Spoilers!

[paraka]

Wow, so the announcement about casting that was supposed to come out yesterday finally made it out. I don't actually like to be spoiled, but I had to know about Carson. You can read about it here.

Carson will be coming back for 5 episodes in season 5. This... well I'm not sure how I feel about it. I didn't really expect them to bring him back full time, but the fact that it's not *that* many (I mean it's only one more than what Elizabeth got this season) and the fact that I hear Keller is still going to be around next season has me worried that while Carson's character will be back, he's not going to be back to normal. We're going to get some cracked out story like Elizabeth or Ford, where he's "back" but he's never going to be the same. He doesn't get to go back to his old job, with perhaps a few more battle scars. And this makes me feel so frustrated.
I didn't merely want Carson to come back to see his (very pretty) face, I wanted *him* back. I loved seeing his caring side in the infirmary, I loved his banter with Rodney, I don't want him to get some lame ass story-line like Elizabeth did where she's just *there* for a few episodes, but we don't get any sense of *her*. I really hope they prove me wrong here.

Carter isn't going to be around much, since Sanctuary has been picked up, and she's a lead on that. I can't say as I'll miss her, but truth be told, I didn't really mind her all that much, I was just indifferent. I do however really miss Elizabeth, and you'd think that now Carter is going to be stepping down as leader of Atlantis, this would be the perfect opportunity to bring Elizabeth back, and make all those fans of the Save Weir campaign happy, but now, Richard Woolsey will be taking over. You know, the IOA guy, who Carter totally bitch slapped earlier this season when he tried to over ride her command? As much as I don't hate Woolsey, and actually kind of like him, I can't see this ending well. He has only ever handled tight situations badly, always is kind of.. "shifty"? on which sides he takes. We've most seen him in opposition to "our guys" (on both SGA and SG-1) and he seems to crack a bit under pressure (he's very much a paper shuffling guy) I just can't see him being in charge of Atlantis, at least not of doing a good job of it (I see the others having to work around him more than anything).

I dont' think I'm ready to give up on SGA, the fandom and people are too awesome, but I haven't been as impressed with season 4 as others have been, and I'm really not all that confident about season 5 now. :(