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Aaand ... it's over! Sort of ...
The last-ever SG1 episode ...
The timing was really interesting on these, with last week's episode being the big explosion/wrapping up the loose ends episode, and this one being ... a very different sort of episode than one would generally expect as a series finale to an action/SF show.
Honestly? I really loved the concept of this episode, as a series-ender, but not so much the way it was executed. The concept itself was awesome -- to have the series end on an episode that is primarily focused on the connections between the characters, really goes right to the heart of *why* the viewers have stuck around for 10 years. It's not for the explosions; it's for the people. And it's fitting that they'd bring the series to a close with an episode that basically turns them into their own little microcosm, becoming each others' world. It also indicates to me that the writers *do* understand that about the show -- that the characters and the team are what keeps viewers coming back.
But why, oh WHY did they have to set it up in such a way that the only way to get out of it was to pull a Star Trek-style "and then they all woke up" type of ending. I *hate* those endings because it basically makes the entire episode pointless. It may as well have been a dream. All the character development, all the events that happened to them really have no meaning if they were all undone and no one but Teal'c remembers. And why in the world does he feel like he can't talk about it? It's a totally different timeline; how can he possibly screw anything up? At least SOME of the pointlessness could be offset if he'd come back and be able to share with them some of what he'd learned from 50 years of living with them. In the end, though, all it did was set Teal'c slightly apart from everyone else ... so instead of ending up with a stronger team vibe, it's actually a little weaker.
The other thing that I didn't like about this episode was that, given that the vast majority of the episode took place on the ship with nothing BUT character development, there was surprisingly little of it. They did really good with Vala, but not so much with the others. Especially given that this was all going to be undone (and, as they aged, it became more and more obvious that it would be) -- there was SO much potential for the character relationships to go off in new and interesting ways (what about Sam and Teal'c hooking up? or Sam and Cameron?) or just to deepen the ones that are already there. Since this is the last episode ever -- aside from the movies -- it would have been really nice for Jack to be acknowledged in some way, or for the team members to reflect on the changes that have happened to them over the years: not in a clip show kind of way, but just an acknowledgment of all that's happened to them and changed them since Jack and Daniel first stepped through the Stargate. And it's not as if they can't do that. Earlier episodes have done much better with the character catharsis than this one did. Heck ... "Shroud" would have been a wonderful episode to go here: character-centric, focused on the connections between the team members, nice blend of action/talk/humor, AND it would've come full circle by including Jack.
And then at the end, it all ties up in a neat bow in about three seconds flat. WTF?
It really could have been more. In the middle, I thought it WAS going to be more. I think my disappointment stems largely from the fact that I thought the episode was setting up a much cooler scenario than it actually turned out to be -- well, that and how much I generally loathe the "reset button" type ending.
I'm also still coming to terms with the fact that THEY KILLED THE ASGARD. That was completely unexpected.
*sniffle* Aww, SG-1. It's definitely ironic that I only started watching the show again in its final season. Atlantis has the majority share of my heart now, but of course it never would have gotten there if not for SG-1, the show that started it all. And despite my problems with the episode as a whole, the final scene made me grin with pure happiness: the team walking off to new adventures. (Coming soon to a DVD near you, in fact...) Whenever Atlantis airs its final season, and whatever happens between now and then, I really hope that they ultimately end up with a "new adventures ahead" type of ending rather than a "cataclysm and everybody dies" type of ending. I like the feeling of limitless possibility -- the sense that the characters will keep going, out of sight if not out of mind.
The timing was really interesting on these, with last week's episode being the big explosion/wrapping up the loose ends episode, and this one being ... a very different sort of episode than one would generally expect as a series finale to an action/SF show.
Honestly? I really loved the concept of this episode, as a series-ender, but not so much the way it was executed. The concept itself was awesome -- to have the series end on an episode that is primarily focused on the connections between the characters, really goes right to the heart of *why* the viewers have stuck around for 10 years. It's not for the explosions; it's for the people. And it's fitting that they'd bring the series to a close with an episode that basically turns them into their own little microcosm, becoming each others' world. It also indicates to me that the writers *do* understand that about the show -- that the characters and the team are what keeps viewers coming back.
But why, oh WHY did they have to set it up in such a way that the only way to get out of it was to pull a Star Trek-style "and then they all woke up" type of ending. I *hate* those endings because it basically makes the entire episode pointless. It may as well have been a dream. All the character development, all the events that happened to them really have no meaning if they were all undone and no one but Teal'c remembers. And why in the world does he feel like he can't talk about it? It's a totally different timeline; how can he possibly screw anything up? At least SOME of the pointlessness could be offset if he'd come back and be able to share with them some of what he'd learned from 50 years of living with them. In the end, though, all it did was set Teal'c slightly apart from everyone else ... so instead of ending up with a stronger team vibe, it's actually a little weaker.
The other thing that I didn't like about this episode was that, given that the vast majority of the episode took place on the ship with nothing BUT character development, there was surprisingly little of it. They did really good with Vala, but not so much with the others. Especially given that this was all going to be undone (and, as they aged, it became more and more obvious that it would be) -- there was SO much potential for the character relationships to go off in new and interesting ways (what about Sam and Teal'c hooking up? or Sam and Cameron?) or just to deepen the ones that are already there. Since this is the last episode ever -- aside from the movies -- it would have been really nice for Jack to be acknowledged in some way, or for the team members to reflect on the changes that have happened to them over the years: not in a clip show kind of way, but just an acknowledgment of all that's happened to them and changed them since Jack and Daniel first stepped through the Stargate. And it's not as if they can't do that. Earlier episodes have done much better with the character catharsis than this one did. Heck ... "Shroud" would have been a wonderful episode to go here: character-centric, focused on the connections between the team members, nice blend of action/talk/humor, AND it would've come full circle by including Jack.
And then at the end, it all ties up in a neat bow in about three seconds flat. WTF?
It really could have been more. In the middle, I thought it WAS going to be more. I think my disappointment stems largely from the fact that I thought the episode was setting up a much cooler scenario than it actually turned out to be -- well, that and how much I generally loathe the "reset button" type ending.
I'm also still coming to terms with the fact that THEY KILLED THE ASGARD. That was completely unexpected.
*sniffle* Aww, SG-1. It's definitely ironic that I only started watching the show again in its final season. Atlantis has the majority share of my heart now, but of course it never would have gotten there if not for SG-1, the show that started it all. And despite my problems with the episode as a whole, the final scene made me grin with pure happiness: the team walking off to new adventures. (Coming soon to a DVD near you, in fact...) Whenever Atlantis airs its final season, and whatever happens between now and then, I really hope that they ultimately end up with a "new adventures ahead" type of ending rather than a "cataclysm and everybody dies" type of ending. I like the feeling of limitless possibility -- the sense that the characters will keep going, out of sight if not out of mind.