The Problems With Stargate Atlantis - 3.17 - 'Sunday'

[tielan]

They needed to do this episode last season.

At the very least, they needed to do parts of this episode over the course of the last three seasons of Atlantis.

Basically, all this 'relationship' and 'hanging out' stuff should have been evident bit by bit over the last three years. It didn't have to take over the plots, but a little scene here, a small interaction there, would have gone a long way towards interactional development between characters who don't have a lot of functional scenes together. (Note: characters who have functional scenes together - any combination of John, Rodney, and Elizabeth; and Teyla and Ronon. Functional interaction tends to produce a lot of fan shipping because there's more to project with.)

I am beginning to suspect that I'm the only person in the universe who thought Mike Branton is cute and sweet and exactly what Elizabeth needs: someone willing to exert himself to draw her out of her ivory tower with good humour and charm instead of folding at the first attempt to dig in. Someone whose immediate boss she isn't, who she isn't going to clash with professionally, and who isn't going to question her professional competence with every decision he overturns or overrules.

Why, yes, I have some serious character-based issues with Shep/Weir - whatever makes you ask?

Teyla/someone mysterious? John denying being interested in anyone in Atlantis? Ronon asking about John/Teyla? Was Carson just concerned about Teyla, or was he seriously concerned about Teyla?

Vague shipping hints in Stargate?

DEAR HEAVENS, PERISH THE THOUGHT!!!111ONEONEELEVENTY!11!

Rule #1 about Stargate PTB and romantic relationships: they don't do them.

Rule #2 about Stargate PTB and romantic relationships: they don't do them well.

For the fan, this episode is like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, or maybe Tweedledum and Tweedledee, pointing in many shippy directions at once.

The common, plebian viewer, who parks themselves in front of the teev for a bit of mindless action and escapism, who can see friendship without an "OMG THEY'RE IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER!11eleventy!!" reaction, probably came out of the episode saying, "It's like that guy with the dreads said - the military guy and the pretty alien in the boob tube chick."

Hey, back when I was watching SG-1 and my mother's friends knew I did, they usually asked, "So, what's happening between MacGyver and the blonde chick?" Sometimes Occam really does have his Razor sharp and at the ready.

Carson.

Carson, Carson, Carson. I don't understand why they had to kill you. Or why they had to do it with the Exploding Tumours Of Doom. I mean, you had cute scenes in this episode. You had The Cutest Carson Beckett Scenes Evah In The History Of Stargate Atlantis. From the bouncy-bouncy of le fishing trip, to the 'take charge' moment when the explosion happened. It was an episode of great beauty and terrible sadness.

Gonna miss you from the infirmary in my fics, Carson. I don't think I ever had a good handle on you as a main character, but I loved you as a good, solid secondary character - not too much drama, emo, angst, or jabber (Rodney, STFU, pls!), and I'll always adore you for calling Teyla 'my dear' and 'love' with such casual Scottish affection.

Don't know how they're going to deal with the new doc, but she won't be you. Hopefully, she'll take up a new spot in my heart, but I'll have to wait and see. And I'll probably be writing you in my stories for a while to come. Because you were patient with Rodney, and tender with Teyla, practical, wise, wry, and dedicated to your profession - even if TPTB couldn't work out if you were a surgeon or a geneticist. I understand the two careers are a leetle divergent in the medical field. Just a leetle.

RIP, Carson. Glow hard. Glow well. And we'll see you in shining auras of light when TPTB decide they need hallmark Rodney/Carson moments.

On the whole, the episode is a keeper. Winceworthy at certain points, but definitely a keeper.

Comments

[ryf.livejournal.com]

Note: characters who have functional scenes together - any combination of John, Rodney, and Elizabeth; and Teyla and Ronon

Hmm, I disagree with that. I think the characters who have functional scenes together are Teyla/Ronon, John/Ronon and John/Rodney. If you stretch it, also John/Elizabeth. I would leave Elizabeth/Rodney out of that list. But maybe that's the McWeir shipper in me :)

I am beginning to suspect that I'm the only person in the universe who thought Mike Branton is cute and sweet and exactly what Elizabeth needs: someone willing to exert himself to draw her out of her ivory tower with good humour and charm instead of folding at the first attempt to dig in.

No, definetely not the only one there.

Carson, Carson, Carson. I don't understand why they had to kill you. Or why they had to do it with the Exploding Tumours Of Doom.

Non, no, no. It has to be in all caps. EXPLODING TUMOURS!!!!

On the whole, the episode is a keeper. Winceworthy at certain points, but definitely a keeper.

Yes, yes, yes :)

[tielan]

I would leave Elizabeth/Rodney out of that list.

Yeah, they haven't had much screentime lately, have they?

"I am beginning to suspect that I'm the only person in the universe who thought Mike Branton is cute and sweet and exactly what Elizabeth needs"

No, definitely not the only one there.

Oh, that's a relief. Because the pushy didn't bother me at all - it would take a guy with some serious self-confidence to put a dent in Elizabeth's defences. And she flustered so cutely! The only other time she's flustered so nicely is when she first encountered Ronon.

I'm sure we're all out of capitals to describe THE EXPLODING TUMOURS OF DOOM. There can't be too many Os left around, and we're probably a bit short on Us and Ms, too...

[ryf.livejournal.com]

Flustered°!Liz in indeed very cute,. And it didn't help that I was drooling over the guy pretty badly myself ;)

I'm sure we're all out of capitals to describe THE EXPLODING TUMOURS OF DOOM. There can't be too many Os left around, and we're probably a bit short on Us and Ms, too...

I like the way you think.

EXPLODING TUMOURS OF DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

[tielan]

It's not a proper doom, until it's been capslocked, and extra Os have been added!

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

As I have stated on occasion before, I like my character development doled out in small pieces over long arc-ing plot-related stories, not all lumped together with sudden reveals and all at once. So I didn't like this episode much (Carson aside) because it felt so very contrived and...like they could be doing something better with their time.

Random aside: could Teyla's interest be in the unnamed Marine from "McKay and Mrs. Miller"? It makes about as much sense as anything else.

[tielan]

Honestly? Teyla's love-interest could be any male of the series, except an Athosian.

I'm of the opinion that the episode is structurally set up to point to Sheppard: from the mirroring of conversations between Teyla & Dr. Houston vs. John and Ronon, to the fact that Ronon brings up John/Teyla, to the fact that John's statement of "Well, there's no-one in Atlantis that I really...you know..." is almost immediately followed by a very urgent concern about Teyla.

But I have well-known biases on that score. *g*

However, taken at a purely verbal level; yes, Teyla could be interested in anyone of the main or recurring males in Atlantis.

[neffitti.livejournal.com]

Now for the reason why I never gave much credit to the mystery marine that John joked about Teyla liking, especially since I experience this kind of ribbing all the time. I work in an environment where the majority of my coworkers are male, to be specific there are 14 people including myself in my dept, out of the 14 only 2 of us are female. I’m a single fairly attractive hetero female, the other female in my dept.( who just happens to be my best friend) is an attached very attractive lesbian female. To say that we work with some of the greatest guys is an understatement. To make this short I’m the secretary, I deal directly with our vendors and sometimes with their delivery personnel (which the majority of is male), so there are times I get hit on a lot. But the one thing I’ve always noticed about my coworker is that if some outside male appears to be attracted to me and I don’t reciprocate that attraction back, I get teased about him being my boyfriend or me liking him, but if an outside male is attracted to me and I to him, the guys tend to get a little territorial toward me, and there is no teasing or ribbing about this male. I don’t think it’s at all intentional; I believe it’s more of a subconscious thing, I don’t mind because I have no intentions of dating any of my coworkers or any of our vendors (there is this old saying about not
sh!tting where you eat,I take it very seriously), besides all but about 4 of the guys are either married or attached, and I have very good relationships with there wives and girlfriends. So in short, I’ve always thought of the “marine” who Teyla likes terms of John pulling Teyla’s pigtails so to speak.

[tielan]

I’ve always thought of the “marine” who Teyla likes terms of John pulling Teyla’s pigtails so to speak.

LOL. Cute imagery!

Yeah, I can see that, too!

[madjm.livejournal.com]

I liked Mike Branton, too. And I loved how everybody was glad that Elizabeth was relaxing for once. I hope this isn't the last we've seen of the guy. Surely he wouldn't just give up.

Then again, they are great about dropping plot points on SGA, so we might never see him again.

[tielan]

Weren't there rumours that he was going to be back at some stage? Although with Elizabeth set to recurring status (and I'm not convinced it's necessarily going to mean less of her), that's questionable.

[madjm.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard that, but I hope we will see him again.

[tielan]

Elizabeth/Mike Branton - for true justice!

(I don't know why I added that last bit, but I think I may have been hanging around Fandom Wank too much lately.)

[madjm.livejournal.com]

What's Fandom Wank? Or do I even want to know?

[tielan]

Fandom Wank: it's basically a place where the excessively wanky and stupid behaviours of fandom are mocked without mercy.

If you check back about a week ago, there's a post about the massive Stargate Atlantis wank surrounding Elizabeth being set to recurring character status.

[madjm.livejournal.com]

Ha! I like the mockage. And I'm not surprised they were talking about that whole mess, since it's THE END OF THE WORLD, etc.

[tielan]

Actually, the extremely amusing (and slightly disturbing) bit was watching all these people come out of the woodwork and start grinding their old axes about Mallozzi and SG1.

Rodney would have had to stay well away from most of the threads there: the lemony flavour of old, hashed-over bitterness pervaded the thread like the aroma of unwashed geek at a sci-fi convention.

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

I liked the Elizabeth pursuing guy as well - he reminded me of a more rugged, mature Noah Wyle.

I loved all the character moments - especially the ones with Carson and Lorne because we knew so little about them and they were super-cute.

And then *sob* - I wasn't prepared for him to die. I knew he was leaving the show but I had no idea it would be permanent. Sadness!

I kind of like to think that it was Carson that Teyla was interested in because that "I feel a great sadness" line just broke me with that in mind. But in the interest of her long term happiness, I hope for Teyla's sake that that it's the unnamed marine, and I hope that he's very stable, a little playful, happy-go-lucky, . . . oh yeah, and hot :)

[tielan]

Well, apparently Carson's either going to be in flashbacks or dream-sequences, 'cos I've heard there's episodes still featuring him to the end of the season.

Teyla/so-many-options! *pets Teyla*

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

Oh really? Yay! Thanks for letting me know - it will be nice to see Carson again :)

flist surfing

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

he reminded me of a more rugged, mature Noah Wyle.

oh good. i thought i was hallucinating.;)

Re: flist surfing

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

No, totally! For a minute I thought he *was* Noah Wyle

Re: flist surfing

[somedaybitch.livejournal.com]

me too!

he was a very charming character. i hope they bring him back.

[distant-cord.livejournal.com]

I am beginning to suspect that I'm the only person in the universe who thought Mike Branton is cute and sweet and exactly what Elizabeth needs

I thought he might have been nice for Lizzy, but I don't like how they just pulled him out of nowhere. I mean, here comes some suave scientist-guy who apparently knows Elizabeth pretty well, but who we've never seen before. It made the scenes feel a little hollow.

[tielan]

I don't like how they just pulled him out of nowhere

Hah.

Pete. Kerry. Ronon's wife. John's wife. They were all yanked out of the woodwork, leaping into the Stargate universe fully-formed and without so much as a hint of warning.

Dire prediction #1: None of the characters in Stargate will ever have an on-screen romantic relationship with a cast, or recurring guest character unless the recurring guest character is specifically introduced for that reason. (Can anyone say 'Pete Shanahan'?)

[distant-cord.livejournal.com]

Yup. You said it yourself, TPTB aren't good at romantic relationships. The only "real" (i.e. more than one ep) relationship we've had has been Pete, and that was only because AT bitched and moaned at TPTB until they gave in. Maybe they'll surprise and try to extend their range a bit with Atlantis, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[raiining.livejournal.com]

RIP, Carson. Glow hard. Glow well. And we'll see you in shining auras of light when TPTB decide they need hallmark Rodney/Carson moments.

-- dies laughing --

Such a good review! Hilarious and true: though I'll argue that season three has been much more character-happy than past seasons. I never followed SG-1 very much, but even my sporatic watchings allow me to nod and say yes, the SG PTB have a bad rep when it comes to doing relationship well. // shrug. Most likely this was just a 'make the fans happy' ep and we won't actually see too much shippy-ness in the show.

I *did* like buddy-whats-his-name-there, though. Cute guy with Elizabeth. I see your point and raise you twenty. He is someone she could grow to like.

Until he gets killed and/or maimed horribly. But hey - take it while it lasts Elizabeth!!

:-D

[tielan]

Until he gets killed and/or maimed horribly.

We couldn't possibly be a touch cynical there? *lifts eyebrow*

But yes, definitely hoping that he's a bit-part character who keeps coming back every now and then and isn't sacrificed for The Angst Angle. BLEH.

S3 has been better than previous seasons for team-feeling. I think it's been worse than previous seasons for team-action, though. And there wasn't that far for the team-action to fall, even before S3...