Stargate SG-1, Season 7, Episode 16

"Death Knell"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Excellent

Commentary by:

Amanda Tapping — Samatha Carter
Peter DeLuise — Director

The commentary is very informative and interesting.   Lots of behind the scene information.   The commentary stays on point with what is on screen.

Review:  

In “Allegiance,” SGC had an off world site named Alpha site.  The site’s location was secret, an emergency locale in case something like the events in “There But For the Grace of God” happened, and because having a buffer between Earth and whatever SG teams find off world is long overdue good sense.  “The Warrior” lead to many Free Jaffa moving to the Alpha site.  Then, in “Allegiance,” an off world attack lead to many Tok’ra also moving to the Alpha site.  The secret Alpha site is no longer secret after Anubis used a mind probe on Jonas Quinn (”Fallen”.)  Since then, SGC set up another Alpha site at a new secret location.

Jacob/Selmak (”Evolution: Part 2”) and Sam are at the new Alpha site, working on a prototype weapon to defeat Kull warriors, the beings formerly known as Super Soldiers (”Evolution: Part 2”).  I called them Bibs (beings in black), Carter called them Super Soldiers, and Anubis calls them Kull warriors.  Since Anubis created them, he gets final say on their name.  Suddenly, the Alpha site is under attack, and an evacuation is ordered.

Twenty minutes later, back at SGC, General Hammond briefs Daniel, Teal’c and O’Neill about the attack on the Alpha site.  It was perpetrated by Goa’uld ships.  Many folks successfully evacuated from the Alpha site to the Beta site, but around 90 of them are still missing.  A MALP is being prepped to send to the Alpha site.  O’Neill says what they all are likely wondering: how did the attacking Goa’uld ships find the Alpha site.  The MALP shows that the Alpha site stargate is now lying on its side, and buried under debris that the stargate wormhole’s ka-whoosh partially removed.  General Hammond gives a go to check out the Alpha site for survivors.  It appears that the Alpha site’s desolation came from the site’s self-destruct protocol, not from an enemy attack.  A piece of Kull warrior armor is found in the rubble.  A few surviving SG team members, Free Jaffa, and Tok’ra are found, as is a badly injured Jacob/Selmak.  Sam Carter is missing.

O’Neill, Teal’c, and some fresh SG teams continue to search the Alpha site for survivors.  Daniel remains at SGC with Jacob/Selmak, as General Hammond investigates how Anubis found the Alpha site by questioning surviving SG members, Free Jaffa, and Tok’ra.  

Back at SGC, Jacob/Selmak relates as much as he knows about what happened.  Not only does he confirm that the Alpha site was attacked by Kull warriors, but that Sam and Jacob/Selmak were specifically targeted — as the ones working on the prototype weapon to use against Kull warriors.  Sam had the prototype weapon’s power unit, while Jacob/Selmak has the weapon itself.  As far as Jacob/Selmak knows she is on the run somewhere in hills surrounding the Alpha site.

Sam is alive, though badly injured, and being hunted by a Kull warrior.  At SGC, General Hammond is hunting down how the Alpha site’s location was revealed to Anubis.  Hammond’s inquiries brings many things to light, including the Free Jaffa and Tok’ra’s simmering resentment and anger towards each other, and towards SGC.  An allegiance between the three groups  based on a common enemy — the Goa’uld — is a lot shakier than believed.  The Alpha site attack may destroy the tenuous alliance of the SGC Taur’i, the Tok’ra, and the Free Jaffa.  Meanwhile, Sam, and the best hope for defeating Anubis’ Kull warriors, are being relentlessly tracked down off world.

This is an outstanding episode.  The bare bones of the story seems sparse, however it reveals much of what has been going on between the three allied groups.  There wasn't a behind the scenes happily ever after.  Whether at the SGC, or on the Alpha site planet, the story forges on with a steady pace, building towards a potentially grim end.  The effects are wonderful.  Costuming and make-up are excellent.  Amanda Tapping is fantastic as Carter desperately tries to stay a step ahead of the Kull warrior.  Don S. Davis’s portrayal of General Hammond is perfect, balancing the determination to uncover the facts, while not taking any nonsense from anyone.  Carmen  Argenziano is again great as he flips between being Jacob and being Selmak.  Sebastian Spence as Dalek, exhibiting that Tok’ra snideness and arrogance oh, so well.  Mark Gibbon as M’zel, a Free Jaffa.  I love me some Teal’c and Bra’tac, still it is nice to see other faces as part of the Free Jaffa movement.  Mr. Gibbon does a splendid job.  The rest of the cast does a very job, too.  Dan Payne returns as the Kull warrior, again demonstrating the skill to act through layers of costuming.

Failures:

None.