Do you think Jack's IQ was lower in S7 because RDA didn't have enough time available for them to write him both Jack-funny and Jack-smart?

Yeah, that's a part of it, I think. I thought the S7 opening two parter where Daniel returned was particularly egregious in terms of Stupid!Jack. It almost turned me off the character, which is saying a lot given how much I love Jack. Plus, RDA has contributed to it to a degree--in interviews and clips, he had said that he deliberately made Jack sound dumber than he was, because... ehh, I forget why. Some stupid reason. I think that RDA is such a goof and a charismatic personality, he slacks off/coasts on his juice when not taken firmly in hand and written tightly. The first half of S7 with his erratic schedule probably allowed this to get out of hand.

I liked Jack in S7 A LOT better since the Evolution two-parter. I'm not sure what his schedule will be like in S8, which frankly worries me a bit. Much as I like everyone on the team, Jack, for me, is the glue that holds them together.

I love the blue crystal ep (Cold Lazarus?).

Yeap, the blue crystal ep is Cold Lazarus. Good episode. Still, if we're talking season 1, I like Tin Man and Solitudes better.

Tin Man and Solitudes were good enough that I forgot they were season 1.

Broca Divide -- I keep thinking I could watch it again for stoic suffering Jack, but I veer away at the last minute.

Wait -- There But For The Grace Of God is good too, as is Singularity.

Dammit. I'm too slow (I had to check out an ep guide). I'd just sound like a mimic, so I'll jsimply say that the only ones I really, really don't care for are Emancipation, Brief Candle, the First Commandment, and Hathor; even all of those have moments. Fire and Water was not my fave, but it does have Daniel coming out of the ocean, and god help me, but that's just niiiiice. Plus, all the angsty guilt they all have ... yeah, I'd still watch it again.

Hathor makes me laugh hard.

I like Broca Divide. OK, I admit, the make-up and the costume are horrible, but it introduced Janet and she kicked ass! (Sniff.) And the end, where Jack ribs Sam about the tank-top. Funny.

I also like Brief Candle (uhm, yeah, I may be a bit too easy on the show), 'cause of the X-Files connection. Plus, RDA is a lot better at playing a decrepit old man than David Duchovny. Old!Jack and Dr. Bambi are actually pretty sweet together near the end there. Hathor has the priceless "women behind the bar movie" line, and Fire and Water has angsty!Jack smashing Hammond's car, plus a Jack-hug (which gives any episode an automatic letter upgrade.)

First Commandment--OK, that was pretty bad. Still, it's got the first of Carter's boyfriends to croak--that's a milestone, right there.

Hathor makes me laugh hard.

I dunno. There's the funny, but it just didn't do it for me. I didn't appreciate the character, or something. And the purple smoke. And the "Why, sure, I'll come right up next to you, pretty lady with a snake in you, even though everyone's acting completely weird around you." Right ... I know, don't analyze The Gate. Madness. Lying Right There. Thataway.

Also, the big vat of symbiotes with her sitting in it at the end? Ew.

uhm, yeah, I may be a bit too easy on the show

Oh, hell, so am I. Like I said, there's not one ep I can't find something to love about. I love that I'm so easily pleased by it ... it's relaxing.

I'm not sure how much I'm laughing with Hathor, but Sam's disgust at what she has to do to win is enough for me.

I love Hathor. I mean, I won't try to argue for its objective quality, but Irritated, Resigned Sam makes me fall over laughing every time. "Oh yeah, my career is over." Plus, Janet with a gun! "I told him it was the Air Force and they'd had women for decades, but..." And the women behind bars movie! And Jack with his crunches!

The best part of Brief Candle is trying to figure out how they all feed themselves.

Sam's disgust at what she has to do to win is enough for me.

I can see that (I got that you meant ep title, not character). The balance just tipped in the other direction for me in terms of overall like/dislike because of the character and the device of the purple smoke ... at least I think that's why.

ETA: Now you people are making me think I need to rewatch to see if I didn't give it enough of a chance. Well, it's coming up.

Oh! I just realized which S1 episode I like the least. It's Politics. 'Cause Kinsey + clip show = a world of yuck.

The character of Hathor, I take as high camp. You can laugh at her as long as you don't think too hard about Daniel getting raped and the fact that the wiggly symbiote-lings in the tubs are Daniel's kids. Ew. (Genetics? What frickin' genetics?)

Another S1 ep I love that doesn't get mentioned too often is The Torment of Tantalus. I love Ernest, even when he is naked and crazy. And the lights! So pretty. Plus, it's got one of the earliest Jack/Daniel conflicts at the end. It's all good.

ETA: Huh. Sabine just put up a multiverse ficathon challenge. Someone sign up and write me a SG1/DS9 crossover, in which Jack first encounters a trill, yeah?