Insiders - Review
23/10/2008 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rachel500Insiders is the 4th episode of Season Ten of Stargate SG1.
Review
Review
If The Pegasus Project was a lesson in how to write a good Stargate episode, how not to is covered by Insiders. It suffers from poor characterisation and an obvious plot that makes a meal of its relatively simple objective in terms of the Ori arc. All combine to produce an episode that is neither memorable nor enjoyable with hardly any redeeming features.
The main purpose of the episode seems to be connecting the Goa’uld with the Ori arc, giving another twist to the search for Merlin’s weapon, both in determining its location and in introducing a race. To facilitate this, the two other planets mentioned in Camelot suddenly turn out to be dead ends, which is a little jarring. To quote Samantha Carter, ‘that’s the part that doesn’t make any sense.’ Still, having summarily dealt with that, the rest is a simple assignment but admittedly not without its challenges, the main one being how Ba’al gets the list of Stargate addresses from the confines of the SGC database.
The solution is a simple concept; Ba’al brazenly delivers himself to the SGC, steals the information and manages to escape. Ba’al is the sole remaining Goa’uld bogeyman, played to perfection by Cliff Simon. Although Ba’al has never achieved the same chilling amorality of his relentless torture of Jack O’Neill in Abyss, he remains a beautifully crafted character both cruel and cunning with a pragmatic streak that always chooses survival. An outlandish, daring and convoluted plan to acquire information only available in the SGC computers is certainly within the character’s scope. So far, so good.
Unfortunately, that’s about as successful as the plot gets. The solution ends up creating more problems than it solves. There are three main ones; firstly, the idea itself doesn’t seem to have enough substance to it to last a whole episode of Stargate. Both the Ba’al capturing scenes and later the interviews seem like attempts to pad the idea out. Quite frankly, the whole could have been covered in one act and almost is; the bulk of the action takes place in the third act, leaving the rest as mainly exposition. This leads onto the second problem; the enormous amount of explanation that takes place.
Practically every scene is given over to explaining the plot to the audience in some way, and none are done subtly. Whether it was Samantha Carter commenting that Ba’al has a locator beacon but can’t escape or whether it was Dr Lee’s detailed explanation of why symbiote poison couldn’t be used immediately, the plot signposts are written in large letters and surrounded by neon, flashing lights that scream ‘Look at me! I’m important to your understanding of the plot!’ While it is admirable to try to not leave any dangling questions, the vast amount of time spent explaining the plot slows it down to plodding and it’s unnecessary; Ba’al’s scheme (or rather McCullough’s plot) is neither as clever or as complicated as the writer seems to think, and even if it was, using two scenes to make the point of one (as is the case with Barrett’s brainwashing) is repetitive at best, dull at worst.
The third problem is rooted in making the plot work with the characters and established Stargate canon. While it is not inconceivable that Ba’al would outwit the SGC, the plot relies too heavily on the SGC being stupid for a day and keeping all their Ba’al’s in one basket, a dim-witted security guard who acts without authorisation, symbiote poison suddenly not working instantaneously and everyone but especially Carter not making the connection of multiple Ba’als equalling multiple locator beacons.
Carter has a great deal of knowledge in regards to the locator beacons and jamming technology (she’s the one who originally identifies that Ba’al has a locator beacon). It suggests that she should have realised the risk of the signal being boosted way ahead of Ba’al’s move. Even allowing for her missing that, her behaviour after being released from the storage room is nonsensical as she runs off without a weapon to confront the room full of Ba’als. She actually acts like the dumb blonde Rodney McKay once accused her of being; so out-of-character and in terms of the plot completely unnecessary. Her apology at the end is in-character but unfairly suggests that only Carter should shoulder responsibility for Ba’al getting the list of Stargate addresses whereas it is clear the SGC had operational and security issues beyond her control.
All the characters have moments of inconsistency with perhaps the exception of Teal’c who doesn't have much to do. Bizarrely, Vala goes from new probationary recruit to leading a small team within the episode while Mitchell, always a very respectful and by-the-book officer in front of Landry walks out of the briefing room without so much as a ‘with your permission, sir,’ when the Ba’als start escaping and earlier tells Landry he has no control over his team. Mitchell saying this to Carter a la Avalon where he blurts out his fears about screwing up might have worked; to Landry? No. At least Barrett’s out of character behaviour is explained and the scene between him and Sam in the cafeteria is one of the few redeeming moments in the story.
Another is that the team feel so well-established this season continues despite the absence of Daniel. There is a nice dynamic between Carter and Mitchell throughout with the teasing over Mitchell’s joke and his staying behind with her at the end. Teal’c and Vala arm-wrestling is hilarious and Vala and Carter get a couple of nice moments too.
Unfortunately, this cannot make up for the rest. This is definitely one where the red pen of quality control went missing along with a credible plot which in the end only serves to complete its objective for the main arc while being entirely forgettable otherwise.
The solution is a simple concept; Ba’al brazenly delivers himself to the SGC, steals the information and manages to escape. Ba’al is the sole remaining Goa’uld bogeyman, played to perfection by Cliff Simon. Although Ba’al has never achieved the same chilling amorality of his relentless torture of Jack O’Neill in Abyss, he remains a beautifully crafted character both cruel and cunning with a pragmatic streak that always chooses survival. An outlandish, daring and convoluted plan to acquire information only available in the SGC computers is certainly within the character’s scope. So far, so good.
Unfortunately, that’s about as successful as the plot gets. The solution ends up creating more problems than it solves. There are three main ones; firstly, the idea itself doesn’t seem to have enough substance to it to last a whole episode of Stargate. Both the Ba’al capturing scenes and later the interviews seem like attempts to pad the idea out. Quite frankly, the whole could have been covered in one act and almost is; the bulk of the action takes place in the third act, leaving the rest as mainly exposition. This leads onto the second problem; the enormous amount of explanation that takes place.
Practically every scene is given over to explaining the plot to the audience in some way, and none are done subtly. Whether it was Samantha Carter commenting that Ba’al has a locator beacon but can’t escape or whether it was Dr Lee’s detailed explanation of why symbiote poison couldn’t be used immediately, the plot signposts are written in large letters and surrounded by neon, flashing lights that scream ‘Look at me! I’m important to your understanding of the plot!’ While it is admirable to try to not leave any dangling questions, the vast amount of time spent explaining the plot slows it down to plodding and it’s unnecessary; Ba’al’s scheme (or rather McCullough’s plot) is neither as clever or as complicated as the writer seems to think, and even if it was, using two scenes to make the point of one (as is the case with Barrett’s brainwashing) is repetitive at best, dull at worst.
The third problem is rooted in making the plot work with the characters and established Stargate canon. While it is not inconceivable that Ba’al would outwit the SGC, the plot relies too heavily on the SGC being stupid for a day and keeping all their Ba’al’s in one basket, a dim-witted security guard who acts without authorisation, symbiote poison suddenly not working instantaneously and everyone but especially Carter not making the connection of multiple Ba’als equalling multiple locator beacons.
Carter has a great deal of knowledge in regards to the locator beacons and jamming technology (she’s the one who originally identifies that Ba’al has a locator beacon). It suggests that she should have realised the risk of the signal being boosted way ahead of Ba’al’s move. Even allowing for her missing that, her behaviour after being released from the storage room is nonsensical as she runs off without a weapon to confront the room full of Ba’als. She actually acts like the dumb blonde Rodney McKay once accused her of being; so out-of-character and in terms of the plot completely unnecessary. Her apology at the end is in-character but unfairly suggests that only Carter should shoulder responsibility for Ba’al getting the list of Stargate addresses whereas it is clear the SGC had operational and security issues beyond her control.
All the characters have moments of inconsistency with perhaps the exception of Teal’c who doesn't have much to do. Bizarrely, Vala goes from new probationary recruit to leading a small team within the episode while Mitchell, always a very respectful and by-the-book officer in front of Landry walks out of the briefing room without so much as a ‘with your permission, sir,’ when the Ba’als start escaping and earlier tells Landry he has no control over his team. Mitchell saying this to Carter a la Avalon where he blurts out his fears about screwing up might have worked; to Landry? No. At least Barrett’s out of character behaviour is explained and the scene between him and Sam in the cafeteria is one of the few redeeming moments in the story.
Another is that the team feel so well-established this season continues despite the absence of Daniel. There is a nice dynamic between Carter and Mitchell throughout with the teasing over Mitchell’s joke and his staying behind with her at the end. Teal’c and Vala arm-wrestling is hilarious and Vala and Carter get a couple of nice moments too.
Unfortunately, this cannot make up for the rest. This is definitely one where the red pen of quality control went missing along with a credible plot which in the end only serves to complete its objective for the main arc while being entirely forgettable otherwise.
