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I had very mixed feelings about this episode. Some things were great, but some things just grated.
John looking into the crystal, touching it, then getting thrown back in a flash of light was exactly like the scene on SG-1 where Jack touched the blue crystal in "Cold Lazarus." Too exactly to have been an accident. I couldn't decide if it was just a shout out to SG-1 (the writing staff does like its homages), or if it was done deliberately as part of the 'Carter's both been there and done that' theme that threaded through the episode. Nice of Carter to bring it up later so that the audience knew that you knew that you were borrowing from SG-1.
There was a flash of light when John touched Teyla that first time and the entity passed into her, but then it never happened again for the rest of the episode. Did the FX department only have enough money in the budget for one blue flash?
And speaking of John touching Teyla, or vice versa, poor John still has no idea how to accept a hug from someone. He looked like he had absolutely no idea what to do with his hands when Teyla hugged him.
I'm sorry, Jason. I know you came up with the unattached sleeve thing as a fashion statement on your own, but it will forever make me think of Audrey Hepburn. Somehow, I don't think that's the look you were going for.
There were times when I liked Carter in this episode, but there were times when she annoyed the crap out of me. Okay, technically it wasn't her I found annoying, but the scriptwriting in reference to her. I liked how decisive she was in dealing with the crisis. She makes decisions with a calm authority that Weir never could because Weir's background was in diplomacy, whereas Carter's dealt with wacky situations like this at the SGC for the last ten years. However, it was the script's constant reminding me that Carter's been everywhere and done everything that started to annoy me. Someone touches a crystal that turns out to contain a sentient entity? That happened to Carter's team. You suspect something's wrong based on your gut feeling and flimsy evidence? Carter knows how that goes because she's seen stranger things happen at the SGC. Pointing a gun at Sheppard because you think he's a Replicator? Point one at Carter, too, because she had a Replicator alter-ego. Need a way to enter someone's dreams? Carter's team found just the thing on a mission years ago. Stimulants can only keep Rodney awake for so long without damaging his health? Carter knows exactly how he feels from when it happened to her. By the time Keller was giving her the most egregious and unnecessary suck-up speech of all time ("You sounded strong," etc.), the show was starting to sound like a Carter infomercial ("But wait, there's more!").
Where did they get the VR machine from? On Atlantis, I mean? I know they originally found it in "The Gamekeeper" on SG-1, and then it showed up again in "Avatar" where it was being adapted for combat simulation training, but how did it get on Atlantis? And why was Carter the only one who knew it was there? If it had been on Atlantis all along, the whole science team at least would know about it, not just the newbie. Did she send back to Earth for it?
They're really thinning out the cast, aren't they? I wish I felt something about Heightmeyer's death. I always thought she was a crappy therapist, and I was totally ambivalent about the actress. I wonder if they'll replace her with another therapist, or if they'll just let Atlantis get along without one.
There were some good McShep moments to be had, though. John was a great cheerleader in Rodney's dream. It was so cute when Rodney yelled at him to help row and he did. I loved how Rodney thought there'd be more hot girls in John's dreams. The Flan did reasonably well as a psychopath for most of the ep, but he really came alive when he was in Sheppard's own dream. Poor Shep is really feeling responsible for all the losses the expedition has incurred recently. You could see how guilty he felt over the suffering his friends were enduring at the hands of an entity that looked like him. In his dream, the guilt manifested in such a way that he was literally beating himself up over his perceived failures. And then John and Rodney saved each other's lives again. ::contented sigh::
The final shot of the whole planet lighting up with glowing crystal entities was pretty cool and kind of ominous.
Maybe I was too spoiled for this ep, but I really thought I'd like it more than I did. It didn't suck, but I wasn't filled with squee either.
John looking into the crystal, touching it, then getting thrown back in a flash of light was exactly like the scene on SG-1 where Jack touched the blue crystal in "Cold Lazarus." Too exactly to have been an accident. I couldn't decide if it was just a shout out to SG-1 (the writing staff does like its homages), or if it was done deliberately as part of the 'Carter's both been there and done that' theme that threaded through the episode. Nice of Carter to bring it up later so that the audience knew that you knew that you were borrowing from SG-1.
There was a flash of light when John touched Teyla that first time and the entity passed into her, but then it never happened again for the rest of the episode. Did the FX department only have enough money in the budget for one blue flash?
And speaking of John touching Teyla, or vice versa, poor John still has no idea how to accept a hug from someone. He looked like he had absolutely no idea what to do with his hands when Teyla hugged him.
I'm sorry, Jason. I know you came up with the unattached sleeve thing as a fashion statement on your own, but it will forever make me think of Audrey Hepburn. Somehow, I don't think that's the look you were going for.
There were times when I liked Carter in this episode, but there were times when she annoyed the crap out of me. Okay, technically it wasn't her I found annoying, but the scriptwriting in reference to her. I liked how decisive she was in dealing with the crisis. She makes decisions with a calm authority that Weir never could because Weir's background was in diplomacy, whereas Carter's dealt with wacky situations like this at the SGC for the last ten years. However, it was the script's constant reminding me that Carter's been everywhere and done everything that started to annoy me. Someone touches a crystal that turns out to contain a sentient entity? That happened to Carter's team. You suspect something's wrong based on your gut feeling and flimsy evidence? Carter knows how that goes because she's seen stranger things happen at the SGC. Pointing a gun at Sheppard because you think he's a Replicator? Point one at Carter, too, because she had a Replicator alter-ego. Need a way to enter someone's dreams? Carter's team found just the thing on a mission years ago. Stimulants can only keep Rodney awake for so long without damaging his health? Carter knows exactly how he feels from when it happened to her. By the time Keller was giving her the most egregious and unnecessary suck-up speech of all time ("You sounded strong," etc.), the show was starting to sound like a Carter infomercial ("But wait, there's more!").
Where did they get the VR machine from? On Atlantis, I mean? I know they originally found it in "The Gamekeeper" on SG-1, and then it showed up again in "Avatar" where it was being adapted for combat simulation training, but how did it get on Atlantis? And why was Carter the only one who knew it was there? If it had been on Atlantis all along, the whole science team at least would know about it, not just the newbie. Did she send back to Earth for it?
They're really thinning out the cast, aren't they? I wish I felt something about Heightmeyer's death. I always thought she was a crappy therapist, and I was totally ambivalent about the actress. I wonder if they'll replace her with another therapist, or if they'll just let Atlantis get along without one.
There were some good McShep moments to be had, though. John was a great cheerleader in Rodney's dream. It was so cute when Rodney yelled at him to help row and he did. I loved how Rodney thought there'd be more hot girls in John's dreams. The Flan did reasonably well as a psychopath for most of the ep, but he really came alive when he was in Sheppard's own dream. Poor Shep is really feeling responsible for all the losses the expedition has incurred recently. You could see how guilty he felt over the suffering his friends were enduring at the hands of an entity that looked like him. In his dream, the guilt manifested in such a way that he was literally beating himself up over his perceived failures. And then John and Rodney saved each other's lives again. ::contented sigh::
The final shot of the whole planet lighting up with glowing crystal entities was pretty cool and kind of ominous.
Maybe I was too spoiled for this ep, but I really thought I'd like it more than I did. It didn't suck, but I wasn't filled with squee either.
