Sacrifices

DVD, Stargate SG-1 (Sacrifices)

Jaffa politics, and especially Jaffa soap opera, has never been my favourite part of the series, yet it is tied firmly into the mythology, could even be said to be the backbone of the series' narrative arc, and in this episode we get both: a handy walk-and-talk update on the politics from Daniel, and some insight into Jaffa life, unsurprising since this was written by Christopher Judge, so you know what to expect: a heavily featured Teal'c, the other characters taking pretty much a back seat for the most part, and Teal'c's extended family playing a larger role. But while it may be predictable that Judge would put his character in the spotlight, it's not merely ego, but because he seems to enjoy expounding upon the rites and wherefores of Jaffa culture. This time it's marriage, with young (or not so young now), Rya'c choosing to marry one of Ishta's women warriors, something which his Father believes he isn't ready for. Fortunately, while the story skips lightly over gender warfare with both sides falling out over a particular ancient custom (the bride must kneel before her husband), and Ishta taking Teal'c's parenting worries as a personal slight against a pupil she trained, we don't get bogged down in the politics of it all as more important issues are at hand.

For one, Moloc, the System Lord Ishta's band have been fighting against, has discovered their location, forcing them to approach the people of the Tare for help in locating a new planet to colonise. Jack is happy to help, as long as their entourage of children and horses (this must be the first time we've ever seen a horse go through the Stargate!), don't have to stay on the base too long (there's an old saying of never working with children and animals!). He also gets the best line when, upon Carter informing him of the Jaffa's request for a goat for a ritual sacrifice, he denies it, but says they can have a piñata! Brilliant! There's also the matter of the marriage happening at the SGC because, for some reason, it needs to be done as soon as possible, presumably to bolster morale and show that even when they're down, they still follow their ancient customs. It turns into a bit of an O'Brien/Keiko affair from 'TNG' with Rya'c and bride to be, Kar'yn, have a major falling out during the rehearsal of the ceremony, presided over by Master Bra'tac, over the kneeling. She refuses to kneel for anyone, her pride overcoming her devotion to the lad. Bra'tac has some stiff teaching about respect to Rya'c, though not in the manner you might have expected - rather than brute force and bruises with a staff, he lets him have it with a moving reminder of what Teal'c did to keep his family safe, the atrocities he committed under Apophis, and how he finally made his decision to join the Tare when he saw there was a chance to stand up to the Goa'uld, which made a difference and is the best scene of the episode.

Jolene Blalock doesn't do quite so well, coming across as rather shouty and not very natural in her delivery, and this may be one of her weaker performances - perhaps she was better suited to the unemotional Vulcans (she was still starring in 'Enterprise' at this time). For all her feminist anger and views she doesn't seem to be against the rule of a woman to kneel before her husband, so maybe she's more conventional than she seems? When we see the ending, all happy families as the hitching goes off without a hitch, there's never any kneeling or even a bow, so it's unclear whether Kar'yn agreed to the stipulation, or Rya'c did the same for her, or if his mention at the end to Dad about maybe some rituals being a good idea to ignore, was part of it. It is a nice end, though with the sting in the tail that the beaten forces of Moloc (who gets blasted chest-first by a laser-guided missile), are sucked up by another System Lord: Baal, unfortunately, who's power continues to grow.

The summit on the planet, Ishta and Teal'c attend to convince the Jaffa what needs to be done (Ishta says strike, Teal'c believes they must wait until all Jaffa can rise up against all Goa'uld), turns into a massacre as Moloc's forces ambush them. There's an odd side story about a Jaffa that goes on the run with Ishta and Teal'c whom they suspect might be a spy, but turns out not to be, but that only seemed to be a minor blind to draw the story out a bit and keep us guessing. It's really all about Teal'c doing a daring run with two staff weapons tied together so he can fire out of either end, but that's fine - if Judge wants Teal'c to have more action scenes, I say let him. I do sense some major flaws in the Goa'uld tactics, however - rather than dial out their 'gate to prevent the SGC from contacting Teal'c, they're happy to hold ground around it, waiting in case someone comes through. Instead an AV (Siler's starring role), is what greets them, carrying vital Tretonin for the fugitives, and then the missiles. They don't even seem to have the ability to intercept radio signals, which you'd think with their level of technology, would be a simple thing. Not that they've ever been the most cogent of enemies, to say the least. There are a lot of elements, but few are taken very far in development, purely there to advance the story: case in point the weakening through lack of Tretonin, which should have been a tense and worrying experience, but isn't. Despite the lack of exploration of many of the ideas posited, it's still quite a good ride, and my rewatching has given me greater appreciation for story building so it's actually better than the sum.

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