jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2013-07-12 07:37 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2013-07-12 07:37 pm
Entry tags:
100 Reviews: 64
I don’t have much to say about this one...we’ll see if that prove to be true once I’ve written about it.
SG-1: 1x04: The Broca Divide
I don’t exactly like this episode, but it is kind of deceptively important. It feels really unimportant and episode/planet of the week like, but it does move a few things forward that are at least a little interesting to talk about.
For one it introduces us to Janet Frazer, who I love. And it’s like she’s always been part of this adventure, the characters are clearly already familiar, it’s just the audience that hasn’t met her before. Like Hammond she’s just going about business behind the scenes, keeping this little operation going.
For two it gives Teal’c some relevant development. Still not a lot, but he feels like he’s starting to settle into this team/world/place. He may not get our pop culture references but he feels less like “the alien” here than he has up to now.
For three, it continues the steady progression of the show and the SGC from military focused to much of an exploratory and scientific based. It does make them feel a little more Star Treky to some extent, which isn’t exactly a bad thing but kind of derivative and I think part of why I took so long to bother with this show while it was on. Although I think it is worth noting that this is kind of another sign of being set in the 90s without being explicitly dated such, because I feel like if that progression would have happened at all in the 2000s it would have taken longer to become that.
I do think this episode goes a little far with the Jack glorifying. He’s apparently the most manly of men, we’re told he’s like the most violent testosterone driven one while under the infection and yet he’s also capable of fighting thought it to communicate and help out. Janet always goes to him over the actual commander of the SGC for...reasons that require a fair bit of head tilting to process.
But that’s not a huge black mark on this episode, just something I noted. Really I just don’t like it. If it weren’t for the role of the Stargate Program progression and the fact that it was following up on the Skaara and Sha’re plot, I’d say this episode was poorly placed and could go just about anywhere else, but those relatively small factors kind of keep it where it is...but I still think this type of encounter would have worked better with a little more character development under the characters’ belts. We haven’t really gotten Jack and Sam bonding yet, so when she suddenly goes after him, yes we know something’s up but there’s no character basis for how to react to it (also, I always feel weird when I see those clips/screenshots used in shippy things for those two, it’s squicky). Sam and Daniel’s fairly brief agreement over rape vs. natural behavior among primitives feels like it ought to be connected to Daniel’s ultimate fate in the episode, but I’m not sure any real point was made (and while I’m usually against any time Daniel loses his Sha’re focus to have eyes for some girl of the week, this doesn’t bother me on that level, kind of others but not that level).
The episode just feels kind of meh to me, like unfinished soup. It maybe wouldn’t have ever been great soup, and it’s not awful as it is, but it had enough in it that it should have been better than it turned out to be...maybe.
Next time:
I’m thinking of getting to s1 of TVD among these reviews. I don’t watch s1 that often (as far as I’m concerned the party didn’t start ‘til Elijah walked in) and I could use a refresher of some plot points. So we’ll see.
Suggestions are always welcome
SG-1: 1x04: The Broca Divide
I don’t exactly like this episode, but it is kind of deceptively important. It feels really unimportant and episode/planet of the week like, but it does move a few things forward that are at least a little interesting to talk about.
For one it introduces us to Janet Frazer, who I love. And it’s like she’s always been part of this adventure, the characters are clearly already familiar, it’s just the audience that hasn’t met her before. Like Hammond she’s just going about business behind the scenes, keeping this little operation going.
For two it gives Teal’c some relevant development. Still not a lot, but he feels like he’s starting to settle into this team/world/place. He may not get our pop culture references but he feels less like “the alien” here than he has up to now.
For three, it continues the steady progression of the show and the SGC from military focused to much of an exploratory and scientific based. It does make them feel a little more Star Treky to some extent, which isn’t exactly a bad thing but kind of derivative and I think part of why I took so long to bother with this show while it was on. Although I think it is worth noting that this is kind of another sign of being set in the 90s without being explicitly dated such, because I feel like if that progression would have happened at all in the 2000s it would have taken longer to become that.
I do think this episode goes a little far with the Jack glorifying. He’s apparently the most manly of men, we’re told he’s like the most violent testosterone driven one while under the infection and yet he’s also capable of fighting thought it to communicate and help out. Janet always goes to him over the actual commander of the SGC for...reasons that require a fair bit of head tilting to process.
But that’s not a huge black mark on this episode, just something I noted. Really I just don’t like it. If it weren’t for the role of the Stargate Program progression and the fact that it was following up on the Skaara and Sha’re plot, I’d say this episode was poorly placed and could go just about anywhere else, but those relatively small factors kind of keep it where it is...but I still think this type of encounter would have worked better with a little more character development under the characters’ belts. We haven’t really gotten Jack and Sam bonding yet, so when she suddenly goes after him, yes we know something’s up but there’s no character basis for how to react to it (also, I always feel weird when I see those clips/screenshots used in shippy things for those two, it’s squicky). Sam and Daniel’s fairly brief agreement over rape vs. natural behavior among primitives feels like it ought to be connected to Daniel’s ultimate fate in the episode, but I’m not sure any real point was made (and while I’m usually against any time Daniel loses his Sha’re focus to have eyes for some girl of the week, this doesn’t bother me on that level, kind of others but not that level).
The episode just feels kind of meh to me, like unfinished soup. It maybe wouldn’t have ever been great soup, and it’s not awful as it is, but it had enough in it that it should have been better than it turned out to be...maybe.
Next time:
I’m thinking of getting to s1 of TVD among these reviews. I don’t watch s1 that often (as far as I’m concerned the party didn’t start ‘til Elijah walked in) and I could use a refresher of some plot points. So we’ll see.
Suggestions are always welcome