Collateral Damage (912)

[ShardsofGlass]

The "kirking" criticism kills me. So, because Kirk slept around a lot, no character is ever allowed to have a bit of romance in a Scifi show?! Sheesh. Poor Cam. I bet he hasn't been with a girl in a long time, and the time he meets someone nice, she's murdered! I wouldn't call that "kirking"!

[ShimmeringStar]

Okay what did I like?

• Cam has more than just throwaway cliché lines. Finally!
• They went through the gate to get somewhere even if we didn’t get see it. (Yay! The big shiny spinning round circle still works! )
• It was an episode much closer to capturing the spirit of the original, pre-s9 SG than we’ve seen all season.
• GO WALTER! It has been wonderful to see Walter given more scenes and dialogue this season. Hey we need some Walter smileys here!
• This kind of episode was a kinder, gentler and way more effective way to introduce us to Cam, a heck of a lot better than that stuff we got bludgeoned with the first couple eps of this season. Kudos for a tying in the flashback backhistory so much better in this one.
• I look forward to Ripple Effect and hope it lives up to some of the spoilers.

Concerns:

• Speaking of bludgeoning a victim – wow - perhaps those scenes repeated too much. We get it, we get it, we get it. After two repeats of the scenes we know what Cam saw happen to the doctor. Third time and thereafter – do we have to keep seeing it? Was it a time filler?
• The story arc seemed too familiar, although I do give points for the way the actor portraying the general came across - you were still guessing at the end if the dear General was really the killer and was just conveniently wiping the mind of his brilliant scientists and anyone else in his path.
• Ummmm…… anyone else have an issue with Cam moseying off to ‘get it on’ with a local during the ‘diplomatic’ part of their mission? *coughs* Is this The New Diplomacy? *coughs* I hope it’s not the precedent for future seasons – PTB, please don’t whore Cam out that way if you do get another season or two out of the franchise, please... I guess I’d assume SG1 (or any other team off-world for whatever the reason) is ‘still on the clock’ acting as official emissaries of Earth until they’re back at base & that intimate relations with locals is amongst the no-no's. I can’t seem to remember when were we ever shown SG1 off-world messing around with the local men/women - and alien influences a la Brief Candle, Need, etc. don’t count, nor would A Hundred Days. Yes, yes, I know it was there to push the whole plot arc in motion, but ummm… maybe SG1 isn’t such family fare anymore and needs to be moved up to the 9 o’clock hour and put SG:A on at 8?
• And I still get the feeling that the rest of the team are just cardboard cutouts that are moved around to deliver narrative where needed… I don’t know, the sense of urgency that accompanied the early eps of the series wasn’t there. Yeah, we see the rest of the team going back to base, we see them talking, but what are they really *doing*? Again the feeling of urgency and the concern that maybe Cam might not make it back (for me) wasn’t there.

[Seshat]

Not once during the episode do I think about Minority Report or anything with similiar storyline. You're all just too analitical methinks, I don't mind cliche or recycled, as long as its got its own flare.

Well, the storyline was certainly nothing new, as it's been used in about five different scifi shows that I can think of, but I'm not going to knock them for re-imagining it their own way, they did a nice turn on an old theme. Plus the team interaction seemed a little more relaxed and comfortable to me this ep.

[BigGator5]

The "kirking" criticism kills me. So, because Kirk slept around a lot, no character is ever allowed to have a bit of romance in a Scifi show?! Sheesh. Poor Cam. I bet he hasn't been with a girl in a long time, and the time he meets someone nice, she's murdered! I wouldn't call that "kirking"!

Agreed on both points...

Long Live Kirk!!

*Then the Sci-Fi fans died in massive numbers from the following battle...*

[Dani347]

But, it wasn't romance. It was just contrived to further the plot. I don't think he's ever going to think about her again, he didn't have time to form a connection, they share no bond. I mean, they could have done it some other way to establish him being implanted with the memories. That just seemed unimaginative.

And, I just don't care how long any of them have been with someone. It's not important to me. If I never saw any of them with a one time character romance of the week or a longer term partner, I would be fine.

Now, did they imply that Mitchell had been married, or that he had been in a relationship where his job got in the way? He said he understood the victim's (heck, I don't even remember her name) problems in that area.

[AGateFan]

I believe there was a quip or two early on, that jarred me, but he got serious pretty fast. Other than that, the biggest problem I had with him was the "Kirking" plot device.

yep, besides the kirking I thought the ep was a good one for Mitchell. I thought the quip or two early were on the appropriate side and he did stay serious when it was serious.

[Dromag67]

Pros:
A Great stand-alone episode.
Nice storyline twists all throughout it.
I figured the Kinsey-esque guy did it, but I was wrong.
Great character building episode for Cam, nice to see some background, now Mitchell has more background Sheppard.

Cons:
Kirking is getting annoying.
No one for Teal'c to beat up.

[Dani347]

It wasn't the act of quipping, or the placement (much more realistic than the "comedy" last week) but they did seem too Jack-like to me.

[Seshat]

The "kirking" criticism kills me. So, because Kirk slept around a lot, no character is ever allowed to have a bit of romance in a Scifi show?! Sheesh. Poor Cam. I bet he hasn't been with a girl in a long time, and the time he meets someone nice, she's murdered! I wouldn't call that "kirking"!

"Kirking" refers to the overused concept of one-time relationships with "alien" women as a feature of many storylines, discussed at length elsewhere on this forum, especially as it pertains to Shep. It's okay if you don't see it with Cam (and others do).

All I can say is that space must be a very sexy place. No wonder so many folks want to be on elite SG teams.

[Dani347]

All I can say is that space must be a very sexy place. No wonder so many folks want to be on elite SG teams.

*snort*

[shiznaw]

can i ask one thing? does he pull any one-liners in this ep?
sally

Remarkably, Mitch's character had displayed greater depth than just employing one liners. Hell, and this is coming from a vocal critic of both Mitch and VAla.

[thorshammer]

This ep was totally predictable. The only thing was that her husband was the one that killed her but the other stuff I figured out pretty quick. The actor that plays Cameron as a kid didn't look anything, anything like Cameron as an adult. Although it was cool that we got some backstory on Cam. Was the part on the jet all CG? Because if it was It looked very, very real.

[ShimmeringStar]

The "kirking" criticism kills me. So, because Kirk slept around a lot, no character is ever allowed to have a bit of romance in a Scifi show?! Sheesh. Poor Cam. I bet he hasn't been with a girl in a long time, and the time he meets someone nice, she's murdered! I wouldn't call that "kirking"!

When you're on duty as an emissary from your planet you ain't off the clock 'til you're back in your own bed on Earth. Call it what you will.... Kirking. Whoring. A quickie on the clock -- whatever moniker you want to name it.

I hope Cam has a wild-n-crazy intimate life, but not on 'company time.' Cam does seem like a pretty likeable character but it can be way too easy to make him into a cartoon character boinking every alien chick he meets.... Plus... the man seems to have morals -- look the writers have him nearly quitting the AF because of the angst he had over killing what ended up being a civilian target. He's showing signs of deep thought, convictions, a moral code. Guess some of us kinda, sorta thought he'd have some morals about his professional *ahem* intimate conduct too.

But like many have already said..... it was strictly a plot device, although I wonder... had the sex part had been removed, it *still* would have been a good ep. He didn't have to *ahem* her to make anyone (her ex or the general) mad enough to kill her....

[kazbaby]

I have to watch it again, oh hardship abound , but for now I have to say I liked Samantha not leaving Cameron alone during the search through his memories. That continues to show that he…rather they… respect each other and have a friendship beyond the SGC.

They maintained the team aspect by having Teal’c and Daniel go over the details of the investigation. Other than Sam, there are no others that pay as strict attention to detail, even if it had colored Mitchell in an unfavorable light.

Yes, this type of storyline has been done in the past by other shows, as I said earlier. But they did it in their own way.

As for the complaint about the flashbacks for Mitchell’s history?

How else do you want them to tell it aside from a roundtable discussion and Cameron just talking. What fun is that?

[Dani347]

The one liners and Kirking were really a minor part of the episode, but enough for a mention. Other than that he was great. His reaction to having those memories in his head, and then his anger when he was told that he should be grateful to be allowed to go hone with the memories still in his head were very well played.

Is it just me, or was Daniel talking much slower than his usual high speed?