Maternal Instinct meta: Bra'tac and Daniel

[sg_fignewton]

I love the changing relationship between Daniel and Bra'tac over the years. When they first met, Bra'tac threatened to snap Daniel's wrist (some suggest he actually threatened to bite him) out of sheer contempt. Fast forward ten years, and Daniel is sitting vigil at Bra'tac's bedside and acting as his spokesman

Comments

[quarryquest]

Thank you very much for that! I am actually a spoiler fan. I don't like going into episodes where I'm not sure what is going on, and seasons nine an ten give me the willies a bit. Too much book burning and unmarried women burning for my (pagan, librarian) liking.

I am however a BIG Bra'tac fan - he is one of the original semi-regulars they didn't manage to kill off (I cried for Jacob). I and knew there were episodes in later seasons with our favourite Jaffa in. Now I can go and find them without worry of bumping into something I don't want to watch.

[sg_fignewton]

Well, I did warn for spoilers for all ten seasons. :)

Yes, I love Bra'tac! And I did worry about him in later seasons, because TPTB seemed to positively revel in killing favorite guest stars. (Little Doc, anyone? And, as you yourself point out, Jacob. And someone else, who I will not mention if you haven't seen S10 yet, but is totally pointless.) He does get thoroughly whumped in Talion, and the violence onscreen (not just Bra'tac) goes way over my personal threshold, but yes - he is still alive when the series ends!

[quarryquest]

Ooh - go on. Which regular died in Season Ten then?

MAJOR S10 spoilers here!

[sg_fignewton]

::sighs:: Thor. And the whole Asgard race. For nothing.

Stupid PTB.

[stormimay]

Thank you! This is very interesting.
I saw the Maternal Instinct relationship a bit differently than you though. For me, it was what solidified the relationship between Daniel and Bra'tac, not what proved it. If that makes sense. I didn't see Bra'tac as listening to Daniel so much because it was Daniel, but because he also had the reverence for Kheb and the myths surrounding it. I saw this episode as the two of them discovering another shared ground and developing more respect for each other because of it.
I love Bra'tac.
I don't have any SG-1 icons. Sorry. :)

[aurora_novarum]

Hee. I don't have anything but SG-1 icons (okay well one snoopy).

But Adam Baldwin was Col. Dixon of SG-13, and if you squint, you can say he's really in some kind of combat SG gear rather than smace smuggler Serenity fare. ;-)

Oh yeah, topic. I agree about the shared interest in Kheb. Daniel didn't dismiss Bra'tac's stories, and also was knowledgeable about them. They were kind of doing their own legend bonding there.

[stormimay]

That's what I was going for: Jayne Cobb as Col. Dixon. lol
I really need to switch up my icons.

[sg_fignewton]

I think we're both looking at the same thing, from different directions. Friendships don't need proof, do they? As you say, it solidified it - not only in our minds, but in theirs, too.

Bra'tac did still believe, of course. OTOH - they watched the monk die. There was no guarantee that Oma would interfere, since the monk wasn't protected. So it was faith, yes - but not just in Oma/Kheb, but also in Daniel. To me, anyway.

Yes, I love Bra'tac. :)

[aurora_novarum]

Cool meta/love note of Daniel and Bra'tac. I think my favorite is actually "Stronghold" precisely for that Lois&Clark detective work (despite the fact I overall don't like the episode).

I thought the dynamic between Bra'tac and Daniel in Maternal Instinct was especially strong. Sometimes Bra'tac was even taking the lead on the interaction of the monk, and maybe helped facilitate Daniel being more open to the experience. (Daniel normally would be, but lets face it, he's a bit goal oriented about his stepson at the moment).

[sg_fignewton]

love note

Hee! Yes, that's exactly what it is! :)

Like you, the Bra'tac and Daniel bits of Stronghold were the only parts I liked. I spent most of the rest of the time yelling at the screen, "Go send him to the Tok'ra!" and "Don't take off-world technology into a low-security hospital!" and "YES THE GOA'ULD DO BELIEVE THEIR OWN HYPE!"

Ahem. 'Scuse me. ;)

I agree that Daniel and Bra'tac did kind of help each other open up. Isn't it just great?

[night_spear1287]

I also think a lot of Bra'tac's behavior in Maternal Instinct has to do with the mystical-ness of Kheb and the recent blow to his faith because of Apophis's betrayal (as you probably know from my version). I totally agree with you about this meta, though. Bra'tac was my favorite alien guest star, and watching the transformation of his character, his beliefs, and his relationships with SG-1 was pretty awesome. As you say, he may have looked at Sam as 'the woman' at first, but it must have been clear pretty quickly that Daniel's the non-warrior; seeing Bra'tac come to trust and like him was really special.

Thanks for these interesting insights!

[sg_fignewton]

Oh, I absolutely agree that Bra'tac was predisposed to believe and have faith - he desperately needed something, then. But that very need ramped up the respect for Daniel, who was following along with Kheb's dictates. And, as I said, they'd just seen the monk die - and despite that, Bra'tac was willing to believe in Oma (and Daniel).

I said once, when we were doing Bloodlines, that the aborted mission to Chulak, despite the failure to get Ry'ac and Drey'auc to safety, was a spectacular success. Because they met Bra'tac, and impressed him enough to make him want to save the Tau'ri; and then they met Bra'tac again in Serpent's Lair, and succeeded in saving Earth together (and keeping Bra'tac alive, which wasn't on his agenda!); and that really sparked off the beginning of the Jaffa Rebellion, and the end of Goa'uld dominion.

In short: yay, Bra'tac! :)

[morjana]

Bra'tac DID try to bite Daniel in Bloodlines. Tony Amendola mentions that scene in an interview he did back in ... (senior memory here...) July '02 with Interstellar Transmission.

[sg_fignewton]

Oooh, really? I will have to try and dig this up! Thanks for the info.

[sg_fignewton]

Found it at Stargate Solutions! Linked above. Thanks.