That was it?

[corilannam]

I've been hearing bits and pieces about the new SG-1 episode "Grace" that finally aired tonight, and I was expecting to either really love or really hate it, depending on how they did things and how it affected the little fic universe that lives in my head and my notebook.

Instead, I was just kinda "enh" about it.



Over all, really quite underwhelmed. I love Sam, I do, but she just can't seem to carry an episode on her own anymore. Avenger 2.0? Space Race? And now this lovely little gem of a Trek rip-off.

It actually felt like a Trek/X-Files crossover to me through most of it. While most of the plot and setting was very Trek, the extended Scullyesque monotone monologues and the foggy plot twists gave me a weird trip back to the bad old days of X-Files. "Captain's Log, Stardate 947830. The Truth Is Out There."

So, this was supposed to be a trip through Sam's subconscious? A very dull place, for the most part, although I did enjoy seeing how she perceives her teammates and how she perceives them as perceiving her. Or...something like that.

--Teal'c. Clearly her rock and her guardian. I loved how he called her Samantha -- twice! The Sam/Teal'c 'shipper part of me had a tiny little internal squeal at that. I wonder if he ever does call her that in reality. I tend to think he must, given her total lack of surprise at it. Interesting, considering the importance given to names in this episode.

--Daniel. Every bit her annoying little brother. The Sam/Daniel 'shipper part of me was deeply amused. He's the one who understands the scientist Sam; he understands the need to drop all other concerns and just study, something her military strictures don't often allow. He prods her not to abandon her curiosity, no matter what the circumstances, and he stimulates her creativity. This is something we've seen so often over the course of the series: Sam and Daniel are freakin' geniuses separately, but when they can brainstorm together is when they come up with their most brilliant hare-brained ideas.

--Jacob. The proud, but concerned Jewish mother um, father. While Teal'c and Daniel's apparitions try to help her survive, apparently Jacob doesn't really care about that as much as he cares whether she has a boyfriend. Because after all, if she doesn't have a man, she might as well be dead anyway, right? This obviously bugged me, though at the same time I found it very interesting that in this dire situation Sam found herself so concerned with her lack of partnership, and also that her subconscious chose Jacob as the bearer of those thoughts.

--Jack. This was the part I was waiting for, as in the story I'm currently writing, I've been trying to define what I think Sam's current season feelings for Jack are. And this certainly clarified a lot. As someone who enjoys their relationship, but not the romantic parts of it, I liked that this seemed like a letting go of her unfulfillable wishes, but still with the knowledge that they will always love each other and be there for each other. I loved that the kiss that had everyone in such a tizzy for months turned out to be just a wistful flash that she rejects in the end.

--Meanwhile, back at the base.... The elevator scene was lovely, as Jack/Daniel elevator scenes always are. Jack's state of despair rang truer to me than I would have thought it would. I think he's just been through this exact same thing so many times now -- the waiting, the helplessness, the not knowing if this is finally going to be the time when he loses one of his kids for good. He's burning out on this. He'll go through all the motions of the search, but Sam's fate is out of his hands. He knows it, he hates it, he's really tired of it. Daniel and Teal'c both think they understand him, but I'm not sure they entirely do in this case.

And I got a lot of entertainment out of Jack's bedside vigil, after reading several recent list debates over the inevitable fanfiction infirmary vigils and whether they ever really happen in canon. I'm just disappointed there was no Wizard of Oz reference, when the opportunity was so obviously sitting there and begging. ("And you were there, and you were there...")

So overall, not the best episode of the season, not the worst. I managed to fit my little mental fic universe around it after a few minutes of intensive thought. Mostly, though, it just made me wish there were still a good Trek series on the air.

Comments

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I'm just disappointed there was no Wizard of Oz reference, when the opportunity was so obviously sitting there and begging. ("And you were there, and you were there...")

I know! I would've bet real money they'd do that at the end, but no.

[iamrosalita.livejournal.com]

While Teal'c and Daniel's apparitions try to help her survive, apparently Jacob doesn't really care about that as much as he cares whether she has a boyfriend. Because after all, if she doesn't have a man, she might as well be dead anyway, right? This obviously bugged me *snip*

It bugged me, too. Apparently Sam has bought into this whole thing that no matter what a woman accomplishes, she isn't complete until she has a man. Bah.

[elynross.livejournal.com]

See, and here I was thinking that I should think about thinking about what the visions of each guy meant vis-a-vis how Sam sees them, and how she thinks they see her, and now I don't have to, because you pretty much nailed it for me.

I was very happy with how the Jack/Sam thing worked out, and I think from Jack's PoV there's some attraction, but he realizes that even were circumstances different, they wouldn't suit, either in personality or temperament. All along, even when there were indications and evidence of mutual attraction, Sam has never really let go of the formality towards Jack (as is right, in their situation, of course), but hearing her work out that she found him "safe" because unattainable? That fit well emotionally and narratively, for me. They had a moment, in a way, but that's what it was, and she'd not been able to let go -- I know that feeling.

I myself wasn't disturbed by her internal angst about not having someone. That it happened to be that she didn't have a man just points (to me) to her heterosexuality, not that she feels incomplete as a woman without a man. As a long-time single woman, I both feel entirely content and satisfied in my life, and I sometimes feel sadness and longing that there isn't Another Person to share it with. I have many friends, and I share my life with them and am enriched for that, but I find it to be a simple truth that friends play a different part in your life than a lover and companion. That it played out through her one living parent (in a way we've never really seen Jacob behave) makes sense in terms of the fact that no matter how many people stay single any more, culturally marriage is still the norm, and that parent-child-grandchild connection is very strong.

All in all, I was bored through a lot of the episode, and I think it's not just Sam, for me, but not really wanting to see any single member of the team carry an ep alone -- except perhaps Jack. cough. I also enjoyed the elevator scene, and I had this moment in the locker room, when Teal'c stepped in and Jack spoke without looking, then looked and saw who it was, of thinking that he expected it to be Daniel...

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

Did Jacob or Sam ever actually specify a gender? The phrase "you are alone" is ringing in my head, but pronouns specifying that the lack was either of the male or female persuasion don't come to mind. If neither one of them actually did, much hay might be made from this sunshine. In spite of the fact that she had the fantasy about Jack. She might be having fantasies about Janet (or any other person at the SGC). But Jack is a member of her team, and those are the people she turns to for help in a crisis first.

The thing that bugs the crap out of me in this one is "Who the hell is Grace?" When I first saw the preview I was sure that the little girl would be Sam as a child. But as a character, Grace doesn't make a lot of sense. Is she the personification of the aliens? Is she Sam longing for "grace"? Is she just an excuse to have a cute kid blowing bubbles to give Sam the idea?

All in all, I really think the writer needed another draft or two and a severe talking to about reading fanfic in his spare time.

[ndannais.livejournal.com]

I apologize--I think it's my fault the episode was bad. I foolishly tried to watch. And we all know that when I do that of my own free will, Sam ends up in (or in the metaphorical equivalent of) a harem outfit.

*g*

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

A golden opportunity to add to the in-joke list tragically wasted!

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't get what Grace was supposed to be, either. As an allegory, it didn't really hold together well, which is a shame, because the concept had lots of potential. I would have loved to see something really playing with the notion of "grace" in the abstract sense, but that could be expecting too much from something on SciFi. Either way, I would have liked to not end the episode with a vague feeling of "huh?" But I'll watch it again, just in case it was me getting confused. *g*

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

I did like her slightly loopy answers to the Jacob apparition at that point, though -- about the dating scene being kind of thin when you're on an abandoned ship in the middle of outer space. That was more Sam to me. *g*

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Oh, so it was you! I should have known. *g*

Cut it out! We can show you the episodes *after* they're safely out of your influence. *g*

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

I've decided my boredom isn't really Sam's fault, but rather the fact that there wasn't really much of a story there. I mean, there's no suspense in her situation, because we know she's going to survive and get home. We don't know her crew at all, so it's hard to care all that much about what happened to them, especially since we don't even know what happened to them at all until the very end. We never really find out what's up with the cloud or the aliens or the little girl. So all that's left in terms of a climactic revelation is the resolution of Sam's arrested emotional life, which was fine, but I would have rather had it in a fuller context where it was a natural result of the plot, rather than the plot being an afterthought just to get Sam loopy and introspective.

I do agree that I was satisfied with it as a (hopeful) end to the Jack/Sam question. I really liked her realization that he was a safe object for her yearnings. The problem is going to be, can she really find anyone who can share her life in a truly full way, considering what her life is like? And who is she going to find who can compete with her image of Jack O'Neill? *g*

[elynross.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree -- Sam does not intrinsically bore me. *g* A lot of it for me was simply missing the team dynamic.