SGA: Whispers

[lunabee34]

Oh, SGA. Why, why, why when we are counting down to your demise must you be made so wholly of FAIL?!



I will begin with the scant handful (it's like breadcrumbs!) of things I did like:

1. I liked the horror movie ambience--the camera angles and shots, the cuts between scenes, the lighting, the faux zombies. I almost thought I was watching an episode of SPN. Michael's creations were genuinely creepy and cool looking. I also like that the spooky mist had a natural, biological explanation.

2. All female team!

3. I like that Carson's the one running willy nilly through the woods, falling on his ass and needing to be rescued. That was the only nice bit of subversion in this episode.

And now for the dumbassery:

1. I adore Carson. Adore. I was so excited to have him again in an episode, and yet his appearance is so stupid. We get ten seconds of dialogue at the beginning letting us know he's leaving because of his guilt over the Hoffan drug (that's actually interesting and full of character development; why can't we get an episode with the expedition members angsting over the ramifications of their decisions; why is that thrown over for a lame one-off episode in which NOTHING WHATSOEVER OF CONSEQUENCE HAPPENS?) and then he's off again at the episode's end. Lame. Lame. Lame. They could have done a single episode with Carson in which he felt integrated into the story, in which his appearance had meaning, and which advanced the overall story arc of the show. But did not.

2. Crazy Exposition Dude who wanders out of the wood to begin rote recitation of The Tale of the Vampyres the evil that has befallen the village.

3. All female team! The one team member we've seen before bites the dust and another is every cliche of testosterone driven macho-ry TPTB could squeeze into a fifty minute script. How very nuanced and unexpected. And I'm sure we'll never see any of these surviving women again. Because that would involve, you know, character development.

4. WTF, John Sheppard?!? Why are you non-plussed at the all-female team? Don't you, as military commander of Atlantis, you know, SIGN OFF ON ALL THE TEAMS? Are we to believe you are sending people off world you've never met in any capacity? Or are we simply to conclude that you are a jackass? I like John Sheppard, I do. I really, really do. Sometimes he is awkward in a way I find uncomfortable rather than endearing (and that started in season 4 for me), but he has not pinged me as sexist until this episode. Sheppard's plan is stupid and Telby has legitimate concerns that he just overrides. Shut up, woman! Let's blow some shit up. *sigh* And what was up with that "prom queen and kid in wheelchairs" line? Is that some pop culture reference I missed out on because I wasn't allowed to watch TV in the 80s?

5. Finally, why does Carson run out into the fray like a dumbass? He's no shrinking violet but he's not a soldier and he has no reason to go out there. Is he trying to prove something to Alison? If so, what? That breeding with him is likely to produce children of epically stupid proportions? Way to pick a chick up there, C-Dawg.


In conclusion, SGA, please go back to not sucking.

Comments

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

I know. sigh. I was going to post about how I was BORED, BORED, BORED by this episode (but then I didn't because I was bored), because it featured a team we've never met before and will likely never see again, and I couldn't make myself care about them in danger. It it had been SGA-1 in that situation, I would have actually *cared* if the monsters got them. As it was, I only watched for John, even though he was acting like a dumbass in this ep, as you pointed out.

Carson didn't even figure in. He was totally lame. The Spouse said something insightful--he said that the actor wasn't even playing him as Carson, but as Carson's clone. I'm completely willing to buy that, because everything I disliked about Carson was ramped up to the max, and everything that I liked about him was missing here....

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

BORED is a good word for it.

To be perfectly honest, I almost always enjoy SGA. In almost five complete seasons of viewing there's only been one or two previous episodes I just thought were so lame that I'd never want to watch them again. The eps are almost always entertaining (to me) and quite often really, really well done. Whispers has become the new "Conversion" and at least I could *laugh* at that episode.

Ooooh, insightful Spouse. I can actually see why PG might want to play it that way. *muses*

[lyr]

Oh, I know. It was a pretty cliched horror movie rip-off most of the time. I did like having an all-female team, but I was deeply annoyed that they had to make a big thing out of it; it ought to just go unremarked, because who'd be shocked seeing an all-male team? And, like you, it really bothered me that Sheppard was all non-plussed and surprised about it. That was not only offensive, it made no sense at all. Plus, we'll probably never see that team again, and I'd really like to.

As for Carson, wow, he was awkwardly written from start to finish. Poor dude.

And we'd seen Captain Vega before? I didn't remember her.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure she's the chick in the episode where everybody's trapped from the fall-out in Michael's lab who takes out a shoulder gun thingie and starts shooting at Wraith Darts. But maybe not. I could be wrong.

[lyr]

Oh yes, she might be. I remember that soldier, but I don't remember her face clearly enough to be sure.

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

but I was deeply annoyed that they had to make a big thing out of it; it ought to just go unremarked

Yes, exactly. YES.

And, like you, it really bothered me that Sheppard was all non-plussed and surprised about it.

Inexplicable and idiotic. Also the 'score!' hand bump between Beckett and Sheppard made me want to punch them both in the faces. Unprofessional and sexist.

Smack him Teyla

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

Also the 'score!' hand bump between Beckett and Sheppard made me want to punch them both in the faces. Unprofessional and sexist.

OMG, I didn't even SEE that! What was I doing at that moment?

Re: Smack him Teyla

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

You were luckily looking away, so you didn't have to feel the subsequent rage!

[lyr]

the 'score!' hand bump between Beckett and Sheppard made me want to punch them both in the faces

Oh, I know! I have never wanted to break either of their noses quite so much before.

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

I have never wanted to break either of their noses quite so much before.

It pretty much just sickened me. So offensive.

[ana-grrl.livejournal.com]

I will begin with the scant handful (it's like breadcrumbs!)

See, I kind of feel like this whole episode was an attempt to throw breadcrumbs at the female audience of Stargate. Like the writers were thinking, "Oh, yeah, we'll make a girl team, and them ladies watching it will be all excited and stuff. See! We're progressive, right?" And then they totally fucked it up because it wasn't really about trying to be progressive, but instead about Sheppard and Beckett getting to show off how manly their are, and also Beckett getting laid. Sucktastic. It also shows that, once again, the writers seem to have little in the way of any sense how to handle strong female characters. Sadly, I wasn't surprised.

I agree that I doubt we'll be seeing any of the remaining team again.

Also, I loathed the hand bump in a way that I can't even begin to articulate.

Sometimes he is awkward in a way I find uncomfortable rather than endearing

Sometimes he is awkward in a way that makes me think he's a total jerk.

Sheppard's plan is stupid and Telby has legitimate concerns that he just overrides. Shut up, woman! Let's blow some shit up

I still can't believe he told them to go away and "sit tight", not once, but twice. Nice, Sheppard. These aren't someones doddering aunts (or uncles), you know.

Finally, why does Carson run out into the fray like a dumbass?

Apparently because he's so manly and has no sense.

Crazy Exposition Dude who wanders out of the wood

The suspense would have been so much more intense had the situation slowly unfolded, you know? I get annoyed by convenient villagers showing up to explain it all to us.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

This *could* have been a genuinely creepy and intense episode. It had all the set up to make it so. But it was all wasted. Wasted.

Phil is not amused.

I am never watching this episode again. Ever. As far as I'm concerned it did not happen.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

I just nodded glumly along, but this, this made me guffaw at the end:

Way to pick a chick up there, C-Dawg.

Srsly, Lorraine.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

I calls em how I sees em.

LOL