My review
I swear, next post is going to be a fic. Really! It's in beta.
In the meantime, my thoughts on Insiders if you care about my ramblings, LOL. But in short, first half interesting and exciting, second half very disappointing and aggravating.
I posted it at sg1_solutions, but I'll reprint it here
First, this episode review is being graded on a curve. When I first noticed there would be a bunch of clone Ba'als on Earth, my immediate thought was Ex Deus Machina which, patch scene excepted, was arguably the worst episode of Season Nine, and one of the bottom five worst of the series, in my opinion. Therefore I had low expectations to meet; anything should be an improvement.
This was an improvement, but remember, grading on a curve. There was a lot of potential in this episode. A fine setup, some of the great character moments I adore and character and team development, intriguing mystery to the plot, and conflict. So far, everything looked interesting. Unfortunately, the mystery became dull, the resolution non-existent, and the heroes end up looking like they've been drinking idiot-juice not seen in the Milky Way galaxy since they let RepliCarter onto the Alpha Site (I miss RepliCarter, she was such a cool villain).
But, this is skipping ahead. First, some of the good. Agent Barrett (Peter Flemming) 's appearance made the episode immediately more interesting. Agent Barrett is always an entertaining addition, especially when he interacts with Sam Carter. Then Bill Lee (Bill Dow) appears, and the episode ratchets up two more notches, just because of a completely biased Bill Lee fangirl enthusiasm. I adore that character, well balanced by Dow between competent scientist and bumbling professor. Even Siler made an increasingly rare appearance (hi Dan Shea!), and his role even moved the plot forward rather than just a gratuitous cameo.
So, execution. The various Ba'als were a bit over the top. Ba'al jokes went out soon after Bocce (however Yu jokes...sigh, I miss Yu too), though the cast's ability to constantly refer to them with a straight face was admirable. Cliff Simon played the role with his usual aplomb, and in fact this was one...er several?...of his better appearances as the character. Here was the Ba'al of menace, cunning and snark, the creepy villain of Abyss. His interaction with Teal'c was well played, as was the connection with Vala/Qetesh. Aside from the hints in The Powers That Be, Vala's Goa'uld backstory has really been played with, and it did not disappoint. Also, Carter's nervousness around him/them was understandable considering the Goa'uld's history with both Teal'c and formerly O'Neill.
Landry, by Bridges's presence, retained authority and exuded control, even when it was obvious nothing was in control. His shutdown of Barrett's attempts to take control of Ba'al(s), and his overriding of Lee's plan were in character and seemingly appropriate at the time.
The nod to continuity of Camelot and the other planets was good kept the arc in the background. Ba'al's interest...or even knowledge of it however was somewhat contrived. The capture of the various Goa'ulds was a good field experience with Vala. Her wacky idea and the team's realization of how the rings would work was nice. It was especially nice to see those moments with the veteran female on the team, Sam. Teal'c's body language alone in the first Ba'al interrogation scene was a great choice to portray the issues between the characters. Small quips here and there, and even sidelong glances amongst the main cast gave a sense of this team starting to gel. Daniel's absence was plausibly explained while Shanks was on paternity leave. Mitchell's "not in control" comment to Landry was extremely meta, but very enjoyable.
Unfortunately, soon after the SG-team's "competition" for Ba'al captures, the story fell apart. Even before then, there were hints of problems. Did no one in Colorado see the non-cloaked al'kesh? The Dakara weapon explanation seemed almost unnecessary, since the plot was foiled. It felt like Ba'al's old plotline with the Stargates was just conveniently wrapped up to bring about a new plan. Vala arm wrestling Teal'c, while cute, allowed them both to not be watching the screens (and why wasn't some guards somewhere watching as well?). Why was Barrett allowed in the cell anyway? Landry's orders would take precedence over badge flashing.
Sam's willingness to give into Ba'al's demands for such important data was cliche. Has the black widow curse affected her that much that she handed over some of the SGC's most sensitive data? By Barrett's unusual behavior in that bizarre commissary scene, he wasn't immune from suspicion himself for turning into a Trust member. Why the heck is Ba'al cloning his very recognizable face by this point, why not jump hosts and be in Barrett or anyone by this point?
The locator beacon augmentation was foreseeable long before Carter figured it out. Why hadn't they coordinated the gas release enough by that point that only a couple clones died? Why was Vala on point with three SFs? Why was there a computer set up in a storage room? Why were they almost unconcerned Ba'al just took their gate address database?
Perhaps this is just over-analytical fan nitpicking, but the plot holes within the episode and for the Goa'uld and Ori arcs as a whole were outrageous. If the overall plot and/or action was tighter, a few minor glitches can be glossed over, but the issues here were so profuse, each hole was glaring. The setup of the episode was promising, the resolution was disappointing.
For the various character interactions, the performances, enjoyable scenes and/or dialogue beats between the characters, and the nice special effects of the al'kesh crashing and seamless multiple Ba'al interchanges, this episode gets a "good" rating from me. But that mark is generous, because the plot execution both within the episode and for the story arc was mediocre.
In the meantime, my thoughts on Insiders if you care about my ramblings, LOL. But in short, first half interesting and exciting, second half very disappointing and aggravating.
I posted it at sg1_solutions, but I'll reprint it here
First, this episode review is being graded on a curve. When I first noticed there would be a bunch of clone Ba'als on Earth, my immediate thought was Ex Deus Machina which, patch scene excepted, was arguably the worst episode of Season Nine, and one of the bottom five worst of the series, in my opinion. Therefore I had low expectations to meet; anything should be an improvement.
This was an improvement, but remember, grading on a curve. There was a lot of potential in this episode. A fine setup, some of the great character moments I adore and character and team development, intriguing mystery to the plot, and conflict. So far, everything looked interesting. Unfortunately, the mystery became dull, the resolution non-existent, and the heroes end up looking like they've been drinking idiot-juice not seen in the Milky Way galaxy since they let RepliCarter onto the Alpha Site (I miss RepliCarter, she was such a cool villain).
But, this is skipping ahead. First, some of the good. Agent Barrett (Peter Flemming) 's appearance made the episode immediately more interesting. Agent Barrett is always an entertaining addition, especially when he interacts with Sam Carter. Then Bill Lee (Bill Dow) appears, and the episode ratchets up two more notches, just because of a completely biased Bill Lee fangirl enthusiasm. I adore that character, well balanced by Dow between competent scientist and bumbling professor. Even Siler made an increasingly rare appearance (hi Dan Shea!), and his role even moved the plot forward rather than just a gratuitous cameo.
So, execution. The various Ba'als were a bit over the top. Ba'al jokes went out soon after Bocce (however Yu jokes...sigh, I miss Yu too), though the cast's ability to constantly refer to them with a straight face was admirable. Cliff Simon played the role with his usual aplomb, and in fact this was one...er several?...of his better appearances as the character. Here was the Ba'al of menace, cunning and snark, the creepy villain of Abyss. His interaction with Teal'c was well played, as was the connection with Vala/Qetesh. Aside from the hints in The Powers That Be, Vala's Goa'uld backstory has really been played with, and it did not disappoint. Also, Carter's nervousness around him/them was understandable considering the Goa'uld's history with both Teal'c and formerly O'Neill.
Landry, by Bridges's presence, retained authority and exuded control, even when it was obvious nothing was in control. His shutdown of Barrett's attempts to take control of Ba'al(s), and his overriding of Lee's plan were in character and seemingly appropriate at the time.
The nod to continuity of Camelot and the other planets was good kept the arc in the background. Ba'al's interest...or even knowledge of it however was somewhat contrived. The capture of the various Goa'ulds was a good field experience with Vala. Her wacky idea and the team's realization of how the rings would work was nice. It was especially nice to see those moments with the veteran female on the team, Sam. Teal'c's body language alone in the first Ba'al interrogation scene was a great choice to portray the issues between the characters. Small quips here and there, and even sidelong glances amongst the main cast gave a sense of this team starting to gel. Daniel's absence was plausibly explained while Shanks was on paternity leave. Mitchell's "not in control" comment to Landry was extremely meta, but very enjoyable.
Unfortunately, soon after the SG-team's "competition" for Ba'al captures, the story fell apart. Even before then, there were hints of problems. Did no one in Colorado see the non-cloaked al'kesh? The Dakara weapon explanation seemed almost unnecessary, since the plot was foiled. It felt like Ba'al's old plotline with the Stargates was just conveniently wrapped up to bring about a new plan. Vala arm wrestling Teal'c, while cute, allowed them both to not be watching the screens (and why wasn't some guards somewhere watching as well?). Why was Barrett allowed in the cell anyway? Landry's orders would take precedence over badge flashing.
Sam's willingness to give into Ba'al's demands for such important data was cliche. Has the black widow curse affected her that much that she handed over some of the SGC's most sensitive data? By Barrett's unusual behavior in that bizarre commissary scene, he wasn't immune from suspicion himself for turning into a Trust member. Why the heck is Ba'al cloning his very recognizable face by this point, why not jump hosts and be in Barrett or anyone by this point?
The locator beacon augmentation was foreseeable long before Carter figured it out. Why hadn't they coordinated the gas release enough by that point that only a couple clones died? Why was Vala on point with three SFs? Why was there a computer set up in a storage room? Why were they almost unconcerned Ba'al just took their gate address database?
Perhaps this is just over-analytical fan nitpicking, but the plot holes within the episode and for the Goa'uld and Ori arcs as a whole were outrageous. If the overall plot and/or action was tighter, a few minor glitches can be glossed over, but the issues here were so profuse, each hole was glaring. The setup of the episode was promising, the resolution was disappointing.
For the various character interactions, the performances, enjoyable scenes and/or dialogue beats between the characters, and the nice special effects of the al'kesh crashing and seamless multiple Ba'al interchanges, this episode gets a "good" rating from me. But that mark is generous, because the plot execution both within the episode and for the story arc was mediocre.