SGA 2x19 Inferno

[schneefink]

I have no excuse for watching an episode tonight instead of studying econometrics. Not even that it was necessarily more fun (I like econometrics, strangely enough. I just don't like studying.)

I chose Inferno because I hadn't seen it before and what little I knew of it (super-volcano, John flirting with a girl that has a crush on Rodney) seemed okay, so I gave it a try.


The whole episode seemed like an excuse to have John and Rodney exchange some funny lines and blow up a volcano. The lines were pretty funny, and the volcano is cool. But. That's not really enough for a good episode. The most interesting characters were the chancellor of Taranis and Caldwell, and they only had a few minutes each. (And Hermiod, of course. He steals every scene.)

It starts with John and Rodney bickering and Teyla and Ronon rolling their eyes in the background. Hello, one of my least favorite fic tropes! It doesn't get better, Teyla and Ronon disappear for the longest time and only magically appear again when someone has to deal with the natives. They have maybe five lines each? Ten?

Carson has to be called because of headwounds. Don't they have doctors on such a technologically advanced planet? And if the situation is too dire, why don't they call a whole medical team? But no, just Carson, and he steals Teyla's and Ronon's lines all the time. He doesn't even know why he's here himself.

Norina is not even a character, she's just there. No personality, nothing. Boring and annoying. I hope Chaya is more interesting, at least. And John and Rodney competing for her attention is just... none of them seem genuinely interested in her beyond the fact that she's hot and the other wants her. Ugh.

Though one of the (very few) parts I did like was John's conversation with Elizabeth. Heh. Another point for my Elizabeth headcanon. She would have been great here, if only they had given her better negotiating skills. Couldn't they ask an actual diplomat or something? That she's supposed to be an experienced negotiator is embarrassing. No wonder the Chancellor wasn't impressed.

What else... more John and Rodney bickering. In this ep I could see the McShep UST/sex if I tried very hard, but not the romance. John and Rodney as romantic couple in canon baffles me. And "maybe they had a bad day" as explanation for character behavior gets old. They did have some funny scenes, but not enough to make up for the rest.
I didn't like either John or Rodney much in this episode. John was too flippant, Rodney too - what's the term... extremely scared one minute, unconcerned the next, let himself be easily goaded - idk, I just didn't like it. It seemed like the writers wrote him so that the jokes would fit best.

Let's not talk about the Taranians, because there weren't any. Norina didn't exist, and the others were just there to be victims (or Idiot Natives.) Except the Chancellor, he was good. He actually had something close to a personality, if you squint.

And how many times did we get near-certain doom? It got a bit tiring. (Ronon echoing Teyla's words from before was cute, but the whole scene was a bit strange. There is hope, so we'll just sit here and not even put wet rags on our and the children's faces?)

Positive: I really liked the image of the gate dissolving in lava. Why haven't I seen that in vids before? Not even in "Open Secrets of the Pegasus Galaxy", even though I could imagine it in there perfectly. Somewhere. Great vid, btw. It's fun to rewatch vids now that I recognize more scenes.


Next one: probably Grace Under Pressure. It's supposed to be a good Rodney episode, right? I want one of those.

Comments

[zombieallomorph]

Greetings, fellow procrastinator. :]

[schneefink]

Greetings! :)

Oh my god it's after midnight how did this happen

[cesare]

I hope Chaya is more interesting, at least.

I wouldn't get those hopes up. :-/

And John and Rodney competing for her attention is just... none of them seem genuinely interested in her beyond the fact that she's hot and the other wants her.

Which slash writers use for fodder because you can interpret that each was jealous of the other's interest in someone else... It's sad that part of what fed such an extensive slash fandom is the unintentional slashiness of cruddy writers who can barely write women as human, and certainly can't write men and women as equals in dealing with each other, making the homosocial relationships the only convincing ones.

John and Rodney as romantic couple in canon baffles me.

I really think half of McShep comes from the first John & Rodney scene of "Hide and Seek" when they're playing with the personal shield. Suddenly you get to see John's geeky glee, and perpetually-irritable Rodney is exuberant and happy-- I think that's what early fan writers glommed onto, the idea that these two guys who separately are glib and slippery, and scathingly sarcastic, could bring that kind of playfulness out in each other.

After that, the subtextually-maybe-romantic stuff is just a few lines here and there, mostly on the strength of the acting/reaction takes/line readings, and some assorted scenes when Rodney's in danger of dying and John seems devastated. I can't think what sort of straight reading was intended for things like John saying that they all love Rodney "like a friend loves another friend" (a denial that immediately suggests, well, denial of actual feelings) or John talking a man into killing himself in order to save Rodney's life.

Seriously though, I really think the ship set sail based on about a minute and a half from "Hide and Seek."

[schneefink]

It's sad that part of what fed such an extensive slash fandom is the unintentional slashiness of cruddy writers who can barely write women as human, and certainly can't write men and women as equals in dealing with each other, making the homosocial relationships the only convincing ones.

True. And it's sad how much less I expect from SGA because I know the many failings of the writers.
But still, a woman who's only role is as a bonus prize in a game between two men? Which century do we live in, again?

I'm not in SGA fandom long enough to know when McShep took off, but the scene in "Hide and Seek" certainly could have been it. Scenes like that are the reason why I can buy John/Rodney in AUs. I can understand trying to find justification for your ship in canon, too, and there are certainly scenes that fit that view very well, like here with Norina or the ones you mentioned.

But to be honest, I find statements like "John talking a man into killing himself to save Rodney's life is proof that he's in love with Rodney!" annoying. I'm certain John would have done the same for Teyla, Ronon, or Elizabeth, because they're family.
(I don't think that's what you meant, but I've seen it often.)

[cesare]

I find statements like "John talking a man into killing himself to save Rodney's life is proof that he's in love with Rodney!" annoying. I'm certain John would have done the same for Teyla, Ronon, or Elizabeth, because they're family.

Probably, but we don't see John do something quite that bizarrely dramatic for anyone else, which puts it up for interpretation. The writers knew about the McShep slash fandom and occasionally played to it, and that meta knowledge influences interpretation as well. Knowing there was a prevalent slash interpretation out there, what did the writers imagine that their fanbase was going to make of John doing something so singular for Rodney? Why didn't we see John do anything like that for his other friends? (It would've made for interesting character development if John had slowly slipped into doing increasingly morally shaky things for his self-chosen family, especially after losing Elizabeth and Carson. But "character development" wasn't something the writers seemed interested in doing for anyone except occasionally Rodney. And the repugnant Michael plotline made it clear the writers didn't have much sense of morality either, so it was really never going to happen...)

To return to the point, we often saw John risk himself and kill others to protect his "family" and eliminate direct threats, but Wallace was a noncombatant who presented no immediate threat. And John said in "Common Ground" that being fed on by Todd was more painful than he'd believed possible: that's what he convinced Wallace to go through before dying. It's a very distinct, unusual situation, and a weirdly heavy plot turn for a series that typically functioned with a "Pew pew, bang bang, I got you!" treatment of violence. (That is: childishly simplistic, like the heroes eliminating the faceless stormtroopers in Star Wars.) So I don't think the shippy interpretation of that episode is unfounded.

That said, of course nothing is proof that John had feelings for Rodney. There's just as much room to interpret them as barely-civil, competitive co-workers who occasionally band together in a crisis. But that interpretation doesn't have much appeal for slash writers. *g*

[cesare]

when McShep took off

And to add a historical note, heh: I think the answer is, almost immediately. I've come across McShep stories that appear to be dated within weeks of the SGA premiere. SG-1 was already an established fandom with a sizable slash contingent, so there were a lot of fans watching SGA from the first episode with their slash goggles on. And "Hide and Seek" was the second episode.

[schneefink]

I find it sometimes difficult to separate in-show-reasoning and meta reasoning - Fanlore tells me it's called "Watsonian vs. Doylist". Trying to make sense of SGA strictly from a Watsonian perspective would be... challenging.

Doylist, I think the writers wanted to put emphasis on John&Rodney since that had worked well in the past, they liked to (try to) explore the "darker side" and John & Rodney were their and most of the fans' favorite characters.

From a Watsonian perspective, for me (and I know that especially SGA is a show where very different headcanons are possible), the team is family and all equal. John would have done the same for any one of them. (Which, as you said, lets us speculate about John's morality when it comes to protecting his family - taken to extremes there's Someone to Watch Over Me, for example. Oh, the potential... *sigh*)
(Also, in my head Wallace got heavy, heavy painkillers before Todd fed on him. And/or sedation.)

The shippy interpretation is not unfounded, no. It's equally valid. As are shippy and gen interpretations of John's infamous flounce in Tracker, for example. ^^
I'm just getting tired of McShep fans insisting on theirs and saying that there is no possible gen interpretation. But that's probably only natural in a slash-dominated fandom.
*goes to read genficathon fics again*

[schneefink]

Icon love!

[cesare]

:-)