Parti Pris (209)

[Alex Rubit]

Stargate: Horizon - Season Two
"Parti Pris"

"Parti Pris"
Ep: 2.09
Release Date: November 17th 2005
Written by Mike Coakley

Grant, Christine, and Lenori are surprised to encounter Sivok, who approaches them with a request for help. Very soon things take a shocking turn for the worse, as one team member's life is placed in grave danger.

[Alex Rubit]

The latest all new episode has now been released. Follow this link to get to the episode page, where the episode will be available for download. Or, just click on the link in my signature. Whichever you prefer.

Just a brief reminder that this will be the final episode before a short break. New episodes will resume on December 8th, when "The Cold and Distant Stars" will be kicking off the final three episode run of the first half of Season Two.

But, for now, we hope you'll enjoy "Parti Pris". And don't forget to stop back right here for comments and discussion.

[Calicto]

Hmmm... I liked it.

But obviously there were things I didnt agree with.

For example, if Grant had thought Sivok was the cause of the virus (ie. apprehending him with P-90), then he should not have given Sivok back his wrist device as they chased Grenak because according to Grant's POV, Sivok could have been with Grenak and easily just shot them. I guess this could have been solved with Lenori stating that "four draque are down" which accumulates Grant to realize that there is division in the draque thought and that Sivok could have been on thier side.

Stuff like that. But good episode. BUt I think all these episodes have a lot of Enoly stuff to my dissapointment.

[Alex Rubit]

Hmmm... I liked it.

But obviously there were things I didnt agree with.

For example, if Grant had thought Sivok was the cause of the virus (ie. apprehending him with P-90), then he should not have given Sivok back his wrist device as they chased Grenak because according to Grant's POV, Sivok could have been with Grenak and easily just shot them. I guess this could have been solved with Lenori stating that "four draque are down" which accumulates Grant to realize that there is division in the draque thought and that Sivok could have been on thier side.

I'm glad you liked the episode. I'm sure Mike will be replying any minute. I figured I'll just get the ball rolling.

There is a lot of thought that went into that. Grant and Sivok have a very special kind of relationship, going back to "Absolution". For the most part Grant is unsure about whether or not Sivok can be trusted. A part of Grant wants to trust him, another part just isn't so sure, most likely resulting from what the Nebulan Woman told Grant back in "Absolution", that it's unclear whether or not Sivok is a good guy. Well, she didn't say it like that, but exactly that's the case. You see it in this episode; he seems honorable, but in that scene where he talks to Lonik in the command center (toward the end of act three) it does shine through that there's more shade of grey as it would seem, when he says clearly he's not sure whether or not he'd keep up his alliance with the humans and Vorians after the Enoly are defeated (whenever that would be).

So, in this scene that you're referring to, Grant basically jumps to conclusions before having thought it through to the end. He admits this to Sivok in the final scene, which is why I thought it should really come through that way. Just have a look at that final scene again. There's obviously a lot of anger and frustration in Grant at that very moment, considering everything that's happening, and his first thought is "Sivok betrayed me!" and he gets kind of angry.

In my mind a lot of this story at its core is about prejudice. And that's what I think is great. We haven't got unfailable and pefect heroes here. Grant does have a certain prejudice with regard to Sivok (you can't blame him; after all the guy tried to kill him the first time they met), and he admits this in the end. Obviously very often prejudice (combined with desperation) drives people to jump to conclusions.

Anyway, long post short: Grant realizes that Sivok isn't responsible He actually asks Sivok if Grenak is working for him, and he decides to take the answer as the truth. Sure, it's a risk, but it's a risk he decides to take.

Now, I didn't write the episode, but I'm sure Mike will back this up. I'm sure he will. He'll be here soon. I'm sure he will.

Stuff like that. But good episode. BUt I think all these episodes have a lot of Enoly stuff to my dissapointment.

A lot of the recent episodes involve the Enoly because we were setting them up as the main bad guys. There'll be episodes coming up that don't have anything to do with them, though. There'll even be a few more go-through-the-gate-get-into-trouble episodes.

[SierraGulf1]

So, in this scene that you're referring to, Grant basically jumps to conclusions before having thought it through to the end. He admits this to Sivok in the final scene, which is why I thought it should really come through that way. Just have a look at that final scene again. There's obviously a lot of anger and frustration in Grant at that very moment, considering everything that's happening, and his first thought is "Sivok betrayed me!" and he gets kind of angry.

In my mind a lot of this story at its core is about prejudice. And that's what I think is great. We haven't got unfailable and pefect heroes here. Grant does have a certain prejudice with regard to Sivok (you can't blame him; after all the guy tried to kill him the first time they met), and he admits this in the end. Obviously very often prejudice (combined with desperation) drives people to jump to conclusions.

Anyway, long post short: Grant realizes that Sivok isn't responsible He actually asks Sivok if Grenak is working for him, and he decides to take the answer as the truth. Sure, it's a risk, but it's a risk he decides to take.

Now, I didn't write the episode, but I'm sure Mike will back this up. I'm sure he will. He'll be here soon. I'm sure he will.

Righto.

A lot of this episode does have to do with desperation and prejudice, as you say. The term "Parti Pris" is for the most part a synonym for the prejudice, which is a recurring theme throughout the episode, in Lonik and Grant especially. Well, it isn't absolute prejudice, as Grant does have his reasons for not trusting Sivok (he tried to kill him previously, plus the Nebulan Woman's warned Grant of Sivok's true intentions).

At that point in the story, Grant is also quite desperate at the time. Christine is dying and there's no way Grant can fight off a cloaked Draque on his own. In many ways, I don't think he had a choice. However, if you believe otherwise, or that the reason wasn't clear enough, then perhaps I should have made that clearer within the episode itself.

As it is my first script, I'm very happy you enjoyed it, Calicto. I can't say that I wasn't a bit anxious, and the fact that you liked it is certainly reassuring. Hopefully others will believe the same, although I'd also prefer critisism, suggestions, and disagreements such as the ones you posted. Much obliged.

Now, then, I've got an english essay to write.

[AzMcNeil]

Well as per usual I am one of the lucky ones who got the chance to read this before it's actual release and I must say that it is now my favorite. Sivok is the man! Definetly the coolest charcter on the show right now.

On a side note, I am glad to see my suggestion was taken into consideration and used (you know what I'm talking about Alex)

I hope that there will be more Sivok in the future and more, more, more background story in The Free Draque

[Elite Anubis Guard]

Well I liked this episode Mike. It has more than a few twist and turns. I do find it interesting you've decided to really push the Enoly into being the main bad guys now. Quite like Sivok, he's turning out to be a really interesting character.

[mentalmichael]

Now this is more like it. In contrast to the previous episode (for my somewhat outspoken views on that one see the "Fantastic Three" Thread), the writing for every character was spot on, and followed what we have seen in previous episodes (barring of course Sivok, who let's face it is just hard to predict) It had a good pace to it, and the scenes with Christine were well done. As always, the description of the characters' actions was sharp and succinct.
All in all, nice one

I agree that Grant might have had issues with giving Sivok a weapon, but I would say that given the situation, and the fact that they had worked together in the past, it's not hard to understand his actions.

One question though. If the neural chip things really are completely deactivated for all the Draque, then why isn't there a bigger army? What is happening to the other Draque who have lost their obedience?

[Elite Anubis Guard]

I think it's down to them not realizing what happened or they still think the Ascendants being the masters.

[SierraGulf1]

Well, I'm not sure if it was in the final draft, but I don't think I'd be spoiling anything in answering that.

The Draque on Sivok's ship would have been lost and confused without Sivok's leadership, so all of those other Draque out there who didn't have Sivok to guide them are probably quite lost right now. Hopefully Sivok can guide them, as he's just beginning to expand his "army."

We have to wonder, if Grenak was willing to turn to the Enoly, would other Draque do the same? There's a lot of new information in this episode, one can only wonder what'll happen next.

Well, I'm certainly glad you folks liked it. It inspires me to get to work on Catch 22.

[SirGrimlock]

Great episode, glad to see the Draque some more.

Why do the Draque remind me so much of the Gemidar (sp?) from Deep Space 9? Genetically altered race of warriors created to obey their masters, being dependant on a drug only they can create, the ability to cloak. Don't get me wrong, I love the Draque and I'm not complaining. Just stating the similarities.

Sivok is one of the most interesting characters, not knowing where he stands. The destinies of both Sivok & Grant seem to be along a similar path so far.

[SierraGulf1]

People have been mentioning a lot of similarities between DS9 and Horizon, perhaps I should start watching DS9. I really need to start exploring more of the world of sci-fi to avoid certain parallels to other shows.

And I wouldn't say they're completely dependent on the drug (though that's what everyone thought at first), but it certainly helps them out as far as physical abilities go.

Thanks for the comments, glad you enjoyed it.

[Alex Rubit]

Actually people have been talking repeatedly about similarities to Enterprise throughout the early episodes, not DS9. I don't see any parallels to DS9, except of course for the fact that there's a space station (and Armin Shimerman). And nevertheless, DS9 is one of my all time favorite shows. I love it.

With regard to the Draque and Jem'Hadar similiarities, yeah, they have some parallels, which was never intentional. But at the core they're very different. The current Draque are cloned, but the original "ancient" Draque were a very different species. Where they reptilian? That's a good question, since it's the enzyme that alters their appearance. We know that from "Valiant". So, possibly these "ancient" Draque look very different from the current Draque. Now, there's something to speculate about. We've been talking about that a lot actually.

And the Draque aren't at all dependent on the enzyme, although we wanted you to believe just that at first.

[timdalton007]

A great episode! Can't see the DS9 connection (or then it's a spin-off of a popular Sci-fi TV series and takes place on a space station). I hope the rest of the season goes as good as it ahs been because this is the best episode of the this season yet!

timdalton007

[Lt. Colonel Ryu Gaia]

Could have used a spell check (wasn't to happy, shouves, transpoter beam), but other then that, I thought it was really good.