Commentary on SG1 S10 The Shroud (spoiler)

Well I watched The Shroud and in all honesty I would have to rate it as good.

One of the major issues that kept me from rating it as excellent is that the Jack and Daniel banter was way too slick and superficial. It was as if the dialog was written and played 'by the numbers' with no real depth to it and no one's heart really in it.

That said, there were a few moments between them when it felt like the Jack and Daniel of old, the two men who had had founded a friendship on being able to 'agree to disagree' and to have an understanding of each other that went beyond what anyone else had bothered to know about the other. For the most part, however it was just cotton candy, airy and very little actual substance.

I don't know if was the effect of being a prior or that he was sharing his mind with Merlin, but Daniel just didn't seem to have the kind of genuine frustration level that he gets when he really needs to convey something to Jack and O'Neill is not taking him seriously. I would have liked to have seen abit of the Daniel we had in There but for the Grace of God. Not the 'I must be so amusingly sarcastic' Daniel we got in this episode when he was dealing with Jack. And for heaven's sake when did Jack trade in his 'adult male in the military' voice for that constant whiny tone. He sounded more like a petulant 4 year old who is being told he can't watch cartoons right now then a man confronted with the very real possibility that someone who is a suppose to be a dear friend might now be their worst enemy.

The only time he stopped whining like a 4 year old was when he gave Woolsey the 'over my dead body' ultimatium. There was the Jack O'Neill that I wanted to see in all of this episode. There were a few other glimpses of him here and there, but not enough to counter the whiny guy.

I do have to say I really liked his scenes alone with Carter. For the first time in a long time I saw a comfortable and easy interaction between them. There was nothing being forced or trying to be implied. It was just O'Neill and Carter talking and trying to solve something.

I liked Vala in this episode very much. She is one smart lady under those pigtails and she knows the score. The scene where she is sitting on the stool laying it on the line for Daniel about what it might mean for her to have to chose not to protect or save him was the kind of scene that would have once been between Jack and Daniel, but I have to say that it now works so much better between Daniel and Vala. I'm glad they gave that dramatic part to them. Michael and Claudia made it work and work well.

The scenes between Daniel and Woolsey were awesome. Those two have such complicated interaction and uneasy relationship going on. Robert Picardo brings the right balance of arrogence and sympathic note to Woolsey. His character is a man very earnest about doing the right thing, but never sure where the line is between the right and the wrong thing and what consequences there will be for not making the right decision. Daniel understands that, but has little patience for bureacratic mindsets. It makes for interesting clashes between them.

Overall this episode was too slick and too superficial in many parts. I think it should have been a two part episode. There should have been more angst and more suspense. I think Michael Shanks deserved a two part episode for this story because he is such a powerhouse when it comes to this kind of acting challenge. I would like to have seen more of the Adria/Daniel interaction that led to him becoming a Prior. I like the fact that we have learnt that Adria has a real competitive rivalry streak when it comes to her mother.

In conclusion, I think I would have liked this episode better if Jack O'Neill had not been in it. If they hadn't wasted time trying to go there, but instead had focused on Daniel, Mitchell, Vala, Sam and Teal'c. I would liked to have seen more of Daniel being a Prior before being captured. More of Daniel having a discussion with Mitchell and Teal'c about some of the things that he might have learned about Origin that he actually found admirable or good. I could see Daniel defending something he found that made sense or was enlightening and it making Mitchell and Teal'c wary, but at the same time more sure that it was Daniel under that prior exterior because something like that would be so typical of Daniel Jackson, the man who always seeks to find the good in something or someone if he can.

So it was a good episode. Michael Shanks was awesome as he rose to the challenge of working under heavy makeup, restraints and such. Just wish it hadn't been so slick and 'by the numbers' in the parts that could have been some of the best scenes in the episode.