EMANCIPATION

This isn’t one belongs in the top five worst episodes on Stargate. It is a different version of the cliche damsel in distress and Roman and Juliet story lines. Even if Sam does prove herself towards the end of the episode. There are two major gripes that Sam could take out Turgon in the end but couldn’t even get away from the much smaller and younger Abu. And English! Please, wouldn’t they speak some derivative of the Mongolian language? That’s the price we pay as viewers, so that the writers have the conveyance of not having everything go through Daniel.

The Plot

Basically it’s a Sam Carter story. Shavadi have a problem with woman and thus she must do Daniel’s job and play native. This action gets her into trouble when the boy kidnaps her, SG-1 saved, Abu. He is in love with a girl from a rival tribe and is using Sam to get his love. The males of SG-1 deal with Sam’s disappearance in their own way. Daniel tries to find her with the help of Mugala and with respect to their culture. Jack wants to go out and find Sam and thinks the chieftain (Mugala) is involved. Teal'c helps by tracing where Sam and Abu’s tracks. To save the life of the girl Abu loves; Sam is forced to take on the man who bought her Turgon. She defeats him and restores her own pride, saves the girls life, and indirectly gives the excuse to change the rules pertaining to woman in Mugala’s tribe.

Gripes

1) English? Come on. Okay, so they couldn’t speak in a different language otherwise we would get sick of Daniel’s voice (some of us anyway), but at least they could try and find a way to explain it. This is another gripe that becomes a running theme during the series. And how come it's only the leads speaking English the rest of the "natives" speak Mongolian or a derivative. Turn the audio up on the tent on fire scene and hear the women.

2) Sam could take on Turgon, yet she couldn’t defend herself against Abu from taking her. Says a lot for Airforce training.

Favourite Scene or Nice touches.

Sam complaining about the dress oblivious to it’s effects on her male counterparts. The reaction on the male faces is priceless, even Teal'c has a bit of a look on his face, first to Sam then to Daniel and Jack. "It’s you." I also like when they try to get Sam back. Daniel is talking up the importance of her to his tribe, only to have Jack pull out a gun and the bartering is finished. Well looks like they bought a woman. ;

Acting

Amanda Tapping does a fine job of her role in this episode. Especially considering in parts it seems atypical of the Sam Carter character. Her whingeing about the dress without thinking or worrying about its effect on the others is spot on. Richard Dean Anderson as the sage of the military goes into autopilot when Sam disappears. He actually doesn’t do much in the episode except to use his military skills to save Sam. Christopher Judge also gets a minimal role in this episode, so it is hard to judge his work. Michael Shanks is actually quiet convincing in his portrayal of an anthropologist, he has you believing that he has spent time with tribal communities, and that has given him the insight to respect the cultures of others. The guest stars do well in the portrayal of their respective roles.

Writer

I don’t know maybe it’s the fact that Kataryn Powers used the obvious early on in the series. Sam may have a Ph.d and Airforce training, but she is till a female. The gripes have played a bigger role in this episode. However some of the lighter scenes make it watchable, such as when Sam is reunited with the others, and of course the ending. "What is an Oprah."

3 Oprahs out of 10

"I’m not an anthropologist." Sam Carter