Meridian, Jack, and the whole Jonas thing
So, you might be wondering, what made me decide to write about what is arguably the most hated episode in Stargate SG-1 history? As usual, it’s because I’ve been stirred up by something I’ve read. Make that several somethings, actually. I read a lot.
To understand where I’m coming from, you should know that I did the "Meridian" transcript for Stargate Solutions recently. (Don’t look at me like that -- I knew no one else would do it.) This means I have been over every scene, every line, multiple times, to the point where I could quote verbatim if I wanted to. Now that I know it so well, I’ve found my perceptions of the episode have shifted. Although I still find it gut-wrenching, and never fail to cry my heart out at the end, I also realize that some past criticisms, including mine, have perhaps been a little unfair. Hence, this attempt to correct them.
I’ve broken my commentary into two sections, because they’re two separate topics: one’s about Jack, and one’s about Jonas.
Meridian, and Jack’s reaction
Many Daniel fans have looked at Jack’s behavior in this episode and found him wanting. They’ve written reams (or should that be "megabytes"?) about his attitude, his supposed lack of caring. The evidence most often pointed to is when Daniel asks him why he cares. Jack can only muster a lame "I might have come to respect you… a little… I think" instead of the heartfelt tribute his friend and teammate deserves.
On its face, that looks bad. What we need to remember, though, is that Jack has never been a touchy-feely kind of guy. He’s not particularly good with words -- which he acknowledges, and Daniel seconds. So, instead of just listening to what Jack says on the surface, pay some attention to what he does, because it’s very enlightening. Let’s look at the sequence of events:
1) At the debriefing with Hammond, Jack is quick to assert that the Kelownans are lying about Daniel’s sabotage.
2) Jack repeats this to Daniel, insisting that what’s on his official record does matter, and floats the possibility of one of their allies saving his life.
3) When meeting with Sam, Jack also wants to know if she’s come up with anything to help Daniel.
4) Jack asks Hammond about the possibility of securing a sarcophagus for Daniel.
5) He angrily debates sending a letter to the Kelownans. "You cannot capitulate to these people."
6) After delivering the letter, Jack goes to see Jonas. He calls the Kelownans "lying cowards," and promises "I’m not going to let you tarnish (Daniel’s) name." Before leaving, he makes an uncharacteristic rant against the naquadria bomb, because "this is the point Daniel was trying to make."
7) While sitting by Daniel’s bedside, he insists the sabotage accusation "will not be your last official act."
What we have is a portrait of a man who slowly realizes he’s about to lose his best friend. However, being Jack, he can’t talk about his feelings. Instead, he retreats to a more comfortable place, doing what he can from a military perspective: protecting Daniel’s good name, making sure the truth gets out and that the record of his life -- and death -- is accurate. In fact, Jack is quite vocal about this, insisting that Daniel not be labeled a saboteur. Through his actions, he expresses what he cannot say out loud -- how important Daniel is to all of them, but especially to him.
This is something I didn’t pick up on my first couple of viewings, because I was too busy moaning over Daniel’s fate. When I was forced to pay attention to details, though, I realized I wasn’t giving Jack nearly enough credit. His behavior while Daniel is dying, his willingness to stop the healing process because "it’s what [Daniel] wants," and his cranky refusal to accept Jonas as a substitute all speak volumes about the depth of his affection.
And speaking of Jonas:
The whole Jonas thing
Once upon a time, I really hated Jonas. You know the drill: he got Daniel killed, then took his place; he’s a coward, a liar, a thief, and a traitor; he constantly carried around a mug and a notebook, and he had fish, just like Daniel. These were all considered by the fans I knew to be valid reasons for our fury. Even a year and a half after Daniel’s return, there are still those who can’t speak of Jonas without calling him names (my personal favorite is "the Cowpie").
Then, a short while back, things changed for me. I found I couldn’t look at Jonas the same way I had before. What happened? Well, watching "Meridian" so closely helped a bit. Mainly, though, it was because I got an idea for a Daniel-centric novel, and one of the plot points involved Jonas. I’m still struggling mightily to finish the thing, but in the interests of clarity I’ll let you in on a small portion of it:
What if, at the crucial moment, Jonas froze against the wall not out of fear, but because an unseen hand was holding him back? What if he could have saved his people, given the chance, but was prevented from doing so -- because someone wanted Daniel to do it?
(There’s more to this, but I can’t give away all my secrets.)
Now, I know that fanfic is not canon. Once this idea got into my head, though, it wouldn’t come out. The more I contemplated the novel, the more it was reinforced. And since no one can prove things didn’t happen that way, I think it’s become permanently lodged there. In other words, it is canon -- for me.
How does that change things? Think for a moment about the consequences of this small shift. It would mean Jonas wasn’t responsible for Daniel’s death at all; in a way, he was as much a victim as Daniel, collateral damage to a higher being’s agenda. No one realized this at the time, of course; everyone, including Jonas himself, believes he simply froze. The rest of his behavior in "Meridian," for good and especially for bad, is based on the sudden loss of self-esteem he would be facing over this incident. It’s… understandable. After all, it’s one thing if Jonas is a coward and knows it; it’s another thing entirely if he holds himself responsible for something that wasn’t his fault.
The result of this little head game is that it drained away my anger at what was "done to" Daniel, and allowed me to see past it. For the first time, I connected with Jonas as a character. It began to dawn on me that he lobbied so hard to be on SG-1, not out of a sense of entitlement, but because he desperately wanted to continue Daniel’s work. He knew he didn’t "deserve" the post, but he was trying to make things right, and Jack (understandably) didn’t make it easy for him. In a very real sense, Jonas gave up the life he might have had on Kelowna (had he simply kept his mouth shut) in order to follow another man’s path. That’s a huge sacrifice, and not one you would expect a "liar, coward, thief, and traitor" to make.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suddenly in love with the guy; he’s still a badly written character, and a poor substitute for Daniel. But when I got beyond the surface anger and resentment, I was left with a decent guy trying to fill shoes that were simply too big for him. Hence, my new slogan: "Jonas -- he’s not really that bad."
Yeah, I think that’ll do.
To understand where I’m coming from, you should know that I did the "Meridian" transcript for Stargate Solutions recently. (Don’t look at me like that -- I knew no one else would do it.) This means I have been over every scene, every line, multiple times, to the point where I could quote verbatim if I wanted to. Now that I know it so well, I’ve found my perceptions of the episode have shifted. Although I still find it gut-wrenching, and never fail to cry my heart out at the end, I also realize that some past criticisms, including mine, have perhaps been a little unfair. Hence, this attempt to correct them.
I’ve broken my commentary into two sections, because they’re two separate topics: one’s about Jack, and one’s about Jonas.
Meridian, and Jack’s reaction
Many Daniel fans have looked at Jack’s behavior in this episode and found him wanting. They’ve written reams (or should that be "megabytes"?) about his attitude, his supposed lack of caring. The evidence most often pointed to is when Daniel asks him why he cares. Jack can only muster a lame "I might have come to respect you… a little… I think" instead of the heartfelt tribute his friend and teammate deserves.
On its face, that looks bad. What we need to remember, though, is that Jack has never been a touchy-feely kind of guy. He’s not particularly good with words -- which he acknowledges, and Daniel seconds. So, instead of just listening to what Jack says on the surface, pay some attention to what he does, because it’s very enlightening. Let’s look at the sequence of events:
1) At the debriefing with Hammond, Jack is quick to assert that the Kelownans are lying about Daniel’s sabotage.
2) Jack repeats this to Daniel, insisting that what’s on his official record does matter, and floats the possibility of one of their allies saving his life.
3) When meeting with Sam, Jack also wants to know if she’s come up with anything to help Daniel.
4) Jack asks Hammond about the possibility of securing a sarcophagus for Daniel.
5) He angrily debates sending a letter to the Kelownans. "You cannot capitulate to these people."
6) After delivering the letter, Jack goes to see Jonas. He calls the Kelownans "lying cowards," and promises "I’m not going to let you tarnish (Daniel’s) name." Before leaving, he makes an uncharacteristic rant against the naquadria bomb, because "this is the point Daniel was trying to make."
7) While sitting by Daniel’s bedside, he insists the sabotage accusation "will not be your last official act."
What we have is a portrait of a man who slowly realizes he’s about to lose his best friend. However, being Jack, he can’t talk about his feelings. Instead, he retreats to a more comfortable place, doing what he can from a military perspective: protecting Daniel’s good name, making sure the truth gets out and that the record of his life -- and death -- is accurate. In fact, Jack is quite vocal about this, insisting that Daniel not be labeled a saboteur. Through his actions, he expresses what he cannot say out loud -- how important Daniel is to all of them, but especially to him.
This is something I didn’t pick up on my first couple of viewings, because I was too busy moaning over Daniel’s fate. When I was forced to pay attention to details, though, I realized I wasn’t giving Jack nearly enough credit. His behavior while Daniel is dying, his willingness to stop the healing process because "it’s what [Daniel] wants," and his cranky refusal to accept Jonas as a substitute all speak volumes about the depth of his affection.
And speaking of Jonas:
The whole Jonas thing
Once upon a time, I really hated Jonas. You know the drill: he got Daniel killed, then took his place; he’s a coward, a liar, a thief, and a traitor; he constantly carried around a mug and a notebook, and he had fish, just like Daniel. These were all considered by the fans I knew to be valid reasons for our fury. Even a year and a half after Daniel’s return, there are still those who can’t speak of Jonas without calling him names (my personal favorite is "the Cowpie").
Then, a short while back, things changed for me. I found I couldn’t look at Jonas the same way I had before. What happened? Well, watching "Meridian" so closely helped a bit. Mainly, though, it was because I got an idea for a Daniel-centric novel, and one of the plot points involved Jonas. I’m still struggling mightily to finish the thing, but in the interests of clarity I’ll let you in on a small portion of it:
What if, at the crucial moment, Jonas froze against the wall not out of fear, but because an unseen hand was holding him back? What if he could have saved his people, given the chance, but was prevented from doing so -- because someone wanted Daniel to do it?
(There’s more to this, but I can’t give away all my secrets.)
Now, I know that fanfic is not canon. Once this idea got into my head, though, it wouldn’t come out. The more I contemplated the novel, the more it was reinforced. And since no one can prove things didn’t happen that way, I think it’s become permanently lodged there. In other words, it is canon -- for me.
How does that change things? Think for a moment about the consequences of this small shift. It would mean Jonas wasn’t responsible for Daniel’s death at all; in a way, he was as much a victim as Daniel, collateral damage to a higher being’s agenda. No one realized this at the time, of course; everyone, including Jonas himself, believes he simply froze. The rest of his behavior in "Meridian," for good and especially for bad, is based on the sudden loss of self-esteem he would be facing over this incident. It’s… understandable. After all, it’s one thing if Jonas is a coward and knows it; it’s another thing entirely if he holds himself responsible for something that wasn’t his fault.
The result of this little head game is that it drained away my anger at what was "done to" Daniel, and allowed me to see past it. For the first time, I connected with Jonas as a character. It began to dawn on me that he lobbied so hard to be on SG-1, not out of a sense of entitlement, but because he desperately wanted to continue Daniel’s work. He knew he didn’t "deserve" the post, but he was trying to make things right, and Jack (understandably) didn’t make it easy for him. In a very real sense, Jonas gave up the life he might have had on Kelowna (had he simply kept his mouth shut) in order to follow another man’s path. That’s a huge sacrifice, and not one you would expect a "liar, coward, thief, and traitor" to make.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suddenly in love with the guy; he’s still a badly written character, and a poor substitute for Daniel. But when I got beyond the surface anger and resentment, I was left with a decent guy trying to fill shoes that were simply too big for him. Hence, my new slogan: "Jonas -- he’s not really that bad."
Yeah, I think that’ll do.