oceana

Now that x5_536 has seen Season 6, I'm not putting these behind cut tags anymore, unless someone insists. So beware, the following text contains Season 6 spoilers.

Descent - Look! It's Pookie in space!
Summary:
SG-1 and Jacob Carter board an abandoned Goa'uld mothership after it mysteriously arrives in Earth space. However, the ship swiftly becomes a death trap and they must escape before it crashes into the ocean. (Summary stolen from www.stargatefan.com)

Somehow, I missed this episode the first time they showed it. Stupid me, to miss one of the better Season 6 episodes.

We start with a boring "Previously, on Stargate SG-1", because most viewers can't remember what they had for breakfast, let alone what happened on a TV show last week.
Then the new team, Pookie and Jacob Carter are shown on board of a cargo ship on their way to the abandoned mothership flying in earth's orbit.
Jonas is grinning like a mad man.
Jack:"What are you smiling at?" (This is not a question to start some sort of conversation. Jack clearly thinks that no one, least of all Jonas, should have a right to smile at the moment.)
Jonas starts talking about this being his first time, a phrase he will repeat quite a lot during the next 45 minutes. We get it, thanks, stop smiling now.
As a result, Jack doesn't let him play with the mothership, and orders him to stay on board with Teal'C. And what does he do? He argues! That is not your job! It was Daniel's job to argue with Jack's orders, you have no right to do the same!!!
Now I hate Jonas.
Jack, of course, doesn't argue with him, he just tells him that it is an order, and that he doesn't have to explain his orders. He never said that to Daniel. Jack hates Jonas.
So Jonas stays behind, and the Carters, Jack and Major Davis board the mothership. Oh, and some other guy, but he quickly dies and doesn't have to be mentioned.
They find out that some things are wrong with the ship, Jaffa mysteriously appear and are killed by Teal'C. I don't know what happens to them next: somehow, the show never deals with the practical problems of space travel. like, where do you dump three dead Jaffa while you are orbiting earth? Given the amount of dead bodies on Goa'uld ships these days, they probably invented something to dispose of them. It isn't that important, because the ship drops into the ocean, Sam and Jack get wet, Jonas gets to play the hero, and Colonel Uebercool O'Neill is allowed to fly Spacegliders underwater. I'm really, really jealous.

So, why, you ask, was this one of the better Season 6 episodes?

Because it was all about the team, the new team. Which means it was all about Jonas, even though he was on the cargo ship with Teal'C most of the time.
In this episode, we learn to hate Jonas, and then we learn that we have to accept him. And then, later, we learn that he can actually be a nice guy, and that maybe we like him, and that maybe we are allowed to like him without betraying Daniel. (But that doesn't happen until later, when he starts an affair with Teal'C)

From the very beginning it was clear that Jack hated Jonas. I write hate because I really think he does hate him. He accepts him on the team knowing that there is no real reason to hate Jonas, that Daniel'S death isn't Jonas fault, but he still hates him. It's just Jack's way of not admitting his feelings to himself.
Sam doesn't really care about Jonas, but she always tries to be polite and unprejudiced. I don't think she blames Jonas.
I have no idea what Teal'C thinks about him. Of course, later they start an affair, but I don't think he feels attracted to him in this episode. Though there are first signs of interest: his question: "an alien conspiracy?", for example. But in general Teal'C treats Jonas more like a child. He was even a bit arrogant, as far as Teal'C can be arrogant.
Anyway, Jonas was annoying with his child-like smile and his stupid questions, and why on earth did he have to eat a banana??? And then, in the end, when he played the selfless hero, I hated him even more. He was the last person we wanted to save SG-1. I wanted him to be really stupid, to screw up, to ruin the mission and to get thrown off the team.
And I guess that's exactly what the writers wanted me to do.
They knew how popular Daniel Jackson was, and they had to expect that the fans wouldn't except his replacement just like this. So they made us hate Jonas, but in a nice way, they made him annoying enough to not like him, but they didn't let him do anything that can't be forgiven. And they made it clear that Jack hates him, or that he at least isn't happy with him on the team, but again, they wouldn't let Jonas do anything that would give Jack a real reason to hate Jonas.
And at the end of the episode, when Jack says "All members of SG-1 present and accounted for.", the message is clear:
"Accept Jonas Quinn and try to live with him, because you aren't going to get back Daniel any time soon."
And they are right of course. Jonas isn't a bad guy, I actually came to like him later in Season 6. He doesn't deserve to be hated just because he isn't Daniel. So, Jonas-wise this was an important episode.

Other nice moments included:
-Jacob telling Jack " None of this makes any sense, so before you go slapping a US Air Forse sticker on the side of this ship".
(For obvious reasons that makes me think of a naked Daniel lying on Jack's bed with a "Property of the US Air Force" sticker on his butt)

-WetJack. (WetJack is always good and doesn't need any further explanation)

-WetSam. Sorry Jack, but Sam looks really cute when she is wet. She distracted me a little.

-Peter DeLuise. *g*

Other things weren't as nice, for example Teal'C. Is it part of some evil scheme or do they just forget to give him something to do? He doesn't even get funny lines any more, just "This should not be closed." and "They are no longer a threat to us". Stating the obvious there, Teal'C.
Also, looking at Major Davis made me a little sad. He so isn't over Daniel yet. He still looked as if he was close to tears, and it made me a little sad to see him suffer like that. I admire him for being able to work with Jack. Jack, the one man who got what he couldn't have. I'm not saying that Daniel didn't love Paul, but it was so clear that he loved Jack more. He didn't even hesitate to leave Paul to be with Jack.
Paul knows that, and Jack knows that as well. But they understand each other, they understand how much the other one hurts. Poor Pookie!
Still, looking at Jack hurts even more. Okay, so he made some stupid jokes, like "Major shrinkage", but he seemed subdued. Especially when he was arguing with Jacob at the beginning of the ep. His rather harsh reminder that standing orders for SG-1 are to bring back technology was a sign of that. Normally, he would have made some witty comment.
I still miss Daniel, and I can't look at Jack without seeing his pain. But I'm looking forward to watching the rest of Season 6.
Again. *g*