If they were going for realism, then they were probably told not to show anything but UST between Jack and Sam :O

I never minded the Jack/Sam ship (probably because I was never Jack/Daniel shipper)
I seem to be more het than slash these days ;)
But as you say, I could never see past the big sister relationship between Sam and Daniel to see any potential there :)
I liked that he had a woman in his life who looked out for him, but didn't expect anything sexual from him

Oh god, Meridian kills me everytime I watch it (I watched it last night)
That episode is just stunningly beautiful in it's simplicity *sigh*