Here we are…
…the SEASON FOUR FINALE…
…“Engage!”
We start off on the stolen ship, which has moved into orbit of Vorash. SG-1, plus Jacob Carter (yay! Hi Jacob! Hi! Hi!) transport down. (Hey guys, check out our fancy new ship. Bet you wish you had one!)
O’Neill’s not happy about having to share his fancy new ship, but the Tok’ra hope to now move to a different planet. Remember our friend Tanith, from “Crossroads”? You know, the girlfriend murderer? The second-biggest-jerkface among the Goa’uld? Well, they don’t really need him anymore.
REVENGE TIME?
At the Tok’ra hangout (of course, the one they have isn’t as comfy as ours), the council reveals their plans to move, and Tanith looks a little worried that he wasn’t informed of this. It’s at this point they reveal that they know that he’s a spy… and that they’ve been feeding him disinformation.
Frankly, Teal’c looks pretty pleased that Tanith’s getting what’s coming to him… whatever that is. I presume they’re going to try to remove the Goa’uld but save the host.
Teal’c soon thereafter goes to speak to Tanith (ooo, Wingfield is so creepy).
Tanith: “I wasn’t aware I was allowed guests. How kind of you to come visit me, Teal’c.”
Teal’c: “My presence here is not motivated by kindness.”
Darn right it’s not.
He is, however, there to tell Tanith of his punishment: Extraction, and then being left to die on the planet. Well, that sounds pretty painful. Tanith tries to goad Teal’c into killing him himself, but Teal’c just basically insults him and tells him he’s an idiot for not catching on to the Tok’ra earlier. He even – quite gleefully, I might say – lists off all the Goa’uld they’ve killed.
But Tanith just can’t help himself: “I’m sure they died with more honor than Shan’auc.”
Teal’c catches on and doesn’t take the bait. He takes his leave of Tanith, seemingly satisfied with the punishment ahead.
TANITH IS SO CREEPY AAUGH. But he’s so awesome!
Jacob and O’Neill argue about the ship as they wander around the Tok’ra base, and Jacob doesn’t think it’s a good idea for SG-1 to take it back to Earth. He reminds Jack of the little incident with the Death Glider (oh, yeah, hm, you and Teal’c ALMOST DIED) and it turns out Jacob’s not too happy about the whole “taking down the Goa’uld” thing, either. It has, after all, given rise to more powerful lords, like.. uh… well, like Jerkface Apophis. Prime example, in fact. The Tok’ra have a less direct approach: Keep the Goa’uld fighting each other until they have a way to wipe them all out at once.
Now, I confess I don’t know much about military tactics or anything like that, but I think there are merits to both approaches. I think if they could somehow find a middle-ground, that would be ideal… But it is true that the Tok’ra have been at this a lot longer. I don’t know. The last thing I want to see is the Tok’ra-Tau’ri alliance falling apart.
Meanwhile, Tanith reaffirms his status as a terrible person.
He fakes the death of his host, kills the guards, and… escapes. And he’s got one of those little communication spheres.
I really, really, really hate where this is going.
Teal’c and some Tok’ra search fervently for the escaped prisoner, and when Jack comes back down and Daniel asks him why Teal’c’s still out there, all he can say is, “It’s a Jaffa revenge thing.”
No better way of putting it.
Gets worse. The rest of SG-1 learns from Jacob that Apophis’ forces now know about Vorash, and they’ll be here in less than a day. However, Carter and her dad now have a new plan to wipe out a bunch of Apophis’ fleet… blowing up a sun.
DUDE. THAT SOUNDS SO. COOL.
Basically, they want to dial out to P3W-451 (the black hole planet from “Matter of Time”) and then eject the Stargate into the sun. The black hole through the ‘Gate will disrupt the sun enough to create a supernova. And if it doesn’t work, they can just high-tail it out of there before Apophis and his cronies (not as much fun as Cronus’ cronies) arrive.
Jackson finds Teal’c staring at a crystal, and Teal’c expresses his disappointment at twice having the opportunity to exact his revenge on Tanith, and twice failing to do so… If only because the Tok’ra were holding him back. Daniel tries to convince him that it was worth it – Tanith will die in the supernova’s wake, and if all goes according to plan, so will Apophis.
But it doesn’t really work like that for Teal’c.
“It will be a great victory. And yet, knowing what Apophis did to Sha’re, would you not trade it all for the opportunity to crush the life from his throat with your bare hands?”
Daniel gets this, “uh, well…” look on his face, and Teal’c merely says that he doesn’t think he’ll be able to help himself in the future.
Ooo, foreshadowing?
SG-1 and Jacob head up to the ship (yay! More adventures and fun times with Jacob!) and fly off towards the sun. They dial out, release the Stargate, and it’s so far so good.
(You know, I don’t know how happy the Ancients would be with us using one of their Stargates in order to create a supernova.)
And then trouble arrives. And it attacks the ship. And guess what? It’s just knocked out the hyperdrive and shields. Teal’c manages to land a good attack on it, but they’ve lost main power, too.
“We’re sitting ducks.”
(Heehee, that line reminds me of the line from “Bane”; what Ally said to Teal’c. Oh, wait, this is serious business.)
Teal’c and O’Neill go grab a Death Glider and YAY ADVENTURE TIME! as they go after the other ship. However, it suddenly takes off to Vorash, and Teal’c leads the Glider after it despite Jacob’s insistence that they let it go. (Oh, hm, “Jaffa revenge thing”. This could be problematic.) So while Carter and her dad go to repair their own ship, Teal’c pursues the enemy vessel down to Vorash… and it seems effectively destroys Tanith’s way off the planet. However, the Glider is caught in the wake, and goes down, too.
To quote a certain colonel, “Aw, crap.”
Gets even worse. Apophis is on his way. And he’s got a huge ship.
While Jacob tries to keep the ship from being blown apart by Apophis, Teal’c and O’Neill wander about the planet, hoping to once again find the Tok’ra base. There, they could just wait for Jacob to pick them up. Sounds okay, right? Well, that’s what I thought, until two of Apophis’ cronies transport down to the planet to pick up Tanith.
And then TEAL’C GETS SHOT OH MY GOD JACK SHOOT THEM. Unfortunately, then Jack gets zat’d, and Tanith is transported away… with Teal’c in tow.
Oh crap oh crap oh CRAP.
Up on Apophis’ ship (why don’t these ships ever get names? I really liked how Thor’s ship had been the Beliskner. I like names) Tanith is a-okay (UGH) and Teal’c is dragged in front of Apophis.
Unfortauntely, Teal’c is more or less unconscious, which means he can’t punch the snakehead’s big fat JERKFACE for me.
Oh my god, here we go, “Serpent’s Venom” ALL OVER AGAIN.
Meanwhile, Jacob launches the Death Gliders, but they’re being remote-controlled. However, Apophis takes the bait (why? because he’s an arrogant, cocky jerkface who steals wives and won’t freakin’ die), which I suppose is good except for the little fact that TEAL’C IS ON THAT SHIP.
The good news is that now they can pick up O’Neill, and OH MY GOD THE SUN IS EXPLODING. They manage to get out of there, but… something’s wrong. They’ve got Jack, yeah, but we’re four million light years away from our last position. (Gee, thanks, supernova.)
You know what this reminds me of? Star Trek: Voyager. I sure hope they find a quick way back, ‘cause I am not going through that again.
But hey, guess what! Gets better!
Apophis’ ship is here too!
Well. This is just fantasmitastic. We’re stuck millions of light years from home, and the only company is Jerkface Apophis.
Final thoughts… I’m pretty sure this is the worst situation our wonderful team has ever been in. Teal’c is captured, maybe dead, maybe being tortured. With any luck, all their power systems are knocked out. They’re 125 years away from home. And Apophis is next door with a much larger ship than our lovely little Ha’tak.
Frankly, I’ll be damned if the situation can get any worse. Shoot, I’m not even going to try and speculate how they’re going to get home. Are the Asgard anywhere around here? Some other friendly, super-advanced species? Maybe those Ancient folks?
But first and foremost I’d like to address the issue with our good friend Teal’c.
So he’s been captured. I assume he’ll be tortured to death and then brought back with a sarcophagus only to be tortured again until Apophis gets bored or something like that. However, I don’t think he’ll be killed off permanently. It doesn’t seem to be the writers’ thing. But the good thing is that at least SG-1 and Jacob might be able to save him!
I also hate to say it, but Teal’c got himself into this mess. He was so hell-bent on avenging Shan’auc (and rightfully so, I’m inclined to say) that he wasn’t thinking rationally. And now look where he is – right where Apophis wants him.
I sure hope this turns out okay for him. I really, really do. This has been a hell of a season for him.
There is one thing that makes me super-excited, though: JACOB CARTER.
You guys know how much I love that man, am I right? I just think he’s so bra’tac. And I loved how involved he was this season (but I’ll get to that in my “Reflection” post). And now, we get him for this AWESOME CLIFFHANGER of a finale and presumably the season 5 premiere. He’s such a cool guy. I can’t wait to see what he contributes next season!
Oh, and one more thing… The red armour on Apophis’ Jaffa is amazing. I love it. Probably my favourite get-up for Jaffa of the series. It just looks so awesome.
And speaking of visuals? This episode was nothing short of spectacular. It’s worth a watch. The supernova was top-notch. It’s worth a re-watch. Starships are so win!!
PREDICTION/REFLECTION THINGY
(We’re screwed.)
Jackson: Well… this is bad.
Carter: Sir, I don’t think the odds look very good.
O’Neill: We are SO screwed.
Jacob: I’m kind of regretting blowing up that sun now…
Selmak: I don’t know if I can sustain you for the next 125 years, so you better think of something!
(Meanwhile, on Apophis’ ship…)
Teal’c: (Who is somehow able to see some kind of display screen by way of this writer's... writing) I do believe these are most unfortunate circumstances.
Apophis: Shel kree, shol’va!
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