Cor-Ai, or WHY ISN'T THERE MORE TEAL'C AND DANIEL FRIENDSHIP FIC?

[fignewton]

redial_the_gate does Cor-Ai tomorrow. Watched it today.

This is such a fraught episode.

I love when SG-1 honestly tries to face ethical dilemmas. And the emotional repercussions for this one is just gah.

Teal'c's pain, and Daniel's passion in defending him, and the conscious choice to use Daniel because his own circumstances and need for retribution parallel Hanno's, and the determination to keep Teal'c alive - it's all so good.

randomfreshink wrote some excellent meta on The Nox about the gelling of four people into a solid team. I'd say that Cor-Ai is when we first see the team closing ranks against others. I think they needed this first experience of "SG-1 against the world" to give them the impetus to follow through in Within the Serpent's Grasp.

Some random thoughts and observations:

As soon as Teal'c warned Jack that Cortago was a regular Goa'uld harvesting ground, why didn't they pick up and leave ASAP?

Did the Goa'uld force the villagers to live right next to the Stargate? Why didn't they just move - say, across the continent?

Very nice to see women in calm positions of power.

Jack announces that he'll be Teal'c's "voice." Sam gives Daniel a sidelong glance and nearly stammers, "You, sir?" Hee hee hee. Nice to see how Sam and Daniel are quite aware that diplomacy is not exactly Jack's strong point.

Former "voice" lady flirting a bit with Daniel and Daniel not noticing. Heh.

When Sam and Jack come back to the SGC, Hammond demands, "Where are Teal'c and Daniel?" I think this is the only time, ever, that Hammond calls him "Daniel" instead of "Doctor Jackson." And I loved how he instantly backed up Jack's demand for a combat unit, and only then asks for an explanation why.

When Daniel takes off his glasses in despair during the Cor-Ai? He looks absolutely gorgeous. Just thought I'd mention that. :)

Hammond and moral ambiguity and "Teal'c isn't one of us" and ow. As I said, SG-1 closing ranks. Marvellous stuff.

You will note that while Daniel tried everything to get Teal'c released peacefully, he was perfectly willing to condone Jack's plan to break him out forcefully rather than see Teal'c die. Pacifist, hah.

Loved the continuity of Shak'l recognizing Daniel and Teal'c. Loved that the same kid that Hanno charged with making sure his sentence was carried out was the one who went ahead and slipped Teal'c the knife to cut his bonds. And that soft, "I am sorry." Oh, Teal'c.

Hanno and all the Byrsans were some of the most likeable people we've ever met through the Gate.

Make sure you watch Cor-Ai tonight so you can join us at redial_the_gate for the squee tomorrow!

Comments

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

You will note that while Daniel tried everything to get Teal'c released peacefully, he was perfectly willing to condone Jack's plan to break him out forcefully rather than see Teal'c die. Pacifist, hah.

Yeah - I think Daniel has strong belief in right and wrong, and will put himself and his friends on the line, if he believes they'll be dying for the right reason. If he doesn't think it's the right reason, he'll do everything in his power to resolve things peacefully, but will resort to using force, if pushed.

I think he would try to avoid actually killing anyone in their escape, though - even if it meant the failure of the escape, and Teal'c going back to prison. Well, first season Daniel, anyhow.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. When Daniel takes the brakes off, it's time to duck.

Actually, it was nice to see Jack trying to resolve things with minimum violence all along. Even when he asked for the combat unit, it was in the hopes that by displaying enough firepower, he wouldn't have to use it. And I was amused that this early in the show, they were still talking about differences in languages - Jack didn't expect to Hanno et al to be able to speak English.

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

I'm writing one as a request for _minxy_ I swear... :D

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know! You and _minxy_ are both going to make me very happy when you finish your fics. Hopefully I can soon collect another four and make another month's worth of recs at stargateficrec, yay!

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

While I love Teal'c, I always found it baffling in the early seasons that Jack thinks nothing of bringing him along to all these planets where there could easily still be people who remember being harvested/opressed/forced into slave labor by him. It's kind of surprising that they didn't get involved in this kind of scene way more often.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I think the chances were actually pretty small. A lot of the people that Teal'c has dealt with in service to Apophis are - well, dead. And their address book doesn't belong to Apophis; it belonged to Ra. So the chance of gating to a planet where Apophis has been AND Teal'c has been AND someone survived to remember him? Not so high at all. But as I said, I think Jack made a huge mistake in not going back to Earth the second that Teal'c told him that Apophis visited there regularly. Actually, come to think of it, his phrasing suggested that not only Apophis, but all the Goa'uld liked to come to Cartago. Which doesn't make much sense at all.

And "SG-1 attacked by people who hate Jaffa" is actually on the c vs f list. :)