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Short thoughts on The Return
Not an episode review so much as just a few comments on various scenes from the mid-season finale, plus Richard Dean Anderson.
Every time RDA guest stars on SGA, it reminds me once again why I adored him so much on SG1. He simply steals every scene he's in, but in an incredibly understated way. Who else could get away with that "maidens and voyages" line and be cute and funny instead of sleazy or horribly cheesy? He's great with the nonverbal too -- like with his look at Woolsey when Woolsey puts a hand on his arm.
Granted, I'm not precisely capable of seeing him through unbiased eyes. I was a teenager during the '80s. First big crush? MacGyver? Yeah ... *raises hand*. And I started watching SG1 in the first place for no other reason than because RDA was on it -- I hadn't really liked the movie much. But, damn. The man can ACT!
Anyway, I'm not going to bother with a long review on this one, partly because I've already said quite a bit about it at other LJs and such. But there were a couple of scenes I had to squee over.
#1 - the scene in John's quarters. You know, I cannot believe how I've gone head-over-heels for Ronon this year. He's *funny*! And so adorable in an overgrown-puppy kind of way. The way he delivered the line about killing all the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy -- I just about died. And of course, the hug. THE HUG! You know, this confirms my belief that, ironically, Ronon's the least repressed of the whole team when it comes to physical gestures of affection. And the way he did it (and Sheppard's reaction) was so freakin' cute and funny.
#2 - Rodney calling John 'cause he's lonely. AWWWWWW! Can there be any doubt, any doubt whatsoever, that they're best friends? Didn't think so. And you know, this is the second time in the last few episodes that we've seen Rodney turning to Sheppard when he's feeling unhappy and insecure. He seems to be able to open up to Sheppard emotionally in a way that he doesn't do with anybody else. Granted, his pool of available people to vent to, on Earth, is quite small -- Elizabeth's not returning phone calls, so that pretty much leaves Beckett and Zelenka ... but really, can you imagine him admitting that he's lonely to ANY of the others? It just wouldn't happen. And I loved Sheppard's little grin and nod when Rodney said he didn't miss him. What are the odds that Rodney's been calling him practically every day?
On the topic of Rodney, there were a couple of things in the episode that bugged me when I first watched it, but I think I've successfully fanwanked them to my own satisfaction. *grin* One was Rodney not getting a team goodbye scene the way that Sheppard did. But, you know, thinking about it, I could *totally* see Rodney simply avoiding the issue by not allowing himself to get into a situation where he'd have to say goodbye. He was probably insanely busy in the science wing, and I could see him just avoiding them -- maybe not even consciously doing it, or realizing what he's doing. (I still would have liked to have seen a more emotionally complete reunion scene, but ... ah well.)
The other thing that bugged me a little was Sheppard hanging up on him. But, you know, that seems like more of a case of Sheppard not being able to deal with his own demons. Rodney, of all people, wants to talk about feelings while Sheppard himself is hanging on by his emotional fingernails -- I kinda think he just wanted to back out of the conversation before it descended to levels of mushiness that he did not want to explore. Plus, I dunno if it's just me, but I definitely get the impression that Rodney calling him is not a one-time-only thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodney's been calling him almost nonstop since leaving the SGC. My sister pointed out to me that there's not the slightest hint, back on Atlantis when all the goodbyes are said, that Sheppard and Rodney wouldn't be staying in touch. Most of the other Earthers seem to assume that they'll be scattering to the ends of the globe; we saw goodbyes with Zelenka/Beckett/Rodney and John/Elizabeth. But John and Rodney ... I think even then, the idea that they *wouldn't* stay in touch hadn't crossed their minds. And part of it just may be that Rodney-denial thing that I mentioned earlier with regards to Ronon and Teyla ... but I just didn't get the feeling that these were two people who were expecting not to see each other again.
And, after six weeks, Rodney flew to Colorado for no other reason than to see his friends ... how cool is that?
Okay, enough squee-age. The tag possibilities for this episode are INFINITE. I've got way too much to write at the moment (like, oh, the rest of "Killing Frost" for one thing) but I already have several ideas that I'd like to work on. SO MUCH POTENTIAL! John and (maybe) Carson at the SGC, Rodney seeing his sister again, delving into the backstories of Zelenka and Carson ... oh the possibilities!
Every time RDA guest stars on SGA, it reminds me once again why I adored him so much on SG1. He simply steals every scene he's in, but in an incredibly understated way. Who else could get away with that "maidens and voyages" line and be cute and funny instead of sleazy or horribly cheesy? He's great with the nonverbal too -- like with his look at Woolsey when Woolsey puts a hand on his arm.
Granted, I'm not precisely capable of seeing him through unbiased eyes. I was a teenager during the '80s. First big crush? MacGyver? Yeah ... *raises hand*. And I started watching SG1 in the first place for no other reason than because RDA was on it -- I hadn't really liked the movie much. But, damn. The man can ACT!
Anyway, I'm not going to bother with a long review on this one, partly because I've already said quite a bit about it at other LJs and such. But there were a couple of scenes I had to squee over.
#1 - the scene in John's quarters. You know, I cannot believe how I've gone head-over-heels for Ronon this year. He's *funny*! And so adorable in an overgrown-puppy kind of way. The way he delivered the line about killing all the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy -- I just about died. And of course, the hug. THE HUG! You know, this confirms my belief that, ironically, Ronon's the least repressed of the whole team when it comes to physical gestures of affection. And the way he did it (and Sheppard's reaction) was so freakin' cute and funny.
#2 - Rodney calling John 'cause he's lonely. AWWWWWW! Can there be any doubt, any doubt whatsoever, that they're best friends? Didn't think so. And you know, this is the second time in the last few episodes that we've seen Rodney turning to Sheppard when he's feeling unhappy and insecure. He seems to be able to open up to Sheppard emotionally in a way that he doesn't do with anybody else. Granted, his pool of available people to vent to, on Earth, is quite small -- Elizabeth's not returning phone calls, so that pretty much leaves Beckett and Zelenka ... but really, can you imagine him admitting that he's lonely to ANY of the others? It just wouldn't happen. And I loved Sheppard's little grin and nod when Rodney said he didn't miss him. What are the odds that Rodney's been calling him practically every day?
On the topic of Rodney, there were a couple of things in the episode that bugged me when I first watched it, but I think I've successfully fanwanked them to my own satisfaction. *grin* One was Rodney not getting a team goodbye scene the way that Sheppard did. But, you know, thinking about it, I could *totally* see Rodney simply avoiding the issue by not allowing himself to get into a situation where he'd have to say goodbye. He was probably insanely busy in the science wing, and I could see him just avoiding them -- maybe not even consciously doing it, or realizing what he's doing. (I still would have liked to have seen a more emotionally complete reunion scene, but ... ah well.)
The other thing that bugged me a little was Sheppard hanging up on him. But, you know, that seems like more of a case of Sheppard not being able to deal with his own demons. Rodney, of all people, wants to talk about feelings while Sheppard himself is hanging on by his emotional fingernails -- I kinda think he just wanted to back out of the conversation before it descended to levels of mushiness that he did not want to explore. Plus, I dunno if it's just me, but I definitely get the impression that Rodney calling him is not a one-time-only thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Rodney's been calling him almost nonstop since leaving the SGC. My sister pointed out to me that there's not the slightest hint, back on Atlantis when all the goodbyes are said, that Sheppard and Rodney wouldn't be staying in touch. Most of the other Earthers seem to assume that they'll be scattering to the ends of the globe; we saw goodbyes with Zelenka/Beckett/Rodney and John/Elizabeth. But John and Rodney ... I think even then, the idea that they *wouldn't* stay in touch hadn't crossed their minds. And part of it just may be that Rodney-denial thing that I mentioned earlier with regards to Ronon and Teyla ... but I just didn't get the feeling that these were two people who were expecting not to see each other again.
And, after six weeks, Rodney flew to Colorado for no other reason than to see his friends ... how cool is that?
Okay, enough squee-age. The tag possibilities for this episode are INFINITE. I've got way too much to write at the moment (like, oh, the rest of "Killing Frost" for one thing) but I already have several ideas that I'd like to work on. SO MUCH POTENTIAL! John and (maybe) Carson at the SGC, Rodney seeing his sister again, delving into the backstories of Zelenka and Carson ... oh the possibilities!
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Kam :)
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And really, one of the nifty things about SGA is just how much is left open to interpretation. There are a lot of things that are not said, but left for the viewer to figure out on their own.
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Yeah Ronon - my love for him is only eclipsed by my force of nature love for John and Rodney. I sure didn't feel the same way about Ford... I just wish we saw more of him with characters other than Teyla and John - those early uncomfortable scenes with Elizabeth were TV gold, but maybe that's because Ronon avoids them.
As regards Rodney's farewells, Martin Gero *loves the man* was acknowledging the whole geeks and goons thing. John (goon) had his moment with Teyla (goon) and Ronon (uber-goon). Rodney (uber-geek), had his moment *if we can call it that;)* with Radek (geek) and Carson (emo-geek). Elizabeth doesn't fit into either category so she got her own sort of farewell with John. It was a timing thing too - you can't have everyone all saying goodbye to each other together because it takes too long and would be chaotic, so they had to divide the group up and those lines made sense to me.
I think we would have also been upset if Rodney hadn't got to have his *sort of* farewell thingy with Radek and Carson. After all you can't deny the Rodney/Carson friendship or the Radek/Rodney one - and whilst Rodney has the team, hour for hour he probably spends more time with Radek. We must also remember that Rodney's social skills are still somewhat stunted (though that phone call was like watching our little Rodney growing up) and his continuing low-level discomfort with Ronon would have made a scene with them together extremely awkward.
John hanging up on Rodney seemed perfectly in character to me. Come on, that's what they do. They snipe and snark and tease, adn interrupt each other - it's how they show their love (I'm talking platonic here!). Yeah, probably John was getting uncomfortable, but he also knows that if you give Rodney an inch he'll take a mile, so cutting him off before he really got mushy or excessively whiney was perhaps a wise thing - and they were going to see each other the next day!
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It was definitely right and fitting that Rodney got to have his moment with the scientist/noncombatant group. The scene with them would certainly have been missed. I just wanted a little more acknowledgement of how important Rodney's team is to him, and he to them, than what canon gave us -- it wouldn't have had to be much. But I can fill in the gaps on my own. And, you know, one of the interesting things about Rodney is that he probably has more friendships on the show than any other character. Rodney's friends span the whole station, from the military-grunt side with Sheppard & crew, to scientists like Radek and non-scientist civilians like Elizabeth.
I like your comment about John hanging up on Rodney. And yeah. It *is* fitting for them, and very much in keeping with their relationship. One of the things I really love about this show is how, well, MEAN to each other all the characters are. They don't spare the hurt feelings; they stab and poke, tease and argue, with a deep underlying affection beneath it all.
(Weird and random side note, regarding a bit of terminology in your post: I've never really been on board with using the word "goon" the way that it's used in SGA fandom. To me, "goon" means "thug" or "criminal". It sounds weird to me to hear it used in the context that SGA folks do. Of all the characters, Ronon's the only one who could kind of fit my mental definition of "goon" -- and only in some contexts.)