Every year since 2002, on July 28, shippers around the world gather together in Gateworld's Characters and Relationships Forum to celebrate Ship Day!
What is Ship Day and why do we celebrate it?
So today we invite you to take a trip on over to the GW Ship Day thread, enjoy the discussion, the fics, artwork, and vids that are posted and don't forget you can nominate your favorites for a Sam & Jack Multimedia Award!
But before you go, over the last year, the Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill Ship Discussion Thread has been hosting a Stargate SG-1 Rewatch. We thought that in honor of today, we would highlight the most recent review for Divide and Conquer!
As posted by our very own IamDKScully on the S/J Ship Discussion Thread on September 13, 2013.
Banner by Regularamanda
Divide and Conquer
Original Air Date : July 28, 2000
Directed by Martin Wood
Written by Tor Alexander Valenza
Summary
While attending a meeting on Vorash, SG-1 is trying to coordinate a summit meeting between High Councilor Per’sus and the President of the United States. During the meeting, Major Graham attempts to assassinate Per’sus with the use of some kind of Goa’uld technology but turns the weapon on himself when unsuccessful. After the assassination attempt, Freya informs Sg-1 that the Graham was a Zatarc, a victim of Goa’uld mind control technology. Freya describes the way the technology uses the subconscious and false memories to hide the programming. Martouf and Freya get into an argument about the accuracy of their own technology in detecting those under the influence of the Zatarc technology. It is decided that the Tok’ra will travel to the SGC and test all SGC teams.
Lt. Astor of SG-15 is called in to recount the events of her teams last mission. SG-1 along with Martouf look on from the observation room as Freya questions the Lieutenant. Martouf explains how the machine is able to detect false memories using a modified version of the Tok’ra memory recall device. As the team watches, they see the display change as Astor tells how her team was able to escape an attack by Jaffa.
Freya tells General Hammond that Astor is a Zatarc and that the Tok’ra have a way of trying to counteract the mind control programming but that it is “experimental at best.” Without any other real choices, it is decided to give the Lieutenant the option to try the deprogramming. She complies but as the treatment begins, she screams for them to stop, pulls off her restraints and shoots 2 SFs before turning the gun on herself.
Freya apologies to Hammond and O’Neill but it is decided that the tests will continue and it’s time for SG-1 to be tested. All four members of the team recount the events of their mission to PX9-797, but as Freya questions Carter and O’Neill, and they describe what happened when their armbands stopped working, the machine detects that there is something that they are not telling everyone and it is determined that they are Zatarcs.
Carter and O’Neill are isolated and briefly address their fear that this is somehow not a mistake. During their confinement, Freya visits O’Neill in his room to thank him for saving her life. She takes him by surprise when she kisses him. He lets her down gently.
As everyone tries to figure out how to save Sam and Jack, Freya tells the General that she believes that confining them may not be a safe option because at least 1 Zatarc became self-destructive when they could not complete their programming.
Martouf explains the options to Sam revealing in the process that he has grown quite found of her. He tries to encourage her to try the treatment despite his earlier lack of faith but she does not agree. Meanwhile, Daniel gives Jack the same options.
It’s decided that they will be sedated and restrained until a safe treatment can be found. When Janet arrives to sedate him, Jack decides that he would rather try the treatment so that if it fails, Freya might use what they learn to save Carter. Sam is upset when Janet and Daniel tell her that Jack is going through with the treatment and tries to run after him but she is blocked by SFs and can only watch him walk down the hall.
The summit is about to start and we see Jack getting ready to start the treatment and Janet sedating Sam. As the drugs start to affect Sam, her memories seem to resurface and she tells Janet that the machine is wrong because she and Jack were lying. Janet runs to the observation room to tell Freya to stop.
Janet brings Sam to talk to Jack and she asks for a moment alone. She tells Jack that they lied to the machine unknowingly by omitting their feelings at the time they described being trapped by the forceshield. As Jack is retested, we see his flashback to that moment and the emotion of the scene. He admits that he couldn’t’ t leave Sam because he cares about her a lot more than he’s supposed to. Sam is also retested and neither are Zatarcs. They agree to leave everything that has been revealed in the room.
Everyone has been tested, including the Tok’ra. Everyone except for Martouf. Daniel tries to distract him in the gateroom, but his programming is triggered when the man posing as the President enters the room. Martouf tries to shoot the President and the High Councilor but is shot by several SFs and zatted by Teal’c. Sam runs into the room telling everyone to hold their fire as Martouf makes a move to trigger the hand device and kill himself. He begs as he calls to Samantha and she zats him again knowing that it will kill him.
Freya promises that his death will be a noble sacrifice.
Favorite Scenes
Where to begin?
I actually enjoyed the argument in the beginning between Freya and Martouf and thought that it created an interesting dynamic between them. We really don't see a lot of Tok'ra interacting with themselves. Usually its Jacob coming alone to the SGC or when SG-1 travels to wherever the Tok'ra are, we usually see the team interacting with one or two Tok'ra.
I like the Zatarc testing. Not only the use of the flashbacks and the additional scenes that were not a part of Upgrades but the way they edited the scenes. I especially liked the way they cut together the four different narrations from SG-1 to reveal at the end that Jack and Sam were not telling the truth.
The scene with Freya and Jack makes me laugh every time, as well as the scene with Jack and Daniel. I love when Jack gets his yo-yo tangled up and you can tell he isn’t quite listening to Daniel. I like the way humor is used to lighten up a rather dark situation.
And of course, I love Sam’s discovery and the retesting scene. Could two people have more chemistry?
Favorite Lines
“My name is Jack, it means…What’s in the box?”
Jack: Hey, I’ve done the drugged-out strapped to the bed thing.
Daniel: What if what happened to Astor happens to you?
Jack: Maybe it’ll help Carter. Her brain’s worth a lot more than mine.
Sam: We're not Zatarcs.
Jack: How do you know?
Sam: The machine thinks we have false memories, but we don't. We were lying.
Jack: I wasn't lying.
Sam: Okay. You left something out.
Jack: No, I didn't.
Sam: Sir, when you wouldn't leave me, are you sure there wasn't something else that you're not admitting?
Jack: What are you talking about?
Sam: Something neither one of us can admit given our working relationship, our military ranks?
Jack: Oh! Oh. That.
Freya: You couldn’t save her?
Jack: No.
Freya: But you could’ve saved yourself.
Jack: I guess.
And of course…
Jack: I didn’t leave because I’d rather died myself than lose Carter.
Freya: Why?
Jack: Because I care about her…a lot more than I’m supposed to.
General Analysis
I really enjoy this episode for a lot of reasons. Once again, the SGC finds itself having to rely on the Tok’ra to help them figure out what is going on despite the fact that the Tok’ra have never been very forthcoming. Not only that, they are expected to trust Freya/Anise whom they’ve already dealt with in the past much to their own detriment. Interestingly enough, unlike in Upgrades we do not actually hear from Anise in this episode, Freya does all the talking. Probably because she can keep people more at ease and is less abrasive than her symbiote showed herself to be in that episode.
I thought that the introduction of the Zatarc was great. However, after everything the characters went through in this episode, I can’t believe that the subject was never brought up again. If it really was that easy for the Goa’uld to create the Zatarcs, you would think that the SGC would have run into the problem more often. Although Martouf’s sacrifice is briefly mentioned later on in Season 5 in Summit and Last Stand, the idea that these mind control victims could still be out there never came to light again. I think they missed the mark on that.
Another great aspect of this episode is the way that it flashes back to the events we thought we saw during Upgrades only to show us that what we thought we knew was not what was happening during that episode. I remember after seeing Divide and Conquer for the first time that the first thing I did was go back and watch Upgrades thinking that I had missed something the first time around. I loved the way this was set up in this way to show us that we couldn’t trust or own perceptions just as the characters couldn’t trust theirs.
My biggest gripe…Sam killed Martouf! That was so unfair to her. And, again, it’s something that is not addressed at all until the next season.
Jack & Sam
Well, as shippers, we’ve watched every episode up to this point trying to find those moments where we knew there was something more to this relationship. And, even going so far back as Season 1, I believe those moments are there. But, here in Season 4, TPTB finally let the characters admit that there are mutual feelings that they shouldn’t be feeling.
Unlike the abridged version of the forceshield scene that we are shown in Upgrades, here in Divide and Conquer we are given a longer, more emotional portrayal of what truly happened between our favorite characters during that scene.
It is rare that two actors have such chemistry that they can speak so loudly with just a look. Imagine this scene between any other combination of 2 members of this team. As much as they all care about each other, Jack and Sam have a level of emotion that cannot be compared to any other relationship within the team. We all know that no one gets left behind, but would Jack have been so stricken if it were Teal’c or Daniel behind that forceshield? Or would Sam if it weren’t Jack? We’ve seen them all in life or death situations and we’ve seen them all react to their teammates in peril, there is no question that Jack and Sam’s reactions here are different.
This truly is a turning point in their relationship. Despite agreeing that "none of this has to leave this room," we know that nothing is ever that simple and now Sam and Jack have to work with one another with the knowledge that the other person reciprocates their "inappropriate" feelings.
As an episode I’d give it 4/5
For shippyness I gotta go with a 5 because of the reveal!
And here is what others had to say about this landmark episode...
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| Gif posted by anna_sg1 on tumblr |
"My favourite scene has to be that backward glance Jack gives Sam as he is taken down the corridor to be tested. The anxiety on her face shows that she knows just what he's facing and that moment of understanding pretty much froze time for me. There's so much in that look - dread, anticipation, resignation, sacrifice - that I think words wouldn't have done justice to it."-- Ikorni (We've introduced her before, she created our lovely icons/avatars!)
picardythirds tells the forum that her "FAVOURITE scene in D&C is where the flashback goes to the back where Sam says "Sir, Just Go!" And Jack, who's been beating away at the shield just says "NO" with such force, intensity and emotion and....The looks she gives him and especially the look he gives
her, as if he's just suddenly come face to face with just how deeply his feelings run..."
Check out hlndncr's Shippy Moments from Upgrades and keep scrolling down that page because you'll see some beautiful banners she created around these two episodes before she also gives us those awesome moments from D & C!
As for her opinion of this episode, she has this to say, "I love that right after Jack is declared a za'tarc he goes to Sam. During that discussion in Sam's room/cell, he actually admits his vulnerability and fear to her. I think that's a very big tell for how far Jack really has fallen for Sam. He doesn't prevaricate or wise crack; he's very open with her. He trusts her." And for those of us who love the Angst...
"We often focus on Jack's confession, 'I'd rather die myself than lose Carter.' But he says something before that I think is worth pointing out. He is asked how he felt as he stood at the force field looking at Sam with Jaffa coming around the corner poised to kill her. He is in no immediate danger at that point but he says he felt "like someone who was about to die." Perhaps worse than losing Sam would be watching Sam die right in front of him, helpless to do anything. That would have destroyed him."
If you cannot participate in any other way today, please take out your Stargate DVDs and take an hour out of your day to relax and watch Divide and Conquer. *Shippy Sigh*
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