SG: Beachhead

[tenaya]

This ep struck me as being off. It was written by Brad Wright. It covered a lot of ground, introduced a couple of interesting characters but for the rest, it seemed liked they had to distort the characters to achieve the plot points.

First off, the lead Jaffa that told the Prior no; where have we seen him before?

I enjoyed the basketball game for the eye candy it was. If Jack and Teal'c can box, then it's likely that this sort of basketball game is possible. I don't think Team Tau'ri have a chance as long as Teal'c plants himself under the basket and knocks the opposition away. The choice of team mates was interesting. Wouldn't the strongest player be paired with the weakest to make the game fair? Mitchell should be the best player I would think, and it's odd having the two off worlders paired up. I can see Vala wanting 'Muscles' on her side, though. ;-) And it makes sense that Daniel and Vala would be on opposite sides since they have a lot of conflict to work on.

Still not buying Landry as a general. I thought it odd that Mitchell tried to snap to attention when Landry entered the room; I thought I read somewhere that for the USAF they are more relaxed about that except when first meeting one's superior. No biggie, I guess.

Nerus was nice and crafty. I loved how he fawned over the Daniel and Teal'c and found the others beneath him. Such a status hound! I think Vala was quite proud of 'her Daniel' and the rumor that he alone defeated Annubis. I thought Nerus asking about O'Neill was both funny and appropriate; O'Neill does have a bounty on his head and is known to be dangerous. Maybe Nerus was just sizing up how canny his opposition would be. When the group exited after Landry and Nerus, Teal'c, Daniel and Vala all had the same expressions and were very unhappy that Nerus was there--and they are the three that know the Goa'uld the best.

So, Jack wants to send a bomb through. LOL! He does love his bombs.

As for Carter, she was surprisingly, then disturbingly low key and quite tired looking. While I appreciated she didn't waltz in and save the universe (despite Landry expecting her to), I'm not sure the story was served by her looking like she was there only because she was under orders. And the hair was such a mess it was constantly distracting. It was odd that Sam and Vala never exchanged dialogue with each other upon meeting. While I thought the backup singer comment was in itself funny, it felt off for Sam to say that. She's obviously been in touch with Daniel and knows why Vala is coming along, so why say that? Why not say something to Vala, like a introduction since they haven't met before and are going on a mission together? Odd and very cliquish.

I got quite a kick out of Vala's little speech before she marched through the gate. She's annoyed she can't join the SG club and she wanted to be sure Landry would remember that she was right about Nerus. I wonder if she always had the dramatic streak or is that leftover from being a host? It really didn't seem right that everyone kept shutting her down. When Daniel asked for "outside the box" solutions, he should have immediately looked to Vala because that is one of her strongest traits. Unfortunately, ignoring her just came off as a plot device. I suppose if one wanted to find a reason for Daniel shutting her down, you could speculate that Daniel was 'embarrassed by his low class girlfriend' in front of Sam. I don't know that I buy that though. Daniel's curtness seemed all plot device and there because the script/director wanted it there. For Daniel to be embarassed, he'd have to care what everyone else thought, and since everyone else knows why he and Vala have be together, there's no need for him to be embarrassed. Daniel does touch her a lot though, doesn't he? I suppose one could speculate that maybe since the bracelets have created a physical bond between them, maybe there's a craving to touch and maybe that annoys him, too. Also, maybe Vala is tired of being rejected by Daniel; she's finally gotten the message and is hurt (it's been two weeks since Daniel thought the bracelet effect was wearing off; I wonder how long she and Daniel have been together?) Was her act of bravery at the end solely out of impatience that the fair hair SG-1 were just going to sit around and talk about it until the Ori's plan was completed? Or did she run off to do this by herself, putting herself at risk, to maybe redeem herself in Daniel's estimation? Just how smitten is she of Daniel?

I liked how creepy the Prior was. And I laughed at how Mitchell had miscalculated on how short Daniel's speech was and their reactions to waiting around after delivering a dire threat. The Prior was serene in the thought he would be ascending soon, and directed his remarked specifically to Daniel about how it *should* seem familiar to him. Did Daniel mentioned to the Ori that he had ascended? How could they know that about Daniel, anyway? How important is Daniel to the Ori that they all apparently know him? Can the Ori descend at will like Daniel and Orlin did? Why would they want to, I guess is a better question so never mind. And I wonder why the Prior touched the Stargate in preparation of the blast. I can't see how that would have protected him. They were quite specific in showing that so maybe it's important? Was it the naquada or the proximity of the subspace of a wormhole that gave him comfort?

I don't mind LGjr as Gerak. Gerak is not making good choices, but that's the character not the actor.

While the whole force field/planetary implosion/creation of a mega gate things were very pretty, I don't understand how a black hole can power anything. It's a big gravity well, isn't it? Didn't that other black hole keep the gate open by slowing time, and even though the gate would be opening, nothing could escape it?

But the special effects were quite exciting. And I should say I enjoyed the set decoration of Nerus' VIP suite and Gerak's bridge. This show always has such solid crafts people on the payroll.

Yes, Daniel has that whole collapsing thing down so very well. :-) Must be all the practice he's had. I do think he was genuinely distressed that Vala had died. Technically, he shouldn't have collapsed for an hour or so, so does that mean some of his faintness was due to emotional reasons? While I know Vala is capable of giving the Ori hell, they can also snuff her with a flick of their glowy staffs. I'm uncomfortable with Vala left on her own behind enemy lines. That's harsh. And like the backup singer line, it's funny on the surface, but when you examine it a bit more--not so funny.

Bottom line, this ep was better than I feared what with Vala's exit and Carter's return. Vala left as a hero with a possibility of return so that's great. And Carter's return was much more subdued than I expected, so that was good, too.