Rewatch: Trinity
Nov. 25th, 2011 10:00 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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sga_squeeThe away team visits Doranda, inhabited according to the Ancient database. McKay doesn't detect any life signs however. In orbit they find a large destroyed Wraith fleet, on the surface everything is turned into dust. Only one building is left standing and McKay recognizes it as Ancient. It looks like an improved ground based version of the weapons satellite. McKay and Zelenka find out the ancients were experimenting with high-energy physics to find the ultimate power source, harnessing vacuum energy from our own space-time. McKay is one hundred percent convinced he can finish their project. Meanwhile Teyla travels to the planet Belkan to obtain a disease-resistant strain of flaxseed. Ronon joins her and one of the Belkan negotiators tells he's not the only surviving Satedan. [Poll #1798215]
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no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 03:33 am (UTC)After the credits, the team enter a control room/outpost. I like that there are no covers on the panels. Of course no one was alive to do it, but it emphasizes how nice it was for everyone who arrived in atlantis. They didn't have a ton of dust to clean up.
Yikes - dead bodies everywhere. That's never a good sign. Rodney asks a good question about why the Wraith left the Ancient outpost intact. John doesn't have an answer for that question.
Back in Atlantis, Rodney is practically giddy with excitement and the power possibilities in the outpost. He wants to put together a team to take a better look at it all.
elizabeth is very agreeable and Rodney hurries off. Meanwhile, Ronon wants to join Teyla in a small mission of her own.
Comment 1A
Date: 2011-11-26 04:09 am (UTC)::giggles:: Oh, wow. Rodney, as a team veteran is giving the newbie (Ronon, who else) advice that it's better to fly on an empty stomach, inertial dampeners or not. Though I didn't quite catch what Rodney was saying about frozen dinners.
Teyla's smiling ... to herself. And she's in the co-pilot seat again. ::sighs:: It was really wonderful to see her being used in different functions in S2, aka the good old days.
Rodney's nutritional advice is interrupted by John who wants to know if he's actually doing his job. The nerve. No matter, he's not reading any life signs. Teyla informs them (and us) that the Dorandans, according to the Atlantis database, were a "wonderful race of people". Rodney dismisses the current-day application of the database, considering that it IS 10,000 years old.
Something grabs Ronon's attention. He warns John who spots what's ahead. Debris just floating in space including, according to Teyla, a Hive ship. So ... there was a great battle here. There are a lot of holes in the hull of the Hive ship. So what could have done such damage? John says they're going to check it out.
Rodney doesn't care for those instructions because what if whatever put holes in the Hive ship puts holes in them. John looks wary but reassures Rodney that "a lot's changed in 10,000 years" before heading down to the world.
The ship flies over the burned out surface under a murky sky. Ronon says that's what "usually happens when you fight back". He would know. Teyla looks sad, but – hey – she knows too.
This isn't making sense to John, considering "these folks" (the Dorandans?) "took out a fleet of Wraith ships" which would indicate a "pretty good job of fighting back".
Then Rodney starts picking up "faint energy readings" and points to where they were coming from. Everybody looks at something we can't see very intently. And Rodney explains why they were able to put up such a good fight. "Because they were Ancients." Huh? John turns to give him a perplexed look as lightning crackles and lights up the sky. The jumper continues towards its destination. Now that TPTB have all of us confused, let's hit the opening credits.
When the action resumes, we see the outside of a low squarish building, the lower levels are a long oblong with a shorter rectangle finally topped by what looks like a Star Wars weapons firing assembly.
They climb down a ladder, flashlights on. Rodney says it's definitely Ancient and the latest stuff. Mind you, that's still 10,000 years old. John says it resembles the labs they found on Atlantis and Ronon figures it was one of their outposts. Which leads Teyla to wonder why the presence of the "Ancestors" wasn't recorded in the database. Why indeed.
John wants answers and asks if Rodney can power it up. Hey, Rodney's always eager to learn about new stuff.
At this point we see this episode was written by Damian Kindler. He's the single guest on the audio commentary, along with one of TPTB. I may rewatch (but not tonight) and add additional comments if he reveals some interesting tidbits.
Re: Comment 1A
Date: 2011-12-02 10:36 pm (UTC)John looks wary but reassures Rodney that "a lot's changed in 10,000 years I liked that John basically says the same thing Rodney did to reassure him.
*sigh* and now my husband is home. Hopefully I'll be able to steal a few more minutes before the rewatch commences tonight.
Comment 1B
Date: 2011-11-26 04:13 am (UTC)Next, floating Atlantis. So, according to Liz, it was a military research facility. John says it was a ground-based version of the satellite weapon. Teyla's very interested in the weapon if it would help defend other worlds from being culled. Ronon dashes some cold water on the discussion. "Didn't save the Dorandans." Rodney's looking on the bright side. "At the end of the day, the outpost was still standing." He's not sure what that means exactly, but it's "definitely worth finding out".
Liz looks to John for his opinion and he agrees it's worth sending a research team back there. Rodney's already spilling out names of the team (including "Zelenka, if he's over the stomach flu" which seems to startle John by the look on his face). Liz says go and Rodney turns immediately and rushes out. Ronon just looks in his direction, not saying anything.
Later, elsewhere, we see Ronon waiting until Teyla walks through a doorway. She's dressed in Athosian clothing. Turns out she's on a personal mission to Balkon (sp?). Ronon says it sounds interesting. I think Teyla's on to him. She says the Balkons have a particular disease-resistant strain of flaxseed which would come in very useful on the Athosian mainland. She wants to know if Ronon's still interested. Ronon doesn't want her to misunderstand but, as terrific as Atlantis is.... Teyla cuts in, "you need to go somewhere else." Oh, dear. Ronon's desperate. "Anywhere else." Teyla advises him to bring only weapons he can conceal. Ronon remarks he'll keep it to a "bare minimum".
Back in the gloomy atmosphere on Doranda, the thunder and lightning continue. There are a lot of scientists in the interior, with John walking around. He asks Radek and Rodney if they've figured out what this is yet. Well, since they're busy arguing about the placement of a decimal point, they don't know yet. But it could be an ancillary power supply weapons system. [You don't want to know how many times I had to listen to that to hear "supply".]
When John hears that, his reaction is ... radiant. Plus ... "Cool." Of course, Rodney notices and shows John off to Radek, indicating how John's face lights up when Rodney mentions that. Also like the way Dr. Vogel's face lights up at the mention of pastries. IMO, no comparison.
When they're talking about how to get power to the weapon, Rodney insults John. "Which I'm sure means nothing to you." Uh-oh, Rodney. John's not just a pretty face. And he proves it. "Means that they can fire multiple bursts without having to store more power for the next firing sequence." I think Rodney felt a little sick to hear that John's got brainz, too. Rodney and Radek exchange a look. And we're back to "cool".
But ... only if they're right? Well, Rodney insists he is. Besides, if it is an "Ancient typo" as Radek mockingly opines, Rodney replies, "Well, we know they're not perfect, because they're all dead!" Then, as Rodney launches into sciencebabble, we get that famous John screencap where he seems to turn bashful. Anyway, John seems willing to ... wait.
Comment 1C
Date: 2011-11-26 04:14 am (UTC)Back on Atlantis, Liz approaches Chuck. John's checking in but lets Rodney do the talking. Now we see Rodney's face all lit up, because of "the greatest discovery of all time". John adds, "He's pretty excited." And then there's another familiar screencap of Rodney mid-chuckle (I have an icon of it that I call "Rodney-beautiful"). Rodney sends a databurst in a transmission directly to his lab. Liz sees stuff flash across the large display screen and wants to be filled in. John says it's a weapon but Rodney says it's much more than that. He says it's "the ultimate power source, something that would make Zero Point Modules seem like alkaline batteries". The music grows in intensity as Liz ponders the magnitude of such a discovery.
Now, a shot of the city from another angle. In a meeting somewhere within its walls, Rodneys giving a mini-lecture on "Project Arcturus" whose "ultimate goal was to render ZedPMs obsolete". Liz asks the question everybody wants answered. "How?" Okay, time for more sciencebabble from Rodney. Just as he starts, we see Col. Caldwell is present, too. Radek adds his own explanation, aka "making it potentially as powerful as the scope of the universe itself".
Well, Steven's skeptical about the order in which the Ancients tried to do stuff like it before ZPMs. Rodney replies that they may have, but it's a lot trickier with ZedPMs. Liz wants to know why it's "trickier". Radek jumps in, "Because we actually have to live in our universe, it presents a whole range of problems."
After a tiny remark from Steven and John, Rodney cuts back in, because he said he wanted to do "all the talking". And we get the first crack in the wall of solidarity between John and Rodney. More talk.
Then Rodney holds his thumb and index finger only an inch apart to indicate that the Ancients were "this close" to finishing the weapon. Okay, so John's back to looking intrigued at the possibilities. Liz ask the question whether Rodney believes he can finish their work. Rodney says, "I do." Radek corrects him, "We do." John offers a handy summary to Steven. "They do."
no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 04:26 am (UTC)Then there is all kinds of science talk I don't get, but everyone looks excited.
Back to Teyla and Ronon. They are in negotiations with another planet and it doesn't look to be going well. Ronon jumps in (sticking a knife into a table), startling everyone, and making the officials lose face. A man of action is not a good one to have at delicate talks. He's trying to help/rescue Teyla, but she certainly doesn't appreciate it, or want it.
But, they learn that Ronon may no be the only survivor of his planet!
Back on Atlantis, Rodney and Radek are trying to explain this amazing new discovery - something that would make the ZPMs obsolete. I have to admit, I don't understand a lot of what they're saying, but I am getting the fact that there are problem.
Rodney is completely sold on it, but others are a little more skeptical. He gets the go ahead, however, and lots of tests are conducted and many arguments are had as they try and get this thing to work.
I remember the first time I saw this, I was worried about how obsessed Rodney was behaving. I had no clue what was going to happen, of course, but I was still worried that not all is as it seemed with this discovery.
Comment 2A
Date: 2011-11-26 04:31 am (UTC)John shows up and Rodney's treating him like a ... a Marine, making him move heavy objects into particular places. Ever since the scene started, the music has been pulsing, full of forward momentum. It's cool seeing the interior of this outpost, clearly Ancient in overall design, but with certain oddities.
And the failures continue. A control crystal is pulled and power is lost. Rodney looks devastated. Until Radek declares, "I think we have it." We see power being activated along a command access tube one section at a time. Radek looks pretty confident. "That's it."
Back on Balkon, in the village, Teyla approaches someone to ask for a man called Solon. He seems to be spinning a tall tale of his own heroics. But Ronon calls out, "Liar." Okay, so it wasn't an insult. Solon grins as he recognizes Ronon and they hug (well, Ronon lifts him up). Teyla's smiling, too. Ronon introduces her and Solon jumps to the wrong conclusion. [See, it's not just me.] Well, Teyla sets Solon straight.
Ronon's got another surprise when Solon tells him there are "others". Over 300 of them who, when they couldn't salvage anything, left for many other worlds. What a whirlwind of changes in Ronon's life. First, he's rescued, can stop running, finds a home on Atlantis and now he learns he's not alone. That starts another round of hugs where they take turns lifting each other.
Back on the very busy outpost, John says to "fire it up". We see the pretty crystal-shaped thingy on the roof ablaze.
Sudden shift back to Balkon where Solon and Ronon are drinking and laughing. The laughter stops when Ronon learns that Kel's alive. Who's Kel? Well, Ronon's taskmaster during his military training. "There is no closer bond." Ronon agrees. "None." Then, they're back to more drinking and laughing.
Rodney's looking a bit tense back on Doranda. Radek's picking up power fluctuations. See those fluctuations on the diagnostic equipment. John wants to know if everything is okay and Rodney hurries to assure him everything's fine. Rodney's giving John a rote textbook answer. John thinks perhaps they should abort the test but Rodney's not even listening.
Rodney tells Collins to boost power manually, so Collins goes into the command access tube to remove a panel. That's as far as he gets because Rodney engages in another test firing. And Collins is struck and envelopped in a surge. We hear him scream as he falls. Radek sees the levels spiking into the red. John reacts by ordering Rodney to shut it all down. Rodney tries, and Radek confirms that the interface is not responding. It's going off the scale.
When John presses Rodney, Rodney claims he's doing everything he can, but something's creating an overload. John says they should evacuate. Rodney says to give him a few more seconds, seconds John says they may not have.
Then, Radek sees the levels drop and stabilize. The generator is now offline. John wants to know what happened. Well, according to Rodney, a surge. Rodney calls for Collins and then realizes he's not there. He and Radek open the doorway to the tube and see the still smoking body of Collins lying on the ground, his burned hands frozen in mid-air. The music builds in a crescendo of intense sound.
After that horrific display, we're back to seeing Atlantis from afar. The ocean is a very deep blue colour. The music is calm but reflective.
Carson's just handed a report to Liz. He says that Collins died from radiation exposure with burns to over 90% of his body. To make things more complicated, Carson says he has no idea what type of radiation it was to cause such massive damage in mere seconds.
John's only response is that Collins's next-of-kin have been notified.
So ... Liz wants to know what went wrong. Radek says they're analyzing data from the test. Rodney's uncharacteristically silent. But he reacts when Steven asks if it was due to "human error". Steven's wondering if Collins himself triggered the surge. Liz almost accuses Steven of looking for a scapegoat.
Comment 2B
Date: 2011-11-26 04:37 am (UTC)Rodney defends Collins and says they were all doing their jobs. So, why? In terms of physics, it shouldn't have happened. But he insists the device did what it was intended to do. John grinds out that it didn't. He reminds Rodney that it overloaded and Rodney couldn't stop it. Rodney's not accepting that accusation. He says they won't know for sure unless they go back down there "and try again". David H is acting very cavalier in this scene.
John thinks he's ... well.... He asks, "Are you serious?" Rodney: "Yes." Liz looks back and forth between the two of them, a worried expression on her face. John looks incredulous, with a member of Rodney's staff "in the morgue". Rodney says he's "painfully aware of that". He sent him there and he'll have to live with that for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, science is a much more demanding master than life or death to Rodney. "But we have a responsibility to understand what happened and learn from it." He's met with silence. Even Radek tries to move Rodney from his inflexible position, that they don't even know what went wrong. That just makes Rodney angry and he insists that's why they have to go back there.
Steven stares. John stares. Liz acts as the diplomat when she says that, when they came to Atlantis, they knew certain technologies would be out of their reach at the time. Rodney doesn't agree with her. "Not in this case." But Liz isn't buying it. She tells him he has the data from the first attempt and can run all the simulations he wants. The smug factor is growing in Rodney's behaviour. Add an annoyed huff. He's not willing to let go in case the military get a hold of it first. But Liz's answer is no. We see everyone leave (I think it's possible John was still there).
Back in the land of many drinks, Teyla's helping a staggering Ronon into a bedroom. She says he's had enough. He agrees with her. He calls out to her as she's exiting. I think he's crying as he mentions 300 of his people. He just looks so young and vulnerable.
It's a dramatic night-time shot of the towers of Atlantis. John's walking to his door when it opens and there's Rodney, left hand up, finger getting ready to indicate something important. He mentions a scientist on the Manhattan Project who accidentally irradiated himself. It took him a month to die but what did he do during his last 30 days? He worked. "He tried to understand what had happened to him so that others could learn from the tragedy."
Rodney doesn't want Collins's death to be pointless. Besides, he thinks he knows what happened. [Here and for the last few seconds, Joe F has been acting very weird. Kind of antsy, perhaps flippant, the facial expressions are too brief to pin down.] At least John's willing to listen. When Rodney wants to know if it's okay if he comes in, John says no. My impression is that the cracks (in the close friendship between these two) that started earlier in the episode have been growing because John is in no way showing that he's ever been Rodney's friend.
So, what's Rodney's reasoning. "The Ancients had it wrong." I think John's blood pressure is going up. Rodney just thinks the problem is in the automatic containment protocols. John gives him a dumb look and asks what his fix is.
After Rodney's convenient answer, John asks, "How come the Ancients didn't figure this out?" Well, according to Rodney, it could have been the heat of battle, or they just weren't smart enough. "And you are?" "I didn't say that."
So, Rodney, how BIG is this? "The wheel. The lightbulb. The hotdog." [Say again!] Best case scenario, he wins a Nobel Prize, he says with glee. Worst case scenario, tear a hole in the fabric of the universe. "The risks are nothing compared to the potential benefits." Rodney pleads with John. He tells him that Liz'll listen to him and that he's never asked this of him before but thinks he's earned it. Then those fateful words. "Trust me."
Re: Comment 2B
Date: 2011-12-03 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 05:14 am (UTC)He reveals that 300 other Satedans survived! Wonderful news, although it still seems like a pitifully small number, to me. But, none of these planets have a very big populations, so I guess 300 is bigger than it seems.
Only, someone has survived that it seems that Ronon wished hadn't. Ronon is playing it close to the vest, though.
Back on the outpost, Rodney is going ahead with experiments. Some people are concerned but he's brushing them off. He sends a man in to do something, and I have a bad feeling about it...oh, yeah - this isn't good.
Spike in power knocks the guy out that Rodney sent in. He doesn't survive. That's got to be hard - to have an order you gave lead to someone's death. Everyone is very subdued and trying to figure everything out. rodney is insisting that there needs to be more tests.
John doesn't like that idea, but Rodney is obsessed with this discovery, and isn't willing to let it go, no matter what. I do like the tiny break in his voice when he talks about being responsible for Collins' death. Very beautifully done. The rest of what he's saying is scaring me, because he's lost all his reason. He can only see one tiny, narrow, viewpoint of this project, and can't see the failings. Or that the ancients abandoned it, which they had to have a very good reason to do. He thinks he knows better than they do, and that is very dangerous thinking.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 05:32 am (UTC)Break to Teyla and Ronon, Ronon is drunk and Teyla helps him to his room to lay down. He's emotional about the people he's discovered survived his planet's culling. Teyla feels for him, although she doesn't say anything.
Rodney goes to see John, to talk him into trying to change Elizabeth's mind. Asks John to trust him. Says he's earned it. And he has, but it still makes me nervous.
The Colonel is in the meeting with John and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is very against it, mentions that she has to protect Rodney from himself. John says he can do that.
Jeez, such high emotions. This episode is incredible. So much back and forth between Radek (who's discovered perhaps why the Ancients stopped developing this technology), and Rodney mostly, but also Elizabeth and John. Things are happening fast and furious, with Radek concerned that there is no way to control this energy.
Rodney is refusing to believe that anyone but himself is right about this. He goes ahead with his experiment - saying he won't let John's faith in him down.
For a break in tension, we go back to Teyla and Ronon. Whoops. Not so much the cut of tension. Ronon just killed one of his surviving people. Teyla is a little pissed at being drawn into it, until Ronon explains why he did it.
Teyla says she understands, but the Earth humans would not, and they should keep it from them. She also tells him to not take advantage of her friendship in such a way again. You go, Teyla!
Comment 3A
Date: 2011-11-26 05:35 am (UTC)Liz asks John if Rodney can guarantee the same thing won't happen. Nope. So, what's different? Well, John says Rodney claims it's the fault of the Ancients' calculations. Steven jumps in, focusing on Rodney's confidence. He looks so self-assured, almost swaggering, as he defends Rodney's abilities. He suggests to Liz that perhaps she's placed the Ancients on such a high pedestal so she can't imagine them being wrong. Liz calls a spade a spade. "You want the weapon." He agrees. And then plays out the utopian usefulness of the energy.
Liz counters that there are times when she has to protect Rodney from himself. John's face firms up, he nods and says he can do that. He wants to go back, just the two of them. "He asked me to trust him." Steven's nearly salivating.
Back on Planet Doom ... er, Doranda, with its endless black sky, thunder and lightning (um ... for 10,000 years?) Rodney's completely optimistic. He makes it a habit not to make the same mistake twice. John doesn't think it's funny. But Rodney's serious. Another surge like the one before "is inconceivable". John wants Rodney to run some power simulations. But supremely over-confident Rodney just wants to go ahead with the real thing while John keeps the "hot coffee coming". Whoa! You'd think Rodney had reverted to treating John as a dumb flunky ... again. Now that was a joke, according to Rodney. I don't see John laughing, though.
Back on Atlantis, Radek comes up to Liz. He thinks he knows why the Ancients abandoned this technology. Next we see the engaged 'gate, with Liz hailing John. Rodney's rushing about, too busy to talk. Well, Liz wants Rodney to "delay" the test. When she mentions why, Rodney immediately calls out Radek's name. Radek responds with Rodney's. Rodney says he's doing this manually, at half power; "it's a cakewalk". Radek says that "I don't think it matters how much cake you walk on". Besides, just the act of drawing vacuum energy from the universe means the laws of physics cease to apply. Now that's a scary and unpredictable thought.
Rodney thinks that Radek's just talking for the sake of talking. Radek 'splains it as John and Liz listen at both locations. Rodney, OTOH, is NOT listening. He's still confident that, if he sees that happening while he's monitoring it, he can stop it from happening. Radek is getting frustrated. "You cannot predict something that is inherently unpredictable."
John's anxious "Rodney" gets an "I know what I'm doing" response.
Radek's still trying to get through to Rodney. Poor guy. Especially when Rodney totally rejects his concerns. "Well, you're wrong" and accuses Radek of "professional jealousy". Radek throws up his hands. "Fine, kill yourself, just like the Ancients did." John reacts to that with "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean by that?" With more arguments against Rodney, he still denies that he will screw up the way the Ancients did. And he pulls out the I'm-a-genius-and-none-of-you-including-Zelenka-can-understand-any-of-this card. Radek is speechless. He raises his arms and lets them fall back down helplessly.
Re: Comment 3A
Date: 2011-12-03 02:54 am (UTC)Back on Planet Doom ... er, Doranda, with its endless black sky, thunder and lightning (um ... for 10,000 years?) Heh, good one. Also, I hadn't thought about that. There should have been some clearing in that period of time.
Comment 3B
Date: 2011-11-26 05:39 am (UTC)Of course, we have to heighten the dramatic tension by returning to Balkon. It's morning. Ronon looks a bit woozy. Teyla wants to return to Atlantis, but Ronon tells her than Kel's on Balkon. He wants to see him. But he needs Teyla to arrange a meeting. With the official Ronon threatened yesterday. Oh, terrific.
Back to over-confident Rodney whose equations are "working like a charm". But, just to be on the safe side, Rodney's only powering it up to 40%. We see the star thingy gleam.
John just noticed something. It's an energy surge, but Rodney assures him he can regulate it. Uh-oh. Things are starting to get out of control. Rodney claims he can still control things when John says they should abort. It's overloading just like last time. Rodney says there's "no logical reason" why it would. "None of this should be happening."
John gives him the command to "shut it down". "Fine." We see the star thingy blaze even more. While Rodney's typing in commands on his laptop, we hear three repeated beeps. I don't think that's a good sign. "I can't shut it down." For the first time in this entire episode, we see uncertainty and near-horror on Rodney's face. Which earns him another hard stare from John.
This is a cute trick, the opening of an upper window and seeing the village on Balkon below.
Teyla is inside when two men walk in. Kel introduces himself to her. But needs to know all members of her party, if they are to trade. Then Ronon reveals himself.
Whoa!!! I so did not expect Ronon to shoot Kel. Neither did a totally shocked Teyla. But she's standing with Ronon, with her knife pointed outwards. Ronon explains that they all knew what kind of a man Kel was. No one does anything to avenge his death, as Ronon predicted they wouldn't, so they let Ronon and Teyla leave.
Teyla catches up with him and gets a fist at his neck. Now she's beyond pissed. He used her to "murder an innocent man". Ronon says "he deserved worse". Ronon explains that Kel was "a traitor and a coward" when the Wraith came. Teyla understands and believes she would have done the same thing. But she's canny enough to know that they can't mention any of this when they return to Atlantis, that the others wouldn't understand. Then she threatens Ronon to never use their friendship "in such a way again".
This is so not good. Back on Doranda, we see the weapon rotating and firing randomly. John hears it and wants to know what it was. Guess.
With the weapon firing into space, Rodney says this is the safest place for them to be. He just needs a few seconds (didn't we already hear this earlier) to get the weapon under control. John replies vehemently, "No. You. Can't." He says he's seen pilots do this, who won't eject, trying to fix their planes, until they hit the ground.
Re: Comment 3B
Date: 2011-12-03 03:00 am (UTC)Comment 3C
Date: 2011-11-26 05:41 am (UTC)We see the random energy beams in all directions. Of course, Rodney has to mention the 'jumper can't even handle one random hit. John says he'll "keep that in mind". Even worse, Rodney now says the explosion will take out three-quarters of the solar system. So there's no way they can fly far enough fast enough.
Is anybody reminded of the Millenium Falcon going through the Asteroid field? But, wait. What's that big hunk of ship gliding up into our view? Yay, it's the Daedalus, just stopping by to check on their progress. Steven tells them to make a run for the 'gate while the Daedalus runs interference. John recommends hyper-space as soon as they're though, 'cuz it's going to be "a big bang". A very cool view with the wormhole open as the Daedalus flies by. Yup. That was sure some big bang.
We next see our weary travelers, aka Teyla and Ronon, back on Atlantis. They hand the bags of grain over to some Marines. In the background, we can hear some yelling ... er ... forceful arguments. Teyla and Ronon look up. We hear Liz saying Rodney destroyed three-quarters of a solar system. He corrects her. It was five-sixths. That gets Liz riled up even more. "Rodney, can you give your ego a rest for one second."
In the next scene, Rodney spots John and calls out to him. But "Colonel, Colonel" only makes John turn and walk in another direction. Rodney's not deterred. He follows John. Rodney's been "looking all over" for John. Yes, John heard. He turns to face Rodney.
Rodney wants to apologize for what happened. Rodney was wrong and is sorry. And intends "to never be right again. About everything. Effective immediately." [I'm shaking my head at that statement.] John's got his arms crossed over his chest. And Rodney's fairly bouncing on the balls of his feet. What! Was that supposed to be funny? Yup, he confirms it. "That was a joke."
John enters the transporter behind him. Rodney continues to babble, that he's apologized to Liz, to Radek, even Steven, sending him a nice e-mail. But Rodney saved John till last because "honestly, I would hate to think that recent events might have permanently dimmed your faith in my abilities, or your trust". As Rodney speaks, we see his face clouded with regret and misery. Finally! But he's not finished. "At the very least, I hope I can earn that back." He's looking hopeful.
Well, at least John's stern look is gone. His response: "That may take a while." Rodney lets out a tiny "I see". Then John's voice gets stronger. "But ... I'm sure you can do it ... if you really, really try." As he chooses his destination, the doors close upon the smirk on his face.
Rodney's left with this inscrutable look on his face, almost as if he's still being overly confident, that he can and will gain John's trust back immediately. But then he sighs. I think he's just realized how much of a mountain he has to climb (and that's just to get out of the hole he's in at the moment). The plaintive music that started just before John said "But ... I'm sure you can do it...." stops.
The closing credits reveal that the writer of this episode, Damian Kindler is also formally a Creative Consultant.
Re: Comment 3C
Date: 2011-12-03 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 05:44 am (UTC)The planet's defense system is shooting everywhere, and John has to run the gauntlet to get to the stargaze. He isn't sure how he's going to make it, but luckily the Daedalus shows up and shields them. Almost as soon as they are through, the solar system explodes.
Ronon and Teyla return to Atlantis, and we see Elizabeth yelling at Rodney. The scene looks oddly fake, as the body language doesn't look intense enough for the amount of yelling Elizabeth is doing, or the amount of excuses Rodney is making. I have to wonder if this was staged and their dialogue was something separate. *shrugs*
Next comes Rodney's apology to John. He apologized to everyone else, but saved John for last because he means the most. He wants to earn John's trust back.
John is stern, but does give Rodney some hope. Rodney is grateful for it, but then has an indescribable look on his face just before the end credits. Perhaps he's seeing the damage he did to his relationships, and how much work it's going to take to get them back to where they were.
I remember really loving this episode when I saw it six months ago for the first time. I loved how much it showed of the relationships between the characters - mostly John and Rodney, but also many others as well.
It's also the first episode that gave me an idea for a McShep slash story, but I never did write it. I liked the idea of playing with the trust issues that came up throughout this episode, however.
Trinity - does that refer to the three trusts that were broken to various degrees here? Between Teyla and Ronon (minor), Ronon and the other Sateden (resolved since Ronon killed him), and John and Rodney (the big one)? Or, is there another reason for the episode title?
Final thoughts:
Date: 2011-11-26 06:00 am (UTC)It's hard for me to reconcile this week's Rodney with last week's. The same thing will happen in S5 with Tracker. I think that the writer (and possibly director) took a short-cut to try to cut Rodney down. To do it all in one episode was possibly not a good tactic. I also can't believe how callously Rodney treated John, as menial, as stupid. Of course, if TPTB hand out writing assignments to several writers (who don't check to see whether their writing makes any sense overall) and then put them back together – we get serious character continuity errors and OOC behaviour.
What OOC behaviour? Well, Rodney's series of horrible non-jokes. When does Rodney make jokes like that? And to whom? It doesn't even qualify as snark IMO. There's all this professional jealousy over Radek, but also a different kind over Ronon's presence. So, now Rodney needs to make himself feel more experienced and essential to the team than someone who was a Runner for seven years? It seems petty. Ditto for treating John like his personal
slaveminion. My final criticism is that, if this is how the smartest man in two galaxies behaves, then we're all screwed. A scientist who refuses to listen to logic is a dangerous person. Or worse. This Rodney is the kind of man we'd let die so that Laura Cadman could live. And, when I – as a die-hard Rodney fan - say that (I'm surprised to be admitting it), you know it's OOC.I still don't know how to interpret some of John's reactions or facial expressions. Did Joe really get those directions? I know he likes to ad-lib, but this was hardly the episode to allow for expressions outside of what the scenes required. I've mentioned the places where I thought his reactions were downright wrong. I guess that may be a topic of discussion for another time.
It was certainly fascinating to see how eager Steven Caldwell was to get his paws (on behalf of the Pentagon, of course ::groans at the U.S.-centric nature of the interest::) but was acting in a subdued manner.
Even if everyone agrees that Rodney was wrong, especially not to listen to Radek, to believe that it was merely petty jealousy on Radek's part, what do we say about the Ancients? They were arrogant and thought they'd come up with the ultimate force against the Wraith. And dangerously new technology too hazardous for any galaxy.
Anyway, my butt's tired ... again. So I think I'm done for another week.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-26 09:21 am (UTC)Rodney looks fantastic in that black shirt during the montage scene. Commentary says that scene was ad-lib. Love the arguing.
Dr. Vogel was addressed in commentary too. Bottom line: he's not a character, just a name. A name from a German reporter who also served as an extra in the tavern drinking scene.
The bit with Caldwell giving Rodney an "out" to blame Collins for human error, and Rodney not taking it, was nicely done. In commentary they said the scene went on a little more. I know that this whole story was designed to have Rodney fail in his own field; so having him not fail at having human integrity was a nice moment.
I loved that Teyla told Ronon that she understood "but the others will Not." That's one of my favorite moments in the whole series. They've only recently met, but Teyla understands him, the situation, and the earthlings well enough to know that they shouldn't talk about this with the rest of the team. This doesn't take away from the teaminess to me -- it just points out how awesome Teyla is.
However, I don't think I ever forgave Elizabeth for her condescending attitude and for yelling at Rodney in public.
I liked how both stories; Rodney and John's, and Teyla and Ronon's, had the theme of relationships, and working together, and trust.
The title "Trinity" is a reference to the Manhattan Project, The United States' super-weapon development project of the 1940's. The first nuclear bomb test was code named Trinity.