Season 1 Episode 1 - Children of the Gods
By Jess
Brief summary:
In the first episode of the series, a typical day at the seemingly defunct SGC turns not so typical when a hostile enemy comes through the Stargate, killing several guards and kidnapping one. Jack O’Neill is pulled out of retirement once again and is sent through the Stargate to retrieve Doctor Daniel Jackson from the planet Abydos. In the process, Daniel’s wife Sha’re and brother-in-law Skaara are taken by Apophis (the aforementioned hostile enemy) to become hosts for a race of aliens known as the Goa’uld. In an attempt to free Sha’re and Skaara, the newly commissioned SG-1 meets an unlikely ally.
The Sam and Daniel point of view:
Not that it’s very important at all, but we can see the tension and friction between Sam and Jack when they first meet. You can tell how their personalities clash even back then, and such friction does not a good relationship make (at least in my opinion). But, enough about Jack and Sam.
Flash forward to their arrival at Abydos. Sam, true to form, goes all ga-ga over the DHD while Jack and Daniel are getting reacquainted. Jack actually has to point Daniel out to her. Once he does, though, you can see how much respect she has for him. All the time she’s spent studying the Stargate, she must have learned something about him and gained deep admiration for him. The way her face lights up as she introduces herself to him, it makes her seem like a fan girl. Okay, maybe that’s poor choice of words, but you get the idea. Also interesting is the way she introduces herself to him. She says “Doctor Samantha Carter”, to which Jack says “I thought you liked to be called ‘Captain.’”
Sha’re kisses Daniel and it’s possible to see a hint of jealousy in Sam’s expression. Once they enter the area with the cartouche, Daniel seems to know her well already as he says “Captain Doctor, you’re going to love this.” Hee hee. Here we have the very first instance of his cute little “Captain Doctor” moniker. Daniel is such a cutie. :)
As Daniel is explaining what he thinks the cartouche symbolizes, and about why he thinks it represents stargates from all over the galaxy, he and Sam get into a little discussion about stellar drift and why the gate still works for Abydos. When he suggests that maybe the planets drift apart, Sam smiles and says, “I knew I’d like you.” The foundations for the Sam/Daniel friendship have been laid down! They get really into it and end up finishing each other’s sentences. You can tell how they’re really quite alike, and of course Kawalsky’s “Okay, so what did we just figure out?” line is hilarious.
After Sha’re and Skaara are taken and Daniel gives his farewell to the Abydonians, Sam watches and it seems that she really admires him for it – how he really seems to care about these people he spent more than a year of his life with.
At the first briefing, we see Daniel take a seat next to Sam, and she has a little smile on her face. The smile makes it seem as though she finds him endearing, or perhaps it’s a sympathetic smile, after all he’s been through. I tend to think the former, though … or perhaps a combination of both.
As they’re taking a walk on the planet to which Ferretti had given them the coordinates, Sam asks Daniel to tell her about Sha’re. Daniel seems sort of awkward as he tells her (with some help from Jack) that she was a gift. Sam incredulously asks him, “And you accepted??” This probably ties in to her annoying pseudo-feminist attitude on display in her very first scene, but there could very well be a hint of jealousy at work here as well, especially when she asks him to tell her about Sha’re.
On Chulak when they’re in the hall and see Apophis enter with Sha’re, Daniel tries to get through to her when Apophis gets him with a hand device, hurling him against the wall. Later on, he wakes up inside a cell, along with everyone. It’s Sam who’s right there when he wakes up. Later on, they have a discussion about what’s going on, and Daniel says that they’re living the Book of the Dead.
When Teal’c turns against his fellow serpent guards in order to free the prisoners, Sam and Daniel end up together behind a pile of rubble. How cozy! As they look to see what happens, their faces seem to be saying “is it safe to come out yet?” ;)
After they break out, Jack instructs Daniel to dial the gate, and Sam helps him. After he dials it, he instructs Sam to enter their GDO code so the iris will be opened. Sam starts to get a little impatient when Daniel is trying to find the coordinates in his notebook (how adorable he looks when he licks his fingers before flipping the pages over!). After he finds them, he gives her a triumphant smile as Jack tells them to hurry it up.
Finally, Daniel goes through the gate just after Sam (as instructed by Jack) and she takes hold of him after he walks down the ramp. The two of them make sure all the refugees from Chulak have come through and instruct the airmen at the SGC to hold their fire.
Thus ends the first, busy few days of Sam and Daniel’s friendship. It’s only the very beginning, hasn’t been long since they were first acquainted, yet Sam has tremendous respect for him as well as pity after his wife was taken away from him.
In Summary:
Sam/Daniel moment count: 5
Shippiness factor: 1 (come on, they just met!)