I didn't understand why Sheppard would have chosen this career
No, I agree this is something that might have been addressed better, but I can still see the appeal, for him -- doing what he can to help people, using his brain, but also enough action to keep that part of him satisfied. I don't see that he's impotent a lot of the time, or that he would see it that way -- of course, some cases will go badly, but some will go well, and I can imagine the rush of figuring it out, saving a life.
The Sheppard of the show seems very able to set his own boudaries, keep people at arms-length - in short, be less of a girl, frankly
Gender stereotyping aside, I agree with you here as well. However, I think that the Hindsight John, at this point, is very much in need of human contact. He isn't the hardened military man trained to be self-sufficient, and while, yes, he's no sop, he's working on a very difficult, emotionally disturbing case, and that kind of thing will make you reach out to reconnect with humanity wherever you can find it. I'm sure he could have kept Rodney at bay had he truly wanted to, but it's evident with that first dinner that while he might not be looking to spend time with Rodney, per se, he does need to escape his work and his colleagues for a little while. The way he allows himself to be almost pushed into the relationship as time goes on speak to this.
I couldn't understand why a man so consumed with anger and contempt would try and force his way into a relationship with a total stranger - and worse, why Sheppard would let himself be played into that relationship, especially when the story sets out with him ostensibly heterosexual.
See, I read more shades of grey into this. I seem to be alone in this interpretation, and maybe it's just me trying to make it work in my head, but I didn't see Hindsight Rodney as quite the extreme you've described above. I did see depth, nerves, genuine affection, and granted it wasn't there the entire time, tbh I don't think it needed to be. For me, it was enough to paint a picture of a multi-faceted man that might conceivably have piqued Agent Sheppard's interest.
And I don't see that Sheppard was 'played' into the relationship. I thought it was quite clear that despite his initial ambiguity towards it, he did come to really want it. He needed to be wanted, and that's what he got, and eventually he got more and realised that that's what he needed and wanted too. The fact that Rodney's a guy does seem to give him pause, but first he gets over it because he likes/needs/wants the attention, and then he gets over it because he begins to feel. The story paints him as someone with a string of short-term girlfriends -- relationships that are neither going anyway nor have any depth. The relationship he developes with Rodney is new and unique for him. So I'm not too surprised that he didn't freak out over the fact that it was a homosexual relationship.
I absolutely can't think of anything from the show that supports the idea of McKay calling Sheppard up umpteen times a day
My own (seemingly unique) interpretation of this was that it was an exageration on Sheppard's part. As I recall it, he's thinking about that as a memory, and having a laugh about it to himself, so I read this as a bit of joking exageration (like, omg this comment is taking me 100 years to write).
...inviting himself into someone else's life, trying to comandeer them...
Yes, but I don't think he's above persuing his friends if he's worried about them.
Re: part I
No, I agree this is something that might have been addressed better, but I can still see the appeal, for him -- doing what he can to help people, using his brain, but also enough action to keep that part of him satisfied. I don't see that he's impotent a lot of the time, or that he would see it that way -- of course, some cases will go badly, but some will go well, and I can imagine the rush of figuring it out, saving a life.
The Sheppard of the show seems very able to set his own boudaries, keep people at arms-length - in short, be less of a girl, frankly
Gender stereotyping aside, I agree with you here as well. However, I think that the Hindsight John, at this point, is very much in need of human contact. He isn't the hardened military man trained to be self-sufficient, and while, yes, he's no sop, he's working on a very difficult, emotionally disturbing case, and that kind of thing will make you reach out to reconnect with humanity wherever you can find it. I'm sure he could have kept Rodney at bay had he truly wanted to, but it's evident with that first dinner that while he might not be looking to spend time with Rodney, per se, he does need to escape his work and his colleagues for a little while. The way he allows himself to be almost pushed into the relationship as time goes on speak to this.
I couldn't understand why a man so consumed with anger and contempt would try and force his way into a relationship with a total stranger - and worse, why Sheppard would let himself be played into that relationship, especially when the story sets out with him ostensibly heterosexual.
See, I read more shades of grey into this. I seem to be alone in this interpretation, and maybe it's just me trying to make it work in my head, but I didn't see Hindsight Rodney as quite the extreme you've described above. I did see depth, nerves, genuine affection, and granted it wasn't there the entire time, tbh I don't think it needed to be. For me, it was enough to paint a picture of a multi-faceted man that might conceivably have piqued Agent Sheppard's interest.
And I don't see that Sheppard was 'played' into the relationship. I thought it was quite clear that despite his initial ambiguity towards it, he did come to really want it. He needed to be wanted, and that's what he got, and eventually he got more and realised that that's what he needed and wanted too. The fact that Rodney's a guy does seem to give him pause, but first he gets over it because he likes/needs/wants the attention, and then he gets over it because he begins to feel. The story paints him as someone with a string of short-term girlfriends -- relationships that are neither going anyway nor have any depth. The relationship he developes with Rodney is new and unique for him. So I'm not too surprised that he didn't freak out over the fact that it was a homosexual relationship.
I absolutely can't think of anything from the show that supports the idea of McKay calling Sheppard up umpteen times a day
My own (seemingly unique) interpretation of this was that it was an exageration on Sheppard's part. As I recall it, he's thinking about that as a memory, and having a laugh about it to himself, so I read this as a bit of joking exageration (like, omg this comment is taking me 100 years to write).
...inviting himself into someone else's life, trying to comandeer them...
Yes, but I don't think he's above persuing his friends if he's worried about them.