Stargate SG-1/Recap/S6/E01 Redemption Part 1

Series:Stargate SG-1 Episode: Season 6, Episode 1 Title:Redemption, Part 1 Previous: Revelations Next: Redemption, Part 2 Recapper: Sikon

The episode begins In Medias Res on another planet -- somewhat unusual for a season premiere -- as O'Neill, supporting a wounded previously-unseen fourth member, orders Carter to dial the Stargate. SG-1 is attacked by a disorganized crowd of extras with spears.

Establishing Shot of Cheyenne Mountain. Inside the control room, Walter and Hammond are alerted by SG-1's premature arrival. As Hammond requests for guards and medics in the gate room, Walter orders to open the iris (to whom, himself?). SG-1 emerges from the Stargate and a spear flies after them, which Hammond picks up and then looks at it in surprise, as O'Neill casually orders, "Next!" It's not hard to see why: the new guy, who's clearly seen as a Red Shirt now, is also a Captain Obvious: after pulling a dart out of his leg, he drowsily declares "I've been shot!" before passing out, causing Hammond to drop the spear. (Why did he waste time looking at the spear while there was a wounded soldier right in front of him?)

A new opening. Well, after two seasons worth of the recycled featureless "Children of the Gods" opening, which was in turn recycled from the movie, it's nice to see something new. And of course, it's spoilerific, showing Corin Nemec's name and thus foreshadowing Jonas Quinn joining SG-1. Also the presence of Sun-over-Pyramid can mean only one thing: yet another impending Stargate switcheroo.

For the time being, waiting for that pre-scripted event to happen, Jonas is amused by the Tau'ri's ability to predict weather as he watches a forecast (which is somewhat strange for a member of a mid-20th century level culture). Carter takes him to an airbase, where he is introduced to a new marvel of United States engineering -- the X-302, the first Earth miniaturized hybrid plane/spaceship with artificial gravity and a naquadriah-powered hyperdrive. (Meanwhile, Space Shuttle Columbia crashes.)

Chekov, a stereotypically-Russian colonel with a Trekish surname, demands the presence of a Russian within SG-1 as a replacement for Daniel. O'Neill, of course, refuses, displaying blatant insubordination that he once again gets away with. "Over my dead body, sir." Apparently, in O'Neill's mind, the Cold War never ended.

Jonas expresses to Carter his idea to join SG-1. Carter says she doesn't know how to do it. Hello? The same way as with Teal'c, of course!

Speaking of Teal'c, this is whom Jonas goes to next, to do boxing. Of course, he doesn't stand a chance and repeatedly gets knocked down. Teal'c promises to talk to O'Neill about him if Jonas manages to win... and the scene abruptly cuts to Teal'c dining with O'Neill and we never know how the fight ended. "He wants to join SG-1." -- "He's an alien!" Teal'c, of course, refutes this inane argument with his trademark single-eyebrow-raise, which basically says, "Are you high/stupid? Shut up before you make an even bigger fool of yourself."

The speech is interrupted as the Stargate unexpectedly activates. It is Bra'tac, and of course, he carries plot-relevant news. Teal'c's wife is ill. They leave through the Stargate, and just as Colonel Chekov accuses Hammond of hiding the X-302 from the Russians, the Stargate activates again, but nothing is coming through. O'Neill speedily leaves before Carter can deliver another portion of Techno Babble.

At the Jaffa camp, Rya'c gets out of his tent, delivers another one of his "I hate you, father!" speeches, pushes Teal'c and runs away.

Back at the SGC, Carter calmly waits for the Stargate to close. A timer with Viewer-Friendly Interface reaches 38 minutes, but nothing happens. Carter begins to panic.

Back at the Jaffa camp, Teal'c silently kneels before the dead Drey'auc (this should be a trope). When he finally goes outside (to a forest, of course) to find his son, Rya'c delivers another unconvincing (and too intelligent for a child) portion of angst and beats Teal'c with a staff weapon. This assault on his coolness is so shocking to Teal'c that he doesn't fight back.

Meanwhile, the Stargate begins accumulating energy, and Carter arrives to an astonishing conclusion: the plan is essentially an Overclocking Attack. Whatever Goa'uld (who else?) is behind it, they for some reason preferred this slow and unreliable method instead of just blasting the iris with Sokar's particle weapon and assaulting Earth with raw force, or attacking in ships again.

At the Jaffa camp, night comes (and Carter sits by the Stargate all this time?) and Teal'c ritually burns his wife's body. The Jaffa have much to learn from the Tok'ra in terms of ceremonial burial, as we'll later learn in "Allegiance" -- let's just say for now that the Jaffa method does not involve a Stargate... Then Teal'c absolutely inexplicably bothers to make peace with the little ungrateful bugger. He must have inhuman patience.

At the SGC, the slow and steady progress is interrupted by the sudden arrival of McKay, who once again makes an effort to annoy the bedaniel out of Carter, and succeeds. Chekov scolds SG-1 for wrecking the Tok'ra ship in "Fail Safe", and Carter comes up with an obvious solution: to send the X-302 into hyperspace to contact the Asgard.

A replica of that Tok'ra ship lands in the Jaffa camp. (Now, how handy would it be on Earth! But Teal'c and Bra'tac don't think of trying to reach Earth by ship -- it's not their job to think. So, after dialing the Earth Stargate fails, instead of flying there and offering the ship, Bra'tac proposes a truly insane plan: to dial planets controlled by Anubis at random, and the one that fails must be the one with the "Stargate buster". Because obviously, Anubis can't have more than one Stargate active at a time, and can't deliberately leave some more Stargates as false targets in case someone attempts exactly this. Amazingly, the Unspoken Plan Guarantee is averted, and this strategy works.

The Tau'ri are not so lucky. As O'Neill and Carter take off in the X-302 and McKay continues to annoy everyone around, including Jonas, the latter suddenly remembers that naquadriah can't be reliably used in a hyperdrive. Too bad he forgot to tell this before the X-302 was completed. Naturally, they ignore the warning but fail to enter hyperspace anyway, and Hammond aborts the mission.

A blackout occurs at the SGC. A huge hologram of Anubis, powered by stolen Asgard technology, appears in front of the Stargate to declare that "All your Gates are belong to us" and brag how Badass he is. It doesn't work and O'Neill, as customary, mocks him. But sincerely, when a villain says "you will bow to my awesome power", it's sort of hard to take him seriously.

Tropes:

 * Large Ham: Anubis
 * Stock Episode Titles