Original Air Date – 29 June 2001

Following the amazing “Exodus” episode, season five begins with “Enemies”. SG-1 lost Teal’c in the clutches of Apophis. The rest of the team along with Jacob find themselves in an unknown part of the galaxy aboard the mothership they stole from Cronus. They are about to engage in battle against Apophis, but in the last moment a third spacecraft appears, firing at their foe. SG-1 uses this moment to escape, but due to the amount of damage it received earlier it is not operating at the fullest of its abilities. Later, the mothership of Apophis comes after SG-1, but there is no life detected on board. Seeing as though their ship sustained much damage to its control crystals, SG-1 decides to board to Apophis’ ship and steal the crystals. Much to their horror they find a lot of dead Jaffa on board and an activated self-destruct mechanism, all thanks to an infestation of the most feared foe from the past, the Replicator insects, which most likely came from the third spacecraft.

“Enemies” is definitely a superb episode for the opening of a new season. The suspense from the previous episode is radiated onto this one, albeit with a different approach. Where “Exodus” was a pure rush against time and against difficult odds, this episode throws our antagonists into the unknown. Not only are they cast into an unknown part of the galaxy, but the third ship itself posed an enigmatic appearance. The scene where Apophis’ mothership was showed as it floats dead in space with no life aboard was so eerie and with a huge question mark above it. Also, the presence of the Replicator bugs not only meant danger, but it also begged to ask a question, where exactly did the SG-1 fly off too?

But the strangeness of this episode doesn’t stop there! Teal’c is alive, but this time he stands once again as First Prime of Apophis. Woah, didn’t see that one coming! “Enemies” is just full of these twists and extremely unexpected events that I will stop now and not spoil any more of its cool happenings. This is definitely a masterful way to begin season five and hopefully it is a sign of high quality shows in the future.

Original Air Date – 14 July 2006

There is a recap at the beginning of the episode, concerning some major events from season nine. “Flesh and Blood” begins and we see the Ori ships moving further into the galaxy. Vala is onboard one of the ships and gives birth to a girl, who is immediately taken away by the midwives. The one-eyed Prior enters the room and says that her daughter will lead the Ori to glorious victory over all unbelievers and those who stand in their way. The ships disappears then, entering hyperspace. Meanwhile, Samantha is floating in space around the supergate, desperately trying to get into contact with anyone. Cameron is injured inside his fighter, but manages to hear her. He briefly remembers how he escaped the Korolev seconds before it exploded, with Daniel onboard. Colonel Emerson also makes contact from the extremely damaged Odyssey ship. Teal’c sends a message from a ship which belongs to the Lucian Alliance, but during the message he gets attacked by the members of the Alliance and he goes offline. In the meantime, Vala gets to see her daughter, who is now already four years old.

Wow, this was an excellent beginning of season ten. The mood at the start of “Flesh and Blood” is just superb, the whole fleet scattered and barely alive, a feeling of desperation and uncertainty being quite heavy in the air. Not only is the Odyssey battered, but they receive a threat from the Lucian Alliance which is furious with what transpired. On top of that, they need to save Samantha who is slowly running out of life support from the spacesuit and the Asgard beam isn’t working. The rescue scene is completely amazing, since we get to see the Odyssey in the maximum focus with all the juicy design details. Once that is over, we see some flashback scenes onboard the Korolev and how Daniel managed to survive in the midst of all the chaos and destruction.

On board the Ori ship, it was weird seeing Adria, Vala’s daughter, who was rapidly growing and already possessed vast knowledge of the Ori. She explains to Vala the exact opposite of the truth, that the Ori ascend their followers while the Ancients just use the energy for their own good. Adria tries to influence Vala with her knowledge and it seems that Adria will definitely grow into a powerful entity of the Ori. Toward the end of the episode there is quite a lot of action, especially when the Ori troops reach Chulak. In any case, this is an amazing way to start the new season.

Original Air Date – 15 July 2005

Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell is looking at the Stargate, while in the computer room Sergeant Walter says that he was one of the fighter pilots in the battle on Antarctica against Anubis. General Hank Landry, Jack’s successor, tells him that he is to lead SG-1, though he also tells him that the original SG-1 is no more. Samantha takes care of SGC’s Research and Development project at Area 51. Jackson has put in for reassignment and Teal’c left the program a month ago. He is somewhat disappointed, but there are no excuses in front of the General. Cameron also goes to talk to Daniel in hopes of talking him into staying, but to no avail. Talks with Samantha and Teal’c are somewhat the same. It all turns around when Vala arrives to Earth bringing a tablet which is presumed to have a location of a treasure of the Ancients, so Cameron thinks that this could be an ace up his sleeve for the rejoining of the original SG-1.

Ouch, this is just not good. After an episode like “Moebius”, Avalon comes like salt on an already grieve wound. So, apparently Jack is gone and Landry took his place…that is a rather irritating character. He is short tempered, humorless and in no way interesting. As for Cameron, I haven’t made up my mind yet whether he is tolerable or not. It is strange when you watch a show for eight whole seasons and grow attached to the main characters, and then suddenly there is someone new in the spotlight. Quite a strange feeling and the viewer will probably need some time to get used to him and have a solid opinion. In any case, he is a somewhat stiff character, thought this may be due to the fact that he is new to the SGC. The thing that is ultimately weird is that Cameron extremely looks like Daniel, as Vala also suggested when she mentions Earth’s gene pool.

All in all, I can’t say that I am happy about “Avalon” and the beginning of the season for that matter, since it seems that gathering strength for watching will be a true ordeal.

Original Air Date – 9 July 2004

A quick recap of previous events opens “New Order” after which the story continues. Dr. Weir, now head of SGC, is currently negotiating disputes over the Ancients’ outpost on Antarctica with other nations which have knowledge of the Stargate. Until the dispute is over, the Stargate is forbidden to be used, much to SG-1’s dismay. They are eager to contact the Asgard to cure Jack, but Dr. Weir refuses. SG-1 is desperate and Samantha somehow manages to soften up Dr. Weir to allow the mission, but Daniel is to stay behind, just Teal’c and Samantha are permitted to go. While the two of them begin the mission, Daniel stays behind to help Dr. Weir deal with the System Lords who are interested in the Ancients’ weapon which destroyed Anubis.

The first thing I want to stress out is the defeat of Anubis. It was a battle and a defeat of epic proportions, but it saddens me that he went down. In any case, despite how big a victory it was, new problems appear for both SG-1 and Earth. SG-1 lost their leader and it seems that they are the only ones who care about the man who almost single handedly saved the entire planet. A spark of hope is Dr. Weir who allows the mission, but it is an extremely hard road in front of Teal’c and Samantha. Luckily they have allies, this time in the form of Thor. It seems that the Replicators are becoming a threat once more and this time the Asgard are determined to destroy them once and for all. The plan to create a black hole in the hopes of it swallowing the entire planet the Replicators are on was pretty awesome. Yet, it seems that the Asgard are real butterfingers, since this plan also backfires.

As far as Earth problems go, the System Lords seem to be interested in a treaty with humans. Three representatives are arriving to Earth for negotiations and of course, the whole ordeal is nothing short of eerie and filled with tension. Despite being in a vulnerable position so to speak, the System Lords are quite arrogant and hostile toward Weir. As it turns out, the viewer is completely fooled by thinking that the Lords got a change of heart, much rather the treaty is needed because Ba’al used the absence of Anubis to take a seat of power. As you can see, quite a lot of things happen at the beginning of season eight and every bit of it is very promising!

Original Air Date – 13 June 2003

The opening scene of “Fallen” shows us an unknown dark world with thunderstorms in the sky. We see three natives walking by, but they suddenly see a burst of light. They go to the place where they saw it and find Daniel Jackson lying naked on the ground. Back at the SGC, Jonas is in his office, trying to find the location of the Lost City from the tablet. He discovered that it is actually called “City of the Lost”. He thinks that the coordination of the planet is the last on the list of ones which Jack had downloaded from the Ancients memory. They go to the planet and discover Daniel among the locals, but he is actually suffering from the amnesia. Jack tries to come out clean with what happened to Daniel, but he has a tough time accepting what he hears.

This was the perfect episode to follow the world shattering “Full Circle”. The thing making it perfect is that it actually continues the story, but it takes a whole different approach. Where the finale was turbulent and packed with danger, “Fallen” is more of a microcosm type of episode, as it focuses on Daniel. On top of the fact that Daniel was very much missed by yours truly, there is quite a lot of emotional weight on top of his character. He discovers details of his life, but begins with painful memories as he first remembers Sha’re and how much he loves her…and that she is dead. The majority of the time, he seems like he lost all that hope which his character previously had, but somehow we still see flames in his eyes and a wish to fight. This amount of emotional radiation is only for praise, as Michael Shanks really performed in an excellent manner. Also the writers made such a script that they gave space to Daniel to regain his memory both alone and with interaction with others.

Not all in “Fallen” is about Daniel however. Once again we get to see Yu and Anubis, as well as hearing the dread news that Anubis is decimating the other System Lords thanks to the assembled Eye artifacts. The counter attack on Anubis is quite thrilling and has some very cool action scenes. Both this episode and “Full Circle” really managed to create such an explosion in the show that we can only ponder what more epic tales await us…but wait, this one isn’t over yet!

Original Air Date – 7 June 2002

SG-1 returns to SGC from an off-world mission, running away from hostile natives. Three months have passed and SG-1 still hasn’t found a replacement for Daniel, thus far just recycling potential candidates who fail to prove their worth. During this time however, Jonas Quinn has been on Earth, living on the base and using his super fast learning skills to read SG-1’s case files and reports. It seems that he is eager to join the team and he managed to persuade Samantha and Teal’c thus far, leaving the toughest nut to crack for the end and Jack will need a lot of persuasion. In the meanwhile, Bra’tac arrives, informing Teal’c that his wife Drey’ac is ill and dying. She doesn’t wish to accept a new symbiote, fastening her impending death. Teal’c returns to Chulak, but it is too late, his wife already dead and their son Rya’c blames his father for the death of his mother. At the same time, Anubis is attacking SGC with one of the weapons hailing from the ancients, which keeps a constantly operating wormhole, building up an overload which is enough to destroy an entire world.

“Redemption” is, simply put, a total bomb of an episode and it is the best choice for a season opener. I think that never before did we have so much separate stories and events packed into one episode. Teal’c’s journey to Chulak under sad circumstances, the attack constructed by Anubis toward Earth, Jonas Quinn’s wish to join the team and the lingering of Daniel’s remembrance…the viewer doesn’t know what to ponder about first! Thanks to so many plots in a single episode, everything is happening quite fast and events are extremely rapid. Even the slower parts concerning Teal’c and his son on Chulak are somehow quick to unravel, thanks to constant shifts between plots. We are literally thrown from one corner to the other and this type of storytelling is superb.

I was very happy to see more doings and schemes of Anubis and slowly he is really becoming one of my favorite antagonists. For the sake of this episode I won’t write so much about the climax of the plots in these forty minutes, yet I will leave it to you dear reader to witness an amazing new season’s birth.

Original Air Date – 6 July 2001

SG-1 successfully escaped from Apophis, along with the body of Teal’c, but their friend still has devotion for his Goa’uld lord entrenched in his mind. “Threshold” begins with Dr. McKenzie bringing Hammond and O’Neil into Teal’c’s room, showing to them that his mind is once again clear and that he is ready to pledge allegiance to Earth. It is only after Teal’c comes face to face with Bra’tac that it becomes apparent that he is deceiving the SGC and is still loyal to Apophis. Bra’tac realizes that it will be a long and painful road to free him, but that there is a way through a Jaffa ritual named M’al Sharran. He removes Teal’c’s symbiote and brings him on the verge of death so that the events which forged Teal’c wash across his mind like a wave. Only then will he choose the right path to follow. The only drawback of this ritual is that no one ever survived it, but Bra’tac believes in his old apprentice.

“Threshold” is a self-explanatory title. This episode is quite heavy and tormenting, as Teal’c is literally being dragged through all sorts of suffering, both mental and physical. Despite Teal’c being unconscious or just mumbling most of the time, this is a true character development episode. We venture deep into his history and events that shaped his life and every bit of these flashbacks is done in an excellent manner. It is great to see how the flashbacks overlap the conversations going on around Teal’c in reality, the writers really managed to do a superb job. Both sides desperately try to succeed, Teal’c occasionally trying to deceive them that he is cured, while the inner memories tend to speak otherwise. On the other hand, there is a note of hope among his friends talking to him, but there is also uncertainty and desperateness sensed around them. The battle for Teal’c’s mind is epic, as is this whole episode.

One visual aspect that I really have to praise here is the design of Apophis in the flashbacks. Those metallic feathers look great in comparison to that golden armor thing which he wore majority of the times thus far, so I really wonder why the creators opted for such a lame version.

Original Air Date – 21 July 2006

After a short recap, “Morpheus” begins. Teal’c arrives to the SGC reporting that the Ori led by Adria have thus far conquered six more worlds, two of which were Jaffa strongholds. Those who survived say that their leader, a young woman, possesses extraordinary powers. Daniel rushes to the rest of the team and says that he figured out the coordinates to the planet where the Holy Grail is hidden. After he explains to everyone in the briefing room how he discovered this, Landry gives them a go on the mission. He however, forbids Vala to go anywhere. Daniel faces Landry with a try to allow her to go and he actually succeeds, but expects Daniel to keep her in line. She also has to pass a personality evaluation test and after that she will be granted off-world traveling with SG-1. The team passes through the gate where they find a dead town with skeletons lying around and no life in sight.

Simply put, “Morpheus” was a great episode. I immediately have to point out the thing that I loved the most and that is the world where SG-1 went to search for the weapon. The town and its surroundings are most probably the grimmest and darkest piece of ambience we ever saw in “Stargate SG-1”. There is an amazing chunk of horror implanted into this show, as SG-1 investigates and they realize that everything around them is dead. Even the colors are of a grayish tone and those scenes are just full of depression and lifelessness. In addition to the ambience being heavy, the fact that the team needs to stay awake or fall into an eternal sleep state was just ultimately cool and eerie. Basically the search for the weapon extends into a tormenting ordeal to stay awake.

A great thing about this episode is also the fact that the grim mood from the planet is splashed with rather funny scenes featuring Vala and her test at the SGC. This spark of life is great, since it cheers you up in a quick fashion, but after that you are once again cast back into the evil SG-1 finds themselves in. In any case, this is an excellent episode with a superb mood which completely grasps your attention.

Original Air Date – 22 July 2005

The story of the previous episode continues. Daniel and Vala managed to solve their puzzle and stop the ceiling from lowering, but Teal’c and Cameron are still in trouble. Cameron does manage to somehow figure out what to do, so they make it out safe. They go back to the sword and this time they successfully pull it out, so this time a knight appears and prepares to fight. While Cameron fights for his life, the team realizes that it is a hologram, but it can hurt him. He tries to cast the sword toward Teal’c, but it seems that only Cameron can touch it. Daniel somehow realizes that Cameron needs to be alone in order to take the next step, but as soon as they beam out, the chamber starts collapsing. They discover that Vala stole a golden coin, so Cameron rushes back to return it in place, stopping the collapse. He then returns the sword into the stone and then a vast treasure appears before him. Daniel discovers a book holding a story telling the tale of Altaran, a race which named their world Avalon and that they built many Stargates.

The fact that this Stargate show is somewhat in a new suit, so to speak, is still quite undigested by yours truly. I’m still not used to Cameron and Landry, though I must say that Cameron begins to be likable, in contrast to Landry who still gets on my nerves. In any case, the second part of “Avalon” is a bit better than the first one. There really isn’t any fixed mood in this episode, since something different is constantly happening throughout it, some action, a bit of investigation and a bit of thrills. I really liked seeing Vala and Daniel together, which is something quite unrelated to the story. Despite being completely different from one another, I think that they make a really great couple with quite a lot of strange vibes coming from them and personally I found them very cute. Once they travel to…wherever they travel to, thing become weird, as Vala said “not quite how I imagined a race of gate builders”. We come introduced to the name “Ori” and it seems that quite a lot of things are changed in season nine. Yippy.

Original Air Date – 9 July 2004

The Asgard ambush of the Replicators spaceship managed to succeed, but only partially. It was destroyed, but a rain of Replicator blocks fell down to the Asgard planet below. The Asgard are unable to evacuate the planet, since there are countless stored minds without bodies, which they cannot abandon. Thor and Teal’c return to Earth in order to seek help. Meanwhile at the SGC, Weir imprisons the System Lords, who in revolt set a mothership toward Earth in order to test our defenses. An unexpected event happens, Ba’al actually destroying the mothership before it arrived. As Daniel brings that news to the System Lords, Thor beams him up the ship. Thor presumes that Jack might be the key to defeating the Replicators. At the same time, we see Samantha is a prisoner of the Fifth, the Replicator, in a virtual reality.

The second part of “New Order” continues in similarly the amazing way as part one. The Asgard agony concerning the Replicators continues and I have to admit that I extremely loved the idea that the blocks actually fell to the planet once the ship was destroyed. Despite the fact that they can’t help themselves, the Asgard at least seem to always be able to help Earth. Thor also beamed up Jack from his stasis cell on Antarctica and it was cool to see that Jack manifested himself through Thor’s ship. Also, despite being previously frozen in stasis, Jack radiates with humor and it suits the episode good, this probably being the first time when humor which lightens the dark mood is a merit rather than a flaw.

We also get to see Samantha in the virtual reality with Fifth. Although those scenes are quite slow in contrast to the dynamic of the rest of the episode, they don’t ruin “New Order”. They are slow, but also very weird and when we see Samantha covered in Replicator blocks quite tormenting. Near the end of the episode we see a rescue mission to save her and it features some amazing action and a great design of a huge Replicator bug, which is also capable of flight.