YARRR! "Remnants" Drunken Episode Reaction

[greyias]

Okay, I've learned the trick to initial viewings of Joe Mallozzi episodes: drinking.

No, seriously. He's brilliant when I'm sloshed (okay, on my way there. Have to start celebrating early, right?) I mean, yes, I still guess everything way before it's revealed, but it's because he and I are MIND TWINS¹. That's it. Or the margaritas.

ANYWAY.

Unlike his last contribution to this season, I did enjoy this episode (even if the explanation at the end... oh, Joe, we need to work on your exposition.)

Okay, enough of the cheap shots at Joe M., because he usually only writes one Travelers/Whispers per season. Now, onto the ♥'s!

♥ As usual, WOOLSEY Are any of you surprised? No. Me neither.
♥ John and Rodney snarking after the AI/ark/thingie-whose-technical-name-I-have-forgotten was beamed up. Yeah. No surprise there either. Snark ftw!
♥ KOLYA AND MINDGAMES. Or Kolya is a mindgame.
♥ Rodney freaking out at inviso!Radek calling him brilliant was hilarious and oh-so fanon-come-canon. Or maybe just the greyias fanon-come-canon. Hush, I have tequila in hand, I can talk about myself in third person.
♥ PARRISH CAME BACK. And Lorne warned John about him! No, this doesn't make him Lorne's canon!geek, but now I have three scenes to base his characterization on, rather than just one. (And, god, he still squees about plants. Oh, Parrish, ILU)
♥ FOG PPL RETURN - Continuity for the win! * - (caveat/rant listed in the non-♥ section)
♥ Woolsey and the Political Machine!
♥ Oh, John, you have issues. And I ♥ you for it. (Although why did your subconscious not conjure up a "OH NOES! YOUR TEAM!" with everything else? ...eh, I guess they're lumped in with city concern. This is just a cognitive dissonance I'm having in this case.)
♥ TEAM EATS BREAKFAST TOGETHER. Without going on missions together. Team eats meals together just 'cause. OH TEAM ♥ Although, uh, without Torren and Kanaan? Eh? Maybe Torren's just too young.
♥ Teyla inviting Woolsey to eat with team!
♥ Woolsey realizing that he wants to be on Atlantis. And fights to stay there.
♥ Woolsey/AI =/= my new OTP (WOOLSEY + TODD FOREVAH), but it's intellectually cute.
♥ Tequila! ...that wasn't in the episode. I'm getting sidetracked.

And some ♂ (why yes, I am using random, amusing symbols at this point):

♂ I love the continuity they're weaving back in. I do. I really do because it makes for that much more fun of a show. (And me shouting "THE FOG PPL ARE BACK!" loudly before it's actually revealed on-screen. Whoops.) But... are they trying to make up for the lack of a show bible in the last season? Hrm... makes me think... for about two seconds. Oh well, I don't care. Show, you're doing it right!
♂ * - Caveat/Rant: While "Home" isn't my favorite of the first season episodes, aside from the really fun character analysis you can get out of it, I've always been a little... annoyed that the show has seemed to forget that Humans + Wraith aren't the only species in Pegasus. I like that Stargate has always had a reason for so many humans on so many worlds (even if the language... sorry, another rant), but at the same time, I really want to see more diverse life. We know it's out there, but the existence of the Unas, the Asgard, and the... mist/Z-people-whose-name-I-will-commit-to-memory-tomorrow. I understand the limitations on why (budgetary, or the Star Trek "everyone has a different forehead ridge" limitation), and appreciate that when we do get one, it's usually something that doesn't look completely human. Still. A bone every now and then? Not referring to human populations as aliens?
♂ I... kind of called all of the twists early in this episode. About the scene after inviso!Radek calling Rodney brilliant I suddenly went, "Hey! Wait a second...", the moment John's hand "got cut off" (since it's in his head, I don't need to rant about the mythical forgotten "mental component" of Ancient tech?), and when Woolsey found his woman on the balcony my mom went "That's strange" and I went "She's not real. No self-respecting scientist would forget to zip up her shirt." And then, of course, I guessed fog people like five seconds before Rodney had his sudden "OMG!" moment.

Still... I'll probably rewatch this episode. (Sober? Well, we'll see.) I enjoyed it, it made me giggle, it made me squee, and hey, it entertained me. That's what I ask.

Oh, and before I forget, I must share the best quote of the night. I can't even claim it! XD

ME: Well, I think it's all in his head.
DAD: But why would Sheppard want his hand cut off?
MOM: Because he's always wanted to wear a hook!

Oh, John, you pirate wannabe, you!

Any bets on how much I'm going to be covering my face in shame tomorrow for inebriated posting? Or not f-locking this post in self-defense?

EDIT: Follow-up question: Was the tequila making me guess things later than everyone else? XD

¹ - MIND TWINS Concept © dovil 2008.

Comments

[bramble-rose.livejournal.com]

See, this makes all kinds of sense to me *g*... Much as I love the team, I don't trust the writers enough to watch without a stop/ff button available anymore, and that makes me sad. Drinking might help with that!

John as pirate, ARRRR! (and, eww)

[greyias.livejournal.com]

In my case, it's not the writers as a whole I don't trust, just Joe M when he starts writing a script. Especially one he is particularly proud of. Lord love the man, but he doesn't have much of a sense of pacing or tension. I'm not sure if drinking helps, *g*, other than loosening my inhibitions in revealing the entire episode's plot to the rest of the viewing audience.

John as pirate, ARRRR! (and, eww)

YARRR!

John actually (http://www.rhymer.org.uk/sga/pirate/pirate.htm) makes a pretty good pirate. (http://jadesfire2808.livejournal.com/290987.html)

[bramble-rose.livejournal.com]

Oh,yes he does :-) I haven't watched this yet, but it almost sounds like John has some daddy issues that are superimposed on Kolya (eww, again, maybe?) And, to be fair, I'm pretty sure I didn't hit the ff button even once on The Shrine. So it's only some writers. And, yeah. Joe M.

[wildcat88.livejournal.com]

I missed the Fog People mention. Where was that?

Woolsey - such love for him. And can I just say that I knew Shen was after Woolsey's job? I even wrote a little drabble about it. After The Seed. I love validation!!!

I knew Kolya was a mindgame when he was on the mainland with no explanation on how he got there without a ship or a gate. And I suspected about Radek when he kept insisting Rodney focus on the data (rather like in This Mortal Coil).

I sure would have liked a little more indepth look into John...

[greyias.livejournal.com]

Poor Joe M., he tries so hard. I'm not sure why his episodes are so predictable, but they are. I'm wondering if it's because we are writers, so we think in that manner? I have the same bad habit with a lot of other shows on television, so it's not like it's just him.

I missed the Fog People mention. Where was that?

Oh... tonight's not a good night for fact checking. I'm 99% sure that's what Rodney was referring to when he was talking about "mass hallucinations". It was really, really quick, I think when Rodney barged in on Woolsey and co. in his penthouse.

(PENTHOUSE! HEE!)

Re: Lack of John Depth

[original snipped due to drunken rambling... x2]

I'll be honest, there was opportunity... but I'm not sure exactly what that opportunity was. We all have many questions about him and his past (boy, do we!), but as far as John as a whole and a character... I guess maybe that's what the episode was supposed to tell us? Something revealing? I don't know. I'm really not sure the episode's format lended itself to give us anything. But I understand people being upset that they didn't get anything out of the episode. Other than that John wants to be a pirate.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

This was actually one of the episodes I've enjoyed most out of the whole season! Possibly because my expectations were low ... I went on my f'list while waiting for it to download and saw a lot of anti-squee (didn't read it, but it was obvious from the cut tags), so with that plus knowing it was a Mallozzi ep, I went in with basically zero expectations. And I loved it! The whole thing was all character stuff! Mallozzi does like writing the character stuff, which gives me hope for the movie. I saw all the plot twists coming a mile away, but they weren't stupid plot twists for a change; predictable, but it was actually kind of a cool idea, and they used the show's lack of logic against us! Things like Kolya appearing on the mainland with his nonsensical explanation for how he got there was a clue rather than a plot hole! It was actually a pretty awesome episode -- John's insecurities are EVEN MORE total canon now (man, I need to write up something about how John sees himself, because whenever he's in control of a hallucination, he spends the whole time FAILING and getting beaten up), and the episode dealt with Woolsey's insecurities and loneliness as well. And we got TEAM TIME! Remember season two? How we would have killed for FIVE SECONDS of the team eating breakfast together? And we got it twice, plus John and Rodney wandering off chatting with each other at the end, and all the solo character stuff in between.

I'm 99% sure that's what Rodney was referring to when he was talking about "mass hallucinations".

I think he meant the "Phantoms" planet, actually.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Is this the happy car? Do you have a spare seat?

*squeezes in*

Watching it pre-coffee also kind of helped, because it meant I was slower to catch on to the plot twists which kept me on the edge of my porridge ;) But I dropped in to say pretty much everything you said, especially about John and how he sees himself in relation to the people on Atlantis. The most telling line for me way "You torture yourself every day". Oh John. Rodney's was just as interesting in its own way - he knows he's that good, but he really, really needs people to tell him it. Oh boys.

Also, Grey, I am not giving John a hook. Just so's we clear. No. Hook. Period.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

*makes room for you in happy-car*

But John subconsciously *wants* a hook! You can't disappoint John's emo subconscious! *g*

I'm kind of boggled that the fandom seems to have disliked this episode as much as they did. (I'm kinda avoiding most of the episode reactions, but I get the gist of it.) I mean, yeah, it's kind of predictable and we've seen this plot before, but damn it, "character tortured by hallucinations" is a good plot. They should use it often. XD

[greyias.livejournal.com]

But John subconsciously *wants* a hook! You can't disappoint John's emo subconscious! *g*

Exactly! I'm just speaking on John's behalf. If he weren't too embarrassed, he'd ask you for the hook himself! *g*

[greyias.livejournal.com]

And we got TEAM TIME! Remember season two? How we would have killed for FIVE SECONDS of the team eating breakfast together?

I may not have been willing to hallucinate cutting my own hand off, but it was close! I absolutely adore that we're getting these scenes. I've been trolling through past episodes for a team vid, and finding these types of scenes is much harder than I originally imagined!

The whole thing was all character stuff! Mallozzi does like writing the character stuff, which gives me hope for the movie.

This is a good point! I've been a little antsy about the movie, but if it manages to be character-based, I'll enjoy it. Especially if we get lots of team.

I think he meant the "Phantoms" planet, actually.

See... I haven't rewatched it yet, so you could be right *g* I think my mind just went to the alien mist episode since those hallucinations were more controlled. (And John did direct his in a rather disturbing fashion, just like in "Home".)

[trystings.livejournal.com]

oh man oh man oh man. Joe Joe Joe... *g*

You wanna know something? I didn't know Sheppard was hallucinating until the scene where he's hanging of the cliff. Hahaha. Didn't know McKay was hallucinating until the very end! This episode was so all over the place and yet somehow I found it awesome.

Sheppard, honey, you need therapy.

[greyias.livejournal.com]

It's a very entertaining episode! Sure, I pre-medicated beforehand, but that just made it more fun *g*

Sheppard, honey, you need therapy.

*snort* He definitely does... but for some reason I always envision John in therapy as something he turns around on the psychiatrist. By the end of the session, he's got the shrink talking more, and manages to slip out without the doc realizing that John never said a darn thing.

[sgatazmy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I called the hallucination fairly early on myself, but that was half the fun of watching it. I did love this episode and Woolsey was just amazing.

Happy Birthday!

[greyias.livejournal.com]

Thank you! ♥

This episode was fairly happy-making for me, even if I did predict most of it. And we got an honest-to-god, Woolsey-centered episode this season. I couldn't be happier! :D

[tipper-green.livejournal.com]

You crack me up, you know that! Grey for the win!

I'm with you on all of it, but I have to rewatch because, oddly, I thought they were talking about the Phantoms planet, not Home. I also totally missed Parrish (for which I should be SHOT).

Fun thing about eps like this is going back to watch for the clues. I honestly had no idea what was going on. I sussed out that something was off because of Kolya, but I didn't know how. At first, I thought maybe it was the begonias. LOL!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Heh ... again with the sharing of brains, because:

a) I missed Parrish too (until the Internet pointed it out for me -- thank you, Internet!)
b) I thought he meant the Phantoms planet as well; actually, I still think that (because of Rodney's fixation on the wave patterns, like the wave patterns the device was giving off in Phantoms)
c) I also thought it was hallucinogenic begonias! I tumbled pretty early that something was making Sheppard see things, but I didn't realize it was everybody (and the device doing it) until they'd done a couple more cuts back to Atlantis.

[greyias.livejournal.com]

You crack me up, you know that! Grey for the win!

Hee! \o/

I thought they were talking about the Phantoms planet, not Home.

You're not the only one. You guys could actually be right. I was not exactly in the most analytical state of mind last night, so they could've been talking about "Phantoms" (but does that mean that the Wraith tech there was tapping into the old civilization?)

I also totally missed Parrish (for which I should be SHOT).

Nahhh... maybe just flogged ;)

At first, I thought maybe it was the begonias. LOL!

*SNORT* Atlantis may have found it's new recreational drug.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I've learned the trick to initial viewings of Joe Mallozzi episodes: drinking.
OMG! I so should have done that! (Actually, I was on codeine at the time, but it didn't kick in for a good two hours, so it wasn't soon enough.)

Was the tequila making me guess things later than everyone else?
Maybe just a little.

I ♥ Woolsey too, but I sat there saying, "Hey, if this is gonna be our only Woolsey episode, can't we have a better one?"

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[greyias.livejournal.com]

Codeine? No, no, no, that's way too weak. You at least need something like vicodin, something that packs a real punch.

Maybe just a little.

Rats *snaps fingers* There goes my theory that alcohol actually sharpens the mind. It all seemed so obvious last night! *g*

[dovil.livejournal.com]

I'M FAMOUS!

Now I can die happy.

[greyias.livejournal.com]

But if you die, who will I steal phrases from? :( :( :(

[dovil.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha! I'll leave you some in my will! :D

[greyias.livejournal.com]

Aww, you do <3 me! :D