Clipshow episode #2, and they are still a bit painful to sit through. Much like 'Politics', the surrounding story is moderately enticing and I always liked the way that Stargate at least tried to make clipshow episodes fun. The re-use of existing sets in a new capacity is clever enough as yet another method of saving money, but still this episode is difficult to really get into. It lacks the spark and heightened tension that 'Politics' had. However, one thing I did kind of appreciate was that the clips actually related to each other, and were put together in a way that summed up the overarching alien narratives so far.
The reveal of Hathor isn't all that welcome given that her previous appearance was one of the worst episodes of the entire series, but they do better here. The episode has a really awkward moment when we see the two "future" base staff speaking Goa'uld, because the performances there are laughably bad.
Who's ready for a clip show? Because that's what this bad boy is. Better than the last clip episode though.
Meh, mostly a bunch of boring flashbacks.
Shout by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2021-04-24T05:39:36Z
I'm not as mad about this episode as I was about "Politics" (1x21). Yes, it was kind of a clip show, an excuse to save money (a fact lampshaded by O'Neill when he opens that first door with just a wall behind it). I'd be the first to say that if the show needed to do another bottle episode for budgetary reasons, the time for that isn't the season finale.
And yet, I can't be too upset at this one. The pacing might seem lethargic in places, but that's not unusual in two-part television episodes in general. Sometimes a story is just "too big" enough to fit in one episode, but is hard to stretch into two. Keeping in mind that I haven't yet seen part 2 as of writing this, I honestly think that the slow pace is a writing problem, not motivated by budget. This episode's premise certainly works as a season-ending cliffhanger, and I hope the payoff works at least as well.