SG1 processing Tl;dr
Feb. 19th, 2009 01:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragojustineSo I recently set about watching the later seasons of SG1. Finally. After seeing just bits and pieces out of order- really no full episodes after mid-Season 7 (guilty admission: I am normally a fanatical in-order watcher, but by the time I got to Season 7, I was utterly spoiled and I knew the later seasons just wouldn't be the same and I wanted to digest Jack and Daniel a little better first... and so I stopped right before Heroes. Because I couldn't face that episode). So I saw Heroes and all the way through for the first time, and all Season 8, and the first time for Reckoning and Moebius, and now I'm watching the introductions of Cam and Vala again.
I have thoughts. None of them earth-shattering, just my normal processing by typing.
Finally, I feel like Teal'c is a "from the inside" character for me.
Avatar, the one where he's trapped in the VR game, is enough all by itself to make me forgive the writers years of Teal'c neglect. I mean, using actual video-game footage is a cutesy thing that runs the risk of being very dated very quickly, and of course there's a lot of eye rolling, "oh, nothing can go wrong with that," sort of thing during the set up... but my kink for characters being forced to face their subconscious in unlikely and avilicious ways knows pretty much no bounds. And this episode was the entire story of Teal'c distilled and concentrated.
Because this is his life, you know? Setting himself an impossible task against an undefeatable foe. He does the impossible over and over, wins victories that would have been unimaginable a short decade ago. But every time he overthrows a God, a stronger one rises. Every time he reaches the end of the race, someone moves the finish line. Every time he thinks he's won the game, the rules change. I completely believe that the young Teal'c, training under Bra'tac, truly believed that defeating the Goa'uld was impossible... and yet dedicated his life to it anyway. And I completely believe that after eight long years of ever-moving goalposts, he would believe that just as much as ever.
Teal'c is cursed: he is strong, and he knows it. He knows that he is the most physically capable, the most able to wage this war. He knows that if the Jaffa are going to be free, he must free them. He can fight, so he must fight. He is the most physically able, and so there is one thing that he will never ever be able to do: quit. And so he is trapped in a hell of his own making.
In ordinary life, it isn't so dire as all that. He wins victories, and he has time to rest and regroup before the war begins again, and he has friends and allies and small pleasures (like beating up bullies around Colorado Springs and flirting with Sam and watching hockey and jello wrestling with Jack and meditating with Daniel and baffling everybody with his dessicatingly dry sense of humor and keen knack for subtle cultural mindfuck). But when you strip the man bare, it is this: He can fight, so he must fight, and it will never end.
The episode expects us to believe that they won the game because of Daniel's two second advantage. That's bullshit. They won the game because somewhere, deep down in that same subconscious that knows he will never win and never quit, Teal'c knows that somehow, being part of SG1 changes everything. He is far stronger and wiser than all of them, but the basic magic of SG1 is that they are so much more than the sum of their parts.
(Is it just me, or was this episode very much Teal'c's Meridian? That shot of Teal'c sliding down the wall and refusing to even lift a hand as the base... it hits exactly the same chord of despair as Daniel carefully describing the symptoms of radiation poisoning. The inner demons are not quite the same - believing you will never win is not the same as believing yourself a failure, and those differences are interesting and hard to articulate - and the end result is different because Teal'c's immediate situation can be fixed in a way Daniel's couldn't... but anyway. I just really didn't expect this to be the stand-out star of Season 8 for me)
And the other random notes
- I expected to find Heroes gimmicky and exploitive. Actually, I think the show has started doing a really good job of dealing with the moral problems of secrecy. It's something I never expected them to handle with any nuance, and I'm so surprised that they let the camera guy be a good guy (and I'm surprised at how sympathetic and genuine and persuasive the proponents of openness have been). The only gimmicky part was the fake-out of Jack's death, the only weak spot in a surprisingly not manipulative episode.
Still want to think about Heroes versus Sunday, Civilian versus Military, and the very different ways SG1 and SGA went about killing the doctor.
- The more they push Sam/Jack on us, the more I like Sam/Teal'c. I mean, I saw Space Race for the first time and almost fell over at the sudden cuteness of the Sam/Teal'c... and, in Heroes, I found her moment with him so much more touching and sincere than her moment with Jack.
- Speaking of which, there is actually an episode where Teal'c becomes the Dudley Do-right of his neighborhood. He catches purse-snatchers! He teaches martial arts! He fights crime! And he does it all with this fabulous, very self-aware élan. Teal'c always gets so much more about Earth culture than he lets on.
- Despite my hatred for the Sam/Jack, I like her storyline with Pete. I like her concerns and her desire for a personal life, and I like the problems of her clinging to the unavailable and settling for the so-so because she doesn't think she'll find another. It's painful and I'm sad for her, and I kind of wish the show had given her a personal life storyline that was a little kinder, but. I believe it, and as long as I cover the specifically Sam/Jack bits of Threads and convince myself that she broke it off with Pete because it was the right thing for her to do and not because of Jack... I'm okay. And I like her interactions with her dad (so, so much).
- The thing with Jack and whats-her-face in Threads? Didn't happen. Seriously, people, one bedroom scene does not make up for that.
- I dearly wish Moebius had stuck with the courage of its convictions and shipped Sam/Daniel. But other than that, my love for that episode is just immense.
- Reckoning was fucking fabulous. The SG1 faction grab-bag! Rebel Jaffa! Ba'al! RepliCarter! Jacob! Anubis! Oma! Mentions of Thor, and the Tok'ra! The thing that is weird to me about Reckoning is that it totally feels like a series finale. It's a hugely satisfying conclusion to a lot of villains and a lot of plotlines. Frankly, I kind of think it should have been a series finale- put Moebius earlier, then kill of Jacob in a different plot, then do Reckoning, and leave us defeated Goa'uld, a free Jaffa state... and, in the last scene of the show, Daniel re-descending as Jack looks out over the gateroom.
I mean, if I were writing it.
Two other Reckoning observations: 1, Cliff Simon has a face on him. Really. That jaw + those cheekbones + that facial hair = positively architectural. Like he's carved in marble. Throw in that voice... wow. And, 2, Daniel's moment fighting RepliCarter and freezing all the Replicators in the galaxy? That, as far as Crowning Moments of Awesome go, was fucking fabulous. Daniel was quiet and resigned and steely strong and utterly fucking terrifying, which is always how he's hottest. Wow wow wow.
It's good that there's so much to like, because Season 8 makes me very sad.
For two reasons. The first is the loss of Hammond and Janet so close together. Between the two of them, it feels like the SGC lost... I'm having a hard time here. Lost its seriousness, but that's not it. Lost its center. Lost its anchor. Lost its adults. Lost its gravitas. They were each, in their own way, pillars. I wouldn't ask Jack to be the same sort of leader as Hammond, and I wouldn't ask anyone to replace Janet, but they were such stalwarts, such firm centers in the chaos, such figures of utter trust and love and loyalty, that the show feels unmoored and so much smaller and poorer without them.
And the other reason, of course, is the way O'Neill checks out. I'm having a really hard time articulating what I object to- I don't mind him not being around as much. I can see that as necessary. And I wouldn't want him to be exactly the same kind of serious leader as Hammond. Hell, I wouldn't believe it. And I'm not asking for him to be in an agony of indecision and torment the whole time SG1 is out of his sight (though that's a common slash characterization and one I will admit to eating up with a spoon). But for so much of Season 8, it feels like he doesn't even care. And for all that the flippancy is part of his character, it seems like the writers forgot it isn't the only part of his character. He just seems so much less sincere and less invested and less concerned than he did before.
I've already absorbed so much fanon characterization. I can construct five different character versions of Jack and how it felt to be in charge of SGC and why he left. I didn't expect to actually watch the canon and be left feeling like he just didn't care. I want to blame the actor- I want to say I'm seeing RDA checking out, and that my fanon construction of Jack is more true to the character. Or maybe the writers, not RDA, are to blame. I don't know. Or maybe it's just me.
My lack of a Teal'c icon is a travesty that I will finally have to go out and fix, I think.
I have thoughts. None of them earth-shattering, just my normal processing by typing.
Finally, I feel like Teal'c is a "from the inside" character for me.
Avatar, the one where he's trapped in the VR game, is enough all by itself to make me forgive the writers years of Teal'c neglect. I mean, using actual video-game footage is a cutesy thing that runs the risk of being very dated very quickly, and of course there's a lot of eye rolling, "oh, nothing can go wrong with that," sort of thing during the set up... but my kink for characters being forced to face their subconscious in unlikely and avilicious ways knows pretty much no bounds. And this episode was the entire story of Teal'c distilled and concentrated.
Because this is his life, you know? Setting himself an impossible task against an undefeatable foe. He does the impossible over and over, wins victories that would have been unimaginable a short decade ago. But every time he overthrows a God, a stronger one rises. Every time he reaches the end of the race, someone moves the finish line. Every time he thinks he's won the game, the rules change. I completely believe that the young Teal'c, training under Bra'tac, truly believed that defeating the Goa'uld was impossible... and yet dedicated his life to it anyway. And I completely believe that after eight long years of ever-moving goalposts, he would believe that just as much as ever.
Teal'c is cursed: he is strong, and he knows it. He knows that he is the most physically capable, the most able to wage this war. He knows that if the Jaffa are going to be free, he must free them. He can fight, so he must fight. He is the most physically able, and so there is one thing that he will never ever be able to do: quit. And so he is trapped in a hell of his own making.
In ordinary life, it isn't so dire as all that. He wins victories, and he has time to rest and regroup before the war begins again, and he has friends and allies and small pleasures (like beating up bullies around Colorado Springs and flirting with Sam and watching hockey and jello wrestling with Jack and meditating with Daniel and baffling everybody with his dessicatingly dry sense of humor and keen knack for subtle cultural mindfuck). But when you strip the man bare, it is this: He can fight, so he must fight, and it will never end.
The episode expects us to believe that they won the game because of Daniel's two second advantage. That's bullshit. They won the game because somewhere, deep down in that same subconscious that knows he will never win and never quit, Teal'c knows that somehow, being part of SG1 changes everything. He is far stronger and wiser than all of them, but the basic magic of SG1 is that they are so much more than the sum of their parts.
(Is it just me, or was this episode very much Teal'c's Meridian? That shot of Teal'c sliding down the wall and refusing to even lift a hand as the base... it hits exactly the same chord of despair as Daniel carefully describing the symptoms of radiation poisoning. The inner demons are not quite the same - believing you will never win is not the same as believing yourself a failure, and those differences are interesting and hard to articulate - and the end result is different because Teal'c's immediate situation can be fixed in a way Daniel's couldn't... but anyway. I just really didn't expect this to be the stand-out star of Season 8 for me)
And the other random notes
- I expected to find Heroes gimmicky and exploitive. Actually, I think the show has started doing a really good job of dealing with the moral problems of secrecy. It's something I never expected them to handle with any nuance, and I'm so surprised that they let the camera guy be a good guy (and I'm surprised at how sympathetic and genuine and persuasive the proponents of openness have been). The only gimmicky part was the fake-out of Jack's death, the only weak spot in a surprisingly not manipulative episode.
Still want to think about Heroes versus Sunday, Civilian versus Military, and the very different ways SG1 and SGA went about killing the doctor.
- The more they push Sam/Jack on us, the more I like Sam/Teal'c. I mean, I saw Space Race for the first time and almost fell over at the sudden cuteness of the Sam/Teal'c... and, in Heroes, I found her moment with him so much more touching and sincere than her moment with Jack.
- Speaking of which, there is actually an episode where Teal'c becomes the Dudley Do-right of his neighborhood. He catches purse-snatchers! He teaches martial arts! He fights crime! And he does it all with this fabulous, very self-aware élan. Teal'c always gets so much more about Earth culture than he lets on.
- Despite my hatred for the Sam/Jack, I like her storyline with Pete. I like her concerns and her desire for a personal life, and I like the problems of her clinging to the unavailable and settling for the so-so because she doesn't think she'll find another. It's painful and I'm sad for her, and I kind of wish the show had given her a personal life storyline that was a little kinder, but. I believe it, and as long as I cover the specifically Sam/Jack bits of Threads and convince myself that she broke it off with Pete because it was the right thing for her to do and not because of Jack... I'm okay. And I like her interactions with her dad (so, so much).
- The thing with Jack and whats-her-face in Threads? Didn't happen. Seriously, people, one bedroom scene does not make up for that.
- I dearly wish Moebius had stuck with the courage of its convictions and shipped Sam/Daniel. But other than that, my love for that episode is just immense.
- Reckoning was fucking fabulous. The SG1 faction grab-bag! Rebel Jaffa! Ba'al! RepliCarter! Jacob! Anubis! Oma! Mentions of Thor, and the Tok'ra! The thing that is weird to me about Reckoning is that it totally feels like a series finale. It's a hugely satisfying conclusion to a lot of villains and a lot of plotlines. Frankly, I kind of think it should have been a series finale- put Moebius earlier, then kill of Jacob in a different plot, then do Reckoning, and leave us defeated Goa'uld, a free Jaffa state... and, in the last scene of the show, Daniel re-descending as Jack looks out over the gateroom.
I mean, if I were writing it.
Two other Reckoning observations: 1, Cliff Simon has a face on him. Really. That jaw + those cheekbones + that facial hair = positively architectural. Like he's carved in marble. Throw in that voice... wow. And, 2, Daniel's moment fighting RepliCarter and freezing all the Replicators in the galaxy? That, as far as Crowning Moments of Awesome go, was fucking fabulous. Daniel was quiet and resigned and steely strong and utterly fucking terrifying, which is always how he's hottest. Wow wow wow.
It's good that there's so much to like, because Season 8 makes me very sad.
For two reasons. The first is the loss of Hammond and Janet so close together. Between the two of them, it feels like the SGC lost... I'm having a hard time here. Lost its seriousness, but that's not it. Lost its center. Lost its anchor. Lost its adults. Lost its gravitas. They were each, in their own way, pillars. I wouldn't ask Jack to be the same sort of leader as Hammond, and I wouldn't ask anyone to replace Janet, but they were such stalwarts, such firm centers in the chaos, such figures of utter trust and love and loyalty, that the show feels unmoored and so much smaller and poorer without them.
And the other reason, of course, is the way O'Neill checks out. I'm having a really hard time articulating what I object to- I don't mind him not being around as much. I can see that as necessary. And I wouldn't want him to be exactly the same kind of serious leader as Hammond. Hell, I wouldn't believe it. And I'm not asking for him to be in an agony of indecision and torment the whole time SG1 is out of his sight (though that's a common slash characterization and one I will admit to eating up with a spoon). But for so much of Season 8, it feels like he doesn't even care. And for all that the flippancy is part of his character, it seems like the writers forgot it isn't the only part of his character. He just seems so much less sincere and less invested and less concerned than he did before.
I've already absorbed so much fanon characterization. I can construct five different character versions of Jack and how it felt to be in charge of SGC and why he left. I didn't expect to actually watch the canon and be left feeling like he just didn't care. I want to blame the actor- I want to say I'm seeing RDA checking out, and that my fanon construction of Jack is more true to the character. Or maybe the writers, not RDA, are to blame. I don't know. Or maybe it's just me.
My lack of a Teal'c icon is a travesty that I will finally have to go out and fix, I think.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 11:46 am (UTC)A big YES to Teal'c all the way around (and small squee for Sam/Teal'c because I see it and believe it). :-)
An even bigger yes to the crappy misdirection of Jack's death in Heroes, all designed to shoehorn in a Sam/Jack hug because, you know, we needed reminding that she cares for him the very mostest *eyeroll*
And the giantest yes to O'Neill checking out. It physically hurts to watch it. Thank god for fic.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 08:27 pm (UTC)