The Shrine: Rewatch #4568923

[respoftw]

I was struck by the urge to rewatch my favourite SGA episode tonight.

The Shrine is a hell of an episode. The first time I saw it, I cried and I marvelled at David Hewlett's performance. I think I must be on at least rewatch number 20 of it and I still cried but over time my marvelling has switched from David to Joe Flanigan.

Joe really just acts his fucking heart out in this episode (sorry for the potty mouth but I'm Scottish, we express emotion through swearing). I think every time I watch the episode I spot another John moment that takes my breath away. Tonight it was two moments in the cave, the first when they get there and Rodney is crying and John tries to distract him by showing him how cool the waterfall is. It's just - it's the type of thing you would distract a crying kid with and that John does it to Rodney is just - - there aren't words.

And then, later, when John is busy getting the food out while Keller tests her hypothesis by trying to take Rodney out of the caves and - - man, that first cry of pain from Rodney and John is just THERE. Like lightning.

So, yeah, you'll pry McShep out of my cold dead hands; never mind what the last thirty seconds of the episode says.

The other great thing about The Shrine is all the fics it has inspired. I was curious about how many fics I'd written around that episode and it turns out I've only written 6. It feels like a lot more.

My fics are below the cut for anyone who is interested but I'd really love to hear what everyone's favourite Shrine fic is?



broken, as you clutch the sleeve of my jacket and beg me not to leave: 1,113 words, part of my '35 Ways To Say I Love You In The Pegasus Galaxy' Series

Slip Away Across The Universe: 4,889 words, part of my 'Infinity and Beyond' Series

Lost and Losing: 729 words, written to fill the 'suicide attempt' square of my 2017 hc_bingo card

Five Times John Saw Rodney Naked: 6,746 words, written for the 2018 romancingmcshep

Less Talking...: 1,620 words, written to fill the 'cuddling' square of my 2018 hc_bingo card

A Good Death: 895 words, written to fill the 'mercy killing' square of my 2018 hc_bingo card

Comments

[goddess47]

Whenever a group of us get together for what we call Squee weekend (it's expanded to like 8 days now!), we watch a lot of SGA and the Shrine is *always* on the list... we try to mix it up and watch less popular episodes, but we always watch the Shrine and always ignore the very end with Jennifer...

The next Squee is in October in South Carolina. I can give you more details if you want...

::hugs::

[respoftw]

Melissa has spoken to me at great lengths about Squee and it sounds so amazing. Unfortunately October is a pretty peak work time for me so I don’t think I’ll ever manage to get there, as much as I would love to :(

[melagan]

I agree with every bit of this with all my heart.

[respoftw]

<3

[brumeier]

The Shrine is what made me start watching SGA. I came in through the back door, reading fic first. This ep is the very first one I watched, before I went back to ep one to watch them in order. I was not disappointed.

I agree with your assessment of Joe's acting in this ep. His care of Rodney, all his too-big feels. Such a shippy episode, the Keller nonsense notwithstanding.

I checked to see how many Shrine-adjacent fics I have. Only three:

Never Gonna Happen

Remember the Day

Once More, With Feelings

[respoftw]

I love all three of those fics! I came into the show knowing McShep were a ship but I watched most of season one before I started reading fic (which sounds like a long time to wait but I think I watched all of season one in two or three days so...)

[brumeier]

Thank you! ::hugs::

Yeah, I blew through all five season pretty quickly once I got started. I only ever got to season three of SG1. My heart belongs to SGA!

[respoftw]

I watched SG1 religiously for years and then we lost cable so I fell out of it. Now that SGA has my heart though I don’t like SG1 as much. Go figure!

[popkin16]

THIS EPISODE ♥ I remember hearing about it when I first got into the fandom, and my friend convinced me to hold off watching it - that it would have more impact if I waited, and watched John and Rodney's relationship grow.

That episode kills me. The faces John makes. Rodney calling for John. All those moments you mentioned!

[respoftw]

I can definitely see how it would benefit from holding off. I did watch it once with a fandom friend who I was trying to convince to ship them and I don’t think it resonated with her quite as much because it was the first ep she had seen

[escriveine]

The Shrine is such a powerful episode, arguably my favorite, but I have to work up to re-watching. It just destroys me, all the moments you call out. And the way the very last name Rodney remembers (even when it's not clear he knows his own anymore) is John's... that cemented McShep for me forever.

My go to post-Shrine fix-it fic is by hestia_lacey on AO3: On the Pier

I'm glad to see the other fics folks listed above; I'm betting I'll have to parcel out reading them, too. =)

[respoftw]

Thank you for linking your go to fic! I’ve read that one before but not for a while! Time for a reread!