Some random thoughts on Bloodlines

[fignewton]

Watched Bloodlines last night, as the recap goes up tonight for redial_the_gate. I'd forgotten how much I liked it.

Hammond is, as always, solid gold. Don't try to lie to him - like in COTG, he's perfectly willing to call his people's bluffs - but once he knows what's really at stake, and he has all the information he needs? He backs Teal'c all the way.

Interesting to see how stratified society is on Chulak, especially compared to what we see of the Hak'tyl in S8. Good thing Teal'c had eight years' worth of fighting side-by-side with Sam at that point, which allowed him to accept the concept of a female warrior.

Daniel shooting the symbiote tank will always and forever be one of my top five Daniel defining moments. Period.

On the lighter Daniel side: I noticed, for the first time, that when Daniel idly speculates about the need to feed their captured symbiote, it's because he's taken a bite out of a powerbar. And then the shooting starts, and he and Sam are dodging through the trees looking for shelter, and Daniel is still holding on to the silly thing until they finally take cover. Then he sort of gives the powerbar an incredulous look before tossing it onto the ground and drawing his weapon. I do love you, Daniel.

And again, when SG-1 says goodbye to Bra'tac after he singlehandedly gains access to the Gate: they stand framed by the active wormhole. Teal'c is at stiff attention; Sam and Jack snap off formal salutes. Daniel? Waves cheerfully. :)

When you think about it, the mission to Chulak had three objectives: obtain a symbiote for study, bring Teal'c's son and wife back to the safety of Earth, and make contact with those Jaffa who might be willing to join the fight against the Goa'uld. The first objective failed when they used their captured symbiote to save Teal'c's life; the second failed for reasons that are utterly beyond my comprehension, as I have no idea why Teal'c left Drey'auc and Ry'ac at the side of the path instead of bringing them back to Earth. But the third objective? That one was a spectacular success. They met Bra'tac, and impressed him enough (both with their willingness to fight for Teal'c and their unthinking audacity in robbing the temple) that he insinuated himself into Klorel's good graces in order to try and stop the invasion of Earth. The success of that mission - and again, the impressions he got of SG-1 and Hammond - were enough to put Bra'tac solidly on their side, causing a chain reaction that eventually led to the entire Jaffa rebellion and the eventual overthrow of the System Lords. So, yeah. I'd definitely call this one a success.

I hadn't planned on it, but I will definitely be writing some Bloodlines-inspired meta on Bra'tac and Daniel over the next day or so. redial_the_gate welcomes multiple meta posts on episodes, so I won't be stepping on dunv_i's toes. I'll wait until after her meta post, though, since she's officially signed up for it. I'll link back to it here when it gets posted... or, y'know, you could just go and add redial_the_gate to your watchlist. I think you'll find it well worth it. :)

Comments

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, a mockscript of this ep would be delicious to write. Hm. *plots*

Ry'ac seems to be the trump card that the writers pull out when they need Teal'c to do something rash. Since Teal'c is too...Teal'c to do rash things all on his own, they wave his kid around to give him the proper motivation. So the poor kid ends up being a walking/talking (and frequently whining) plot point rather than an actual character, unfortunately. *shrug* I do like that Bra'tac seems to be the only person who can smack Ry'ac into shape, though. Likewise Teal'c. Because every once in a while, you need someone to talk sense to the big guy and the only other person he listens to is Jack (and seriously, who would send Jack to talk sense?).

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I wonder if that's why Ry'ac seems so bleh to me - he's more of a plot point than an actual character?

I love every aspect of Bra'tac, from his constant ragging by calling Jack "Human!" to his mutter in Birthright that "I can see why these things need rehearsals" before taking a hearty swig of wine from the goblet.

And Teal'c only listens to Jack when he feels like it, honestly. Consider Crossroads, and all subsequent eps involving Tanith. He risked Jack's life rather than risk Tanith getting away. Yep, it's a good thing we have Bra'tac around to control the big guy!

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, now that you mention it, he is pretty, erm, selective about when he listens to Jack isn't he? Poor Jack. *grin* No one ever does what he says.

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

My fave Teal'c/Jack advice moment is the S8 bit when Teal'c is obsessing about Ry'ac's marriage. *g*

And-? Gotta say, but Teal'c does sometimes listen to Daniel. How about the scene in Family, when Daniel talks him out of strangling his wife's new boyfriend? One of my favorite scenes- you can see Bra'tac looking at them and knowing there's subtext, but unable to see the silent spectre of Sha're looming between them. And Teal'c takes the point and backs down...

And of course Ry'ac is *bleh*. He's a kid. His concerns are selfish and not especially deep- no conflict there. Even if the actor was far better than any child actor should be expected to be, there isn't a lot there to work with. He's a McGuffin- the bait, the plot point- as Kahlessa pointed out, he's objectified as a motivating factor for Teal'c.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Teal'c does sometimes listen to Daniel.

Yes, he does. He at least let Daniel talk to him in Crossroads and Exodus, and Daniel was able to talk him down in Fair Game.

How about the scene in Family, when Daniel talks him out of strangling his wife's new boyfriend?

Okay, this? This made my mind boggle. Because the very next episode is Secrets, and there it's Teal'c talking Daniel into recognizing what he has to do. And that's just... wow.

Teal'c and Daniel need more fic! I simply cannot say it enough. :)