staaaaaaaaaaargate!
Watching Stargate for the plot is like subscribing to Playboy to read the articles.
First, "Sacrifices"
Teal'c/Ishta
This has to be the most boring pairing ever, and this from a show that gave us Anise. Chris Judge, I love you dearly, but you must stop writing yourself a Mary Sue to sleep with.
Bra'tac
Bra'tac is lurve! I was worried he was going to die when he showed up wearing white, but he didn't, and he got to officiate at a canon wedding. Oh, Bra'tac, never die. Always be there to tame Teal'c and Ry'ac and to 'ship with Jack and be more alpha than anyone else.
Ry'ac
Just blah. And Ry'ac is married now. Alas, how tragical for anyone who 'ships Ry'ac with anyone else. Except that it now is essentially canon that marital fidelity for Jaffa men does not exist. Speaking of, did the whole Krista thing in "Affinity" just not happen? It didn't, did it? It just goes poof when it's not important to the Teal'c arc of the moment.
Jack
Jack, you are my woobie to end all woobie-dom. The whole bit about the goats just cracked me up. However, you must learn to keep your hands off Sam's shoulders, or Daniel will kill you.
Jack/Daniel
OTPOTPOTP! The whole teaser was just... gah! And the way they were standing next to each other at the wedding and kept giving each other these Looks, like when Bra'tac said, "Fight. But not with each other." 'Cos that is so the sum of the Jack/Daniel 'ship. It so is. They are so obviously in love.
Sam/Daniel:
Oh, when Ry'ac announced their engagement? And Sam and Daniel were standing next to each other was that Sam's hand on her shoulder or was it Daniel's? Cos either way, that was the cutest scene ever. They are so obviously in love.
Jack/Teal'c
"You know how I get when you don't call." They are so obviously in love!
And then, on what prillalar calls Stargate: Rodney...
"Home"
I was accidentally spoiled that DSD showed up in this, and I knew the title, but since the title was a big ol' "Hey, they go home!" title, I wasn't majorly peeved.
It was like "In Memory" meets "Won't Get Fooled Again" meets "Entity" meets "Gamekeeper" meets The Matrix. But that's okay, because, see above, Playboy.
Hammond:
Oh Hammond, my woobie, even if it wasn't really you, I still miss you! I guess they couldn't get AT or MS or RDA or anyone, since they were busy filming "Sacrifices," but still, it didn't really make a hell of a lot of sense for Weir and McKay to have no Jack or Sam in their realities. Especially McKay, given The Crush (which is like Xander's Buffy-crush in so many ways it's not even funny.) But forgiving that, Hammond is so gah!. And he got to be cute a la "Gamekeeper." Fun.
Ford
Oh, poor Ford. His saddest reality is getting transferred back to Antarctica. *snif* He's so madly in love with Shep, he is. The shirt Sheppard pictured him in was so cute though.
Sheppard/Teyla
I'm so glad they're getting all this screamingly obvious UST. It's boring as fuck, but at least it keeps their hands off the rest of the cast, who are so cute and sexy yay. Anyhow, Shep is speshul with his mad Atlantean gene and his ability to have seen "A Human Reaction" and realize that you can't get back to Earth halfway through the first season! Silly. And when you have to prove how awesome and yay Shep and Teyla are by surrounding them with idiots... yeah.
I watched these eps with Z, by the way, her first Atlantis and it took her three seconds to realize Sheppard had stolen Jack's personality and dialogue. Even right down to the telescope in his not!apartment.
Weir:
I have great love for Weir, although I miss blonde!Weir. Even if she is dating Narim for some inexplicable reason. Even though she has the eww het. But I like her, dammit! She needs femslash, or barring that, McKay 'ship. But more on that later. I like Weir way more than I like S1!Hammond, and I love her... so much. I also decided that in the obvious power struggle between her and Shep, I like her better and am hoping she wins. Because she's just so much kick-ass civilian-ness, and we need more of that.
McKay:
First, the obligatory squee.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
All right, now that we've gotten that out of the way... I love McKay's shirt; I know this is not a particularly rare opinion, but seriously. "I'm with genius." Whee! And I love the sadness of him coming home to his empty apartment with his dead plants and his no phone messages and I love the "you're a pig but I like your cat." (Though I'm slightly surprised that he's not allergic... but I digress.) I just love poor, virgin McKay who never gets any, and I love frustrated!scientist!McKay who insults all the lab techs and I just love him so frelling much.
I also love that he totally would have pulled a double-cross or tried to if Weir and Shep hadn't been there. Maybe even if Sheppard had been there and Weir hadn't. I don't know why, but I love McKay's total lack of moral fiber. And his cowardice. And his arrogance and his ego and his fucking snark of doom.
'Ship:
Weir/McKay, were it to be made canon, would not piss me off. This surprises me, but it really wouldn't. Because... I'm not really sure why. It's that they not only call each other Rodney and Elizabeth, but that they're both so incredibly kick-ass and are always clashing with each other and that Weir needs McKay around to be all genius-y and McKay needs Weir around to defend him/them/the civilians from the military people, and I loved in this episode the scene where, through a clever camera trick, they were both yelling at each other and were so frustrated that things weren't getting across and that the other was being so uncaring, and that to me shows how much they really do count on the other to take their side when it really comes down to, in matters of, well, of home. Of Atlantis, and how it's run.
I also have a few thoughts on themes and such. Even though, structurally, I think this fell short of many other mind-frell episodes, it still managed to achieve something through the strength of the characterization, especially of McKay and Weir, and to a lesser extent Ford and yes, even Sheppard.
When I compare this to "A Human Reaction," (Farscape), "Home" just falls short, but this is important. And the answer is different, if obvious. Atlantis is home, and the reluctance of all of them to go back to Earth, to abandon Atlantis, is incredibly important. I think it makes character-sense, and I think through showing us something of their lives before, the PTB have actually adequately explained that, and... I thought it was nicely done. They're less conflicted than, oh, John is, for a variety of reasons, but it's... not making much sense, sorry.
I thought the end was nicely done, and I like Weir staring off into the distance.
I like the fact that Weir left Narim Simon. She's really the only one of them with much to loose socially, although Ford apparently has family. I like that they're establishing a life in the Pegasus Galaxy, all of them.
So, serious structural flaws, not anywhere near the best mind-frell ever, Shep's Super Magical Abilities are a pain in the ass, but rest of the characters are wonderfully drawn and that, if anything, is going to redeem Atlantis.
ETA eye candy
Maybe it's just my inner lesbian poking me in anger because of all the love I've been lavishing on McKay, but Sam was looking damn fine in "Sacrifices." No, duder, she was.
Plus, Sam and Jack in dress blues and Daniel in a suit (especially with Daniel and Jack in each other's airspace) is always hot.
A nice McKay ass shot when he was playing with the DHD, plus nekkid from the waist down!McKay was amusing, and Weir. Oh God, Elizabeth Weir has stolen my heart. Soon I shall be calling her Elizabeth and femslashing her with every female in the 'Gateverse (except Teyla, as she is Boring and Dull). I'm so glad I got the jump on that with Taking It Hard, my Sam/blonde!Weir.
All in all, a squee-worthy pair of episodes.
First, "Sacrifices"
Teal'c/Ishta
This has to be the most boring pairing ever, and this from a show that gave us Anise. Chris Judge, I love you dearly, but you must stop writing yourself a Mary Sue to sleep with.
Bra'tac
Bra'tac is lurve! I was worried he was going to die when he showed up wearing white, but he didn't, and he got to officiate at a canon wedding. Oh, Bra'tac, never die. Always be there to tame Teal'c and Ry'ac and to 'ship with Jack and be more alpha than anyone else.
Ry'ac
Just blah. And Ry'ac is married now. Alas, how tragical for anyone who 'ships Ry'ac with anyone else. Except that it now is essentially canon that marital fidelity for Jaffa men does not exist. Speaking of, did the whole Krista thing in "Affinity" just not happen? It didn't, did it? It just goes poof when it's not important to the Teal'c arc of the moment.
Jack
Jack, you are my woobie to end all woobie-dom. The whole bit about the goats just cracked me up. However, you must learn to keep your hands off Sam's shoulders, or Daniel will kill you.
Jack/Daniel
OTPOTPOTP! The whole teaser was just... gah! And the way they were standing next to each other at the wedding and kept giving each other these Looks, like when Bra'tac said, "Fight. But not with each other." 'Cos that is so the sum of the Jack/Daniel 'ship. It so is. They are so obviously in love.
Sam/Daniel:
Oh, when Ry'ac announced their engagement? And Sam and Daniel were standing next to each other was that Sam's hand on her shoulder or was it Daniel's? Cos either way, that was the cutest scene ever. They are so obviously in love.
Jack/Teal'c
"You know how I get when you don't call." They are so obviously in love!
And then, on what prillalar calls Stargate: Rodney...
"Home"
I was accidentally spoiled that DSD showed up in this, and I knew the title, but since the title was a big ol' "Hey, they go home!" title, I wasn't majorly peeved.
It was like "In Memory" meets "Won't Get Fooled Again" meets "Entity" meets "Gamekeeper" meets The Matrix. But that's okay, because, see above, Playboy.
Hammond:
Oh Hammond, my woobie, even if it wasn't really you, I still miss you! I guess they couldn't get AT or MS or RDA or anyone, since they were busy filming "Sacrifices," but still, it didn't really make a hell of a lot of sense for Weir and McKay to have no Jack or Sam in their realities. Especially McKay, given The Crush (which is like Xander's Buffy-crush in so many ways it's not even funny.) But forgiving that, Hammond is so gah!. And he got to be cute a la "Gamekeeper." Fun.
Ford
Oh, poor Ford. His saddest reality is getting transferred back to Antarctica. *snif* He's so madly in love with Shep, he is. The shirt Sheppard pictured him in was so cute though.
Sheppard/Teyla
I'm so glad they're getting all this screamingly obvious UST. It's boring as fuck, but at least it keeps their hands off the rest of the cast, who are so cute and sexy yay. Anyhow, Shep is speshul with his mad Atlantean gene and his ability to have seen "A Human Reaction" and realize that you can't get back to Earth halfway through the first season! Silly. And when you have to prove how awesome and yay Shep and Teyla are by surrounding them with idiots... yeah.
I watched these eps with Z, by the way, her first Atlantis and it took her three seconds to realize Sheppard had stolen Jack's personality and dialogue. Even right down to the telescope in his not!apartment.
Weir:
I have great love for Weir, although I miss blonde!Weir. Even if she is dating Narim for some inexplicable reason. Even though she has the eww het. But I like her, dammit! She needs femslash, or barring that, McKay 'ship. But more on that later. I like Weir way more than I like S1!Hammond, and I love her... so much. I also decided that in the obvious power struggle between her and Shep, I like her better and am hoping she wins. Because she's just so much kick-ass civilian-ness, and we need more of that.
McKay:
First, the obligatory squee.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
All right, now that we've gotten that out of the way... I love McKay's shirt; I know this is not a particularly rare opinion, but seriously. "I'm with genius." Whee! And I love the sadness of him coming home to his empty apartment with his dead plants and his no phone messages and I love the "you're a pig but I like your cat." (Though I'm slightly surprised that he's not allergic... but I digress.) I just love poor, virgin McKay who never gets any, and I love frustrated!scientist!McKay who insults all the lab techs and I just love him so frelling much.
I also love that he totally would have pulled a double-cross or tried to if Weir and Shep hadn't been there. Maybe even if Sheppard had been there and Weir hadn't. I don't know why, but I love McKay's total lack of moral fiber. And his cowardice. And his arrogance and his ego and his fucking snark of doom.
'Ship:
Weir/McKay, were it to be made canon, would not piss me off. This surprises me, but it really wouldn't. Because... I'm not really sure why. It's that they not only call each other Rodney and Elizabeth, but that they're both so incredibly kick-ass and are always clashing with each other and that Weir needs McKay around to be all genius-y and McKay needs Weir around to defend him/them/the civilians from the military people, and I loved in this episode the scene where, through a clever camera trick, they were both yelling at each other and were so frustrated that things weren't getting across and that the other was being so uncaring, and that to me shows how much they really do count on the other to take their side when it really comes down to, in matters of, well, of home. Of Atlantis, and how it's run.
I also have a few thoughts on themes and such. Even though, structurally, I think this fell short of many other mind-frell episodes, it still managed to achieve something through the strength of the characterization, especially of McKay and Weir, and to a lesser extent Ford and yes, even Sheppard.
When I compare this to "A Human Reaction," (Farscape), "Home" just falls short, but this is important. And the answer is different, if obvious. Atlantis is home, and the reluctance of all of them to go back to Earth, to abandon Atlantis, is incredibly important. I think it makes character-sense, and I think through showing us something of their lives before, the PTB have actually adequately explained that, and... I thought it was nicely done. They're less conflicted than, oh, John is, for a variety of reasons, but it's... not making much sense, sorry.
I thought the end was nicely done, and I like Weir staring off into the distance.
I like the fact that Weir left Narim Simon. She's really the only one of them with much to loose socially, although Ford apparently has family. I like that they're establishing a life in the Pegasus Galaxy, all of them.
So, serious structural flaws, not anywhere near the best mind-frell ever, Shep's Super Magical Abilities are a pain in the ass, but rest of the characters are wonderfully drawn and that, if anything, is going to redeem Atlantis.
ETA eye candy
Maybe it's just my inner lesbian poking me in anger because of all the love I've been lavishing on McKay, but Sam was looking damn fine in "Sacrifices." No, duder, she was.
Plus, Sam and Jack in dress blues and Daniel in a suit (especially with Daniel and Jack in each other's airspace) is always hot.
A nice McKay ass shot when he was playing with the DHD, plus nekkid from the waist down!McKay was amusing, and Weir. Oh God, Elizabeth Weir has stolen my heart. Soon I shall be calling her Elizabeth and femslashing her with every female in the 'Gateverse (except Teyla, as she is Boring and Dull). I'm so glad I got the jump on that with Taking It Hard, my Sam/blonde!Weir.
All in all, a squee-worthy pair of episodes.