Stargate SG-1 Minicaps / Season 3, Eps. 1-4

The Stargate SG-1 Season Two Minicaps only used that extra Gate once, and it was for business purposes only.

The Stargate SG-1 Season Three Minicaps hasn’t gotten promoted yet, and after all the work it’s done.

Stewart here…

We ended last season on a cliffhanger (naturally) as O’Neill and company awakened from a cryo-slumber to find themselves in the far future. But, it was all part of a staged trap by old nemesis Hathor to get information. Meanwhile, Teal’c awakens at SGC and wants to search for his missing comrades. When he’s ordered not to, he takes his leave of the SGC to go on his own. And Hathor has a symbiote for a lucky member of SG-1. It’s just like The Bachelorette, but with controlling parasites as the prize (kinda like the actual show). So, let’s jump into season three, shall we?

“Into the Fire”

SG-1 is still stuck under Hathor’s imprisonment, but they get help in a Tok’ra spy and SGC discovering where Hathor’s lair is. Probably for the best the SGC get this intel barely a minute into the episode, because they get to go to the rescue early. But, the rescue mission gets complicated so much that Hammond goes to find Teal’c for help, and finds he doesn’t have to go far. There’s a lot of moving parts in this episode, and for the most part, it works well for a season premiere.

“BEEP BEEP! Comin’ thru!”

–So Hathor (and her nice outfit) gets killed off in that cryo pool, which at least is a better demise than the Tok’ra spy (remember when I told you to pay attention to that doctor in the season two finale?) who helps out SG-1. Yeah she says she may heal, but that compound going up in flames says otherwise.

–Teal’c rallies the Jaffa with Bra’tac’s help, which makes for a good dramatic speech midway through the episode.

–So O’Neill survives that bonding with that symbiote by being frozen again, but does that mean the symbiote is disintegrated or is it still inside of him, dead? Look, it’s a question that has plagued me since seeing this solution.

–Hammond’s “yee-haw!” during that flight in that Jaffa fighter ship was a nice touch.

–“He has her eyes.”

“Seth”

Carter’s dad, Jacob, drops by the SGC looking to find a long missing System Lord known here as Set. It appears he’s been at the head of several cults who have sacrificed themselves over the centuries, and currently is leading a cult under siege by the Feds. So the team sneaks into the cult compound to stop Set before he sends another group of cultists to their death. Also, we learn a bit more about Carter’s family, so that’s there besides the Set cult stuff.

Samantha Carter wins. FATALITY!

–Seth meets with a nasty end thanks to Sam using one of those Goa’uld bracelets on him. I mean he doesn’t die as much as he gets crushed into a hole in the ground. Wow.

–So Jacob also has some tension with his son Mark, which, oh wait, taken care of in one visit at the episode’s end.

–Teal’c tells a Jaffa joke, and we get a nice laugh from the stoic warrior. No one else laughed, though.

–O’Neill’s comically refer to eunuchs as “snippety-do-dah”. Now THAT was funny.

–“Hail, Dorothy.”

“Fair Game”

O’Neill gets contacted by Thor about a possible move by the System Lords to attack Earth. The solution: negotiate with the big System Lords to have Earth protected by an Asgard treaty. Only thing is the System Lords they are negotiating with are rather arrogant and deceitful, which complicates things when one of them meets with a serious injury inside the SGC. This is a nice twisty episode that comes to a rather crafty conclusion.

“This is like E.T.” “What is E.T.” “Oh, it’s a movie where an alien arrives on Earth, makes friends with kids and then gets kidnapped by government thugs–um, maybe I shouldn’t say more.”

–Carter gets promoted to Major at the top of the episode, which would have been a perfect ceremony if it wasn’t for O’Neill getting beamed up to Thor’s ship.

–Good thing we pointed out that the Goa’uld healing device not be moved off base earlier, because it saved Kronos’ life and secured that treaty. And that treaty seems kind of reasonable: we won’t attack Earth, but you’re on your own if you drop by one of our planets.

–So the Asgard are apparently busy fighting another adversary that are more dangerous than the Goa’uld to be helping protect Earth with manpower. We’ll meet that adversary by the end of the season.

–Interesting callback to season one with Nirriti being the culprit behind Cassandra’s people getting slaughtered & her being turned into a human bomb. So it didn’t seem much of a stretch that she would sabotage the negotiations by injuring Kronos and Teal’c. Also, we learn Teal’c really doesn’t like Kronos for murdering his dad and all.

–O’Neill’s reactions to beaming to and from Thor’s ship add some needed light humor. Warn a guy before doing that, am I right?

“Legacy”

It’s a bad trip this time for SG-1 as they investigate a planet of dead Goa’ulds, and discover they brought something back with them. People start hallucinating, losing their minds, and before you know it, we got problems. So we discover its not just a virus or after effects of gate travel, but an actual weapon driving them mad. Now all they have to do is stay sane long enough to find a cure.

I’ve seen people have acid trips exactly like this.

–Ma’chello is the architect of these Goa’uld parasites, so hence another dual performance by Michael Shanks as Ma’chello and the hallucinating Daniel.

–Speaking of those parasites crippling Teal’c, its funny they have that side effect of driving normal people nuts. Also, I can’t stand those things moving around people’s skin like that. Eww.

–So Carter’s blood turns out to be the key to getting those bugs out of our crew and saving Teal’c. Some kind of odd immunity thing.

–Maybe I’m wrong about institutions, but do padded cells have that many corners to them? Just curious.

–“I’d like to apologize in advance for anything I may say or do that could be construed as offensive, as I slowly go nuts!”

NEXT TIME: An exchange program with a hyper intelligent girl causes trouble in “Learning Curve”, team members from an alternate reality arrive in ours in “Point of View”, SG-1 is forced to work with an alien bounty hunter in “Deadman Switch”, and preventing a sacrifice gets the team in the crosshairs of a powerful force in “Demons”.