Rewatch: Ghost in the Machine
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Date: 2013-01-12 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-13 12:40 am (UTC)Sending get-better {{{{{hugs}}}}}.
Comment 1
Date: 2013-01-13 12:47 am (UTC)There's never a dull moment for our team. This time it's ... uh ... flying monkeys. Or something. Even Ronon's disturbed by them (and just how often does THAT happen?).
Let's get back to normal which requires going through a spacegate and back to Atlantis. Just one tiny problem: the 'jumper seems to have been possessed. Because of all sorts of malfunctions after the gate was dialed, they can't take the 'jumper through, but are on a collision course. The jumper's momentum causes it to impact against the rim of the gate which spins until its automatic thrusters return it to a stable position. [Quibble about there being pretty blue puddles on BOTH sides of the gate: how do ships know which side to enter? After all, planetary gates can only be approached from one side. Wouldn't it make more sense for only one side to have the pretty blue wormhole and the other side to be black? And while I'm at it, how could a wee 'jumper be able to dislodge something as massive as a gate – even in space. PTB, please explain yourselves.]
Just as inexplicably, the 'jumper's working again and goes through the wormhole safely.
Back in Atlantis, it's time to look for answers. Oh, hello, Richard. Nice of you to join the city today. I don't think he cares to hear about the flying monkeys while walking with John. Ah, the wonders of the Pegasus galaxy again.
Now it's time for John to visit the terrible twins, aka Rodney and Radek. Well, their names are alliterative, right? Unfortunately, they can't prove that there's anything wrong with the 'jumper, because there isn't at the moment. Though Radek doubts Rodney which elicits a new insult from Rodney (“Sammy Sceptic”).
Okay, let's leave these funny guys and follow the other guy who has been occasionally mocked. I'm talking about Richard who's reading his tablet while he's walking. Doesn't he know that can be dangerous? He steps out of the transporter but he's not at his destination. Luckily, a balcony edge stops him, otherwise he might have fallen overboard. Then, when he turns around, the transporter doors won't open. And his comm unit doesn't work, so he's complaining to thin air. [All I can think of when watching this is the cheap laughs the writers went for with his character having directional and structural problems or being saddled with a baby. If we hadn't seen him as the object of ridicule before, this would have been a much better scene IMO.]
Now it's time for John to be affected. At least nobody thinks it's funny when he avoids being struck by a bolt of electricity. At least he manages to contact the working wonder twins who are back to communicating without words (or at least with very few of them). [David H and David N are absolutely brilliant at this, because it takes such skill and control to have a dialogue like that.]
In several scenes during the episode, John manages to make a few screwed-up faces which usually mean "You'd better fix this sooner than later, McKay!!!"
So, it's apparently taken Richard until nighttime to walk back to the control tower. I hope his shoes weren't pinching. [I don't know how early it was when he was misplaced, but it shouldn't take forever to walk the length of Manhattan.] I suppose it's just luck that nobody was disintegrated by the transporters malfunctioning.
Aww, with all the things that are going wrong, Richard's worst fear is that they can't dial Earth.
And – then – ALL the lights go out. Until Rodney's computer boots up. And starts showing gibberish text that attempts to correct itself. So, is it really Elizabeth Weir ... IN the computer?
Via a gobbledygook explanation, the foreign entity is now transferred to a patch rather than affecting all of the city's systems. There's a means to communicate with it by voice. The voice that replies is a very deep male growl, so Rodney adjusts it to sound female. [I think they should have kept the male voice just to emphasize the unexpected arrival of the entity.]
They've established contact with someone who claims to be Elizabeth in the computer. It's sweet to hear John describe Richard to her as "the new you", So, with all of the introductions out of the way, she starts talking about her capture.
Comment 2
Date: 2013-01-13 12:54 am (UTC)Gee, the meditation didn't help them ascend ... because they're machines. Until one of them, Koracen, decided to liberate their bodies into sub-space. Which Elizabeth describes as "constant motion and deafening noise" aka "the worst migraine you could possibly imagine". Which Rodney can.
Elizabeth teases them – and US – about the existence of other technologically advanced worlds, yes – in Pegasus, where they occupied computer systems, even Wraith tech. Until Elizabeth realized there was only one place whose computers were powerful enough to house their programmes (and broke away to search the galaxy for months until detecting the 'jumper). Uh, that sounds awfully convenient and improbable to me – that Atlantis would be her only hope.
It must be a nice day for the team and Richard to have a meeting OUTSIDE on the balcony. So, what to do about alleged-Elizabeth who happens to be frying the city's computers, according to Rodney. [Uh ... I thought they were powerful enough to house her. Does not compute. Oops, bad play on words.]
Other options include housing her consciousness in a virtual reality (such as Ava's) or in another replicator body using the template for FRAN. Richard thinks the latter suggestion is too risky. But it's too late, as the lab with that equipment has powered up. So it would seem that Elizabeth is building her own body. Uh-oh. When the door opens, Fran/Elizabeth greets them. [The transcriber made an odd description, saying that "it's an exact copy of FRAN". I definitely disagree. While it may have been the same actress (Michelle Morgan) who originally played Fran, the facial expressions are of someone older – less innocent and idealistic than Fran had been – someone who's lived through and endured a lot. I think Michelle M did a fabulous job to let Elizabeth's character show through a manufactured body.]
Richard and Ronon are entirely sceptical that she's Elizabeth. At least she's out of the city's computers. And she's left a wee present for Rodney, namely the technical specs of the systems she's inhabited. She says, "All I ask is that you give me the chance to earn your trust. I would never ever do anything to harm any of you, or Atlantis."
Time for more talk of what to do with her between Richard, John and Rodney who's getting the brunt of the criticism for what he did originally, from activating the nanites in human Elizabeth all the way to building Fran.
Now Fran/Liz is in an isolation room under guard when she's visited by Teyla. It's a stilted meeting, though Teyla's surprised that Fran/Liz guessed the father's name. But Teyla's still cautious not to give away the location of her son, merely saying he's offworld with his father.
When John comes in, there's new trouble as Fran/Liz detects the other replicators coming to Atlantis – eight of them. Oops.
Rodney's franticly trying to cobble something together to protect the city while a very angry John visits Fran/Liz.
[Let me pause for dramatic effect. "They're here."]
The other replicator entities are creating havoc in the city. This time there is a casualty as a bolt of lightning strikes a technician near Radek. Radek finds, to his horror, that the tech is dead.
How about an unfriendly reunion in the control room with Richard, the team and Fran/Liz who's escorted by a guard.
Comment 3A
Date: 2013-01-13 01:00 am (UTC)Anyway, Koracen decides to play hardball. The shield is deactivated, the gate disengaged, the 'jumper bay closed off ... so nobody can leave. And then the city begins to sink.
But Richard stands up to Koracen, basically saying Go ahead and sink the city so we'll all die together along with your last hope. John flashes him an admiring look as if to compliment him for having the balls to stand up to the replicator threat (even though we can see that Richard's secretly terrified).
When the city stops sinking, there's a nuance in the music to reflect quiet determination and triumph. And Richard is in his element. "All right. Now we can negotiate."
Fran/Liz says the others will accept human bodies (created by nanites) into which their consciousnesses will be transferred from their TEMPORARY replicator bodies. With ascension still a goal. Oh, poor John. We know that, even if the other newly-created humans leave Atlantis, he really wants Fran/Liz to stay.
Well, it certainly doesn't take long for the replicators to create the bodies. It's a good thing Ronon kept Rodney company all this time because, when Rodney falls asleep, one of the replicators – guess who - manages to disable the forcefield and escape from the lab. Koracen manages to toss Ronon aside like a rag doll. And bullets have no effect on him. [Uh ... pesky point: just why weren't there any ARG weapons available, because mere guns can't harm replicators. ::sighs::]
Anyway, John wants the other replicators who remained in the lab shot, but one of them, Lia, objects, saying that only Fran/Liz left the lab to go after Koracen but that all of the others remained and did not escape. [And, once again, regular guns would have no effect. So, writing fail.]
John has a confrontation with Koracen who admits that he wasn't thrilled with the prospect of getting a frail human body and that he still thinks that ascension is possible in his new replicator body.
Back in the control room, Rodney's working on a plan to regain control of the city while Richard's hanging around. When Radek comes in, we hear Rodney's plan. Poor Radek. Rodney's picking on him, ordering him to stay out of his way and to be quiet.
Comment 3B
Date: 2013-01-13 01:04 am (UTC)John's response cuts her: "You may still think that you're Elizabeth, but you're not."
Koracen thinks that's a dandy time to attack John. [Once again, people, where are the ARGs?] The only thing Fran/Liz can do to save John is to go against Koracen. After she slams him to the wall, she pushes her fingers – replicator-style – into his forehead. When she pulls them out, Koracen disintegrates into tiny pieces.
Is the city working? The power's on? It seems to be. Okay, let's have another meeting in Richard's office. Fran/Liz is there as are John and Rodney. Richard displays his upper hand of leadership by offering to let them stay and continue the original deal, but Fran/Liz rejects it, saying it's too risky. That she can't guarantee trouble from the others or, sadly, even from herself. But she has an idea of how to "set things right" ever since Rodney reactivated the nanites.
Later, back in the control room, Lia punches an address into the DHD console and the gate is activated. They, along with Teyla, Ronon and few Marines, walk down to the gate room. Rodney promises help if they need it while Richard gives her the conditions of their release. Fran/Liz thanks Rodney and praises Richard for his leadership of the city.
It's time to go. But Lia's looking suspicious, glancing between Fran/Liz and Richard. So Fran/Liz says she'll go first. Before she enters, she gives John one last look and a smile. John's voice is stricken with pain. And then she steps through and is gone.
The other replicators wait for a signal from subspace. Finally Lia declares that it's safe and walks through. Only to be met by a drifting Fran/Liz in the cold emptiness of space.
Back on Atlantis, Rodney reassures Richard that the DHD was reconfigured to send them to a spacegate instead of the address Lia had chosen. Rodney's voice is full of pain as he observes, "I guess that answers the question as to whether it was really Elizabeth."
Everyone leaves, but John remains, face painted with grief as he stares at the inactive Gate.
In space, Fran/Liz floats until her eyes close and her body shuts down.
Closing thoughts
Date: 2013-01-13 01:14 am (UTC)Let's start close to the beginning. Hey, PTB, if Fran/Liz could send a message through subspace at the end back to Lia that it was okay, then why didn't that poor woman who sacrificed herself to Koracen's plan send a message saying that it wasn't the answer they were looking for. Though I guess Koracen was such a bossy pain he would have just gone ahead, because – after all – it was HIS plan. ::rolls eyes::
Even though it's pretty clear that both Rodney and John thought it WAS Elizabeth's consciousness because Fran/Liz sacrificed herself to lead the others into a trap, I don't think it necessarily had to be that way. Even if it wasn't Elizabeth, who she had been during her life and her integrity could have been enough to influence the replicator body created to house her. Kind of like mind over matter. It's a lovely idea to think that one human mind could overcome the mechanical ruthlessness of replicators. At least that's the way I see it.
Um ... does anyone else think that this can be only a temporary solution, leaving them outside a space gate. What's to prevent someone else from bumping into them and bringing them aboard? I'm hoping that Atlantis would eventually pick them up again, download their consciousnesses into a VR and allow them to continue.
OTOH, I have a huge moral HATE for beings who think they are ENTITLED to whatever they want (in this case, ascension) and can cause havoc, destruction and death to achieve it without feeling remorse. 'Cuz I'm sure Koracen wouldn't know remorse if it slapped him in the face. In any case, I think it's simply more of that unreasonable, irrational Need-Take-Have syndrome for going after something that can't be achieved. And also playing copycat after the Ancients who created them.
The only other thing I can note is that the music was so tender when Elizabeth showed up. That was a lovely gesture on Joel's part.
Most fans should know that this episode was meant to bring the real Elizabeth (aka Torri H) back. But Torri didn't care for the script or where her character was or wasn't headed (besides, being back for one episode – again - after you've been fired is hard to do). So TPTB decided to call Michelle Morgan back though that changed the way we looked at the episode and whether we would be more or less likely to believe that this really was Elizabeth. But, as damage control, it's a good thing they were able to get Michelle M again.
And I think I'm done. [Well, I usually say that, lol.]