Stargate Atlantis - "The Return" part 1

[wraithfodder]

I haven't posted much about the last several episodes, I guess, cuz I'm too busy just burning my tapes to nubs rewatching them. I LOVED "Common Ground" and "Phantoms," both great Shep whump episodes, and Rodney and his sister in 'McKay and Mrs. Miller". Whoa! Man, they got the sibling arguing down pat! :)

Meanwhile, I sit here now going ... now what? The SciFi channel is basically bereft of anything I NEED to see. Sure, I'll watch Eureka, check out Dr. Who (but admit, I have a big fondness for the last actor who played Who and the new guy just doesn't do much for me if the ads are any indication). But anyway... THE RETURN.

It rocked! It kicked ass! etc. etc. The ONLY thing I absolutely, positively detested was "To be continued." GRRRRRRRRRRRRR...................... I can't wait till the Canadian movie channel starts showing it as I will just *have* to get my paws on tapes, dvds, something, somehow!!!

THE RETURN

I see soooo much fanfic fodder. They're on earth for SIX WEEKS! Six weeks of trying to deal with their life being ripped out from under them. "Oh, thank you very much for keeping our city nice and pretty, now get the hell out, thank you very much."

* Elizabeth is sinking into depression
* John is just making do with what he's got; not like he can quit
* Rodney is lonely!
* Dinner - everybody in civies, sitting around. It was just so... ah, nice.
* Beckett's got turtles (ha, they make good soup!)
* Ronon and Teyla are being courted by the Genii.... makes sense.
* Landry threatening Sheppard with courtmartial (heh, we all know what he was going to say). My bet on this is that Landry will be really pissed at Sheppard once it's all over, but Jack O'Neill, being the renegade he once was, will say "Hey, he saved our asses! Wipe the slate clean," and since he's above Landry in the chain of command stuff, and we KNOW that our team is gonna save the city ....

My favorite favorite moment. When Ronon gave John that hug in his room! Aw.......... plus his muttering of "we should have left them there" in regards to rescuing the Ancients.

 But I guess the best part of this episode was the overall theme of how, over the years, the team has grown into a family. They'll miss each other. Parting was hard. I loved how Carson started tearing up and McKay of course went oh, don't do that, which ticked off Carson, who then finally said what he was going to say, which was goodbye, and McKay didn't look at all smug after that. Carson was genuinely going to miss everybody.

And Elizabeth, distracting Dr. Lee with that World of WArcraft game, which she didn't know much about and Dr. Lee all happy and proud to meet another gamer ;) Ha!

Okay, the end was similar to that wonderful 3-part SG1 from the Showtime years when they disobeyed orders and went off to save Earth. However, I didn't mind because it was done differently, and just watching Sheppard, Beckett, Rodney and (wow!) Weir (!) go AWOL and jeopardize their careers to save their *home* was great. Plus well, that poor soldier "You're going off on missions without me already?!" (insert heavy pity for the guy who feels he's been dumped). Wasn't that Siler inside the jumper who got stunned?

I can't find anything to complain about in this episode, no, not really. Because it's a dreaded cliffhanger, we're forced to wait, and they build suspense. A given. THe action always takes place in part 2. A given. We got character development, insight into how much they mean to each other (especially shown when Carson showed up on Elizabeth's doorstep!)

Well, gotta watch it again. It's a keeper, an episode to rewatch and dissect and plot some fanfic for (and hopefully read some soon!).

Comments

[vonknibble.livejournal.com]

The ONLY thing I absolutely, positively detested was "To be continued." GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Right there with you. Far as i can tell, it will be January at the earliest for the rest. *cries*

But until then, this one gets watched over and over....;)

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Yes, long long time. Cold winter months. Sigh. Thank god for videotapes!

[zikade.livejournal.com]

yeah, it was cool! Sheppard just cutting off Landry, wow! Ow, what will they do to him after that. Mmh. Probably nothing. Promote him down to Major or something.

Ha, ha, McKay's speech in the beginning!

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I think O'Neill will say "cut the kid some slack, he saved our asses" but I'm sure Landry will definitely remember it. Of course, they can always feign "Call? What call??"

[margec01.livejournal.com]

In addition to "TBC," I also detested that Earth is so stupid they'll just abandon the city to the Probably Fake Ancients/Replicators. On the other hand if the IOA were that smart, we wouldn't get to see all of our heroes at home being lonely and sad. So I'll forgive them. Just like a good fanfic--I'll accept ONE goofy premise if it leads to a great story.

I'm beginning to think Martin Gero is a fanfic writer who somehow managed to infiltrate the Bridge Boys Club. And managed to bring a couple of his friends along--Carl, Alan, etc. They certainly have written some good ones lately.

My biggest fear is that, if SG-1 is gone next season, some of the "bad" SG-1 writers will come over to play in the SGA pond. Noooooooo!

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I do fear that with SG1 apparently gone, that the main writers from that show will try to weasel their way over to SGA. No, no, we've got some writers who actually are learning to give us some character depth. Now is NOT the time to muck it up!

[nebbyjen.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. For the first time ever I squeed like a silly fangirl throughout the entire thing! So many moments that just kicked some major a**. And really, the civvies, oh my goodness did the guys look awesome. And emotions.... let me pause to remember all the moments. One of the best episodes yet!!! Okay, who's going to write the first fic to fill in all the blanks?

[lauriel01.livejournal.com]

Hope you don't mind me adding my two cents worth, but I have to agree with you here Nebbyjen! I was halfway through the ep when I found myself yelling at the screen 'Yes! They've (writers) got their shit together!' And I can't wait for the fanfic either. :D