Descent
First things first, the new opening credits make me dizzy. Look, that Stargate goes round and round and round… and round… and roooound… and rooooound … BLEAUCGH!! (The sound of Shannon losing her lunch)
Anyway, on to the review.
Season Six picks up a bit from the third episode. ‘Descent’ is slow paced but filled with nifty effects. Well, just the one actually. They flood on of those mothership corridors that all look the same. The underwater scenes were few but cool, and refreshing — I can’t remember seeing something like that on tv since the days of Seaquest DSV. Speaking of Seaquest (well sort of, cos I seem to vaguely recall him starring in that show) creative consultant on Stargate Peter DeLuise appeared as an extra briefly yet again in this episode. I love spotting him, he pops up in the background once every 2 or 3 episodes, its like Where’s Wally.
The episode opens intriguingly, then slows to boredom for most of act one and two, littered every now and then by a few seconds of entertainment. One of these was no doubt a Rick Anderson improvisation: Davis: “Phwoar, that was loud” O’Neill: “What??!”, another is attributed to some writing that seems almost as though the author actually remembers what the writing of the earlier seasons was like, reminiscent of the days when Teal’c was still struggling with the absurdity of some of our earth english phrases: Hammond: “We’ve all been holding out breath down here” Teal’c: “That is most unwise…” and the third moment of entertaining brilliance was the scene which made Jonas out to be a git. Moping that Colonel O’Neill wasn’t letting him play on the big ship, and supposedly oblivious to the fact that Teal’c was also left on the cargo ship strategically, he starts a chat about how the aliens should stick together. The result of this ‘alien conspiracy’ chatter had Teal’c painted as a legend, Jonas as a git, and me having the giggles.
The episode goes back to its intitial interest rating once we hit act three and the drowning starts. They should think about placing Major Davis in imminent danger though. When its Jack and Sam drowning, as it was in this episode, we’re not exactly worried for them. But Major Davis is a delightful addition to any episode (and Descent certainly picks up points for having him around) while at the same time not being an SG-1 member, and therefore possibly expendable. If he had been drowning I would have been on the edge of my seat, as opposed to sitting back thinking ‘nifty underwater sequence’. Just a suggestion for next time, ye olde stargate gods.
The conclusion of the episode? Enough of Jonas saving the day already! I know you silly writers are trying to make us like him, but get over it, it’s never going to happen. He is NOT Daniel Jackson, he is in no way endearing and Corin Nemec plays him almost as cluelessly as Neil Dennis. Stop saving the planet Jonas. I mean it.
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