#this has really made me wanna rewatch 'mckay and mrs miller' bc jeannie. and good sibling vibes

[sudden-memory-loss]

Hi rhys! new mutual matthew here, I am going to go absolute ballistic in your inbox ^_^

please tell me about the subtle yet meaningful character development, please tell me how much the characters changed yet feel the same - from the start of the show through their powerful journeys. i NEED to know how much love they share, i need to know when or how they realize how much they care for one another, i need to know when the characters finally see the love between all of them and realize that they'll be alright.

i need to know about the dynamic of rodney and his sister, and i especially need to know literally everything about this show, enlighten me because i am putting stargate atlantis on my watchlist

okay okay I'm gonna be honest I was half asleep and emotional and had just spent a couple of hours reading sga fanfiction when I wrote all that but yes. yes. I can tell you more. by which I mean I am actually going to go on about rodney mckay for longer than would be socially appropriate for any other setting. thank you. (I do touch on everyone else and the show as a whole but I will be honest, most of this is about rodney skfjsh)

so the thing about rodney mckay (my favourite character in the show) is that he's an asshole. bear with me here. he's an asshole in a way that's actually so amusing and so clearly a (poor) cover up for how he's a mess of neuroses and not used to caring about other people or having them care about him.

he first shows up in the original stargate show (stargate sg-1) and lets say his performance is. poor. he basically suggested the team break the cardinal rule of stargate: don't leave anyone behind. certainly don't leave your teammember to be erased in the buffer of the stargate, but anyway. sg-1 is also a good show but that's another ramble.

the other thing about rodney mckay is that he's a genius. two phds: astrophysics and engineering. smartest person in two galaxies if he's to be believed (and quite honestly, he is). he's got an ego the size of a small planet, but he can back it up. he is absolutely as smart as he claims. he's usually the one pulling miracles out of his ass as sheppard yells at him to do it faster.

the other other thing about rodney mckay (oooh, look, complexities), is that he's a huge fucking wimp. absolute baby when it comes to any sort of physical danger. he has a deadly citrus allergy that he goes on about at every given chance and will absolutely run away if he thinks he can get away with it.

so that's baseline rodney mckay. possibly the most high strung person in the known universe with a genius level brain going a mile a minute at all times.

I don't know how to explain it succinctly. but the biggest change in rodney is about bravery and belonging.

in sg-1, rodney would have happily (well maybe not happily but certainly without question) had someone give up their life for his own. he hadn't yet gotten to the point of understanding how bonds like that are important.

by the end of the show, if it came down to it, rodney would die for atlantis. he would die for his team. but he also gained the trust that maybe, just maybe, they can get him out of the dangerous situations that he occasionally gets himself into in an effort to keep the rest of the team safe (or pure bad luck).

but believe me, he'll absolutely still bitch about it. he doesn't lose that annoying charm--and trust me, it is kind of charming. there are real assholes in sga (e.g. kavanaugh, ugh) and rodney is not that. rodney will call you an idiot while saving your life and kavanaugh will tell you that it's hopeless and you should give up. and also bullheadly tell you he's right even as he's oh so terribly wrong. rodney isn't wrong. well, rarely. he did blow up a solar system that one time but, you know, it was uninhabited.

that's one of my favourite things about rodney honestly. not the blowing up a solar system thing, but the fact that he never stops being a blustering asshole for all his moments of sincerity; he's still a coward for all his occasional moments of bravery. he thinks he's better than you but he'll save your life, he'll just call you an idiot while he does it. he becomes a better person without changing who he is.

also he doesn't think biology is a real science which is so funny to me. yes, you're right, mckay, clearly medicine is vodoo djgdk.

jeannie miller (rodney's sister) is first brought up in letters from pegasus, if I remember correctly. during which, to give some minor spoilers, they think they're all gonna die and they're each sending messages back to earth for the people they left behind.

rodney actually spends most of his talking in circles about "leadership" and also absolute nonsense, but of course he has to have his one moment of sincerity, where he addresses jeannie. it's also, I think, the first episode where it's acknowledged how they are a kind of family now, these people in atlantis (”family is... important. I’ve come to realise that, because the people here have become sort of a surrogate family to me.”). those videos are never sent and turns out they don't die (surprisingly /s) but we saw it, even if jeannie didn't. yet.

jeannie is also a genius, of course, except that she isn't an asshole and also at one point decided to make a family and give up all the long nights and hard work that comes with being a genius. she married an english major and had a daughter, madison. rodney did not take this decision particularly well and then they didn't talk for 4 years. whoops.

eventually their relationship heals, with work from both sides, the start of which leads to one of my favourite exchanges in the whole show that makes me wanna cry and hyperventilate whenever I think about it.

and their whole relationship is so delightful. the actors are real life siblings so they know how to act like siblings. there's no 'bro' or 'sis' (does anyone actually talk to their siblings like that???) but jeannie is the only one to call rodney by his real name (much to rodney's everlasting despair) she tells embarrassing stories to his friends (as is her right as a little sister), she berrates him and they whine at each other. but they love each other, even for all the years they were estranged.

but, god, yeah, that’s just rodney. and obviously I have the most to say about him because he’s my favourite character, but there’s so many good characters in this show.

there’s elizabeth weir, lawful good leader of the atlantis expedition, who cares so much about every person there. there’s john sheppard, cocky flyboy allergic to talking about his feelings but regularly willing to blow himself up to save other people (who’s way smarter than he lets people think). there’s carson beckett, scottish doctor who puts up with so much bullshit from rodney but is good natured and endlessly kind and also kind of a bit of a coward too sometimes (there’s a reason those two are friends). there’s teyla emmagan, leader of her people and full of such incredible strength and grace. there’s ronon dex, warrior with a tragic backstory and dry wit and hidden affection.

there’s radek zelenka, basically the only scientist rodney actually considers capable, and aiden ford, an absolute puppy dog of a marine, and peter grodin, possibly the only other scientist rodney would consider capable. you have laura cadman, a marine/explosives expert who rodney can’t stand because she loves to tease him, and peter kavanaugh, a scientist rodney can’t stand because he’s terrible. and eventually there’s evan lorne and jennifer keller and richard woolsey and even sam carter (a main character from sg-1, along with col. jack o’neill and dr. daniel jackson, who also both turn up every so often), and they all have a place in this strange and wonderful city.

and there’s the intricacies between the relationships where you have teyla and ronon as the aliens on the team not comprehending the shit rodney and john say about earth or their pop culture references, and you have john and elizabeth starting out clashing but eventually melding together as a command team really well, and you have woolsey trying to integrate into a group of people who are already so close knit, and you have rodney’s really ridiculous crush on sam that’s mellowed out enough she can actually stand to work with him, and the way that everybody fucking hates kavanaugh because he’s totally insufferable skjfd.

and it’s the way that once they’re all settled in, they just trust each other (except maybe rodney, who trusts most of the scientists in his lab as far as he can throw them off a balcony into the ocean). there’s no question about it, it’s just there. there’s an episode where a virus causes everyone to lose their memories, and sheppard has a picture of teyla on a tablet and despite knowing nothing, searches for her because he knows she can help. there’s countless episodes where john throws himself into dangerous situations with full belief in his team’s ability to bring him out again (much to rodney’s constant stress: “you see, the thing is, colonel sheppard and I have sort of gotten into this habit of saving each other's lives, and it's my turn.”).

honestly, the plots range from borderline ridiculous to actual emotional shit and I couldn’t tell you which I prefer.

there’s an episode with this guy who has a “potion” that makes everyone adore him despite the fact that he is more insufferable than kavanaugh (I hate this guy <3). but there’s also an episode where rodney is slowly losing all his memories and they bring jeannie in to say goodbye and it’s. so much. and then again there’s an episode where rodney and cadman are trapped in the same body. so the mood is. variable. it’s great though, because sometimes you need shit that doesn’t matter. and sometimes you do.

anyway that’s my ramble I think skfjsd. thank you very much for reading and if you decide to watch it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do <33333

#sga #rhys' shit #mine #sorry for how long it took me to write this #my timezone is weird and I had work today haha #but yeah! aaaa! #this has really made me wanna rewatch 'mckay and mrs miller' bc jeannie. and good sibling vibes #and rodney's insecurities and character growth and aaaaaaaa yk #I also wanna rewatch the first episode but I *just* did skjhdfk #I honestly have no idea where this is available to watch online #I think my friend found it on amazon prime? but I just have the episodes on a hard drive #and it'll be piratable somewhere; though ik I had a bit of trouble finding good quality stuff when I was looking for it #I've been writing this for so long the idea of actually posting it seems wild which is kind of dumb sjkfhskdf #I started it this morning and have been doing it in pretty much all of my spare time before and after work and now it's 7 pm #I know I feel a lot more about this show than probably most people do? so I hope I haven't misled you. I really hope you enjoy it #it is literally my biggest comfort show #it has it's flaws; I know. I mean. all shows like this are military propaganda and it was written in the mid 00s #but still. I love it a lot #okay I'm going to schedule this now skfjgd #oh also! jason mamoa plays ronon and he's hot about it <3 #also did I mention the city flies??? it's a fcking flying city. it's so cool #I'm rewatching the first episode now and finding so many things to add. rodney's orange fleece is so awful I love him sjdfgkdsd