Stargate: Atlantis 2x18 -- Michael
Jan. 18th, 2006 02:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflySGA's new (Canadian new, not American new) episode, Michael, completely kicked my ass. I'm talking serious, serious story arc, characterization, and basic drama ass-kicking. Best episode of SGA that I've seen and I'm willing to log it in with Buffy or Angel, level of quality-wise. Very nice performances from everyone and an amazing guest actor.
SGA is willing to go dark. They've dabbled in dark before, but what they're doing here, showing us a fully sympathetic Wraith (and I, for one, fully sympathized with him), showing us that, yeah, there are two sides to every story and our guys aren't always shining beacons of moral light. I seriously love this kind of thing, this is why I adore BSG so much.
The SGA team is very willing to get its hands dirty, which is something that we've seen before, but before, we've seen it from the point of view of our guys, the point of view of necessity and war. This time, we opened with Michael and the emotional revelations came from Michael. He was the focal point of the episode and came across very understandable (much as I can understand why amnesia!Cordy would want to get the hell away from the Fang!Gang in Slouching). And the actor was really hot. I only vaguely remember him from Enterprise, because, well, the show really sucked, so I stopped watching after about four episodes, but wow, he's so much a better actor than I remember from Enterprise (though I also hear that the Captain from that show was actually a good actor on Quantum Leap, so clearly, the show was to blame).
This is the second time that we've gotten to see a sympathetic Wraith and, for me, this one was even more understandable than Kaylee!Wraith, as she'd been lying for years, while he honestly had no clue and was so horrified and I am really interested in seeing him come back, let me tell you.
Also, I think that there's a chance that things might have gone better if Ronon hadn't been around. Knowing that, no matter what you do, there's someone who is just waiting for you to slip up so that he can kill you... it's not the most encouraging thought. I understood why Michael ran, and, wow, I was really impressed by the actor's reaction to killing the bodyguard. He was thrown by it, by the death and the blood.
Teyla was wonderful, simply wonderful. All of the mains were absolutely in character, from Rodney's uncertain "I must lie!" babble (wow, that man does suck at hiding things), to John's much better lying (though I could see his discomfort, especially in retrospect), to Ronon's flat refusal to hide his hate.
Extremely well-done, all of it. Stellar work. I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens next.
SGA is willing to go dark. They've dabbled in dark before, but what they're doing here, showing us a fully sympathetic Wraith (and I, for one, fully sympathized with him), showing us that, yeah, there are two sides to every story and our guys aren't always shining beacons of moral light. I seriously love this kind of thing, this is why I adore BSG so much.
The SGA team is very willing to get its hands dirty, which is something that we've seen before, but before, we've seen it from the point of view of our guys, the point of view of necessity and war. This time, we opened with Michael and the emotional revelations came from Michael. He was the focal point of the episode and came across very understandable (much as I can understand why amnesia!Cordy would want to get the hell away from the Fang!Gang in Slouching). And the actor was really hot. I only vaguely remember him from Enterprise, because, well, the show really sucked, so I stopped watching after about four episodes, but wow, he's so much a better actor than I remember from Enterprise (though I also hear that the Captain from that show was actually a good actor on Quantum Leap, so clearly, the show was to blame).
This is the second time that we've gotten to see a sympathetic Wraith and, for me, this one was even more understandable than Kaylee!Wraith, as she'd been lying for years, while he honestly had no clue and was so horrified and I am really interested in seeing him come back, let me tell you.
Also, I think that there's a chance that things might have gone better if Ronon hadn't been around. Knowing that, no matter what you do, there's someone who is just waiting for you to slip up so that he can kill you... it's not the most encouraging thought. I understood why Michael ran, and, wow, I was really impressed by the actor's reaction to killing the bodyguard. He was thrown by it, by the death and the blood.
Teyla was wonderful, simply wonderful. All of the mains were absolutely in character, from Rodney's uncertain "I must lie!" babble (wow, that man does suck at hiding things), to John's much better lying (though I could see his discomfort, especially in retrospect), to Ronon's flat refusal to hide his hate.
Extremely well-done, all of it. Stellar work. I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens next.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-18 01:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-19 12:06 am (UTC)