the way it looks on paper, instead of how it sounds! I thought that was a neat little details.
The confrontation with Dave when John was just, yeah, wow. I can't believe he thought John wanted money. Granted, Patrick Sheppard died suddenly of a heart attack so there was no period of illness or something to show up and suck up, but WOW. Dave doesn't know John at all. And I mean, he's right; that's not actually his fault, but wow. And John was so hurt, clearly couldn't believe it, and even his "You have nothing to worry about" was more hurt than angry. And his voice was so close to tears. It's a powerful scene.
I said above that Bates seemed happier, but it's not just that. He seems more relaxed, less paranoid. Maybe it's because he's living on Earth post-Ori with a hell of a lot more resources to call on in case of emergency. He also seems much more accepting of John's leadership -- and he doesn't have to be, he's an IOA agent and he could totally be running the show if he wanted to go rar rar. He doesn't, which is smart because he's been SGC and he knows how much they would resent that, but I think it's because John has really grown into his command and Bates sees that.
Three cheers for Dr. Lee! As soon as John said they had a guy working on the codes, I was hoping it was him. He's such a wonderful supporting character to have pop up now and then. And obviously no one on the Apollo has any aloe cream, because his sunburn got gruesomely flaky by day two (or three?). Poor guy. I hope his vacation got extended when they let him go.
The threat John leveled at Dr. Poole about Ava was dirty pool, pardon the pun, although moreso that he knew at the time. We saw a little bit of the John who talked Poole's boss into virtuous-suicide-by-Wraith, there, I think.
I'm not sure why John went to Nancy to find out about the project, unless it's because trying to scout it through the SGC, with it's military command, would have tipped off the buyer he thought they were going to find. Still, it was a great opportunity to find out about his shadowing secret past -- without really revealing the secrets -- and hopefully all the people who've been struggling to reconcile his obvious black ops training (in "The Storm" and "The Eye", for starters) with his being a pilot. (I'm not sure how they thought black ops teams got flown into position without pilots...) He's so obviously uncomfortable with her wanting to discuss the past, and so surprised to find that now she's starting to understand what it was like from his side, to be the one with the classified secrets. That goodbye was pretty final, though.
(I hope someday she gets a high enough security clearance to find out about the Stargate program and his role in it. >3 )
I have to say, the Replicator plot managed to surprise me twice. I knew there was something up, but I didn't suspect Ava of being a Replicator until literally seconds before the reveal, when she went all shifty-eyed. And when John disappeared at the end and it was revealed they'd put her consciousness in a virtual environment, I was shocked. (Ronon looked so very fond when John translated Dr. Lee for him in that scene. D'aww.) The fight scene was pretty cool, and reminded me a bit of Teyla's duel with Sora in "The Eye". Maybe it was all the boxes. First time we've seen Ronon get that thoroughly pwned by a non-Wraith, and trying to go hand-to-hand with the Replicator was stupid, but I think he was trying to distract it and buy time for John to recover and stab him with the signal device. That or berserking.
And in the end, John is going to try to reconcile somewhat with his brother. I like that Dave looked like he felt bad about accusing him of wanting money, and I hope they managed to clear the air a little, but John is still not going to be around much, buddy. Sorry. I guess John's attempt to reconcile Jeannie and Rodney really was motivated to an extent by his own experience with being estranged from his family.
Outcasts in this episode: John, for being the black sheep of his family; Dr. Poole, for being the one surviving researcher working on this special project, and both of the Replicators in their own ways.
In conclusion, John had one hell of a crappy week, but it made for an excellent episode.
So. This episode did not disappoint. In fact, this episode was better than I expected for a number of reasons, including Bates being happy and well-adjusted, and Dr. Lee being present. I don't know why I love him so much. He was so very sunburnt. I literally cheered when he showed up! XD
Joe's acting during all of this was wonderful. He's mentioned in interviews that he occasionally gets into disagreements with the directors when they want John to be overt in his expression of emotion and Joe thinks that it's far more powerful to portray John as holding back emotion (it's also more of a challenge to act). I think this episode is a great argument in favour of Joe's view. He's very, very good at it, too.
Ronon watched BLADES OF GLORY. I -- there are no words. I personally love figure skating, and I can't watch that. (Or maybe that's the reason.)
I can't help but wonder how Elizabeth would have delivered the news. Probably not in a hallway. Possibly with the unspoken question about his father being alive. Sam just seemed uncomfortable and sympathetic -- hey, she's been there, her dad died in SG-1 after all.
The scene with Rodney (the only Rodney in the episode! woe!) was just... how can I possibly describe this? Okay, let me put it this way: this scene is a demonstration that Rodney loves John. Family, platonic, other -- it doesn't matter what you think it is, it's undeniably love. He wants to be there for him -- because hey, John's been there for him, especially with family matters. He asked for leave so he could go with John! John is so clearly not okay, and Rodney so clearly knows it, but also knows that John's repetitions that he's fine means he'd like to be alone.
I love that the emergency keeping Rodney in Pegasus is to do with M7G-677, the planet with all the kids from "Childhood's End". He really does have to stay, and much as he gets irritated when they meet new people and a kid inevitably latches onto him, his constant repetitions of wanting them to tell his sister he died saving a bunch of kids? C'mon, he likes kids.
Rodney tells John he can't go, and he can't get out of not going, and John picks up and violently hurls his duffel off the bed. It's just a little thing, but it's so clearly an unintentional outletting of his emotions.
I gotta wonder if Ronon decided to go all on his own, or if this was sort of a team decision. I can see it either way, and it's not like Teyla could go. I mean, as much as showing up at his dad's funeral with an unmarried pregnant friend would have been interesting, a) Keller would so not okay that, and b) she'd probably rather stay in case they get word about her people. Ronon is a good choice, though, because he's a very supportive guy. As much as Satedans seem to be characterized as a fighty people in general (see "Irresponsible" and "Reunion") they're also obviously very emotional (see "Sateda" and "Reunion" ;3). Passionate warriors who form close bonds. My point being that he's very sensitive to the emotional needs of his team. (Even if what Rodney needs from him is usually a verbal swift kick to get him to stop panicking and focus.) Throughout the episode, we see him deciding when to give John some room (with the coffin, with his ex) and saying the right things.
I'm glad they decided to go with Ronon accompanying John instead of Rodney. That probably shocks some people. ;3 The thing is, John doesn't worry about impressing Ronon. Ronon kicks his ass regularly but that will never mean John's not his leader. That's how his loyalty works. Rodney, on the other hand, John still tries to impress. As much as he totally lets his guard down about various geeky things, I think there are still situations in which John feels the need to retain his cool so that Rodney argues less when it comes to important team leader decisions. This is something he started doing after "Trinity" (when Rodney not only talked John into something, but ignored his warnings) and after he got his head together about losing Ford. It's not that they aren't friends; it's not that Rodney doesn't know him as extremely well as Teyla or Ronon do; it's just different. Rodney needs to see him (or John needs Rodney to see him) as the fighty guy. Rodney is the one he lied to about Wraith kills in "Sateda". Rodney is the one who John has learned how to handle (see him quietly asserting command in "Adrift", and getting Rodney on track with a single quiet McKay in "Be All My Sins Remember'd") and as much as Rodney is willing to be there for him right now, Rodney hasn't learned how to handle John the same way.
Wow, that was a huge aside. Back to the episode!
The articles Ava has printed out are interesting. I'm amused that John's dad's name was Patrick, given that in my personal head-canon for Rodney, that's his dad's name. There's also something there about Rodney getting a huge research grant, but I betcha that doing that is part of his cover, arranged by the SGC. If we could read it, and it weren't gobbledygook (I have no idea, the camera blurred a bit with the pan) maybe it would say something about the grant being for classified research, either for the US government or for the UN (the IOA is affiliated with the UN Security Council). That way the scientific community is aware that he's still a going concern, and it gives an excuse why they aren't seeing him publish. It would also be handy as documentation when and if his work is declassified, and who knows? Maybe that grant represents how much money is being allocated to providing Rodney with resources being sent to Atlantis for his use.
(You see? He doesn't need to be all through the episode for me to talk and talk about him. X3)
I have to say, when I saw the house where the funeral was, I wondered if it was the same set used for the movie Family Album. X3 I mean, I doubt it, but still. Giant mansion, pool, stables -- though I thought it was weird to have the pool that close to the stables, personally. Ah, well, what do I know? All the stables I've visited have been businesses.
The meeting between John's brother Dave and Ronon was great. Dave's expression encompassed so many reactions: classist disdain of Ronon's tattooed and dreadlocked rasta appearance, conviction that John brought him just to be rebellious in the face of their father's social peers, incredulity that Ronon had something to do with John's work, and, for those of us slashing from home, disapproval of John's choice in boyfriend and bafflement that he would risk his career by bringing someone who stuck out so much. It was a very expressive look. XD
Is it just me, or do Dave and John look nothing alike? Also, I wish we knew who is older. It's hard to tell in this age of botox, especially with John's face scrunching into lines of distress and Dave's hair being a good colour for hiding grey. John's shorter, which amused me because he's not really a short man, and his behaviour seemed to me more baby brother-ish, but maybe that's just a case of being uncomfortable. The thing where John was supposed to be his Dad's heir, though, indicates he might be oldest. Unless that was a smarts thing.
So his dad was a "utilities mogul" and this mansion was just one of the houses John grew up in. (I wonder where the others were? I wonder which was his favourite? I wonder when John's mother left the picture, and how?) Teenage rebellion was choosing Stanford over Harvard (and despite what some people are saying, I do think that means he chose Stanford and isn't just a metaphor for Ivy League blah blah). Interesting.
John's reaction of "crap" when he spotted his ex was priceless. I'm glad that their marriage failed because he was always off doing black ops stuff and not because he "didn't see it coming" and cheated on her or something. Given her job, I'm going to guess that one of the things they had in common was a heroic impulse, protecting the people kind of thing. She seems like an okay person, but I can see why it didn't work. There was no spark; I think maybe she was more a pretty friend he married because his dad wanted him to. John's comment about his father thinking marrying her was the best thing John ever did was probably meant to be delivered as a combination of "my father liked you and so I have no actual objection to your presence at his wake" and "my father didn't approve of most everything else I did", but the way it was delivered, and the expression on Nancy's face in that little pause before she responded, both gave it a bit of edge, like John was saying he disagreed and that marrying her wasn't a good thing, and she knows that's what he means.
I think he really did forget her husband's name, though. Maybe Rodney's name displacement issue is contagious?
I like that Ava mispronounced Ronon when she greeted him. I think she said, "and you must be Ronon" to try to subtly break the ice, let them know she knew about them -- but it was even more of a give-away than she knew, because she pronounced it the way it looks on paper, instead of how it sounds! I thought that was a neat little details.
The confrontation with Dave when John was just, yeah, wow. I can't believe he thought John wanted money. Granted, Patrick Sheppard died suddenly of a heart attack so there was no period of illness or something to show up and suck up, but WOW. Dave doesn't know John at all. And I mean, he's right; that's not actually his fault, but wow. And John was so hurt, clearly couldn't believe it, and even his "You have nothing to worry about" was more hurt than angry. And his voice was so close to tears. It's a powerful scene.
I said above that Bates seemed happier, but it's not just that. He seems more relaxed, less paranoid. Maybe it's because he's living on Earth post-Ori with a hell of a lot more resources to call on in case of emergency. He also seems much more accepting of John's leadership -- and he doesn't have to be, he's an IOA agent and he could totally be running the show if he wanted to go rar rar. He doesn't, which is smart because he's been SGC and he knows how much they would resent that, but I think it's because John has really grown into his command and Bates sees that.
Three cheers for Dr. Lee! As soon as John said they had a guy working on the codes, I was hoping it was him. He's such a wonderful supporting character to have pop up now and then. And obviously no one on the Apollo has any aloe cream, because his sunburn got gruesomely flaky by day two (or three?). Poor guy. I hope his vacation got extended when they let him go.
The threat John leveled at Dr. Poole about Ava was dirty pool, pardon the pun, although moreso that he knew at the time. We saw a little bit of the John who talked Poole's boss into virtuous-suicide-by-Wraith, there, I think.
I'm not sure why John went to Nancy to find out about the project, unless it's because trying to scout it through the SGC, with it's military command, would have tipped off the buyer he thought they were going to find. Still, it was a great opportunity to find out about his shadowing secret past -- without really revealing the secrets -- and hopefully all the people who've been struggling to reconcile his obvious black ops training (in "The Storm" and "The Eye", for starters) with his being a pilot. (I'm not sure how they thought black ops teams got flown into position without pilots...) He's so obviously uncomfortable with her wanting to discuss the past, and so surprised to find that now she's starting to understand what it was like from his side, to be the one with the classified secrets. That goodbye was pretty final, though.
(I hope someday she gets a high enough security clearance to find out about the Stargate program and his role in it. >3 )
I have to say, the Replicator plot managed to surprise me twice. I knew there was something up, but I didn't suspect Ava of being a Replicator until literally seconds before the reveal, when she went all shifty-eyed. And when John disappeared at the end and it was revealed they'd put her consciousness in a virtual environment, I was shocked. (Ronon looked so very fond when John translated Dr. Lee for him in that scene. D'aww.) The fight scene was pretty cool, and reminded me a bit of Teyla's duel with Sora in "The Eye". Maybe it was all the boxes. First time we've seen Ronon get that thoroughly pwned by a non-Wraith, and trying to go hand-to-hand with the Replicator was stupid, but I think he was trying to distract it and buy time for John to recover and stab him with the signal device. That or berserking.
And in the end, John is going to try to reconcile somewhat with his brother. I like that Dave looked like he felt bad about accusing him of wanting money, and I hope they managed to clear the air a little, but John is still not going to be around much, buddy. Sorry. I guess John's attempt to reconcile Jeannie and Rodney really was motivated to an extent by his own experience with being estranged from his family.
Outcasts in this episode: John, for being the black sheep of his family; Dr. Poole, for being the one surviving researcher working on this special project, and both of the Replicators in their own ways.
In conclusion, John had one hell of a crappy week, but it made for an excellent episode.