100 Reviews: 76
We go back to Stargate for the moment, with episode I really do like.
SG-1: 1x08: Thor’s Hammer
Although, to clarify, while this is a pretty good episode for Jack and Teal’c, Sam is largely the bringer of reason even if she doesn’t get a ton to do, Kendra is a little inconsistently acted but a decent character, I like the world (or universe) building, and the story itself is well crafted, this is a Daniel episode to me.
Even before getting into some thinky thoughts on Daniel’s character, this episode just cuts to the heart of who Daniel is. He is the only character with an emotional stake in what they’re doing, who is allowed to *express* that. We aren’t given anything about Jack getting his hopes up, and Teal’c’s willingness to sacrifice himself for the benefit of others isn’t really explored. But for *Daniel* there is room for hope and for heartbreak, and the kind of bittersweet way he makes peace with the end that at least they know it can be done.
But I’ve always taken issue with Jack making Daniel carry out destroying the Hammer. I think the writers might have been going for putting the decision in Daniel’s hands, but it really doesn’t come across as that. I’m more likely to say Jack knew Daniel would be less likely to resent them if he did it himself rather than watch someone else do it, which...doesn’t exactly make sense but the choice itself doesn’t make sense to me either with the way it’s done. It’s not presented like Daniel has any choice in the matter, and it’s not presented like anyone else has any objections (like I said, Teal’c himself comes the closest to understanding that it may be for the greater good, but he doesn’t really fight for that idea; not that I blame him, I mostly just blame Jack for coming across as an asshole about it). I wish it did come across as Daniel choosing to save Teal’c now over the possibly futile chance for Sha’re and Skarra down the road, but some of the blame for it not coming across like that just lies on how quickly the end comes around, when he’s been completely focused on Sha’re all episode we aren’t given a chance to see him reconcile his own feelings so it comes off as being own to Jack’s orders, which I remind you are annoyingly dispassionate. We’re always supposed to buy that he has some special connection with Skarra, and yet he never seems troubled by that issue. I don’t expect him to get as worked up as Daniel on the subject, but...they say you should show not tell, but this is barely even telling and certainly not showing.
I also felt there were a few times in the episode we were starting to get to duality of Daniel the optimist vs. Daniel the pragmatist, before it just settled in on Daniel the desperate husband. And the optimism vs. pragmatism aspect of Daniel’s development is something I always enjoy watching. He still wants to be the eternal optimist, and in many if not most ways he still is, but we’re already starting to see it wear away. But while that could have tied into the end of the episode, the end feels very separate from the hints of that conflict I saw early on. As the episode progressed, we didn’t really get either of those, we got Daniel’s desperation to believe in this chance for Sha’re, to almost unreasoning degrees (you can almost see the moment he stops worrying about Jack and Teal’c and is consumed by the knowledge there’s hope for his wife). And again that could have worked with the ending if it had been him reasoning out why this needed to be done, but it’s not in the writing or the performance.
I kind of feel like there should be some meaty stuff to talk about with Teal’c here, but Teal’c is a character I have a hard time getting into the head of, so unless there’s some fairly overt stuff with him I don’t find a lot to comment on on the Teal’c front. I think there is some interesting stuff going on mostly subtextually, but most of the more overt stuff I’ve already commented on; at least in passing through my Daniel feelings.
As far as world (verse) building we’ve got the Asgaurd introduced, albeit sort of indirectly, but we’re given hints of other forces that oppose the goa’uld; the Unas, which hints at the racial history of the goa’uld; and...the first hints of one of the more unfortunate aspects of Stargate.
People look down on the goa’uld as parasites who mooch off the technology of others because they aren’t capable of doing it themselves...you know who else does that? the humans on this show. Every advance they make is retro-engineering technology of other cultures they encounter with the big stuff (the Stargates for example) still beyond them. And that’s basically what the goa’uld have done on their way to becoming this dominating power in the galaxy. This has basically always bothered me, and the fact that the show seems unaware of this hypocrisy bugs me more than the fact that it happens. I think it’s part of why crossing it over with a Torchwood type organization was so natural to me, because Torchwood does the same thing but the Doctor Who-verse acknowledges it and can justify it for the greater good...and then see where that leaves the characters.
So yeah, I’m here for the Daniel stuff, but there are other aspects to like in this episode. I in spite of all my issues with the ending I still quite like it.
Next time:
Well I need to finish up Orphan Black and do a post on that. When the 100 reviews returns...I’m kind of thinking Doctor Who, but we’ll see.
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SG-1: 1x08: Thor’s Hammer
Although, to clarify, while this is a pretty good episode for Jack and Teal’c, Sam is largely the bringer of reason even if she doesn’t get a ton to do, Kendra is a little inconsistently acted but a decent character, I like the world (or universe) building, and the story itself is well crafted, this is a Daniel episode to me.
Even before getting into some thinky thoughts on Daniel’s character, this episode just cuts to the heart of who Daniel is. He is the only character with an emotional stake in what they’re doing, who is allowed to *express* that. We aren’t given anything about Jack getting his hopes up, and Teal’c’s willingness to sacrifice himself for the benefit of others isn’t really explored. But for *Daniel* there is room for hope and for heartbreak, and the kind of bittersweet way he makes peace with the end that at least they know it can be done.
But I’ve always taken issue with Jack making Daniel carry out destroying the Hammer. I think the writers might have been going for putting the decision in Daniel’s hands, but it really doesn’t come across as that. I’m more likely to say Jack knew Daniel would be less likely to resent them if he did it himself rather than watch someone else do it, which...doesn’t exactly make sense but the choice itself doesn’t make sense to me either with the way it’s done. It’s not presented like Daniel has any choice in the matter, and it’s not presented like anyone else has any objections (like I said, Teal’c himself comes the closest to understanding that it may be for the greater good, but he doesn’t really fight for that idea; not that I blame him, I mostly just blame Jack for coming across as an asshole about it). I wish it did come across as Daniel choosing to save Teal’c now over the possibly futile chance for Sha’re and Skarra down the road, but some of the blame for it not coming across like that just lies on how quickly the end comes around, when he’s been completely focused on Sha’re all episode we aren’t given a chance to see him reconcile his own feelings so it comes off as being own to Jack’s orders, which I remind you are annoyingly dispassionate. We’re always supposed to buy that he has some special connection with Skarra, and yet he never seems troubled by that issue. I don’t expect him to get as worked up as Daniel on the subject, but...they say you should show not tell, but this is barely even telling and certainly not showing.
I also felt there were a few times in the episode we were starting to get to duality of Daniel the optimist vs. Daniel the pragmatist, before it just settled in on Daniel the desperate husband. And the optimism vs. pragmatism aspect of Daniel’s development is something I always enjoy watching. He still wants to be the eternal optimist, and in many if not most ways he still is, but we’re already starting to see it wear away. But while that could have tied into the end of the episode, the end feels very separate from the hints of that conflict I saw early on. As the episode progressed, we didn’t really get either of those, we got Daniel’s desperation to believe in this chance for Sha’re, to almost unreasoning degrees (you can almost see the moment he stops worrying about Jack and Teal’c and is consumed by the knowledge there’s hope for his wife). And again that could have worked with the ending if it had been him reasoning out why this needed to be done, but it’s not in the writing or the performance.
I kind of feel like there should be some meaty stuff to talk about with Teal’c here, but Teal’c is a character I have a hard time getting into the head of, so unless there’s some fairly overt stuff with him I don’t find a lot to comment on on the Teal’c front. I think there is some interesting stuff going on mostly subtextually, but most of the more overt stuff I’ve already commented on; at least in passing through my Daniel feelings.
As far as world (verse) building we’ve got the Asgaurd introduced, albeit sort of indirectly, but we’re given hints of other forces that oppose the goa’uld; the Unas, which hints at the racial history of the goa’uld; and...the first hints of one of the more unfortunate aspects of Stargate.
People look down on the goa’uld as parasites who mooch off the technology of others because they aren’t capable of doing it themselves...you know who else does that? the humans on this show. Every advance they make is retro-engineering technology of other cultures they encounter with the big stuff (the Stargates for example) still beyond them. And that’s basically what the goa’uld have done on their way to becoming this dominating power in the galaxy. This has basically always bothered me, and the fact that the show seems unaware of this hypocrisy bugs me more than the fact that it happens. I think it’s part of why crossing it over with a Torchwood type organization was so natural to me, because Torchwood does the same thing but the Doctor Who-verse acknowledges it and can justify it for the greater good...and then see where that leaves the characters.
So yeah, I’m here for the Daniel stuff, but there are other aspects to like in this episode. I in spite of all my issues with the ending I still quite like it.
Next time:
Well I need to finish up Orphan Black and do a post on that. When the 100 reviews returns...I’m kind of thinking Doctor Who, but we’ll see.
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