Aquarium 2.14 -- Grace Under Pressure commentary

[hth]

So, hey. That’s a lot of Rodney! And, uh, not so much with the anyone who’s not Rodney! So, for those of you who really like SGA except that you think it should have a lot more Rodney in it (and I realize that’s about 96.5% of you), this is totally your episode.

Oh, fucking dammit. It’s brilliant. I mean, obviously, the whole episode is brilliant. Righteous...indignation...ebbing! Can’t stop...enjoying...experience...!

So this is Grace Under Pressure, and it is not stupid and it is not an ill-concealed Star Trek rip-off, and it is in fact well-written and well-acted and suspenseful and deeply character-driven, and we hates them forever for proving they are capable of this kind of thing and they just never actually *do* it. Except maybe once every couple of years. For Hewlett. Whom, you know, I love, I do love, but he’s one of (*counts quietly on fingers*) TWO characters on this show that aren’t ridiculously under-used and under-developed, and why why why can’t TPTB lavish this kind of love on somebody else once in a while?

All right. On to Grace Under Pressure. Which is (grumble snorfle bitter) a really fucking good episode.

Okay, McKay + Griffin = LOVE FOREVER. There is nothing about this scene I don’t love. Here’s my theory, and I doubt it’s new or original, but I present it to you anyway: all action shows balance off action with at least one contrasting element, just because you can’t sustain a fever-pitch of intensity all the time – there have to be certain moods, qualities, interests, whatever that you create during your downtime. Some of these genre shows like to be Action+Thinky, like Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. Atlantis is not one of those shows. Atlantis is Action+Funny. That’s what they seem to like to do, and God knows it’s the sole thing they seem able to do very well. This means that characters who don’t have a humorous element to them are in some ways only kind of on the show at all; they feel outside the structure of it. Not to be reductionist, but I wonder if their vaunted inability to write well for their female characters is essentially not knowing what to do with female humor – Elizabeth and Teyla are constantly relegated to being the straight-man (no pun intended) for their wittier male colleagues, which means that however much they participate in the big plotlines, they’ll always be only half on the show at all. I think this got thrown into relief for me with Critical Mass, where I think Cadman was the most appealing character in the episode: she got to be amusing *and* do something useful, and that kind of creates the whole Atlantis Experience, making me feel satisfied with the character. Likewise with Griffin; he only gets a few minutes before he’s all Gallified, but they use those few minutes to establish his “reality” by making him A) good at his job and able to do something that matters, and 2) funny. That’s the formula. I think there’s a fear among the writers that if they make their Women in Leadership Roles funny, people won’t respect them (which is odd, since they fully expect us to respect Sheppard, who’s a lot funnier than he is competent) – at one point I would’ve said they can’t hack writing female humor, but I think Cadman and Novik are both pretty successful, so I’m back to some sense that they avoid it deliberately to prove how Strong both Elizabeth and Teyla are. Elizabeth’s character, IMO, suffers tremendously, almost fatally for it; Teyla fares slightly better, and for that I credit Rachel, who has that gift for adding a sense that her character is amused by the world around her and in on the jokes – she reminds me of the way Gillian played Scully in that sense. Torri doesn’t in general seem to be able to do that, and I’m sorry the writers are so stubborn about this issue, because every single time I see Torri do commentary or whatnot, she strikes me as a hysterically funny person; I wish, rather than cleaving to this unbearably dull pre-conceived notion of the Strong Woman, they would do with her what they apparently do with David and Joe and let her actual personality influence the way her character gets written. I mean, she’s the second lead: should she really be less engaging than three minutes of Griffin?

It seems a damn shame to spend my Heather Hearts McKay moment this early in an all-McKay, all-the-time episode, but there it was: “Oh, yes, OF THE BARCELONA MCKAYS.” Can’t fight it. That was definitely it.

Zelenka! You know, I’m sure other people will be all McSheppy about this episode, but for my money, this was the McKay/Zelenka Episode of Lurve. He sounds so drawn and tired, and I can just *picture* him sitting there for *an hour* calling for Rodney over and over, worn down but not giving up on getting a signal through!

I love how Rodney really cares about science, right up until he’s in danger. Like in Hot Zone, where Carson is like, “Hey, why would it kill some people and not others?” and Rodney’s all, “Screw that, I’m one of the not others! Who gives a damn?” And here it is again, with Zelenka being like, “These Jumpers, they can really do a lot of stuff!” and Rodney saying “not so keen on setting any records,” in that tone of if you don’t quit fucking around and get me out of here, you will never get another blowjob again, ever. I mean...that was the tone, right?

And then – mmm, Gall-tastic! Man, people just keep dying to save McKay, don’t they? There may not be enough therapy in the world.

Although clearly he’s already had some therapy, from his ability to visualize his safe space. Okay, corollary to the above: there’s not enough *money* in the world to make me want to be Rodney’s therapist.

What with the talking to himself and giving himself orders, the early part of this ep reminds me of the early part of Epiphany. Though I think it’s kind of funny that McKay’s orders are “prioritize!” and Sheppard’s are “don’t shoot yourself in the foot!” I guess we all set the bar where we feel comfortable with it.

I adore that he’s yelling at machinery. I can’t remember seeing him do that before; I think in general he’s too much of a rationalist and he probably makes fun of people who think that computers can hear them when they talk. I would put this down to either the head wound or the panic, but it’s a nice, non-jarring way to show that he’s not functioning like he normally does, before things get really weird. Also, I just kind of want to read a whole story about his feelings about the Jumpers, because I think if you’re going to personify *anything,* that’s where you’d start, and anyway he hangs out with Sheppard – and given that, are the Jumpers Rodney’s bothersome in-laws or the hot secretaries at the office that he keeps worrying about Sheppard working late with? Discuss.

Peter Jackson’s lasting contribution to the history of cinematography: crazy people can now be indicated as crazy by use of the Gollum-shot. Poor Smeagol!

I think it’s interesting that Sheppard makes a point of telling Elizabeth everybody’s names as he explains his plans. That just seems very Sheppard somehow; most people I think would be like “we have this giant cable, see,” instead of “Drs. Moore and McNab have kindly offered to let me use this giant cable they brought.” Sheppard is such a natural coalition-builder that even when he’s on a deadline and scurrying around, it’s just his nature to point out that whatever he’s doing is a team effort.

Why does Elizabeth have to be bugged in order to approve trying out the Jumpers underwater? Isn’t that, you know, science and exploration and exactly the point of the entire mission? Also, wouldn’t it just be handy to have some specs, in case a Jumper should, oh, unexpectedly crash and sink under the sea? Is this related to the reason they’re always busting their asses to trade for beans and potatoes, and we never see them eating seafood?

But now we have a sea monster, so at least we have proof that Atlantis isn’t actually floating in a giant chlorinated pool.

The only thing I fear about Sam’s role in this episode – which overall is delightful – is that people will fall into the trap of thinking of her as somehow speaking for Rodney’s real self, or his better self, or the more-true layer of his thoughts. When actually, what I think is fascinating about this episode is not that we get a chance to see the “real” McKay, but that McKay is such a profoundly divided personality, and that relies on seeing both his dialogue and Sam’s as “really” representative of him. He *really* knows she’s outsmarted him over and over, but at the same time he’s *really* convinced he’s smarter. He *really* trusts his friends, but at the same time he *really* doesn’t. It’s a mess in there, and I think that makes him much more fascinating than if he maintained this crusty exterior/loving heart schtick that would emerge if you saw the Rodney-lines as ego and the Sam-lines as id.

It gets even better in psychosexual terms: he *really* wants the companionship of someone whom he respects and someone who can rein him in when he’s making mistakes (someone like, oh, Zelenka), but at the same time he *really* wants someone who is adoring, complimentary, and if not slutty, then certainly clearly available to him, probably in emotional and sexual terms both (someone like Katie Brown). In a sense, his arguments with Sam about their relationship aren’t just about which of the options he prefers – I mean, they are, but the fact that he’s fixated on Sam at all, who is both smart/competent/willing to stand up to him and also this sort of inherently sweet-natured person who’s always kind of played Mary Richards on her own show and been supportive of her guys, I think indicates a kind of half-assed attempt to resolve this conflict on his own part. He may see her as the only chance he’ll ever have to combine the two women he wants into one package. (This reading of his character is potentially challenging to McShep shippers, since Sheppard is in *no* sense available and would never be caught dead bolstering McKay’s sense of importance. However, the course of true love never did run smooth. And it is intriguing if you’re a McKay/Zelenka or McKay/Beckett shipper, since both of those characters do sort of combine their fellow-genius aspects with personalities that are somewhat geared toward being caretakers/support systems.)

This episode is *so good* that I even enjoy a moment of Elizabeth, that’s how good it is. After Sheppard cuts her off with his “of course it’s an order, shut up!” she gives him this fantastic look, like, “Would you shut up a second, you stupid boy? I’m trying to be emotionally manipulative over here!” I mean, *clearly* she has no intention either of letting Zelenka opt out of this, but she’s trying to be fucking subtle about it, thanks.

You have to give Rodney credit: even though he thinks they’re planning his memorial service, he gives no indication that he thinks they’re *unwilling* to rescue him, only unable to do so. This puts him one up on Sheppard, and don’t you think somebody should tell Sheppard that? If being less emotionally stable than Rodney McKay doesn’t make you want to get help....

I like the way she looks down at herself when he accuses her of being in no way dressed provocatively. That’s either “really, what am I wearing? I hadn’t noticed,” or it’s “are you kidding me? I’ve got breasts all over the place, here!” Because, you know, women’s idea of “dressed provocatively” is often somewhat different than men’s: she probably would think that showing up to work with cleavage counts as provocative, while Rodney’s thinking about something more in the French maid/naughty schoolgirl family.

See, it’s not only Rodney who can’t work while John is yammering at him.

Isn’t it just the height of ironic that he’s in this mess at all because *one* time he agreed to do a favor for a friend? You know that normally Rodney doesn’t pick up other people’s jobs, because he believes he’s so irreplaceable (and he may be right, I don’t know) that they can’t possibly cover for him in exchange. By that logic, everything that was assigned to someone else that McKay is doing instead is wasted time where his own, much more difficult work goes unworked-on. This would offend both McKay’s self-importance and his pragmatism, so it must have been a big deal for him to agree to this at all. The only reason I can think of for him to have agreed to it (short of some kind of blackmail goods Zelenka’s got on him that we don’t know about) is that he quite simply likes Zelenka and was willing to go out of his way because Zelenka seemed genuinely upset and he was moved to help. And look how the universe repays his generosity! This can’t be good for McKay’s moral development.

It’s nice to know that Sheppard’s Czech is getting better. I mean, Satedans, Athosians, Wraith, and Genii are one thing, but you can’t expect *everyone* to speak English all the time just because you do. That’s the kind of thing that gives Americans a bad reputation.

You can tell when an episode is working when you’re a step ahead of the plotline and it makes you feel *smart* instead of surrounded by stupid people. As soon as Sheppard says, “hey, buddy, just open the door!” I knew McKay was going to be afraid it was another hallucination, and there would be this final showdown between his trust and his fear – and in a lesser episode, this would have made me all like, blah blah, saw *this* coming. But because they amazingly haven’t been morons yet today and the writers are coming across as particularly competent, it feels not predictable but necessary, like you can see it coming because it’s the absolute perfectly correct thing to happen next.

I feel like I haven’t said much of anything that’s terribly useful or interesting. I have learned, for my own part, that bad episodes are much easier to comment on than good episodes; with good episodes, I mostly sit here going, that was clever, that was cool, hey, I liked that, good job there! Thank God I don’t have to worry about having this problem a lot with my show. Helloooo, Tower; I’m looking at *you,* pal.