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butterflyI really do adore this show. It delights me and I'm happy to let it do so. But what I keep coming back to, over and over, is the fascinatingly complex yet simple connection between Daniel and Jack. That two people can be so different and yet so often on the same wavelength is something that I really love seeing. I love it when the connection is subtle and I love it when it's overt as all hell. I love that they can make each other regress to the age of five when they argue.
I loved the closed symmetry of Daniel and Jack's losses. In Season Three, Daniel almost loses Jack to a Goa'uld symbiote. Later that season, he does lose Sha're because of her symbiote. Jack almost loses Daniel via ascension and does lose Skaara that way. It feels like an odd balancing of the scales. Then the way the Abydonians are killed and yet not killed feels almost necessary because both Jack and Daniel have lost their personal connection to Abydos, because they don't need it as an intermediary any more. They are each other's personal connection.
But this isn't about that. It's about Daniel.
So, I'm trying to figure out why I like Abydos going boom at the end of season six. And in a way, it's the symbolism of it -- Abydos was the physical manifestation of Daniel and Jack's connection, but when Daniel went Ascended, he changed the rules.
Daniel appears three times in season six, each time to save people that he cares about. We find out in Orpheus that he did a lot of watching.
The first time that he couldn't stop himself going from passive to active was when Jack was alone and hurting. "Ba'al was torturing you. I couldn't just stand by..." His friend was being tortured, so he went to him, not originally with any intent, at least from what I can see. When he says that no one knows where Jack is, that no one can save Jack, he says it like he's just realizing it. He's just realized that he is it, he's the only person who knows what's going on and there's only one thing that he can offer Jack without stepping over the rules that Oma has given him. He tells Jack that it's Jack's only choice, but it's really Daniel's only choice, the only thing he thinks that he has the power and the permission to give.
By denying Daniel's way out and offering an old, blood-rusty way, Jack wakes Daniel up. Because once before, Jack gave the order, and that time, there was another way. The last time that Daniel let himself give Jack an out to die, it was wrong. Daniel doesn't want to die -- that's been a part of his essential character since the movie. He's willing to, if the cause is sufficient, but seeking out death is against his nature. He doesn't want to die himself and he doesn't want to lose the people that he cares about. So if Jack won't accept Ascension, there has to be another way, because a universe without Jack O'Neill is one that Daniel doesn't want to spend time in.
So he finds one -- I have no doubt that he inspired Teal'c at the very least, otherwise, there were some really bad dramatic cues in Abyss. He's still trying not to interfere.
And Jack lives. Once again, another mirroring affect is accomplished, as Jack, too, has now experienced sarc-addiction.
So when Teal's in trouble, Daniel gives into his urge to interfere, just a little. But hey, it's mostly in a dream, which can't possibly count. And at the end, he could still pull the "consoling a friend" card if needed. No harm, no foul. Daniel can rationalize it all away.
I love Daniel in Full Circle -- it's a real-world shadow of Absolute Power. Being Ascended exposed Daniel to more knowledge that he'd dreamed existed, yet he was forced to keep himself powerless. Not to interfere. All the knowledge in the world means fuckall if it can't be used to help -- that's what Daniel decides in Full Circle. Daniel chose actuality over potential, which is why, in the end, it doesn't matter if he chose to fall or if he was kicked out, because he made a choice when he answered Jack's call and crossed the fine line between warning and interference. When he went past the point of being able to rationalize his actions as anything but interference.
He was desperate to save his people and Anubis was on the way. What would have happened if Daniel had done nothing? Skaara and the rest would be still be dead, Anubis would still have gotten the Eye (if anyone would know that a Goa'uld could hide something in a secret hiding spot inside a secret chamber, it would be another Goa'uld), and the SGC wouldn't have known about it until a) a Tok'ra spy found out and decided to share the news or b) they tried to contact Abydos, in which case, they still probably wouldn't find out what had happened or c) Anubis used the power of the Eye somewhere noticeable.
The first choice that he makes in the episode is to go to the Abydonians to warn them that Anubis is coming. They had the chance to hide the non-fighters away, whereas if Daniel hadn't warned them, everyone would have been right there when Anubis showed up (and how much of the place did he blow up? Did those people, the ones in hiding, survive or did everyone 'ascend'?). The next choice he makes is to call for back-up. He goes to Jack, the best person he knows when it comes to the 'killing gods' business. Not to the SGC, but to Jack, who he trusts to know better than he does about who and what should go to Abydos.
Daniel watches, hoping that this might be enough, that he won't have to do more, because he can feel the limits of Oma's will strapped around his neck like a heavy collar of lightning and fear. And Jack calls for him. Jack calls, Daniel comes, and it's interesting how his interaction with the group centers on Jack. He's oddly impersonal with everyone else, including Skaara in the beginning. Jack is the one who rips into his center, who reminds him just what is at stake, who tells him that he has to cross the line.
They find the Eye, they fight Anubis, and Daniel makes a deal. Daniel takes a two-fold chance there -- he hopes that a) Anubis will spare Abydos but that if he doesn't that b) Daniel will be allowed to fight back. He does that because he sees no other way of saving Abydos at all. It's a horrible risk and he knows it. He knows the potential cost, but he also knows that if he doesn't take the chance, the Abydonians will die anyway. Anubis will not stop until he has the Eye, and if the other System Lords had fought Anubis and won, there would be no guarantee that one of them wouldn't claim Abydos for their own. Either way, Daniel's people were dying and he chose taking action over watching. That's the choice made.
In Absolute Power, Shifu tells Daniel that he has to find a new path. All throughout season five, Daniel tries over and over to find 'another way'. In season six, he finally decides what his way really is.
I really want the second half of season eight to start. I need more Stargate!
On a side note, I've once again stopped my attempts to watch Farscape. Every time that I try to get into the show, the John/Aeryn stuff stops me cold. And Farscape... depresses me, to be honest. It feels like such a dark, lost universe. I can't see the light. I just can't see the hope. I... need that more than I thought I did.
I loved the closed symmetry of Daniel and Jack's losses. In Season Three, Daniel almost loses Jack to a Goa'uld symbiote. Later that season, he does lose Sha're because of her symbiote. Jack almost loses Daniel via ascension and does lose Skaara that way. It feels like an odd balancing of the scales. Then the way the Abydonians are killed and yet not killed feels almost necessary because both Jack and Daniel have lost their personal connection to Abydos, because they don't need it as an intermediary any more. They are each other's personal connection.
But this isn't about that. It's about Daniel.
So, I'm trying to figure out why I like Abydos going boom at the end of season six. And in a way, it's the symbolism of it -- Abydos was the physical manifestation of Daniel and Jack's connection, but when Daniel went Ascended, he changed the rules.
Daniel appears three times in season six, each time to save people that he cares about. We find out in Orpheus that he did a lot of watching.
The first time that he couldn't stop himself going from passive to active was when Jack was alone and hurting. "Ba'al was torturing you. I couldn't just stand by..." His friend was being tortured, so he went to him, not originally with any intent, at least from what I can see. When he says that no one knows where Jack is, that no one can save Jack, he says it like he's just realizing it. He's just realized that he is it, he's the only person who knows what's going on and there's only one thing that he can offer Jack without stepping over the rules that Oma has given him. He tells Jack that it's Jack's only choice, but it's really Daniel's only choice, the only thing he thinks that he has the power and the permission to give.
By denying Daniel's way out and offering an old, blood-rusty way, Jack wakes Daniel up. Because once before, Jack gave the order, and that time, there was another way. The last time that Daniel let himself give Jack an out to die, it was wrong. Daniel doesn't want to die -- that's been a part of his essential character since the movie. He's willing to, if the cause is sufficient, but seeking out death is against his nature. He doesn't want to die himself and he doesn't want to lose the people that he cares about. So if Jack won't accept Ascension, there has to be another way, because a universe without Jack O'Neill is one that Daniel doesn't want to spend time in.
So he finds one -- I have no doubt that he inspired Teal'c at the very least, otherwise, there were some really bad dramatic cues in Abyss. He's still trying not to interfere.
And Jack lives. Once again, another mirroring affect is accomplished, as Jack, too, has now experienced sarc-addiction.
So when Teal's in trouble, Daniel gives into his urge to interfere, just a little. But hey, it's mostly in a dream, which can't possibly count. And at the end, he could still pull the "consoling a friend" card if needed. No harm, no foul. Daniel can rationalize it all away.
I love Daniel in Full Circle -- it's a real-world shadow of Absolute Power. Being Ascended exposed Daniel to more knowledge that he'd dreamed existed, yet he was forced to keep himself powerless. Not to interfere. All the knowledge in the world means fuckall if it can't be used to help -- that's what Daniel decides in Full Circle. Daniel chose actuality over potential, which is why, in the end, it doesn't matter if he chose to fall or if he was kicked out, because he made a choice when he answered Jack's call and crossed the fine line between warning and interference. When he went past the point of being able to rationalize his actions as anything but interference.
He was desperate to save his people and Anubis was on the way. What would have happened if Daniel had done nothing? Skaara and the rest would be still be dead, Anubis would still have gotten the Eye (if anyone would know that a Goa'uld could hide something in a secret hiding spot inside a secret chamber, it would be another Goa'uld), and the SGC wouldn't have known about it until a) a Tok'ra spy found out and decided to share the news or b) they tried to contact Abydos, in which case, they still probably wouldn't find out what had happened or c) Anubis used the power of the Eye somewhere noticeable.
The first choice that he makes in the episode is to go to the Abydonians to warn them that Anubis is coming. They had the chance to hide the non-fighters away, whereas if Daniel hadn't warned them, everyone would have been right there when Anubis showed up (and how much of the place did he blow up? Did those people, the ones in hiding, survive or did everyone 'ascend'?). The next choice he makes is to call for back-up. He goes to Jack, the best person he knows when it comes to the 'killing gods' business. Not to the SGC, but to Jack, who he trusts to know better than he does about who and what should go to Abydos.
Daniel watches, hoping that this might be enough, that he won't have to do more, because he can feel the limits of Oma's will strapped around his neck like a heavy collar of lightning and fear. And Jack calls for him. Jack calls, Daniel comes, and it's interesting how his interaction with the group centers on Jack. He's oddly impersonal with everyone else, including Skaara in the beginning. Jack is the one who rips into his center, who reminds him just what is at stake, who tells him that he has to cross the line.
They find the Eye, they fight Anubis, and Daniel makes a deal. Daniel takes a two-fold chance there -- he hopes that a) Anubis will spare Abydos but that if he doesn't that b) Daniel will be allowed to fight back. He does that because he sees no other way of saving Abydos at all. It's a horrible risk and he knows it. He knows the potential cost, but he also knows that if he doesn't take the chance, the Abydonians will die anyway. Anubis will not stop until he has the Eye, and if the other System Lords had fought Anubis and won, there would be no guarantee that one of them wouldn't claim Abydos for their own. Either way, Daniel's people were dying and he chose taking action over watching. That's the choice made.
In Absolute Power, Shifu tells Daniel that he has to find a new path. All throughout season five, Daniel tries over and over to find 'another way'. In season six, he finally decides what his way really is.
I really want the second half of season eight to start. I need more Stargate!
On a side note, I've once again stopped my attempts to watch Farscape. Every time that I try to get into the show, the John/Aeryn stuff stops me cold. And Farscape... depresses me, to be honest. It feels like such a dark, lost universe. I can't see the light. I just can't see the hope. I... need that more than I thought I did.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-30 01:15 pm (UTC)God help me, I am so screwed.
*avoding SG-1 spoilers since she wants to watch it someday*
Also, because I think a lot of your opinion, how come the John/Aeryn stuff stops you cold? I'm pretty sure it's not just that it's too Big and Romantic.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-30 02:36 pm (UTC)non-spoilery answer
Date: 2004-11-01 09:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-30 03:35 pm (UTC)Oh, I'm totally convinced that Daniel spent Changeling telling himself "what? Dreams teach! We're all about teaching through dreams! This is completely legit."
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-01 09:40 pm (UTC)