@lefthandedguitarist I agree. As irritating as he is in the early episodes, Maybourne is a great part of the series.
And it's so odd that the leader of the Madronans comes back later on as Moros and performs so much better. Makes me wonder if this was an off day or intentional for the character.
This is one of the best episodes at showing there is always more going on than what we see of the day to day of the SGC. That there are plans going on behind the scenes and helps highlight the reasons we love our heroes and love to hate the seedy politicians and their attack dogs.
Shout by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2020-10-09T14:47:28Z
A truly great episode which starts as one thing and then becomes something very different. This gives us a little bit of everything, though it's mostly really meaty intrigue and mystery. The inner workings of the Stargate program and other elements of the US government really come to the fore here. I remember watching this in the '90s and being blown away at the revelation that the second Stargate was secretly being used. Plus, it casually throws in callbacks to several previous episodes along the way.
But alongside the twisty reveals and fun, I love that this is a great character piece for almost everyone involved. General Hammond gets a lot to do here and it continues to reveal more of the warmer side of his personality. And of course, the love-to-hate-him character that is Maybourne pops up again and is simply great (even if he's still not the character he will become).
Any criticisms I have come in the form of the people of Madronas. The actors are quite frankly awful and really spoil things. Is the old man supposed to be blind or confused or constipated? It's hard to tell.