I'm going to step up and give three or four cheers for Sam, though, whose heart was clearly breaking and reacted in delightfully Sam-like fashion. It is so Sam to step away from emotional heartbreak and try to bury herself in science. And when that distraction doesn't work, oh man, her goodbye to Daniel absolutely breaks my heart.
And Teal'c! ::wails:: Tell me how CJ can show more emotion with that little temple tic than most people can with full-blown tantrums, please? His goodbye was utterly perfect.
One of my favorite bits is Jack controlling the desire to stuff the "formal apology" down Jonas' throat and saying what Daniel would say in those circumstances. Ah, Jack.
Regarding Sam and Jacob and the healing device. Gotta say that I saw that little wincing smile of Daniel's and that nod as approval. Of course the healing device isn't going to be pulled out for a splinter; it's tech they haven't mastered, that no one outside Sam can even use, and you don't play games with something like that. Aside from that, though, my personal canon has always been that the healing device could never really have worked.
I've read fanfics where the authors shared similar views and articulated it better than I can, but... use chemo as an analogy. If chemo doesn't destroy everything, then the patient's cancer is going to come back. Even Jacob/Selmac said that the healing device wasn't going to heal Daniel fully. So if the radiation would still be present in Daniel's body, then Daniel was going to die - later rather than sooner, maybe, but inevitably. So Daniel's choice was lingering death vs. "a new path" - at least to me.
Regarding your questions, now:
1. I first saw Meridian in the hiatus between S8-9. I don't know how I would've reacted if I didn't know Daniel was coming back. But Daniel felt very... well, Danielish in this episode. I find this much easier to watch than, say, Need, where it's some other guy I don't like very much. If Daniel had to leave, this wasn't the worst of goodbyes.
2. Jack's line was totally lame BUT awesome at the same time, because Jack could talk between the lines... and Daniel could read between them, too. And anyway, "this will not be your last act of record" was pretty fabulous too.
3. Whew. Hard question! It's a tribute to their friendship that Jack could do "what he wants" instead of what he might have wanted himself. And I love love love the parallel between the goodbye here, with Daniel disappearing through the Gate, and the goodbye in the movie, where it was Jack who left Daniel behind.
4. Personally? I hope no one.
Janet would've been too busy fighting to keep him alive to say goodbye. Hammond was there at that final moment, but I see him more along the lines of "Keep fighting, son," than saying goodbye. And anyone else shouldn't even have known that Daniel was dying. Rumors flying through the SGC notwithstanding, the man deserves privacy and dignity.
The approval/grimace of the healing device can totally go both ways, but for me, I always thought that by then Daniel had already come to terms with his death (as he clearly pointed out reciting how he's going to die bluntly to Jack) and not asking for special treatment and that the healing device might just prolong his suffering. I think his approval would have been more for Sam and Janet so that they could assuage their later guilt that they tried absolutely everything more than having the hope it would save him. And I completely agree with you that I don't think the healing device would ever have fully worked.
I always thought that by then Daniel had already come to terms with his death
::blink blink::
"Don't you ever give up?"
"Not until I'm dead... and sometimes, not even then."
Recognizing that he's going to die is NOT the same thing as giving up. Ever. I absolutely would not see Daniel thinking, "Oh, this isn't going to work, but I'll suffer agonies just to make Sam and Janet feel worse better when they try it and it just sends me into a seizure."
As others have noted below, we do seem to be watching different eps. Or possibly just different focus on the ep? Hard to say. :)
And Teal'c! ::wails:: Tell me how CJ can show more emotion with that little temple tic than most people can with full-blown tantrums, please? His goodbye was utterly perfect.
Teal'c is and always will be awesome and CJ is awesome for making him that way. (It's always so weird to see the actor at Comic Con or on interviews because he's such a goofball and totally acts like Shanks and Tapping's annoying kid brother, yet he is capable of portraying such gravity and grace. *hugs him*
I read somewhere that CJ totally poured his heart into the take and then MS told him, "No, it's wasn't me - it was my double." And CJ was all indignant, and then MS admitted it really had been him under all those bandages. :)
I am totally awed by CJ's skills as an actor, because his personality is so diametrically opposed to Teal'c and he carries it off so perfectly anyway!
I'm going to step up and give three or four cheers for Sam, though, whose heart was clearly breaking and reacted in delightfully Sam-like fashion. It is so Sam to step away from emotional heartbreak and try to bury herself in science. And when that distraction doesn't work, oh man, her goodbye to Daniel absolutely breaks my heart.
And Teal'c! ::wails:: Tell me how CJ can show more emotion with that little temple tic than most people can with full-blown tantrums, please? His goodbye was utterly perfect.
One of my favorite bits is Jack controlling the desire to stuff the "formal apology" down Jonas' throat and saying what Daniel would say in those circumstances. Ah, Jack.
Regarding Sam and Jacob and the healing device. Gotta say that I saw that little wincing smile of Daniel's and that nod as approval. Of course the healing device isn't going to be pulled out for a splinter; it's tech they haven't mastered, that no one outside Sam can even use, and you don't play games with something like that. Aside from that, though, my personal canon has always been that the healing device could never really have worked.
I've read fanfics where the authors shared similar views and articulated it better than I can, but... use chemo as an analogy. If chemo doesn't destroy everything, then the patient's cancer is going to come back. Even Jacob/Selmac said that the healing device wasn't going to heal Daniel fully. So if the radiation would still be present in Daniel's body, then Daniel was going to die - later rather than sooner, maybe, but inevitably. So Daniel's choice was lingering death vs. "a new path" - at least to me.
Regarding your questions, now:
1. I first saw Meridian in the hiatus between S8-9. I don't know how I would've reacted if I didn't know Daniel was coming back. But Daniel felt very... well, Danielish in this episode. I find this much easier to watch than, say, Need, where it's some other guy I don't like very much. If Daniel had to leave, this wasn't the worst of goodbyes.
2. Jack's line was totally lame BUT awesome at the same time, because Jack could talk between the lines... and Daniel could read between them, too. And anyway, "this will not be your last act of record" was pretty fabulous too.
3. Whew. Hard question! It's a tribute to their friendship that Jack could do "what he wants" instead of what he might have wanted himself. And I love love love the parallel between the goodbye here, with Daniel disappearing through the Gate, and the goodbye in the movie, where it was Jack who left Daniel behind.
4. Personally? I hope no one.
Janet would've been too busy fighting to keep him alive to say goodbye. Hammond was there at that final moment, but I see him more along the lines of "Keep fighting, son," than saying goodbye. And anyone else shouldn't even have known that Daniel was dying. Rumors flying through the SGC notwithstanding, the man deserves privacy and dignity.
Thanks for the recap!
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::blink blink::
"Don't you ever give up?"
"Not until I'm dead... and sometimes, not even then."
Recognizing that he's going to die is NOT the same thing as giving up. Ever. I absolutely would not see Daniel thinking, "Oh, this isn't going to work, but I'll suffer agonies just to make Sam and Janet feel worse better when they try it and it just sends me into a seizure."
As others have noted below, we do seem to be watching different eps. Or possibly just different focus on the ep? Hard to say. :)
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Teal'c is and always will be awesome and CJ is awesome for making him that way. (It's always so weird to see the actor at Comic Con or on interviews because he's such a goofball and totally acts like Shanks and Tapping's annoying kid brother, yet he is capable of portraying such gravity and grace. *hugs him*
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I am totally awed by CJ's skills as an actor, because his personality is so diametrically opposed to Teal'c and he carries it off so perfectly anyway!
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