Stronghold

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S9 (Stronghold)

It's looking like a whole string of very traditional 'SG-1' stories and I have to say, comfortingly familiar. This time it's the tried and tested Jaffa politics story, coupled with a personal thing for Mitchell to deal with: a friend who was also up for the classified role at the SGC that Mitchell got, is dying from shrapnel he sustained in saving Mitchell. These things can be a bit sentimental on the series, heavy on the piano music, a last scene as the friend slips away, but this time it has more impact than that, because Mitchell needs to go and help rescue Teal'c from Baal who's the one pulling the strings against the democratic process. He gets to bring his friend in on the whole shebang (though I was hoping he was going to be allowed a visit to the SGC since he was still mobile), using alien technology so he can relive some of Cameron's memories of this season. Not sure whether it was allowable for Mitchell to leave this sensitive piece of alien tech behind for him to use at leisure, but he did… It's one of those episodes that starts with 'Excerpts by…' a red flag for a clips episode, but fortunately it was only the sound of clips we hear as Ferguson experiences them, so it was fine. Not only are there fleeting references to recent events, but even Apophis and Teal'c's method for escaping his brainwashing is brought up, since it is rather pertinent.

It's a good episode for Teal'c as we so rarely get to see him as the cool warrior dude these days - sure, he's there backing up SG-1, but does he get to do the really heroic stuff, or remind us why he's such a great man to have around much any more? Mitchell's the action man, and the new guy, so he gets more attention, and a lot of Teal'c's story has been related to the ongoing politics on Takara. That hasn't stopped now that Gerak is gone, and it's so good to have Bra'tac back as a force on the series, another reason this feels so quintessentially 'Stargate.' It begins with a mystery, members of the council who were previously vehemently pro-democracy are now turning away from Bra'tac and Teal'c's proposals. It's a little unsubtle the way they bandy around the term 'brainwashing' and how they uncover it, but if Bra'tac can look in a fellow Jaffa's eyes and know what's been done to him, then I can go along with that. He is Bra'tac, after all, someone that's been in the series since Season 1, and always an enjoyable addition to any story. This time it's Teal'c that gets the wise words at the end as he answers Mitchell's question on how he held out against Baal's mind-altering device by telling him that knowing yourself is the greatest force against such things. There was a moment when I wondered if this really was going to be it for the old master as Teal'c holds a staff weapon to the man's face and looks as if he's about to shoot. I could imagine such a thing being done, even to a much-loved recurring character. But not on 'SG-1,' that's possible, but much rarer, thankfully, it doesn't tend to try for shock or edginess like too many TV series' now.

Peter DeLuise's direction was good, with the battle to take back Teal'c exciting and well shot, but it's also in the smaller touches - when Bra'tac's old friend on the council goes to see Ka'lel who's just betrayed their policy and goes all Jaffa women's lib in defence of her change of allegiance, the normally fairly fixed camera work becomes edgy and handheld so you know something's up instinctively just from that subtle change of presentation, something that many series' lose because shaky-cam is overused. Using it on occasion, when everything in the scene is calm, works very well. Not to say the camera was static in the battle, it was fluid and dramatic as Mitchell makes a headlong dash to get to the ring transporter before Baal's ship leaves with Teal'c aboard. His rashness, also demonstrated in a violent outburst when the doctor tells him his friend has no chance of survival and he smashes in the coffee machine, becomes a part of his personality he admits to his friend he's not proud of: that it was this very rashness that led his friend to be put in the position where he needed to save him and sustained a terminal injury, and it's a strong moment of personal reflection for Cameron. The characters have always been good on the series, that's repeatedly why it works even amid relatively derivative sci-fi ideas, but we don't always get such profound understanding or revelations about a character's psyche or makeup, so they're doing a good job with the new character and it shows that he can fit into the standard 'SG-1' mould as well as the ongoing Ori saga.

That saga is the genesis of Baal's latest plot: this one wants to control the council and take over the Jaffa, ostensibly to join forces against the Ori who he sees as a great threat, though perhaps a great opportunity would be a better choice of word. If there's a complaint about the episode it's that he's killed rather unimpressively in this tight little corridor and there's no mention of him again. I think they do know about the fact that there are clones of him, but even so, he was such a treacherous villain, even a clone of his deserves more respect than to be killed without an afterthought. That said, having him be the instigator of dissent and distrust in the new Jaffa regime made a lot of sense. It would've been good to explain how he came by a ship and all these followers, but the key thing is the very positive tone of the episode overall, the chance to have fair elections by the Jaffa wins through, topping the episode off with a happy ending, yet a bittersweet one as Mitchell reflects on not getting back from the mission in time to see his friend a last time before he died. It's another layer of character and is satisfying to see. It's a bit strange they couldn't get a symbiote for the guy as they did with Carter's Dad, or get in touch with the Asgard and have superior alien technology remove the shrapnel safely, but there has to be death, not everyone can get special treatment. There's a moral issue that could be explored if they went in for that sort of thing: why should alien tech be used only for select patients, surely everyone should benefit, but then how would the whole of society change if the truth was made public? This isn't 'Star Trek' so I don't expect such introspection, and for what it was, a poignant adventure that continues to develop the ongoing story, it was another good one.

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