The Fourth Horseman, Part 2 (911)

[Sela]

No one could use a red phone like Hammond

This is so true. There will never be another like Hammond, no disrespect to Landry. You know, since he's been gone, whenever Hammond comes into the scene I get a warm feeling inside. It's like seeing a good friend walk into the room that you've sorely missed. A lot of that is due to Don S. Davis' portrayal of Hammond. Not everyone can take a part like that to a level that it really makes an imprint on the story. Hammond brought the SCG and SG-1 along to where they are now. If it hadn't been for his steady guiding hand, none of them would where they are today. He was a great commander and I miss him.

[BigGator5]

I for one, don't read spoilers. I caught this earlier when you mentioned it and now a second time?? Why?? Just use a spoiler tag...it's not that hard.

I didn't say anything. All I said was how did the person know Gerek's dead? I grew-up on comics and the first lesson every fan learns is: UNLESS THERE IS A BODY, DO NOT COUNT THE DEAD!

[Battousai the Manslayer]

oops, I'm sorry.

[starfox]

I didn't quite feel the plague tension here. It needed more visuals, less exposition. Walter running in and naming cities didn't quite do it for me.

Maybe this is just because I've been so into Atlantis lately and was beginning to forget how much I adore Daniel, but I enjoyed the Dan-Cam banter. Yeah it probably would have made sense in the situation for there to be less of it, but I enjoyed it all the same. Shanks and Browder have pretty good chemistry like that. Besides, it worked for the characters. Daniel's done this often enough to be past the whole showing fear thing, and from what we've seen so far, quipping is just what Cam does. There have been points in the season where I felt he was a little too over the top, but except for the omelette line, I didn't really get that feeling here.


I liked Teal'c in this ep. The scene with Bra'tac on the ship made me smile, and the scene with Gerak at the grave was well shot and well-acted.

I don't have a problem with Lam when she's actively being a doctor, it's the daughter part that bothers me. I think the writers are just making her a bit bratty over-angsty. Whatever happened to silently resenting your parents? The reminders of Landry&Lam's issues need to be shorter and more of a "we'll talk about this later, when we're not at work" type thing.

The Orlin story-line was competently done; not my favorite part but it accomplished what it was meant to, and the closing scene with the puzzle was absolutely perfect.

All in all, not the best episode, but not the worst. I'm looking forward to next week's far more than I was looking forward to this one.

[retiredat44]

Remember all the Star trek episodes where the RESET Button was hit in the last 30 seconds?

[yowo]

I am so glad to see a better opening, I loved it.
I liked the episode pretty good, but I do miss the old family feeling of the team. It was good to see some emotions coming back though, for example Sam‘s feelings for Orlin. Amanda did a great job in that she really made me feel her anguish over what was happening to the boy.
I like that General Landry and his daughter got a little closer.
Christopher Judge did a good job especially when he stood up to Gerak.
Also it was great to General Hammond. I would love to see more of him.
It was great to see a new episode, but I would like to see more emotions.

[Sela]

I for one, don't read spoilers. I caught this earlier when you mentioned it and now a second time?? Why?? Just use a spoiler tag...it's not that hard.

As this is the official episode thread, I was under the impression that we could freely discuss all aspects of the episode here in and anyone coming into this thread would understand that there were possible spoilers. If I am wrong, I ask the moderators (hallowed are they) to delete the offending parts of my posts and extend my humble apologies to those offended.

[majorsal]

If they knew they had the prior incapacited for good and there would be no retaliation, I could see them being cocky enough to joke. But, knowing that there are still more priors that could come? And, how was the banter going to convince the prior to go against the Ori? Orlin and Landry did a better job, and I didn't feel like they should have a microphone and someone doing a "ba-dum-bum" to signal the punch line like I did with Mitchell and Daniel.

exactly. and did the prior even understand what they were saying? i doubt it. {i was waiting for the prior to say (when landry arrived), 'thank the ori someone's come to save me from this meaningless babbling'}


rda's droll delivery is soley missing. *for me*




sally

[Dani347]

I see your point but I guess I just saw it as a sort of return to the Stargate of old. They were always joking around during life and death situations. Sure it was often completely inappropriate but that's part of what made it fun for me. I'm just curious, but do you think that part of why it felt off to you is because Mitchell is a new character? Cuz I sometimes get a vibe while watching him that it feels a bit out of place just because I'm still trying to find the character.

I don't think it had to do with Mitchell being new. I mean, there was an element of baiting when he was talking to the prior in Avalon 2. But, it didn't stand out that much. I'm not sure why. It could be that I didn't really feel any of the seriousness that the banter was supposed to lighten. I knew it intellectually (big plague, Orlin losing his memories, Landry being infected) but I didn't feel it. So, the banter didn't feel like a relief after the heaviness, because I didn't feel any of the heaviness. And, it seemed that even if there was banter, there also should have been some seriousness from them interspersed with it, and I didn't see that. It was like the writers said, okay, we need comedy in this episode, that'll be the Daniel and Mitchell plot.


In contrast, you had Teal'c doing his teasing of Brat'ac (where does that blasted apostrophe go?) being too old, but that happened along with him being serious. To me, all Mitchell and Daniel did were yuck yucks once the prior showed up. The comedy needed to be relieved by a little drama in their scenes as well.

[Darren]

This episode is like Chinese food: I was very satisfied when it was done, but an hour later I felt like it just wasn't enough.

All in all I'd say it was a very strong episode. Great tie-up to Part 1, good plot development, and some excellent character moments. Lam finally opening up to Landry and telling him that she's beginning to understand why he's always been the way he is -- I thought it was very touching. Orlin and Sam scenes were nice, but not driving the episode really.

Mocking the Prior seemed perfectly in character for Daniel and Cam -- sometimes sarcasm feels very out of place in the show (Jack and Baal in "Zero Hour," Jack in just about every Season Eight scene he did), but this worked for me. After being smacked down over and over by an uber-powerful foe, they'd just won their first victory and enjoyed putting him in his place. (Compare it to their very serious and very measured statements to the Prior in "Beachhead.")

Finally, Teal'c, Bra'tac, and Gerak stole the show. The relative ease with which Gerak was swayed back to the Good Side of the Force was a little disappointing (he was a bigger threat before becoming a Prior, apparently!), but the scene at his father's grave is as good as I've seen Chris Judge perform. Magic. He wasn't luring an enemy into a trap; he was taking an elder brother away from on-lookers to confront him in a very personal way.

There is an issue that keeps this from being an above-and-beyond outstanding episode, and unfortunately it's something that permeates most of the scenes: Telling, not showing. The plague spreading, governments on edge, Orlin suffering, Landry getting the plague, Gerak threatening to bring about his goals by force ... all of these came out almost exclusively through dialogue. I love good dialogue, but in episodes like this its overuse turns an adventure show into a talky.

Three stars, but it could have been four.

[Dani347]

Finally, Teal'c, Bra'tac, and Gerak stole the show. The relative ease with which Gerak was swayed back to the Good Side of the Force was a little disappointing (he was a bigger threat before becoming a Prior, apparently!), but the scene at his father's grave is as good as I've seen Chris Judge perform. Magic. He wasn't luring an enemy into a trap; he was taking an elder brother away from on-lookers to confront him in a very personal way.

I did like that. I always enjoy the Brat'ac and Teal'c interaction, and it was very good acting from CJ. I agree with the view that he was confronting Gerak on a personal level.

[AutumnDream]

This one RAWKED! Now I'm all excited about SG-1 again.

- Mitchell isn't ALLOWED to wear backwards caps. That's O'Neill's thing.
- Mitchell was actually funny for once. Usually he just grates on me.
- Daniel AND Mitchell were great together.
- Lovely drama all around.
- I loved how it seemed like Orlin was getting to the Prior. Too bad it failed!
- The overall story arcs are looking even more interesting. Ori vs. Ancients!
- Teal'c and Brat'ac rock.

[Cinephilic TV Addict]

I still hate you nip-pickers! Make it less fun with your logic. Just enjoy the show.

It's very simple - a show can be as illogical as it pleases, if it earns its moments. Speed (the movie with the bomb on the bus) was corny, but it was well done and earned almost all its corny moments (like when the bus jumped a 50 ft. gap). Same thing goes for any Stargate episode - if it's good, it earns its moments (think A Hundred Days, WoO, etc). This ep did not do anything to earn its moments, and was not enjoyable.

Therefore, us nit-pickers have a very definite stance and, regardless, are allowed to express our opinions on this thread. So just enjoy the discussion

[Quinn Mallory]

Woohoo, Stargate is back! Love the full length opening (just very glad to have it back, maybe I'll start to nitpick it next week).

As for the episode, love the banter between Mitchell and Daniel with the captured Prior. The scenes with Teal'c and Bratac and Garek were also quite good. You've got to feel sorry for Orlin, I'm sure glad that throw that line at the end about how his contribution was necessary to produce the vaccine for the rest of the world. I would have loved to see Sam at least give Orlin a hug at some point (maybe this did happen but I just can't recall this).

[Quinn Mallory]

This episode is like Chinese food: I was very satisfied when it was done, but an hour later I felt like it just wasn't enough.

Finally, Teal'c, Bra'tac, and Gerak stole the show. The relative ease with which Gerak was swayed back to the Good Side of the Force was a little disappointing (he was a bigger threat before becoming a Prior, apparently!), but the scene at his father's grave is as good as I've seen Chris Judge perform. Magic. He wasn't luring an enemy into a trap; he was taking an elder brother away from on-lookers to confront him in a very personal way.

I think we saw Gerak start to question the Prior right before becoming one himself. So the change of heart wasn't instantaneous in my mind.

This episode is like Chinese food: I was very satisfied when it was done, but an hour later I felt like it just wasn't enough.

You need to start getting Chinese food from better restaurants.