SGA Review: "No Man's Land" and "Misbegotten"

[icarus]

idlerat mentioned an assessment of SGA canon so far.

Er... I confess to being so squee-ish over "No Man's Land" thought was not possible. But I can assess it now that I've seen "Misbegotten."

I loved "No Man's Land." Great sci-fi adventure, takes advantage of how Flanigan is studying Hewlett and learning to act with his eyes (his "oh shit" response to Michael picking up the radio call to Rodney was classic). I love how they unflinchingly killed a lot of sci-fi cliches. John did get shot down. The Wraith ship bearing down on Earth got turned around when all the signals were that it would end up in orbit. Ronon and Rodney focus on sabotage when they escape (good plan, the sci-fi trope is to work on escape but in reality, no, that's not feasible).

Seeing Lorne take command of the Orion was a treat, and the fact that Zelenka had a choice, weapons or shields, was very believable. Usually in sci-fi the half-repaired ship saves the day. I'm getting bummed out about how many good ships they keep losing though.

Loved Lorne's flat military response to the world's most obvious communication "there's a Wraith hive ship heading your way" -- "I see that, Sir" and then his very informal "Zelenka, you're killing us here!" David Nye just keeps getting better and better, I love his Radek Zelenka.

The twists and turns in "No Man's Land" kept me on the edge of my seat, but they really should have made it just one episode. The "second part" wasn't a second part at all, but a separate episode entirely.

"Misbegotten" was good, fine, so long as you don't try to think of it as a separate episode and don't look too closely. I believe that they would attempt to keep the Wraith human, yes. I don't believe for a second that the doctor would have been left there. No way. And leave him there with a nuclear bomb as a safeguard? What? Did they plan to blow up Carson as a back-up plan? That episode was poorly planned, in stark contrast to "No Man's Land."

The sudden Wraith ability to "call" the mothership is just silly. Why would they have needed subspace communications in the earlier episodes if that were the case? Granted, Teyla was able to connect to the Wraith hive mind in the first season, so, okay. I can let it pass.

I loved Sheppard setting Rodney up in that meeting, "So tell him the progress you've made." Heh. They said they were going to include plenty of John/Rodney banter this season, and I look forward to it.

I continue to love Sheppard's aura of command incompetence. He just radiates "in over his head" and "shouldn't be above the rank of Major." I watch Flanigan and I believe everything his commanders have ever said about Sheppard, and I get the sense that Sheppard doesn't think he can do this job either but he's not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He's a nice break from the hero mold and amuses the hell out of me.

Overall, I expect the same uneven writing and careless logic the show has displayed from its first episode, and I'm still along for the ride.

Oh, the plotline that bugged me: Elizabeth. And I like Elizabeth. (I didn't buy handing authority of Atlantis over to Teyla at all.)

If she's an international diplomat, then why the hell did Elizabeth handle the heat so incompetently? She was in a position of strength -- they were in the midst of a crisis with no replacement in the wings. Even if she would have come through the stargate when called (if it were me, I would have told them to make an appointment for after the crisis), when they had their indecisive moment and decided to let her handle the current problem -- if I were her, I would have said, "No. I'm not going back there."

"But- but we don't have anyone else to send!"

"I'm glad you finally recognize that. Here are my demands." And I would have put Sheppard on that list of demands, along with a contractual guarantee for my job for the next year thank you very much. "Don't think I haven't guessed that you intend to replace him."

"You can't hold us over a barrel like this!"

"You put yourselves in this position by pulling me out of there in the midst of a crisis. Perhaps you should have waited."

But I'm enjoying the show just as much as ever, for the same reasons, none of which have ever included brilliant writing. And I'm panting, just chomping at the bit for some of the coming episodes, "McKay and Mrs. Miller" in particular. I want more background on these characters.

Comments

[ailei.livejournal.com]

I reviewed this yesterday over here (http://ailei.livejournal.com/179142.html#cutid1), and I just have found myself losing the love big time since about the mid point last season. That breaks my heart, but there it is. I don't know this person they're making Sheppard into (it goes much deeper than 'in over his head' - if it were just that, I'd love it) and I don't like him at all. It just seems like the heart of the show is gone. My greatest wish is for all this immense hubris of theirs to come right back around and bite 'em on the ass. CRUELLY. VICIOUSLY. And depending on how they handled that, I may start liking them again. Right now, I'm watching for the McKay show, and the Zelenka show, and the Lorne show. That's kinda depressing. :-/ You know you're grumpy with your show when you go through and delete all your happy R/J icons and replace them with Pissed!David.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Ah, interesting, let me go read your response. *hops along like a happy little bunny*

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Okay, I read. Where in the show was Sheppard mean to Rodney? Other than setting Rodney up to look silly to Woolsey, which is such typical male-bonding teasing.

Icarus

[moojja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't see any instances where Sheppard being mean to Rodney. Poor Sheppard, he is way in over his head. But that last order is over most people's head. I really hate the virus plot, it just muddles the water.

You know, I was really happy in my little SG1 fandom. Most of our wank was over years ago. But now I'm getting dragged in to SGA. Damn that show for being interesting.

[piplover.livejournal.com]

I don't think Sheppard's decision to blow the planet was actually that hard for him. After all, he was a fighter pilot, and he had seen action. That means that he had to kill people, human people and not Wraith humans. I think it bothered him, but is not something he's going to lose sleep over.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I would say that decision that Sheppard made was rather black and white from a military standpoint. I mean kill the "humans-reverting-back-to-life-sucking-wraith" or they will give away your secrets and all your people will die. Hmmm, let me think about that... Yeah, easy choice in my mind.

All the really antsy ethical decisions happened last season when they created the virus and chose to use it.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, come to think of it, that's a no-brainer.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

If I were one of Sheppard's men, I'd like him, but I would be a little worried because he so does not project the assurance of a commanding officer. Caldwell, oh yeah, that guy I'd trust. Lorne, him too. He gives off a "beginner" vibe but he'd get with the program pretty fast.

O'Neill, I'd look at him funny but in the space of one mission I'd get how good he is. Even Daniel, and Rodney, they have command presence.

The weird thing about it is that the two people in charge, Elizabeth and John, are the two who give me the heebie-jeebies about their ability to make a good decision.

Icarus

[slybrarian.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm sitting on the line regarding John and Elizabeth. They both seem like they could make good decisions, but for some reason they don't. Oh, I'd love to have John along if I was part of the Atlantis expedition. He's likable, smart, and you could trust him to do his best to save you and everyone else. But I think I'd feel a lot safer if Lorne (yay Lorne) was the one who was actually the one in charge and making any important decisions.

Really, I'd have to say that if we put Lorne or Caldwell in charge of making overall strategy while John did all the heroic missiony stuff, while putting Rodney or, say, Zelenka in charge of the expedition while letting Elizabeth just do diplomacy, the galaxy would be a much safer place.

[ailei.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't mean in this ep specifically. Yeah, that setup was just teasing. It's more the trend I've noticed since about that mid season 2 mark, and if you say that they're going to spend MORE time on the R/J dynamic this season then I'm looking forward to that with equal parts trepidation and excitement. I think, really, what it boils down to is that I don't trust these writers with the characters I love. Not at ALL.

[lillian78.livejournal.com]

Someone else mentioned this before me, but the actor who played Michael? Blew the rest of the actors away, honestly in this ep. I thought the episode was totally and completely his. I truly wanted Mikey to suck the life from the, pardon the pun, already lifeless character of Elizabeth. Rats. No luck. ~__^

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

He was absolutely powerful. So much so that I believed Michael, without thinking for a second, hey, wait-a-minute... don't you kill people and suck their life-force?

He's still out there. You know he survived. And wow did they screw up. (Heh-heh-heh.)

Icarus

[lillian78.livejournal.com]

Don't they always? Whoops. Missed him. I still want to see some action between him and Teyla. That Wraith gene you know. *nods*

[slybrarian.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! Trineer did a great job. As for Michael, I agree there. Yes, I think it would have been more moral to just shoot him (or stick him in stasis in Atlantis until they can make the change permanent and non-mindfrelling). Still, to all those whining, "EEEE THEY BETRAYED HIM!!!eleventy!" please repeat to youself: Michael is a life-sucking alien. He's only helping us to save himself. Given the chance, he would happily chow down on everyone. Keeping him alive means the deaths of countless humans and probably our entire civilization.

[enname.livejournal.com]

Overall, I expect the same uneven writing and careless logic the show has displayed from its first episode, and I'm still along for the ride.

Yup, and I am at the point where in someways I might be a little bit worried if they didn't have that uneveness and carelessness there. It makes me laugh, really, in a fond way.

Neat review and it is nice to see some of the positives pulled out, not just endless repeats of the negative. :)

[nufaciel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sometimes it's best not to look too close at the writers, for they make people with half a brain cry.

It's like with CSI. Anyone who has done any kind of half-assed research into forensics would die within the first few minutes, and I'm fully expecting character assassination this season, now that they're gearing toward more of a romance subplot with at least two of the characters. (I think I might cry now, and not wait for the season.)

I thoroughly enjoy SGA. Sometimes it's just better to ignore the plotholes, inconsistencies, and character wobbles and just have fun watching. :D

[stungunbilly.livejournal.com]

(Cruised in here from sga_newsletter, and always follow your moniker).
On Elizabeth; oh, I wish you could have written her in that pair of episodes. I like your ideas so much.
But how much awesome would there have been if she'd just REFUSED to come back? Which would, actually, have been a far more reasonable decision in light of their need of the power in the ZPM, seriously.
Then again, I yearn for the isolation of season 1, and even more for something unexpected like Atlantis declaring independence. What would their flag look like? Could Rodney become Grand Vizier?