Reckoning Part 2

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S8 (Reckoning Part 2)

A Tare, a Tok'ra and a System Lord working together, whatever next? But it had to be done if the Replicators were going to be defeated at last. It would take the cooperation of the three main races that still exist in a state of lesser power (compared to The Ancients or the Asgard, etc), and it was just fortunate that Baal happens to possess a sense of irony rather than pure hatred for all human/Jaffa-kind, as so many of his fellow System Lords would have failed to lower themselves to assist even against a common and overwhelming enemy. This alone tells us that Baal is the worst threat of them all: he's willing to swallow his pride if his long term strategy requires it, he'll walk the tightrope of 'serving' Anubis, yet he's pragmatic enough not to follow the spirit of Anubis' will, which was to get his paws on the galaxy-destroying weapon so as to (in the speculation of Carter), annihilate all life, then repurpose and recreate it as he saw fit, using his Ancient knowledge. Baal doesn't want to be destroyed any more than anyone else, and so he's happy to help Carter and Dad get that terrible weapon working against the Replicators. Even if it turned out to be incredibly easy to find, operate and work out how to adjust!

There were a number of inconsistencies that took me out of the episode a little, not least that a PC laptop was able to interact with this Ancient weapon (I didn't even see what it was plugged into - I'm guessing they didn't use USB back in the Ancient times!). Granted, that's something you usually have to forgive and move on from, and you can argue the case that they've encountered so much alien technology over the years it was inevitable they'd have some kind of program that could interpret their data. And you had Daniel with his Ancient experiences to hone such a program, and O'Neill with his… Which begs the question of why Daniel hasn't got around to creating a translation program for the language of The Ancients for the various teams to use, so they don't have to borrow his notebooks and try and make head or tail of any new inscription that's discovered. And in the first place, why not simply blast through that door instead of wasting time on deciphering the symbols and the locking mechanism? Oh right, it was probably because they didn't want to damage the weapon in case it was behind that door. Except that they're planning to blow it sky high! And that wasn't the best plan they ever came up with, either, because if it truly is a galaxy annihilator, you wouldn't want to set it off by mistake! Surely the safest and most certain way to take it out of action would be to dismantle it and destroy each part separately?

The effects were certainly a high point of the episode, the weapon majestically rumbling into action, every single Stargate in the galaxy being activated simultaneously (something you don't see every day, or ever, in fact), as well as the sight of all those pyramid ships attacking each other, not to mention the onslaught of Replicator vermin covering the floors and walls. I wasn't sold on Teal'c and Bra'tac being in the right place for the battle, however - it looked to me that Bra'tac was nothing but an extra thumb aboard that ship, standing around watching Teal'c and their young pilot. Jaffa need to be in personal pitched battle, not operating machinery and killing from afar, that's how I see it, anyway. At least Bra'tac got to lead an attack team onto Baal's ship in an effort to take him out, I assume (they should have grabbed him as soon as they entered the room, anticipating a sly beam out, but perhaps some were still too awed by his presence?). Again, the team are all split up, and while I like seeing Teal'c and Bra'tac together, and Carter and Joseph, not to mention Daniel playing his part and even O'Neill getting a substantial role back at base, I've said it before, but they work best together, as a team, and that's what I like to see.

With the gang all split up they were able to keep a larger story going, juggling lots of pieces as we zip back and forth, but in consequence there's less focus, and less satisfaction, for all the stakes that are piling up. It was actually a fairly quiet episode up until the end when Jack's forced to activate the base auto-destruct, the pace is picked up then, but it was a bit messy: first they have to evacuate, then they can't, then they have to rescue Siler and some others, then try and escape through the 'gate, but the Replicators are too many… Meanwhile Daniel stands in a tent having a one-to-one with Replicator Carter, and I do admire Amanda Tapping for being able to step into a baddie role so smoothly, without the aid of different makeup or outfit, she's basically the same character, but not human, and she does a good job, altering her tone and body language, her eyes wide and glistening. Daniel tricks her into getting control of her 'brethren' for a brief time, giving their opponents time to sort them out for good, only he gets Terminator-ed by her once his knowledge has been snaffled. Of course he was going to die anyway, since he was aboard a ship made of Replicator, so when every one of them was torn apart by the cunningly modified weapon of armageddon, he's suddenly in space. I can't remember what happens, but I know he's not dead, so I expect some Ancient intervention, maybe Oma, maybe someone else, will have saved him.

I can't say they didn't create a 'big' two-parter, but maybe that's not what I like about the series. Especially when we have a lot inconsistency (the Kull Warriors standing guard in Baal's throne room are offed far too easily; what's the point of having blast doors at the SGC that you can blast open?; how can the weapon's chamber be so heavily shielded Baal's sensors couldn't detect it, yet he can beam in a hologram communication without any difficulty?). The series had perhaps become too big by this season: it already had a spinoff running at the same time, it had built up its mythology to vast proportions with the Jaffa rallying to the cause of their freedom, one great adversary defeated, and Earth almost aware of the programme, what else was there to do? It's the usual problem for a long-running TV series: if you have characters that are in a hierarchy, they need to develop, grow and move up that hierarchy to keep it realistic. And it is realistic that each would be practically a leader of a band, each off doing something separate, but is it realistic that they'd all keep meeting up back at the SGC to team up as SG-1 again? They should each be heads of a team by now, or coordinating other efforts (such as ambassador to the Tok'ra, the Asgard, the Jaffa), and these grand events are happening, but like I said, it means it's no longer about that little SG team that started it all, and that's a shame.

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