Beast of Burden

The Unas episodes just don’t do it for me. This one was particularly hard to watch, because the story slowly plodded along. The resolution wasn’t very satisfying, either.

About three-fourths of the show was dedicated to explaining how slavery is bad. Really, was this a moral question that needed to be tackled? It was such an obvious point. I felt like the writers were almost preaching to a group of third graders.

The twist at the end was much more interesting than the rest of the story. It created a true moral dilemma. Rather than focusing on this, the writers just sent the team home. This likely resulted in a rebellion that benefited neither side and led to more death and more hostility. Brilliant.

The one positive that came out of this mess was that we got an excellent Jack O’Neill-ism. “Yeah, I know, the grass always looks cleaner.”

Rating: 2/10

The First Ones

I thought this one was a little boring. The translation scenes with the Unas were enough to make me say, “meh.” However, It was neat to see the Goa’uld in their natural environment.

As a guy, am I allowed to say that Daniel’s eyes looked pretty in this episode? Probably not. Maybe that’s why he makes so many friends. I wish my peepers weren’t poop brown.

I didn’t get the stuff about Rothman being a Goa’uld all along. Why didn’t he stay on Earth after he notified the SGC? Surely, he could have created more problems from there. I think the writers just wanted to give Jack a chance to shoot him. Poor guy.

I liked Daniel’s line, “It’s funny. I met my father-in-law like this.”

Rating: 4/10

Demons

I’m back. There was some unfortunate news for Stargate fans while I was away. Don S. Davis, the actor who played General Hammond, passed away. He was 65 years old.

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Onto the review…

The guy who wore a leather beanie in “Cor-ai” showed up again. Apparently, he is only allowed to appear in boring episodes that feature infuriatingly ignorant villagers. I was happy they killed the Canon.

My biggest complaint about this episode was how the ring wasn’t discussed more. How did the villagers get it? Where did it come from? Why didn’t they use it against the Unas? The explanation of how the villagers were Christians was pretty weak, too.

We learned there were more than one Unas. Sadly, they all don’t speak like James Earl Jones. We also learned that Teal’c can hold his breath for a really long time.

Bonus point for the Dr. Evil impersonation and Sam’s reaction.

My Rating: 3/10

Thor’s Hammer

There was a lot in this episode. We learned the Goa’uld didn’t build the stargate network. The Asgard were introduced, even though we didn’t actually meet the little, gray guys. However, the team did meet an Unas.

I’ve always liked the Asgard stories, because they offer a sense of wonderment and hope. In this episode, Daniel met a kooky hippy named Kendra, who proved Sha’uri could be separated from her symbiote. Unfortunately, he had to destroy Thor’s Hammer and his best chance to save Sha’uri in order to free Teal’c from an underground prison. 

While Teal’c and Jack were stuck in the labyrinth, they had a less than friendly encounter with an Unas. This hungry Unas was several thousand years old and voiced by James Earl Jones. The combination of his voice and extreme age made me think of the “This is CNN” commercials that air during Larry King Live. Bethesda, Maryland. Hello. 

I doubt the Unas had been married as many times as Larry King.  

The show ends with SG-1 giving the Vikings a lunchbox. Gee thanks, you blew up our planetary defense, but now we can conveniently store sandwiches on long trips. That sounds fair.

My Rating: 8/10