Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Stargate SG-1, Season 1, Episode 20


"Politics"
images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating: Very Good

This episode begins immediately after the events in “There But For the Grace of God.”  Daniel is in the infirmary getting medical treatment for his injuries.  He is in the midst of trying to convince the rest of SG-1 that they need to take quick action to avoid suffering the same fate as the alternate reality Earth.  Although they do not understand how Daniel became injured by a Jaffa staff weapon blast, no one is buying the idea of an alternate reality.  Carter thinks alternate realities are only hypothetical; Teal’c is doubtful; and O’Neill believes that Daniel dreamt, or hallucinated, the events.

Major Samuels, last seen in “Children of the Gods” is now Lt. Colonel Samuels.  Always a bit of a twerp, he is now a complete twerp, oozing smugness.  Transferred from SGC to the Pentagon since he was last on the show, Samuels is back at SGC for a hearing with the powerful Senator Kinsey.  The topic: shutting down the stargate program, something Samuels always advocated.  Stargate missions, primarily SG-1 missions, are put under a microscope, and found wanting.  Senator Kinsey, and Samuels, want the SGC shut down.

This is a clip show, a compilation of scene snippets from the season’s previous episodes.  I usually loathe clip shows on general principle.  I understand they save money due to lower production costs, still, I think of them as wasted episodes.  However, I like this clip show because of the awesomeness that is Ronny Cox playing a bad guy.

Ronny Cox perfectly portrays the domineering, arrogant, and patronizing Senator Kinsey.  Kinsey fears the potential of the stargate more than he opposes the monetary cost of running SGC.  Kinsey is deaf to any viewpoint other than his own, and not afraid to wield power like a club against any who oppose him.  The Goa’uld are a powerful enemy of Earth.  Senator Kinsey is a powerful enemy of SGC.  Kudos to Mr. Cox.

20th episode broadcast.
20th episode in the DVD set.

Failures:
It is a clip show.  However, most of the inherent wrongness of this sort of episode is negated by the acting talent of Ronny Cox.

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