SGA and how not to defeat a villain

[annavere]

Season three continues to be pretty great.... except it has this weird hangup with Lucius, the creepy sitcom roofie guy, who reappears, getting a whole second episode dedicated to his "hijinks." Being less revolting, I did watch this outing all the way through and was "rewarded" by this being the episode which wraps up the ferocious feud between Sheppard and this show's most effective recurring human villain.

Concluding a multi-episode high stakes arc with an episode in which he felt like an afterthought.

It was a lot like if Xavier St. Cloud showed up and was beheaded during 'The Ransom of Richard Redstone.'

Or if Buffy staked Drusilla during the last three minutes of 'Go Fish.'

It's just fundamentally unsatisfying to me.

Comments

[havocthecat]

Season three was...fundamentally unsatisfying on so many levels. I wanted to love it the way I loved seasons 1 and 2 but some of that spark was missing (and they used it to blow the roof off late in the season).

I don't care how much you enjoy Richard Kind, that role was hideous and should never have been written in that way. And Kolya should never have been brought back after the last episode he was in, which was so good. Let him go out on a high note. I don't care how much you like Robert Davi!

[annavere]

Yes, Kolya was an excellent villain, and having his defeat be buried at the end of this thoroughly subpar outing was just awful. I was pretty much "That did not just happen!" And 'Common Ground' had been so dark, I'm stunned they chose to go this route. His character would have been better served by being an actual dropped plot thread.

I've mostly been really enjoying season three, because the Atlantis team feel more like a fire-forged family to me by this point. I'm dreading the cast shakeup. :(

[havocthecat]

Common Ground was amazing. They could have just had a flash of Todd advancing on him and let that be that, or just let him be off someplace falling prey to one of Pegasus' myriad problems, you know?

But the first Lucius episode was really when a lot of s3 started falling apart for me and Sunday is when it all starts really going to shit. (Though Submersion is an amazing episode.) I firmly believe that episode ended differently.

I've mostly been really enjoying season three, because the Atlantis team feel more like a fire-forged family to me by this point.

The fire-forged family aspect is what I really love about Atlantis and after s4 begins and the utterly horrifying things that happen in quick succession (which I will rant about after Lifeline and Doppelganger), I dropped that show like a hot fucking potato.

It'd be like if they'd ever killed Methos or Amanda on top of what they pulled with Richie (or tried to, because Clan Denial forever)

[annavere]

Well, I've only got three more episodes to go before 'Sunday' - in all likelihood I will get many more posts out of this show. At least I'll have someone to share my pain!

I'm pinning a lot of hopes on good fanfiction afterwards, but having had a glance I can already see myself being massively out of step with the fandom because the juggernaut ship is Sheppard/McKay and that does nothing for me.

[havocthecat]

You have many people who share your pain, trust me. And whenever you would like to join us, I am happy to extend your invitation to that discord I mentioned! I just mentioned on there that "someone I know" is watching SGA for the first time and is 3 eps from Sunday because I need sympathy from just being adjacent to this!

I have so many non-McShep recs, pre and post AO3, because it just doesn't do it for me either. I just don't track what spoils what by now, so I'm waiting to lay them on you.

BTW, I reported your "fire-forged family" comment on the Elizabeth/John discord and a couple of us are very into it, and I'm hoping to get a mid-year round of s3/s4 fix-it fic recs so I can share other people's recs with you.

[annavere]

I am eagerly looking forward to all of all those things and am watching the show at the fastest pace I can manage. :)

Which means I am now one and a half episodes from 'Sunday.' :(

[havocthecat]

May Carson's wee baby turtles defend you!