In "Stargate - Atlantis", episode 1x13, 'Hot Zone', Rodney showed his leadership qualities, and, while still being him ("I don't care; I'm alive!"), he took charge competently and stopped the virus from spreading -- much in contrast to John's impulsiveness. But I don't want to get into -- again -- Sheppard's problem with Weir's authority, and Weir's problem with Weir's authority.

I've just finished watching episode 1x14, 'Sanctuary', and I'm still confused.

On one hand, I hated the episode, having dreaded that something similar would soon come to pass -- one of the guys falling for a love-interest-of-the-week. It was even worse so since John was so obviously smitten with Chaya from the very beginning, and even got to kiss her and (urgh) supposedly had offscreen sex with her.

On the other hand, the episode (and the het sex relationship) had a mitigating factor, and that was Rodney's reaction. His overwhelming jealousy and immediate suspicion of Chaya's motives were a sure sign that he felt something for John, and, slasher that I am, I simply cannot picture something else than love/lust/want/possessiveness. There is not other logical explanation for Rodney's actions. He was rude and suspicious towards Chaya, ran all the tests he could think of in an attempt to prove that he was not acting because of his conflicted personal feelings, drew Weir to his side, forewent sleep... heck, he even waited for John to return from his 'date' so he could confront him about what he'd done with Chaya! Jealousy. Plain and simple.

How that storyline ever made it into the script is beyond me -- even the most blind of persons simply has got to see the implications and the (sub)text we're hit over the head with! Not that I'm complaining. I'm just wondering. No way is it only friendship that Rodney's feeling towards the Major.

And in the end he was right, of course, although not quite in the way we, the viewers, had been beginning to suspect, but our resident genius did indeed figure it out.

Furthermore, Rodney's frequent Kirk quips simply blew me away.

I'm confused about one more thing -- were the people on Chaya's planet real, or just projections? If they were indeed "her people", why did she want to keep her distance from them? Them, she could protect, or at least that's how I understood it.

Meet those glowy squid people. Unavoidable, I guess.

After that last embrace between Sheppard and Chaya, I now want more McShep slash fic to get this bad taste out of my mouth; the longer the fic, the better. I'd simply love to read an episode tag that deals with Rodney's reaction once John's returned to Atlantis.

And I sincerely hope John never makes good on his promise and visits Chaya's planet again. Urgh.