I feel disloyal somehow, and I feel badly for saying this when I know there are some current SG enthusiasts among those who read my LJ, but that was rather dull. I thought of course with Daniel being back that I'd give the show another shot. Buffy's over, it's summer, and though I've moved on, I still have a lot of affection for SG1. And I caught the last minute or so of the promo show and saw a bunch of clips that got me all excited--like the shots of Daniel in the padded room. The episode began well--promisingly. But then it just throttled back and eased into its old, measured rhythms, and I got bored.
I don't know where along the line in the series' run that the show began to feel so sedate, like your grandfather's boxy, sensible car that he never drives above 55. I keep waiting for something wild to happen, but the show's creators are so overly careful in their approach to plot that their episodes never get off the ground--everything is so reasonably paced and planned, faultless but dull. Faultless except for being dull. I mean, this entire ep--it was just people talking, making plans, executing plans, running through ship's corridors, having a few mildly articulated conflicts and some well-controlled emotional reactions. Been there, done that--dozens of times now. I don't know what it is, but it feels as if they're determined not to indulge in the OTT-ness and make the mistakes of the show they're modeled after, the original Star Trek (in my opinion). So whenever they have a cool plot bunny, they sanitize it, because having too much fun would risk their credibility. Frankly? I think they take their sponsorship by the Air Force far too seriously, and have for a while.
It's not as if they don't have good moments, good characterization, emotional depth, low-key and often meta humor--it's a smart and solid show. But it plods rather than flies. And honestly, by the end of the first hour, I was feeling no joy about sitting through the next. They had a chance to do cool, interesting, and innovative things by bringing a character back from the dead, and they took the high road, by reintegrating him smoothly and gradually back into his past life, without any flash or razzle-dazzle. But was it thrilling to watch? No. Damn it--why not give Daniel super powers? Have him be haunted by visions? Make his rebirthing more difficult? Carry through on the implications of how he first flinches from Sam's touch, making him robotically cold and freaky to be around, resentful of being cast out of his ascended place--or make him joyous to be back, desperately fascinated by his physicality, eager for inappropriate touch with everyone on the team--something, anything to spark the reconnected members of SG1. Instead, Daniel just clicks back into his old slot, neatly fitting in as Jonas neatly vacates.
Oh well. I'm not bitter. I'm just uninterested. I will probably try to watch and I hope the season will get more gripping, but I'm not engaged or committed to it yet.