SGA 5:02 ~ Broken Ties

[liresius]

Oh poor, geneless Woolsey - Atlantis' doors don't work for him! Hee! Great Ronon ep ~ loved the torture, emotional angst and his final de-tox scene - I liked both detox scenes but that's probably due to the score which made them both pretty dark, plus ♥ ♥ ♥ for John and Rodney team tag sitting through the de-tox with him and then we get the fluffy Christmas-y classical music of a family everyone safely at home at last! Very schmaltzy, but I did love it!

Loved all the bath stuff - baths are canon! w00t! Oh! Rodney, what a dedicated team member you are - pacing, snacking, bathing - how very touchy feely "multiple intelligences" of you! Sloppy enunciation on the word "reveleeetion" though - I'm going to put that down to his sleepless night, his self-consciousness about jacking off in the bath to fantasies of John though, or maybe the bad, bad editors who let that make it through to the final cut.

You're all gonna think I'm crazy and yes it was before I found out Woolsey was sneakily pressuring John about a replacement for Teyla, but I got a fleeting hint of a "Big Guy" Skinner-ish moment with Woolsey, at 13:15 ~ you can call me mad and put it down to the music and the bald dome *g* but he had this Skinnerish-care about him that kinda hit me out of the blue - Hmm, might be the heat here too and my brain being slightly fried!

I'm glad Teyla and Ronon both had a major story-line but happy too we got John/Rodney interaction ... John touching Rodney's arm which of course we all know is a sekkrit lover's last connection as he was taken off for interrogation! I thought it was a good ep in that way - for the little subtext touches. I like it when the seasonbegins to settle in after the plotty-action of cross season arc.

But I have big questions - like why did John so easily abandon Tyre, when he'd identified with his need to rescue a captured comrade (to Woolsey) and why didn't he try to break up that humungous fight between Ronon and Tyre because they were both on the same side weren't they? Ronon had cut off the wraith's hand so he must have weathered the mental effects of the repeated feedings to some extent - sure maybe Ronon had only retained enough memory of his loyalties to remember John (and not Tyre), but John should've tried to bring them together. John must have known about Tyre not being a triple-crosser because of the detour to get something he'd forgotten (the detonator I surmise, which he appeared to pull out of Joh's BDUs pants pocket, plus Tyre must have disposed of the wraith guard and released Rodney and Co at the same time) so why didn't John show more fight to save Tyre? What didn't I get?

All in all, I really enjoyed it though

Comments

[ailurophile6.livejournal.com]

good questions....I thought I had seen it wrong, was it Ronon who cut off the wraith's hand? or Tyre? I'm sure John knew what Tyre was going to do at the end........because everyone watching did (I found the whole plot completely predictable)....maybe he thought he wouldn't be able to save him and he was more concerned about getting Ronon out...

The character moments throughout were excellent, so I did like this ep despite the been there, done that, feel. And Woolsey continues to be excellent, imo....what they should have done with Carter last season and didn't (and what a waste!).

Now for the John and Rodney in the tub episode tags! :D

[liresius.livejournal.com]

D'oh! I just watched it again and you're right! It was Tyre who chopped off the Wraith hand - the camera being on Ronon in the shot immediately before it misled me, so yeah, that makes more sense now.

maybe he thought he wouldn't be able to save him and he was more concerned about getting Ronon out... I agree, and that's the predictability I wish they'd do something about sometimes... Heh!

Yeah I loved the character moments too! Carter was definitely unexploited I thought. She held so much potential for interesting relationship conflicts and power plays, cus she was imposed on Atlantis, but I guess she was just too nice to do much with in that way

[tarlanx]

It was Tyre who cut off the Wraith's hand - Ronon was 'compromised' at that point so it really couldn't have been him.

I think John recognized that Tyre was already a dead man - from comments made by the other Satedan - and that this was his way of dying with honor.

[liresius.livejournal.com]

Yep! I've realised that now, but thanks!

I know what you mean about dying with honour but with Tyre, he'd made it through the detox and seemed capable of doing the right thing and living a decent life from henceforth so ...

Guess I need to watch it again!

Hmm, also LJ hasn't sent your comment through to me - sorry for the delay!

[velocitygrass.livejournal.com]

"reveleeetion"
Oh, so that was really odd and it wasn't just me who always pronounced it wrong...

I agree with the others. It was Tyre who cut of the hand. For the end I imagine John understood that doing this was Tyre's way to redeem himself and die in honor. His priority was to get Ronon out alive.

I enjoyed the episode a lot too. My favorite this season so far.

[liresius.livejournal.com]

*grins* Yeah it was odd! I think David just didn't manage to get his mouth around it in that take - I'm surprised they let it through though.

Yes, I've now looked at it again and I can see you and everyone are right. Sometimes I just need to be told before I can see it for myself - LOL! I feel like an idiot!

Yeah me too! I liked this one the best of S5 so far even though it was as ailurophile6 points out a "been there, done that" type ep.

[velocitygrass.livejournal.com]

Yes, I didn't even get that we weren't supposed to know that Tyre was actually still good. To me it seemed obvious that he just played that since the Wraith had the upper hand at that point.

It wasn't a groundbreaking plot or anything, but then again at this point most stories simply have been told. I think they don't have to be new, they just have to be new to our characters and this really was a life changing experience for Ronon, which made it significant and pretty awesome.

[liresius.livejournal.com]

Me too! I thought he was genuine at all times after his de-tox.

Yeah, most stories have been told! I think there's about 7 or so basic sci-fi plots and everything else is just variations on a theme *g* It's fun to watch how our characters deal with those variations though.