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

1969

This episode is a cult classic. Yeah, it’s really silly and the time travel aspects didn’t make much sense, but it was a lot of fun. Some might even call it groovy.

There were a bunch of great moments, so I’m sure I’ll miss a few, but here are my favorites:

• During Jack’s interrogation: “I’ll be honest with you, Bob. My name’s not Kirk. It’s Skywalker, Luke Skywalker.”
  
• Michael to Teal’c: “Your thing, that thing, what’s it symbolize? Peace?” “Slavery, to false gods.” “Right on.”
  
• “The war with Canada?”
  
• Teal’c driving!
  
• Daniel’s horrible German accent.
  
• Just about everything Jenny and Michael said. They were really cute. 
  

My Rating: 9/10

The Enemy Within

Kawalsky ended the last episode with a larval Goa’uld in his head. After the Goa’uld took control of Kawalsky’s body in this episode, he started acting like a big, mean jerk and demanded to be sent back to Chulak. Why did the Goa’uld have such a bad attitude? I’m guessing he was not content wearing that drab military uniform. He would have felt much more comfortable in a robe fashioned out of a 1970’s loveseat. Maybe something with a little fringe.

The team tried to remove the parasite from Kawalsky, but ultimately it was too late. After a brief struggle with Teal’c, the back of Kawalsky’s head was snipped off when the wormhole disengaged. This was accentuated with a dramatic eye twitch and what appeared to be an overcooked dumpling that fell to the floor. Kawalsky was dead. We hardly knew him.

A couple interesting things happened in this episode. Jack made his first Wizard of Oz reference. “That’s right Dorothy, it was all a dream.” The franchise also started its tradition of killing doctors, as Dr. Nimziki was on the receiving end of a broken neck. Poor guy never saw it coming.

Teal’c decided to try something a little different this episode and wore his tattoo upside down for a while. I bet that hurt.

My Rating: 7/10