There But For the Grace of God
Jul. 23rd, 2006 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superbadgirlThis episode is not without its faults, but I love, love, love it. The idea in and of itself is pretty intriguing and, dare I say TPTB never recaptured the glory of the alternate reality in the same way again. How could they? This was all very confusing and shocking for Daniel because it had never happened before.
This is the first solo Daniel episode, I think, and boy what a way to start. From the moment "Oh, I really hate it when this happens" leaves his lips, this episode belongs to him. Okay, that's probably because the rest of SG-1 aren't SG-1. ;)
I think the word that most captures the tone of this episode is desperation. Daniel's desperation to understand, the Alt Reality SGA's desperation to survive by any means necessary, the Alt Reality SGA's desperation to inflict as much damage to their enemy as possible, Daniel's desperation to have the chance to save his own world... I was tense throughout the whole hour, and I've seen this episode many times. That's longevity.
Daniel was very expressive throughout and his confusion palpable. He certainly made me feel what he felt. I mean, look at his poor confused woobie face when he turns around to find MPs have their weapons drawn on him. Him shouting as he was hauled to the MRI, his baffling conversation with Catherine.
That said, he was a little slow to figure it out. ;)
I found myself mostly just enjoying the show, scribbling down quotes only:
"Good morning, campers..."
"Oh, I really hate it when this happens."
"Don't give me that...where's Doctor Fraiser...DON'T give me that!" (<--seriously, he was very panicky and emphatic.)
"Unless the last two years have been some wacky, wacky [insert adorable hand gestures here] dream, I am a member of SG-1."
"Okay, maybe I've completely lost my mind here, but as far as I'm concerned we know each other very well. You know everything that I know."
"Big guy, gold emblem on his head, Goa'uld in his stomach. Can't miss him."
"I feel like the victim of the biggest practical joke...ever."
"This isn't happening this is nuts this isn't happening."
"I think I'm dead."
"It's not going to fire." Carter goes huh, weren't you listening to my grim, factual statement about not feeling it anyway? "It's landing." (Incidentally, I love the shot of them watching the ship land. It's almost...epic.)
"Beware the destroyers." (Love that Daniel's notes here show he didn't get the translation correct right away.Here they They come from 3 32 16 8 10 12.)
"The Jack O'Neill I know would do it."
"Well, apparently you and I have never met."
"No, I guess not."
Even though the characters, except Daniel, weren't ours, I still felt the overwhelming desperation for them in several places. Especially when they all got dead. The shot with Jack, for example, is magnificent (for a death scene). His face! Jeez, First Prime Teal'c might as well have turned his big cannon on me (in a not-dirty kind of way). Samantha sacrificing herself. Catherine...Daniel staring up at Catherine was horrible and angsty. The staring contest between First Prime Teal'c and Daniel in the final moments...whoa. I'm left wondering what FP Teal'c must have been thinking, why he hesitated to fire. Was it the fierce passion in Daniel's gaze? Hmmm. In any case, I'm very glad he did.
The one major quibble I have with this episode is the shoehorning of romance into it. 1) Because there was no indication at ALL of romantic chemistry between General Jack and Samantha Carter. They didn't even really look at each other much and 2) General Jack did have WAY more chemistry with Daniel the perfect stranger and boy did they look at each other. And, no, I don't mean that in a slash way.
To sum up: "No, Jack...they're coming. They're coming." *shivers*
This is the first solo Daniel episode, I think, and boy what a way to start. From the moment "Oh, I really hate it when this happens" leaves his lips, this episode belongs to him. Okay, that's probably because the rest of SG-1 aren't SG-1. ;)
I think the word that most captures the tone of this episode is desperation. Daniel's desperation to understand, the Alt Reality SGA's desperation to survive by any means necessary, the Alt Reality SGA's desperation to inflict as much damage to their enemy as possible, Daniel's desperation to have the chance to save his own world... I was tense throughout the whole hour, and I've seen this episode many times. That's longevity.
Daniel was very expressive throughout and his confusion palpable. He certainly made me feel what he felt. I mean, look at his poor confused woobie face when he turns around to find MPs have their weapons drawn on him. Him shouting as he was hauled to the MRI, his baffling conversation with Catherine.
That said, he was a little slow to figure it out. ;)
I found myself mostly just enjoying the show, scribbling down quotes only:
"Good morning, campers..."
"Oh, I really hate it when this happens."
"Don't give me that...where's Doctor Fraiser...DON'T give me that!" (<--seriously, he was very panicky and emphatic.)
"Unless the last two years have been some wacky, wacky [insert adorable hand gestures here] dream, I am a member of SG-1."
"Okay, maybe I've completely lost my mind here, but as far as I'm concerned we know each other very well. You know everything that I know."
"Big guy, gold emblem on his head, Goa'uld in his stomach. Can't miss him."
"I feel like the victim of the biggest practical joke...ever."
"This isn't happening this is nuts this isn't happening."
"I think I'm dead."
"It's not going to fire." Carter goes huh, weren't you listening to my grim, factual statement about not feeling it anyway? "It's landing." (Incidentally, I love the shot of them watching the ship land. It's almost...epic.)
"Beware the destroyers." (Love that Daniel's notes here show he didn't get the translation correct right away.
"The Jack O'Neill I know would do it."
"Well, apparently you and I have never met."
"No, I guess not."
Even though the characters, except Daniel, weren't ours, I still felt the overwhelming desperation for them in several places. Especially when they all got dead. The shot with Jack, for example, is magnificent (for a death scene). His face! Jeez, First Prime Teal'c might as well have turned his big cannon on me (in a not-dirty kind of way). Samantha sacrificing herself. Catherine...Daniel staring up at Catherine was horrible and angsty. The staring contest between First Prime Teal'c and Daniel in the final moments...whoa. I'm left wondering what FP Teal'c must have been thinking, why he hesitated to fire. Was it the fierce passion in Daniel's gaze? Hmmm. In any case, I'm very glad he did.
The one major quibble I have with this episode is the shoehorning of romance into it. 1) Because there was no indication at ALL of romantic chemistry between General Jack and Samantha Carter. They didn't even really look at each other much and 2) General Jack did have WAY more chemistry with Daniel the perfect stranger and boy did they look at each other. And, no, I don't mean that in a slash way.
To sum up: "No, Jack...they're coming. They're coming." *shivers*
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 04:05 am (UTC)I will be back tomorrow to discuss this because I just adore this episode and the arc it's a part of. Excellent Daniel, excellent acting all around, intriguing story line that doesn't unfold itself through a block of exposition...*sigh* Oh for the classic days of SG-1. How I miss them!
[cue cheesy MacArthur impersonation]
I'll be back!
[/cue]
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 04:40 pm (UTC)The acting was pretty good, though I have to admit AT made Samantha Carter pretty much shout her lines. Daniel I could buy as being strident throughout. She was just grating at times. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 05:13 am (UTC)On an unrelated note, IMDB is on crack. On the main SG-1 page, they list as the director: "Will Waring". Um, he's the camera operator whose directorial debut was "Meridian". You'd think they'd go with Wood or DeLouise or maybe that film guy who did the pilot. Whatevah!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-24 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-25 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-25 03:32 am (UTC)"Unless the last two years have been some wacky, wacky [insert adorable hand gestures here] dream, I am a member of SG-1."
Did he say two years? How odd. So that means that in season 1, two years went by? And how long are Abydos years anyway? In Secrets, he said that exactly one Abydos year had gone by. Hmmm....
I loved everything you wrote here and agree with all the points you made.
I loved this:
""Don't give me that...where's Doctor Fraiser...DON'T give me that!" (<--seriously, he was very panicky and emphatic.)
And, of course, the "wacky hand gestures" in the first quote that I quoted from you. *g*
no subject
Date: 2006-07-25 04:22 pm (UTC)I think he meant from the time they first went to Abydos, not necessarily his time on SG-1. An Abydonian year is a bit longer than ours, so couple that with SG-1 being active for most of a year...two years. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-25 02:43 pm (UTC)Let's not forget it was our first time, too. :) One gets to be an AR virgin only once in life. I've said elsewhere but I love it when a show makes me go, "huh?" and start to question my perceptions. Certainly "Colonel Hammond" made me go, "huh?"
Seriously, though, this was an AR with a purpose, which was to explain how we'd eventually get the team onto Klorel's ship. Stand alone episodes will never, ever thrill me the way planned arcs will. This episode marks the start of my all-time favorite arc in SG-1 and I love it to pieces.
"Oh, I really hate it when this happens" leaves his lips
Yanno, I always wondered how that fit into Jack's, "Leave No One Behind" ethos because it was certainly delivered as if he had, in fact, been left behind previously.
"Big guy, gold emblem on his head, Goa'uld in his stomach. Can't miss him."
Oh yes! And the adorable hand gesture making the circle on his forehead. That was certainly the beginning of my fascination with the man's hands.
...I still felt the overwhelming desperation for them in several places. Especially when they all got dead.
No kidding! They might not have been "ours" but, but, but... *wibble* They did an excellent job of making me care. And Jack's death was so unexpected! He was the one to turn Teal'c in the original so I fully expected it to work again -- but then he'd just incinerated Teal'c's family and I absolutely ADORE that a show grounded in the American military would be making the point that senseless violence simply because we CAN is, in fact, the wrong path.
I'm left wondering what FP Teal'c must have been thinking, why he hesitated to fire.
Oh, me too! The Just So Story I've told myself is that FP Teal'c also doubted the goa'uld in this AR and the story of a visitor with a tape and a story of his son being free in an AR...well, that was just enough to make him hesitate.
The one major quibble I have with this episode is the shoehorning of romance into it.
The first time I saw it, I didn't like it because it felt like it was supposed to be a surprise and that had been done by never hinting at anything. Knowing now that later they'd eviscerate Carter in the name of making her The Girl, I'd rather be surprised by poor writing than annoyed by poor characterization. :)
What I always found utterly unbelieveable was that Catherine and Sam, two civilians in this AR, are manning the gate and giving personnel orders to dial. But there's so much I love here that I really don't care. :)
Love, love, love this episode!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-25 04:42 pm (UTC)Oh, definitely. And the experience in this case was not at all awkward and fumbling. ;)
Seriously, though, this was an AR with a purpose, which was to explain how we'd eventually get the team onto Klorel's ship. Stand alone episodes will never, ever thrill me the way planned arcs will. This episode marks the start of my all-time favorite arc in SG-1 and I love it to pieces.
It is definitely the best arc, IMO, that they've done.
And Jack's death was so unexpected! He was the one to turn Teal'c in the original so I fully expected it to work again -- but then he'd just incinerated Teal'c's family and I absolutely ADORE that a show grounded in the American military would be making the point that senseless violence simply because we CAN is, in fact, the wrong path.
You can literally see the "Oh, fuck, I'm dead" realization dawn on his face...and I think he knew going in he'd be toast. But I also think he thought it was working. It was until he mentioned the family, of which he had passively (yet so actively) participated in their deaths and you saw that understanding on his face too. He got why this strange Daniel guy had tried to tell him not to send the bomb. Too late.
Oh, me too! The Just So Story I've told myself is that FP Teal'c also doubted the goa'uld in this AR and the story of a visitor with a tape and a story of his son being free in an AR...well, that was just enough to make him hesitate.
Someone else mentioned this, and I have to admit I had never once considered it. Honestly not sure I thought about it much at all, but this makes sense to me. FP Teal'c didn't fully support his god - his too-quick denial in his conversation with General Jack spoke to that. He might have had just enough what-if in him to pause. Which, btw, is very unlike our Teal'c, whose stance is "ours is the only reality that matters."
What I always found utterly unbelieveable was that Catherine and Sam, two civilians in this AR, are manning the gate and giving personnel orders to dial. But there's so much I love here that I really don't care. :)
Well, the military folk are busy fighting through most of it. If Catherine and Samantha weren't doing the 'gate dialling, I don't know what else they'd do. Personally, I would have so scurried off to the alpha site. Beta site? Whatever.