#because Sheppard was there

[lightthewaybackhome]

Stargate-Atlantis S5: E1 Search and Rescue

Another just steller episode.

They don't watch the Simpsons or drink beer.

🤣

Sheppard and Ronon not going down without a fight.

Sheppard: it's been a pleasure.

Ronon: same.

😭

This episode starts with Ford accusing Sheppard of not saving him. Then when Sheppard is broken, bleeding, needing surgery, he insists on getting back out there to get Teyla because he's not letting another team member slip through his hands. Not like Ford, Carson, or Elizabeth. This stops now.

John is bleeding out while Teyla goes into labor. Ronon's gentleness with Teyla. Rodney's pleading look when he realizes he's being left with Teyla and the coming baby.

Ronon doesn't trust Kaanan. Teyla says she does and asks them to trust him. Sheppard steps forward. Sheppard who is great with kids, holding Teyla's baby and smiling.

Just some of the perfect moments highlighted.

Caldwell: Major Marks, please make that ship go away.

🤣

Teyla: I can't believe you attempted a rescue operation in your condition.

Sheppard: "Attempt"? Last time I checked, I succeeded.

Rofl. Such a male/female interaction.

This episode is so healing because the team wins and everyone gets home safe. Sheppard got a win. It ends a bit sadly with the loss of Sam. But they halted Michael.

Because Sheppard was there Teyla was rescued, Sam survived the fight, Ronon's sacrifices don't cost his life and he doesn't die with Todd, Rodney keeps going, and Keller is still healing people. All because Sheppard was there.

[runawaymarbles]

SGA Fic rec

I've never seen SGA but that's not going to stop me from making a rec list for it. Is the characterization accurate? who the hell knows. Not me. I'm just here for a good time.

These are not in any order whatsoever.

A Slightly Different Quality of Light by rageprufrock | M | 5k | John/Rodney

Rodney has to go through John's memories when he accidentally uploads them all to Atlantis servers.

Navigation by rageprufrock | M | 26k | John/Rodney

Trauma and therapy. Mind the warnings.

Whither by Daephraelle | 15k | T | John/Rodney

John learns Rodney has feelings for him and handles it completely responsibly and reasonably and ha ha ha ha jk

Oolon Colluphid Was Right by melannen | G | 1k | John/Rodney

Communication in pop culture references. Ask me about my translation.

Proof by Contradiction by astolat | E | 10k | John/Rodney

Sex pollen aftermath.

Friendly by Speranza | E | 6k | John/Rodney

Secret gay stargate network that John is left out of.

Sheppard's Law by Speranza | E | 40k | John/Rodney

Rodney time travels through John's life.

Kid A by Speranza | E | 8k | John/Rodney

John and Rodney are hooking up except John is definitely not gay about it no sir.

Just So Long and Long Enough by busaikko | T | 8k | John/Rodney

Dave Sheppard tries to send John care packages.

Weddings, Plural, and a Yak by Speranza | E | 18k | John/Rodney

John and Rodney keep getting married for convoluted reasons and it's funny until it isn't. Also Rodney adopts a chaos child. John is normal about it.

War Bride by Speranza | E | 9k | John/Rodney

John and Rodney have a weird dinner with Dave and his wife, then go to space and almost get ritualistically murdered. It's genuinely very sweet.

Ordinary Life by astolat, Speranza | E | 20k | John/Rodney

They get shore leave, go to Florida for one of Rodney's contracts, and things go about how you'd expect (people try to kill them.)

paper cranes (upstairs, downstairs) by verity | M | 18k | John/Rodney

Rodney stays at John's childhood home and is bad about opsec.

Decision Point by esteefee | M | 23k | John/Rodney

Rodney tries very hard to retire to Nevada and John tries very hard to go back to space.

Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending by Helenish | E | 15k | John/Rodney

Rodney tries to attract women by carrying around a baby, and there are some delightfully awkward conversations. And a sex temple.

My Home And Native Land by copperbadge | 17k | T | very very background Rodney/John

Ronan becomes friends with Chuck, and decides to become Canadian.

[bagheerita]

John, you are such a dork. Also, you can't just outsource all the hard questions to Teyla.

Bonus dork face:

[halestrom]

lyrics from love letters by odesza feat. the knocks

[stargatebarbie]

it's SO important to me that they play chess together. and that they play prime not prime, quiz eachother on tv & movies, play with rc cars, play virtual golf. but especially the chess

[stinalotte]

Season 5, Episode 6: The Shrine

I said I had to gather my thoughts before I would be able to write something coherent. I still don't know if I can do it justice. It's weird, but I hesitate to call The Shrine my favorite episode because it's so devastating. It's very shippy, it has phenomenal acting from everyone, the story is heartbreaking, it should be perfect - but it just hurts so much. If this is my favorite episode, what kind of masochist am I? (Don't answer that, that was rethorical.)

I'm placing this under a cut because this is gonna be long.

The cold open on this one is just brutal. Rodney is already pretty far gone, and he calls himself "Mr Rodney McKay" instead of Dr, because "doctors are smart, and he's not smart anymore". To know what's happening to you, to slowly lose your mental capabilities and to be able to still process what's happening, that's cruel. And then he's calling for John, and that's when I had to pause the video for the first time because the tears were already coming. The title sequence hadn't even started.

Fuck.

I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's a couple years ago. She had a slow and steady decline and thankfully, it was one of those cases where she just forgot more and more, but without the mental anguish. She wasn't panicking, or aggressive, or even agitated. Just a smiling, sweet old lady, who in the end didn't remember how to sit or eat or breathe. When she died, I couldn't cry. I was too busy consoling my mother and aunt at the funeral. The first time I cried was when I rewatched The Shrine, years later. It just shook something loose in me. It's also the point where I decided that if I ever got diagnosed, and was still in a state to do something about it, I would end my life on my terms. I'm not putting anyone through that.

I remember Kate Hewlett saying in an interview that a lot of people on set where crying during those scenes because they had family members with dementia, and that she had to leave the room at one point because it hit close to home for her too.

At first I thought it was mean that everyone was like, "Yeah I realized something was wrong when Rodney was being nice to everyone", but then I thought, no, that's actually a good point. Because his friends were uncomfortable with alternate universe Rod (who was too suave and cool) and they're uncomfortable with a Rodney who is uncharacteristically nice. They love him as he is, not a polished version.

I know everyone is giving Dr Keller shit for not wanting to try the Shrine, but I really think it's because she's a doctor. I work with doctors, and almost weekly I have discussions about respecting a patient's advanced directive. I've had a doctor wanting to install a gastric tube in a patient who was at the end of their life. We had the advanced directive that CLEARLY stated they didn't want that. When I confronted the doctor, she was almost angry. "But they will starve! I can't let them starve!" Yes, you can, and you will, and you have to. The hardest thing for a medical doctor is to have to sit back and not be allowed to do something that might help the patient. I think that where she's coming from. There are treatments to be tried, and if Rodney is taken to the Shrine, all those other options stop. I still think she was wrong and I don't like her approach, but I think it's an explanation why she was acting the way she was.

And then we have Rodney running to John's room in the middle of the night because of course that is the first and only place he'd go. It hurt to watch him be so frantic and desperate. And John is right there for him, grounding him, telling him, I'm not going anywhere.

Beer On The Pier. Yes, you have to write it like that because this scene is a fixed point in time and a goddamn cornerstone of this ship.

Rodney, knowing this is probably the last night he'll be this lucid, wants to say goodbye. And John doesn't let him. Because Rodney's stuck with him until the end. He's not going to turn away, no matter how ugly it's going to get. The very thought of saying goodbye is so foreign to John that he doesn't even want to discuss it. "That's final."

(Also, just for aesthetics alone, the night shots of the city are beautiful.)

I'm trying to be a bit less rambly, but what can you do when you have this masterpiece of an episode?

In the cave, when Rodney is intense pain, John has his arm around him the whole time and doesn't let go until he is himself again.

I love how everyone is so caring and surrounds him with love.

And ugh, the surgery - with fucking power tools. Barbaric. But necessary. But man, to hold your friend's head in your hands, holding him still, while a literal drill is going into his skull? I'd have passed out.

The only tiny little thing that was a bit jarring was Rodney's confession to Jennifer at the end, and just because for me, it came a bit out of left field. But I am nothing if not good at ignoring things that I don't like, so I'll just refer to fanfics that fix this. No harm done.

And finally.

David Ian Hewlett.

Holy fuck, dude.

HOW are you not buried under a shitload of Emmys? How is there not a whole wing of your house dedicated to housing the tons of awards you should have gotten for this? (I know he did get quite a few, but I'm talking custom built shelves in at least four rooms. Minimum.)

Everyone brought their A game acting wise, but this guy knocked it out of the park. It was heartbreaking, moving, extremely believable, and just jaw-dropping. David is, in my opinion, one of the best, if not the best actor of the franchise, and I don't say that lightly. I have a massive crush on Joe Flanigan and he's great, same with Amanda Tapping, but David is just fantastic.

So yeah. There you have it. My very concise, totally normal opinion of this episode. I doubt anyone reads all of this, but hey, this is my tumblr and I do what I want.

If you did indeed sit through all of this, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to tag or reply or add stuff.

[ants-personal]

this is ranson to me

[mushroom-through-the-stargate]

i love how rodney keeps calling john "kirk" when hes very clearly tom paris

[sga-mcshep-4ever]

"I'm sorry, perhaps I'm not being clear. Nothing works here, not their stunners, their darts…even their shields wouldn't function correctly. I mean, why would they risk their advantage when there's a smorgasbord through some other stargate?" "Our guns still work, though, right?" "Because they're relatively primitive. They don't generate an EM field." "We must tell them." "Not before I've had a chance to look at those ruins, we don't. They're sacrificing themselves for no reason." "What are we going to tell them, Teyla? "Listen, kiddies, everything you believe to be true is wrong, "and trust us, because we've been here for almost an hour."" "We've talked it over. You can stay until you've fixed your ship, but you must work quickly. You being here makes our people…uncomfortable." "It's fair enough. We'll work as quickly as we can." "There may have been something in the ruins where you picked us up that…caused us to lose control of our ship." "They should be watched at all times." "Aries—" "No, that's…fine. Totally understandable." "I'll choose two of the villagers to keep an eye on you."

[this-man-is-my-friend]

General Landry says "Chemistry doesn't happen over night" and John looks SO offended because that's basically how he chose ALL his team members; vibes

[sga-owns-my-soul]

John stared at Wallace, the man responsible for all of this. The man who kidnapped McKay's sister, the man who kidnapped McKay, the man who risked Jeannie's life to fix his own selfish mistake.

He felt no sympathy.

[lightthewaybackhome]

Stargate-Atlantis S4: E20 The Last Man

Just started this episode, and I'm crying already.

To begin, we have Sheppard assuring Lorne that they will find Teyla. This is so endearing because she was taken on Lorne's watch. Then Sheppard gets to Atlantis and queue the tears. This man who has done everything, even soul-damaging things, for his people comes home to a dead and broken Atlantis.

Kolya called Sheppard an extraordinary soldier. Things didn't go well for Atlantis after he went missing. Because Sheppard wasn't there Teyla wasn't rescued, Sam died fighting, Ronon and Todd sacrificed themselves, Rodney quit, and Keller got sick and died. All because Sheppard wasn't there.

We buried another empty casket.

😭😭😭

I love that Lorne was the last one left of Rodney's friends at Stargate command. And he lets Rodney go.

The message of this episode: We don't leave our people behind even if they go 48,000 years, give or take, into the future.

What I adore about this episode: From the start, I've said that Sheppard and Rodney are mirrors of each other, that at their core, they'll do anything to save their people. This episode showcases that. On one side, you have all the horror and death because Sheppard isn't there. On the other, you have Rodney willingly changing the timeline in order to save Sheppard and everyone else. It's beautiful and I adore it.

[sheppardsmckay]

And we buried another empty casket.

Whumptober2023

No. 6: “Do or die, you’ll never make me; Because the world will never take my heart.”

[behold-the-daybreak]

i will say i've talked about rodney a lot in recent days but i need the record to show that i would also climb sheppard like a tree. everyone in pegasus knows that man's pretty and quite frankly i agree

[idledreams4]

@risingphoenix761 and @walkingaline y'all convinced me to go see what else he's in

Some of these movies look really interesting, gonna check em out later

(This question isn't necessarily for either of you btw)

I do know Walker: Independence is a prequel, but do I have to watch Walker? I know theoretically I shouldn't, it's a prequel, but are there going to be things that don't make sense if I just start with Independence? Cause it sounds interesting, but idk if I can make myself sit through an entirely separate show just to give context to the one I actually want to watch lol

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

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