Singularity (114)

[hedwig]

LOVED this episode. Fantastic Sam episode. It's odd that, at the end, they did that whole implying that she knew that the bomb wasn't going to go off....or did she sort of thing which I found annoying because, as we all know, she was completely willing to sacrifice herself rather than leave Cassandra's side.

I think there was a lot involved in Sam going back to Cassie. She realized in the elevator why they could be wrong about the bomb, and she was willing to bet her life on it by going back to stay with Cassie. I don't think she was 100% sure she was right, but she was going with her "gut feeling" about it, and she was right. Plus, she couldn't have lived with herself if she had actually left Cassie alone down there, regardless of what happened, so she went back, and was prepared to deal with the consequences of disobeying an order.

If Jack had been the one to take Cassie down there, I don't think he would have been able to leave her alone there either, in spite of all his training.

[Traveler Enroute1]

SG Rewatch episodes: 101 - 105, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111,112, 113, 114, 115

Singularity

Fair amount of tension in this story, and Sam finds an alien that she can keep. Starts off with a gruesome body found near the Stargate, progresses to find that the SG team that preceded them are all dead and the other inhabitants as well. Then Sam spots movement on the roadside, and they find a survivor, a young girl.

As they prepare to return to the SGC, the girl attaches herself to Sam. She probably felt safer with a female. That left Jack and Teal'c to remain on the planet to complete the scientific mission the SG team couldn't finish, recording a rare black hole.

So the plot splits into the mystery of the girl's survival where everyone around her died, and Jack and Teal'c in an observatory on the planet. At first I thought the black hole mission was superfluous in the face of the tragic deaths, even with Sam's plea to complete it in honor of their fallen comrades. But aha, the plot thickened.

Back at the SGC we learn the girl's name is Cassandra. Yipes, the girl's a time bomb! Yipes, a Goa'uld ship is just about on top of the planet where Jack and Teal'c are!

The two storylines converge in a really cool race from both sides of the gate, neither knowing the other is about to dial out or in. My fingernails survived as by one thin chevron lock, Jack and Teal'c dial in and get Cassandra away from the gate. I liked how these events played, but my nails were still in danger. Cassandra remained a lethal ticking bomb so they needed to let her detonate somewhere on earth. Luckily (ok, too luckily) an abandoned nuclear facility was handy and conveniently located.

Here was the episode's real hook. While Sam is holding the unconscious girl, Cassandra wakes up. Torn but with time passing, Sam leaves and we see an anguished captain wrestling with her deed in the creeping elevator, alone and angry at Cassandra's plight. Suddenly something occurs to Sam and she sends the elevator back down. Jack is visibly shocked, and obviously helpless to get his captain back up in time.

Kudos to Amanda for fielding that elevator scene. Sam's outrage was building all through the efforts to help Cassandra, and the final drop at the facility let it all spill out. In one of the commentaries or an interview, Amanda said the director, a little old man - Mario Azzopardi, was constantly niggling her for 'more, more, more!' I always think of the part where she kicks the wall as Amanda kicking him! But it paid off, Amanda; great scene.

The focus is mostly on Sam here, but there are a couple of sweet scenes with Sam and Daniel. He really scored big for me as he stayed close to support her. And when he's sitting outside Cassandra's room and tells Sam she doesn't have to carry this all alone, I sent him a whopping kiss. I think in this episode Daniel comes to admire her even if he probably doesn't understand her. She's fierce, intelligent, and now she's quite emotional over the welfare of a lone survivor. I expected him to hug her when she was crying, but then I'm sure he figured she wouldn't want that.

Other stuff:

• Some nice camera shots here. Liked the child's eye view of the gateroom when Cassandra comes through, kind of intimidating. The scenes of the old facility were shot from below which added to a sense of foreboding. The music added to the tension of the walk down the empty corridors.
  
  
• Teal'c and Jack - great pair. A natural straight man for Jack's one liners. Whooped when Jack tried to explain what a black hole was. Teal'c seemed very un-enlightened!
  
  
• In their run for the gate, the explosions seemed awfully close on Jack and Teal'c's heels. Made for nice action viewing but I kept thinking they were close enough to be hurt while filming.
  
  
• Sam fully intended to carry out her orders in the facility, distasteful as she found them.
  
  
• When Teal'c talked of Niirti, he said 'he'. Had he ever met her? Or did Niirti have a male host at one time?
  
  
• Noticed that the kawoosh! has a narrow projection, leaving the sides of the ring untouched. The disinfectant frame doesn't get vaporized when the wormhole formed.
  
  
• Loved the team's expressions of relief. Jack seemed torn between relief and a 'wait-till-I-see-you-later' annoyance toward Sam.
  
  
• Jack seemed SO proud of his gift to Cassandra. But not sure why Sam found it so funny. What a gorgeous pup.
  
  
• Those silent Generals were there again. Window dress-blues. Glad they faded with the series!
  

Another dastardly Goa'uld name is added - Niirti, who double crossed some other Goa'uld by blowing up his Stargate en route to a sit down. This one played genetic tricks to kill the city's people and engineer a biological bomb delivery system via Cassandra. Each Goa'uld they meet is nastier than the previous one; earth has officially pissed off more than one. Cool. Looked forward to seeing all of them.

An episode that pointed out that Sam's also capable of 'female' feelings. Though she did deny the maternal instinct thing Teal'c suggested, its fair to say she has something like it. From the guys, these actions wouldn't be termed paternal (i.e. Jack and Skaara), so I'll just say she's capable of showing her softer side, too. Nice to see.

Rated 3/5

[SF_and_Coffee]

If Jack had been the one to take Cassie down there, I don't think he would have been able to leave her alone there either, in spite of all his training.

Definitely not, given how strongly we are shown him as having a soft spot for children in the series.

[KayLyne]

Definitely not, given how strongly we are shown him as having a soft spot for children in the series.

I actually think Jack would have left (even though it would have killed him inside). If you notice, Sam only decided to go back down to Cassie after she had realized, while the elevator was going up, what was actually happening - with Cassie waking up and getting better when they were far enough away from the gate. Jack wouldn't have had that insight into the situation. And while both Sam & Jack have taken their military training (protecting the innocent; leave no man behind, etc) to some great lengths at times, both are smart enough not to sacrifice oneself when there are alternatives.

[jelgate]

I think Teal'c has gender confusion. Nitiri isn't a he

This episode has two stories. A plot story and a character story. As character story in a lot of ways its really the first Sam story. Yes we have had Sam stories before but this is really the first one that devulges into how she thinks. Using Cassandra as an outlet its the first episode to show Sam's deep morals and emotions.

The plot aspect shows just how far the Goa'uld. Yes we know the Goa'uld are monsters who will go to no end to destroy their enemies. But using a human child as a weapon aims to shows just how sinister they are to achieve thier goals. But I can't grasp why Niriti attacked us. Our war was more with Apophis. Its not like we attacked like we did with Apophis.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I think Teal'c has gender confusion. Nitiri isn't a he

The symbiote Nirrti is not a Goa'uld queen and is therefore not female, so the generic pronoun "he" is not incorrect. Nirrti's human host, on the other hand, is definitely female. But host gender =/= symbiote gender. Teal'c isn't confused at all; he's using completely proper terminology.

[jelgate]

The symbiote Nirrti is not a Goa'uld queen and is therefore not female, so the generic pronoun "he" is not incorrect. Nirrti's human host, on the other hand, is definitely female. But host gender =/= symbiote gender. Teal'c isn't confused at all; he's using completely proper terminology.

The Jaffa and Teal'c have always used gender for the Goa'uld based on the god they have posed as

[Skydiver]

the more practical explanation also is....Nirti USED to be in a male, but switched to a female sometime since the last time Teal'c knew of him/her.

perhaps there was more than one goa'uld pretending to be nirti? Old male Nirti was killed by new, female Nirti who took his identity? (the old 'dread pirate roberts schtick'...it's the name that's scary, the person holding it changes)

[juggernaut975]

I'm wondering how much interaction Teal'c would have had with the other System Lords? As someone who required his 'divinity' to hold sway over his subjects, would Apophis ever acknowledge that he was merely one of several System Lords who, with Ra's demise, were at odds with each other?

With Teal'c it's a bit different I'm sure as he was First Prime and all and had already determined Apophis and the other Goa'uld to be false gods but I'm certain it wasn't an easy decision for him, it was one of the hardest things he's ever had to do.

He, like all Jaffa, had been raised since birth believing that the Goa'uld they served were their Gods. I wonder how much if any information was made available to them about the other System Lords. The higher ranking Jaffa, sure, they'd be important enough to be exposed to other 'gods' but the lower ranks?

To me at least I'd wonder how they would be able to reconcile with their subjects the fact that there are OTHER supreme beings that they're in conflict with

[fems]

I'm wondering how much interaction Teal'c would have had with the other System Lords? As someone who required his 'divinity' to hold sway over his subjects, would Apophis ever acknowledge that he was merely one of several System Lords who, with Ra's demise, were at odds with each other?

With Teal'c it's a bit different I'm sure as he was First Prime and all and had already determined Apophis and the other Goa'uld to be false gods but I'm certain it wasn't an easy decision for him, it was one of the hardest things he's ever had to do.

He, like all Jaffa, had been raised since birth believing that the Goa'uld they served were their Gods. I wonder how much if any information was made available to them about the other System Lords. The higher ranking Jaffa, sure, they'd be important enough to be exposed to other 'gods' but the lower ranks?

To me at least I'd wonder how they would be able to reconcile with their subjects the fact that there are OTHER supreme beings that they're in conflict with

Well, considering Teal'c's father used to be in the service of Cronus (and was killed by him) which led his mother and himself to leave Cronus' domain and apparently end up with Apophis, I'd say Jaffa in general are well aware of different Goa'uld. After all, the Goa'uld hardly do anything but fight and the Jaffa are their foot soldiers. And it seems like most Jaffa are aware of which tattoo belongs to which Goa'uld etc, which would also indicate they are well aware of the different "gods".

[StarSancFar]

I loved this ep! The way we got to see more of Sam's personallity and the way she reacts with Cassie, just beautiful. One of my faviies from S1

[SF_and_Coffee]

He, like all Jaffa, had been raised since birth believing that the Goa'uld they served were their Gods. I wonder how much if any information was made available to them about the other System Lords. The higher ranking Jaffa, sure, they'd be important enough to be exposed to other 'gods' but the lower ranks?

To me at least I'd wonder how they would be able to reconcile with their subjects the fact that there are OTHER supreme beings that they're in conflict with

In polytheistic systems, the idea of multiple coexisting gods is accepted as a given. Deities in such systems are not regarded as "supreme" in the sense that a deity in a monotheistic system would be. The closest you'd find would be the chief deity of a particular pantheon, who would rule over the other deities in that pantheon. The Goa'uld are their own pantheon (they simply utilize personae and identities from several different groups of Earth deities), with their own internecine squabbles from time to time over who is, in fact, the ruler of the others. (This is, in fact, also a common occurrence in Earth mythology between various deities within each pantheon. Check out Greek and Hindu mythology, or even Norse.) So having the Jaffa exposed to multiple Goa'uld "deities" would not pose a problem, as there is no expectation or need for a Goa'uld System Lord to have his or her Jaffa believe that he (or she) is the ONLY deity in existence.

[moondragon]

This was another favorite episode of season 1. Teal'c definitely learned to smile since the last time he did it (The First Commandment) and it seemed to have helped ease Cassandra. I also liked the banter of SG-1 before getting back to the planet. "You didnt think he had a telescope on his roof just to look at his neighbors?" and Jack looking insulted before going "not at first" LOLz My favorite part of this episode was the relationship between Sam and Cassandra. You can see her not wanting to get attached because of her military background, but eventually having no choice in the matter. Her attachment to Cassie showed us that Sam is more than the tough soldier, she can be a mother figure to a lost little girl. Her guilt and anger when leaving Cassie at first was definitely heartfelt and kudos to AT for such a powerful scene. And as a shipper it was great to see Jack worried for Sam when she wouldn't answer the comm.

[Dimes]

Cassandra will be important, just saying.

[Sam-n-Jack-in-<3]

EXCELLENT episode...one of the best of Season 1.
Character observations:
-Teal'c being the one to get Cassandra to come out of hiding. That smile of his is awesome; so glad he used it more in the later seasons.
-Sam staying with the girl even though she has other duties. She goes as far as getting pictures, nicer bedding, and stuffed animals to make it more comfortable for a kid. And then, of course, the complete and total anguish on her face as she kicks angrily at the wall in the elevator before punching the button and heading back down. Just goes to prove that, Air Force Captain or not, she still has those maternal instincts.
-Daniel's natural empathy had a chance to show itself here. He really seems to have a quiet, gentle manner about him. Gah, why can't he have a girlfriend who isn't taken over by a Goa'uld?
-Jack was all military in this one. He seemed kind of cold...then again, he does bring by the dog at the end. Hey, whatever happened to that pooch, anyway? Did Jack keep him? Does Cassandra still have him?

All in all, another one of the best episodes ever.