SG1: Zero Hour (804)
Reading so many deep thoughts about the episode led me to need to put my own two cents in...this is pretty much what I wrote as a comment to someone else's entry and comments, but I decided I wanted to put it here, too. Hope no one minds. Thanks to mattebrit, nanda, and Katy M. for spurring me on.
I really enjoyed this episode. I laughed the whole way through it and yet found the potentially serious stuff (like SG1 being in the hands of Ba'al!) a menace. I really didn't know if this could end up like Heroes with a comedic first half and serious second half (at least if you avoid spoilers as avidly as I do ever since being spoiled about Heroes 2), so I was concerned about what could be going on with SG1 during all the nonsense on base. I loved that Jack knew just what to do with the delegates (anyone recall his "dickin' around" remark from last season...he's not doin' it!). And I was gratified that he set Camulus up with Ba'al after Camulus having set him up with the bum Zero device (what the heck is that thing called again? Did they ever name the little squid missiles? I'm calling them I.G.S.M.'S.: "Inter Galactic Squid Missiles"). And yes, indeed, Teal'c's grin was a sight to behold...but I'm afraid I was convinced that it was just Chris Judge unable to contain himself for one scene, so happy is he to finally have hair (I have seen him at two conventions in which he exclaimed joyfully over this fact). Frankly, I'm amazed that the man can ever keep a straight face long enough to do a scene (Martin Wood on the subject: "Do you KNOW how long it takes to get a shot?"). Daniel and Sam will inevitably clash because he's Daniel and he's never had all that much respect for military authority. But they will get a long fine because they have all been a team so long. On the other hand, it might have been a good thing to put a subordinate military 4th member on the team because D and T might behave themselves better just to set a good example. And the exchange between Sam and Jack at the end WAS brilliant...of course she'd be just a little nervous about her performance on her very first mission fully in command (I agree...this had the feel of being her first off-base mission as CO of SG1) and I loved that the trust between her and Jack is such that she could confide that to him and he would reassure her like he would any other officer under his command (although with the special tone he uses just with Carter). "Nice!" as Jack would say. Oh, and did anyone else even notice Pierre Bernard's role in the story? If we didn't have the back story about that, we wouldn't have even noticed him, would we? Hmm, that reminds me...I DID think it was odd that Jack was leaving the base at the moment before that scene...even if he had been there for days straight already, I thought it out of character that they'd have him actually going home while SG1 was unaccounted for. I could see him trying to sleep in his quarters on base, but not going home. Oh, and I loved the homage to MASH with O'Neill and Walter "Radar" Davis. Nicely done.
I really enjoyed this episode. I laughed the whole way through it and yet found the potentially serious stuff (like SG1 being in the hands of Ba'al!) a menace. I really didn't know if this could end up like Heroes with a comedic first half and serious second half (at least if you avoid spoilers as avidly as I do ever since being spoiled about Heroes 2), so I was concerned about what could be going on with SG1 during all the nonsense on base. I loved that Jack knew just what to do with the delegates (anyone recall his "dickin' around" remark from last season...he's not doin' it!). And I was gratified that he set Camulus up with Ba'al after Camulus having set him up with the bum Zero device (what the heck is that thing called again? Did they ever name the little squid missiles? I'm calling them I.G.S.M.'S.: "Inter Galactic Squid Missiles"). And yes, indeed, Teal'c's grin was a sight to behold...but I'm afraid I was convinced that it was just Chris Judge unable to contain himself for one scene, so happy is he to finally have hair (I have seen him at two conventions in which he exclaimed joyfully over this fact). Frankly, I'm amazed that the man can ever keep a straight face long enough to do a scene (Martin Wood on the subject: "Do you KNOW how long it takes to get a shot?"). Daniel and Sam will inevitably clash because he's Daniel and he's never had all that much respect for military authority. But they will get a long fine because they have all been a team so long. On the other hand, it might have been a good thing to put a subordinate military 4th member on the team because D and T might behave themselves better just to set a good example. And the exchange between Sam and Jack at the end WAS brilliant...of course she'd be just a little nervous about her performance on her very first mission fully in command (I agree...this had the feel of being her first off-base mission as CO of SG1) and I loved that the trust between her and Jack is such that she could confide that to him and he would reassure her like he would any other officer under his command (although with the special tone he uses just with Carter). "Nice!" as Jack would say. Oh, and did anyone else even notice Pierre Bernard's role in the story? If we didn't have the back story about that, we wouldn't have even noticed him, would we? Hmm, that reminds me...I DID think it was odd that Jack was leaving the base at the moment before that scene...even if he had been there for days straight already, I thought it out of character that they'd have him actually going home while SG1 was unaccounted for. I could see him trying to sleep in his quarters on base, but not going home. Oh, and I loved the homage to MASH with O'Neill and Walter "Radar" Davis. Nicely done.