hi, have you met me?

Inspired by brindel's post on David Hewlett, and the comments therein, specifically clarkangel's here.


Like brindel, it must be stated that Rodney McKay is the main reason why I watch SGA. (Okay, Zelenka too.) I do love me some DH, and I think he's a brilliant actor, probably the best on the show. For me, when it comes to actors, brilliant acting is about 50 times hotter than anything else. You could be the prettiest thing ever, but if you can't deliver a line, ugh.

Also, it's very easy to become confused when trying to differentiate between the actor and the character he/she plays. I certainly have a difficult time of it. So if the following rambling on DH and Rodney and JF and John is completely incoherent, apologies in advance.


To begin with, Rodney McKay is not a hero in any conventional sense. On another show, he would be another Kavanagh, the irritating scientist side character that you want to hit. And yet, here, on SGA, he's one of the leads. It's one of the most original things about the show. Take a look at "The Rising". After the MALP goes through, and they get the all clear to go, Rodney's comment is: "Looks like we're not getting out of this." Sure it's a joke, but not really. Action! Adventure! Another Galaxy! These are the very staples of the Sci-Fi genre.

You can tell that if Rodney had his way, he'd stay at home exploring Ancient technology from his ratty couch and leave the action and adventure to someone else. He is not the person you expect to see on a show like this, which is why watching his character develop, make connections, be brilliant and brave and still undeniably flawed that is one of the great pleasures of Season 1.

DH's job as an actor, therefore, is to make us not like Rodney, necessarily, but understand him. To take Rodney McKay and show us everything human he can about him. And DH is brilliant in this regard. With Rodney McKay, David Hewlett has managed to make a character who is, on the surface, a completely obnoxious asshole, almost entirely sympathetic. His performance is, as brindel says, nuanced, complex, and most importantly, very accessible. We know what is going on in Rodney's head practically all the time. We can see what he's thinking. We understand him, which is why we feel for him. And even if he behaves like an ass sometimes, and even though I know that in real life Rodney McKay would probably drive me batshit, the feeling doesn't change.

I think it's hard, though, to compare DH and JF's performances. John Sheppard is an entirely different kettle of fish from Rodney. He is as close to a big damn hero as the scrappy Atlantis team is going to get. He's charming and good-looking and we are automatically disposed to like him. But there is also, on the surface, not a lot there. Joe Flanigan's job as an actor is different: to flesh out the character, give Sheppard something more than the cardboard cutout quipping flyboy type we've seen before in other shows.

And no, you can't see everything Sheppard is thinking by JF's facial expressions. And while you could argue that it's because JF's performance isn't as skilled as it could be, you could also argue that Sheppard is not the type of character who would wear his heart on his sleeve (whereas Rodney, well, he kind of is). John is not going to be telegraphing every emotion he has to the outside word. Either could be valid. But the thing is, even with all we've seen of his character, it's hard to say which is true.

Even though Sheppard is the "hero" of the show, we don't actually know much concrete about him. His character is difficult to pin down. He's unpredictable. He's surprising. It's easier for me to explain what John Sheppard isn't than what he is; what he wouldn't do in a situation, as opposed to what he would. I think I know his character, but how much of that is based on speculation?

And now that I think about it, fanon has done a lot more (for me personally) at opening up the character- giving him backstory, angstiness, darkness, etc, things that we only see tantalizing flashes of on the show:

Flipping a coin. Liking ferris wheels. Flying. Sending his letter from Pegasus. Closet math geekiness.

All of these are tiny little pieces that the show has dropped, pieces that fandom has grabbed onto and interpreted and extrapolated for itself. And it's really through fandom more than canon that my emotional attachment to Sheppard has come from. Fic-wise, I think that's also why I can read fics that have very different takes on John, and buy into them. Rodney, on the other hand, is the kind of character you either nail or you don't. Because David Hewlett puts it all out there to see. Joe Flanigan doesn't. Sheppard, consequently, remains more of a mystery to figure out.

I'd like to think it's a deliberate choice on JF's part, a reflection of the fact that Sheppard is a hard person to know well. Whatever else you want to say about him, JF is very good at making you feel that there is something going on under that much remarked upon hair, even if it's hard to always get an intellectual grasp on what that is. Personally, I am (for now) chalking this failure up to the writers and not so much JF's acting. I think the show could be a lot better at giving us some more revealing moments for John.

Hopefully, in the future, it will. Because while I will continue watching SGA for Rodney McKay, I will also keep tuning in for other reasons. To see if we ever get to the bottom of a certain Lieutenant Colonel. To find out all the backstory that's lurking around. To see what JF will do with some quality material for his character. Because I get the feeling if it happens, it's going to be very interesting indeed.