Elizabeth Weir thoughts
May. 20th, 2024 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereSo... 'Adrift' and 'Lifeline.'
And 'Reunion.' Really, that's the episode I find actually upsetting.
'Adrift,' the season four opener, kicked serious ass. For all the alien menaces running around, it's never so fun as when the problems to be solved are technical, and this was a masterpiece of "yes, but" storytelling. The city itself is a goldmine of problem solving opportunities and they put that to one crazy test after another, and I was riveted as a result.
Meanwhile, what happened to Elizabeth paved the way for some great emotional content. Ronon being so sweet and sincere when they're stuck in the medical wing together, even though he's been told she can't hear him. Plus the intense emotions during McKay and Sheppard's fight over extreme medical intervention for Elizabeth's sake. Both actors really went for it, to the extent it hurt to watch.
And then 'Lifeline.' This had some aggravating plot points involving the crew pulling a successful heist and then deciding to throw in a second, risking themselves and Atlantis and causing the situation where Elizabeth gets left behind, all to turn on a command code that they ought to be genre-savvy enough to leave alone because the replicators are a machine and they might decide to exterminate the Wraith by Extreme Measures which would render the galaxy uninhabitable by humans (because they obviously do not have a Protect Humanity command code to go with it). So, not a fan of that, or of the characters being shocked the replicators would "sacrifice" themselves into a forcefield. Of course they would. They are a hive. It's in the name, for god's sake.
So the episode has the feel of artificial manipulation to reach a goal of leaving Elizabeth behind. However, that particular point doesn't necessarily bother me, depending on how it's handled going forward (ahem, 'Reunion,' how I hate thee) because all of our heroes have shown a willingness to sacrifice themselves if it means saving the team. Of course she would make that decision, and the result could be interesting in so many ways (except the way the showrunners decided to go with it, I guess).
Elizabeth has become functionally immortal. Yes, the replicators will want to assimilate or kill her, but wait a second, they were introduced with a burning desire to Ascend, and are prevented by the lack of souls. But Elizabeth is human, so might the nanites which have fused with Elizabeth decide to leave her intact in case they can achieve Ascension through her? She could put that argument forward and thus have access to, yet separation from, the replicator hive, which, coupled with her strong will (she's part-replicator for one day and successfully screws with Oberoth, so who knows what might happen when she gets her sea legs, as it were) might lead to some kind of "break them from within" plot.
Then there's the Atlantis team, trying to rescue her, because they don't leave their people behind. Sheppard doing that scary one-man army thing he does so well. McKay, who would blame himself (and might well be blamed by others), going above and beyond to find some method to get her back. And of course this would tie in spectacularly with last season where the team united and went against the military to save Atlantis (consequent court-martialing never brought up), as they would have to defy orders from the I.O.A and whoever else, while Sam steps in to try and govern the ungovernable, an unenviable position she doesn't want, and with her career on the line if she can't keep a lid on things. Her relentlessly upbeat demeanor throughout 'Reunion' just screams "I'm coping with a really sucky situation here and I don't blame these guys for resenting me," and leaning into that would be great.
And when Elizabeth does get back, surely there's gonna be some problems of trust considering she's not entirely human anymore. It also puts her a lot closer to literal goddess-tier, which ties back to her sacrifices and exceptionally long lifespan in the original timeline.
And that's just stuff from the top of my head. Intense drama, interesting plotlines, characters and their relationships being tested and redefined. This also shows how much fanfic has altered my reaction to canon, because all I really see is framework. 'Lifeline' feels like a launchpad in a way 'Sunday' did not, because there's a lot of interesting ways to work with the events depicted, and consequently, I more or less enjoyed the episode even with its contrived feeling.
There's just one problem. They wrote out Elizabeth Weir. Torri Higginson is no longer in the opening credits, and they did it in such an open-ended way, it would take some fancy footwork to make sure the remaining cast feel in character going forward. Still, surely it could be done with a little finesse, recognizing the gravity of the situation, offering a time skip and a bitter scene about how they tried like hell to locate her and have finally had to face the idea that she did not survive and are broken but have to carry on. That would be acceptable within the parameters of whatever the hell happened behind the scenes.
Instead, 'Reunion' rolls in with.... a scene-long joke about Rodney being all gleeful about getting promoted to Elizabeth's role and then getting undercut by the "it's Sam!" reveal. Way to make Rodney McKay look like a fucking sociopath, you jackasses. I have low-key loved the McKay&Weir dynamic from the first, the way McKay never undercut her authority and always supported her as leader and despite being catastrophically poor at interpersonal behavior, always treating her really decently - like these two have a long history as coworkers, and Elizabeth knows him well and knows when to trust him and when to rein him back in. The last thing I would ever have pictured was a gleeful Rodney McKay lusting over Weir's job now that she's off possibly being tortured by the replicators, the fuck.
And the I.O.A. have laid down the law and Sheppard listened to them? From the first episode, the Atlantis team don't leave their people behind. This is Sheppard's defining trait, what got him in trouble before the show started, but now he listens to a bunch of bureaucrats? When it's Elizabeth (who is, if nothing else, his boss to whom he has demonstrated endless loyalty)? Worse, they have a grace period on a hidden planet - they are not under siege, the command code worked despite my pessimism, and their enemies are busily killing each other. There will never be a better time to mount a rescue operation, so who are all these pod people?
Ronon was the only part of this episode which did not suck.
And 'Reunion.' Really, that's the episode I find actually upsetting.
'Adrift,' the season four opener, kicked serious ass. For all the alien menaces running around, it's never so fun as when the problems to be solved are technical, and this was a masterpiece of "yes, but" storytelling. The city itself is a goldmine of problem solving opportunities and they put that to one crazy test after another, and I was riveted as a result.
Meanwhile, what happened to Elizabeth paved the way for some great emotional content. Ronon being so sweet and sincere when they're stuck in the medical wing together, even though he's been told she can't hear him. Plus the intense emotions during McKay and Sheppard's fight over extreme medical intervention for Elizabeth's sake. Both actors really went for it, to the extent it hurt to watch.
And then 'Lifeline.' This had some aggravating plot points involving the crew pulling a successful heist and then deciding to throw in a second, risking themselves and Atlantis and causing the situation where Elizabeth gets left behind, all to turn on a command code that they ought to be genre-savvy enough to leave alone because the replicators are a machine and they might decide to exterminate the Wraith by Extreme Measures which would render the galaxy uninhabitable by humans (because they obviously do not have a Protect Humanity command code to go with it). So, not a fan of that, or of the characters being shocked the replicators would "sacrifice" themselves into a forcefield. Of course they would. They are a hive. It's in the name, for god's sake.
So the episode has the feel of artificial manipulation to reach a goal of leaving Elizabeth behind. However, that particular point doesn't necessarily bother me, depending on how it's handled going forward (ahem, 'Reunion,' how I hate thee) because all of our heroes have shown a willingness to sacrifice themselves if it means saving the team. Of course she would make that decision, and the result could be interesting in so many ways (except the way the showrunners decided to go with it, I guess).
Elizabeth has become functionally immortal. Yes, the replicators will want to assimilate or kill her, but wait a second, they were introduced with a burning desire to Ascend, and are prevented by the lack of souls. But Elizabeth is human, so might the nanites which have fused with Elizabeth decide to leave her intact in case they can achieve Ascension through her? She could put that argument forward and thus have access to, yet separation from, the replicator hive, which, coupled with her strong will (she's part-replicator for one day and successfully screws with Oberoth, so who knows what might happen when she gets her sea legs, as it were) might lead to some kind of "break them from within" plot.
Then there's the Atlantis team, trying to rescue her, because they don't leave their people behind. Sheppard doing that scary one-man army thing he does so well. McKay, who would blame himself (and might well be blamed by others), going above and beyond to find some method to get her back. And of course this would tie in spectacularly with last season where the team united and went against the military to save Atlantis (consequent court-martialing never brought up), as they would have to defy orders from the I.O.A and whoever else, while Sam steps in to try and govern the ungovernable, an unenviable position she doesn't want, and with her career on the line if she can't keep a lid on things. Her relentlessly upbeat demeanor throughout 'Reunion' just screams "I'm coping with a really sucky situation here and I don't blame these guys for resenting me," and leaning into that would be great.
And when Elizabeth does get back, surely there's gonna be some problems of trust considering she's not entirely human anymore. It also puts her a lot closer to literal goddess-tier, which ties back to her sacrifices and exceptionally long lifespan in the original timeline.
And that's just stuff from the top of my head. Intense drama, interesting plotlines, characters and their relationships being tested and redefined. This also shows how much fanfic has altered my reaction to canon, because all I really see is framework. 'Lifeline' feels like a launchpad in a way 'Sunday' did not, because there's a lot of interesting ways to work with the events depicted, and consequently, I more or less enjoyed the episode even with its contrived feeling.
There's just one problem. They wrote out Elizabeth Weir. Torri Higginson is no longer in the opening credits, and they did it in such an open-ended way, it would take some fancy footwork to make sure the remaining cast feel in character going forward. Still, surely it could be done with a little finesse, recognizing the gravity of the situation, offering a time skip and a bitter scene about how they tried like hell to locate her and have finally had to face the idea that she did not survive and are broken but have to carry on. That would be acceptable within the parameters of whatever the hell happened behind the scenes.
Instead, 'Reunion' rolls in with.... a scene-long joke about Rodney being all gleeful about getting promoted to Elizabeth's role and then getting undercut by the "it's Sam!" reveal. Way to make Rodney McKay look like a fucking sociopath, you jackasses. I have low-key loved the McKay&Weir dynamic from the first, the way McKay never undercut her authority and always supported her as leader and despite being catastrophically poor at interpersonal behavior, always treating her really decently - like these two have a long history as coworkers, and Elizabeth knows him well and knows when to trust him and when to rein him back in. The last thing I would ever have pictured was a gleeful Rodney McKay lusting over Weir's job now that she's off possibly being tortured by the replicators, the fuck.
And the I.O.A. have laid down the law and Sheppard listened to them? From the first episode, the Atlantis team don't leave their people behind. This is Sheppard's defining trait, what got him in trouble before the show started, but now he listens to a bunch of bureaucrats? When it's Elizabeth (who is, if nothing else, his boss to whom he has demonstrated endless loyalty)? Worse, they have a grace period on a hidden planet - they are not under siege, the command code worked despite my pessimism, and their enemies are busily killing each other. There will never be a better time to mount a rescue operation, so who are all these pod people?
Ronon was the only part of this episode which did not suck.
