Yes, I'm very late to the Redial party for Fallout, as ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
grav_ity posted her recap on ![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
redial_the_gate last week. But I wanted to find the time to rewatch, not depend on memory, since the last time I watched this was long before I saw S6 in its entirety and learned to like Jonas.
So. A few random thoughts on the ep, and some meta-ish thinking on the Goa'uld.
Jonas should learn that matching haircuts with your girlfriend is a phase you should outgrow before your teenage years end.
Jonas and Sam having that little conversation about his social life was utterly adorable and quite reminiscent of the way Sam teased him about Lt. Rush. Very sweet, and I wish we had a similar scene with Jonas and Teal'c.
The choice of using Daniel to mediate the sniping ambassadors from Langara was odd, to say the least. It's clear they need Jonas to hold their hands just so they can restrain themselves into something halfway approaching civility, but why Daniel? Why not SG-6, or someone else who is particularly trained in diplomacy? Part of me wondered if, like Jonas, Daniel has some kind of special cred with them, as the man who died in an attempt to save their lives. But there was no sign of any such acknowledgment, so I'm still puzzled by this.
(Yes, yes, I know it's because they wanted to keep a member of SG-1 in every scene to make it more interesting for people watching the show. But I prefer in-story explanations, as usual.)
On a similar note, I was disturbed when Jack and Teal'c, in a fit of pique, left Daniel alone to deal with the ambassadors. I found it beneath both of them (and especially Teal'c), and a bit callous - not just for Langara's fate, but of Daniel's reaction. He died to keep the planet from blowing up. Now it looks like the planet will blow up anyway, and the focus shifts to at least saving the people. And Teal'c and Jack walk out on Daniel when he's coping with that?
Why couldn't they first try lowering the bomb to the right spot instead of having Kyanna actually climb down?
If Ba'al never gets a message from Kyanna, won't he show up? This is never followed up, is it?
Poor Jonas - the complete opposite of Daniel, in a way. He gets the "happy ending" of the woman he loves de-Goa'ulded, yet the woman he loves is... actually the Goa'uld's personality in the first place. The Kyanna who goes back with him through the Gate is essentially a stranger.
Loved that last conversation with Jonas and Daniel. I'll say it again: I most enjoy those two together on screen. A pity we almost never get to see it, huh? And in the "shameless self-promotion" department, I will cheerfully link you all to Well Met at Midnight, which I wrote for Aby based on an icon'd screencap of this scene (even if the story is set just before Redemption).
And now for some speculation on dangerously intelligent Goa'uld: Most Goa'uld take their behavior straight out of the Evil Overlord Handbook. They posture, they leave enemies to suffer instead of killing them outright, they mercilessly kill fiercely loyal subordinates for failures that were not under their control. Perhaps it's the genetic memory thing and the long lives that leaves them so hidebound. It seems to me that this has been one of the SGC's greatest advantages, particularly in their early years: that the Goa'uld had their set, conventional methods, and seemed incapable of changing.
Then we have Ba'al, and Osiris, and Kyanna. Ba'al begins as a typical Goa'uld - kills 60 million rather than let them fall into another Goa'uld's domain - but when he deals with the very unconventional Tau'ri, he adapts. No other major Goa'uld ever manages to do this. Osiris, too, is crafty enough to remain quietly below the radar as Sarah Gardener for as long as necessary, although it's interesting that he reverts to regular behavior once he makes it back into the galaxy at large.
Then there's Kyanna, perfectly willing to work undercover for a few years. She doesn't slip up at all - if Sam hadn't been inquisitive enough to study the way the systems were set up and intelligent enough to realize it was basic Goa'uld design, she never would have been caught. Even the use of the marker block was inspired - she planned in advance and started taking it as soon as she knew meeting Sam and/or Teal'c was a possibility (remember, she was surprised when she first met Sam, yet the block was already in place).
It seems to me that the Tau'ri are a catalyst of sorts for the Goa'uld we meet. The ones who don't change are the ones that get killed. The ones who do learn to change are the ones that prove most dangerous. Of course, the question then becomes: what gives these individual Goa'uld the ability to change when necessary?green_grrl recently told me that Simon once mentioned to fans that he thinks Ba'al's host was a man who walked into his situation with open eyes, willingly accepting a symbiote in exchange for longevity and power. Osiris had just been released from millennia of imprisonment and had every incentive to do what it takes to stay free for long enough to escape Earth's gravity. Kyanna was advised by Ba'al, who has already shown his savvy before this and might have coached her.
I don't really have a conclusion here - just some meandering speculation. I'd be delighted to hear any thoughts you might draw from this. :)
grav_ity posted her recap on redial_the_gate last week. But I wanted to find the time to rewatch, not depend on memory, since the last time I watched this was long before I saw S6 in its entirety and learned to like Jonas.So. A few random thoughts on the ep, and some meta-ish thinking on the Goa'uld.
Jonas should learn that matching haircuts with your girlfriend is a phase you should outgrow before your teenage years end.
Jonas and Sam having that little conversation about his social life was utterly adorable and quite reminiscent of the way Sam teased him about Lt. Rush. Very sweet, and I wish we had a similar scene with Jonas and Teal'c.
The choice of using Daniel to mediate the sniping ambassadors from Langara was odd, to say the least. It's clear they need Jonas to hold their hands just so they can restrain themselves into something halfway approaching civility, but why Daniel? Why not SG-6, or someone else who is particularly trained in diplomacy? Part of me wondered if, like Jonas, Daniel has some kind of special cred with them, as the man who died in an attempt to save their lives. But there was no sign of any such acknowledgment, so I'm still puzzled by this.
(Yes, yes, I know it's because they wanted to keep a member of SG-1 in every scene to make it more interesting for people watching the show. But I prefer in-story explanations, as usual.)
On a similar note, I was disturbed when Jack and Teal'c, in a fit of pique, left Daniel alone to deal with the ambassadors. I found it beneath both of them (and especially Teal'c), and a bit callous - not just for Langara's fate, but of Daniel's reaction. He died to keep the planet from blowing up. Now it looks like the planet will blow up anyway, and the focus shifts to at least saving the people. And Teal'c and Jack walk out on Daniel when he's coping with that?
Why couldn't they first try lowering the bomb to the right spot instead of having Kyanna actually climb down?
If Ba'al never gets a message from Kyanna, won't he show up? This is never followed up, is it?
Poor Jonas - the complete opposite of Daniel, in a way. He gets the "happy ending" of the woman he loves de-Goa'ulded, yet the woman he loves is... actually the Goa'uld's personality in the first place. The Kyanna who goes back with him through the Gate is essentially a stranger.
Loved that last conversation with Jonas and Daniel. I'll say it again: I most enjoy those two together on screen. A pity we almost never get to see it, huh? And in the "shameless self-promotion" department, I will cheerfully link you all to Well Met at Midnight, which I wrote for Aby based on an icon'd screencap of this scene (even if the story is set just before Redemption).
And now for some speculation on dangerously intelligent Goa'uld: Most Goa'uld take their behavior straight out of the Evil Overlord Handbook. They posture, they leave enemies to suffer instead of killing them outright, they mercilessly kill fiercely loyal subordinates for failures that were not under their control. Perhaps it's the genetic memory thing and the long lives that leaves them so hidebound. It seems to me that this has been one of the SGC's greatest advantages, particularly in their early years: that the Goa'uld had their set, conventional methods, and seemed incapable of changing.
Then we have Ba'al, and Osiris, and Kyanna. Ba'al begins as a typical Goa'uld - kills 60 million rather than let them fall into another Goa'uld's domain - but when he deals with the very unconventional Tau'ri, he adapts. No other major Goa'uld ever manages to do this. Osiris, too, is crafty enough to remain quietly below the radar as Sarah Gardener for as long as necessary, although it's interesting that he reverts to regular behavior once he makes it back into the galaxy at large.
Then there's Kyanna, perfectly willing to work undercover for a few years. She doesn't slip up at all - if Sam hadn't been inquisitive enough to study the way the systems were set up and intelligent enough to realize it was basic Goa'uld design, she never would have been caught. Even the use of the marker block was inspired - she planned in advance and started taking it as soon as she knew meeting Sam and/or Teal'c was a possibility (remember, she was surprised when she first met Sam, yet the block was already in place).
It seems to me that the Tau'ri are a catalyst of sorts for the Goa'uld we meet. The ones who don't change are the ones that get killed. The ones who do learn to change are the ones that prove most dangerous. Of course, the question then becomes: what gives these individual Goa'uld the ability to change when necessary?
green_grrl recently told me that Simon once mentioned to fans that he thinks Ba'al's host was a man who walked into his situation with open eyes, willingly accepting a symbiote in exchange for longevity and power. Osiris had just been released from millennia of imprisonment and had every incentive to do what it takes to stay free for long enough to escape Earth's gravity. Kyanna was advised by Ba'al, who has already shown his savvy before this and might have coached her. I don't really have a conclusion here - just some meandering speculation. I'd be delighted to hear any thoughts you might draw from this. :)