#ep. this mortal coil

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Siege III, Pt. 10

McKay is keen to start working on how to implement Sheppard's plan to render the city invisible. Both McKay and Zelenka are exhausted and while probably no one has been able to get any sleep on the base for a while, they have been asked to concentrate far more than others. It is entirely possible they are still taking some stimulants to stay functional. Zelenka could clearly use a break but McKay gets second wind from finally having something to do that might actually work, might be viable.

Just as they are finishing the meeting, Beckett runs into the control platform to tell them about Ford having escaped with the remaining wraith enzyme after threatening him and other innocent people with a gun. Note that McKay and Zelenka, while they were among the last to leave the meeting, run ahead and Sheppard seems to be at the head of the group following them. He's stopped from following them as Beckett runs right in front of him.

This is when Sheppard finally becomes aware of the situation going on with Ford and tries to get him to come in:

Sheppard: Ford, this is Sheppard, come in. Ford, I need you to come back to the Control Room, buddy, we're all going home. Lieutenant, do you copy? Ford: You're just afraid of me, Major. You're afraid of what I can do now. I'm not listening to you. Sheppard: I'm going after him. Weir: Now's not the right time!

It's interesting that Sheppard tells Ford they're all going home, which seems to be a lie (he considers Atlantis his home, and they are already there; he was personally never going to be among the evacuees). But his plan may have been to get Ford on the Daedalus to be shipped off to Earth with Colonel Everett and other injured soldiers. Sheppard is not sure what is going on with him but he does know that they don't need a loose cannon around right now, and he feels responsible for Ford. What they are attempting to do is so difficult, requires such precision, that he knows they can't have him running around. But notice how it is to Beckett that he says he's going after Ford, he does not say it to Weir. He's not asking for her permission and he makes it very obvious he's not taking orders from her right now.

We then get a montage of people working on the plan, evacuating to the Daedalus and Sheppard playing cat and mouse with Ford while hauling one of the wraith stunners with him.

Once everything is ready and everything is in place, it's time to implement the plan. And we see Weir once more put entirely unnecessary pressure on McKay:

Weir: Seems that they heard Teyla loud and clear. Rodney? McKay: Yeah, I think I'm ready. Weir: You think?! McKay: I am definitely ready.

Sheppard tells McKay much later (Inferno, S02E19) that he has noticed he works well under "the threat of impending death", and this certainly may be true. He is able to work miracles in tight situations and too much idle time leaves room for his anxiety to build as to hinder him putting up his best performance. But at the same time, it's also clear that in this environment he is not allowed uncertainty. McKay is given no room for failure. This can be a crushing weight on anyone's shoulders.

When McKay says that he thinks he's ready he means that he is as ready as he can be but he can't guarantee this is going to work. He's done his best but it might not be enough. He is more afraid of failure than any of them realize and the consequences of failure are far worse than death for him. Death would be easy compared to how he thinks people will turn their backs on him if he fails. People see him as arrogant but it is clear that he is not allowed to display any weakness, and everyone actually expects him to perform the role that is for him just a performance.

But, as always, he manages to pull it off in the nick of time. Their plan seems to work.

While this is going on in the control room, Sheppard has finally caught up with Ford. They have a discussion:

Ford: I could have shot you a couple of times by now. Sheppard: Well, I'm glad you didn't. Look, why don't you and I just go someplace where we can talk? Ford: You're trying to change me back. Sheppard: No, I'm just trying to help you. Ford: No, you're not.

Sheppard also could have shot Ford a couple of times by now but he does not tell the young soldier this. He's unable to talk him down and in fact feels as though he is forced to shoot Ford in the back to stop him from running away. While he does this with a stunner and it doesn't actually work doesn't change what he felt he was forced to do.

What makes this discussion really, really interesting is that in this episode, Ford has been a narrative mirror for McKay. Ford is being written out of the show so he is not a part of the ensemble cast anymore. His function in this episode is to tell us what is going on with McKay internally. Narrative mirrors are often used to give insight into the internal landscapes of characters that either can't or will not share their thoughts or feelings explicitly, when they try to keep them hidden. Without the use of narrative mirrors, the viewer would be unable to appreciate the internal workings of characters that are never verbalized for various reasons. And McKay has been suppressing his feelings since the very start of the episode so hard that it's eating him up inside.

Now, we began the episode with Ford being plunged into the depths of cold waters with a wraith's hand attached to his heart, and this seemed symbolic of McKay's pain in that moment, thinking that Sheppard had sacrificed himself, that he had died. But what really marks Ford as his narrative mirror is the visual cue provided by the goggles. We have never seen these white goggles before and we will never see them again but in this episode, both Ford and McKay sport them. It's a visual point of contact between them, it emphasizes the fact that they are viewing something the same way. And if Ford is a narrative mirror for McKay, it forces us to ask what is going on with him. Because the kids are definitely not alright here.

The episode begins very dramatically with Ford in severe heart-ache while he is exploded and plunged into McKay's "cold, lonely death" below. But there is also an interesting mise-en-scène, an interesting visual composition as the combination of Zelenka's scan and the beaming technology of the Daedalus fish Ford out of the water. Ford and the wraith lie down on the floor like lovers, the hand of the 'green monster' still attached to his heart. The wraith had pumped him full of their enzyme on the moment of its death.

We learned a lot about how Sheppard and McKay sleep over the previous season, and given that Ford is on his left side here and has his right hand reaching behind him, it's not unlike how McKay would sleep--whether he was alone or did have someone spooning him from behind.

And there are further points of connection between them in the episode. Ford is sleeping in the med bay at the same time as McKay is supposed to be sleeping (and later, we find Ford actually faking sleep). Sheppard runs from the sleeping body of Ford to tell McKay that he thought he was supposed to be sleeping.

Beckett has administered Ford a sedative and has to give him an even stronger sedative whereas in the previous episode, he had given McKay a stimulant and he asked for an even stronger stimulant. The drugs are polar opposite, but the fact that they both needed stronger stuff from Beckett because the weaker was no longer working is in parallel.

Ford escapes Beckett twice to let Weir know that he's "good to go", that he needs to be doing something, and McKay similarly has convinced himself that he is able to do the work and has to focus on something when he is nowhere close to being alright. McKay whispers "They're scanning for us" just as Sheppard is sneaking in on Ford. In fact, Ford's scene with Sheppard is sandwiched between this line and McKay saying "I don't think they detected us". These lines around Ford's scene with Sheppard link the characters.

Ford attacks Beckett where in the previous episode Beckett calls McKay snappy for verbally trying to bite his head off. Ford is addicted to the enzyme and while we at the very least don't see McKay continue using any stimulants, Beckett does make him go through a literal withdrawal later on in the season (The Lost Boys, S02E10), so there could be some symbolism in it. Perhaps the enzyme represents his dependence on Sheppard's company, his love. What ever it is, Ford thinks it makes him better and stronger, he needs it and does not think he can do without.

Sheppard seemed cautious of seeing McKay again after having done what he did, fearful that he might have caused permanent damage, that he might see something in McKay's eyes that was not there before--or that something would be missing that had always been there. And it seems that he was right. It was not Sheppard's intention--his intention was to save McKay's life in an act that was both perfectly selfless (he wants the man he loves to live) and utterly selfish (he cannot live without him)--but combined with McKay's past, his childhood, his life-experiences, Sheppard's choice did cause permanent injury in him. McKay does feel like Sheppard shot him in the back by leaving him behind. Because he is so inexperienced with being loved, nothing could have prepared McKay for the kind of pain this had caused him and while he pretends everything is alright, his bitterness and suspicion of Sheppard do spill over in many scenes of the episode.

It's when he's working that McKay feels normal. He has escaped into work ever since he was a child and buried himself into his homework to escape his parents who, as he told Carter, hated each other and took it out on him. When he's focusing on the work, he doesn't have to think about how he's feeling. When he's trying to solve some problem, it doesn't hurt. He explicitly tells Zelenka in This Mortal Coil (S04E10): "That's one of the perks of the job. Something terrible happens, you don't have enough time to dwell on it ‘cause you're too busy trying to stop the next terrible thing from happening. Seriously, if it wasn't for the Replicators and their plan to wipe out every human in the galaxy, I'd be in pretty bad shape right now."

That's precisely what he's doing here, while trying to save all of their lives. And everyone else is too busy dealing with their own crises to notice that he is falling apart.

Ford manages to escape by hijacking one of the puddle jumpers and because he activates the gate, there is real danger the wraith who are scanning the city at the same time might be able to detect their presence, would be able to detect that they hadn't been destroyed.

While it's a possible continuity error, or Ford got the ATA therapy following Hot Zone (S01E13), Ford flies the puddle jumper through the gate. It's also possible that the jumper goes through on autopilot after he's dialed the gate, which doesn't seem to require a neural interface with the jumper since we've seen a number of characters dial the gate from inside them, as Sheppard does tell Weir that he suspects Ford will just ditch the jumper at his first destination and hop to another planet. If Ford was able to actually operate the jumper, leaving a piece of technology like that behind would make little sense. You'd want to hold on to it as long as possible.

As Ford is through the gate, Sheppard looks up at the control platform and angrily shouts, "Where the hell is he going?" Only, while McKay was the one attempting to manually shut down the gate and was at the gate controls, for some reason Sheppard seems to shout this at Weir. He is taking his anger and frustration out on Weir, and not for the first time. Obviously it is neither of their fault that Ford managed to slip them by and Sheppard isn't really angry at either of them, he is just venting his frustration. But this is not the first time he has used this tone of voice with Weir that he has never used with McKay. He is feeling much too angry to even chance looking at McKay because what ever bond they have between them is feeling fragile enough as it is to him right then. He realizes this.

Regardless, Ford manages to escape but the wraith armada ends their siege and all appears to be well. Only, it isn't. Weir walks up to Sheppard and parks behind him way, way too close to him considering the amount and variety of negative emotions he is trying to quell right that moment. We see Sheppard walk away from Weir while the skies are clearing from the nuclear bomb that just went off over the city. Where not being chosen is what causes McKay the most pain, for Sheppard it is being walked out on, someone he cares about leaving him. And that is what Ford does, the young soldier he had taken under his wing and trained into a warrior himself.

And worse yet, Sheppard had personally equipped him with skills that make him a very dangerous adversary. He is not only hurt by the perceived abandonment but also feels responsible for everything that Ford might do out there. Where he has been turned toward McKay, has been facing McKay, not only for most of the episode but for the majority of the first season, Sheppard does not even look his way as he walks out of the gate room. The guilt he feels is weighing him down. He feels like he's too toxic to even look at McKay lest he he spill all of it on him too, and he doesn't want that to happen.

So, what does Ford as a narrative mirror tell us about McKay and Sheppard?

Sheppard thinks that he's helping McKay, that he's doing what is best for him, where in reality he is helping himself and doing what is best for him. Where he is trying to ease McKay's burden, he is making McKay feel not needed, unnecessary, irrelevant. Where from his perspective he was protecting McKay, taking care of him, from McKay's perspective he had chosen to go without him and by coming up with ideas that he needed McKay to implement, was making him feel like an instrument, like his only worth was in performing tasks that Sheppard needed completed. McKay felt abandoned by Sheppard, like he had failed him.

They needed to talk, badly. Some of this could have been resolved by talking. But not only was it a difficult conversation neither of them really wanted to have, they simply didn't have time for it. Things kept happening and piling on and they had not a moment to themselves to check in with the other. And now there's a rage building within McKay that he can barely manage, and this rage is quickly turning into resentment. It is because he loves so much that it hurts so much. And the hurt is too much for him to bear, causing him to both withdraw from Sheppard and to try to alleviate it by losing himself in his work. But because he's trying to hide all of this, unless we were able to see the parallels between him and Ford, we might never even realize this.

So who, then, is the narrative mirror for Sheppard? Surely he should have one, too.

In this episode, it kind of looks like Sheppard's narrative mirror is the Daedalus (in many episodes, the narrative mirror for Sheppard has been the city itself so having his internal landscape reflected by an inanimate object is nothing new). We begin the episode with Sheppard being beamed aboard with the question "Who the hell is this?" leading us into the story. Within the Daedalus, there is a wizened commander that is a good man, there is a goofy geek that represents his feminine side, and there is also a super-intelligent emotionless alien that represents the part of him that is Ancient; all of these are things that he is.

On the bridge, internally controlling him in addition to the captain is a female helmsman and a male weapons officer which might symbolize his two orientations (given that the "weapons" officer also resembles McKay), but they may also represent his heart and his dick, his emotion and his desire, his feminine and his masculine sides. What ever they are, he does seem to lean much more toward the weapons officer.

With the Daedalus, Sheppard tries to figure out ways of winning this conflict and of helping McKay, and it seems to be working at first, until it doesn't. After the ship takes a beating, it has to touch base to get some repairs and while it's in a pretty bad shape, it is fixable. At the end of the episode, the Daedalus is full of the wounded, and the ship is preparing to take off at a moment's notice, which is what Sheppard also does when he goes looking for Ford. And in the end, the ship fires off a nuke that goes off just above the city and it is still covered by the fog of this event that we end the episode. It's not a perfect parallel but there's something there. And out of our main characters, Sheppard is the only one we see on board the vessel in this episode.

As Sheppard is still standing by the gate, looking dead ahead at it, Weir approaches him apparently to try talk him down from his rage. And this, something exactly like this is what she likely had to do back when Sheppard thought McKay had died. She steps forward to get him to look at her and note again that while Sheppard meets her gaze, he does not turn his body to face her where earlier, as briefly as he stood by McKay at the gate controls, his body was angled toward him. Sheppard is blaming himself for what had transpired with Ford, and he had blamed himself for what he thought had happened with McKay when he thought he had lost him with the ancient satellite. And both times Weir was there, trying to calm him down, to talk him down from the rage he felt most of all toward himself.

Only, it isn't working this time. She could tell him that McKay was alive but when it comes to Ford, she can only tell him things that he doesn't believe and she likely doesn't believe herself:

Weir: The Gate address will be in the log. There's still a chance-- Sheppard: It doesn't matter where he goes! The second he gets to wherever he's going, he's gonna ditch the Jumper, turn around, and dial another address, one we can't trace. Weir: We'll find him. Sheppard: Maybe. Weir: Hey. At least we're still around to try. Sheppard: Yeah...

So, the episode ends dramatically with Sheppard walking away. But this isn't when things started going south. Things had started veering off course the moment Sheppard had chosen not to accompany McKay to the satellite platform. Ultimately, he had made that choice. Weir tries to comfort him by reminding him of the fact that they were still alive, there's still hope. At least they were still alive to try. And this was true. Sheppard and McKay were both still alive to try to pick up the pieces. After all, Pierre and Natasha did get each other in the end, they got their happily ever after. But War and Peace is a long a book, there's a lot of hurt along the way. This is the beginning of the long road they have ahead of them to finding each other again.

Because that is the story. The wraith may have bought the ruse of cloaking the city but the city was always there. Atlantis may now have been rendered invisible but it was always there.

[aenslem]

That's probably because you've been standing here by yourself.

[lightthewaybackhome]

Stargate-Atlantis S4: E10 This Mortal Coil

We're genetically predisposed to being stubborn and really pesky.

When Sheppard and McKay see Elizabeth, I just started crying. It's like reopening old wounds.

Both Sheppards being annoyed at both McKays was perfect.

Sheppard and McKay really thought they'd get a chance to save Elizabeth, and now they know she's gone. As McKay says, it's Carson all over again. 😭

I don't know why, but this episode just made me cry and cry. I love the whole how do you be human? You give your life for your friends. What do we know better than anything about Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, Teyla, and Weir? They will do anything for their people. So once they know they're not the real versions, they give up their lives for their real selves. Oh, this is why I'm crying. I'm also a sucker for anything that shows the beauty of the human soul, like being stubborn, pesky, and self-sacrificing.

And Radek is so gentle, and Sheppard and McKay are so broken by Elizabeth's loss. They got her back just long enough to learn she's gone and then lose her again.

Shut it down. No one else is coming.

😭

[lightthewaybackhome]

We all miss him.

Stargate Atlantis "This Mortal Coil"

[daman19942]

TSR CC Recommendations: TS2 Lot Builders

Nobody asked for this but I have a little time on my hands and I said I might do it, so here is a list of some TSR lot builders who I recommend checking out. A few notes under the cut before we get started (all details under the cut, as well, in case you aren't interested in my preamble):

This is not meant to be paid promotion for TSR. I believe TSR asking users to pay for their CC is ridiculous, especially for a 19 year old game they haven't supported in 7 years. But I spent many years uploading there during the peak-TS2 / pre-TS3 era and know there is great CC in their archives that newer players may not know about. And unlike TheSims2.com, which has sadly shuffled off this mortal coil, TSR's content is still available to freely download (assuming you can stomach the pop-ups and wait times)

This post will only be about lot builders because that was what I was primarily uploading and downloading in this era. I was friendly with some of the creators I am about to list, but none of them are still active members of the TS2 community.

The preview pics might be a little rough and the architecture styles will likely feel very dated compared to the most popular styles these days, which are more colorful, cluttered, and use 3t2 and 4t2 conversions. Re: the previews: too many of us were using free trials of PaintShopPro back then, and TSR limited us to 2 previews, so we did our best. Re: the styles: unlike pre-2010's CAS CC, which was full of hand painted and "realistic" textures (LOL), these are the same objects you can find in the game today, just being used in different ways! Sometimes for the first time! And, yes, while some of these creators used CC, it was mostly Homecrafter walls and floors, as you'll see below.

This was also the hey-day of CFE lot building, which has certainly fallen out of favor to more traditional builds (in part because graphics cards have improved and these types of builds don't look as good in 2024, and also because the great CFE experimenters, builders, and tutorial writers are no longer part of the community and their original discoveries are gone as well - I am happy to go down a massive rabbit hole on this piece of TS2 history if anyone else cares, but trust me, you don't have to care).

Alright that is enough caveating, here are some recs! (Links are in the creator's names and they take you to their Lots, though many of them have other creations, too).

Lord Tiko Speaking of great CFE builders! Lord Tiko built spaceships, boats, pagodas, domes, windmills and bridges, oh so many bridges before retiring mid-TS2 because of health issues. He was one of the first builders to take Daihtnaoz7's single and double bridge tutorials and apply them to really big lots. I'm still not sure how he built the Venice Rialto Bridge, or his other European water lots. Overall, a massive inspiration to me when I was prioritizing CFE builds.

Hatshepsut My favorite "traditional" home builder, and someone I considered a friend. She specialized in English and American builds, and I had many of Hat's houses in my old saves and was impressed by her range and decorating style which was (for the time) more varied than many of her peers. Knew how to take great preview pics of her houses, too.

Tigerblue Another builder I corresponded with, Tigerblue was probably the least prolific uploader on this list for sheer number of uploads, but she also crossed a range of styles. Her builds leaned way into specific styles (see the previews, these were all part of consistent sets of 3,4, or even 10 lots), but this was also what happened when a new EP dropped and everyone raced to uploaded builds using as many of the new objects and styles as possible. Tigerblue just happened to be better at it than most of us.

Cyclonesue Do current TS2 players know Cyclonesue? Because it's hard to think of someone who had a bigger impact on building and decorating of the era, first with her English and Tudor builds and later with her extremely distinct grunge creations. Seriously, check out her Urban Renewal series and the corresponding objects. Iconic stuff that surely now feels frozen in time. I probably only played 20% of her lots that I downloaded, but they still make for great hood decor. Like Tiko, someone who happily experimented with CFE.

Illiana The creator who inspired me to make this list is, ironically, the one on it who I know the least about (she is a Featured Artist but not in the Hall of Fame, whatever that means). I just started playing her Tri-Annyas fraternity house and have a few other lots floating around my game. She built in a range of styles, from classical to modern to Twikki Island to grunge. Revisiting some of them in-game, the TSR previews do not do them justice.

*EXHALES* If you made it to this point, kudos to you. I'm sure there are creators I've forgotten, and houses I haven't linked to, but this is a good starting point for digging into some of the eclectic builds the TSR(chives) have to offer (I just coined that, is it clever? It is not). Maybe I'll do a Part 2 if people like this.

If you have any favorites of your own, let me know what I missed! And as I do with my old Exchange re-uploads, I am tagging @sims2packrat and @oldasscustomcontent for general TS2 history awareness!

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time! last night we did voy's "the mortal coil" and ds9's "the magnificent ferengi."

the mortal coil (voy):

i don't want to talk about it.

the magnificent ferengi (ds9):

i feared for my life reading the summary but this was actually pretty good

first of all, my new best friend quark. EYE loved his story at the beginning. secondly, my other friend nog and my king rom. and finally, the return of that little twink freak from s6's opening. mwah

this one was like...weirdly funny. it's easier to give some of the iffy jokes a pass or even a laugh when you don't hate everyone involved. it also helps a lot that the grand nagus couldn't make it for this episode because he is DEEPLY annoying and horrible to deal with

that spock's brain shit nog did to the vorta was really really really really horrible and funny. some say he's still bumping into the wall to this day.......

AND LET'S NOT FORGET IGGY POP. my favorite fun fact about this episode is that they wanted to have iggy pop on for the bell riots eps and they couldn't because he was busy. but he was available this time because he was recovering from an injury he got in a mosh pit. so true

it was kind of fun and badass that despite their general bumbling they did manage to bag a new prisoner of war. good for them

also, at the end when romwas like how doe sit feel to be a hero and quark said you tell me 🥺🥺🥺 my best friend quark....................

TONIGHT: voy's "waking moments" and ds9's "waltz."

[crmsndragonwngss]

What would you say are your top five "must check out" bands you'd recommend to people? (bonus points for intro album suggestions)

Oh this is easy! Here’s my top five six

Erra - Drift

Novelists - Noir

Crystal Lake - Helix

Lorna Shore - Pain Remains

Veil of Maya - False Idol

Spiritbox - Eternal Blue

And because I can’t help myself, here’s the rest of my top ten eleven!

Polaris - The Mortal Coil

Tesseract - Altered State

The Amity Affliction - Let The Ocean Take Me

Periphery - Hail Stan

Crooked Royals - Quarter Life Dream

And a bonus plus one two!

Blueshift - Voyager

Valis Ablaze - Render

Lots of the bands here tho only have one full album, so definitely check out their EPs and singles too

As for Erra, it’s probably pretty obvious that I love everything they’ve ever done, but Drift was on an entirely different level, and it’s always the starting point I give anyone who wants to get into their music. My first Erra song was Dreamcatcher, and it’s still one of my favorites by far, but Drift is a tremendous album and is a fantastic first time listen

The same goes for Novelists, their entire discog is fantastic, but my personal favorite album is Noir and I think that’s the perfect jumping off point for their music

The only band in this list whom I don’t recommend their entire discog is Lorna Shore. imo stick to Pain Remains and And I Return to Nothingness (the ep)

But really, I could continue forever, so if you want a playlist that has all my favorite stuff on there, you can check out my massive metalcore playlist

Now this is all specifically for core/djent because that’s my scene. If you want a top five for other genres, I can do that too, just give me a genre and I’ll give you some recs!

[go-go-devil]

I've been grooving on Ghost's new EP Phantomime for a few days now and it has inspired me to create a tag game! For this one, you need to list 5 of your favorite cover songs of all time 🎶

Here are my top picks:

"Song to the Siren" by This Mortal Coil (ft. Elizabeth Fraser)

"California Dreamin'" by Eddie Hazel

"Horse With No Name" by Michelle Branch & Patrick Carney

"Forever Autumn" by Justin Hayward (though this is the singles version; the original form of this cover was composed by Jeff Wayne for his War of the Worlds musical)

"Hurt" by Johnny Cash

I'll go ahead and tag @pinkiepiebones @slugs-at-midnight @silenthillmutual @slenders1ckn3ss and @illusionaryneil

Can't wait to see all your favs ;)

[monstress]

s4e3 succession thoughts

already knew logan was gonna eat it when i pressed play since all the big logan trailer moments has been shown in the first 2 eps

still kinda uhhhh when the phonecall happened tho. anyways

logan ruining roman's relationship with gerri (even more), the only other person who he seeks approval from, before he leaves the mortal coil is very appropriate

connor doesn't deserve willa what the hell...happy for those crazy kids though. the wedding still happening with only willa's family (?) with no press (since logan is dead anyways so what's connor's clout?) was oddly bittersweet. connor is free - he's an orphan.

the loony cake. god the connor lore this season....HE NEVER EVEN LIKED ME

not roman saying all that to greg with the female journalist with the nicholas braun news happening in the past week. yikes

roman thinking his voicemail was what killed logan. honestly on behalf of roman, i hope it did.

sooo many great sibling scenes this eps. 'shivy honey', holding hands before breaking the news to connor, roman reaching out to connor, them talking over later their first reaction to the news, THE HUGGGG

shiv going "i sorta was hoping it was mom." i was stunned

frank carefully stepping over logan's body to go to the front of the plane

the callbacks to the first eps of kendall scrambling to get the best personnel for his father

tbh karl continues to be a delight this eps "chuckles the clown"

don't know how people are confused on who leaked abt logan's health to the press. greg or geri? it's occam's razor lads - it was greg like duh that's why they emphasized that he was chatting up a journalist

kerry and colin leaving together bc they are now superfluous to the show going forward

honestly it's just poetic that logan died in a private plane with the only family ard him is his ex-son-in-law

the way u can SEE the kids slowly taking in logan's viciousness

the eps managed to make me feel exhausted and hollow by the end. the choice of making it real time was genius.

did roman saw logan's back that were marked by scars? will the kids never know?

i can't forgive you. but it's okay. i love you. like ---- god what a perfect line.

it's abt if there was unconditional love. and there was.

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Defiant One, Pt. 9

In Miller's Crossing (S04E09), John Sheppard talks a man into killing himself. He does this for Rodney (but also for himself, because he simply can't stand the thought of losing him; it is both a thoroughly selfless act and an utterly selfish one). He sacrifices the life of a man who did some terrible things for a pure motive -- in an attempt to save someone that he loved, his dying daughter.

Sheppard can't admit it, most of all to himself. So he tells Rodney: "I presented a situation. He volunteered."

A similar thing happens here, although it is never McKay's intention for it to happen. He -- his actions, his words, his growing agitation -- presents Brendan Gaul with a situation, and he volunteers. Sheppard and McKay both put the gun into his hand, and he turns it in on himself. He is in pain, to be sure. Believes that he is dead anyway, and becoming more and more a burden. He feels his life-force draining away by the moment. But still. Here, Rodney McKay talked a man into killing himself. For Sheppard.

It's not what he says, it's the way he speaks about him: "What I really wanna do is call him on the radio, but I'm afraid if he's hiding from the Wraith, I might inadvertently give away his position, and let's face it, what chance do we have against the Wraith if Sheppard can't take him out? I was hoping to be strong enough, then I..."

The thing is, while Brendan was in pain and dying, his decision seems to have been motivated not just by the desire to let his old friend McKay off the hook, but for McKay to get his happily ever after. Just before, they have this exchange:

McKay: It's been too long. I think the Major could be in trouble -- and if he's in trouble, we're in trouble. Gaul: Then go. McKay: You figure you can move? Gaul: Not a chance. I'm not going anywhere. McKay: OK. That's OK. Gaul: Go. Rodney, just go! Save the day.

Save the day, get the girl.

This echoes Sheppard's sentiments in the previous episode: save the city, save Weir and McKay, take the rest of the day off.

In the final season, we see many instances of this: people willing to sacrifice their own happiness, even their own lives, for the chance that someone they love might be able to have a modicum of happiness. I'll get to the many mirrors to the main story later but obviously the biggest example of this is Sheppard himself, willing to sacrifice everything (and by everything I mean unfathomable things) just to give Rodney a chance at something that he thinks might make him happy. Rodney getting his happily ever after is more important to him than his own life.

And here, Brendan makes that choice. He doesn't think he's going to survive anyway, so he might as well help Rodney save the day and get his guy. There is not a doubt in my mind that Brendan hadn't realized by this time that McKay's agitation over Sheppard's well-being went well beyond the regular. Listening in on them, he might well even have come to the conclusion that Sheppard returned those feelings. They are so obvious that literally everyone else can see what they can't, even when it's right before their eyes.

The events of the Genii siege had reminded Sheppard that his love will get people close to him killed, and hence it is better not to let anyone get close. Brendan seems to have thought of himself as a roadblock, something that kept McKay from getting to where he wanted to be but taking such drastic measures, he actually made himself into an obstacle -- ensured that his death would be looming between these two for a good while.

McKay doesn't think that his love is poison. He thinks that his love is worthless. Here, Brendan's actions reinforce that belief; he sacrificed a lot to stay back with his friend, to take care of him, but in the end, it wasn't enough. His compassion and devotion weren't worth staying alive for. No matter how much he does for other people, he can never do enough. No matter how much he accomplishes, he can never accomplish enough to earn love (because he thinks that it is something that is earned through good behaviour and the correct performance and flawless execution of tasks). It is through acts of service that he expresses his love and sincerely believes that if he could only do enough, one day he might be worth someone's love.

Doing things is also his way of avoiding his emotions, just as self-isolation is for Sheppard. He actually confesses this to Zelenka in This Mortal Coil (S04E10), "That's one of the perks of the job. Something terrible happens, you don't have enough time to dwell on it ‘cause you're too busy trying to stop the next terrible thing from happening. Seriously, if it wasn't for the Replicators and their plan to wipe out every human in the galaxy, I'd be in pretty bad shape right now."

Beyond some disturbing anecdotes, we don't really learn that much about McKay's childhood but I would bet dollars to doughnuts that this stems from losing his mother at a young age, possibly to slowly progressing disease (McKay's last words before the gun goes off here are "I was hoping I would be strong enough..."; it is easy to transfer the sentiment for a young boy's words to a dying mother). This kind of a traumatic event often causes estrangement in siblings and embitterment in the surviving parent. By the the next episode and definitely toward the end of the season we learn that he and his sister are estranged and can infer that by this time, both of their parents have passed. She is the only family he has left, and indeed it seems like most people chosen for the mission have minimal ties to earth.

Of course it is dramatic irony that McKay's feelings of unworthiness for love would increase at the same time that Sheppard is beginning to open up and let someone closer, to learn that he doesn't have to be alone, that he doesn't have to save the world alone when there are such heroes as Rodney McKay in it. Of course it has to be this way. Their journey is only just beginning, after all.

Outside, we find Sheppard talking to himself again. This is obviously for the benefit of the audience, as watching the strong silent type doing stealthy commando stuff can carry an episode only so far. But we can interpret it as Sheppard's need to communicate. He really wants to have that link to McKay, wants to at least hear his voice on the radio if he can't have him near. But it was he himself that told Rodney to stay off the radio, and he doesn't to open it back up again just to tell McKay that he's still here, still failing at the one task he needs to succeed which is to keep him safe. He doesn't want to contact McKay until he can approach him with the all-clear, come pick ya up.

He also doesn't know how badly McKay wants him to get in touch. How some of the final words he spoke to Brendan were "What I really want to do is contact him on the radio". Neither of them realizes how much the other needs them.

Ford and Teyla are finally able to contact Sheppard. He sounds so relieved to hear from them because back-up means not that they might defeat the wraith, not that he might be able to get to the jumper, but that he might be able to keep Rodney safe, because all of the other things were meant to accomplish that aim. But alas, his relief is short-lived:

Sheppard: Lieutenant, I like your timing! Get your ass down here. Ford: Sir, we're still two-zero minutes away at top speed. Sheppard: Well, in that case, your timing sucks! Get here as soon as you can.

Note that Sheppard is not performing military for the young soldier under his command, he's not using military parlance even though that is how Ford approaches him, and it would probably be the way Ford wishes Sheppard behaved toward him (because the hierarchy and code of conduct exist for a reason, after all). Sheppard just has such problems with authority that he can't put up the performance, especially when he's the one that is supposed to be the authority. This is relevant both to his sudden use of military parlance with Dr. Gaul earlier, and his responding McKay with "Negative" instead of "No".

Sheppard and the wraith are shooting at each other, and it seems like the Major might be done for. It's interesting how his last resort is an answer to the here unspoken question "What would McKay do?", which is something he also used to motivate himself in the previous episode in which he actually said the words out loud. Here, he just does the thing he thinks McKay would do in this situation -- which is to say, try to project invaluability, make it seem like the wraith needs to keep him alive to perform a task that cannot be accomplished without him. He shouts to the wraith: "You need me to get off this planet. I'm the only one that can fly that ship."

Again, this is a bold faced lie. Sheppard feeds lies to his enemies, this is what he does. He started by lying about the war, about being Lantean himself, all of it. Lying and subterfuge are weapons he uses against his enemies.

Note also that while he's doing the thing he thinks McKay would have done in this situation, he's protecting Rodney at the same time, as we began the whole episode with him teaching Rodney how to fly -- Sheppard, that is, is not the only one on the planet that can fly that ship but he would very much like the wraith to believe that he is. What he thinks might be his final act is keeping Rodney safe. He knows there's 20 minutes until reinforcements arrive and he's making sure that the wraith has no reason (having just fed upon him, which it very much wants to do) to go looking for McKay before that in the event that he is killed right here, right now. He might die, but McKay will live.

And then Rodney throws a wrench in that plan.

Continued in Pt. 10

[rijl]

The "Song to the Siren by Tim Buckley is the most perfectly Our Flag Means Death song" thoughts are back with a vengeance after watching the first three eps of season 2!!

The lovelorn nautical content?? The 80s vibe (similar to The Chain and This Woman's Work) of the popular cover by This Mortal Coil??

"Did I dream you dreamed about me?"???

"Now my foolish boat is leaning / Broken lovelorn on your rocks"??

"Should I stand amid the breakers? / Or should I lie with death, my bride?" ?????????

P.S. for a little lol you can sing it "Jeff, my bride"

[johnmalevolent]

monthly scheduled insanity (malevolent lb under the cut)

HI JOHN

:(

yeah :(

:(

HI JOHN

HI JOHNNNNNNNNN

:((((((((

then who :(

not the intention but the effect :(

anjg vendor shopee lg live

ywd lah nnt aja CO nya

yeah babe dont give up youre the protag haha..

ARTHUR?

oh wait.

will it be the dark world arc we didnt predict

wait i almost forgot about the title. the deal

what's the deal .

ARTHU

who

the butcher cant have killed daniel that quick

WHOSE?

SCRATCH???

WHAT

D:

NO!!!

not if you help, right scratch

im sorry im kinda distracted over arthur begging. ahem.

NO.........

NO............................

ok now why'd he say enjoy. now i dont feel as alarmed for arthur

oh ok so not arthur

FUCKKKKKKKK WAIT

this eps might not tell us about john's deal but damn

it wasnt a choice john wanted to make either

i dont like that the butcher's theme is playing

FUCK ARTHUR

nyebrang noleh dulu

well john. speaking that frome experience?

arthur to you is that important and kayne used that to manipulate you?

arthur you're whispering rly loudly

😭 gdi daniel

HUH

no

oh

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

oh fuck

no.

HESYRUNNI GET

runingn

oh

oscar .

JOHN YOU FORGET

HEY???

OH MY GOD

OH MY GODDDDDDDDD

JOHN.

FUCK

TWO THINGS AT A TIME

THATS TOO MUCH

HELLO

BCS JOHN FORGOT DANIEL'S FACE????????

HUH

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

if john ends up forgetting colin's face too..

oscar 🥺

what

what

what

what

what

what

what

JOHN. i dont trust you rn.

john :(

ack

aaack

ack ack ack

haha surprise it's parker yang <3

JOHN :(

he's colins. isnt he

oh

ohhhh ok

oh

i forgot arthur is still a fugitive

are you sure this is the right decision orthr..

THIS IS ALL GOING TO SMOOTHLY.

im worried

this isnt the go smoothly podcast

yeah. thats what i thought

yeah he's in the ward

thats what i thought.

fuck

fuck fuck fuck.

the thing is what if he's wrong

sure sure similarity and all but what if reverse psychology

like let's just say the butcher has watched that one gintama episode before and thought of another idea arthur couldn't predict

oh

he's there

NO

ooooh hit a nerve

lmao colins got assigned the worst guy to kill

arthur voice im not like other girls i dont die when im killed

love john peer reviewing arthur's insults

OH FUCK THE DADDY ISSUE

GOOD DOG

is that what made him fail

NOEL HURRY THE FUCK Up

huh

was it seven

NOEEEEEL

alhamdulillah

yay noel

i hear ppl clapping 😭

SON

HIS SON

daniel :(

HE SAID IT

john :(

private eye!! he said the thing!!!

"darlin" reminds me of kayne ☺️

might be a chance john forgets ab kayne's face ☺️

shuffled of this MORTAL COIL?

huh.

huh.

huh.

reminds me a lot of.

huh.

KNOW?

parker yang?

PARKER YANG?

IM GONNA FUCKING KMS

PARKER YANG???

ohhhhh

parker is just the mutual friend

i mean yeah ofc i knew that haha lol

good episode. love that ending

[synthesizerbook]

Mark Stewart of The Pop Group!!…Much too young to leave this mortal coil. Listened to Y from #1979 …For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder #1980 … Versions Galore EP #2015 … and Citizen Zombie #2015 …this weekend. Every record still sounds super fresh to these ears. #muterecords #freaksrusrecords #markstewart #thepopgroup #postpunk https://www.instagram.com/p/CrcBjRCP4wb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[infraredmag]

CONTRITION: MetalSucks Streams Pariahs EP From Crust/Metal Act Formed By Members Of Trouble, Chrome Waves, Yakuza, And More; Record out Friday On Disorder Recordings

photo by Dave Rast “…no bullshit, unadulterated death metal.” – MetalSucks MetalSucks is currently hosting an exclusive stream of Pariahs, the new EP from Chicago-based death/extreme metal act CONTRITION, ahead of its release this Friday through Disorder Recordings. Formed following the demise of former act Doomsday, CONTRITION recorded their debut LP Broken Mortal Coil during the…

[parkerbombshell]

Cobwebs And Strange Radio Show #364

Cobwebs And Strange Radio Show  Mondays 12 noon EST , 5pm BST , 9am PDT - - The Specials - Vote For Me (Encore, 2019) - The Bonzo Dog Band - No Matter Who You Vote For, The Government Always Gets In (Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly, 1972) - SUPER 8 - Take It From Me (Retro Metro, 2024)* trip8.bandcamp.com - Inspiral Carpets - 96 Tears (Cool As, 2003) - Hinds - En Forma (Viva Hinds, 2024)* hinds.bandcamp.com - Beastie Boys - Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, 2011) - The BellRays - I Fall Down (Heavy Steady Go!, 2024)* - WITCH - Ain't Nobody (single, 2024)* w-i-t-c-h.bandcamp.com - Buddy Holly - Everyday (Buddy Holly, 1958) - The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck (Psychedelic Jungle, 1981) - Kanye West - On Sight (Yeezus, 2013) - The Raveonettes - Return Of The Grievous Angel (The Raveonettes Sing…, 2024)* - The International Submarine Band - One Day Week (Back At Home, 2000) - Will Gregory Moog Ensemble - Young Archimedes (Heat Ray: The Archimedes Project, 2024)* - The Stranglers - All Roads Lead To Rome (Feline, 1983) - Jason Joshua & The Beholders - Esperaré (single, 2024)* mangohillrecords.bandcamp.com - Scone Cash Players - Old Faithful (The Mind Blower, 2009) mangohillrecords.bandcamp.com - Trish Toledo - Can’t Wait To See You (single, 2024)* mangohillrecords.bandcamp.com - Camden - Circles For You (single, 2024)* mangohillrecords.bandcamp.com - GUSH - Decay (Explosion Therapy EP, 2024)* gushbandofficial.bandcamp.com - Cocteau Twins - Hitherto (Sunburst And Snowblind EP, 1983) - The Kaisers - Voodoo Lily (More from The Kaisers, 2024)* thekaisers.bandcamp.com - Mano Negra - King Kong Five (Puta’s Fever, 1989) - Manu Chao - São Paulo Motoboy (Viva Tu, 2024)* manuchao.bandcamp.com - Comet Gain - Only Happy When I’m Sad (…And It’s Love!, 2024)* spinoutnuggets.bandcamp.com - Birdie (2) - Let Her Go (Some Dusty, 1999)* slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com - Clone - Immutable (CL. 1, 2024)* clonebk.bandcamp.com - Virgins - s u n s p o t s (nothing hurt and everything was beautiful, 2024)* bandofvirgins.bandcamp.com - Daphne Guinness - Mishima (Sleep, 2024)* - Jeff Beck - Hi Ho Silver Lining (single, 1967) - the switch - Queen Street 6 (single, 2024)* - LISA - Rockstar (single, 2024)* - Scene Queen - Girls Gone Wild (Hot Singles In Your Area, 2024)* - Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I runaway) (My Method Actor, 2024)* niluferyanya.bandcamp.com - Canned Heat - Time Was (Hallelujah, 1969) - Black Market Karma - Stepping Loose (Wobble, 2024)* blackmarketkarma.bandcamp.com - The Hives - Civilisation’s Dying (Tarred And Feathered EP, 2024)* - The Soup Dragons - Hang-Ten! (Raw TV Products (Singles & Rarities 1985-88), 2022) - Federale - No Strangers (Reverb & Seduction, 2024)* federalemusic.bandcamp.com - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Sand (Nancy & Lee, 1968) - Voice of Baceprot - The Enemy Of Earth Is You (RETAS, 2023) - Tenacious D - The Metal (The Pick Of Destiny, 2006) - Desire - Under Your Spell (Desire, 2009) - This Mortal Coil - Kanga Roo (It’ll End In Tears, 1984) - Oakenfold - Starry Eyed Surprise (Bunkka, 2002) - Foolio - Pain (Resurrection, 2024)* - Kinky Friedman - They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore (Kinky Friedman, 1974) - Myron Lee & The Caddies - Aw C’mon Baby (single, 1958) - Stephen de Bastion - Vienna (Songs From The Piano Player Of Budapest, 2024)* Read the full article

[rockhyrax]

Spectacle Radio ep.111 :: 02.15.24 :: A car needs hormones

Sergey Kuryokhin - Nemoj (Mister Designer, dir. Oleg Teptsov, 1987) Orbital - Concludiato (The Pentaverate) Victor Mate - Rosszkor szóltak rám (Memory of the Summer of ’74, dir. György Kovásznai, 1974) The Francies - Nightmare (dir. Al Columbia, 201X?) Yeule - Frozen Arrow (The Overture of Prototype, dir. 00 Zhang, 2023) Lydia Lunch & Clint Ruin - Stinkfist (Red Spirit Lake, dir. Charles Pinion, 1993) Nimrod Workman (Appalachian Journey, dir. Mike Dibb, Mark Kidel, & Alan Lomax, 1990) This Mortal Coil - Meniscus (Totally Fucked Up, dir. Greg Araki, 1993) The Time of Moulting (dir. Sabrina Mertens, 2020) Orbital - The Box (Untitled 2) (Wasted, dir. Aryan Kaganof, 2006) Al Columbia - Black Death and the Plague Dead Can Dance - Moon Child End Theme (dir. Agustí Villaronga, 1989) Dieter Moebius - Hoffnungsschimmer (Blue Moon, dir. Karsten Wichniarz, 1986) Jacques Higelin - Jolie Môme (Paprika, dir. Tinto Brass, 1991) … Thomas Brinkman - Olga (John and Jane, dir. Ashim Ahluwalia, 2005) Junk - Wildfire (Rave Macbeth, dir. Klaus Knoesel, 2001) Lliso & Suzo Saiz - El Arte de Morir (Álvaro Fernández Armero, 2000) Sergey Kuryokhin - Sorvalas (Mister Designer) Black Britain - Real Life (Hiding Out, dir. Bob Giraldi, 1987) Marianne Faithful - Broken English (Anybody’s Woman, dir. Bette Gordon, 1981) 808 State - In Yer Face (The Myth of the Liberal Media, dir. Sut Jhally, 1998) Jennifer Warnes - Nights Are Forever (The Twilight Zone) Veronika Fischer - Sehnsucht nach Wärme Chris Petke - Diablo (Rave Macbeth) Roberto de Simone & Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare - secondo coro delle lavandaie (La gatta Cenerentola, 1976) Denis Mpunga & Paul K. - Intermezzo II Pierre Desprats - Irrealta (Conann, Bertrand Mandico, 2023) Dieter Moebius - Kriminelle Energie (Blue Moon) Health - Blue Monday (Atomic Blonde) Alex McGowan - Guru Flute (Rave Macbeth) Otomo Yoshihide - Bath Cream 2 (Tokyo Elegy, dir. Aryan Kaganof, 1999) … Robert Ashley - The Park (Privacy Rules) (Perfect Lives, dir. John Sanborn, 1984) Piero Milesi & Daniel Bacalov - La Camera Astratta