There's also the fact that the whole ep seems a narrative setup to allow Rodney some kind of character growth, realizing he would die for his sister. Like he had never thought about love and family already? Letters from Pegasus, no, Rodney and Mrs Miller, no, nothing, he never reflected on these topics before, huh? I find this part of it pretty contrived
Well, I do not deny that the plot was obviously a contrivance to push along the emotional issues, and while it would be cool if they were a lot better at hiding that than they are, I'm generally happy enough to have an episode that *has* emotional issues, or you know, emotions, or people interacting with other people in any human way at all. So by my lowered standards for this show, Good Things happened.
It strikes me as funny that you think of this episode as covering the same ground as the other two you mention, because it seems to me very much like they each build on top of each other in a nice way. Like, okay, you have "Letters from Pegasus," where he has this revelation that maybe it kind of sucks and isn't just fine that he's estranged from his sister, and he makes this small gesture by filming himself saying, I think it would be cool if we weren't estranged anymore. And then he doesn't send it. Once he's not about to die anymore, that moment kind of recedes, and he doesn't contact her even when they have the technical ability to do so. It just gets pushed off, down to the bottom of a long list of better things he has to do, including play video games with his friends. So then you move on to "McKay and Mrs. M," where he's strongarmed by Sam into contacting her because they need something, and he does it and makes a huge hash of the job, and then he has this revelation from the Ghost of Christmas Past about how he actually does not have to be this way and is, in fact, totally capable of being in Jeannie's life and part of her family. And he sort of likes that idea, and he takes this step toward it by being open to it. The reason "Are you okay? Are you happy?" is the emotional kick of the episode is that the turning point is Rodney taking this small risk of being able to say, hey, I would like to be someone you could maybe have a conversation with, I would like to regain a little of our lost trust so that it wouldn't feel so scary to just make a phone call. It's not a huge thing, except by the standards of how bad things have gotten for them up to that point. Going from that to "Miller's Crossing" and being willing to lay down his life for her -- hell, if anything it felt too fast to me, not repetitive. We don't even know that he followed through this time, that he's been capable of firing off an e-mail just to check up with her when he isn't (strongarmed, again) in need of something tangible.
I think the overall arc of Rodney and Jeannie's relationship is realistic in that it doesn't matter that he's "thought about" love and family in the past. There's still a process of having to build a relationship with somebody, a process you particularly have to go through when you're *re*-building a relationship you've already damaged, and I think it's cool to see Rodney at different stages of that process: noticing that it's something that should happen, making an overture toward it happening, recognizing that it's not something he's willing to go back to living without. I definitely think each episode gives us that next thing that we need to see to believe this is a job Rodney really can do.
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Well, I do not deny that the plot was obviously a contrivance to push along the emotional issues, and while it would be cool if they were a lot better at hiding that than they are, I'm generally happy enough to have an episode that *has* emotional issues, or you know, emotions, or people interacting with other people in any human way at all. So by my lowered standards for this show, Good Things happened.
It strikes me as funny that you think of this episode as covering the same ground as the other two you mention, because it seems to me very much like they each build on top of each other in a nice way. Like, okay, you have "Letters from Pegasus," where he has this revelation that maybe it kind of sucks and isn't just fine that he's estranged from his sister, and he makes this small gesture by filming himself saying, I think it would be cool if we weren't estranged anymore. And then he doesn't send it. Once he's not about to die anymore, that moment kind of recedes, and he doesn't contact her even when they have the technical ability to do so. It just gets pushed off, down to the bottom of a long list of better things he has to do, including play video games with his friends. So then you move on to "McKay and Mrs. M," where he's strongarmed by Sam into contacting her because they need something, and he does it and makes a huge hash of the job, and then he has this revelation from the Ghost of Christmas Past about how he actually does not have to be this way and is, in fact, totally capable of being in Jeannie's life and part of her family. And he sort of likes that idea, and he takes this step toward it by being open to it. The reason "Are you okay? Are you happy?" is the emotional kick of the episode is that the turning point is Rodney taking this small risk of being able to say, hey, I would like to be someone you could maybe have a conversation with, I would like to regain a little of our lost trust so that it wouldn't feel so scary to just make a phone call. It's not a huge thing, except by the standards of how bad things have gotten for them up to that point. Going from that to "Miller's Crossing" and being willing to lay down his life for her -- hell, if anything it felt too fast to me, not repetitive. We don't even know that he followed through this time, that he's been capable of firing off an e-mail just to check up with her when he isn't (strongarmed, again) in need of something tangible.
I think the overall arc of Rodney and Jeannie's relationship is realistic in that it doesn't matter that he's "thought about" love and family in the past. There's still a process of having to build a relationship with somebody, a process you particularly have to go through when you're *re*-building a relationship you've already damaged, and I think it's cool to see Rodney at different stages of that process: noticing that it's something that should happen, making an overture toward it happening, recognizing that it's not something he's willing to go back to living without. I definitely think each episode gives us that next thing that we need to see to believe this is a job Rodney really can do.