#ANYWAY...... hrgh... still trying to write when I can....

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent game related things .. hrmm...

[incomingalbatross]

I chose to half-watch 1.04 Emancipation, write up notes, and post them all at once, this time. Partly because I am Not Really Invested in this ep and didn’t think I’d have as much to say... But there are early team dynamics!

Daniel starts to introduce Jack but stops dead as he visibly realizes he doesn't know whether he should use his name or his title. I like that.

Kssh, Daniel is still referring to Sam as "Doctor Carter." He also addresses her as “Doctor” later... I’m going to be pondering Daniel and Names at some point, I think.

Daniel called Jack "COLONEL" in direct address  in a Tense Situation that's SO WEIRD, BUDDY. THAT’S WEIRD. It’s not like he DOESN’T call him Jack normally... but I think he’s Deferring To His Authority here?? Again, WEIRD to hear on multiple levels.

Ooh, no, not the Scary Culture That Thinks Women Can't Exist Outside The House!! Mongolians deserve better.

Jack's so pleased with himself for having a Gun.

Today in "Daniel does NOT know everything": him nerding out about this tribe showing "a way of life that's been extinct for 900 years" when there are still nomadic Mongolian peoples out there TODAY who've retained a lot of traditional continuity. Buddyyyy. I know it’s the writers who didn’t know this, but I’m still holding you partly responsible here.

…Not sure where I stand on the "Sam dressing like the other women" thing. On the one hand obviously it IS a good idea to not give offense to your new diplomatic/trading contacts, and there's nothing morally WRONG in adhering to their standards of dress. On the other hand, it's sending the message that the Tau'ri agree with this tribe's view of women, and do we want to compromise ourselves like that?

Anyway. They dressed Sam up to the NINES. I refuse to believe that's normal attire for the tribe.

I DO like the guys being apparently Stunned Into Silence By Her Makeover because A) they’re not going to actually change the dynamic because of it and B) it means they’re arguably more off-balance than Sam, who’s really just grumpy about the whole thing.

I would like Jack and Daniel's teasing better (mild though it is) if this were a later episode, though, where they had stronger team camaraderie. Here it comes off as potentially more rude because I don't know that they're FRIENDS as opposed to colleagues. In a later season it would be absolutely fine.

SIDE NOTE. The team: *talking about this tribe and how they treat women while, themselves, ignoring the OTHER NATIVE WOMAN IN THE TENT as if she's furniture* ???????? Guys???? SAM????

Aw, Jack hangs back to make sure Carter IS okay. And to clarify that her "looking great" wasn't just teasing, it was genuine. Good CO. (This is not a ship comment, it is a “Jack making sure his team’s okay” comment.)

DANIEL, stop arguing and GO FIND SAM. (Or "Captain Doctor Carter.")

Jack is in "MY OFFICER is ABDUCTED" mode and I like that, among other things, he's insisting on respect for her a lot more now. No one gets to even unintentionally or indirectly insult her if she’s actually vulnerable somewhere.

Annnd the "Sam is a magnet for questionable aliens" trend begins, sadly. I mean, she IS lovely, obviously, but why is it a given that this guy will think so? (Especially when he hasn't seen her SMILE.)

Hrgh. This isn't a Space Whale Aesop but it isn't much of a NORMAL Aesop either. What's the message? "Women aren't property?" GROUNDBREAKING.

Aw, Daniel. Dropping the cultural relativity when put on the spot AND trying to sneakily promote other, better Mongolian traditions re: women. ("We don't own our women." "Truly?" "YES. --Um… and we heard…stories, about the Shavadai women, that once they were free. Some might even have been warriors, that fought alongside their men.") THERE'S my guy.

Okay, I can get behind their culture being negatively affected by trying to survive and protect their people from the Goa'uld. Even things that had a reason can get twisted into abuses very very easily, and surviving the Goa'uld SHOULD leave marks on these cultures!

…Not sure I buy this particular justification was ever fully honest, but that's a different point.

Daniel, finding Common Ground with the relatively-decent chief: "Wait, you love your wife? :D I love MY wife! We're friends now" (he didn’t SAY that but I can tell he was THINKING it. Buddy)

Sam can't cook or spin or weave (though I bet she’d like some fiber crafts, they have math!!), but she CAN ride a horse! Nice.

Oh, sure, Evil Chieftain, just rip someone's clothing when you're going to beat them. Clothing is VALUABLE and that's one of your tribe that will have to keep wearing it later, are you cruel AND wasteful??

Oh boy, Sam's first sexual assault!! *glares* It was ""only"" a forced kiss, but it was still unnecessary.

TEAL'C is the first one to say "If we wait until morning to rescue her, what will happen to Captain Carter tonight?" Given this is Teal'c still at his most stoic-and-silent stage, I'm proud he was so quick to speak up here.

Raising my eyebrow at the fact that Sam called herself a "scholar" and Daniel described her as a "shaman"... Again, I think, we see the difference between Sam's desire to just express HERSELF and Daniel's desire to meet strangers where they're at. As general approaches, they both have their points. (Of course, since you don't KNOW where a stranger's at, you risk making a fool of yourself by talking down. I think Daniel's word choice here is unnecessarily… exoticized? And his assumption that they believe in "spirits" could have gotten him lauged at in a different ep. But whatever.)

Negotiations: *go poorly* Jack: time to bring out my Gun again. (He’s fired his handgun for effect THREE TIMES this ep and he’s Smug about it. Can’t blame him, though.)

Wait, they're saying they've had other missions offscreen? Interesting? I’m not sure I can reconcile that in my head, but... it’s superior, I think, to shows that insist for no reason that NOTHING worth seeing has EVER happened to the characters offscreen, eliminating time jumps completely.

...Idk, I think literally calling romantic love "the madness" is a little… on the nose. A little YA Dystopia Worldbuilding. Yanno??

We see a little more Daniel Mediation. Good stuff. I appreciate it. Didn’t get a chance for that in the Children or Enemy. 

Pfft, Sam challenges the guy to a fight and we get the Moving Stargate Theme.

Sam, internally: I get to fight I get to fight I get to FIGHT THIS GUY HECK YEAH LET'S GO

A) of course it's a fight to the death, Jack, did you think these people were likely to go with anything less?? B) ASK THE RULES FIRST. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED STAR TREK OR NOT.

Except apparently it’s NOT, really, because Sam’s not urged or expected to kill her opponent once SHE’S defeated HIM. Hmph. Some hyperbole there.

Yay, we brought about lasting cultural change in an apparently-stable system in just a few days! How lucky we just HAPPENED to meet up with a local leader who already secretly really wanted those same changes! This isn't contrived!

...Anyway. Worldbuilding was heavy-handed, Sam could have been a Strong Female Character a lot more easily if she’d just been allowed to, you know, be herself and do her job without all this fuss (which the show largely lets her do after this, so great!), and I’m not terribly pleased with Daniel here even if he got his head on straight when it mattered. Also Teal’c wasn’t nearly enough of a presence, but. Again. Early days for him, he’d mostly rather just loom.

(Oh! And this is the source of Teal’c’s classic line, “What is an ‘Oprah’?” So I can’t complain too much.)

Sam worked through the plot okay, though, and escaped feeling like a mouthpiece or like somebody’s idea of someone else’s mouthpiece. It felt like she was just genuinely trying to do her job and responded to these stupid situation like a human being—even better, she didn’t feel like any human being other than Sam to me, even though this is Early Days. Also, the costumes were pretty, and we established that the SGC is establishing trade relations with extraterrestrial cultures! Which is good worldbuilding I’m happy to have.

In conclusion: not great, not horrible. Kinda just there.

Next ep is Caveman Time! Also not quite top-tier Stargate, but I’m looking forward to some elements of it a lot more, and it is good old-fashioned corny sci-fi.