2x13 Critical Mass

[lierdumoa]

I love my show because I have *faith* -- or perhaps it is because I lack sanity. Either way.

Beware of spoilers.

lierdumoa: just saw the SGA ep
lierdumoa: that was *shiny*
justabi: Yes, yes it was
lierdumoa: ::staunchly refuses to read any critical reviews of it::
lierdumoa: OMG HAPPY PLACE
lierdumoa: John and Rodney doing the retarded obnixious wink and gun thing to Zelenka
lierdumoa: now he knows better
lierdumoa: never complain to John about anything Rodney did ever again
justabi: hee
justabi: I just love that Zelenka hates children
justabi: And that they mutilated him
lierdumoa: hee! yes
lierdumoa: and the whole I hate kids so they therefore find me irresistable because life is ironic like that
lierdumoa: and Ronon
lierdumoa: god, Ronon
justabi: Guh
lierdumoa: okay, every time he is onscreen I am just like HOW IS A HUMAN BEING THAT HOT
justabi: Fuck yes, please loom and threaten torture every damn day
lierdumoa: and now I know what "weapons specialist" is a euphemism for
lierdumoa: ::snrk::
lierdumoa: he was like "I could get him to talk"
lierdumoa: and I was like: YES. MAKE HIM TALK RONON.
justabi: You know, he never actually said he was going to torture him. Maybe he was planning to use his overwhelming sexiness as a weapon.


lierdumoa: I thought Teyla's singing was hilarious -- kind of like when they have contemporary singers sing, like, that song from Pocahantas
lierdumoa: also? where do all the prom dresses come from, I wonder
lierdumoa: here we have the floaty lacy prom dress
lierdumoa: the last wraith wore the leather mommy prom dress
lierdumoa: chaya had the bridesmaid style prom dress
lierdumoa: our first wraith went with the traditional prom look
lierdumoa: god, I love this fandom
justabi: Maybe one of the wardrobe women had quadruplets that just turned 17
lierdumoa: everywhere I turn there is moral ambiguity and CRACK
lierdumoa: heeeeeeee
lierdumoa: and the whole "like a dam" coversation
justabi: Bwee. Shep is sooooo helpful.
lierdumoa: and god, I cracked up every time Cadman called Rodney's name
justabi: Hee
lierdumoa: like she's been trying to get his attention for the past three minutes
justabi: I love that he totally didn't get she wanted to stay with her boyfriend.
justabi: Like he'd ditch Shep. Silly.
lierdumoa: heee -- yes, I just read Pru's post
justabi: She is wise
lierdumoa: this just makes me so much happier about my Cadman/Rodney scenes in my fic
lierdumoa: and about my Kavanagh/Wraith idea
justabi: hee
justabi: I really like Cadman/Rodney
justabi: She just looks like she wants to pinch his ass every time she sees him
lierdumoa: like, I love this show
lierdumoa: because I get impressions about characters
lierdumoa: and extrapolate, as you do
justabi: And then he would just shriek and jump ten feet
lierdumoa: and then the show *proves me right*
justabi: hee
justabi: yes
lierdumoa: like when I was like -- John would totally think ascension was pretentious bull
justabi: heee
lierdumoa: and lo -- PROOF
justabi: Thanks, but no thanks. But you go on.
justabi: Don't mind me.
justabi: I've already experienced teh glowy squid thing and it wasn't for me. But hey, you and your idiot brother might like it. Can't be worse than *meditating*.
lierdumoa: HEEEEEEEE


lierdumoa: also, cool thing about Critical Mass
lierdumoa: that I may want to meta on later
lierdumoa: this is Elizabeth's Trinity
justabi: Hee
lierdumoa: in much the way that Trinity was Rodney's Poisoning the Well
justabi: Yes, except she didn't *actually* torture the weenie
lierdumoa: but she would have, which is the point
justabi: yes
justabi: but no consequences
justabi: which sucks
lierdumoa: but she has guilt
lierdumoa: and one thing I've noticed about SGA which I love
lierdumoa: is that they don't do the consequence resolution in the same episode as the drama
lierdumoa: they spread it out over the episodes that follow
lierdumoa: so I think they will deal with this, because they're not the kind to bring up big nasty issue and then forget about it
justabi: one can only hope, though Beckett doesn' t seem to be learning his leason very well
lierdumoa: I don't have any driving need for characters to learn their lessons
justabi: hee
lierdumoa: unless the fact that they're not learning their lessons is unrealistic to the situation
lierdumoa: because often people in power in the government/military do shady shit and get off with a warning and possibly a medal
lierdumoa: but the fact that they *went there*
lierdumoa: delights me
justabi: hee
justabi: yes
lierdumoa: this episode embodies why I love this show, what I think is the *point* of this show
lierdumoa: people in a petri dish
lierdumoa: or held over the edge of a volcano
lierdumoa: just to see what they'll *do*
justabi: hee
lierdumoa: and sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's awful
justabi: yes, that is nice
lierdumoa: but they *went there* and God, I LOVE THEM for that
justabi: But they *didn't*
justabi: They totally chickened out with the lame passing out from fear.
lierdumoa: true
justabi: LAME.
lierdumoa: but in my head, this episode is not the embodiment of this arc
lierdumoa: it is the *setup* for this arc
lierdumoa: they haven't gone there *yet* ::crosses fingers:: we had Kavanagh pointing out that Elizabeth is ruled by her emotions, only for her to authorize his torture on the basis of her emotional antipathy towards him
justabi: And he's sooooo telling on her
justabi: so much
lierdumoa: and we had Ronon being just a bit too loyal and impulsive and I'm really fascinated as to where his arc is going as well
justabi: Yes. He was all excited to lay the smack down.
lierdumoa: and I suppose there is a high possiblity they will mishandle Elizabeth's arc because stargate doesn't exactly have a reputation for doing right by it's female characters
lierdumoa: I'm kind of just ridiculously pleased that they gave her an arc at all and it has nothing to do with her romantic entanglements
lierdumoa: baby steps
justabi: *giggle*


justabi: I never loved her more than when she was threatening the fat polititian dude on the prison planet
lierdumoa: heeee
lierdumoa: I love her all the time
lierdumoa: it's a thing
lierdumoa: a shallow thing
lierdumoa: because I think Torri Higginson is *HAWT*
justabi: Well, yes
justabi: I'm just saying that she's even hotter with men with guns at her command like little vicious puppy


lierdumoa: dude, I was almost disappointed when Caldwell turned out to be posessed
lierdumoa: because it ruined my fantasy at the beginning
lierdumoa: that when the SGC was like -- tell them not to go
lierdumoa: "they're already out of range"
lierdumoa: I was totally picturing Elizabeth being like "come here now ::wha-pshhhh::"
justabi: heeee
lierdumoa: and Caldwell being like "Yes Ma'am"
lierdumoa: "Whatever you say, ma'am."
justabi: yeah, I like him whipped, too
lierdumoa: see, this is why I have to write my crackfic
lierdumoa: wherein she is Madam Claus
lierdumoa: who else would have taught Santa how to tell the difference between naughty and nice?
justabi: *giggle*


lierdumoa: see, there are also times in SGA, where I am like -- that would have been really cool if they'd been doing it on purpose
lierdumoa: like how John is a girl in a man's body
lierdumoa: and then I go to my happy place where I assume they were doing it on purpose, because generally it leaves me in a much better mood
justabi: hee
lierdumoa: and maybe, subconsiously, they are
justabi: it's the sv mentality
lierdumoa: maybe they mean to and they just don't know it
lierdumoa: and as long as they don't do anything to directly go against my assumptions, I can happily continue seeing what I want to see
lierdumoa: because they don't always take the easy way out, or they haven't in the past
lierdumoa: so I can still cross my fingers and hope they won't in the future
justabi: Yes
justabi: *crosses fingers with you*
lierdumoa: and if they do take this Elizabeth arc where it should rightfully go? OMG I WILL LOVE THEM ETERNALLY
justabi: *nodnod*
lierdumoa: I mean with Rodney -- he spent an entire season getting away with being an asshole because he was always right and saved the day regardless
lierdumoa: but then one day he was WRONG, and so I have *faith*
justabi: Hee
justabi: I love that. He still hasn't quite gotten back on his game yet, either.
lierdumoa: nah, he hasn't
lierdumoa: and, like, all those episodes after aurora
lierdumoa: wherein he tried to save John and John saved himself
justabi: Yeah
justabi: All that work for nuthin
lierdumoa: and that's the other cool thing -- that the emotional backlash of trinity didn't end with trinity
lierdumoa: Rodney was sleeping on the couch for, like, multiple episodes afterwards
justabi: Yeah. And it wasn't all dramatic, either, but still so much there.
lierdumoa: and really, I love that so much better than the melodrama you see in other series
justabi: No kicking him off the team, just making him *replacable*
justabi: Which so has to suck for Rodney, because being irreplaceable was pretty much all he had going for him.
justabi: They don't *need* him anymore. Or at least, John doesn't.
justabi: And Zelenka is all up on his ass with the rest of it.
lierdumoa: oh!
lierdumoa: an this episode!
lierdumoa: Rodney did not solve the mystery, ultimately
lierdumoa: Cadman did
justabi: Yes
justabi: CADMAN
justabi: That's gotta chafe
justabi: Or, you know, make him wanna take her back to his room and have his wicked way with her on his orthopedic mattress.


lierdumoa: she is his type
justabi: Yes
lierdumoa: I mean, like, *really* his type
justabi: Plus, saving the day makes him all in love
lierdumoa: brilliant and blonde and unavailable
justabi: hee
justabi: and in a hospital gown!
lierdumoa: heeeeee
justabi: And she'd so make him her bitch.
justabi: Which he likes, too
lierdumoa: I'm still waiting for John's arc, though I think people tend to not care when things he does get glossed over because he is John
lierdumoa: like The Eye
lierdumoa: he killed 65 people
lierdumoa: came out smelling like roses
justabi: He really does leave a body count
lierdumoa: and loses no sleep over it, even
justabi: nope
lierdumoa: I read fic where he lost sleep over it
justabi: not a wink
lierdumoa: but somehow, I couldn't picture it as an actual missing scene in the show
justabi: yeah
lierdumoa: Torri Higginson said something very meta in an interview, about how John and Elizabeth and basically everyone on the show pretty much never goes by the book, except when it is convenient
justabi: *nodnod*
lierdumoa: maybe I don't need to write meta
justabi: They are very... fluid with that
lierdumoa: maybe I can just post this conversation
justabi: just make sure you include the part about Cadman taking Rodney back to her room and having her wicked way with him while Carson watches from the closet.
lierdumoa: *G*
justabi: And then John mocks him for the sex tape that circulates around Atlantis afterward
justabi: Who's the space slut now!

Comments

[fan-this.livejournal.com]

....I liked the prom dress......but only because it reminded me of crazy highschool Madrigal productions.

[fan-this.livejournal.com]

Also, using the word "faith" makes me want to sing George Michael.

Just to warn you.

[kalikahuntress.livejournal.com]

This is the best meta Ive read for this ep so far, thank you so much for posting this:)

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

You know, he never actually said he was going to torture him. Maybe he was planning to use his overwhelming sexiness as a weapon.

Now it all makes sense! Kavanagh fainted from the hotness!

[permetaform]

OMG, did you read shalott's post, or did you come up with Elizabeth's Trinity independantly??

And yes! Yes to everything here!

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Nope. Came up with that myself.

I want to write something relating this back to The Eye and John killing 65 people and there being no backlash largely because not only did John not feel guilty about it, but his sole superior, Elizabeth, had no problem with it. Because in terms of leadership and the choices they make and, really, just their personalities, John and Elizabeth are the same. The whole shared *never say die* attitude when it comes to their people. Their willingness to go against protocol when they feel they need to.

And really, now that I think about it, this attitude is everywhere in the show. When Teyla told Ronon sometimes it was okay to disobey orders and he was like, "Who decides what times those are?" and Teyla replied, "We do."

This was in Elizabeth's (and John's) personality from the beginning, except I didn't think they'd actually go ahead and run with that, but then they *did.*

And maybe we're finding out that Elizabeth isn't as good of a person as we thought she was. As *she* thought she was. And that's *cool* -- we have a show where all of the protagonists at some point or another show that they can be spiteful bitches, that it's in their nature all the time waiting for the wrong moment to come out.

I think it's a fascinating possibility for future seasons. When and if this does all catch up with her, what will happen to Atlantis if Elizabeth's authority is seriously questioned? By someone with more clout than Kavanagh?

[permetaform]

And maybe we're finding out that Elizabeth isn't as good of a person as we thought she was. As *she* thought she was. And that's *cool* -- we have a show where all of the protagonists at some point or another show that they can be spiteful bitches, that it's in their nature all the time waiting for the wrong moment to come out.

I think it's a fascinating possibility for future seasons. When and if this does all catch up with her, what will happen to Atlantis if Elizabeth's authority is seriously questioned? By someone with more clout than Kavanagh?

YES. THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY BRAIN.

I wanna do a quickie elizabeth vid about this to AB's Blood Red...

[permetaform]

oh btw, I have #8 in the soundtrack (It's Plastic Bag Theme), I don't have Mr. Smarty-Man tho...(#6)

[mona1347.livejournal.com]

lierdumoa: okay, every time he is onscreen I am just like HOW IS A HUMAN BEING THAT HOT

That is so exactly just how I feel about him. He's brain-scorchingly hot. The mere word "hot" does not adequately cover how OMGHOT he actually is.

His hotness defies all comprehension and description.

[the-green-sheep.livejournal.com]

*soaks in the meta, the funny, the smart*

Ahhh.