"Grace"

[wisdomeagle]

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Good things: Sam. Everything Sam, everything inside Sam's head, Sam's log, Sam explaining bubbles to Grace (whose "boring" reminds one only of Urgo. Uh, writers? What were you thinking?). Sam kicking so much ass and saving the day. Sam!Teal'c calling her "Samantha." Jacob. That whole scene. Really. That whole scene.

Bad things: Daniel. Whiny little bitch is one thing, but... okay. Sam's versions of her teammates... Teal'c is slightly softer. Jack is far more tender. Her dad is sweet and actually talks to her. Daniel is a whiny little bitch who's so hung up on his theory that he doesn't give a damn. I would be willing to interpret this as Sam's left-over upsetness from not being visited while Daniel was ascended, but quite frankly, he acted like that in the SGC story-line too.

Why?

What's happening to Daniel? I have never seen him so caustic towards his teammates. So insensitive to Jack. Admittedly, the last 'Gate I saw was "Singularity," which is the epitome of warm and fuzzy!Daniel, but this just isn't lining up.

I hope they're intentionally doing things to Daniel's arc, but then, I have very little faith in them doing things right. But if I were writing the show, I'd have Daniel headed down a not-very-nice path. I really would.

The good: "I'm your father." That actually almost makes up for the horror of Darth Anubis. Almost.

The good: they didn't steal the plot directly from "In Memory," (Earth: Final Conflict) despite what Teal'c thought.

Subsection: The ship.

The good: The kiss I'd been spoiled for is out of the way, gone, over, totally gone. And it never really happened, not even in Sam's reality. Thank goodness.

The bad: There was a kiss.

But really, I can't break this down into good and bad. I will say this: it was better than "Divide and Conquer." Whew.

sage_theory goes in a non-spoilerish *cough cough* comment, In fact, if anything, that totally unraveled the entire Sam/Jack 'ship altogether. . I think I might have to agree. I mean... okay. I don't like the 'ship. I hate the 'ship. I have severe, severe issues with the ship that start with "makes" and ends with "little sense." But from Sam's perspective, yeah, this makes some sense.

Six years ago.

Open memo to Stargate SG-1 writers: MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MINDS ALREADY!

But now it's over, right? They've finally figured out that nothing is ever going to happen, and... that's it. That's all she wrote.

I really wish they hadn't referenced "Paradise Lost." (Though dude! Maybourne! SQUEE!) I really love that scene, and I don't want it tainted with 'ship. But anyhow. Um... maybe it was the tiredness, but I really didn't like Jack much, either. And I wanted to hurt Daniel, honestly... *sigh* Anyhow.

Unanswered questions:
Who is Grace, anyhow?
Could one somehow relate this to There But For The Grace of God, another episode that had much to do with 'ship?
Cake!

Um... about the 'ship. It's over, right? They've realized that nothing is going to happen between them because of the AF, and Sam realizes that this is not making her happy, and they move on? I mean, I don't like 'ship, but I'm glad they got this out in the open and gave us a fairly unified theory of ship that works from Sam's point of view.

As for Jack's point of view? Well, that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

Besides, Jack is in love with Daniel.

This episode will be rewatched. I think that, despite the ickiness, despite the kiss (which honestly, quite literally grossed me out) it was the best episode of the season so far, and possibly the best Sam episode ever.

And finally, the totally wrong: "in general, sure, I'm happy"

*sporfle!*

Comments

[gvambat.livejournal.com]

*nods, nods*

I don't think Daniel was quite so bad in the SGC scenes, but...yeah.

In Sam's head, it was good for awhile, but...too far.

They did steal quite heavily from a fair number of different sci-fi shows (and probably movies too) but didn't end up using much of it for "reality"...I think perhaps Sam's been watching a bit too much? :p

Grace--ran over and looked at the thread on ExIsle and found two theories: 1)Some manefestation of the nebula, or 2)A part of Sam's psyche that really doesn't care where bubbles come from. I think I favor the second explanation.

And the two icks...yes.

But about the kiss.....Jack and Sam have had WAY TOO FUCKING MANY. Jack and Daniel will probably never get one onscreen...*sob*...I suppose we must content ourselves with A Slip of Metal. But couldn't we get at least one Sam/Daniel kiss? Please?

[/altship]

[wisdomeagle]

I dunno... I mean, there was really just the one elevator scene, and... I don't know. c.f. Solitudes, I guess... I get the same kind of feeling (he's working his ass off) but I also get this feeling like he... isn't talking to Jack? Like he's talking through Jack when Jack is clearly very unhappy? *shrug*

In Sam's head, it was good for awhile, but...too far.

Well, what do you mean? I mean, besides the obvious?

You're right about Sam and the sci-fi. Too true. :) *hearts Sam*

I think the second explanation is a good one. :)

Ick.

TRUE! Very true. But this was like... the unshippiest kiss ever. It was the anti-kiss. It was the not-kiss.

It was kinda gross, but... yeah.

*petitions*

:p

[gvambat.livejournal.com]

I also get this feeling like he... isn't talking to Jack? Like he's talking through Jack when Jack is clearly very unhappy?

True. I don't know. I wish I could trust them to go somewhere with it, but...yeah.

In Sam's head, it was good for awhile, but...too far.

The Daniel bits. They were amusing for a bit (and evidently Sam sees Daniel on a perpetual caffiene high) but...yeah.

[wisdomeagle]

Yeah. *wishes she trusted the Stargate writers as much as she'd like to*

True. Definately true. I mean, "were you this annoying when you were ascended?"
"I dunno, depends who you ask. I thought I had a certain je ne sais quoi. Timing was so so." got a "SQUEEEEEEEEEE!" like you wouldn't believe, but then... yes.

I wish they'd done more with the D/S bits. I really do. Even as a friendshipper... Teal'c and Sam got better interaction. Teal'c.

Again, I wish I could trust the writers to be intentionally writing Sam conflicted about descended!Daniel, but trusting the writers is not something that comes easily in this fandom.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

Now that I've seen the ep, I'm going come back in and disagree with you about Daniel. ;)

As manifestation of Sam's subconscious, he did exactly what he needed to do - focus Sam's mind on something important that was missing. I didn't see what he was doing as being "Daniel" at all, but as just that part of Sam's brain trying to beat her over the head with something she wasn't seeing. He needed to irritate her in order to get her to think, and so he did - or, more accurately, she did. I actually appreciated the fact that Daniel's manifestation was one that actually made her focus on the problem at hand, rather than make her think about life and emotions and such. My personal shippery preferences make me like the fact that Sam would imagine Daniel in the most logical, most practiacally helpful role.

As for the SGC scenes ... I just saw that as the contrast between the way Jack and Daniel work. Sam was missing, so Daniel wanted to spring into action and check out every idea that ran through his overactive mind. Jack actually annoyed me more in those scenes - pessimistic much? I wanted to smack him and tell him to stop moping like a romantic hero and start acting like the impulsive Air Force Colonel we all know and love. ;)