Rewatching Together

Sorry there was no post yesterday, the weekend had me pretty occupied, and that bled over onto Monday. I’m going to do a short post today about yesterday’s episode, then I’ll do another one tonight for today’s.

In Smoke and Mirrors, we get an assassination that I didn’t really feel too bad about. I mean, yeah, Kinsey was a US Senator, he was a human being, but he got no sympathy from me, and I just about can say that he had it coming. He manipulated his constituents while berating them behind closed doors, was clearly only in his profession for the power, and only did the right thing when blackmailed. He doesn’t deserve his office, and I was just as displeased as O’Neill at the end when he smugly thanked the colonel for winning him his election. Bastard.

This episode was a little predictable, but I liked it anyway. It had a lot of elements that appeal to me, with the NID and… well… smoke and mirrors. I knew immediately that it couldn’t have actually been O’Neill, in earnest, shooting Kinsey. I had forgotten about the holographic device from Foothold, but I had guessed that it was some sort of high-tech disguise or illusion, and that the NID might be tied up in the operation somehow. And when Jonas and Teal’c approached Brody’s, I mean Dr. Langham’s house, I figured it was Langham using the device to pretend to be someone else at the SGC. I was actually a little surprised he said that he was, in fact, Brent Langham, but I suppose it’s easier than coming up with, and selling, an excuse. Actually, what I didn’t see coming was that Major Davis’ appearance was falsified. That twist was pretty good. Then finally, when Agent Devlin returned to his shadowy superiors, I pretty much expected it to really be Sam. All that said though, whether I foresaw it or now, this episode was thoroughly enjoyable, and the coverup was pretty impressive too. I wasn’t sure how they would sell the whole thing to the public, but they did it well. Thanks for reading!

~Bryan

Pressed for Information

Ok, here we are. I guess these two episodes were mostly separate stories, really only being joined by end-scene spatial juxtaposition. Anyway, when we open with Prometheus, the main concern is that there is a pesky reporter doing things and saying things and finding out things that displeases the US Air Force quite a bit. This whole aspect of this episode actually really concerns me. Yes, the reporter was mildly irritating (trying to be polite here…), and yes, to be completely honest her story did need to be shut down. But wow, I was pretty disturbed, and really kind of angry, at the lengths to which they went to track her. Followed her email, phonecalls, had her being watched/tailed. This is a damn private citizen, thank you very much. And her driver was stopped in the middle of a trip, where Major Davis just lets himself in and ‘negotiates’ in an undeserved, strong-arm manner (although I think I should mention it’s nice to see Major Davis again :D ). This whole encounter, I feel, was dealt with in a wildly inappropriate manner! My guess is that, aside from an awesome climax to an awesome storyline, the writers were trying to make a statement about The Patriot Act. I looked it up, and The Patriot Act was passed into law in October of 2001. This episode originally aired in August of 2002. I don’t know what the shooting schedule exactly was for this season, but it seems like a reasonable enough time-frame for such a theme to be purposeful. And if it was their intention to show how wrong it is for the government to warrantlessly spy on its own citizens for the sake of national security (or to even possess the ability to legally), then I’d say they were successful. And what’s impressive about it is that they did it with characters we all know and love, behaving just as we would expect. It’s a major critique of a very controversial law while remaining respectful to the armed forces, not to mention the characters we’ve all grown attached to. If Daniel Jackson were here -tear-, I’m sure he’d back me up on this, especially being a private citizen himself. Also, if it was not the writers’ intention to shine a spotlight on this issue, then… well… hmm… Hey! Simmons got shot into space! WOO! There’s something nice for the ole instant replay! U MAD BRO?

Ding Dong the Leak is Dead!

Did O’Neill ever figure out for sure that it was Simmons who shot him? Maybourne speculated, but that’s all I think Jack got on it. I guess it doesn’t really matter at this point. I saw a thing on tv once about how long an unprotected human body can survive in space. It wasn’t long. About 4 minutes I think. Really hoping that the Goa’uld makes it more like 7. That’s probably really evil of me, but screw it. Simmons was a pretty big bastard. Great villain, glad to see him get what’s coming to him. However, it makes me wonder if we’ll ever see Maybourne again. I’d really love to have some closure with him some day. Additionally, I’d really hate to not get closure with him. Guess I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed. He was a jerk at first, but he got cool FAST! And speaking of cool, you know how cool it is in space? Simmon’s knows! :D That was also evil of me. I’m probably going to hell for this post, but oh well.

And actually, Conrad is dead, Simmons is dead, but the rest of the rogue team is going to be prosecuted, I’m sure. That’s really interesting to me that there still was a rogue NID team loyal to Simmons. Something tells me ‘no,’ but I wonder if there’s other teams like that out there. Most of them were imprisoned, two of Maybourne’s people died on that mission to fix what they messed up. And now there’s a bunch more locked up. I doubt there’s another guy like Simmons or Maybourne, with similar shenanigans. All in all, throughout the series, there’s been a nice multidimensionality to the NID. There were dubious plots that were extremely questionable, like the operations of Simmons and Maybourne (which surely have been put to an end finally), and opportunistic plots that were mildly questionable, like the one in the Northwest, with the cloned symbiotes. Nice variety there! :D Still, I’m going to miss what I suspect may very well be end of the really sticky, ongoing situations with the organization known as the NID. They had me what “Who the hell are they?!?”

Cap’n Jack

Alright, the Prometheus is awesome. And well-deserved! Go Tau’ri! I love the tenacity in this series. In science fiction, it’s often the trait of humans that aliens are most impressed by, and it’s so well represented here. I’m pretty sure the ship that Eli Wallace was beamed aboard was the Hammond, but I believe I’ve seen the Prometheus as well, under the command of Carter. It’s been a while now since I’ve see my precious SG:U, so I’m a little fuzzy, but it’s so awesome to finally see a giant Earth ship mostly-operational. Also always wondered why the Asgard ships (like Thor’s Chariot) looked so much like the Hammond and the Prometheus… now I know! Finally, it is so like Jack to want to name the ship the Enterprise :P I kind of want to let him, but at the same time… no.

Asking for Directions

Well, good job Asgard, glad your plan worked this time. Oh wait. Actually, I gotta admit, their plan was not only ingenious, it was also really, really cool. Time dilation is pretty nifty, am I right? Oh yeah. On a similarly un-serious note, I love that Thor decided to do things so efficiently while Jack was thinking about what to do. “Ok, let’s just go back Earth really quickly… good. Um, one way or another, these passengers are gonna need to go down… there. They’re gonna need… this food… here’s a change of clothes… What? This all has to be done anyway, and we might as well be prepared when you decide to help. I can put it all back easily enough if you say no, which you won’t. So are we going now? Ok good, thanks. U mad bro?”

Still feel bad for Reese, btw, but I’m at least glad the Asgard found use with her.

Who Is Number One?

So, when SG-1 steps down onto Hala, the scene goes from ‘woah, awesome’ to ‘WOAH, creepy!’ very quickly. The idea of the Replicators layering the ENTIRE PLANET to an unknown degree would be enough for me to freak to the point of heart attack. That’s a lot of Replicators, first of all, even if it was just a thin skin of them. But the idea of them making up the surfaces of the planet, aside from the dust, gives me the creeps. The temple, on the other hand, looked sweet as hell. It made for a good distraction. The human Replicators also freaked me out a bit upon entrance, aside from giving a good damn reason as to why the Asgard device failed to go off. There was an intelligent being there, who turned it off. Reasonable enough, right? I thought so. Anyway, it’s a good thing one of them was human enough to manipulate into screwing over the others. Because the others were EEEEEEEEEVIL. They looked and acted pretty soulless. Children of the corn, basically. I thought it was really cool though, when Sixth was just kind of there when SG-1 returned to the temple after waking up on the Prometheus. And actually, I will say, I feel really bad for Fifth getting tricked like that. And not even necessarily because he was human in spirit, but because he was so innocent. His happiness and cheerfulness was yet another thing that crept me out, but I still feel for him. He was so sad, the disappointment in his eyes. It’s just a shame they weren’t able to tell him what they had to do. Or even better, do what they actually said they would do, and take him with them (which ultimately wasn’t possible).

Number 3

Tahmoh Penikett had a role today as the third human model Replicator. He’s better known for (you guessed it) his role on Battlestar Galactica as Helo, but also on Joss Whedon’s short lived series Dollhouse (though not his shortest lived project, damn you FOX!). According to his IMDb bio, this!: “His father, John, is of British descent and his mother, Lulla, is an aboriginal Canadian from the White River First Nation in the Yukon.His name is pronounced Tah-Moe Penny-Kit.” Interesting stuff. Was wondering about his name. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you tomorrow! Happy Rewatch!

~Bryan

Rewatching Together

The Stargate Rewatch Blog

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Stargate Rewatch Week of January 22nd

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