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Stargate SG-1: The Fourth Horseman, Part 2
The
second-half of the season premiere of SG-1 aired last night, and I, for one, am dissatisfied with both this episode and
the Stargate Atlantis episode that I will comment on in a post following this one. The Stargate
series, to me, has always been a good episodic Sci-Fi series, in that they had a consistent big bad guy and each
episode is a nicely contained unit that I can watch at any given point in syndication and not feel left out if I hadn't
seen the previous or later episodes. Now, what bothers me about this season, is that they've eliminated all their
previous big bads in one fell swoop before this season began, so that we are left with a brand new big bad in the form
of the Ori, the evil twin siblings of the Ancients.
For some reason now, there is too much bleeding into other episodes, and this second half of the season premiere
felt like it should have gone on for another episode or two rather than abruptly end as it did. Too many subplots and
too many loose ends being tied up much too quickly for my tastes. And the conclusion didn't feel like it was worth the
wait of the season-split.
If you'll remember, we left off with an Ori plague stretching its evil grip much
too quickly across the globe, Gerak has become a Prior for the Ori and returned to convert the Jaffa to the path of
Origin, and the Ancient Orlin, who once made sweet sweet Ancient-love to Samantha Carter, has returned as a little boy
(played by Cameron Bright) to help stop the plague, but his human
brain is failing under the weight of trying to retain his Ancient knowledge. Notice the odd affectionate love story
between Orlin and Samantha. Something about that seems very familiar... Movie rip-off and using the *same* actor to boot.
Anyway, I
just thought it a good idea to be upfront with why my review may read a little more negative than normal...
So, here's the story lines:
Carter and Orlin are working to cure the plague, except they really did
everything they could last episode, so this story line is really more about Orlin losing his mind. He does help in a
conversation with a Prior (played by The Smoking
Man) later on, but it's not very convincing for a variety of reasons. They are trying to convince a Prior they have
captured that he has served false gods all these years and they have Orlin come and tell the Prior about his past to
help convince the Prior that Orlin is an Ancient and that the Ori are evil. This doesn't work, although the Prior
reveals that the Ori are coming to take the Ancients down. So, Orlin doesn't really do anything that leads to any
results, but he is the emotional show-capper of the episode, as he's lost all his memories, is sitting working on a
puzzle as Samantha Carter comes to visit him in what looks to be some sort of home for the senile (as he's the only kid
surrounded by really old people) and he doesn't know who she is but asks her to help him with his puzzle (just as he
helped SG-1 with their puzzle; oooooh!).
Daniel and Mitchel visit the Sodan warriors for help in capturing a
Prior. The beginning of this story line read very oddly, as they glossed over the whole bit where Mitchel had supposedly
died and the Sodan were going to worship the Ori and join Origen with very minimal explanation. This is what happens
when you cram too much into one episode. In any case, this story line which overlaps with the previous one, contains
probably one of the best bits from the episode, when Daniel and Mitchel are taunting the powerless Prior who has been
captured. Lots of Farscape-esque quick witty jabs at the adversary. Of course, ultimately, they learn very
little from the Prior, he manages to become enraged by Orlin's delving into his past and focuses enough to use his
powers to bring the General into his grasp and infect him with the plague, and then Mitchel shoots the Prior dead in
the back.
The family spin story line was perhaps the shortest, but the one that linked most nicely from
previous episodes. After the Prior infects General Landry with the plague, his daughter, Dr. Lam reveals that she saw
her mother recently and felt conflicted because she couldn't tell her mom about what she did, and this was the same
thing that angered her about her father in her youth. General Landry had also tried to ply the Prior's heartstrings
with a tale of what he gave up to be who he was now, revealing that he regretted missing out on his daughter's
childhood, and asking the Prior what he missed from his years of devotion to the Ori.
In the end, the
salvation of humanity wasn't earned through the blood sample they grabbed from the Prior or through any of Orlin's
work, but instead, Teal'c convinces Gerak that the Ori are false gods and slavemasters, and Gerak comes to earth and
proclaims "I die free!" as he slams down his Prior staff, releasing a white light that cures everyone from
the plague moments before being engulfed in flames and disappearing.
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