100 Reviews: 61
So, if I’m missing having something to post about, maybe I could do some reviewing.
SG-1: 1x02: The Enemy Within
(So I decided to go with the most common numbering and call CotG 1x01 and this 1x02.)
I also think it’s the most fitting numbering; since, while this continues the transition from the movie to the show we know and love, it’s not an episode one by any means. It does have a lot of good stuff for Jack and Teal’c and pretty good on establishing Hammond’s role, it’s really probably best classified as a Kowalski episode. And while you do something with false protagonists if it truly were a pilot episode, it’s more like a prominent guest star became the lead for this episode and ended in his death (as happened relatively frequently on say BSG).
All told, it’s kind of a weird fit for a second episode, almost acting like there has been a good deal more to the show that we should have seen by now but haven’t.
Anyway, most of Jack’s stuff is fairly straightforward; it’s well performed by RDA and those he plays off of, but I don’t have a ton to comment on. Teal’c’s stuff...well is mainly more about establishing more about the universe the Earthers are stepping into, but we do get to know Teal’c a little better in the process. Not as much as we probably should, but it's something.
It was almost a perfectly shaped piece of the puzzle that you could almost swear the movie was set up for the show. Don’t need to worry about encountering tons of truly alien aliens, the galaxy is teaming with life but most of it is going to look human which saves the show production a bundle. And yet it doesn’t come off too much as the show being cheap, since it’s already established that this sort of thing happened in the history of the SG verse (SGU really complicated how to refer to this verse).
Hammond, and by extension the Earth-based/politics type stuff is something that’s always fascinated me on the show, and was never really played with enough for my taste. But it is an important element and it’s good they started to address it early. The Stargate is a door to fantastic other worlds, but how to we walk through that door and what do we do with what we bring back of might follow us home? It’s the kind of questions that would consume us in the real world so I approve of the show keeping it mind even if I wish it had played a bigger role. But you can assume that it’s the kind of thing Hammond and people even higher deal with all the time, but our focus is the boots on the ground folks who...worry about it a little but mostly in immediate situations rather than constantly.
Unfortunately this episode still doesn’t give Sam much to do. She’s mostly acting as Daniel’s sounding board for now, and I await that changing. But then...so far Sam doesn’t have a lot of baggage that needs dealing with in what is kind of a small interpersonal story and Daniel already does. Coming out of the pilot the biggest issues are faced by Teal’c then Daniel, then Jack; the immediate threat to Kowalski ups Jack’s emotional investment for this time. So far, Sam doesn’t have much at all, and this episode didn’t exactly need another plot to give her something to do.
And lastly Daniel, oh sweet baby Daniel. I’d forgotten that Daniel/coffee OTP was rooted in his emotional damage after Sha’re was taken, and yet seeing it again I think this early started the ball rolling towards by Daniel/Rose shipping. Because Sam’s trying to be there for him, but they’re strangers at this point - they’re not even really teammates yet as they’ve only really had the one mission - and they’re not really sure how to talk about this kind of thing with each other yet. And this early on I was just wishing Daniel had someone to really talk to, someone who understood what he was going through, and where it wouldn’t feel judgey about how he was coping. And somewhere in that I hit on the realization that the exact person who would totally get it was Rose Tyler, and then I was just taken over by how much I wanted Rose (at this point it was still post-Doomsday, pre-s4 return) to have this kind of life after being separated from the Doctor and how awesome that would be for her. Combining ‘Rose’s fantastic post-Doomsday life’ with ‘Rose and Daniel would be great tragedy friends,’ wouldn’t morph into shipping for a while yet, but I’ll keep an eye out to see if I can spot other moments that pushed me in that direction.
Overall, the episode was okay, and an important step in the set-up of the series. My diversion down crossover shipping lane...well it’s part of how *I* relate to the show, but otherwise not all that relevant.
Next time:
I think I’m in need of a focus, last summer I focused on TVD but I’m NOT doing s4; I may go back to s1 I suppose, but I think I want something different.
If you think of a good option...
SG-1: 1x02: The Enemy Within
(So I decided to go with the most common numbering and call CotG 1x01 and this 1x02.)
I also think it’s the most fitting numbering; since, while this continues the transition from the movie to the show we know and love, it’s not an episode one by any means. It does have a lot of good stuff for Jack and Teal’c and pretty good on establishing Hammond’s role, it’s really probably best classified as a Kowalski episode. And while you do something with false protagonists if it truly were a pilot episode, it’s more like a prominent guest star became the lead for this episode and ended in his death (as happened relatively frequently on say BSG).
All told, it’s kind of a weird fit for a second episode, almost acting like there has been a good deal more to the show that we should have seen by now but haven’t.
Anyway, most of Jack’s stuff is fairly straightforward; it’s well performed by RDA and those he plays off of, but I don’t have a ton to comment on. Teal’c’s stuff...well is mainly more about establishing more about the universe the Earthers are stepping into, but we do get to know Teal’c a little better in the process. Not as much as we probably should, but it's something.
It was almost a perfectly shaped piece of the puzzle that you could almost swear the movie was set up for the show. Don’t need to worry about encountering tons of truly alien aliens, the galaxy is teaming with life but most of it is going to look human which saves the show production a bundle. And yet it doesn’t come off too much as the show being cheap, since it’s already established that this sort of thing happened in the history of the SG verse (SGU really complicated how to refer to this verse).
Hammond, and by extension the Earth-based/politics type stuff is something that’s always fascinated me on the show, and was never really played with enough for my taste. But it is an important element and it’s good they started to address it early. The Stargate is a door to fantastic other worlds, but how to we walk through that door and what do we do with what we bring back of might follow us home? It’s the kind of questions that would consume us in the real world so I approve of the show keeping it mind even if I wish it had played a bigger role. But you can assume that it’s the kind of thing Hammond and people even higher deal with all the time, but our focus is the boots on the ground folks who...worry about it a little but mostly in immediate situations rather than constantly.
Unfortunately this episode still doesn’t give Sam much to do. She’s mostly acting as Daniel’s sounding board for now, and I await that changing. But then...so far Sam doesn’t have a lot of baggage that needs dealing with in what is kind of a small interpersonal story and Daniel already does. Coming out of the pilot the biggest issues are faced by Teal’c then Daniel, then Jack; the immediate threat to Kowalski ups Jack’s emotional investment for this time. So far, Sam doesn’t have much at all, and this episode didn’t exactly need another plot to give her something to do.
And lastly Daniel, oh sweet baby Daniel. I’d forgotten that Daniel/coffee OTP was rooted in his emotional damage after Sha’re was taken, and yet seeing it again I think this early started the ball rolling towards by Daniel/Rose shipping. Because Sam’s trying to be there for him, but they’re strangers at this point - they’re not even really teammates yet as they’ve only really had the one mission - and they’re not really sure how to talk about this kind of thing with each other yet. And this early on I was just wishing Daniel had someone to really talk to, someone who understood what he was going through, and where it wouldn’t feel judgey about how he was coping. And somewhere in that I hit on the realization that the exact person who would totally get it was Rose Tyler, and then I was just taken over by how much I wanted Rose (at this point it was still post-Doomsday, pre-s4 return) to have this kind of life after being separated from the Doctor and how awesome that would be for her. Combining ‘Rose’s fantastic post-Doomsday life’ with ‘Rose and Daniel would be great tragedy friends,’ wouldn’t morph into shipping for a while yet, but I’ll keep an eye out to see if I can spot other moments that pushed me in that direction.
Overall, the episode was okay, and an important step in the set-up of the series. My diversion down crossover shipping lane...well it’s part of how *I* relate to the show, but otherwise not all that relevant.
Next time:
I think I’m in need of a focus, last summer I focused on TVD but I’m NOT doing s4; I may go back to s1 I suppose, but I think I want something different.
If you think of a good option...