Stargate 10x01 'Flesh and Blood

[oceana]

I'm deeply determined to LOVE Stargate this year, so I will try to keep the negative comments to a minimum.

Though honestly, there isn't much negative to say about this ep. It wasn't exactly squeeworthy either (apart from Stargate! Squeee! and Season 10!!! Squeee!!!!), but definitely not bad. I think my main problem with this ep was that I was spoiled, and the spoilers sounded a lot more exciting than the actual episode. But let's see...

I liked that we were thrown into the story line with the birth scene. Not only is it fitting for a season opener (season 10!!!), but it also led us right into the action. And after the rather lengthy storytelling of last season, that was a nice change.

The cut to Sam in front of the Supergate was also nice. Great CG, and again, nice symbolic: the birth of the Ori child and the birth of the Ori presence in our galaxy. Well, okay, they've been here before, but not with their ships. Which I find really cool, btw, because they look so different from the other spaceships we've seen. Someone on Stargate has been having a hell of a time these last ten years creating spaceships. (Another exchange that never fails to get you a date: "So, what do you do for a living?"- "I creat spaceships.")

I liked Sam in her spacesuit, the way she started to get really panicked when Cameron wanted to catch her with the Odyssey. Especially in the earlier episodes last year I found AT's acting not very convincing and I was wondering if it would take her some time to get into character again this year. Apparently not, cause there she was with her nice Carter make-up in the infirmary bed. It's gotta be permanent make-up, unless the first thing she did after she got freed from her spacesuit was put on eyeliner. Or, and I believe that even less, she put on eyeliner before she put on the space suit. No, I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and say she didn't waste time in front of a mirror while the others were fighting the Ori. So, permanent make-up it is. She did almost quote Pinky and the Brain though ("Are you thinking what I think you are thinking, Pinky?"), so there is no guarantee that she didn't put on makeup for her space promenade.

But I'm skipping ahead: I was going to mention the scene when she calls for help in the radio and Cameron responds. Did anyone else get the impression that he's sleeping with Sam or has been sleeping with her in the past? The way he says "Sam" when he wakes up, without any surprise? Sounds like he woke up with her before. You know, I just read a fic that assumes that Sam and Cameron knew each other before, and now I can't remember who wrote it. I think there were lots of time jumps in the narration and it was rahter good. Hmmm.

Anyway, now he either wants the whole team or Daniel, I can't decide whom he is fanboying the most. Will have to watch his interaction with the others closely during the season. (season 10!!!!)

Judged by their equal vanity he is definitely sleepig with Sam though, because he has time to clean the blood of his face in the 30 seconds between his arrival on the Odyssey and his talk with Colonel Emerson. I know, we are supposed to think that he went to the infirmary first, but there really wasn't enough time for that.

I was looking forward to see more of the Lucian Alliance, especially after I read "Cameron has to rescue Teal'c from the Lucian Alliance" in spoilers, so this was a bit disappointing. There could have been fighting and Cam in leather and Teal'c hurting in his arms, and other pretty stuff. The Asgard beam was rather anticlimatic, but I understand that they didn't have time for more.

The child is pretty scary. At first I was thinking that she looks suspiciously like Daniel, but then they showed her eyes in close-up, and nope, evil yellow-eyed snake it is. And should we really be giving the Evil Child of Doom as pretty name?
Oh, but Vala is much cleverer than I give her credit for (and she also made me go, "Huh? Vala had a mother???" when she said that). She gave her an evil name. Good, I don't think I could have believed in a Vala who is all torn up about giving birth to the Evil Child of Doom. She may be torn up, but if she is Vala, she doesn't show it. I just love Claudia Black for what she does with this role. Remember Anise in her ridiculous costumes, trying to pretend that she liked both Jack and Daniel and wasn't just out for a threesome? Now imagine Vala, all proud and sexy in equally cheesy costumes, only she doesn't make them look cheesy, she makes them look as if she was born to wear them, and she handles all the flirtin she does perfectly. I'm very happy that she is still part of the show.

The Evil Child of Doom with her genetic memory reminds me of Shifu, of course. In particular of the Shifu in "Desolation Angels" by Salieri, and yes, okay, I mentioned that only so I could rec that fic.

I wasn't too convinced of the scene between Bra'tac and Cameron. I liked how they played it, but I don't believe Bra'tac would risk dying like that. From what we've seen of him, he is far more likely to draw back and figure out a plan, even gaterh an army to take Chulak back, than to fly himself to death "just to set a sign". Bra'tac should have been the one to give Cameron's speech.

The speeches at the end where nice though, as was the whole last scene. Sam is so right when she compares the Ori to the Goa'uld, who seemed invincible in the beginning. The first motherships Sg-1 blew up? They had to actually get on board and use C4. And in one memorably occasion even a nuke. I bet if they did that now even the Ori ships could be destroyed. The main difference between the Goa'uld and the Ori though, is that the Goa'uld were kind of like the devil you know. They at least were already in this galaxy, the damage was already done. Everything that SG-1 did could only make it better. The Ori seem so much more scary because they will change the galaxy as we know it. Though I'm not sure in how much danger earth is right now. Clearly, the Jaffa are much more interesting to the Ori, because they will be of more use in the army they are trying to build. So it's a question of how long it will take them to get as many Jaffa as they need to conquer earth on their side. And then they'll still be in for a nice surprise, because really, our religions are basically all the same and we still fight wars about them, do they really think a few miracles and glowy wooden sticks will make people believe in them? Even if some do, there will be enough who won't because of the ones that do. Here on earth is an old tradition to fight other religions simply because they are different from your own.
//end bitter sarcasm

But back to the last scene. I liked Cameron's speech because he sounded like he was speaking from experience in what he said about war. I tend to forget from time to time that Cameron is really a soldier and not just a guy who has been given a P90 as a prop, so I kind of enjoy these reminders.( I never had that problem with Jack, btw. Until he became a general, that is). The part about "my dying breath" was a little pathetic, but maybe that's the European speaking.

I did like the part about the new plan, though. With the whole team in the room like that, it may have been a bit too obviously symbolic for the upcoming season, but altogether it was a nice ending for a season opener that suffered from a weird absence of action (esp. compared to the last ep of season 9) and many changes in scene, which made it seem less smooth and a bit thrown together. I don't know if there wasn't a better way to tell this story, that surely wasn't easy to tell, but I liked the way they did it.

And yes, I said it wasn't squeeworthy at the beginning, but at the end I squeeed nonetheless: new stargate!Season 10! SQUEEEEEE!!!