Review of The Ties that Bind (SG)
Aug. 8th, 2005 03:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaAnother fun episode.
I quite liked The Ties That Bind, but it did have some flaws. On the plus side, it was the first humorous episode I've truly enjoyed since Urgo and Upgrades. This episode was written by Joe Mallozzi, and apparently he has given us the gift of both Daniel and Mitchell in leather pants. He didn't have to do that, and I'm sure he knew it would cater to the female audience at a pretty basic level. So, can I be bought off by such blatant pandering? No, but I will applaud that at least he was aware that the women in the audience would enjoy that as much as the men liked seeing Vala in skimpy sleep attire shaking her booty to entice Daniel to a bit of playtime, and I thank him for writing that in. I also thank him for giving us Teal'c in a suit.
The scripts Mallozzi has penned in the past have had some common weaknesses. He usually brings in multiple guest characters and has a lot of the action focused on these new characters, leaving the regulars to wander around as mere satellites to the plot. There's lots of corridor walking, trite rather than realistic sounding dialogue from the characters, and a rather immature sense of humor. Fortunately, some of these elements came together to make for a pretty funny episode. But, Daniel and Mitchell were mainly Vala's sidekicks/straightmen. Vala at the meeting in D.C. catered to an immature mindset and a lot of the dialogue was simplistic and at times, cartoonish. Mind you, I do like some cartoons; I just don't like 'em crossing over with SG-1.
There were lots of guest characters, but that was necessary to the structure of the story. Even though I wish we could keep Vala, she is technically a guest character and most of the action revolved around her and her former associates. While these guest characters were quite OTT, excellent casting made them a joy to watch. Wallace Shawn was delightful as he described his dalliances with Vala, as were the various expressions on Mitchell and Daniel's faces.
Mallozzi also has a tendency to tell, not show. I cringed when Teal'c said that Mitchell reminded him of O'Neill. Having the rest of SG-1 tell Jonas he was a part of the team in season 6 did not work at all. I would hope that they don't plan on doing the same with Mitchell this season. The audience needs to see Mitchell be accepted by the other regular characters, and so far they've been doing that fairly well, slow and easy is best. That little bit of dialogue gave me a PTS flashback moment! The more the writers try to hard sell that Mitchell is just as good as Jack, the more I will dislike him. Letting Mitchell be Mitchell will work just fine, thank you.
One thing I don't care for is Mitchell calling Daniel, Jackson. Daniel tells everyone to call him Daniel, aliens and friends alike. I'd wondered if TPTB were going to differentiate the Mitchell & Daniel relationship from the Jack & Daniel by something like this but I hope this changes sometime in the future as it sounds a bit rude. I also wondered if this is another way to tell the audience that Daniel has matured since children are called by their first names and adults by their last. I think anyone that's seen the show would already know that Daniel has grown quite a bit so that wouldn't be necessary.
I also spent some time wondering if this was really Daniel I was watching. I've always enjoyed a pissy Daniel so that fact his foul mood has gone on for four episodes by now has been great fun. But the trouble is that Daniel would have given a much more impassioned speech while in Washington. Mallozzi has always wanted to write Daniel has a dweeby joke, so I'm fairly certain Daniel will always be watered down in any Mallozzi script. I'd preferred to have had Daniel give a spirited defense and been defeated by other means; but instead it was a simple argument and he gave up as soon as the senator implied the Ori were merely a dream of his.
I did feel it was really Daniel a couple of times. Once was when Vala was giving her sob story and Daniel showed some compassion. Of course, when Daniel said he sometimes forgot what Vala has been through, I shook my head as I just don't buy that. Daniel has fought the Goa'uld for 8 years; his agonized for three years about his beloved wife who was a host and when he first meets Vala, he is taken prisoner, tortured then healed by Vala using one of those Goa'uld devices. I just can't believe that he'd ever forget her past. Ever.
The other time I knew I was watching Daniel was when he said goodbye to Teal'c and hugged him. Is Daniel defined by his relationship to others? We are seeing him with all new people, except for Teal'c. His reactions to Landry, Lam and Mitchell are more formal, professional and less warm than with Hammond, Janet and Jack. Is Daniel free to change more now that his "family" isn't there to keep him in his usual behaviors? Will he be more Action!Jackson since Mitchell has only seen him as someone quite competent and will expect him to be so?
I did think Vala's admission about her past to be true, but she wasn't going to pursue any real emotional pity/sympathy from Daniel. She'll flimflam him, but she won't expose herself to a rube unless forced to. I also think she'd love to seduce Daniel once or thrice, but she probably wouldn't respect him in the morning.
I also liked Mitchell's certainty that Teal'c would be back. I like that optimism, that confidence. I think Daniel and Teal'c will be drawn to that, too, particularly since Mitchell does produce results. Of course, another way to look at that is that Mitchell knows Teal'c will always come back to assist Daniel, and Mitchell knows that Daniel is in the midst of a big ol' mess and is not anywhere near not needing more assistance, therefore Teal'c will be back. In fact, Teal'c is tied to Daniel just as thoroughly as those bracelets tie Daniel and Vala together.
I particularly liked that one little moment when Vala was trying to get Daniel to pay her attention and leave the artifacts alone. After he leaves, in a jealous fit she pushes her competition off the table onto the floor. That was SO cat like!
I feel Lexa Doig is meeting the requirements of her role but hasn't yet been given any chance to flesh out her character yet. I'm still not liking Landry much. I thought Daniel's line about Dr. Lee and scraping the barrel was out of character for Daniel, but in character how Mallozzi likes to write dialogue. I wish there was more Teal'c but he would have been wasted as another supernumerary.
But, to channel Landry, I did like the show, laughed out loud in a couple of places and was left with fond memories of good looking men in suits and leather pants and some fun interaction between the new team members. I've already rewatched the show a couple of times. And I wish we could keep Vala as Claudia Black is pure gold.
Good times, good times.
I quite liked The Ties That Bind, but it did have some flaws. On the plus side, it was the first humorous episode I've truly enjoyed since Urgo and Upgrades. This episode was written by Joe Mallozzi, and apparently he has given us the gift of both Daniel and Mitchell in leather pants. He didn't have to do that, and I'm sure he knew it would cater to the female audience at a pretty basic level. So, can I be bought off by such blatant pandering? No, but I will applaud that at least he was aware that the women in the audience would enjoy that as much as the men liked seeing Vala in skimpy sleep attire shaking her booty to entice Daniel to a bit of playtime, and I thank him for writing that in. I also thank him for giving us Teal'c in a suit.
The scripts Mallozzi has penned in the past have had some common weaknesses. He usually brings in multiple guest characters and has a lot of the action focused on these new characters, leaving the regulars to wander around as mere satellites to the plot. There's lots of corridor walking, trite rather than realistic sounding dialogue from the characters, and a rather immature sense of humor. Fortunately, some of these elements came together to make for a pretty funny episode. But, Daniel and Mitchell were mainly Vala's sidekicks/straightmen. Vala at the meeting in D.C. catered to an immature mindset and a lot of the dialogue was simplistic and at times, cartoonish. Mind you, I do like some cartoons; I just don't like 'em crossing over with SG-1.
There were lots of guest characters, but that was necessary to the structure of the story. Even though I wish we could keep Vala, she is technically a guest character and most of the action revolved around her and her former associates. While these guest characters were quite OTT, excellent casting made them a joy to watch. Wallace Shawn was delightful as he described his dalliances with Vala, as were the various expressions on Mitchell and Daniel's faces.
Mallozzi also has a tendency to tell, not show. I cringed when Teal'c said that Mitchell reminded him of O'Neill. Having the rest of SG-1 tell Jonas he was a part of the team in season 6 did not work at all. I would hope that they don't plan on doing the same with Mitchell this season. The audience needs to see Mitchell be accepted by the other regular characters, and so far they've been doing that fairly well, slow and easy is best. That little bit of dialogue gave me a PTS flashback moment! The more the writers try to hard sell that Mitchell is just as good as Jack, the more I will dislike him. Letting Mitchell be Mitchell will work just fine, thank you.
One thing I don't care for is Mitchell calling Daniel, Jackson. Daniel tells everyone to call him Daniel, aliens and friends alike. I'd wondered if TPTB were going to differentiate the Mitchell & Daniel relationship from the Jack & Daniel by something like this but I hope this changes sometime in the future as it sounds a bit rude. I also wondered if this is another way to tell the audience that Daniel has matured since children are called by their first names and adults by their last. I think anyone that's seen the show would already know that Daniel has grown quite a bit so that wouldn't be necessary.
I also spent some time wondering if this was really Daniel I was watching. I've always enjoyed a pissy Daniel so that fact his foul mood has gone on for four episodes by now has been great fun. But the trouble is that Daniel would have given a much more impassioned speech while in Washington. Mallozzi has always wanted to write Daniel has a dweeby joke, so I'm fairly certain Daniel will always be watered down in any Mallozzi script. I'd preferred to have had Daniel give a spirited defense and been defeated by other means; but instead it was a simple argument and he gave up as soon as the senator implied the Ori were merely a dream of his.
I did feel it was really Daniel a couple of times. Once was when Vala was giving her sob story and Daniel showed some compassion. Of course, when Daniel said he sometimes forgot what Vala has been through, I shook my head as I just don't buy that. Daniel has fought the Goa'uld for 8 years; his agonized for three years about his beloved wife who was a host and when he first meets Vala, he is taken prisoner, tortured then healed by Vala using one of those Goa'uld devices. I just can't believe that he'd ever forget her past. Ever.
The other time I knew I was watching Daniel was when he said goodbye to Teal'c and hugged him. Is Daniel defined by his relationship to others? We are seeing him with all new people, except for Teal'c. His reactions to Landry, Lam and Mitchell are more formal, professional and less warm than with Hammond, Janet and Jack. Is Daniel free to change more now that his "family" isn't there to keep him in his usual behaviors? Will he be more Action!Jackson since Mitchell has only seen him as someone quite competent and will expect him to be so?
I did think Vala's admission about her past to be true, but she wasn't going to pursue any real emotional pity/sympathy from Daniel. She'll flimflam him, but she won't expose herself to a rube unless forced to. I also think she'd love to seduce Daniel once or thrice, but she probably wouldn't respect him in the morning.
I also liked Mitchell's certainty that Teal'c would be back. I like that optimism, that confidence. I think Daniel and Teal'c will be drawn to that, too, particularly since Mitchell does produce results. Of course, another way to look at that is that Mitchell knows Teal'c will always come back to assist Daniel, and Mitchell knows that Daniel is in the midst of a big ol' mess and is not anywhere near not needing more assistance, therefore Teal'c will be back. In fact, Teal'c is tied to Daniel just as thoroughly as those bracelets tie Daniel and Vala together.
I particularly liked that one little moment when Vala was trying to get Daniel to pay her attention and leave the artifacts alone. After he leaves, in a jealous fit she pushes her competition off the table onto the floor. That was SO cat like!
I feel Lexa Doig is meeting the requirements of her role but hasn't yet been given any chance to flesh out her character yet. I'm still not liking Landry much. I thought Daniel's line about Dr. Lee and scraping the barrel was out of character for Daniel, but in character how Mallozzi likes to write dialogue. I wish there was more Teal'c but he would have been wasted as another supernumerary.
But, to channel Landry, I did like the show, laughed out loud in a couple of places and was left with fond memories of good looking men in suits and leather pants and some fun interaction between the new team members. I've already rewatched the show a couple of times. And I wish we could keep Vala as Claudia Black is pure gold.
Good times, good times.
