The Fifth Man

Yes, I suck. Sorry for the long delay. I’ve been a little distracted. I appreciate the people who sent messages urging me to post more.

The Excuse: I am starting a tiny, itty-bitty record label with the few spare dollars I have. I wanted to get the website up and running before I got super busy again. This was a problem, because I barely know how to turn on a computer. Me = the dumb. After futzing around with the page for a very long time, I finally made a template the looks kinda jazzy and meets a few web standards.

You can see it here: Hello Velo Records. Bonus points for anyone who is an interweb wizard and wants to give me advice/tips/tell that I don’t suck.

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This episode is going to be tough to review, because not much really happened. The writers basically stated in dialogue that we would never see Reole again. Colonel Simmons was up to no good, and Hammond got grumpy. Dr. Fraiser saved the day by breaking some rules.

I thought the Tyler character was neat. The premise about him creating a false memory seemed like a stretch, though. I can see why his people hide their identities. They are not an attractive race. At least Jack found a fishing buddy.

It happens in a lot of episodes, but it always annoys me when the team gets put in a holding cell. With all the crazy stuff that goes on, you’d think that SG-1 would get the benefit of the doubt. I also thought Hammond would have made a better effort to find Jack.

Overall, a forgettable episode, but it’s good to be back.

Rating: 5/10

2010

This might be the prettiest episode produced by SG-1. There was a grand plot, an interesting new race, and some great team moments. So why did I find it unsatisfying? Well, it fell into the alternate reality trap. Everything in this episode, essentially, never happened, which ultimately devalued the drama. There was some fun speculation, but it had little influence on the series as a whole.

I love to compare the superficial differences in alternate reality episodes. First off, Dr. Fraiser’s hair looked fantastic! She always struck me as the motherly type, but she looked down right foxy with that cut. I liked Sam’s gelled up hair, too. Daniel had a new pair of glasses, which are actually in style now. It took me a couple of moments to realize it, but Teal’c had his tattoo removed.

I thought the triangle between Ambassador Joe, Sam, and Jack was intriguing. It was pretty clear that Jack felt letdown by Sam, and Joe didn’t trust Jack. Since Sam sucks at dating, she must have picked Joe over Jack at some point. It was strangely typical of her to fall for a guy who was complicit in genocide.

There was one other thing that caught my attention. This was the first time I watched this episode since Don S. Davis passed away. It was sad to hear the toast to General Hammond knowing that he really is gone.

Oh, and Kinsey as the President was not a pleasant thought.

My Rating: 7/10

The Curse

Poor Teal’c. He was roped into fishing an empty lake with Jack. The whole team was given personal time after the death of Daniel’s former professor, Dr. Jordan. Sam spent her time working on a motorcycle with Sergeant Siler.

At the funeral, Daniel met up with some of his former colleagues. Sarah, his ex-lady friend, and Steven, who had always been jealous of Daniel, were surprised to see him after a five year absence from the academic circle. They had been studying some rare artifacts with Dr. Jordan before an explosion killed the scholar. When Daniel saw the pieces, he knew something was wrong.

Two of the artifacts were vessels for Goa’uld symbiotes. The snakes had been held in stasis for thousands of years. One of the Goa’ulds, Isis, died after the seal broke. The container holding Osiris was missing along with a golden amulet.

Daniel, Sam, and Dr. Fraiser traveled to Egypt suspecting the Goa’uld had taken Steven. He was already unconscious when they arrived at an isolated ruin. Osiris was actually inside Sarah. After beating up the team and zapping Daniel’s brain, she escaped in a buried ship.

Dating Daniel definitely has drawbacks. Let’s go down the list of his known lovers up to this point. Sha’uri – taken as a host. Sarah – taken as a host. Hathor – Goa’uld queen. Shyla – pretended to be a Goa’uld. Ke’ra – the destroyer of worlds. The best of the bunch might have been the cavewoman he hooked up with during “The Broca Divide.”

After all that, he’s still better at dating than Sam. She turned down another cabin offer in this episode. Grr…

My Rating: 9/10

Small Victories

“I don’t know, Carter, you may not be dumb enough.”

How much did I like this episode? So much that I can forgive the producers for that blonde thing growing on Teal’c’s chin.

The surviving Replicator we saw at the end of “Nemesis” boarded a Russian submarine and killed the crew. Fearing an international incident, the US government picked up the abandoned sub and towed it to a harbor. Despite Jack’s advice, the military wanted to study the bugs and ordered a reconnaissance mission. The mission did not go well.

In the meantime, Thor arrived at the SGC looking for a few dumb ideas. An Asgard homeworld was about to be invaded by Replicators, and they hoped human strategy and ingenuity might be able to overcome their technological limitations. Sam was sent on the field trip.

Daniel spent most of this episode watching monitors, but he also realized the Replicators on the submarine were made out of steel. Which meant they would short circuit and corrode in the seawater. If the lone Replicator that survived the crash could be destroyed, the rest of the bugs could be eliminated with a torpedo.

Jack and Teal’c volunteered for the new mission. They managed to kill the motherbug, but the other Replicators were not happy. Trapped on the ship with no escape, Jack ordered the destruction of the sub while they was on board. The torpedoes were launched.

After learning that Thor likes the yellow ones, Sam devised a plan to save the Asgard. She convinced Thor to send his newest ship, the O’Neill, into hyperspeed and allow the Replicator controlled ships to chase it. Much to Jack’s dismay, the O’Neill was set to self-destruct. The explosion was large enough to destroy the Replicators, because they lowered their shield to follow it.

Back on Earth, Thor beamed Jack and Teal’c out of the submarine just before it went kaboom. The bugs were squashed in both galaxies, but it was just a small victory against an imposing foe. The Replicators will be back.

A couple more things:

• I liked Sam’s new haircut, but there were moments when she looked a little frumpy. However, she looks cute even when she’s frumpy.
  
• I can’t believe Sam rejected Jack’s fishing trip offer again. The thought of Thor fishing is pretty amusing, though.
  
• “They had asses?”
  

My Rating: 10/10 

Nemesis

Daniel had an appendectomy, so the rest of SG-1 was put on leave. However, Jack’s fishing trip was canceled after he was transported to Thor’s ship, which was orbiting Earth. The Beliskner was infested with mechanical, bug-like creatures, and Thor was in critical condition.

Ladies and gentleman, meet the Replicators. Aren’t they pretty? The Replicators plagued the Asgard galaxy for years and now planned to take over Earth. The only way to prevent their invasion would be to blow up the ship. Oh, and Thor didn’t think there was a way off the ship.

Sam and Teal’c ignored Jack’s order and beamed up with a load of explosives. Apparently, they didn’t want to miss the action. It’s a good thing they showed up, because Thor quickly shot down Jack’s plan.

Sam read the instruction manual, and Teal’c took a space walk. “One small step for Jaffa.” The team eventually destroyed the ship as it entered Earth’s atmosphere, and they were able to escape through the stargate.

Everything appeared to go as planned until a lone replicator was shown crawling on the wreckage in the ocean. Uh oh, “To Be Continued.”

I can’t believe Sam turned down Jack’s offer.

My Rating: 9/10