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So the speculation rages. Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego.. ?!
Er... Sam Carter.
Well the obvious long-story-short is that Carter is conspicuously absent in the beginning of Season 9 because (Dea Ex Machina) she has to be. Amanda Tapping had a beautiful baby girl. Whether beamed, flown, driven or cosmically teleported, Sam simply can't be at the SGC (in body, at least).
So if she is initially ‘gone’, but will be ‘ back’, then where the heck is she? What did they do with her? And far more importantly… why isn’t she shackled to a bed with Jack?!
Before we get to those burning questions, something I thought I'd drop (like a heavy metal slug) in the middle of this bucket, is the notion of new beginnings. Of course, it's all boring and character-related. Not a single Asgard mothership in the mix. However, Season 8 was the finale of a 'chapter' within the Stargate SG-1 universe. If we were reading an epic novel comprised of several 'books' within the same volume (Book I, Book II, etc...), we might imagine that we were beginning "Book II" at this point, with Season 9.
We also have to remember that the ongoing story-arc is a catalyst. Each of the core characters has a personal backstory. That backstory is what brought them together to begin with. Necessity and personal choice drove them to forge an alliance. Now, after many adventures, they’ve completed one journey as a collective, and must (necessarily) move on.
At this point, each character is irrevocably changed. Their backstories have merged with their comrades for the period of the original journey, but their personal histories must still be driving them towards new choices. That creates conflict. It’s formulaic of good storytelling. And any worthwhile narrative would demand as much.
The story-arc follows (and in some cases drives) the maturation of each character’s personal development. They would naturally grow restless as their personal motivations continue to pull them each in varying directions.
This is why at the end of Season 8, we begin to see Teal’c struggle with issues of loyalty that divide his interest, (perhaps unfairly at times), between his friends and ‘his people’. That’s only going to grow more complicated.
After so many years together, we also see a point in the story where the lines of leadership have begun to grey. Jack was “in command” because the Air Force hierarchy of the SGC demanded and established his leadership between the four of them. But after so many years as a singular unit, each member of SG-1 has (arguably) come into their own. The status quo cannot be maintained without disservice to the characters. It’s now necessary for new friendships to form; for old friends to be reminisced over. And for priorities to change. New conflicts help that along.
Carter’s character has gone through a tremendous series of life-altering revelations, culminating at the end of Season 8. She’s no longer ‘the junior’ member of the team. She’s discovered that she has less to prove. She’s more willing to take risks as both an officer and on a personal level (we saw her ‘blackmail’ Dr. Weir to save Jack’s life in the beginning of Season 8, for example). And she’s coming to terms with her own sense of self-worth.
The death of her father was a vehicle for her character, but by no means an end. There’s still a lot left to explore.
I know there’s a movement (practically a revolution) rallying to see Jack and Sam together, romantically. I have my own tickets for that train in a drawer somewhere. But rather than continue to flog the living chicken out of this particular topic, I’ll only say this: To be respectful to Carter’s character, there can’t be any flippant, knee-jerk life-choices at this point in her arc.
She’s grown stronger. As a woman, an officer, and in her own state of mind. Sam’s character has some very important decisions to make about the direction of her life from this point forward. Some of them were hinted at during the end of Season 8, and that internal monologue would certainly be a feasible catalyst for her ‘professional’ absence in the beginning of the new season. Dea Ex Machina, she has to be absent, therefore the question of plausibility is all that’s left.
A professional absence is far more powerful when the reasons behind it are motivated by personal interest, than would be true if the absence were personal entirely. To have Carter ‘gone’ because she’s brooding, or in mourning for her father (or pining somewhere over Jack) would be disrespectful to her character. More than that, it’s not who Carter is; nor who she’s become.
Carter’s character-arc has taken her through eight years of development and it’s leading somewhere. There’s an evolution. You have to believe that, or you can't possibly enjoy watching. Regardless of whether every fan agrees where each personal growth point took place, the fact remains, Sam has to stay true to her core sense of ethics in order to maintain integrity as a character. For that very reason (regardless of what ‘Uncle Joe’ chooses to tease fans with in his folder
) she’s not going to skew off the face of reality one fateful morning and marry General Landry (not in this universe, at least)!
No matter where Carter has gone (or will be going) prior to or during the run of Season 9, her character-arc will most certainly persist. Her adventure continues. The story of each team-member carries on, etcetera, etcetera. Ouch. Apparently, the clichés are also endless.
The primary difference between this season and last is truly not the fact that Jack is no longer front and center at the SGC while he takes over as head of Homeworld Security, or that Cameron Mitchell has joined the ranks of SG-1, or even that Teal’c is wearing a lot more brown…
It’s the fact that... it’s time. Time for a fresh bowl of popcorn, a new can of diet-soda (and maybe a washroom break if you haven't been up since season one). Switch off the phone, let the dog out the back door. Book II is about to begin…
. A . (I hear P3X-984 is nice, this time of year)
.
.
.
.
.
So the speculation rages. Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego.. ?!
Er... Sam Carter.
Well the obvious long-story-short is that Carter is conspicuously absent in the beginning of Season 9 because (Dea Ex Machina) she has to be. Amanda Tapping had a beautiful baby girl. Whether beamed, flown, driven or cosmically teleported, Sam simply can't be at the SGC (in body, at least).
So if she is initially ‘gone’, but will be ‘ back’, then where the heck is she? What did they do with her? And far more importantly… why isn’t she shackled to a bed with Jack?!
Before we get to those burning questions, something I thought I'd drop (like a heavy metal slug) in the middle of this bucket, is the notion of new beginnings. Of course, it's all boring and character-related. Not a single Asgard mothership in the mix. However, Season 8 was the finale of a 'chapter' within the Stargate SG-1 universe. If we were reading an epic novel comprised of several 'books' within the same volume (Book I, Book II, etc...), we might imagine that we were beginning "Book II" at this point, with Season 9.
We also have to remember that the ongoing story-arc is a catalyst. Each of the core characters has a personal backstory. That backstory is what brought them together to begin with. Necessity and personal choice drove them to forge an alliance. Now, after many adventures, they’ve completed one journey as a collective, and must (necessarily) move on.
At this point, each character is irrevocably changed. Their backstories have merged with their comrades for the period of the original journey, but their personal histories must still be driving them towards new choices. That creates conflict. It’s formulaic of good storytelling. And any worthwhile narrative would demand as much.
The story-arc follows (and in some cases drives) the maturation of each character’s personal development. They would naturally grow restless as their personal motivations continue to pull them each in varying directions.
This is why at the end of Season 8, we begin to see Teal’c struggle with issues of loyalty that divide his interest, (perhaps unfairly at times), between his friends and ‘his people’. That’s only going to grow more complicated.
After so many years together, we also see a point in the story where the lines of leadership have begun to grey. Jack was “in command” because the Air Force hierarchy of the SGC demanded and established his leadership between the four of them. But after so many years as a singular unit, each member of SG-1 has (arguably) come into their own. The status quo cannot be maintained without disservice to the characters. It’s now necessary for new friendships to form; for old friends to be reminisced over. And for priorities to change. New conflicts help that along.
Carter’s character has gone through a tremendous series of life-altering revelations, culminating at the end of Season 8. She’s no longer ‘the junior’ member of the team. She’s discovered that she has less to prove. She’s more willing to take risks as both an officer and on a personal level (we saw her ‘blackmail’ Dr. Weir to save Jack’s life in the beginning of Season 8, for example). And she’s coming to terms with her own sense of self-worth.
The death of her father was a vehicle for her character, but by no means an end. There’s still a lot left to explore.
I know there’s a movement (practically a revolution) rallying to see Jack and Sam together, romantically. I have my own tickets for that train in a drawer somewhere. But rather than continue to flog the living chicken out of this particular topic, I’ll only say this: To be respectful to Carter’s character, there can’t be any flippant, knee-jerk life-choices at this point in her arc.
She’s grown stronger. As a woman, an officer, and in her own state of mind. Sam’s character has some very important decisions to make about the direction of her life from this point forward. Some of them were hinted at during the end of Season 8, and that internal monologue would certainly be a feasible catalyst for her ‘professional’ absence in the beginning of the new season. Dea Ex Machina, she has to be absent, therefore the question of plausibility is all that’s left.
A professional absence is far more powerful when the reasons behind it are motivated by personal interest, than would be true if the absence were personal entirely. To have Carter ‘gone’ because she’s brooding, or in mourning for her father (or pining somewhere over Jack) would be disrespectful to her character. More than that, it’s not who Carter is; nor who she’s become.
Carter’s character-arc has taken her through eight years of development and it’s leading somewhere. There’s an evolution. You have to believe that, or you can't possibly enjoy watching. Regardless of whether every fan agrees where each personal growth point took place, the fact remains, Sam has to stay true to her core sense of ethics in order to maintain integrity as a character. For that very reason (regardless of what ‘Uncle Joe’ chooses to tease fans with in his folder
) she’s not going to skew off the face of reality one fateful morning and marry General Landry (not in this universe, at least)!No matter where Carter has gone (or will be going) prior to or during the run of Season 9, her character-arc will most certainly persist. Her adventure continues. The story of each team-member carries on, etcetera, etcetera. Ouch. Apparently, the clichés are also endless.
The primary difference between this season and last is truly not the fact that Jack is no longer front and center at the SGC while he takes over as head of Homeworld Security, or that Cameron Mitchell has joined the ranks of SG-1, or even that Teal’c is wearing a lot more brown…
It’s the fact that... it’s time. Time for a fresh bowl of popcorn, a new can of diet-soda (and maybe a washroom break if you haven't been up since season one). Switch off the phone, let the dog out the back door. Book II is about to begin…
. A . (I hear P3X-984 is nice, this time of year)
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