Overall Rating: 4.0
Heavy handed, historically incomplete (and unfair) and relatively slow-paced (almost soporific) plot meet moments of outstanding acting for a truly mediocre showing.
Plot Synopsis:
SG-1 arrives on a world supposedly inspired by the feudal days of the dark ages in Christian Europe. This world is periodically tormented by a goa'ulded unas whom the population believes to be a servant of the devil - only evil comes through the ring of sorrow (once a season, he comes to their world and they must give him an offering of humans to be enslaved or made goa'uld hosts or he threatens to kill them all). SG-1 intends only a friendly cultural exchange, but when Daniel tries to help a native girl who is suffering from a common case of the measles (they are preparing for a trepanning - a common medical practice for treating infections back in those days) , the town preacher arrives and accuses them of evil intentions. Teal'c tries to steal the girl away to get medical help and is caught and accused of witchcraft by the preacher. He flashes a piece of technology that is apparently capable of summoning a bolt of lightning from the sky to strike down the wicked and all four members of SG-1 are incapacitated.
With them all in custody, they test Teal'c by touching a red hot poker to his serpent guard emblem - figuring if the "mark of the devil" feels no pain, then he must be a demon. Sure enough, Teal'c feels no pain, so they move on to the second phase of the witchcraft trial. Namely, they tie him up, weigh him down with stone, and throw him into the river. If he dies, they've sent a righteous man to heaven - if he survives the drowning, he's a witch. He sinks to the bottom and the rest of the team is restrained while they cry out in anguish as their friend apparently dies. After this, Teal'c is exonerated (obviously) and fished out of the water for a proper Christian burial and the rest of them are free to go. Jack is ready to head home in disgust, but Daniel insists they stay and kill the unas (and save the girl with measles) or Teal'c's death will have meant nothing.
Later that night, Teal'c miraculously regains consciousness - apparently his symbiote can breath in the water and keep him alive in a deep state of hibernation. Jack is, naturally, thrilled (Thank you, Junior! Thank you, Junior!!), and the team prepares to ambush to unas. They are, however, taken prisoner again by the preacher and his ring. The unas demanded five souls, so the preacher decides to offer the girl with measles and the four members of SG-1. When the unas comes to collect them, they coordinate an escape by rolling down an embankment together and eventually they manage to steal the unas' staff weapon and shoot the hell out of him. He doesn't die immediately thanks to his Goa'uld, but his body is too damaged to survive for long so he jumps into the preacher (off camera), who then claims he saw the unas approach him and then collapse as though struck down by God. Teal'c is not fooled...he realizes the jump (as does Carter who can sense the Goa'uld presence), and they shoot the hell out of him again, thus ending his reign of terror and eliminating the bully preacher as well.
Writing: 3.0
The script is, I'm sorry to say, lethargic and generally uninteresting. The direction is downright purple and intrusive - the booming chant music, the weirdly overcomplicated camerawork and the long, slow, admiration of the unas, of the witchcraft trial, etc...the phrase heavy-handed is apropos here. It just didn't make for believable or entertaining viewing. The dialogue was deeply boring as well. Daniel's indignation at the trepanning and the team's reaction to Teal'c's apparent death were about the only moments that actually had my interest at all.
Acting: 6.0
Michael Shanks and Richard Dean Anderson have several very nice moments reacting to the events unfolding around them, but the unas, the townspeople, and especially the preacher, overacted SOOOO badly that the whole show loses its professional edge. The result is par at best...and deeply uneven.
Message: 3.0
These writers should do a little unbiased research on what the Christian communities were actually like during the medieval period. I would submit that even with the stories of "weather cooking" (every natural disaster tended to get blamed on witches and innocent people took the fall) and inquisitions, the reality of Christendom during that time looked very little like this. No preacher had absolute power over life and death back then unless he was also king of his fiefdom. And if there was a demon terrorizing a real Christian town, then the town's reaction would have been (by all Christian teaching) to FIGHT IT...not to sacrifice innocent lives to keep it happy. In fact the monotheistic religions of the west pioneered the banning of human sacrifice as immoral and barbaric, unlike the Muslim world of the Middle East and North Africa at that time.
The witch trial...I can believe something like that might happen...but the town's collective choice not to stand up to the evil of the demon...that I don't believe. The whole reason the witch trials existed (aside from the need of the people to exorcise civil unrest between the classes through the playing of the blame game) was the great desire among Christians to confront and defeat perceived evil. One unas and five hundred terrified townspeople? Nada. I don't care what kind of gun he had...the preacher can SUMMON LIGHTNING FROM THE SKY!!! I think that might make for a good starting point in an attack plan, but that's just me.
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