Fic rec: No Return by Redbyrd, plus Redial on Beneath the Surface

[fignewton]

redial_the_gate goes live with the recap for Beneath the Surface today. Ordinarily, I'd just post a fic rec like this to the fanworks entry, but Redbyrd does such a marvelous job with her No Return that I want to discuss it here, and take it a little further at the same time.

No Return is actually an episode rewrite of Point of No Return, in which Redbyrd displays her usual stellar talents in taking minor characters and bringing them vividly to life. Suddenly, the "bad guys" in Point of No Return are real people with understandable motivations, not blank villains with no discernible reason for their behavior towards Marty. At the same time, though, Redbyrd wisely uses the repercussions of Beneath the Surface to offer insight into both episodes at once.

PoNR happens right after BtS, and through Jack's POV, Redbyrd shows us the similarities that exist between the two eps - the overwriting of memory, the struggle to find one's right place in the world, the conflict between the "greater good" and individual freedom. And I am especially fascinated in how Redbyrd points out, through Daniel, how very much SG-1 were actually acting like themselves, even when they were mind-stamped into being Jona, Thera, and Carlin.

Daniel was still the archeologist/anthropologist: he looked to see how the society fit together. He noted discrepancies. He recognized that his curiosities and interests didn't fit.

Sam was the scientist: bright, quick, looking for how to improve things. Yet she was also the soldier, conditioned to obey commands.

And Jack - Jack was soldier first. He most resisted any suggestion that something was wrong, because as Redbyrd points out, "It is an honor to serve" is very much a piece with the oath of service and loyalty that Jack (and Sam) made when they joined the Air Force. But at the same time, he was a leader, defending his people: once the cracks started to show, it was Jack who broke out of "Jona" and became absolutely himself, because the rest of SG-1 needed him.

Redbyrd doesn't touch much on Teal'c's behavior in BtS in the story, but I'll add here that I feel that Teal'c, too, was very much himself: great personal courage and integrity, a determination to seek the truth at any risk. Yes. That's Teal'c.

It makes me wonder: how much of the mind-stamp was memory, and how much dictated behavior? There was clearly conditioning involved, but the mind-stamp didn't change who they are. If they'd been repeatedly mind-stamped, could they have eradicated Daniel's niggling curiosity, or Sam's scientific skills, or Jack's determination to protect others?

On another note, was Brenna mind-stamped to a degree or not? Part of me thinks yes; part of me isn't so sure. She wants to help the people below, which seems to fit with being an "honor to serve." Yet she's willing to betray Calder by getting SG-1 to safety. Is she acting out of fear of being mind-stamped herself into slavery, when she initially agrees with Calder?

One of the things I most like about No Return is that Redbyrd helps make sense of characterization in both episodes. Hm. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've recced it yet at stargateficrec. Clearly, I must rectify the matter as soon as possible. :)

Edit: Aha! I did rec it already, over here. Good to see I still have excellent taste in recs. :)

Comments

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

thank you for the excuse to reread, and thank you for your thoughtful comments.

IMHO Brenna was not memory stamped; Calder assumed her loyalty and also assumed, as many egocentric people do, that her self-interest agreed with his interpretation of the situation. he seemed entirely shocked that she would cross him in any way.

and she seemed a bit shocked that he would resort to violence.

i don't know if her doubts had been brewing or if sg-1 simply galvanized them, but i didn't think she was mentally altered. of course there's really no evidence one way or the other.

thanks again!

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Oh, good point re Calder - it fits his personality to just assume everyone would agree with him.

But that very shock could point just as easily to alarm that she's overridden her meek programming, not just his astonishment that she could dare to disagree.

That's an interesting question: had doubts been growing all along ala Teal'c, and this was just the breaking point? Or was SG-1's situation so uniquely wrong to her that it set alarm bells ringing?

Either way, it's interesting to speculate. And she's got a lot more depth than most people think.

And on a rather silly tangent, she and/or Calder did one thing right: they cut off Teal'c's caterpillar, and gave Sam a badly-needed trim! :D

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

lol -- it really is all about the hair, as thefourthvine claimed!

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

I agree, Brenna wasn't stamped. The extent to which people will go along with an 'accepted norm' is rather apallingly large. It was normal and unremarkable to her that the people who were memory-stamped should be. I'll bet that even the above-the-surface culture was rigidly controlled. Remember that they don't *have* dissidents- dissenters get stamped and sent to shovel coal or whatever. But when Calder grabs SG-1, who are more 'her sort', and stamps them, she starts to see that the stamping happens not just to people 'who deserve it' but to anyone who gets in Calder's way. She sees the possibility that *she* could someday be among them. And finally questions whether memory stamping was right to begin with.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Have I mentioned lately how much I love your insight into minor characters? :)

I agree with your analysis here, but I would like to point out that the population above might not have been mind-stamped, but they - and Brenna - were certainly conditioned to a way of thinking. I very much like your point that SG-1 would have been "her sort," and it's their mind-stamping that makes her uneasy - and a little frightened, too.

[acarlgeek.livejournal.com]

Chiming in late to this. I also think that Brenna's conditionaing was "limited" to cultural conditioning, rather than a mind stamp.

To me, the society on 118 was a "typical" caste society, and had all the cultural conditioning that comes along with rigid social classes. Whether it's a "simple" European-style gentry/manufacturer/serf system or a multi-caste African or Asian system, there are deeply ingrained rules dictating both acceptable behavior from AND acceptable treatment of each caste, based mainly upon accident of birth. This is a tough notion for most North Americans to understand because although we have economic classes based on income or how many resources one's family has to inherit, those are fluid and people move back and forth between them all the time. Although some individuals in the upper economic brackets try to act as though they have a different set of rules (a la a social caste society), that sort of behavior is not accepted without question here (and often backfires on the would-be "gentry" when they no longer have the money to try to buy their way out of situations).

When SG-1 arrived on 118, they were essentially foreign dignitaries, greeted by the upper caste citizens and treated as such. When Jack reacted to confirmation of their social structure with revulsion rather than acceptance, SG-1 was suddenly reclassified as workers and treated as such, even though SG-1 hadn't broken any of the rules that traditionally resulted in stripping of upper caste priveleges. Whether the isolated survivors on 118 actually had a concept of diplomatic immunity which had been violated, or whether it was just the fact that Calder evidently stepped outside the "proper" rules for treatment of the existing castes, those rules had been broken and in that sort of rigid society, that would make everyone uncomfortable (mind stamp or not).

When Calder started bending or breaking the rules, nobody in his society could trust (predict) his behavior. In many ways, he took himself outside of the "protection" of their rules. He assumed he'd have unquestioning obedience from the lower castes because they "always" obey (when he follows the rules). It never occurred to him that they were following the rules, not him; that when he stepped outside of acceptable behavior, their responses could also be something novel.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'm not sure what to respond to this - very interesting way to look at this!

I do have an understanding of "castes" from personal experience, although it's a question of responsibility more than privilege. I very much like your suggestion that SG-1 was treated as upper caste until they broke the rules, so to speak - at least according to Calder. And maybe that's one reason why Brenna was so disturbed, too - if people that she'd thought of as being in her caste were stripped of their memories and mind stamped, what might happen to her?

Thanks for some very thinky thoughts. :)

[acarlgeek.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome for the "thinky thoughts". Living and travelling where you do, I'm CERTAIN you have much more personal experience of "castes" than I have, although I DO have more awareness/exposure than many Americans.

I never saw Brenna as actually accepting that SG-1 had been properly demoted to her caste. I think in her mind, they'd been incorrectly reassigned to the slave caste, and if Calder would mind stamp someone from ABOVE her caste that didn't really deserve it, what might happen to her and others at or below her caste?? (I guess that's just a slight amplification of the situation you see, so I'll shut up now.)

Thanks!

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Hm, nice - Brenna would seem them as being above her caste in the first place, yes. Kinda scary for her.

Again, thanks for contributing to the discussion. :)