Yay, Carson! Me, I think the one that *died* is the clone, and the real deal has been a prisoner all this time, as someone suggested on Mallozzi’s blog (and as the preview seems to suggest, with his “What took you so long?” line). Well, we’ll see soon enough.

And honestly I wasn’t really even all that upset or angry or offended or anything by the episode. I just got frustrated with how it was handled. *shrug* Then again as I said on my site I was already worried about it based on the spoilers so I shouldn’t have been all that surprised.

Anyway next week – “The Kindred, part 1″ and CARSON! My Carson, my Carson is coming home! (Yes I know based on what happened on Gateworld he’s going to end up being a clone or something, but still – CARSON!

And honestly I think I’m giving this way to much thought. This is why I should avoid fandom at all costs so I can just watch the show and be entertained without dealing with the deeper issues. Yes sometimes it’s important to note those issues, but going into detail about those issues and discussing them in depth is not something I want to do or really should be doing because I really don’t have the background needed to do so.

I’m not sure if I just fell into the trap of reading the wrong posts on LJ (yes I know I’m not supposed to read them any more!) but there were several fans of color who were upset by the episode over the race issues and their pov made sense (I found some that weren’t just ranting but were explaining the issues involved). Then again maybe there’s just so much history there that there never can be a clear answer of if it really was offensive or not – like everything else people get upset about really.

The scenario of having Teal’c mentor Ronon totally worked for me. The fact that they are both played by actors who are men of colour shouldn’t, I feel, enter into the equation because it’s not a factor in the context of the show — it was entirley a coincidence. The fact that the IOA man wanted to question alien involvement made snese to me because the IOA is made up of beuracrats, and in my experience, beuracracy has no bearing on logic or reality — of course they would consider Ronon, Tea’lc, and Teyla to be the aliens! The fact that he was an older white man in a government position draws on our cultural gut reactions about white men in positions of power and their historical potential for bigotry, to strong effect, but other than that, skin colour had no bearing on the storyline. I see no reason for people to take offense just because of the actors’ ethinicities, especially considering it looks like Momoa has caucasian in his racial heritage too — his skin is very light for a Hawaiian, and his eyes are not typical of the native islanders. Ronon is not a Hawaiian; he’s a Satedan. Teal’c is not a black man; he’s a marsupial! Taking offense to it is inserting personal and cultural issues that have nothing to do with the frame of reference and reading something into it that just isn’t there — which is something that could be done with *any* story, really. A writer cannot help the audience’s personal experiences and what they will bring to the story. I can understand *having* a personal reaction — I am not saying it’s not valid to — but I *don’t* think it’s fair to project it onto thw writers in such an instance. We now better than that, that the writers *don’t* mean anything by it, so let’s not tie their hands behind their backs. There’s always a chance that someone will take offence to *some*thing by taking it out of context — should they stop hiring people of colour to prevent the risk of anyone from getting offended by what might be done with the character?

Teal’c and Ronon have long been established as warriors, and no one has complained. Teyla and Ronon spar all the tiome, and no one has complained. Teal’c fights black-skinned Jaffa hand-to-hand, and no one complains. So why now? If one of them were white, would that suddenly make it okay for them to fight? That seems worse, to me, to suggest that they can only fight people of white skin, and not *any* skin colour. I just don’t get it.

It’s as strange to me as complaints about a white man, Matthew Broderick having been cast as Simba, a lion, instead of an African American man. Or complaints that the evil hyenas in that film talked with ghetto/urban dialects when the actors who played the roles were epeaking with their own speech-patterns. You didn’t hear the English getting up in arms about the lead villian speaking with an English accent!

Anyway, to get back to Midway’s plotline, of course Sam and John would be afraid that Ronon would piss the IOA off and get himself ejected from Atlantis — unless he brings an army to take the city back for Pegasus, the IOA are in control, and they’ve already proven that they make decisions that are ill-informed and unjustified at the drop of a hat because they have naive views of how the universe works. Ronon has proven the past that he doesn’t always respond well to authority, and that he wont always take Teyla’s advice to heart, so I could see looking to another “alien” who has had experience dealing with the IOA for help. Vala would not have worked as a coach because a) she’s even more problematic than Ronon in many ways, and b) Claudia Black would have been hard to get. And, like Teyla, she’s a woman. It’s kind of a “sometimes a man needs his dad’s advice, not his mother’s” sort of situation — even if it is sexist, it still works from a character standpoint.

Now, they could have had an entirely different scenario for bringing Teal’c into the show, yes, but I didn’t have a problem with this one: it set them two men up perfectly for having animosity in the beginning and then being bonded by the end. I could easily see Teal’c acting in a mentorly capacity for Ronon. I thought the betting was funny and a symbolic stand-in for the fans who wanted such a scene so bady — and it was funny because it was so very inappropriate, like Rondey and the tit-flashing request. I thought the overall scenario was good character development fo Ronon; it reminded me a bit of the maturation of Luke Skywalker. And I found John’s “Be a good boy” comment to be both in character (he tends to say things he shouldn’t to Rodney, why not to Ronon?) and to have helped reinforced the idea that Ronon is still young and in need of some guidance on that road to maturity.

But I see your points too, don’t get me wrong — I just didn’t feel the same. My own issues with the contrivedness of the plot was primarily over the science ….

As for Ronon, I was hoping for some real immersion, not just him watching movies — like Ronon at the mall. I want to see him out with out with Earthlings who know nothing of Stargate, in a more typical situation than a funeral. Kinda like the Ep where Teal’c had an apartment.

And yes, Carter was such a spoilsport!

I’m guessing they integrated something like the Asgard device they used to make oxygen and stuff on the Apollo in ‘Unending’. If Carter came up with the idea to turn the beaming technology into a matter converter so early in the timeline that got erased, she or one of the other SGC scientists probably figured it out in the timeline that stuck. Either that or, yeah, there are probably massive tanks of compressed air somewhere in the Midway infrastructure… for refilling the tanks on the EVA suits if nothing else.

“Hey, I just realised, this is the third time this season, and the fourth time in the series, that Ronon’s been to earth, and we still haven’t gotten to see him really encounter Earth culture. The Three Stooges don’t count.”

Sheppard (or someone) has been bringing DVDs back from Earth, because Ronon was complaining about the lack of swordfighting in Blades of Glory a couple episodes ago. And he mentioned… some other classic blow-em-up movie that he’d enjoyed earlier this season. (I don’t recall which one.)

As for my favorite moment of the episode, it’s gotta be the “blowing off steam” throwdown with all the Atlantis crew betting on the outcome. That much raw alien-on-alien aggression just makes me smile. Darn Carter for breaking it up.

@BillieO ~ Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

I’m not really happy at all about the Picardo thing, but I have personakl reasons for that. Also, I don’t want to discuss spoilers here, at least not without spoiler warnings. (Some consider that a casting spoiler.)

@emessar ~ Welcome and thanks!

Yeah, the Wraith haven’t been quite so scary of late (though they were a bit in this ep and in “SoW”), but I don’t mind — I think they are becoming more complicated and interesting in exchange — they are “people” now, with good and bad points, instead of relentless monsters. As for the hair, the one in Reunion had the worst wig thi season. The hair of the Wraith in this ep were more natural-looking, I thought, although the commander’s hairstyle seemed rather feminine … Todd, by far, has the best hair.

The Iris line is not listed on the transcript at Gateworld — I can see them getting a word wrong, but not omitting and entire line. And Morjana said she rewatched the ep and that it wasn’t in there.
But I haven’t seen it recently myself, so I couldn’t say for *absolutely* certain.

Great recap! I was so glad that there was finally some excitement in this episode although is it just me or are the Wraith just not scary anymore? Especially with the bad hair they have this season. They make a lot of threats with minimal life sucking now.

As for the line “The program is completely secure, no need for a shield or an iris,” not being in the original, is that true? I remember McKay commenting on it being secure before, don’t I? Does anyone remember what the exact line was before?

Best line of the episode goes to Sheppard: “I almost
shot myself with the stunner.”

I absoluely “concur” that it was great to see Teal’c once again…especially the scene where they made fun of him saying “indeed” so often….that was terrific!

What do you think of Robert Picardo being selected as leader of Atlantis?

Thanks again for a great recap….and always….

Have A Very Stargate Day!
BillieO