Rewatch: The Kindred: Part I
Nov. 23rd, 2012 03:53 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Early, today, as we are at my folks for a late Thanksgiving. I didn't want to take the chance of missing a posting.
Early, today, as we are at my folks for a late Thanksgiving. I didn't want to take the chance of missing a posting.
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Comment 1A
Date: 2012-11-26 01:23 am (UTC)So, that's a pretty icky beginning. Poor Teyla, having a nightmare about the father of her soon-to-be-born (considering how Rachel's ... uh ... busting out of her costumes) kid being dead ... or is he really? Gruesome. It's been a while since Rachel had to portray so much shock and grief, and there's a lot of it as the episode continues.
Next scene in the infirmary, did anyone else notice that Jewel S's voice seemed to be unusually flat, almost without emotion. Was that what the director wanted?
Rodney adds some subtle (well, for him, it is) hypochondria humour by using hand sanitizer, even after the bio screens AND hazmat suits he and John had been wearing to the latest infected world. Mind you, what they learn about the potential fatality rate is no laughing matter.
Still, the next scene is cute and heartwarming. We've heard about the Mozart Effect. But is the galaxy ready for the McKay Effect? I don't think Teyla is, but she's gracious (although slightly pained) about accepting the present. Uh ... PTB: did the box really have to be tied with a BLUE ribbon? Ugh.
It's sweet to see Rodney offering to listen to Teyla, even if he may doubt her words. OTOH, even he has to be open to her interpretation, when he says, “Hey, I've been cocooned inside an alien spacecraft; I've had another person living inside me; I've encountered not one, but two different versions of myself, so who am I to judge? If you say it was a vision, then I believe it was a vision.”
Of course, his support and belief are reversed when he's talking to John later. “I seriously doubt it was a vision.” At least though he was kind enough not to doubt Teyla to her face. Hey, look at Rodney, acting like a nice person! Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Comment 1B
Date: 2012-11-26 01:32 am (UTC)Oh, I adore the way Teyla's rustic bed in the forest was filmed, with the light filtering through the trees, along with the turquoise of her top that is so flattering. And, vision-Kanaan drops in again, this time with a more specific message (tied to a black pendant), along with marveling at her pregnancy. But, again, she wakes up, clutching a handful of nothing.
This time Teyla must have spoken to John, as he's bringing up her need to visit the world where she bought the pendant for Kanaan, while he's telling Sam. I don't get the significance of why she'd say that Atlantis or its personnel would be “stretched pretty thin dealing with this plague”? Especially when we don't exactly know what the Lanteans are doing (okay, so they ARE visiting affected worlds, but how is that any different from simply going on various missions?). But, still, John says he owes Teyla, so it's a go.
Woo, look at Ronon. He's picked up the art of nuanced snark when dealing with Rodney, with the comment about getting him a gift. Nah, not really.
Poor Teyla. She's hit a dead end to her search. BTW, I really liked that female merchant. She came across as a sympathetic character (reminded me of Guinan on ST:TNG).
Back on Atlantis, Jennifer has some unsettling news for Sam. Yikes! The new plague has something to do with the Hoffan virus. Yes, that one that killed so many people all by itself that they didn't need the Wraith to finish the job.
Huh. I wasn't expecting John to put the brakes on Teyla's investigation. He says her judgment's been clouded and tells everyone to head back to the gate.
In another example of the team being split up and not appearing together, this time only John and Rodney are talking to Sam and Jennifer and learn of the only logical origin of the new plague, even though the Wraith eventually wiped out the Hoffans.
Comment 2
Date: 2012-11-26 01:46 am (UTC)The next scene is some superimposed comic relief which I think was misplaced. Was there any need at all to dial down on the horrors of seeing Hoff, especially its repository of knowledge, in ruins and at the mercy of child scavengers. Plus the timing feels off. How long ago did the Wraith bomb the place? Long enough for news to spread to neighbouring worlds, yet there are still children trying to find stuff and know that all the good stuff was already grabbed. But I guess the writer couldn't pass up the opportunity of putting Rodney in the same room with a child. ::rolls eyes:: So, so funny – NOT.
So, instead, let's hang out with Teyla and her escort, namely Evan. Evan's cute in always trying to find the Earth equivalent of an experience, especially in his interactions with Teyla since he found out she was pregnant. But Teyla's not so much about the fun, especially as she sees one merchant showing a black pendant to a customer. At knifepoint, she persuades the customer to leave and tries to find out where the merchant (can I throw words like supercilious and unctuous at his fancy and superficial exterior) obtained the pendant, the one she'd given Kanaan.
Even worse, the merchant shows her a box filled with jewellery that used to belong to several of her people whom she names. Even better, the merchant is expecting the trader to drop by soon.
Back on Atlantis, there's an exchange of info between our guys and Sam. Our guys talk about a wasted trip, but Sam indicates a sub-space tracking device on a screen. Could it be their old friend, Todd? Well, they've got to check it out and Rodney's whining that he hasn't had lunch.
Back at flea-market world, Evan intercepts the awaited trader and Teyla manages to knock him out when he flees. That was a terrific bad-ass move and completely had me unprepared for what happened a little later.
I guess word does get around if the people of Atlantis are considered to be “do-gooders” of the galaxy and that they wouldn't hurt anyone. Uh, anyone asked the Genii that question? Also, this do-gooder reputation is going to get skewed and screwed in S5, so I guess continuity once again wasn't considered to be important.
I don't think I've ever mentioned this before but I guess it's appropriate, considering that we have to suffer through Michael in this episode. I've never held back from being critical of TPTB whenever (too often) they've done something too ridiculous for words. But OTOH having them come up with a Wraith character who is so amazingly nuanced (even if we're trying to evaluate a Wraith in human terms) was absolutely brilliant. Mind you, it's also a tribute to Chris H's acting skills that we don't even think of Halling when we see Todd on the screen.
Um ... I know my vision is lousy, but I still couldn't tell that the trader had set himself apart from the others far enough while getting a hold of Teyla. That dart beam seemed to have a wider beam than just to grab two people. And how did that dart just show up in our hearing? That doesn't make any sense when compared to previous dart raids.
Oh, always lovely to have more John-Todd gently sardonic sparring. And, though I personally hate Todd's sexually political implication that “No” may not necessarily be a fixed response, I still love his line: “You always say that – but you always come around.”
And hee for the concept of Todd being an equal victim regarding the Wraith incursion via Midway. Yeah, sure, Todd. You had your work/knowledge stolen. Boo-hoo and all that.
Comment 3
Date: 2012-11-26 01:53 am (UTC)Did anyone else find it fascinating in a comical way that it was Rodney (of ALL people, considering that he usually thinks of anything medical as voodoo) who was explaining about the benefits of giving their medical research to Todd?
Poor Lorne. John's never going to let him go off-Atlantis ever, ever again. Not if he can't
prevent smashing up dad's shiny new carkeep someone as important as Teyla safe.Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Yeah, I'm shuddering every time I see Michael. Whoa, he certainly is fixated on being fruitful and multiplying. And, seriously, “family reunion”??? Can I be sick now?
Luckily, we have Todd with his delightful dry sense of humour in the next scene. That doesn't last long because then we're back to seeing Michael and his outrageous attempts to point out how similar Teyla and he are because of their mixed Wraith and human DNA. As if! Hey, Michael, Teyla doesn't go around Pegasus, killing or enslaving others so that the Athosians can be the dominant force. Got it?
More (unnecessary) comic fodder showing Rodney shovelling food into his mouth. Cliché much, anybody?
Finally, Teyla's horror reaches its most gruesome peak: that Michael impersonated Kanaan (who, as a quasi-zombie-Wraith-hybrid, creeps me out almost as much as Michael usually does) in order to make Teyla believe that he was the one reaching out to her. Talk about being violated by someone who's disguised as your lover.
Then there's the awkward rescue attempt of Teyla based on the info that Todd provided. Just one problem: you can't rescue someone who hasn't arrived yet. So ... let's see what's behind Door No. 2. Yes, this was the worst kept secret (or was it when Spike returned from the dead to pester Angel's ass in S5 of AtS?) of the year, considering how vigilant (or pesky) the fans had been, clamouring for the return of Paul McG after his character had been killed off. Even worse, Skiffy had been spoiling the surprise ending by showing it in promos. ::groans::
Ever since this rewatch, I've been wondering if this was a cruel, sick joke by TPTB (no, it wouldn't surprise me at all) to bring back the character of Carson Beckett while also hammering the point home of how utterly irresponsible it was for him to have been developing his Wraith-pretending-to-be-human retrovirus and also have helped to perfect the Hoffan drug. Who could have anticipated that BOTH of those developments would have joined and mutated into an even scarier horror. Which also goes to show that the Ancients weren't the only idiots in the universe. But, then again, so many of the human characters are totally blind to their own faults and hubris.
Closing thoughts:
I'm out of any new ideas other than what I've mentioned already. I don't think it's solely because of my bias against Michael. I just didn't like the episode except for Todd's personality. And I still don't like how Carson was returned. But I know I'll feel even more conflicted (and angry) about him next week. ::sighs::
Re: Comment 1A
Date: 2012-12-07 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-07 02:42 am (UTC)The second vision is so much more peaceful and lovely than the first one. I liked it much better than the one where he was on a funeral pyre.
Teyla goes to John with her vision, and he not only supports her, but goes to bat for her with Sam.
Of course, the person Teyla goes to look for died the month before. Doesn't it just figure. These things are never easy.
Re: Comment 2
Date: 2012-12-07 03:02 am (UTC)Re: Comment 3
Date: 2012-12-07 03:10 am (UTC)