May 4, 2023

Claire: Ladies, we need to talk about the episode of Stargate SG-1 in which Cameron Mitchell is framed for murder via memory implant that caused him to confess, because he thinks he did kill the woman he walked home from the diplomatic reception last night.

Sarah: I wonder if it was written by the same person who wrote the similar Voyager episode.

Katie: What exactly do we need to discuss? Sounds super straightforward.

- Text exchange with my research team, January 2023

Sometimes, in researching dead girlfriends, I come across an episode of television that is simply so egregiously sexist that it makes me scream. The Stargate SG-1 episode "Collateral Damage" (2006-01-13) is one such episode. (It could also make a good subtitle for this blog, but that's neither here nor there.)

Although it is not part of our main Stargate analysis, therefore, I feel it deserves its own post.

What's so bad about this episode?

It involves watching a woman get repeatedly beaten to death by her lover. In other words, it's Intimate Partner Violence on Instant Replay.

Content Warning: Intimate Partner Violence...lots of it. (But I won't show you any clips.)

The Context

The first 8 seasons of Stargate SG-1 were focused on 4 main characters: Colonel O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping), Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Teal'c (Christopher Judge). Before the 9th season, though, RDA left the show, and Amanda Tapping went out on maternity leave, leaving the screenwriters with some gaps to fill.

Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) was the solution they came up with. He was a completely new character whom they retroactively claimed had been shot down in a major battle over Antarctica (which was fought 2 seasons earlier), and who was coming to take over the SG-1 now that he'd recovered from his injuries.

Now, before we go on, I'd like to clarify that I am not trying to diss either Browder as an actor or Mitchell as a character. What I am saying is that it's hard to stick a complete new guy into the ninth season of a well-established show, without irreparably harming the cast dynamics, while still finding the time to develop him as a character. I would also like to point out that, the year before Mitchell materialized, Browder was nearly hired to play John Sheppard on Stargate: Atlantis, and it's entirely possible that Mitchell is just Sheppard with the serial numbers filed off. This Venn Diagram shows what I mean:

In fact, my husband - who has watched all of both shows with me - can't tell Mitchell and Sheppard apart, to the point that he routinely mixes up plot points from SG-1 with ones from Atlantis.

Col. Mitchell's character didn't get much fleshing out at first, is what I'm telling you. And so, for his twelfth-ever episode, they decided to cook up a plot that would force us to learn more about him.

The Setup

The Galarans have the technology to implant memories into people's minds. When Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell wakes up with the memory of murdering one of the scientists behind its development, SG-1 must help prove that it is not really his memory and that he is innocent.

- Synopsis of "Collateral Damage"

Dr. Reya Varrick (Anna Galvin) is a scientist who has invented memory-transfer technology for use in things like training scenarios. At a party to celebrate Earth-Galara relations, she flirts with Mitchell and asks him to walk her home...then offers him a drink...then mentions she lives alone, since separating from her husband...then kisses Mitchell...and then gets viciously beaten to death with a knickknack.

Not where anyone hoped that evening was going, I'm sure.

As far as Mitchell can remember, he's the one who picked up the decorative statue and murdered her in a rage. But since he has no motive whatsoever, no history of violence against women, and plenty of plot armor, his team convinces the other memory scientists to investigate whether that memory was implanted. To do so, they connect him to a machine and ask him to take them through some of his genuine memories, for comparison.

What's the Payoff?

Well, we learn a few things about Mitchell's personal history. But more to the point, we watch Dr. Varrick's murder no fewer than 5 separate times. Also, when they replay his memories, Cam remembers it from both the murderer's and victim's perspective, somehow. This means the audience gets to alternate between watching a viewpoint character beat a woman, and watching our show's new hero beat the viewpoint character.

Image description: screaming feminist GIF via GIPHY

Sam: You ok?

Cam: No.

That makes two of us, Cam.

At best, the whole thing is massively triggering for anyone who's been a victim of intimate partner violence - which is 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men, aka a lot of people. (Source) 

At worst, it might be dog-whistling the kind of audience member who enjoys watching violence against women. I doubt that was intentional, since this show is not otherwise in the habit of gratuitously abusing women, but that's how it comes across in this case.

But why??? Were they trying to let the audience solve the mystery?

Seemingly not. Every time we see the murder, it's from the exact same angles and with no new information. Even outside of the instant-replay scenes, the episode is not a whodunit - or at least, not a fair play whodunit, in which the audience has a fair chance at solving the mystery based on the information presented. In this case, the clues presented are all red herrings pointing to a government coverup. The real killer's identity is not hinted at until close to the end of the episode, when Cam is suddenly able to remember that one of the scientists testing him, who is also Varrick's estranged husband, was present at the murder scene.

Marell: This is insane! I loved her!

Mitchell: But she left you, didn't she. And you never got over it. Then you saw me leave the party with her...

Turns out, Marell killed Dr. Varrick, then removed his own memory of doing so and put it into Cam's head.

It was her husband?

Isn't it always? 1 in 3 murdered women are killed by intimate partners, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. That means women are more likely to be murdered by their husbands than by anyone else. 

Oof. Here, have a picture of my cat to cheer you up.

In-universe, this also means that when Col. Mitchell thought he could remember an act of Intimate Partner Violence, he wasn't wrong. He just remembered the wrong perpetrator. And that means the audience has just watched an IPV femicide murder, over and over. Because the episode makes you see it - I cannot stress this enough - FIVE freaking times.

How's the episode end?

The Galaran authorities doctor Marell's memory so that he thinks Dr. Varrick died in an accident. In their opinion, letting him get away with murder is worth it so long as he gets back to work on perfecting his memory-control technology.

Seriously?!

Yes. To the screenwriters' credit, this is presented as an unjust ending. Cam in particular is furious about it. 

Gen. Landry: I read your report. I'm not sure I've ever seen language like that used in an official Air Force document before.

The main characters vow to never have any further relationship with Galara.

Despite that, however, the final scenes involve Cam reflecting not on what happened to Dr. Varrick, but on his first memory he has of killing innocent people (a convoy of refugees he accidentally air-striked back when he was a fighter pilot.) This earlier memory was key to proving his innocence, because it provided a baseline for how he usually feels when committing a murder.

That's a sentence, isn't it? Hang on a sec while I try not to puke.

Try a ginger chew.

Thanks. ANYWAY. The episode's title, "Collateral Damage," is a reference to the refugees who got killed in a war they didn't start. But it could just as easily apply to Reya Varrick, who got killed to further Cam Mitchell's character development. Or, for that matter, to the 20 Americans per minute who get physically abused by their intimate partners - collateral damage of a culture that hasn't done enough to stop IPV. While I'm crowning this episode as "The Most Gratuitously Sexist Stargate Entry," therefore, I also want to pause and remind you of two important things.

Intimate Partner Violence is Wrong.

Full stop. And...

If you need help, it's available.

If you or someone you love needs help, we are here 24/7/365.

✔️CALL: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
✔️TTY: 1-800-787-3224
✔️CHAT: https://t.co/qCu0T8LM6p
✔️TEXT: "START" to 88788

Free and confidential for anyone in the U.S. or the U.S. territories. pic.twitter.com/o71MtH286B

— National Domestic Violence Hotline (@ndvh) December 30, 2022