The Gamekeeper (204)

[Purrcatnip]

Completely agree with the gamekeeper - he is like a nice version of Thanos. I mean, immediately when those people got out they started picking flowers and tearing at the planet. A planet they destroyed originally. Kinda shows they have no knowledge of conservation.

[Laisou]

I was wondering if I could get someone's opinion on an issue I have with the episode "Gamekeeper". First of all, "Gamekeeper" is one of my favourite episodes. However, it is also an episode whose plot I have a problem with. I think the concept of the episode is great, as is Daniel's storyline. My issue lies with the memory that the gamekeeper selects for Jack to relive.

The Keeper says in the episode to Jack "Because it is that, which you have always wanted." and "You have always wished to do it again, in order to do it differently." (on why Jack should keep doing the mission)

I derive from those lines, that the mission in east Germany in 1982 must be the scenario in Jack's life that he has always wanted to change the most. Jack even says that it was the "most blown operation" he has ever been involved with. I kind of find that hard to believe. Of course, that mission and Jack's superior officer dying is tragic, and I understand why he would want to change it, however, I think that there are events in his life that Jack would rather change. Mission wise I always thought that the mission in Iraq, where Frank Cromwell left him behind and Jack ended up spending four months in prison, would be one of Jack's worst memories or a mission outcome he would want to change.

Maybe Jack is so altruistic that since he was the one hurt in Iraq, he would rather change the outcome of a mission where someone else was hurt or even died. (And maybe the Iraq/Cromwell storyline wasn't yet completely developed, since they only hinted at it in Prisoners)

But even then, I fail to understand what makes the mission in east Germany so special. There have been a lot of missions where people died on Stargate. Only three members of the original mission to Abydos survived. Or Skaara and Sha're were taken as hosts.

All missions aside, why is not the one thing Jack would desperately want to change his son's death? I am not a parent, but I imagine that Charlie's death would be the most horrible thing in Jacks life. Given the fact that Jack blames himself for his son's death, I think that if Jack could change anything in his past, it would be leaving his personal weapon somewhere, where Charlie could find it.

One thought I had was that maybe the keeper chose the memory of the mission because it offered more excitement to him and his people than a child accidentally shooting themselves. However, the memory that Daniel relives falls more in the category of Charlie than a blown mission.

I just can’t understand why Jack doesn’t relive Charlie’s death in the reality created by the keeper.