Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[Deejay435]

THAT'S what I wanted to say. Thank you for saying it much better than I.

I still want AM to face the tickle torture though...just for putting our fellow Samandans through this emotional wringer.

Oh, me too! For that and a lot of other reasons. I just don't like his writing. It's not that I thought this episode was great(I didn't think it was horrible, either. Somewhere between a C+ and B- would be my final grade.) -I had a lot of issues with the poor writing. Just the Sam

Spoiler:

giving the disk

to Ba'al thing wasn't one of them.

And I honestly didn't see her doing that as a mistake that's going to come back to haunt her; nor do I think it's some secret plot on the part of tptb to discredit her so they can give the command fully to Mitchell. I just think AM is an uneven writer with little grasp of character integrity or any kind of story or character continuity.

Ack-I wanted to watch the Hex marathon on BBC America, and the TV with the good cable is in the other room. So you're all spared any more of my deep thoughts tonight. Poor you! Lucky you-whichever the case may be!

[Uber]

Oh, me too! For that and a lot of other reasons. I just don't like his writing. It's not that I thought this episode was great(I didn't think it was horrible, either. Somewhere between a C+ and B- would be my final grade.) -I had a lot of issues with the poor writing. Just the Sam

Spoiler:

giving the disk

to Ba'al thing wasn't one of them.

And I honestly didn't see her doing that as a mistake that's going to come back to haunt her; nor do I think it's some secret plot on the part of tptb to discredit her so they can give the command fully to Mitchell. I just think AM is an uneven writer with little grasp of character integrity or any kind of story or character continuity.

Ack-I wanted to watch the Hex marathon on BBC America, and the TV with the good cable is in the other room. So you're all spared any more of my deep thoughts tonight. Poor you! Lucky you-whichever the case may be!

Amen my friend. I have many an issue with that particular ep.

I say we go to work and string him up.

[Mandysg1]

Well like I said earlier, regardless of why Sam did what she did, the execution of the story had the finesse of a bull in a china shoppe.

*mutters to self...I need a new cliche here*

A Ba'al in the hand is worth 2,3,4,5,.....in the bush

[NearlyCircular]

Yeah the apologizing is getting old. It should be understood that sometimes you're left with deciding the lesser of two evils...especially at a place like the SGC.

It's like the writers need to continue to convey that Sam "feels" it when she thinks she did something wrong. I saw that a lot in Season 8 too.

I think that's what bothers me the most. Last season, Mitchell messed up repeatedly, but with no long term ramifications and no apologies. As you pointed out, in Affinity when Daniel did basically the same thing as Sam did in Insiders, no apology, and I don't recall any complaints from fans about his action. It's Sam who gets singled out and I think you're right, it's because the writers have her apologizing again, for making a choice between two bad outcomes. Do the writers feel that women are more likely to apologize for perceived mistakes than men, or are they intentionally trying to sabotage the character? I think Mandy posted what I was thinking earlier.

Spoiler:

Why couldn't they have written it with Landry or Cameron or even Walter taken captive? (not really Walter, I'd hope he didn't have access to the code)

The point is, by writing Sam in that postion it just opens up the opportunities for some fans to speculate that she's not qualified and to question her integrity. I don't want her to be perfect, but how about letting her make some small mistakes, the kind that only endanger the rest of her team, instead of a whole race of beings. Oh, wait a minute, that role has already been taken. Sorry.

NC

[Uber]

A Ba'al in the hand is worth 2,3,4,5,.....in the bush

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Priceless.

[DEM]

I don't want her to be perfect, but how about letting her make some small mistakes, the kind that only endanger the rest of her team, instead of a whole race of beings. Oh, wait a minute, that role has already been taken. Sorry.

I don't mind the big "mistakes" -- big heroics go hand-in-hand with big "mistakes". It's the lone apologising crap that bugs me.

And speaking of Affinity, I wanna point out that I have been trying and hoping it would 'win' the Worst Episode tournament. Doesn't look good right now, unfortunately.

[Uber]

I don't mind the big "mistakes" -- big heroics go hand-in-hand with big "mistakes". It's the lone apologising crap that bugs me.

And speaking of Affinity, I wanna point out that I have been trying and hoping it would 'win' the Worst Episode tournament. Doesn't look good right now, unfortunately.

Yeah I agree.

Carter apologizing needs to stop. Is this to show that she feels bad when things don't work out as planned? We already know that.

There's a whole slew of people who should have apologized in Insiders.

Spoiler:

Barrett for being compromised.

Landry for not making the call fast enough.

Lee for not getting the gas synchronized fast enough.

The soldier for letting Barrett in without getting authorization from Landry.

The same soldier for not ensuring that Barrett wasn't armed.

Whoever's responsible for locking down the sections...why did the access card Ba'al obtained still work?

Whoever's responsible for locking Sam out of the system. She was captured and therefore, a security risk.

Alan McCullough for including plot holes big enough to drive a semi through.

But who ends up apologizing as though everything that happened was all her fault? Carter.

Ugh.

As for worst ep, prior to Season 9 it absolutely would have been Affinity for worst ep. Now that honor goes to TTTB.

Double Ugh.

[RealmOfX]

I'm still too cranky to comment much on the last episode but in regard to Sam - I can rationalise long lists of why and why not for her actions but I'm not going to, simply because I'm gonna blame the writers for shoddy writing (yet again). To me rationalising bad writing is just giving the writers an out that they do not deserve.

Basically without getting into details this is the tone of that scene (IMHO).

Bad guy : You will do what I want!
Good guy: No, I won't!
Bad guy : You will or I will do mean and despicable things.
Good guy: Oh, OK then

Lazy bloody writing!! It wasn't the only occurrence of such but it was the one that really ticked me off.

That episode had all the elements to make a really good episode and it was wasted. If I could turn my brain off and ignore the huge honking plot holes and the "let's use our main characters as plot devices mentality" it was actually a decent ep. However, me has a brain and I refuse to turn it off just so I can "appreciate" this new direction the "boys" have brought us.

Wow - that started out as how I saw the tone of that scene. I guess I really am still too cranky to comment.

[RealmOfX]

I haven't caught up on all the posts yet, but I felt the need to express my opinion about last nights episode.

Warning some may find this negative post offensive

Spoiler:

I first have to say, what the hell? Have these writers had lobotomies That could be the only reason for having Sam hand over top secret information to Ba'al Those who know the character of Sam, know that even faced with causing the death of others, Sam would never cave in and give over the info It's just going to prove the point that was made earlier by (?) that the only way to make Cam look good is to make Carter look bad Well I was so angry that I turned off SciFi and didn't even watch Atlantis! Way to go PTB, you sure know how to drive your audience away!

Sorry to say this, but the way things are going I really do hope SG1 gets cancelled There is no excuse for what they have done, and they don't deserve to go on. To me SG1 ended after the end of S8.

Rox, would you wake up Felger and end this nightmare for us!

I know how you feel!!

I've been trying to get Felger out since mid Season 9. The guy is harder to extract from the bloody machine than Teal'c!!

Maybe we should start a Save Felger campaign? It sure would benefit a lot of people

[jckfan55]

Ooober, great posts today. I can't green ya though.

Spoiler:

I feel a bit better about the episode. I mean I can understand why Sam did what she did, but a lot of people will just use it to bash her character. What happened to solid scripts? Creativity? Canon? Geez....

Sam bashers will find *any* excuse for their bashing, logical or not.

[L.A. Doyle]

Yeah I agree.

Carter apologizing needs to stop. Is this to show that she feels bad when things don't work out as planned? We already know that.

There's a whole slew of people who should have apologized in Insiders.

Spoiler:

Barrett for being compromised.

Landry for not making the call fast enough.

Lee for not getting the gas synchronized fast enough.

The soldier for letting Barrett in without getting authorization from Landry.

The same soldier for not ensuring that Barrett wasn't armed.

Whoever's responsible for locking down the sections...why did the access card Ba'al obtained still work?

Whoever's responsible for locking Sam out of the system. She was captured and therefore, a security risk.

Alan McCullough for including plot holes big enough to drive a semi through.

But who ends up apologizing as though everything that happened was all her fault? Carter.

Ugh.

Spoiler:

You're right on. Sam just gets the short end of the stick. Everyone should have been apologizing! And the Affinity thing-I'd totally forgotten about that, because I can never stand to watch it. And that was for the life of the civilian girl, right? And people are gonna bash Sam for what she did. Hum. Maybe someone should point this Affinity thing out to, ah, people. I'm tired of people trashing her character when a guy could get away with it. And I'm not mad at Daniel, nor have I ever bashed his character. (((Daniel))) But this incident will be used to show Sam can't be in command, when we very well know she has what it takes and more to be a competent leader. Oh wait-the base CO should be apologizing too! But no one dwells and anyone else's mistakes but Sam's.

[binkpmmc]

OK... with regards to the changes to Stargate SG-1 and the character of Sam Carter... here's something that I've been mulling over.

Over the years, many fans have said that they 'grew up' watching and admiring the character of Sam Carter. That she modelled some of the attributes and potential that they hoped to achieve themselves one day.

Others have said that they liked having their children (especially their daughters) watch the show, because there was such a wonderful female role model in the character of Sam Carter - someone who was in a non-traditional role, accepted as an equal amongst the guys, a hero in her own right, of good character and a warm heart, but someone who also had to cope with her own vulnerabilities. (Aside: am I the only one who finds it ironic that her vulnerabilties and fallibities would *add* to her perfection....)

'T'any rate... here's the question. The character of Sam Carter has changed signficantly, and in some episodes- drastically, from what was in the first 4-5 seasons. Some changes are good, some aren't. Too much in any direction is not a positive.

So... would you still encourage young, easily-impressionable children (girls and boys) to watch Stargate, with one of the purposes being that they would get to see what women can achieve, and that women can be equally heroic alongside the leading males?

Now, I know that this is the 'Sam's A Great Character Thread' and that might make folks feel that they *have* to post wonderful lavish words of praise and endorsement for the character of Sam Carter... but, in light of the changes that the series, and the character have undergone, I do not think that blind platitudes are required, or appropriate.

Sam *Was* a Great Character. Is she still a great character? Is her character balanced appropriately, is she equally heroic amongst the lead characters? Is she someone that we should hold up as an example to young children?

My response (only read the following if you've been OK with all of the posts over the past couple of weeks)

Spoiler:

is unfortunately - 'not anymore'. I do not recommend that anyone I know watch Stargate anymore. In fact, I actively discourage it - and I explain why (discrimination, lack of continuity, lack of balance, lack of credibility - and I mean this for the entire show, as well as the character of Sam Carter). If anything, Stargate now presents a picture that is the *opposite* of what I would want a young child (girl or boy) to watch and emulate. The Alpha Lead Male Centricity and puerile humor.

Stargate created and touted a wonderfully deep and rich tapestry.
And then they proceed to forget to use it - and in fact, create new episodes that contradict that which happened in previous epsidoes. A rich and wonderful tapestry - that they don't use effectively, nor do they honor their own creation.

Nowadays, the character of Sam Carter often comes across as hapless and ineffective.. simply born along by events beyond her control or power. Perhaps there is a lot of tragic truth in such sequences of events, but it's painful to watch, not inspiring at all, and not what I'd want kids to watch and emulate. I want to see kids excited about prospects - not resigned to their shortcomings and inabilities. I want to see kids wanting to emulate someone who thinks smart, and fast, and is willing to keep trying. I haven't seen that in the character of Sam Carter in quite awhile.

Again, it's been said before, it's all about balance. SuperPerfect!Sam doesn't work, because no one is really perfect and it's not appropriate to push kids to be perfect. So, showing that Sam doesn't always have the answers is extremely instructive for the viewers, as well as rounds out her character.

But it's all about the balance. And over the past couple of years, Sam has mostly been bobbing along ineffectively. Others around her are written as coming up with the brilliant insights, while she watches. And she watches - a lot. Helpless. Hapless.

Has anyone heard anything in a script in the past couple of years that refers to how brilliant and needed she is with 'Gate technology (her very roots with the show)? Nope. She's doesn't even appear needed anymore - they can get along just fine without her, and she hasn't appeared to have contributed anything to the 'Gate tech development (at least not in an SG-1 script) recently. Pegasus Project might have some... but they played up the McKay angle so much that many folks felt sorry for him and a bit resentful of Carter's arrogance (even AT said that Carter needed to be taken down a peg after that episode).

She has not been shown as an effective leader. When it comes to making the hard decisions, she isn't the one who makes them. Either someone else does, or she is snookered by the bad guy (Replicarter, Ba'al, Corso, etc).

Carter is constantly shown deferring to others for the final decision. She isn't being shown as capable of the final authority. I am still impressed at how they portrayed her as being able to do it at the end of the Sentinel -where she disobeyed Colonel O'Neill's direct order, in an intense, immediate scene. She made a hard call, she made it on the spot, she didn't simply defer to his judgement or authority this time. And she made the right call.

We haven't seen that Carter in a long, long time.

Again, it's all about balance. And Carter's character as O'Neill's subordinate couldn't make those kind of calls very often - most of the time, she did have to do what he ordered, even if she didn't like it. But the military also expects their officers to think for themselves and to make those hard calls when it's necessary.

Carter isn't being written as a competent, authoritative officer any more. Instead, she's coming across as indecisive and lacking backbone (I'm sure that folks can write up all sorts of reasons why, but we're still left with the end result).

Carter also isn't being written as a brilliant scientist anymore. All sorts of people around her are being written as the ones who have the brilliant ideas, or the brilliant inspiration, while Carter watches (pathetically, in my eyes, because it's gone on so long).

Carter isn't being shown as a strong female character in the social settings either. Instead, she's come out on the sad, sorry end of the soap-opera-dreck. Many viewers now like and feel sorry for Pete! I certainly wouldn't want any young, impressionable young kids to watch and/or emulate the end of that bedroom scene in Chimera! Nor what came after. [the stuff before the morning was all just fine, for me]. And I have to agree with those who see Carter as pathetically pining after Jack at this point. The writing and directing and such have left her looking... oy! (and I'm *for* ship if it's done right).

It's very sad for me to say, but I wouldn't recommend that kids watch Stargate. I'd actively discourage them from it. Seasons 1-5 would be fine, but then how do you stop them from watching the following seasons? Especially Seasons 9 & 10?

This Sam Carter Thread is the only fandom that I've ever participated in. It's been a tremendous learning experience, both in an online culture, as well as in technology. The folks that I've 'met' have been, for the most part, absolutely wonderful - and I know that I am lucky to have read and exchanged posts with so many terrific people.

But... is Sam Still A Great Character? Not in these past couple of seasons. The balance is gone. The heroism is gone.

*Was* Sam a Great Character? Yes.

Could she return to being a great character? Yes.
Is that likely? Unfortunately not.

They've already gone so far down this path lately, that I don't see how their current writing could, or ever would, write and portray Carter as the admirable hero that she was once. Competent!Carter has apparently been lost in the mist of passing years. Now we have ExistingCarter bobbing along in the wake of whatever the latest episode plot is.

What I wouldn't give to see Carter heroically do something dangerous and self-sacrificing and large-scale cool!

Can't green you Astro but this is a great post and I agree 100% - sorry if this is seen as negative however I understand and feel exaclty the same way as Astro, right down to the fact that this is the first and only fandom I have ever participated in. It really is a shame what TPKTS have down to the show but it is an even bigger shame what they have done to this once great character.

[jckfan55]

They rarely do these days it seems. The writing isn't nearly as tight and little things like character motivations etc. are left totally up to the viewer to decide.

*sigh*

Excellent point. I think many of us who know Sam from many seasons, could tell she did everything in her power (that the script would allow)

Spoiler:

to delay Baal. She really had very limited options. But they didn't really spell it out clearly, apparently.

Now I'm all for not telegraphing everything to the audience, but I think a few tweaks of the script or edits would have helped a lot.

Spoiler:

Perhaps a little less gunplay and line or 2 written or rewritten?

As for blaming her for turning Baal loose on the galaxy as some have, Sam was only a part of that situation, as you point out Ooober. bargaining isn't without precedent either. Remember Hammond turning Nirti loose to save Cassie?

Those who are inclined to bash Sam, will find something to bash regardless. S9 &10 are not up to earlier standards, but Sam seems to be getting a little better shake in S10 than in 9.
Overall, I still think Sam came off pretty well. AT does her d****est with every script and I think she had some good moments. I'm not going to let the Sam bashers get me down.

[ForeverSg1]

My personal feelings regarding Insiders...

Spoiler:

Ok, I have a lot of issues with last night's episode one of which pertains to Sam's behavior; however, I won't bother bringing this issue up again since it's been discussed repeatedly.

So here are my thoughts on the subject. There were thirteen Ba'als brought into custody. Ba'al tricks the SGC to round up all the clones to the base in order to increase his beacon's power so that he can be beamed off the planet through the SGC's jamming technology. Ok, I understand all that. So Ba'al or someone working for him used a mind altering device on Barrett which made him him act completely out of character. Whether Sam should or shouldn’t have noticed and reported it is neither here nor there, because honestly we don’t know where Sam was heading when she heard the alarm and went to investigate. She may have been on her way to tell Landry, who knows.

Ok so here's my first question. Why was Barrett allowed in the room with Ba’al in the first place? He’s a member of the NID, not Stargate Command and therefore has no authority on the base without written consent from the president. Also why was Barrett allowed to walk around the SGC with a weapon to begin with and why wasn't he searched before entering the room?

At the beginning of the episode we see two clones fighting with one another and suddenly two guards barged into the room and pull the clones off one another. Later we see Mitchell, Vala and Landry watching Ba'al and Barrett fighting in one of the interrogation rooms and Ba'al knocks out Barrett and steal's his gun. So why didn't any guards come into the room to break things up like they had earlier? Where were all the guards? I'm pretty sure there were one or two outside of each room. In fact when Vala went to interrogate, there was a guard inside the room as well. So where did they all go?

Anyway...so then we’re to believe that Ba'al snuck out of the room and managed to take out the guard or guards without any resistance. Ok I can see that, but then he manages to run to the next room and once again overtake the guards without any notice. So is anyone else beginning to see a pattern here? Ba’al then removes the weapon from the guard and gives it to the clone in custody and they move on to the next imprisoned clone.

So in order for this little foothold to have ever gotten to the point where Sam gives Ba'al the code, there had to have been a lot of other SF’s who weren’t doing their jobs very well. We had Ba'al and twelve clones in custody. How did all the clones manage to get released before Vala, Mitchell and Teal'c even made it down to that level? And why didn’t anyone think to lock down the base? They may not have thought Ba’al could escape from the SGC, but wouldn’t that have prevented them from being able to move between levels or different sections? I mean as soon as they saw Ba’al escape they should have realized that he had planned all of this. So why did they assume he wouldn’t have a plan to get off the base as well? And why was it so damn important to take out the clones with poison gas? There were only a dozen clones. How many times did we see each group of SG members stand right next to a clone without attacking? Hell they could have taken out six or seven of the thirteen right away, but no they had to wait for the gas that they already decided wouldn't be highly effective.

And how the hell did Ba'al manage to just stumble across a supply room with a computer system already set up and ready to use?

I hate that they wrote Sam to look like she screwed up again, but more importantly I hate that everyone else at the SGC was made to be rather ineffective in order to give Ba'al the upper hand, but it was only Sam who was apologizing at the end. Why wasn't Landry apologizing for not using the gas sooner? Why wasn't Teal'c, Vala or Mitchell apologizing for just standing around and waiting for the gas to be released?
If they had simply zatted a few of those clones, they could have continued their search for Sam and the other hostages.

At the end they had taken out two clones by shooting them and another two with the gas, leaving only nine. No one knew about the beacon’s power increasing with more clones in the room, so who's to say how many clones would have been necessarily to actually increase the beacons output enough to bypass the jamming technology. Personally I just think this episode made the entire SGC look ineffective and proved that Ba’al had superior intelligence and tactical skills to have fooled everyone and sadly Sam was once again used as a tool in order to set up a future episode.

I didn’t like this episode for the same reasons I didn’t like Prometheus Unbound or Gemini. Because in all three of these episodes, the characters in the story were written to be completely ineffective/useless in order for the bad guy to get the upper hand and move the story on. I just hope to god that the next time we see Ba’al the writers finally let Sam have the upper hand and redeem herself.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I'm also getting really tired of all the joking around and silliness that just doesn't seem to belong in these episodes. If they want to show the team joking around and just having fun with one another - cool. Then write some really cool team episdoes where they can joke and have fun when they aren't actually working, but that whole scene with Vala and Teal'c arm wrestling? What the hell was that? What is Vala like 5 years old? I expect this kind of behavior from my daughter when she's bored not an adult who has to be at least thirty years old if not 130. I know some people found this scene enjoyable, but personally I'd much rather have seen the woman who hijacked the Prometheus again( but without the sexual overtones). I saw glimpses of her throughout this episode, but I still think they write Vala too childish at times.

So to briefly summarize my views...

Did I enjoy some of the humorous moments throughout the episode? yes.

Did I enjoy the Sam/Vala, Sam/Cameron interaction? Yes.

Do I think Teal'c was wallpapered yet again? Yes

Was I happy to see Sam giving orders and in control? Hell yes!

Was I disappointed to see her give the code to Ba'al. YES!!!

Do I hate the fact that Sam is becoming the damsel in distress this season? YES!!!!!!!!!!

Was I pleased with the outcome of this episode? No. No. Emphatically NO!

[Uber]

My personal feelings regarding Insiders...

Spoiler:

Ok, I have a lot of issues with last night's episode one of which pertains to Sam's behavior; however, I won't bother bringing this issue up again since it's been discussed repeatedly.

So here are my thoughts on the subject. There were thirteen Ba'als brought into custody. Ba'al tricks the SGC to round up all the clones to the base in order to increase his beacon's power so that he can be beamed off the planet through the SGC's jamming technology. Ok, I understand all that. So Ba'al or someone working for him used a mind altering device on Barrett which made him him act completely out of character. Whether Sam should or shouldn’t have noticed and reported it is neither here nor there, because honestly we don’t know where Sam was heading when she heard the alarm and went to investigate. She may have been on her way to tell Landry, who knows.

Ok so here's my first question. Why was Barrett allowed in the room with Ba’al in the first place? He’s a member of the NID, not Stargate Command and therefore has no authority on the base without written consent from the president. Also why was Barrett allowed to walk around the SGC with a weapon to begin with and why wasn't he searched before entering the room? There was at least one or two guards outside of each interrogation room.

At the beginning of the episode we see two clones fighting with one another and suddenly two guards barged into the room and pull the clones off one another. Later we see Mitchell, Vala and Landry watching Ba'al and Barrett fighting in one of the interrogation rooms and Ba'al knocks out Barrett and steal's his gun. So why didn't any guards come into the room to break things up like they had earlier? Where were all the guards at?

So then we’re to believe that Ba'al sneaks out of the room and takes out the guard or guards without any resistance. Ok I can see that, but then he manages to run to the next room and once again overtake the guards at the door. So is anyone else beginning to see a pattern here? Ba’al then removes the weapon from the guard and gives it to the clone in custody and they move on to the next imprisoned clone.

So in order for this little foothold to have ever gotten to the point where Sam gives Ba'al the code, there had to have been a lot of other SF’s who weren’t doing their jobs very well. We had Ba'al and twelve clones in custody. How did all the clones manage to get released before Vala, Mitchell and Teal'c even made it down to that level? And why didn’t anyone think to lock down the base? They may not have thought Ba’al could escape from the SGC, but wouldn’t that have prevented them from being able to move between levels or different sections? I mean as soon as they saw Ba’al escape they should have realized that he had planned all of this. So why did they assume he wouldn’t have a plan to get off the base as well? And why was it so damn important to take out the clones with poison gas? There were only a dozen clones. How many times did we see each group of SG members stand right next to a clone without attacking? Hell they could have taken out six or seven of the thirteen right away, but no they had to wait for the gas that they already decided wouldn't be highly effective.

And how the hell did Ba'al manage to just stumble across a supply room with a computer system already set up and ready to use?

I hate that they wrote Sam to look like she screwed up again, but more importantly I hate that everyone else at the SGC was made to be rather ineffective in order to give Ba'al the upper hand, but it was only Sam who was apologizing at the end. Why wasn't Landry apologizing for not using the gas sooner? Why wasn't Teal'c, Vala or Mitchell apologizing for just standing around and waiting for the gas to be released?
If they had simply zatted a few of those clones, they could have continued their search for Sam and the other hostages.

At the end they had taken out two clones by shooting them and another two with the gas, leaving only nine. No one knew about the beacon’s power increasing with more clones in the room, so who's to say how many clones would have been necessarily to actually increase the beacons output enough to bypass the jamming technology. Personally I just think this episode made the entire SGC look ineffective and proved that Ba’al had superior intelligence and tactical skills to have fooled everyone and sadly Sam was once again used as a tool in order to set up a future episode.

I didn’t like this episode for the same reasons I didn’t like Prometheus Unbound or Gemini. Because in all three of these episodes, the characters in the story were written to be completely ineffective/useless in order for the bad guy to get the upper hand and move the story on. I just hope to god that the next time we see Ba’al the writers finally let Sam have the upper hand and redeem herself.

Personally I'm tired of all the joking around and silliness that just doesn't seem to belong in these episodes. If they want to show the team joking around and just having fun with one another - cool. Then write some really cool team interaction where they can joke and have fun when they aren't actually working, but the whole scene with Vala and Teal'c arm wrestling? What the hell was that? What is Vala like 5 years old? I expect this kind of behavior from my daughter when she's bored, not an adult who I'm sure is much older than her thirty year old body suggests. I know some people enjoyed this moment, but personally I'd much rather see the woman who took over the Prometheus again. I saw glimpses of her throughout the episode, but I still think they write Vala too much like a child at times.

So to briefly summarize my views...

Did I enjoy some of the humorous moments throughout the episode? yes.

Did I enjoy the Sam/Vala, Sam/Cameron interaction? Yes.

Do I think Teal'c was wallpapered yet again? Yes

Was I happy to see Sam giving orders and in control? Hell yes!

Was I disappointed to see her give the code to Ba'al. YES!!!

Do I hate the fact that Sam is becoming the damsel in distress this season? YES!!!!!!!!!!

Was I pleased with the outcome of this episode? No. No. Emphatically NO!

Wait. I'm confused. Are you saying you did like how it ended or didn't like how it ended???

You know, you really need to learn how to express your feelings more clearly.

/ducks for cover



On a side note, I just figured out how to access mail sent to my AOL email. Granted, I've only received one message from AOL themselves...

So...there's that.