Fantastic review Josi! Really, i think you covered everything I love about this episode.
That's a really profound observation. Ka'nan's actions towards Shayla are the antithesis of Jack's actions towards Sam. I've always seen the importantance of the "love" aspect of this but never really acknowledged the call back there, thanks.
That's always bugged me too. The thing here is, even if Jack had not gone through all the trauma of being tortured (to death and back, no less) by Ba'al, just having the symbiote implanted in him is traumatic enough for Jack - who, remember, actually has a fairly deep abhorrance at the thought.
factor in Ba'al's torture and it's incredible he can even function these days. Then again, TVLand and all that.
There were times after this when Ba'al was featured that I got annoyed with the way his character was dumbed down into an almost parody of himself. He was, right at the time of this episode, the most evil and menacing of goa'ulds; he sure scared me a lot more than Anubis who was merely some ethereal threat that hadn't really been rounded out enough for me to appreciate how important or menacing he would become. But Ba'al, in one episode, was truely evil and horryfying . He could have had a great deal more potential as a more personal nemesis for Jack/the SGC in general, which would have been interesting.
On the ship front, Sam so does squeeze his hand there at the end. Yes she does.
In particular, of course, this refers to Jack’s most dearly-held point of honour - to leave no man behind. But it’s not just a case of Kanan feeling guilty about abandoning a team-mate - crucially for the ship perspective, he abandoned a woman he loved and that loved him back. As Jonas put it, “[he] had to be motivated by something profound enough to not only risk his life but also the life of his host.†Essentially, Kanan chose the possibility of death over leaving Shayla (and BTW, totally no coincidence that she bears quite a striking resemblance to Sam, IMO ), which to me is a big hint about what particular bit of Jack’s mind influenced Kanan’s actions here, as Jack too once chose to face death rather than leave the woman he loved behind. It actually occurred to me on this rewatch that Abyss has quite a few similarities to Divide & Conquer in terms of the structure of having to figure out the emotional motivations behind actions that are distilled into emotionless mission reports, and also the threat of having to reveal those emotions - when Jack admits to Daniel that before long he will “give Ba’al what he wants. [He]’ll tell her, that he loved her. He came back for her. He wanted to save her.†Seems rather close to Jack’s own experience to me, and I can’t help but think that Jack is remembering that very moment himself in the way RDA delivers those lines. And for Sam’s part, I think she is reminded to - her absolute certainty when telling Hammond always makes me think of that too.
If I have one criticism about this episode, it’s that, as someone said a little while ago, there’s just not enough fallout from it, really. Jack goes through this unbelievable trauma, and then next episode it’s back to usual. I know that that is characteristic of SG1 in general, but somehow it feels more conspicuous with an episode like this one. All we do get is Jack dialling the sarcasm up to eleven every time he encounters Ba’al again, right up to Continuum, to show how this Goa’uld gets to him in a way no other quite does.
factor in Ba'al's torture and it's incredible he can even function these days. Then again, TVLand and all that.
There were times after this when Ba'al was featured that I got annoyed with the way his character was dumbed down into an almost parody of himself. He was, right at the time of this episode, the most evil and menacing of goa'ulds; he sure scared me a lot more than Anubis who was merely some ethereal threat that hadn't really been rounded out enough for me to appreciate how important or menacing he would become. But Ba'al, in one episode, was truely evil and horryfying . He could have had a great deal more potential as a more personal nemesis for Jack/the SGC in general, which would have been interesting.
On the ship front, Sam so does squeeze his hand there at the end. Yes she does.
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