I've been struggling with a migraine and light sensitivity the last few days. I've watched some SGA but am struggling to even remember which episodes I watched. I think I watched Echoes, Tao of Rodney, and McKay and Mrs. Miller. Season 3 really does have some of the best episodes.
This morning, I decided it was time to start rewatching some of the good but hard episodes, which really are my favorites. I started with The Last Man and Search and Rescue.
The Last Man is one of those episodes where you really see how the city lights up for Sheppard. I don't remember which of y'all first put that in the tags, but I love it so. His home is always waiting for him, ready to light up. You see this as each corridor flickers on as he's walking through, like they remember him.
Rodney tells Sheppard they have to get him back in two months or everything is lost. Rodney explains about Teyla and then has to tell Sheppard it's not his fault. Like, holy cow dude, it's not your fault Teyla died. You go sucked 48,000 years into the future. (I totally relate to this. I'm very prone to taking on burdens that aren't mine. Not to share them, but feeling responsible for things in not responsible for.)
Guys! Sam's ship is the Phoenix. A Phoenix rises from the ashes. Is this a tiny ray of hope? A tiny bit of foreshadowing wrapped up in one word? Right in the middle of all the horror of what happened to his family, we have a ship named the Phoenix. And you know what the next episode is? Search and Rescue!
Having seen several seasons of SG-1, Sam's death hits hard.
Also, it's heavily implied that Woolsey himself is a better man because of Sheppard, which I find endearing.
Sheppard is concerned that if he gets sent back, he'll mess up Rodney's timeline, where he survives and gets the girl. Could this man be more selfless?
Um, Lorne has his Atlantis painting on the wall. The one from Sunday. Why did that make me cry?
This is the ultimate We Don't Leave Our People Behind episode. Even though they don't actually say that, they show it. Do y'all remember early on in season 1 in one of the earliest episodes Rodney wants to do something and Sheppard tells him that if it doesn't work it will take then like 200 years by puddle jumper to rescue him? Rodney asks if they'd come for him anyway, and Sheppard, deadpan, says sure. Well, Sheppard is trapped 48,000 years in the future, and Rodney spends 25+ years getting him back. It's not a sarcastic sure. It's an absolute solid yes because we don't leave our people behind, and each of our people is important. Without everyone together, we can't win this thing.
Search and Rescue is a trip.
Highlights include:
"As a rule, I like to keep the daring rescues down to one a day." - Caldwell
Ronon, the total mother hen, to Sheppard: Give it to me. You don't have to do everything.
Rodney delivering Teyla's son is never not special.
Sheppard leads the way in trusting Kanaan because Teyla trusts him.
Sheppard with the baby is epically beautiful. And I love Caldwell: Major Marks, please make that ship go away.
If you don't want a huge amount of psychic damage, make sure you watch these two episodes together. They're really great!
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I think the reason so many LOTR ripoffs fail is because they make their Aragorn analogue the main character, when the entire point of Aragorn is that he’s “the person the villains think is the main character, but is Not.”
Aragorn seems like a traditional King Arthur style hero— he has huge Main Character Energy because he’s supported by destiny, by bloodline, by all these magic artifacts and prophecies, and etc etc. Frodo and Sam are Just Some Guys. Aragorn recognizes that Sauron understandably thinks he’s the main hero of this story ….and he pretends to believe it too, spending the entire series using himself as a diversion to prevent Sauron from seeing Frodo and Sam.
Aragorn’s whole thing is that knows he seems like the Main Hero of this legend to people who don’t know better —- but he also knows that he isn’t, and that his role is just to keep Sauron’s eye on him in order to protect the people around him.
And it works! Sauron is so fixated on defeating his Legendary Destined Archenemy with Extreme Main Character Energy that he completely overlooks the two ordinary little guys who were the real threat to him all along.
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