Sam Carter: From Love to Ugh and Back Again?

Disclaimers: This is an editorial and as such, this editorial may be offensive, but keep those flying tomatoes at bay. Also, this editorial may contain S7 spoilers.

Written By: BadVoyage

There seems to be a growing “strong unfavorable opinion” of the character Sam Carter in Season 7. These opinions range from strong jaded dislike to staunch defense of the character. I dare not speak for anyone else (because I do not want to be hit by flying tomatoes), but let me tell you about my feelings towards Sam.

I used to like her, a lot, and now I have just about had more than enough of the character. After losing a few nights of sleep mulling it over, I realized that like many fans, I did not dislike the character per se. The character had a very interesting history and could have been built upon further. However, the PTB chose to ignore her history, made Sam into this Super-Scientist, and focused more-than-enough-screen-time-to-last-a-lifetime on her love life. I asked myself, what happened? It was as if I was watching an alternate Sam! Therefore, I decided to reason this out to see if it made sense to me.

When Sam first appeared in “Children of the Gods,” I saw a strong-willed, independent, no-nonsense Air Force Captain, who could provide interesting dynamics and be a foil for Jack’s flippant attitude. When Sam introduced herself to Daniel, I saw the facet of a very intelligent scientist, who was both fascinated and inquisitive about the technology beyond the ken of the limited knowledge of 20th century science. The encounter with Cassie showed me an ordinary woman full of maternal instincts and love. The episode “Solitudes” showed me a fallible human being who could not solve a puzzle for the life of her, and who showed compassion and comfort for her near-death boss and teammate. The advent of the Tok’ra, the possession by Jolinar, and meeting her dad, Jacob, brought more quality aspects to the character. I was fascinated, enthralled, and most of the time, expectant of how Sam would come out of the next situation she found herself in, what would happen to her next.

All in all, Sam Carter was very well written. Everything that happened to her brought more depth to the character, more facets to the human being who is Sam Carter. From one episode to the next, there were times when she had a stroke of brilliance and discovered a solution; other times she was frustrated and thoroughly defeated, seemingly blaming her human-ness and limited knowledge. There were even hints of moments of self-confidence issues and determination to learn more.

The writers created a very interesting character, full of potentials, filled with aspects of character to expose, explore, and grow. Many of those dimensions came out in Seasons 1 through 3. Perhaps inadvertently, perhaps deliberate fantastic writing.

In Season 4, the character began a downward spiral of character degradation. In the beginning, the changes were not as noticeable because they were usually counter-balanced by the abundant presence of her other teammates. The chemistry of her teammates helped mask the badly written characteristics of Sam. However, in one episode after another, the character continued to gravitate toward a one-dimensional, uninteresting, and over-the-top character that I couldn’t connect with, culminating in my adamant voicing of displeasure with the character.

Season 7 brought about a Sam that is completely unrecognizable to me. Not all the characteristics that made Sam great in the previous seasons were present in Season 7. The super-scientist Sam came out in full-force. She had complete understanding of the Gao’uld crystal technology. In Lifeboat, she did not even blink an eye as she went to fix the aliens’ cryogenic system. In Chimera, she developed a device to block an Asgard-enhanced Gao’uld transport beam. In Revisions, she was able to interface her laptop to an alien advanced computer system. In Grace, she was able to pull the knowledge out of a hat to shift the Prometheus out of the Third Dimension by using the sub light engines to create some bubble thingy (whatever!).

It’s turned out that there’s no technology she can’t handle, no circumstances that can make her stumble. So then, what’s left to fascinate her, to challenge her? Any attempt to show Sam being in a place of peril, or about to face an insurmountable task is negated by the fact she can and will come out of it unscathed. It takes away her fallibility, her vulnerability, and the fascination at solving a puzzle. What it’s left me with is an uninteresting, incredulous, and blatantly artificial character that I can’t connect with.

In Grace, there were many opportunities to explore Sam’s psyche that could have brought the character to new heights of character growth. Sam was injured and left alone in space. She was attacked by an unknown hostile alien spaceship. Then she was trapped in a nebula. As she frantically worked on trying to save herself and the Prometheus, supposedly not knowing whether she would survive or not, she began to reflect on how loveless her life has been. She felt she needed someone to love, someone who would love her. She revealed to herself that she unconsciously placed her heart with Jack, whom she knew she could not afford to love.

She completely lost my respect when she deigned to contemplate giving up her career on the off chance she could be with Jack. The Stargate program was her dream come true. The military was the life to which she’d dedicated herself. She was willing to forgo everything she worked so hard to achieve for the love of one man?

This was not the Sam that I knew and loved! What happened? I asked myself. Why did the PTB write the character this way? Wasn’t there anything else that Sam felt sad about leaving behind? What about her love for Cassie? What about her renewed relationship with her Dad? What about her friends? What about any feelings of inadequacy that she might have? Would this event perhaps have brought out the insecurity that she had all along, that led her to constantly excel and always try to learn more? Was this experience the scariest in her life, the nadir of bad experiences? None of those dimensions of her character were exposed and explored. She was consumed by the lack of her love life, and of course, being the Super-Scientist, there was never a doubt she wouldn’t make it out alive. I gave the writers the benefit of a doubt with this episode and it came out very disappointing.

I’ve found that I’m not alone in my disappointment. However, although many fans and I may be complaining about Sam, closer examination would reveal that it’s the way the character has been written that we’re complaining about, that we’re disappointed in how the character has evolved. At the same time, many of us are lamenting the loss of the S1-S3 character.

Perhaps if Sam were badly written from the get-go, then there might not be as many complaints, as much disappointment, as there appears to be now. To the staunch defenders of the Sam character: Hark! We love the character too, and that is why we complain. We cannot be complacent and let the writers drive the character to the ground. I sincerely hope the writers pay heed and bring back the Sam of old, then build upon the different aspects of the character. Let her love life be AN aspect of the growth, not the sole aspect. Let the character encounter circumstances that would humble her so she can learn humility, be fallible, be a human being, and be a fascinated scientist again.

If the writers will write Sam that way again, then I will look forward to being enthralled, fascinated, and enthused about the character.

Posted by Dana Jeanne at March 5, 2004 05:34 PM