Past and Present

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S3 (Past and Present)

Not the follow-up I was expecting, but it did turn into a thorny problem nonetheless. You can't accuse the series of pandering to the young when Colonel O'Neill's grey hairs are so in evidence, but I had hoped to see the Destroyer of Worlds again in her 'true' form, instead of this de-aged version, but even so the actress had a notable madness, or intensity in her eyes that was striking from her first stare into camera. The story crosses from a mystery of mass amnesia to 'what would you do if Hitler lost his memory and became a nice person and started helping the Jews instead of persecuting them?' It's hard to see this person in the same light, yet you could never fully trust them no matter how much good they did, so it was an interesting enough intellectually, but although Daniel makes things more complicated by falling for Lenaya (or she for him, or both), there isn't enough involvement to really care too much about the aliens.

It has a fairly happy ending (and one particularly funny moment when Jack covers his hands over his ears and sings to block out Carter telling him Lenaya may be Kira), and I can't see the story needing to be followed up, which is disappointing as the story that instigated it seemed so much more momentous. It would be silly to expect all plotlines to continue indefinitely, and we've already seen a shift as the stories that began the series; Apophis; Sharray, have mostly been tied up, and credit must be due for the unexpected course change, but even so, it's not enough to be satisfactory and in some ways it would be better if Lenaya did regain her memory and go on the rampage again.

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