A few quick thoughts on "Mortal Coil"

[thegrrrl2002]

I have mixed feelings on this ep. On the one hand, I loved loved loved the emotional notes. This ep was full of lovely character moments that made me squee and sigh. On the other hand, the pacing felt off. The action was uneven--slow in the beginning, and then rushed in the middle where our team comes into contact with the Repli!Team and so forth. And I'm embarrassed to admit that when Repli!Team was revealed (not that it was a surprise, it was pretty clear something was up) it all felt familiar to me and I couldn't put my finger on why. It wasn't until I read my flist that I realized the story was basically SG-1 "Tin Men". Which was one of my favorite eps. ::rolls eyes::

I can haz memory?

In my defense, Rodney and John were looking mighty fine, and they were whispering to each other, and John did the stickfighting thing, and Lorne was mean and crafty, and Zelenka was clearly up to something, then there were TWO John and Rodneys, and Rodney was so delighted with finding another one of himself and John said "My McKay"....how am I supposed to think straight? I'm sure I would have remembered on my own, eventually.

I found it very sad that the real Elizabeth was killed off-screen. It seems like a anti-climax for her character. But I loved how much they grieved for her, how much it showed on their faces, and the way they tried to comfort each other at the end. The Rodney and Radek scene made me sniffly. It was warm and touching and very much in character. Rodney going on about how losing himself in his work and dealing with crisis was a way to not think about all the losses they suffered was heartbreaking.

There are no words for how much I loved John and Rodney talking about bedtime and turning in, though. I loved the warmth between them in that final scene.

So, I did enjoy this ep, a lot, but it left me wanting more--I wanted Teyla interacting with the other Teyla, I wanted the team to at least acknowledge that the person on New Athos who claimed to be Elizabeth might be part of a replicator trap (they just ran off to the planet to greet here, didn't they?), I wanted an action scene where the Repli!Team stole the replicator ship, I wanted more Repli!Angst (although the scene with Ronon and Teyla, where Repli!Ronon contemplates going off on his own was wonderful) and I wanted more of the Repli!Team interacting with the real team.

I was surprised that as a cliffhanger, it didn't leave anyone in immediate peril. And sort of relieved. I did like the very end, with them detecting more and more of the replicator ships in the galaxy. The final moment was cliched, but still effective.

In conclusion, snappish, grumpy suspicious John is hot like a hot hot thing.

Now I'm off to do some Christmas shopping!