Praise the Rodney. No one else does.
I actually don't really have a thing to say about No Man's Land that other people haven't said better, but I also watched Allies for the first time on Saturday.
There's something I've noticed about Rodney pretty much from the beginning, but in this ep it was just jumping out at me all the time: Rodney is really desperate for praise and approval, isn't he?
It seems pretty obvious to me in his every-day behavior, because no one talks that much about their achievements and their genius unless they're looking for validation, but in Allies, you just couldn't miss it -- first in his increasingly obvious attempts to get Hermiod to acknowledge his intelligence, and his flustered annoyance when Hermiod wouldn't, and then even more in the Wraith ship.
He just lapped up the praise from the Wraith scientist ("Finally an alien race that appreciates me!"), and suddenly looked obviously relaxed and happy and smug, even though, hello, Wraith -- to the point where he would have allowed the Wraith to touch him and guide him down the hall if Ronon had not interfered.
Rodney doesn't seem to have gotten much validation in his life -- we know his parents didn't like him much (if I remember correctly), his piano teacher shattered his dream of playing professionally by telling him he wasn't good enough, the SGC sent him to Siberia... Makes sense that he'd be pretty desperate for approval.
That makes it seem really sad to me that he so rarely gets praised in Atlantis -- usually it's just him talking about how smart he is, and everyone else rolling their eyes. And though I'm sure there must have been moments where John said at least something like "Well done", I can't really think of one right now. Except that one time in Condemned, where he really was convinced it would be impossible and John kept insisting he could do it, which probably didn't help much. And it's not like Rodney was actually there to see the "What would McKay do" moment in Storm, after all.
I bet John (or anyone else, for that matter) could totally have him eating out of his hands in no time flat in exchange for some regular praise.
Makes me want to write a fic where Ronon tells John about what happened on the Hive ship and maybe says something like "You know, McKay's need for approval is getting to be dangerous to the mission. We can't just have him warming up to our enemies that easily." and John realizes that maybe he needs to be a bit more obvious about his respect for Rodney and actually starts saying things like "We couldn't have done it without you" instead of just thinking them.
And of course Rodney would be all "What the fuck, Colonel, where's the pod?" about it at first, but he'd also love it, and maybe start dragging out cool technology to show off to John for some more praise (even more so than he already does). Even though he'd be secretly embarrassed about just how ridiculously happy it makes him. Except, sadly, this is the point where I run out of plot.
Does anyone else see Rodney that way? I guess you could see most of that behavior as plain old arrogance, but arrogance doesn't usually have as much "Come on, agree that I'm brilliant already. I am! Really!" in it as I see in Rodney.
There's something I've noticed about Rodney pretty much from the beginning, but in this ep it was just jumping out at me all the time: Rodney is really desperate for praise and approval, isn't he?
It seems pretty obvious to me in his every-day behavior, because no one talks that much about their achievements and their genius unless they're looking for validation, but in Allies, you just couldn't miss it -- first in his increasingly obvious attempts to get Hermiod to acknowledge his intelligence, and his flustered annoyance when Hermiod wouldn't, and then even more in the Wraith ship.
He just lapped up the praise from the Wraith scientist ("Finally an alien race that appreciates me!"), and suddenly looked obviously relaxed and happy and smug, even though, hello, Wraith -- to the point where he would have allowed the Wraith to touch him and guide him down the hall if Ronon had not interfered.
Rodney doesn't seem to have gotten much validation in his life -- we know his parents didn't like him much (if I remember correctly), his piano teacher shattered his dream of playing professionally by telling him he wasn't good enough, the SGC sent him to Siberia... Makes sense that he'd be pretty desperate for approval.
That makes it seem really sad to me that he so rarely gets praised in Atlantis -- usually it's just him talking about how smart he is, and everyone else rolling their eyes. And though I'm sure there must have been moments where John said at least something like "Well done", I can't really think of one right now. Except that one time in Condemned, where he really was convinced it would be impossible and John kept insisting he could do it, which probably didn't help much. And it's not like Rodney was actually there to see the "What would McKay do" moment in Storm, after all.
I bet John (or anyone else, for that matter) could totally have him eating out of his hands in no time flat in exchange for some regular praise.
Makes me want to write a fic where Ronon tells John about what happened on the Hive ship and maybe says something like "You know, McKay's need for approval is getting to be dangerous to the mission. We can't just have him warming up to our enemies that easily." and John realizes that maybe he needs to be a bit more obvious about his respect for Rodney and actually starts saying things like "We couldn't have done it without you" instead of just thinking them.
And of course Rodney would be all "What the fuck, Colonel, where's the pod?" about it at first, but he'd also love it, and maybe start dragging out cool technology to show off to John for some more praise (even more so than he already does). Even though he'd be secretly embarrassed about just how ridiculously happy it makes him. Except, sadly, this is the point where I run out of plot.
Does anyone else see Rodney that way? I guess you could see most of that behavior as plain old arrogance, but arrogance doesn't usually have as much "Come on, agree that I'm brilliant already. I am! Really!" in it as I see in Rodney.