Insiders
I’m sitting down to watch ‘Insiders’, when I see this tip off from a reliable informant.
I’d put my hands over my ears and shout “LA LA LA SPOILERS I CAN’T HEAR YOU’ but I think even Nostradamus could have predicted that Sam will mistake her arse for her elbow twice a season and with the prevelance of Baal clones, I’m expecting multiple appearances by him. The knowledge that it would be Baal emerging from the ship did dampen the excitement I might have felt had it been a surprise, but since the episode — as my informant eloquently described it — ‘sucked’ I was prevented from being falsely optimistic during the pre-title sequence.
I’ve never claimed that Stargate SG-1 is the master of twists: it’s no Alias: I’ve never seen M. Night Shyamalan credited as the writer. The stories are straight-forward. The locations, while infinite in possibility, are often the SGC. The characters are set in their ways with predictable dialogue, but I like their ways, so not a problem. Not a problem unless it all happens at once.
Baal arrives with a deal for SG-1. It’s been done before but I’ll let it slide. The resulting group conversations are predictable, with the inevitable conclusion that SG-1 do exactly as Baal says. They claim that they know it’s a trap but that’s not much good when the don’t see it being sprung. Even SG-1’s enemies think they are predictable.
At this stage, the episode wasn’t condemned. It was a weak and slow set up but it had Vala and Baal so I still thought it might pull through. Then the SGC’s response to Baal’s escape was slow and uncoordinated. Prison doors weren’t sealed,computers on the affected levels weren’t cut off. Seems a flawed emergency protocol.
Baal’s a slippery eel. I don’t mind if he pulls one over SG-1. They need a good slapping. But just as the annoying scientist is blathering on about running a simulation on the spread of gas instead of getting on with the job, the whole episode is sunk by Sam’s capitualation to Baal and giving him her access code at the mention of killing the other hostages. No stalling for time, no sneaky behaviour — it’s embarrasing.
I’m being soft on this episode. It’s worse than I describe it. The fanboy in me prevents me being too critical. I’d like to say that there was witty dialogue but I can only remember the bad Baal puns. I can’t bring myself to use them as quotes — they’re best left forgotten.
I was optimistic after last week’s episode. I couldn’t help comparing the season’s progress to Doctor Who’s second season. The episodes of both shows were getting better as the season progressed — until this fourth episode when Doctor Who had ‘Girl in the Fireplace’ and Stargate gets ‘Insiders’. It’s not fair.
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hayko
August 10th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Full ACK. It was a boring disappoiting entirely predictable episode. I wish they had been successful killing all Baals before they left. Or, I wish that Sam didn’t give in and for once killed the idiot that caused them the trouble. Or I wish they had sealed off properly. How about a level with prison cells that doesn’t have an armory or a supercomputed at hand? Or even better, which would be my best wish: I wish they had triple tricked his double trap – but even that’s been done before.
I actually went in with little excitement because of the movie Insider, which just tad bit more boring. Good review, Andy.
Tom
August 10th, 2006 at 10:21 am
Fourthed. Truly awful, this one. There’s a certain skill, as a hero, to walking into a trap. Often you’ll have to do it, fair enough, baddies will set their traps and if they’re clever, they’ve got some excellent bait. But dear god, for SG-1 to not have considered… well… anything as a backup plan beggared belief. I do not believe that these people are capable of defending the planet.
And what happened to not negotiating with terrorists? Now Baal and his clones can spread the word around the universe. Threaten to kill an acquaintance of Sam Carter and she’ll spill the beans on the whole SGC.
I’m not sure that ‘Morpheus’ is anywhere near equivalent to ‘Tooth and Claw’ but since you’re clearly upset I’ll let it slide.
Andy
August 10th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
The comparison was more about each show picking up after a slow start than each episode being equivalently good. The first four episodes of Doctor Who started average and went up to great, compared to Stargate which started weak and was working towards good.
I don’t mind Baal hunting for the weapon; just perhaps it didn’t happen because Sam and SG-1 screwed up.
Tom
August 10th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
I’m only teasing. I like a good evil plan. But it made me very grumpy to watch an episode that seemed to be all about how crap everyone was. That’s not particularly entertaining.
There’s another issue this episode raised for me but I think I’ll make it into a blog post.
Resisting bad puns is quite a challenge. Every time I make a comment here there’s a dreadful conflict within me.
Andy
August 10th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Rewatching while reviewing, the puns seemed awful, not just bad.
hayko
August 14th, 2006 at 8:31 am
Exactly, I didn’t even remember this acquaintance from before. Ex-lover? Since he was the idiot who let him out, I say don’t risk the universe for his life.
Tom
August 14th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
He was in an episode last season as well, being similarly awkward. Sam told him she was taken. I think. She’d better be with Jack or I’ll be grumpy. I suppose we might find out soon.
I thought he’d been all taken away/fired/executed at the end but then they were acting like he was still busy and useful in the next episode. See, this is why these folk suck. Not adequate punishment for screw-ups. Sam and that guy are as bad as each other.
hayko
August 15th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
I really would have like some double tricking to achieve anything. Anything. But that’s Stargate. On some days I wonder how they ever defeated the Goa’uld.
Andy
August 15th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Teal’c does sneaky things, like luring the Ori ship over the super gate. Vala and Mitchell tricked the traders in ‘The Ties that Bind’ It’s just Sam who’s hopeless.