#and maybe do her best lines from prometheus unbound

[freckleslikestars]

Vala being Vala in Stargate SG-1 9.01 Avalon pt. 1

[pass-the-bechdel]

Stargate SG1 s08e11 ‘Prometheus Unbound’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

No.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Two (22.22% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven.

Positive Content Rating:

Fuck it, it’s a two.

General Episode Quality:

Not up to the standards of its guest star, unfortunately.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Novak and Vala are never in the same scene.

Female characters:

Lindsey Novak.

Vala Mal Doran.

Male characters:

Daniel Jackson.

Jack O’Neill.

George Hammond.

Walter Harriman.

Reynolds.

Jake Bosworth.

Tenat.

OTHER NOTES:

I didn’t even realise that Bosworth from the ‘Heroes’ two-parter was there until I saw his name in the credits, because these fucking brown-haired white guys all look the Goddamn same. 

Vala and Daniel have a weird sexy fight and then she kisses him. Of course. The non-stop innuendo and flirtation and the combination of physical threats and violence (she literally abducts him, guys. She SHOOTS HIM with a zappy-burny laser weapon!) makes for a very uncomfortable mix, and where initially I thought I might let the episode go with an unhappy three on the content rating, I can’t type this up without really feeling like it’s gotta be a two. I let them slide on too many things, they can’t have this one. This isn’t cute, it’s not a nice fun pleasure/pain thing, it’s not ok. There’s nothing safe, sane, and consensual about this weird writer’s fantasy playing out, and Vala’s personality being presented largely in service of that fantasy instead of in service of her being a character does not help. Also, they overplay the ‘flirty antagonism’ card MASSIVELY. They might have got away with it (maybe? probably not) if they had toned it down, but no, they’re trying waaaayy too hard to make sure it’s ‘sexy’. None of it is good news.

Meanwhile, Reynolds is so busy having a no-homo moment he almost lets Hammond DIE rather than just giving him mouth-to-mouth. Yeah, I’m not mad I gave this episode a two. It’s getting its humour from all the wrong places.

That said, Daniel pinching Vala’s head on the security display monitor is the only genuine spark in the whole thing. I saw this episode when it first aired on tv, and it was the only episode of the show I had ever watched at that point, and this was the only thing I remembered from it after the fact. 

Technically, Vala never claimed that her supposed ‘people’ were also human. That’s an assumption on Daniel’s part. There’s no reason why the Goa’uld wouldn’t occasionally find and enslave other races besides the humans they transplanted from Earth (and the odd Unas here and there), in fact, it’s kinda weird that they haven’t ever been shown to do that. It would make more sense if the Goa’uld’s domain was comprised of several different enslaved and transplanted races. More expensive make-up, though.

This is such an unfortunate way to waste Claudia Black. She does her best with the material, I’ve gotta give her that, and those scenes where they allow her to just have normal dialogue for a while without hitting on Daniel (literally or figuratively) are the better parts of the episode as we get an impression of Vala, yeah, being a person, rather than the femme fatale ‘fruitcake’ she becomes in pretty much every other scene. Imagine if this show ever just allowed female characters to exist and maybe build natural chemistry with the male cast instead of this kind of overblown sexualisation that leaves absolutely nothing to chance, huh? Sounds a bit too much like female characters being allowed to just be...characters. We can’t have that.

P.s. Daniel Jackson is still the Goddamn WORST and his episodes suck. Even when they have good elements that should allow them to not suck, they become sucky due to the directions that Daniel’s presence takes them in. Delete Daniel.