Overall Rating: 6.0
I am less drawn to the Eastern philosophical yearnings of the writers now than I was when Stargate was first airing, but we don't fault this episode or any other for expressing this outlook. I do, however, think the big Oma Desala conclusion to the Harcesis plot was...well...lame.
Plot Synopsis:
A full recap may be found at the Stargate Wiki
The Skinny:
It's bad enough that the writers couldn't come up with an interesting way to keep Daniel involved in the Stargate program and had to invent the cornball "save the harcesis...and oh by the way, he might be the key to defeating the Goa'uld" plot...but they took a bad idea...and completely botched the execution when they decided to take the responsibility of protecting and raising the child away from us and put it in the hands of the magic sparkle fairy. LAME. Sorry...but it's like the writers have no idea what to do with Daniel anymore.
On the other hand, the side-plot involving Bra'tac's potential decision as to whether to continue fighting for life or let this final symbiote be the end of him (and the resolution to said plot resting with his realization that he's not ready to release his burden and pass on) was actually mildly interesting, as was Oma's decision to give DANIEL the apparent super-powers and not Jack. The story wasn't wholly detestable, but I think it's symptomatic once again of the lack of boldness and outside-the-box thinking that permeates the Gates. Any hope I had that Daniel's character arc would turn more interestingly on the care of a child with a gift/curse of knowledge went out the window and I can't really figure out why they chose to do that.
Writing: 6.0
The sin of aiming low is upon us. The writers didn't appear to aspire to greatness in their craft this week...they settled for whimsy and standard dialogue and gave up any dreams of real growth for the characters. It doesn't help that the dialogue had a sort of sluggish pace, either.
Acting; 6.0
No stand out performances (Tony Amendola - Bra'tac - was his usual radient self, but Terry Chen was about as uninteresting a Monk as you'll ever see) and very little to look back on as memorable in this episode.
Message: 6.0
I've never been a big fan of the idea that Oma Desala represents. This is a school of thought that we humans should trust in the power and goodness of nature...and though I work in the natural sciences and spend a huge amount of time in awe of the beauty of the natural world, I think that awe is misdirected and our choices flawed if we focus our admiration exclusively on nature and not on God. That said, one COULD argue that the personification of Oma Desala leaves the door open for us to conclude that she's an angel doing God's work...we know, of course, that she's an ascended Ancient who refuses to follow the rules of that higher plane of existance (thanks to having seen the entire series in full), but if you "wank" it enough...you can still see what you want to see. The openness of their presentation leaves me unable to work up any sort of personal concern over our apparently divergent philosophies, so I'll stick with a middling score. Hey...I'm just happy that this episode does the rare thing and leaves open the idea that spirituality can be valuable...that's better than the average Gate episode.
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