Well...... this was an interesting episode which brought together a few storylines...... The Russian angle, Col Simmons and the pet Goa'uld, Maybourne and his ongoing relationship with Jack and even explored very mildly Sam and a brief but irritable connection with an USAF civilian scientist in the same game as she was. And this episode provides the reason for Simmons being taken out of the Stargate equation altogether. He tries to blackmail Hammond using information he got from his captive Goa'uld and in the end gets bubbled by Jack and arrested by Hammond. So... is it bye bye Simmons?
I am still not sure about the whole episode though. I have mixed feelings. As usual, it was well done and well acted. I have no issues with either..... But they left the Goa'uld kinda hanging around in a cage, after Jack and Maybourne broke into an NID safe house to probe him about how to get Teal'c out of his predicament.
It also looks as though Tanith may have been killed. At the very beginning of the episode just before Teal'c stepped into the gate we clearly saw Tanith sitting at the controls of the ship which subsequently crashed into the ground before the gate, shot down by Teal'c and his cannon type weapon. In fact Teal'c disobeys an order to go through the gate in order to kill Tanith and thereby ends up trapping himself inside the stargate.
However, as usual we don't get to see a body.... and I am not convinced Tanith is dead. However, it brings to light the disquieting fact that ultimately, Teal'c has this 'Jaffa revenge' thing going on and this is starting to bother Jack, big time. In fact the first comment Teal'c makes when they finally get him back, at the end, to Jack's question whether he is okay... is that he is fine....Tanith is dead...which apparently is the only thing that mattered to him.
They may ultimately have to realise that it will be hard for Teal'c to break with his upbringing and the idea of revenge and that it might well come first even if earth were desperately under threat. Teal'c does not have earth as his priority or even his own people. Revenge is apparently his top priority.
We didn't get to see Jack disposing of Col Simmons pet Goa'uld, and the last thing we see is them shutting him in his cage while they go off to look at tapes, because he won't give Jack the information as to how to get Teal'c safely out of the stargate pattern buffer without them letting him go. We have to assume that they didn't kill him. Which I suppose leaves it open for him to perhaps escape and wreak havoc. Although I think his priority might be to try to leave earth anyway.
There were a couple of vaguely amusing scenes between Sam and the civilian scientist, especially when in spite of her hostility, he told her she was a dumb blonde and very sexy! Among other comments.
Daniel and Major Davis had some major scenes with the Russians and both were excellent in them, as was the Russian General. Through Daniel and his honesty and finally quite simply saying 'please may we borrow your DHD?', the Russians agreed to lend them the DHD and the information gleaned from the tapes in the NID safe house where Simmons interrogated the Goa'uld helped save Teal'c.
Jack tells Teal'c that he actually owes his life to a Goa'uld and Teal'c refuses to believe him.
I have deliberately not quoted the script verbatim, because I can't be bothered with that crap. I have just brought out the scenes I thought had the most validity and commented on them. But no doubt some stalwart will hasten to post a sentence by sentence, scene by scene, blow by blow account as well!
Didn't mind the episode, but it still dealt too much with the conspiracy crap, which IS crap and boring. And for Teal'c fans? I wouldn't bother to watch it hoping for lots of him.... because you saw him at the beginning, disobeying orders and supposedly killing Tanith....and then you saw him at the end, stepping through the gate, unaware that there has been any kind of fiasco going on to get him back and deeply satisfied that he has indulged himself yet again in a revenge-fest. Which, in all honesty, doesn't show him in a very good light at all. In fact it makes him look like a rather selfish sort of character. Almost as selfish as the species he professes to hate so much.
For god's sake, when are they going to get back out there and get on with the thing that made me watch Stargate in the first place?
Sometime never, I think..... In fact I won't hold my breath... Not enough breath to hold anyway!
:dead:
