God, I love "Shades Of Grey." Mostly I hate those sting eps where the truth is concealed from some of the major players to make sure their reactions are appropriate, but this one just hurt because Jack was so mean, and they all took it so badly, and Jack's all grim and determined and wearing the hat, and his "I'm back!" is so indicative of his reluctance to talk about the messy things and make apologies.

Adore. Not sure which is my favouritest ep, but this is top 5.

Saw it (Shades) for the first time yesterday, though not all the way through. Which is really frustrating because what I did see was really good.

'Inauguration' on the other hand... well what can you say about clip shows? William Devane was absolute coolness so it's got that.

what can you say about clip shows?

Unconquerable Man, Andromeda, by Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller.

I've never seen ME do a clip show, and I'm curious about their potential approach, but Zack and Ashley took the clips and reused the history in such a way that you couldn't tell past from present from what you'd already seen. It wasn't flashbacks, per se, it wasn't sitting around and talky meating about the past.

It was really good, and made me want to go back and watch all the episodes clipped, and then watch the ep again.

William Devane and Lt Fancy were great last night. Kinsey needs to fall down a flight of stairs. Picardo was picking up. He's gruff and vinegary, but at least he's aiming it in a less annoying direction.

I don't believe in oversight, so much. Well, in theory. But I don't care about the public's right to know about missions whose end is (clearly, to me) best served by secrecy. And the whole "Sure, they saved the world but ignored orders" dances around the point of OF COURSE they saved the world. It's their show. It's what they do.

It ain't the Jossverse.

It was really good, and made me want to go back and watch all the episodes clipped, and then watch the ep again.

Yeah, that was a great ep.

I don't believe in oversight, so much. Well, in theory. But I don't care about the public's right to know about missions whose end is (clearly, to me) best served by secrecy. And the whole "Sure, they saved the world but ignored orders" dances around the point of OF COURSE they saved the world. It's their show. It's what they do.

Here's the thing about that. I agree, but then I saw the following ep where Daniel returns from the dead with no memory of who he is, and they let him go on a mission. Not just any mission, but a mission where he has to sneak around on a Goa'uld mother ship. WTF?!?

Not just any mission, but a mission where he has to sneak around on a Goa'uld mother ship. WTF?!?

Yeah. that was wacked.

I also -- I just found the whole thing really odd. Like, here's this person you worked with & lived with for five or six years, and you cared deeply about him, and then he died, and maybe you saw him as a spirit being or something, but he was for all ordinary purposes dead. You grieved for him, and mourned, and maybe went on, but there was always this hole where he used to be.

So you bump into him one day, and you don't flip out? You don't even sniffle a little, or throw yourself into his arms?

The lack of affect about Daniel's return disturbed me deeply. Compare to the Jossverse, where Buffy's return was a huge deal, both narratively and emotionally.

It was weird.

Well, they had just worked very closely with his ascended self on a mission. So, that could affect the reaction somewhat.

Yeah, but dude, they weren't even surprised. I still think it was deeply bizarre.

Well, I don't think he was dead to the rest of SG-1 like Buffy was dead to the rest of the Scoobs. I mean, if Buffy had periodically popped in for spectral visits, all glowy and clad in earth tones, her friends probably wouldn't even have considered the possibility of her being hellbound and in need of resurrection.

Unless you consider earth tones hell, which Buffy very well may.

edit: I start too many sentences with "Well..."

Not just any mission, but a mission where he has to sneak around on a Goa'uld mother ship. WTF?!?

Yeah, that was fucked up. But it's that weird space where everything they do is right, because it's essentially episodic heroic TV. So the arguments for oversight are going to be weak almost by definition.

That's what I dislike about the politics episodes. Of course they were insubordinate. They're Heroes. It has to be that way. Plus, the arguments just seem so manufactured. "Hammond allowed emotion to sway him in waiting for SG-1 before closing the iris." Um, weren't you just complaining about him losing one 'very valuable' team member?