The Road Not Taken

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S10 (The Road Not Taken)

Right from the title I had high hopes for this one as it sounded like a thoughtful episode. The series doesn't often dip its toes in the kind of issue-driven waters that used to be more frequently Treks' domain, but that was certainly an angle here, coupled with a straight-up sci-fi story. Not that they (and every other sci-fi series that's any good), hadn't done alternate universes before. There are probably numerous episodes of this kind dating right back to the first season when they went through that alien mirror. This one was different because there aren't as many standalone episodes any more, and while this still ties into the ongoing Ori mythology when it didn't need to, it was a contained point of view, all from Colonel Carter's perspective as she's whisked into another world while trying to get Merlin's Magical Vanishing Device to work on a larger scale than just one village. There was something sinister about this alternate reality, maybe it was the lighting, maybe it was the way General Hammond is back, but not quite as friendly as he used to be, or perhaps it was just the way they dealt with her - putting her in a room with a camera trained on her, asking questions. Not that any of that was overtly signposting the direction of the episode, it was all fairly subtle and not that much was changed from what we knew.

The main difference, other than Major Lorne (or was it Colonel here?), was in charge of SG-1, Hammond remained head of the SGC and Landry was President. The usually affable man had given in to the pipe dream of total security, sacrificing freedom, as always happens down that road. However justifiable their course of actions had been, Carter makes a good point that things will never be completely safe, there will never be the ideal time to bring back democracy and let citizens control their government rather than their government controlling its citizens. Landry still comes off as a good guy, just misguided, allowing things to go on as they had. I suppose it was Sam's telling him he was an honourable General in charge of SGC that changed his mind and allowed her to return to her world. I was expecting her to have to work with McKay in secret to plot a last-ditch attempt to escape, as usually happens in these types of scenarios (I think especially of the 'Voyager' episode 'Non Sequitur,' even down to the 'lost' character that had been such a good guy in our timeline, now bitter and without self-respect in this twisted version - Mitchell in this case). So they didn't exactly do what was expected, but then again they didn't exactly come up with a clever alternative either. They have their little bit of action when they pick her up and she fights back, but apart from that there's really nothing she can do.

The episode left me with a sweet taste as the final scene has Carter back with her real SG-1 team and we find out they all talked to the empty room in shifts, thinking she was trapped in there, and it was a lovely last scene that shows the bond between these characters, only missing Daniel who's still a prisoner of the Orici. The episode was quite different by solely focusing on Carter and keeping everything around her as the story, while also connecting to other things by bringing back Hammond again (always fun), and having Lorne and Rodney from 'Atlantis' (this Carter was divorced from him - I liked the symmetry with McKay having had an episode where he imagined Carter helping him, and now she's going to an alternate version to get his help). He's as rude and objectionable, yet also useful, as he ever is, and it's always a joy to see other versions of established characters. The scariness of technology being used to curb freedoms and turn the home of democracy into a martial state, was chilling, especially as the men at the top (except for the weaselly aide to the President), still seemed fairly decent guys, Hammond admitting they're not happy, but it was 'necessary.' I guess this was probably another episode where they were saving money by shooting other characters' scenes for other episodes, otherwise I'm not sure they'd have had so little from Mitchell, Vala and Teal'c, and obviously Jackson has been out of it for a couple of episodes. But it felt like good old 'Stargate' to me, and they can spend too much time worrying about ongoing plots and forget to just have an adventure, and this one was more like what I want to see. Sure, we've seen episodes just like it many times, but I miss them.

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