![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
x_erikah_xI'll do a reaction post of sorts, but I'm sure it won't be totally true because reaction posts can only be done after the first viewing and that happened a week ago. I've seen this ep far too many times already.
I can't even begin to say how much I adore this episode. I've said it many times, and I repeat that this is my favorite Stargate episode ever. And it's because of the writing, the execution, the directing and specially because of the acting.
Joe Flanigan was brilliant. He carried the episode from top to bottom, and did an incredible job (as he always does xD) in showing the darkness in John Sheppard and his lack of destination and purpose. Even the way he walked was dragged and shouted at everyone what he carried inside him and what he didn't have. Still, there was this streak of Shep inside him that didn't let him give up and kept him going forward, even though he didn't know what direction forward was. When his Air Force career ended so tragically, he chose to become a cop. So he could still help people. That's his core and reason for being. The man doesn't need pages and pages of dialog to deliver tons and tons of backstory.
We learn more about Sheppard in ten minutes than we had in five whole years of series. That's just sad and tells how much the writing has let us down lately. They are capable of this, but instead they give us Brain Storm and Identity. Imagine if they gave an Vegas-like episode for each character. A episode of this quality could even make fans like Keller. I'm really happy they decided to give it to their lead actor for a change. So sad that the best episode that the lead of their show's gotten is the second to the last ever for SGA.
And that ending. It was heartbreaking and perfect. Yes, it makes me sad to see Shep die, but it was very fitting for the tone the episode set for John Sheppard. His life was tragic, so his ending reflected that. I do think he died. I would like to hope that he was saved and redeemed and can lead a life where he found his way again (which is Atlantis) and can make a difference and be happy with his team, but in terms of writing, I don't think it would have made a good ending (of course, each fan will think of their own happy ending, but for me the tragic one is the best). The song choice was perfect and, for me personally, is what determines that he died. Alone. In the middle of a scorched desert. Looking up at the stars and knowing how small his life was, but that he had finally made a difference in the world and that he didn't fail in his last deed in life. Dying at the sound of Johnny Cash Solitary Man. *weeps*
Another touching detail is the cross, thank you Josie. So telling about his character and about what he learned from Rodney. What changed in him when he was told the truth. He was ready to give up. John Sheppard, the man that never gives up ever, was ready to give up and run, that's how broken he was. Just take money from a crime scene and flee. But in the end, after Rodney revels the truth about the universe and human existence, John finds the strength of character we all know he has and goes back to save the day. He could have fled and hid and stayed away and not cared, but instead, he went back and tracked down the wraith and ended up redeeming his soul, if not his life, in death.
He had a sad existence and a sad death, but it was not pointless. It was his destiny in that reality. Just like Todd said to him. Todd did show John his destiny. To save Earth. And he faced it like a true hero.
Yes, so I loved this episode for all the reasons that were not mentioned in it, but rather implied. A There but for the Grace of God for John Sheppard. A punch in the gut for the fans. That's our lead. So broken hearted in that reality. This could have been our John if he hadn't gone to Atlantis, if he hadn't gone to Antarctica, if he had been discharged from the Air Force, and if he hadn't found Rodney, Teyla and Ronon to guide him and be his soul.
Even though this was all about the AU Sheppard, it tells so much about our own John. How much he cares about his friends, his team and Atlantis. Because in some level, conscious or unconscious, he knows what could, would, have happened if things had gone different in his life. How happy he is for finding a family to care, to protect and to love, and to have all that in return. And that he feels that he doesn't deserve it, and that's why he continues to prove, more to himself than to anyone else, that he does. Just put this along with what we found out (or rather had it made cannon) in Remnants and we see what an amazing character Joe portrays. The way he tortures himself everyday for all his past failures and conjured up Kolya to torture him and a challenge of that size to overcome (which he did), only to make him feel that in some degree he wants to deserve the happiness that he finally found. And that's how broken our happy Sheppard is having found his purpose. Now imagine how broken that other Sheppard was after having everything gone wrong in his life. And still he had the strength to save lives as a cop instead of putting a gun in his mouth.
This went on rather long... xD I think I got a little carried away. Erm, well, I guess I made my point about how much I love John Sheppard and this episode and why it is my fave off all 314 episodes of Stargate.
But just to illustrate, there is an AMAZING vid about the episode in YouTube for some time already, but only now I can link here.
I can't even begin to say how much I adore this episode. I've said it many times, and I repeat that this is my favorite Stargate episode ever. And it's because of the writing, the execution, the directing and specially because of the acting.
Joe Flanigan was brilliant. He carried the episode from top to bottom, and did an incredible job (as he always does xD) in showing the darkness in John Sheppard and his lack of destination and purpose. Even the way he walked was dragged and shouted at everyone what he carried inside him and what he didn't have. Still, there was this streak of Shep inside him that didn't let him give up and kept him going forward, even though he didn't know what direction forward was. When his Air Force career ended so tragically, he chose to become a cop. So he could still help people. That's his core and reason for being. The man doesn't need pages and pages of dialog to deliver tons and tons of backstory.
We learn more about Sheppard in ten minutes than we had in five whole years of series. That's just sad and tells how much the writing has let us down lately. They are capable of this, but instead they give us Brain Storm and Identity. Imagine if they gave an Vegas-like episode for each character. A episode of this quality could even make fans like Keller. I'm really happy they decided to give it to their lead actor for a change. So sad that the best episode that the lead of their show's gotten is the second to the last ever for SGA.
And that ending. It was heartbreaking and perfect. Yes, it makes me sad to see Shep die, but it was very fitting for the tone the episode set for John Sheppard. His life was tragic, so his ending reflected that. I do think he died. I would like to hope that he was saved and redeemed and can lead a life where he found his way again (which is Atlantis) and can make a difference and be happy with his team, but in terms of writing, I don't think it would have made a good ending (of course, each fan will think of their own happy ending, but for me the tragic one is the best). The song choice was perfect and, for me personally, is what determines that he died. Alone. In the middle of a scorched desert. Looking up at the stars and knowing how small his life was, but that he had finally made a difference in the world and that he didn't fail in his last deed in life. Dying at the sound of Johnny Cash Solitary Man. *weeps*
Another touching detail is the cross, thank you Josie. So telling about his character and about what he learned from Rodney. What changed in him when he was told the truth. He was ready to give up. John Sheppard, the man that never gives up ever, was ready to give up and run, that's how broken he was. Just take money from a crime scene and flee. But in the end, after Rodney revels the truth about the universe and human existence, John finds the strength of character we all know he has and goes back to save the day. He could have fled and hid and stayed away and not cared, but instead, he went back and tracked down the wraith and ended up redeeming his soul, if not his life, in death.
He had a sad existence and a sad death, but it was not pointless. It was his destiny in that reality. Just like Todd said to him. Todd did show John his destiny. To save Earth. And he faced it like a true hero.
Yes, so I loved this episode for all the reasons that were not mentioned in it, but rather implied. A There but for the Grace of God for John Sheppard. A punch in the gut for the fans. That's our lead. So broken hearted in that reality. This could have been our John if he hadn't gone to Atlantis, if he hadn't gone to Antarctica, if he had been discharged from the Air Force, and if he hadn't found Rodney, Teyla and Ronon to guide him and be his soul.
Even though this was all about the AU Sheppard, it tells so much about our own John. How much he cares about his friends, his team and Atlantis. Because in some level, conscious or unconscious, he knows what could, would, have happened if things had gone different in his life. How happy he is for finding a family to care, to protect and to love, and to have all that in return. And that he feels that he doesn't deserve it, and that's why he continues to prove, more to himself than to anyone else, that he does. Just put this along with what we found out (or rather had it made cannon) in Remnants and we see what an amazing character Joe portrays. The way he tortures himself everyday for all his past failures and conjured up Kolya to torture him and a challenge of that size to overcome (which he did), only to make him feel that in some degree he wants to deserve the happiness that he finally found. And that's how broken our happy Sheppard is having found his purpose. Now imagine how broken that other Sheppard was after having everything gone wrong in his life. And still he had the strength to save lives as a cop instead of putting a gun in his mouth.
This went on rather long... xD I think I got a little carried away. Erm, well, I guess I made my point about how much I love John Sheppard and this episode and why it is my fave off all 314 episodes of Stargate.
But just to illustrate, there is an AMAZING vid about the episode in YouTube for some time already, but only now I can link here.
