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Season 10: episode ratings & reviews
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08 Aug 06
10.04 Insiders review by Alison B
Alison B episode rating: fair
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Insiders, or, Three Strikes And No Baals

This episode rated only 2 out of 5 from me: that was erring on the generous side only because Vala was so cool, we got some nice insights into her and Cameron, and Baal is just Super Fly Goa'uld.  I'll go pretty easy on mediocre plots, but I am not forgiving at all of bad characterisation.  I find it hard to understand how this writer could have got Vala Mal Doran so right and Samantha Carter so wrong.  A great disappointment.

Daniel

I definitely liked the episode providing a reasonable explanation for Daniel's absence.  That hasn't happened so often in the past.

Vala

Vala definitely had the best of Insiders.  I had to smile when the mere mention of Daniel's name was enough to turn Bored Now! into Princess Perky in the opening briefing room scene.  Vala is turning into quite the one-man woman.

She was great in a poorly plotted story, a saving grace; vibrant, energetic, funny, clever and cute.  Stealing centre-stage, demanding attention, shredding everyone's nerves.  She also proved herself to be resourceful and a real asset in a fight.  She may be high maintenance, but her quickness and competence are amply demonstrated.

The insights into her past history as host to the Goa'uld Qetesh were interesting and well placed in a plot that was generally in search of a point.  It was time for Vala to remind us of her intimate knowledge of the depths of Goa'uld depravity.  The mystery isn't how difficult she is, but how well adjusted she is after being exposed to the "memories of a thousand Hitlers" as Daniel put it in Season 4's Absolute Power.  It appeared Vala survived this experience because she was true to herself.  When Sam informed Baal that she went by "Vala" now, Vala chipped in to assert that she pretty much always had.  I don't think we needed the confirmation of her individuality or her strength of character, but it was good to have that leavened with some reminders of the weight she carries from her time as a host.

Her childish demands for attention and validation remind me irresistibly of Jack, but those qualities are balanced by her intelligence and the intuition she put to good use in determining Baal's true intentions when he set about stealing Stargates and stranded SG-1.  She handled herself well when she tried to finesse information out of Baal but there was a line she wouldn't cross with him that we know she's crossed with other men, and probably for less reason.

All in all, I thought Vala fitted well with the team and brought a lot of energy to it all.  Her presence greatly lifted the action, even giving a neat twist on using rings to get into the pyramid ship by smartly using Jaffa tactics against them.

Oh, and even though Vala wasn't actually present for the discussion, I'd have to agree wholeheartedly with General Landry: she does only listen to Daniel.  Sometimes...

Cameron

If Vala had the best of Insiders, there was also an intriguing insight into Cameron's character and his decidedly ambiguous role as the leader of SG-1.  In that scene with Landry, he came out and stated for the record what many of us have been discussing on our lists, forums, blogs and LJs: that he controls nothing.  He and Sam are the same rank, Teal'c is an alien, and Daniel is a civilian.  In latter Season 9, we saw Cameron making some bad and foolish decisions, even acting the buffoon quite inappropriately.  I much prefer this quieter, capable Cameron who gets to lead by making the good decisions and by making it possible for the others to do their thing.  It was a very cool moment to see the difficulty of Cameron's position acknowledged.  I do hope we see this go someplace in future storylines.

Sam

There were some cute little moments for Sam, like her impatient eye-roll when Vala was demanding validation for her improvisation, the look on her face when Vala was demanding compliments on her natty combat gear, her reaction to Cameron's rising testosterone level while they were looking for their Baals, and her teasing of him over his carefully thought out Baal joke.

I wish that were all...

My subtitle for this review was "Three Strikes and No Baals."  I'm not going to argue that a certain rigidity is out of character for Sam, or that she isn't prone to repeating patterns and errors in judgement.  In fact, it helps make Sam a more interesting and dimensional character because she is as flawed in her own way as the rest of us are. 

What kills me is that Insiders was Sam's third strike; she is 0 for 3 on protecting vital SGC data from deadly enemies.  First Linea in Prisoners, then RepliCarter in Gemini, now Baal in Insiders: each and every one of them kicking the SGC's ass and making off with vital data handed to them on a silver disc by Samantha Carter.  As written in Insiders, she's learned *nothing* from these grievous errors of judgement.  And she's not going to learn anything this time around, because again, she's been allowed to get away with it scot-free.

Agent Barrett was brainwashed into a breach of interrogation protocol that Baal used to his advantage; the full weight of narrative retribution came down on his head.  Sam Carter downloaded data *vital* to the operation, the very existence of Stargate Command and the safety of its personnel and handed it over to Baal.  This is a staggering breach of faith and for it to have happened not one, not two, but *three* times without *any* career consequences whatsoever for Sam is simply ludicrous. 

I don't have a problem with Sam's flaws.  I like Sam's flaws just as I like Daniel's and Vala's.  What I do have a problem with is a writer who exploits those flaws to drive a dubious plot and then doesn't have the guts to have the character face the very real consequences of her actions.  The full weight of narrative retribution should have fallen on Sam's head here.  The dramatic integrity of the story demanded it.  Sam richly deserved it.  When it comes to her personal growth and her character arc, the lack of angst on her part, the failure to mention her previous error with RepliCarter and everything *that* led to, was criminal.  Instead, we got a pat on the head from Landry and joke to take us into the credits. 

I can hardly bring myself to mention Sam's spineless surrender to Baal.  Clearly, the writer doesn't know Sam's (or the show's) arc and history all that well.  If he'd ever seen Jolinar's Memories or The Devil You Know, he would have seen her steely resistance to torture and threats when people much closer to her than Agent Barrett were being used as leverage by an enemy.

We're to believe that in ten years, not only has Samantha Carter not learned anything from previous errors, she's capable of less?

It wasn't pretty, but if it had at least been used to generate some genuine character insight or growth, Sam's recognition of her own repeating patterns, or so that some dramatic conflict such as a reprimand, demotion, probationary period, *anything,* had to be resolved by Sam, the team and the SGC, then it could have made for some interesting directions to take the character. 

Instead, it meant nothing, it went nowhere, it was a real disservice to the character of Samantha Carter, losing her balls and her Baals are part of her history forever and I'm angry at the waste of it all.

The hacker who once boasted she could get the prescription of Martin Lloyd's glasses if she wanted couldn't even come up with a ruse to stall Baal.  Nada.  Nothing.  Zip.

Criminally bad characterisation.

Sez me.

Teal'c

I loved his barely contained anger and earnest assurance to Baal it wasn't only the clones that wanted to kill him.  I loved how he refrained from killing Vala on the spot when she was cheeky about his lack of enthusiasm over her appearance.  And I loved the weary expression on his face when she was trying to arm-wrestle him into submission.  I saw the weight of every one of his one hundred plus years.  I think he misses Daniel too.

Plot, pacing and that other stuff

I hardly know where to start.  What *was* the point of it all? 

Except to humiliate the character of Sam Carter, obviously. 

How did Baal know SG-1 were pursuing Merlin's secretly secret so secret it's in another secret dimension written in secret code secret weapon?  I can quite understand why Baal would want Merlin's secretly secret weapon.  What I can't understand is why he didn't use his mind whammie on Agent Barrett to keep tabs on SG-1 until *they* found the bugger, and then swooped in to take it.  Now he's lost a valuable intelligence asset, tipped off the SGC to what he's up to and got himself a few thousand planets to poke around in the dark looking for - well...he knows not what.  Or indeed where. 

Woo.

If you're anything like me, you were probably wondering all the way through Insiders why Baal didn't just get the mind whammied Agent Barrett to quietly download him a copy of the Ancient addresses on some plausible, authoritative NID-oversight-of-the-SGC-type pretext.  Admittedly, it might have taken Barrett several seconds to come up with a number of plausible pretexts for doing just that - and all without Baal risking life, limb and campy, menacing fabulousness in an unflattering blue jumpsuit or Sam Carter misplacing her spine.  It could hardly have been less compelling than what we actually got, and would at least have made *sense,* something that patently eluded Insiders.

Also, all the other times SGC personnel have been compromised, it's NEVER occurred to ANYONE, EVER, to lock out their command codes or deactivate their swipe cards so they can't download mission critical data or roam the base at will? 

Watching Sam trying to hack her own un-hackable security system to buy time and save lives would have been fun.  And in character. 

Watching Sam hold out against Baal and have him kill Agent Barrett or some other hostage and her having to live with the weight of that would have offered great potential for angst and character growth.  Imagine the scene where Landry tells her "you did the right thing" in *that* context.

My assessment: Insiders is a poorly conceived episode that's short on narrative imperative, long on character assassination and avoids even common sense. 

The special effects guys juggled their Baals with aplomb, which is more than I can say for the story.

  © Alison B, 2006.  All rights reserved.
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