August 14, 2006 - After a disappointing fourth episode, Stargate SG-1 came back with a rather entertaining episode, though it was far from spectacular. For a good portion of the episode, the SG-1 team is split up into two groups: Group A (Mitchell and General Landry) are at a cabin, on a retreat to bring the "whole" team together, while Group B (Carter, Teal'c, and Vala) are off on another planet, trying to capture a creature that had mauled a village and attacked a SG team. Daniel, meanwhile, is missing in action once again; the lack of Michael Shanks, as proven by these past two episodes, has been very, very noticeable (the energy and presence he brings is sadly missed).
The Mitchell/Landry sections are fairly cut and dry, as they are meant for the most part to bring a sense of levity to the proceedings, and while Mitchell did have some quality lines and Beau Bridges doing the duck call was funny, other bits didn't hit their intended target. The story dealing with the creature, however, did fare slightly better even if the reasoning for it all came a little out of left field; it wasn't terrible - technically it was sound - it was just that there was no way for the viewer to help figure it out like any good mystery.
The episode worked because it used what it could and managed to camouflage its flaws rather well. The writer(s)/director knew they wouldn't be able to pull off some monstrous predator. This is evident by the fact that the creature was never really seen in action until the last handful of minutes of the episode, and the creature looked like nothing more than an orange-esque blob resembling a wolf or dog of some sort. By purposely only showing the resulting carnage it left in its wake (a dead body here, blood thrown here, a scratched tree here), a certain level of menace had already been instilled in the viewer by the time viewers were ready to see what they could come up with, so that even that "blob" of a thing still managed to come off pretty creepy.
Claudia Black continues to shine on the show, as she seemingly steals every single scene that she is in; she could only add a word to the matter or maybe even just an expression, but for whatever reason you can't help but be drawn to her whenever she appears on the screen. The positioning Vala took in this episode, trying to make herself seem like the dominant female of the show, was quite comical to watch, as she continuously defied Carter, by first mocking her by having the guts to sit in Landry's chair and by going against her plan to contain the creature; it's obvious that Vala is used to being the only woman the men look at and drool over.
Stargate SG-1 is still an enjoyable hour of television, even if it seems it is just treading water as of now. Shanks has been missing from the past two episodes, the Ori have faded from view, and beyond one episode there has yet to be another truly captivating story; when those elements come back into play, perhaps then it will be cause to celebrate and rejoice, but as of now Stargate SG-1 is nothing more than that welcomed place viewers can turn to once a week to escape for a bit.
The episode worked because it used what it could and managed to camouflage its flaws rather well. The writer(s)/director knew they wouldn't be able to pull off some monstrous predator. This is evident by the fact that the creature was never really seen in action until the last handful of minutes of the episode, and the creature looked like nothing more than an orange-esque blob resembling a wolf or dog of some sort. By purposely only showing the resulting carnage it left in its wake (a dead body here, blood thrown here, a scratched tree here), a certain level of menace had already been instilled in the viewer by the time viewers were ready to see what they could come up with, so that even that "blob" of a thing still managed to come off pretty creepy.
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Stargate SG-1 is still an enjoyable hour of television, even if it seems it is just treading water as of now. Shanks has been missing from the past two episodes, the Ori have faded from view, and beyond one episode there has yet to be another truly captivating story; when those elements come back into play, perhaps then it will be cause to celebrate and rejoice, but as of now Stargate SG-1 is nothing more than that welcomed place viewers can turn to once a week to escape for a bit.
IGN's Ratings for Uninvited
