The First Commandment (105)

[Jae'a]

Sam only had two canon boyfriends in the whole series, Hanson and Pete. Narim etc were all attracted to Sam, but were never her boyfriend.

Oh right... there is quite a bit that I have forgotten, which was one of my reasons for joining the rewatch.
For example, I had completely forgotten the episode before this, The Broca Divide!

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

Another average episode, as well as Robert Cooper's first SG-1 episode. A little bit of foreshadowing for Wormhole X-Treme ("Where does it say Colonel on my uniform?").

I really hate the pace in the early SG-1 episodes, really slow.

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

Not the best ep. Some great comedy though.

Daniel - This tastes like chicken. Sam - So what's wrong with it? Daniel - It's Macaroni and cheese. lol

And Teal'cs smile in this ep always cracks me up.

[Girlbot]

Should have known from this that Carter and men didn't mix well.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

This is an episode with a fairly poor plot and a really weak bad guy, saved by some good writing and some genuinely funny lines, much stronger and more frequent than all the previous episodes put together. A number of stand out lines which really made me laugh: "It's macaroni and cheese", "Does it say colonel anywhere on my uniform?" "Good drawing", "Ah, Captain, I see everything is working out just as we'd planned!"

Again, budget issues are very apparant here. We hear that there are "thousands" of native people, but only ever see a few dozen. When we are told "everyone has been called to the circle of the the Gods" we cut to the Stargate and see... about 20 people. Wow, that's everyone, huh?

Massive plot flaw in this episode which literally screams out at me: when Sam has Jonas at gunpoint, surely I can't be the only one yelling at the screen "shoot him in the leg! Shoot him in the shoulder! Just incapacitate him! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

The music is used appropriately in this episode at least, and it actually matches the action happening on screen. The cheesy cinematography still exists (slow move in on bad guy as he says his cheesy dialogue for emphasis) and there's some awful mismatched cuts which show rainy weather and then bright and sunny.

But it's an improvement over what's come before. Jack is brilliant, and Michael Shanks seems a lot more relaxed into his role. The whole plot point of Carter being engaged to Jonas took me completely by surprise - it's never mentioned again and doesn't seem appropriate to what her character would become later.

Rating: 5 out of 10.

[muziqaz]

<...>

Massive plot flaw in this episode which literally screams out at me: when Sam has Jonas at gunpoint, surely I can't be the only one yelling at the screen "shoot him in the leg! Shoot him in the shoulder! Just incapacitate him! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

<...>

I was screaming at my telly the same thing too

[Jae'a]

^ And me!
Don't worry Guitarist, it's not just you.

[Matt G]

It was another Sunday afternoon and another ep of SG1...and this time round an ep I'm not sure I'd watched since...

1. First impression of the basic plot was that it was pretty solid...as I said in a comment back in '04, psychologists can be fooled.

2. Even back in '99 I didn't get why Sam didn't just shoot Jonas, suppose Hanson must have just had that kind of presence.

3. The native here was particularly fun and this is the first time Teal'c's tech knowledge came in handy.

4. Why did the other SG guy stick with him? Good question - presume he also fell victim to Jonas's spell.

5. Interesting bit of wisdom from Jack at the end.

[mathpiglet]

I wonder if Sam didn't shoot Jonas because she had never shot a person before. One thinks one could do that, but I accept it is believable that it's very difficult. Even if she has shot strangers before, shooting a former lover could be difficult. I can believe this.

[Kunoichi]

I wonder if Sam didn't shoot Jonas because she had never shot a person before. One thinks one could do that, but I accept it is believable that it's very difficult. Even if she has shot strangers before, shooting a former lover could be difficult. I can believe this.

This how I interpreted Sam's actions in this episode. As much as I wanted her to shoot Jonas, I can see why she didn't. Even if she had shot people in battle before this incident, shooting in cold blood someone you almost married is a completely different concept than shooting at complete strangers in a firefight when your life is in imminent danger.

Overall I enjoyed this episode and I felt it set up some nice character background for Sam.

[fems]

Sam's about 29 years old here, went to the Academy, has a (master and) PhD, flew in the Gulf War, did simulated bombings, studied nano-technology for a year and worked on genetics and was involved with the gate technology for at least two years... all that combined doesn't leave much room for real combat experience.

Pulling that trigger, whether it's to wound/incapacitate or kill him when he's standing there, non-threatening and unarmed and practically taunting her to do it... It can't have been an easy choice. She knows the man, presumably loved him once upon a time and probably lived with him as well some time during their relationship/engagement. And let's not forget that she knows her team is out there and that they'll come to her 'rescue' soon.

IMO, if she'd shot him she wouldn't have been able to become the character we all respect and care about.

[mathpiglet]

Right. That's it.

[MylittleEli]

I liked this episode, not loved by definitely liked. I really liked how you start to get a sense of the respect she has for Jack as her commander, how Jack is trusting her as a part of his team, and the friendship starting between Teal'c and Daniel. I think there were some really weak parts for sure but overall a good episode thats fun to watch and really starts to set them all up as a team.

[KayLyne]

I guess I like this episode, and I don't really like it.

The part that really bugs me is they're trying to get us to believe the SGC would employ someone with an overwhelming "God complex", and who hasn't been infected by a Goa'uld or under some alien influence - not even considering the fact that it's someone that Sam had previously been engaged to.

Sam's comment that she's "always had a soft spot for the lunatic fringe" is totally opposite of what we see anywhere else in this series - Martouf, Narim, Orlin (yes, all of whom are aliens) and Pete too - all seemed to be on the "soft & caring" side rather than "lunatics". I'm guessing that was a conscious decision by the writers that the whole "bad boy" thing didn't really play well for Sam's character from here on out.

Bright spots for this episode:

- I did like a small part of a scene with Sam & Jonas, where they're looking out over the workers and Jonas says "Besides, I'm supposed to be crazy, right?" and Sam replies, "I never said you were crazy". It was just a brief moment, but I could almost see those two being together in a reality where Jonas was "sane".

- another part I liked is Sam taking the initiative to go save that man from being beaten (which is where Amanda says her gun came around & whacked her hard on the hip after she slugged the guy) and then taken to Jonas. When Jack came back to meet up with Teal'c & Daniel, he admitted that Sam doing what she did was probably the best way for them to get in. It was nice for him to show approval for her spur-of-the-moment actions.

- my favorite part of this episode is at the end with Sam & Jack talking about the Commandments, and how "killing a man is no badge of honor". It's great to see these two soldiers talking about morals, ethics and religion. yes, it may have come across as a bit preachy to end the episode, but one thing I really liked about this series throughout its run is it usually included the morals/ethics dilemmas of 'crossing the line' or 'where is the line?'

[juggernaut975]

The bigger mystery to me, bigger than 'why didn't Sam just wound Jonas?' was why didn't Connor himself escape through the Stargate rather than just throwing the message?