Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Stargate SG-1, Season 2, Episode 2


"In the Line of Duty"
images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating: Good

While evacuating the human Nassyans from their planet during a massive Goa’uld attack on their village, Carter is taken over by a Goa’uld symbiote.  Arriving back at the SGC, Goa’uld Carter’s behavior is odd, but not so strange as to alert others that something is wrong.  Eager to leave Earth, but unwilling to be exposed, the Goa’uld goes through the motions of Sam’s life, including visiting Cassandra, the little girl from the episode, “Singularity.”  A residual amount of naquadah, the extraterrestrial mineral used to make stargates, remains in Cassandra’s system, allowing her to “sense” when other sources containing naquadah are near her.  Goa’ulds have some of the mineral within them.  Cassandra senses the Goa’uld in Sam, and alerts O’Neill.

After capturing Goa’uld Sam Carter, General Hammond, and the rest of SG-1, try to determine how to extract the Goa’uld without killing Sam, or alerting the N. I. D., who would want to imprison, and experiment upon, Sam.  Goa’uld Sam eventually explains why it was on Nassya, and offers to provide valuable information if it is allowed to stay in Sam, and leave Earth.  No information is worth Sam’s life, and a Goa’uld with access to Sam’s knowledge about Earth will never be set free.  SG-1 tries to discern truth from lie, and help Carter, unaware of another threat stalking the Earth, searching for Sam.

The N. I. D. only exists in the stargate world.  It is a fictitious civilian agency with ties to the military, and is closely affiliated with the U. S. government.  The acronym N. I. D. does not stand for anything, although it sounds very cool and mysterious, and can easily be uttered in a threatening manner.  Try scowling, and saying, “I’m with the N. I. D.”  Automatic menace points.

Amanda Tapping does a good job as Goa’uld Sam.  A new alien sub-species is introduced.  The episode starts with a pop of action.  The rest of the episode, while not profound or action oriented, is interesting.

Failures:
Having the electronic card access that unlocks the main door to the prison area inside the prison area seems careless.

After the events in “The Enemy Within,” I expected the SGC to implement a more stringent system to check for Goa’uld infestation in people returning to Earth via the stargate.  Looking at their necks for scars seems, and is proven, inadequate.

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