Shadow Play

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S6 (Shadow Play)

The most interesting thing about the teaser at the beginning of this episode was that 'gate technician Walter wasn't wearing glasses. That's how engaging it was, but not how engaging it stayed, becoming a completely different story to the one you think it is, with a bittersweet conclusion. What was going to happen to Dr. Kieran as a mental patient on Earth, after all he's another alien joining the population? I suppose his mind had gone too far so he was merely a patient by the end, but living out his remaining years on the same planet as his most promising student, Jonas, won't cheer either of them because of his mental state. For once we see sad Jonas instead of eager, optimistic, Daniel Jackson-like, Jonas, and it was episodes like this that endeared the character and made me accept him as part of the tight-knit group of SG-1. It helps that he's become as accepted by his fellow members, Teal'c there once again to provide comforting advice from a fellow alien's perspective, and even Jack showing some support or tact by not ordering Jonas to heel, but giving him a bit of leeway to plead to his people even though they reject his words.

What makes this episode matter is that it deals with Jonas' own people, the Kelownans, and their potential war with the other two factions, the Tiranians and Andaris, who have formed an unprecedented alliance to likely attack the Kelownans. We revisit the planet when they seek to trade with Earth. None of their rulers are easy to like, a hard-looking woman, a bald security chief with a sour look, and best of all, the devilish, potentially moustache-twirling First Minister Valis (he looked a lot like Alexander Siddig does these days!). Looks can be deceiving, they weren't part of some evil plan to do away with the three original scientists that worked on the Naquadria technology, it was the experiments that had eaten away at those scientists' minds after long exposure, turning them schizophrenic and delusional. I knew as soon as the first vision of Jonas Quinn played out to Dr. Kieran that something wasn't right. I was thinking it might be a clone or some kind of trick by the leaders to unmask the resistance, which at that point seemed to exist. I even thought as deep as the resistance actually being an infiltration tactic of the Kelownan's enemies. But the way Jonas spoke in a slightly monotonous voice and hardly moved his head (when usually he's so full of energy, bobbing his head around), were instant giveaways that this wasn't the real Jonas, but I never would have read the scene as being the Professor imagining the Resistance and all hope for a coup.

The leaders may not have been getting at the him, or anything of that sort, but they were still shown to be blinkered and unimpressed with the explanations of SG-1 or the pleadings of Jonas. Their minds were closed to the reality of life among a community of planets, which makes me wonder if they even deserved the Stargate at all, especially as they were keeping it secret from the general populace. But, as the First Minister says, cutting through any argument, that's precisely what America has chosen to do on Earth, so it's a case of not practicing what they preach! It made me think that this would be the kind of reaction on Earth if a Stargate really was announced to the world - it would be seen as an advantage to be held over enemies and not an opportunity for peoples to rally around. The moral quandary was a strong one, even though there was no way, after all the lessons the SGC had learned over its short life, that they were going to interfere with a planet that was not united. It's always going to be a difficult question for them to answer, but that they address it here really made the episode something to mentally chew on.

It's not full of stunts or action, though the terribly sad, imagined chase of Dr. Kieran which leads to injury, fit the bill, but it's the back and forth of views and diplomacy that makes it compelling viewing - Hammond even noted how much like Dr. Jackson, O'Neill was sounding, to which he didn't react badly, but just admitted they'd spent a lot of time together. I'm betting he hadn't told anyone that he'd only just spent time with Jackson so as not to look mad, but it was a really nice moment there. Dean Stockwell does his usual believable performance (though you have to feel sorry for the old guy, running up and down stairs like a goat in the chase sequence), excellent as the old Professor who's mind is going, blinking constantly, rubbing his head, but showing the strain slowly through the episode so the surprise doesn't drop early: it's really all about him and his degeneration because that's what affects Jonas. He was never going to abandon his friends for a free pardon, especially when his people still consider him a traitor (even the fact that Kieran says there are plenty of people that don't consider him that one must have been a delusion, sadly), but going back there at least opened the door to talks and would eventually see him return.

The parallels with the atom bomb are evident, and it says it all about this people that they're considering the 'last resort' devastation of a Naquadria bomb, and threatening to use it if the SGC doesn't help them militarily. So instead of using the Stargate in the best strategic way to acquire whatever they can, or even visit other worlds and open their minds, they only think of the destruction of their enemies as quickly as possible. When SGC loses contact with them at the end, after SG-1 has returned, you can only fear that they've carried through on their threat. But that is their right, it's not for the SGC to go round putting out the universe's fires, not unless it's a fight that's justifiable (like opposing the Goa'uld). If the natural course of the planet has been for one faction to survive in a war, it is none of Earth's business. Of course it would be different if the Kelownans were 'good guys' or they had greater importance for the SGC. Then the quandary might have been more intense, but the only reason we as an audience are given to care is that Jonas cares. In the end that wasn't what mattered, it was Jonas' mentor and the tearjerker ending that means anything. But for an episode mainly concerned with sitting round a table discussing, it's remarkable how enjoyable it is.

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