Redial the Gate: Family

[fignewton]

I enjoyed Bloodlines immensely, so why does Family almost bore me? It's got Bra'tac. It's got teamy goodness. It's got angst and some great Teal'c moments. It's got fantastic Hammond and Little Doc. It has the huge impact of discovering that Apophis is actually still alive (although there is no way that anyone Gated out after Daniel, when he dived through a second before the C4 went off - he and Klorel must have Gated out before Daniel got there). Why doesn't it resonate the way Bloodlines does?

Maybe it's the reduced conflict. Bra'tac is still calling Jack names, but it's affectionate now, and he respectfully refers to "Doctor Jackson" instead of threatening to snap his wrist. He barely addresses Sam at all, but that's because he calmly accepts her as part of the team, instead of being contemptuous of her as a woman. Contrast this with his treatment of Drey'auc - he never refers to her by name at all: she's either "your wife" or "the boy's mother."

(And on a side note, I strongly recommend Minxy's excellent meta analysis of Bra'tac, as part of her "DVD commentary" of a story that is on my short list for reccing. I watched Family in two parts, and I read her meta in between, and it resonates very strongly with this episode - particularly his attitude towards women.)

I miss the conflict between Drey'auc and Teal'c, too. The Drey'auc of Bloodlines was spitfire, physically attacking Teal'c and getting right in his face. (I must also confess that certain characters are more endearing to me when they are a bit scruffy. Perhaps it's not just that Drey'auc is played by a different actress here, but that she is also well-groomed and expensively dressed?) The Drey'auc of this episode, in contrast, was meek and very much the quiet loving mother figure. The only time she moved me was when she said quietly, after Fro'tac's betrayal was revealed, "The fault is mine. I made vows I could not keep." Just... go on, try and picture the Drey'auc of Bloodlines accepting a comforting hug from Sam. I'm not suggesting there's someting wrong with either offering or accepting such comfort, but it really is a huge turnaround from how Drey'auc was originally portrayed, isn't it?

On the other hand, Drey'auc earns my admiration for her personal courage to ignore her own feelings and desires for the sake of offering her son a better future. She openly admits to Teal'c that she doesn't actually love Fro'tac. She sends for Teal'c, knowing how he will react, yet willing to endure his anger for the sake of saving her son. That's the story of women throughout many centuries of history: using what little power they have, working the system, accepting the uncomfortable for the sake of a greater purpose. That takes courage, even if it's understated and not immediately obvious.

Fro'tac, now, saddens me. He had the potential to be a great character - a childhood friend of Teal'c's, a fellow protege of Bra'tac's, the man who offered shelter to the wife and child of another - even if he took that wife as his own, after she formally divorced her first husband. He allowed Teal'c to practically spit in his face and still did what he could to help them, including risking his life by stalling for time when the serpent guards showed up. And yet, after witnessing Drey'auc kiss Teal'c, he turned it all around and immediately turned traitor? I was so angry that the writers made his betrayal so trite and complete. I could understand an impulsive anguish leading him to storm from the house - yes, with Jack following, and maybe reaching him before he got the palace, and arguing with him. And Fro'tac could have been sullen and angry and miserable, but still not willing to betray people he's cared about for so long - and then maybe they're caught, and Fro'tac is killed in the crossfire. There, you see? Storyline still intact, with more realistic angst. Sigh.

A large part of it might be that Ry'ac carries a large part of the episode, and as Redbyrd pointed out when we were discussing Family, he's still much more of a plot point than a character. I like him a lot in Orpheus, but the actor is five years older by then! Do we ever get a reason why Apophis didn't prompt him to go with the team the first time? Would Jack have been so leery (and I love that he was - it was so very in character for him!) if Ry'ac had fled with them as soon as they tried to rescue him?

Redbyrd is also the one who highlighted the timeline for me, in regards to Family and the very next episode: Secrets. When Daniel has the courage, in the face of Teal'c's fury, to step up to him and point out that at least Drey'auc and Ry'ac aren't reduced to living in the camps... Well. How much of that gave Teal'c the courage to get in Daniel's face on Abydos and confront him about his initial rejection of Sha're?

Random question: Fro'tac, as far as I can tell, works as an accountant. Teal'c, by contast, was First Prime. Yet compare the size of their homes! Maybe Apophis values money more than victory...?

Comments

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

Redbyrd is also the one who highlighted the timeline for me, in regards to Family and the very next episode: Secrets. When Daniel has the courage, in the face of Teal'c's fury, to step up to him and point out that at least Drey'auc and Ry'ac aren't reduced to living in the camps... Well. How much of that gave Teal'c the courage to get in Daniel's face on Abydos and confront him about his initial rejection of Sha're?

Dangnabit fig! Daniel's "slap upside the head speech" to Teal'c an ep before v/v in Secrets struck me too, and wondered if it would be a good meta for redial. Hmmm. Maybe you should do a meta on the topic...or since you heard it from redbyrd_sgfic, we can get her to do it. Or wait...is this the meta you're planning to do for Secrets already? Or is that about Sha're?

I get so confused.

As for the houses, country house v city house? Maybe Teal'c's was bigger, but the extension was burned to cinders?

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

It is a good meta for redial, but it doesn't need a post of its own, does it? I'll be happy to mention it when I squee in the comments. :)

The meta for Secrets will be about Sha're in particular - how the little we see of her in COTG and Secrets and FIAD is the same awesome woman as she is in the movie. So no, no mention of Daniel and Teal'c. Meta away. :)

As for country house v. city house - er. Surely country houses run bigger than city houses on a regular basis? I'll take the extension theory, because really, Teal'c's house was tiny. If it was supposed to be a gift from Apophis, it wasn't much of one!

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Hey, he gave him a wife, too. :-)

"You may choose a small home and a wife with which to breed more loyal jaffa for your God, or you may have a large home with no wife or children."

Teal'c had no intention of cleaning a large home on his own, so it was a no brainer. ;-)

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

You're just trying to make me talk about it, aren't you? Gah! I see your plottings. ;-) I left it out of my recap because I thought it warrented a meta topic all on it's own! (Not a long one, but a substantive one).

We just had Jack & Teal'c last week...hmmm... Maybe I'll keep this in mind and do one for Orpheus.

Maybe Fro'tac got a cut of the money and was able to supplement. Apophis doesn't give hazard pay?

[shutthef-up.livejournal.com]

Fro'tac, as far as I can tell, works as an accountant

I work as an accountant myself and I can assure you that it's totally possible to be an accountant *and* a badass :P

Uh, okay, so maybe I'm not so much with the badass myself, but Fro'tac was a Jaffa!Accountant!

(/silliness)

Edited because I'm a dumbass with the HTML

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Bwah! No, no insult to accountants. Especially Jaffa!Accountants! :) But I was thinking of how Jaffa society under the Goa'uld would be naturally skewed towards putting greater value on the top general, rather than an accountant who happens to work in the palace.

Teal'c obviously valued Fro'tac as a friend, so it wasn't a case of contempt. But it does seem odd that his house is more than twice the size of the one that Apophis gifted to Teal'c.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Creative accounting will do that for you.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Family had so much potential, but you're right, they wasted it. I do think if they could have gotten Salli Richardson to reprise her role as Drey'auc, we would have seen a difference in the level of passion portrayed.

I like your take on Fro'tac. That would have been much better while still maintaining the integrity of the story they'd designed. There was simply no logical reason for him to have been thrown away like that. What was gained by having him die a traitor (to Teal'c, et al) and what would have been lost by having him die a loyal friend?

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

So much of acting is direction, so I don't know how much would have changed. But yes, I did prefer Salli Richardson's depiction of Drey'auc. As I said, I have a certain fondness for characters with the ability to look good even when they're scruffy. :)

And yes - no logical reason for Fro'tac's abrupt and complete betrayal. We're expected to see him as a man of integrity, but he throws it all away. It would've been much more poignant to have him die a loyal friend, as you say - or even a repentant one.

OTOH, it does show that despite the silliness of the "three shots disintegrates" thing, it does come in very handy for clean-up!

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Oh, the days when I've wished for a zat. :-)

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

I just don't like episodes with Ry'ac as a general policy. Actually, what I don't like is episodes in which Teal'c is irrational or unreasonable, and this seems to happen almost exclusively when Ry'ac (or someone who killed Teal'c's uncle's second cousin by marriage) is involved. So...*shrug*

(Not that I deny Teal'c has a right to get irrational/unreasonable on occasion, it's just that I prefer him being serenely awesome.)

On the upside, most of these eps (labeled by my family as "Teal'c Ansgt Episodes") contain Bra'tac, as if the writers are aware that someone needs to be serenely awesome while Teal'c's works out whatever's eating him.

Oo, Bra'tac meta! *pounces*

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

You're right that Teal'c gets a little too blinded by... hm. Not so much family pride as much as "my genes!" pride? Contrast this with last week's MiaB, where he was much more clear-eyed.

And yay for Bra'tac in any shape or form! Really, he is just fantastic.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Not so much family pride as much as "my genes!" pride?

Okay, that made me giggle very hard, for some reason.

[hsapiens.livejournal.com]

I *knew* I shouldn't have read this. I need to leave for a dentist's appointment soon so I might not have to edit this for coherency.

I SO prefer the spitfire Drey'auc! Not only her personality but her physicality opposite Teal'c "felt" right in such a male dominated society. She was clearly a third his size but just as fierce. Loved Salli Richardson in that role.

I hated Family's set-up for Drey'auc. Like you, I'm wondering about the personality transplant. Honest, I wondered if maybe Teal'c was married to more than one woman and two just happened to have the same name. Only Rya'c convinced me this was supposed to be the same woman.

However, it's that the Teal'c/Drey'auc/Rya'c/Frot'ac storyline and the way it echoed the Odysseus/Penelope set-up in the Odyssey that I disliked most. I've never liked the story of the faithful and chaste Penelope keeping the home fires burning, refusing all suitors, while Odysseus wanders the world and sleeps with various women. In this episode there was something of an expectation that Drey'auc would put her life on hold while Teal'c is out on a crusade that she has no say in. Uh, no. I really didn't like that story the first time around when I was reading Homer. Drey'auc's anger at being abandoned and left to care for their son while absorbing their god's wrath? THAT felt real and she felt like a character who could match a fierce First Prime -- and engage his interest.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

She was clearly a third his size but just as fierce.

Yes, that's it exactly - the Jaffa equivalent of the Little Doc! :)

What an intriguing suggestion, with the Odyssey storyline. I'd say that Ry'ac's fury at Teal'c's lie - that he never came back - coupled with Teal'c's distress, does lend credence to that. OTOH, I wouldn't say that there was something of an expectation that Drey'auc would put her life on hold while Teal'c is out on a crusade that she has no say in - at least not coupled with Bloodlines, where Drey'auc apparently chose to stay behind. But then again, she's so different here, so maybe you're right.

I did love her in Bloodlines. I don't know how much was the actress and how much was the writing. Maybe it was both?

she felt like a character who could match a fierce First Prime -- and engage his interest

Yes, definitely. The woman in this episode, though? Not so much. She was clear-eyed and doing the best with what she had, yes. But the Drey'auc of S1 would've made the best of what there was.

[rdamel.livejournal.com]

I just watched that ep. again recently, and for the first time, it occured to me to wonder why Fro'tac had the same gold emblem that Teal'c did. Was that supposed to be a First Prime thing, or just anyone high up in Apophis' organization got the gold one, rather than a black one?

I preferred the Salli R. characterization, too.

Melissa M.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Huh. I hadn't thought about it, but you're right - the gold emblem on Fro'tac is rather odd. If he's someone who works in the "Hall of Records," why does that qualify him even as someone high in Apophis' organization?

Bad costuming choice, perhaps. Then again, nearly everyone at the party in COTG had gold tattoos. Maybe it is a question of hierarchy and prestige; among the warriors, it's only given to First Prime material, but other castes can reach that status more easily.

[rdamel.livejournal.com]

My guess is it may have been a bad costuming choice. I know Bra'tac has a gold one, because he used to be A.'s First Prime, so that one makes sense, but the one on Fro'tac does not seem very logical to me. Although I had not noticed that the first several tims I watched the episode, so...

Melissa M.

[sid]

I actually thought Fro'tac's tattoo was silver. Is there such a thing?

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I went back and checked (oh, the humanity!) and you're right - it's most clear in the scene when we first meet him, and he and Teal'c are conversing. It's definitely silver in contrast to Teal'c's gold.

I believe some of the priests and priestesses in COTG also had silver tattoos. Shau'nac's was gold, right? Although the priests et al had flat ones, not raised ones like Fro'tac and Teal'c.

Maybe there are copper ones, too! Purple, even. :)

[randomfreshink.livejournal.com]

And yet, after witnessing Drey'auc kiss Teal'c, he turned it all around and immediately turned traitor?

See...this didn't bug me. The vibe I got right off from Fro'tac (and what the hell kind of name is that) is that he's been in Teal'c's shadow for years--not so much friend as a rival who doesn't measure up as well.

What's shown in canon is that there are not really many true friendships amoung Jaffa--the guy who is fighting with you today, could turn around and execute you tomorrow (as Teal'c was faced with for another 'friend'). This means that what you really have here are rivals who smile--which would explain Teal'c getting all territorial, and Fro'tac getting pissed and going off as he did.

It also highlights how rare the relationship between Bra'tac and Teal'c must be--these two have kept each others secrets. I think the tendancy is to see these two and think oh Jaffa get along--but I think the rule really is Jaffa don't really have close friendhips (not that last over years). So this worked fine for me.

I did think that there wasn't much sparkage between Teal'c and Drey'auc here--that was a problem in that it kind of left me wondering what the heck are these two fighting over anyway (came off more territorial pissing match, and not so much thwarted true love of any kind).

As for giving Teal'c the 'courage' to get into Daniel's face over Sha're--don't know if I'd call it courage so much as permission. But Sha're's situation strikes me as way worse--maybe because she seems to carry so much guilt for it (she's not trying to do better for 'their' son--she's got another man's baby in her, and she knows she's not free of the 'demon' so she's just marking time until she's back in prison basically). What is interesting to me is that Teal'c's reaction is to go out and kill someone to set things right. Daniel's is to hole up and think about it, and basically stew over it. Such a great way to show the differences in characters.

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

I did think that there wasn't much sparkage between Teal'c and Drey'auc here

Do we have *any* canon on how Drey'auc and Teal'c came to marry? I've always wondered if this wasn't some flavor of arranged marriage. Teal'c's willingness to go off to fight with the Tau'ri- not to mention leaving Drey'auc on Chulak in Bloodlines- has always made me think something along those lines.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

No, there's no real canon about Drey'auc and Teal'c's courtship. Arranged marriage? Maybe. But I did see lots of sparkage in Bloodlines, and Teal'c's reaction to her death was certainly powerful enough!

And arranged marriages don't mean unhappy ones, y'know. :)

I saw the willingness to go off and fight with the Tau'ri as a split-second decision, with the thinking coming later. As for why Drey'auc stayed behind when the whole purpose of the trip to Chulak in Bloodlines was to get and get her and Ry'ac...? ::shrugs:: Your own ficlet is the best explanation I have so far!

[randomfreshink.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's cannon on how they met or came to marry. There is that line in "Bloodlines" about being given his house, but no mention if a wife came with it (although you could probably say why would a single guy need a house of his own, so maybe the wife did come with).

Teal's real passion seems a lot more intense for Shau'nac--and it's interesting that she's the one who turns up in his 'dream' life where he's a fireman.

Makes you wonder if that's why he has such sympathy for Daniel's loss of Sha're--as in Teal'c lost the woman he really loved Shau'nac, so he knows how that feels.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I can accept that reading - Fro'tac doing this more for Bra'tac than Teal'c, maybe being a little smug about "beating" Teal'c in terms of Drey'auc, and then turning seriously angry - but only up to a point. And the point is that Fro'tac had to believe.

There really is no middle ground for the Jaffa. Either they accept the Goa'uld as their deities, or they don't. So rival or no, secretly hating Teal'c (which I don't think he did) or no, the fact is that Fro'tac is portrayed as rejecting Apophis' claim to divination - yet he was willing to betray SG-1, Bra'tac, Drey'auc, and Teal'c.

I agree that there was very little sparkage between Drey'auc and Teal'c, and that nearly every exchange they had was more in terms of father and mother to Ry'ac than husband and wife. I think we did better Salli R from Bloodlines in terms of chemistry.

And yes - Teal'c and Bra'tac are too awesome for words. :)

What I call "courage" and you call "permission" are, I think, the same. Of course Sha're's situation is lightyears away from Drey'auc's - Drey'auc made a choice, after all. But by "courage," I meant being willing to face Daniel - believing he had the right to do so. And after seeing Daniel do it for him, I think Teal'c accepted he had the right to do it for Daniel.

Teal'c's reaction is to go out and kill someone to set things right. Daniel's is to hole up and think about it, and basically stew over it. Such a great way to show the differences in characters.

And S10 Teal'c and Daniel? Maybe even the other way round....