Stargate SG-1: Within the Serpent's Grasp Rewatch

December 11, 2024 10:43 AM - Season 1, Episode 21

A threat looms over the human race, so O'Neil and his friends decide to investigate. They pass through the Stargate which is threatened with closure and fearfully discover that the Goa'ulls are about to launch their hunters on the land.

The Stargate Program is shut down after Senator Robert Kinsey's visit, but SG-1 still plans to stop the Goa'uld invasion. They gate to what they think is the Goa'uld home world, but soon discover they are on a Ha'tak vessel, led by Apophis and Skaara, now host to Klorel. The ships are also now heading straight for Earth.

posted by Carillon (4 comments total)

I really appreciate how the ramped up the stakes for this finale. I felt that this was do or die, and the team disobeying a direct order helps to really give the sense of how dire this is. Poor Skaara though, he did what he could to stop the Gouald in his head, but it wasn't enough.

Also Zat guns! They introduce and then later forget the three phases it apparently has haha.
posted by Carillon at 10:44 AM on December 11 [1 favorite]

I feel like Teal'c should have had a bit more knowledge about these types of vessels, and recognized they were on one, before the fact was revealed. It's gotta take years to develop and build these giant attack vessels, so you'd think the First Prime would have known about it in some capacity.

I appreciated SG-2 all geared up ready to go and seventh symbol just goes dark. It was a nice way to combine the support of the SGC for SG-1, but also, underline how on their own they were off in their solo attempt to save the world.

It was always a thrill seeing actors from the film reappear in the show. The writers really, really, wanted Jack to suffer here...with his pseudo-son being shot...by him with his own pistol. Oof. Not sure why a Zat wasn't used by Teal'c (did he not have it anymore? I can't remember despite watching this morning). The phases of the Zat are fun, but yeah, a weird thing to have to keep in mind - granted, probably easier than trying to keep in mind how many bullets are being shot on an individual mission and whether anyone will care, notice, or demand to know why no additional clips were filmed being inserted, etc..

I really love the timing of this rewatch in terms of my memory. I've forgotten just enough of the details, where while I might instantly recall how an episode generally goes, I get to appreciate and enjoy the episodes based on specific things that happen or are said.
posted by Atreides at 12:51 PM on December 11 [1 favorite]

This is a really killer cliffhanger, up there with Best of Both Worlds (Star Trek) for me. There's really no idiot ball in this. (Well, I mean, the politicians are idiots, but it feels legitimate rather than forced.)
posted by rednikki at 2:36 PM on December 11 [1 favorite]

I didn’t remember it but in this ep Teal’c tells O’Neill that he is only certified as pilot on the death glider and doesn’t know how to fly the Hatak. Which is nice in this ep, and generally nice not to have him be all Invincible Soldier. But then they forget this forever pretty soon, unless I am also forgetting the scene where Teal’c downloads Jiu Jitsu and helicopter piloting from the Matrix.
posted by janell at 8:46 PM on December 11 [1 favorite]