SGA 3x20 First Strike
I really liked this episode, especially because it had great John/Atlantis bits (John in the control chair! flying the city! squee!) and that's my real SGA OTP. I mean, I like John/Teyla and John/Rodney and even John/Ronon well enough, but John sitting serenely in the chair, communing and flying Atlantis... just YAY! Also the way he's clearly not happy with that Apollo commander (sorry, I'm bad with names) who thinks that even if the Asurans destroyed Atlantis, that would be okay and worth the sacrifice as long as Earth is safer. (I won't go into the question whether it's really a wise decision by the SGC or whoever to risk Atlantis to the Asurans retaliation like that in the first place. I get that they didn't want the ships to arrive before their more efficient anti-replicator weapons are finished, and they probably think that they will be ready in time for the Asurans' second wave of ships to the loss of Atlantis as a line of defense wouldn't be that bad, and anyway the SGC's solution to anything is always to drop some nukes on it, and since that has kept Earth safe so far in their universe they probably don't see any reason to change tactics... *g*)
I also liked all the scenes with Rodney and Radek, and especially their moments of weariness when they were asked to come up with plan after plan (I loved Rodney's sigh and quiet "yeah, okay." when Elizabeth said "we're going to need another plan" when the dialing doesn't work). They even kept reasonably track of the SG-type of pseudo-science with all the explanations why just now the 38-minutes window doesn't apply to the weapon and stuff.
And Ronon's comment on the situation that he thinks he needs to learn some science to be of more use during this type of crisis was great. And I loved John's dorky reply of comparing their team to the Fantastic Four, that whole conversation between him and Ronon and Teyla was adorable. I don't think John could be much more of a geek if he actively tried.
I also liked that they used the underwater drilling platform, because that episode felt like it was leading up to later events and I'm glad that it really did. In general I enjoyed the visuals of Atlantis being submerged and raised and that, as Rodney put it, they've come full circle.
I don't think their cliffhanger situation is that dreary, considering that they now have still more time than before for Rodney and Radek to repair things (though this episode definitely showed why this much (non-safety) glass can be a bad idea in a vessel if you don't know how to produce the power sources for unlimited shields), and the Apollo is also still out there and might come looking for them when they don't arrive at the rendezvous point, though I don't recall how predictable hyperspace plotting is in the SG universe and how effectively they could narrow the search. Rodney's call for medical help at the end was kind of heart-breaking with how desperate he sounded, and I do hope Elizabeth is okay, though it's also kind of cool to see John dropped into full responsibility for Atlantis at least for a short while.
I also liked all the scenes with Rodney and Radek, and especially their moments of weariness when they were asked to come up with plan after plan (I loved Rodney's sigh and quiet "yeah, okay." when Elizabeth said "we're going to need another plan" when the dialing doesn't work). They even kept reasonably track of the SG-type of pseudo-science with all the explanations why just now the 38-minutes window doesn't apply to the weapon and stuff.
And Ronon's comment on the situation that he thinks he needs to learn some science to be of more use during this type of crisis was great. And I loved John's dorky reply of comparing their team to the Fantastic Four, that whole conversation between him and Ronon and Teyla was adorable. I don't think John could be much more of a geek if he actively tried.
I also liked that they used the underwater drilling platform, because that episode felt like it was leading up to later events and I'm glad that it really did. In general I enjoyed the visuals of Atlantis being submerged and raised and that, as Rodney put it, they've come full circle.
I don't think their cliffhanger situation is that dreary, considering that they now have still more time than before for Rodney and Radek to repair things (though this episode definitely showed why this much (non-safety) glass can be a bad idea in a vessel if you don't know how to produce the power sources for unlimited shields), and the Apollo is also still out there and might come looking for them when they don't arrive at the rendezvous point, though I don't recall how predictable hyperspace plotting is in the SG universe and how effectively they could narrow the search. Rodney's call for medical help at the end was kind of heart-breaking with how desperate he sounded, and I do hope Elizabeth is okay, though it's also kind of cool to see John dropped into full responsibility for Atlantis at least for a short while.