The Powers That Be

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S9 (The Powers That Be)

As usual, any idea of Vala's turns things sour, and this is about the most depressing episode so far. Not just because Carter is once again absent, or that Teal'c does little more than stump around scowling, but because of the apparently unyielding power of the Ori, as shown by the Prior who's been sent to a world that Vala has strong links to. Even the fact that this particular Prior is the leader of the villagers that burnt the hosts of Daniel and Vala to death earlier in the season gives him an uglier hold over our people. He's already 'killed' them once and now he's here to deal with Vala's people. Not strictly Vala, but we hear about her time under the influence of the Goa'uld symbiote Quetesh, a ruthless 'god' of these simple people that, once Quetesh was gone, Vala was able to manipulate her position on the planet to her advantage. It almost seems to shame her, but it's difficult to tell if that was because of regret or the imminent approach of death ordered by the people once she comes clean on Daniel's pleading. The episode was mixed, not seeming entirely believable on its own terms at all points. For a start I would imagine the people would have been much more likely to storm these trespassers and kill them immediately, no imprisonment, no allowing of Vala's colleagues to carry their weapons around, and no thoughtful reaction to such a horrid deception that left their planet mining naqahdah for a criminal, slave labour for no reason.

Equally, they were far too quick to forgive and let her off the death sentence in exchange for life imprisonment, which is watered down to just keeping the ill-gotten gains she'd stored up on their world, apparently without the people having their say on all this. The guy who acts as spokesperson for the people, difficult to say he's the leader as he's not masterful, is who decides these things, and then the pressing matter of the Prior's visit, and the illness and death of many in its wake, puts Vala's evil in a new light. It's not like she wins back the people by going around healing as many as she can with the Hand Device, which she does (and Daniel doesn't believe she did it out of any sense of shame for her misdeeds, but to lessen her punishment), which would have been a bit corny, especially as Vala's almost never serious enough to care about anyone, although she does seem affected by the death around her. You never know how much is an act, but she did appear genuine for once and it precipitates rash action where she confronts the Prior, blasting him. But, like Neo in 'The Matrix,' the bullets merely halt before making no contact, falling harmlessly to the sand, the Prior clearly with nothing to fear from the primitive teeth of humans.

That's where it's so depressing: it seems there's nothing that can be done to combat this 'convert or die' message that is sweeping through our galaxy, even Colonel Mitchell is at the mercy of the Ori in that he's dying and is healed when the people bow to the Prior as he lets everyone live, even the ones that had died. That kind of power is too much to oppose, surely? The Ori have turned out to be a vastly different threat from the cheesy, theatrical, and very predictable bullies of the Goa'uld and it really seems there is no hope, and so the episode ends. Could things be much more down? The sub-story of General Landry trying to talk with what we discover is his daughter, Dr. Lam, is rather muted in comparison. Is she marked for some special role in the season? Will she be sacrificed to show how bad the Ori are? Or is she just there to add a dimension to the otherwise relatively flat current leader of the SGC? It certainly came out of nowhere and could add some drama. I do wonder why Carter has been out of it for so long, and I have to admit to becoming slightly tired with the incessantly selfish and irritatingly unhelpful Vala. If they're trying to make us like her they may have gone off course, because we already know she can turn on the croc tears whenever she wants, and will always, without fail, get whatever she can for herself. In her own way she's as predictable as the Goa'uld. If she had some kind of redemptive arc it might be helpful to the character, but could also defang her, leaving a quandary over how best to proceed with such a person.

She even propagates the idea that doing a good deed should result in reward: a warm glow or something else, rather than the reality that doing good can result in hardship for the doer, or at the least no recognition. Such things it would be good to prepare people's minds for rather than reiterate the belief that good is rewarded, thus making a reason for doing it. It's not the only message of the episode that is somewhat faulty or incomplete, I can't even remember what uneasy philosophical roads they travelled down. It's enough that they are continuing to go down such an allegorical road as they are, taking on religious-inspired terrorism, and such things need to be considered from all angles - if a comical series such as this can tackle serious subjects satisfyingly then it's a good thing. It will be interesting to see how it progresses and what directions exploration turns to.

Whether going to the planet in the first place was a good idea is one thing, but once there they were trapped into needing to reveal Vala's deception to counter the teachings of the Ori, but again, was it the best course? Maybe they should have played out Vala's role, that's the way you'd have expected them to do it in earlier seasons, then the jeopardy would come from her being revealed as a fraud. The story happened backwards to how it used to, the reveal coming first, then the attempt at defeating the Prior afterwards, neither of which worked out well. At least it didn't turn into a courtroom drama as it might have, those scenes only a part of the story. But there lies the difficulty. It's a story made of little bits of other stories, they're trying hard not to do the expected and give us 'Stargate,' but not a predictable one where old hands know exactly where it's going to go. On that front I applaud them, but it doesn't make for the most satisfying instalment as it stands because it's going back and forth on what it wants to be. Daniel gets a starring role and has to battle with words, which is his forte, or should be, since he was ascended and knows a lot of what's being talked of. But his history is never mentioned and it's almost like we need an O'Neill who knows him to dredge up the past. Teal'c certainly doesn't have much to say, and Mitchell is still too new to carry the full weight, so Daniel's the focus, which is great, but he's being the lead and was never designed to be. It's a strange situation and I enjoy the characters, but the balance has been upturned this season and the dust still has yet to settle. Perhaps Carter is the missing ingredient we need that will bring everything back together?

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