The First Commandment (105)

[Brother Freyr]

I gotta say, I feel sorry for Jack having absolutely nobody follow his orders!

It was "Everybody Defy Jack" Day. When the 3rd person flat-out refused his orders, I was laughing out loud.

[KayLyne]

It was "Everybody Defy Jack" Day. When the 3rd person flat-out refused his orders, I was laughing out loud.

I think that was a sign of Jack not knowing the people he was ordering around very well.

With Sam, he somehow didn't realize that she could keep her emotions & feelings about someone she had a previous relationship in check. He should have known she'd be an asset in the mission because of her previous relationship with Jonas. If you remember later in "The Tok'Ra pt 2" when he first tells Sam that she needs to come with them and leave her father/Selmak there while the Goa'uld attack, she tells him respectfully "no". By that time, he also should have known not to even think she would leave. It's not long after that episode that he finally gets on the same wavelength with her by indirect (eye) communication and knows where to draw the line with his orders.

As for Connor, did Jack really think he would just turn & walk back through the gate and do nothing after all that had just happened? What do you think Jack would have done in that situation? Would he have followed that same order & gone back through the gate while another team went on a mission to get to the bottom of the situation? I think not.

[hlndncr]

Ah, the beginning of Sam's badly written boyfriends!

One thing I have to say is that it doesn't bother me at all that Sam didn't shoot Jonas. As he stated, if she did the natives who worshipped him would have taken her down (even if she only winged him or got him in the leg). So she wouldn't have escaped and it wouldn't have ended it, and she might have even been killed.

The gun was only useful a threat to get him to back down and come with her back to the SGC if he was intimidated by it. He clearly wasn't, because he rightly calculated that she didn't have the power to enforce her will with one handgun against thousands of fanatic natives who would do anything to protect him. He was a megalomaniac not actually insane and certainly not stupid.

What bugged me is AT's acting. I think you can see that she is still new to this role (and kind of green overall) because her reaction is all wrong IMO. She acts scared and even shakes a little as she holds the gun. She should be concerned and calculating and then resigned as she realizes her actions in grabbing the gun won't achieve the desired result so she's just going to have to give in and bide her time until a better opportunity comes a long. She's smart enough to figure that out, and tough enough in the end to help get herself and the others free when the chance comes.

[Kunoichi]

Ah, the beginning of Sam's badly written boyfriends!

What bugged me is AT's acting. I think you can see that she is still new to this role (and kind of green overall) because her reaction is all wrong IMO. She acts scared and even shakes a little as she holds the gun. She should be concerned and calculating and then resigned as she realizes her actions in grabbing the gun won't achieve the desired result so she's just going to have to give in and bide her time until a better opportunity comes a long. She's smart enough to figure that out, and tough enough in the end to help get herself and the others free when the chance comes.

I didn't really see Jonas as badly written. As part of developing a character history for Sam I actually quite liked the way he was portrayed. I could see him having been a nice bloke (even if he was a bit controlling) initially and then, due to black ops work, having a personality change later in the relationship.

I always thought that the way Sam reacted to trying to shoot Jonas was to do with her having had a personal relationship with him and a certain lack of field experience. For once her emotions influenced the way she reacted over her logical, scientific mind. I expect if the episode had occurred much later in the show's run she would have reacted more in the way you describe.

[hlndncr]

I didn't really see Jonas as badly written. As part of developing a character history for Sam I actually quite liked the way he was portrayed. I could see him having been a nice bloke (even if he was a bit controlling) initially and then, due to black ops work, having a personality change later in the relationship.

I always thought that the way Sam reacted to trying to shoot Jonas was to do with her having had a personal relationship with him and a certain lack of field experience. For once her emotions influenced the way she reacted over her logical, scientific mind. I expect if the episode had occurred much later in the show's run she would have reacted more in the way you describe.

True, Sam was still pretty green then.

And when I said badly written I guess what I really meant was ill-conceived (not as bad as other love interests they threw at her *cough* (aka Pete) *cough*, but still kind of out of left field).

[jelgate]

Oh this is just bad episode all around. I'm all about seeing a man crack under the pressure of the stressful work of the SGC. But I struggle to believe a man would go so far to believe he is a god. And the rest is generally good because the centeral story is unbelieveble its hard to find credit in the rest of the story and the character's actions. Although I will admit the fun in finding and activating a Goa'uld energy shield.

[Lunaeclipse]

Oh this is just bad episode all around. I'm all about seeing a man crack under the pressure of the stressful work of the SGC. But I struggle to believe a man would go so far to believe he is a god. And the rest is generally good because the centeral story is unbelieveble its hard to find credit in the rest of the story and the character's actions. Although I will admit the fun in finding and activating a Goa'uld energy shield.

Maybe he had heat stroke or something and it confused him..Didn't Sam say at the start that he was a bit controlling? (Or I am remembering that part wrong?) And at the end of the ep, it sounded, to me, like he knew he wasn't, but liked the idea of being a god.

[jelgate]

Maybe he had heat stroke or something and it confused him..Didn't Sam say at the start that he was a bit controlling? (Or I am remembering that part wrong?) And at the end of the ep, it sounded, to me, like he knew he wasn't, but liked the idea of being a god.

Even if you wanted to argue that heat stroke drove him mad (which is a stretch) time in the cave would have brought his sanity back

[Lunaeclipse]

Even if you wanted to argue that heat stroke drove him mad (which is a stretch) time in the cave would have brought his sanity back

I know the heat stroke andgle was a stretch. They should've all been crazy were that the case. I think he just liked the idea of having a whole civilization worship him... Sam all but called him crazy near the start, so he obviously had issues.

[juggernaut975]

I know the heat stroke andgle was a stretch. They should've all been crazy were that the case. I think he just liked the idea of having a whole civilization worship him... Sam all but called him crazy near the start, so he obviously had issues.

The difference with Jonas though is that he was out for, iirc, days looking for that wayward child. It was his triumphant return with the child that really solidified his influence over the locals. That's not to say that being out in the sun for that period of time is the sole reason for his descent but he was most certainly going to be affected a lot more by it than his subordinates.

[jelgate]

I know the heat stroke andgle was a stretch. They should've all been crazy were that the case. I think he just liked the idea of having a whole civilization worship him... Sam all but called him crazy near the start, so he obviously had issues.

And that brings me had to accpeat. Its hard to see someone like that to be in the SGC in the early days

[SF_and_Coffee]

Well, they brought in people from all over, and probably with some rapidity. Hell, anyone can have issues, and in the military, sometimes those can be honed to a pretty sharp edge, especially when you're talking about Special Ops/Special Forces guys. If you were a certain type of personality to begin with and then saw and dealt with some of the stuff you might have seen and dealt with in that kind of career, it could push you closer to the edge. Jonas may have been someone to whom this happened.

[Sealurk]

I always viewed it as having little or nothing to do with the sun - at worst, the sun was just the trigger, the straw that broke the camel's back.

Compare Jack's command style and personality to the more typical military attitude, and also how Hammond goes from being the somewhat stereotypical (for a reason) no nonsense officer to the more avuncular, approachable type.

I like to think that, in universe, the SGC quickly realised that the normal military way of doing things, i.e. the strict, disciplined, regimental approach is not only wrong, it's dangerous. Even though SG teams are special forces, the things they are encountering and being exposed to fall so far outside human experiences that it likely takes a special kind of person to deal with it and take it in their stride.

Jack adapts. All things considered he's fairly laid back for a military guy, he has a good sense of humour and doesn't take anything too seriously or (apparently) think too deeply, whereas Jonas was described as something of a control freak. He may have been selected because he was one of the USAF's top SF operators and probably very good at that, but he most likely was very poorly suited to offworld ops for the same reason. I think he just snapped and couldn't take it.

[Naomi]

If you were a certain type of personality to begin with and then saw and dealt with some of the stuff you might have seen and dealt with in that kind of career, it could push you closer to the edge. Jonas may have been someone to whom this happened.

This is how I viewed Jonas. I like that there isn't one specific incident to explain his descent into madness. Sam breaking off her relationship with him hints that there were previous issues with his personality. Did Jonas go out to rescue the child because he believed he was a god? Or, did the UV exposure, and the successful rescue, cause Jonas to return believing he must be a god?

Hi Sealurk!

[CMWriter]

Full review here...

I wasn't quite sure whether to hate this episode or kind of actually like it. I think it's an interesting and largely inevitable "reality" considering that almost everywhere they go, the SG teams are (at least initially) revered when they come through the 'Gate. The thing is, they always deter any of these assumptions immediately.

This episode was kind of that "well, what if someone went off his/her rocker and believed they were a god?" theory-plot sci-fi writers really love. Heck, I love it. And there were good moments, such as Teal'c's line:
"Power alone does not make a god."
Also, some interesting character development in that Carter had been engaged.

Interesting episode, but not exactly a favourite thus far.