Episode Review of Stargate SG-1 Season 10: "Flesh and Blood"

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Episode Information

Title: "Flesh and Blood"
Written by: Robert C. Cooper
Director: William Waring
Rating (out of 4 stars): ***
Reviewed on: December 3, 2007

Synopsis from GateWorld


Review

This episode highlights how the Ori now have the run of the Milky Way galaxy.

The episode begins where last season's finale left off. Carter is adrift in a spacesuit alongside the supergate. The Korolev was destroyed by the Ori, but Mitchell managed to escape at the last moment in an F302. We find out shortly that Daniel managed to ring off onto one of the Ori ships. The Odyssey has major damage, but tracked the Ori ships until they went into hyperspace. Then they return to gather up Mitchell, Carter, and any other survivors. They barely have enough enough life support for another day, and the hyperdrive, weapons, and long-range communications are nonfunctional.

The Jaffa and Lucian Alliance ships were similarly decimated. Netan, the leader of the Alliance, imprisons Teal'c and satisfies his anger at the defeat by torturing him.

Meanwhile, Vala has had her baby. The head Prior on the ship says that the baby is "Orici": she will be the incarnation of the Ori that the people will follow. Vala doesn't even get a chance to see her baby girl before she is whisked away. The next time we glimpse the child, she is already walking. Clearly the Ori don't want to wait for their "flesh and blood" representative to grown naturally.

At their next meeting, the child appears several years older. She acknowledges Vala as her mother and lets Vala name her: Adria. Adria reveals that she has at least some of the knowledge of the ascended Ori, and she spouts their propaganda with ease. She is determined to convert Vala to Origin. After this meeting, Vala encounters Daniel, and she helps him hide.

Bra'tac has consulted with General Landry and agreed to take a Jaffa ship to investigate the lost contact with the attack fleet. He arrives in the vicinity of the supergate just in time to defend the Odyssey from several other Lucian Alliance ships that have arrived. The Odyssey is able to beam Teal'c back with the newly-repaired transporter. Bra'tac brings news that the Ori fleet have gone to Chulak. SG-1 joins Bra'tac to go to Chulak to try to stop them.

The Ori ship that Vala, Daniel, and Adria are on lands on Chulak while the other ships attack from space. Vala and Daniel decide that Vala will try to distract Adria, then Daniel will come in and knock her out. Then they will take Adria with them off them ship. Bra'tac's ship arrives and makes contact with Daniel.

Bra'tac's ship and the few remaining other Jaffa ships are quickly being cut to pieces by the Ori ships. Bra'tac and Carter try using the rings to send a nuclear bomb to one of the Ori ships, but even though the bomb is sent, no damage is seen. Bra'tac decides to use his ship to ram one of the Ori ships, over Mitchell's strong protests. Fortunately, the repaired Odyssey arrives just in time to beam them off. The ship runs into the Ori ship's shields, and the Ori ship is apparently undamaged.

On Chulak, Vala is working on distracting Adria when Vala's husband Tomin captures Daniel. Adria is enraged by their plan to capture her, so she orders Tomin to kill Daniel. Vala pushes Daniel aside and suffers a grazing wound. Aghast, Adria begins to heal Vala (apparently with an ability similar to those of the Ancient in season 6's "Frozen"). Daniel takes the opportunity to knock out both Adria and Tomin. But before he and Vala can make off with Adria, the head Prior enters and stops them with his Prior powers. Just before he can kill them, Daniel grabs Vala and they are beamed aboard the Odyssey.

At the end of the episode, SG-1 mulls over the developing events. Mitchell says they need a new plan.

This episode doesn't pull any punches as the Ori go right into their plan of conquest and conversion. However, somehow it felt disjointed to me and didn't jell overall.

The introduction of Adria seems like a bit of a gimmick, since we get another stereotypical super-fast-growing kid in a science fiction series. However, the technology to speed growth is very well-established in Stargate SG-1. And when I mulled over the idea of the creation of Adria as a trick by the Ori to circumvent the rules of the ascended, I could accept her better. We already know that she has healing powers. What other powers does she have? Presumably she's at least as capable as a Prior.

I still have to wonder why the Ori chose Vala to be Adria's mother. Is there actually any genetic material from Vala in Adria? Did Vala have some good traits the Ori wanted? Perhaps the Ori were hoping that Vala would be converted by Origin by her daughter, and then serve as a spark for conversion in the Milky Way. If that's what they were hoping, they sure don't know Vala!

Most of the disjointed nature of the episode concerned the search and rescue and repairs near the supergate. The Odyssey is portrayed as being very damaged and barely functional, which is completely believable given the battle with the Ori. However, I feel like the subsequent repairs happened very conveniently for the plot. The transporter was fixed just in time to rescue Teal'c. The hyperdrive was fixed just in time to travel to Chulak and rescue SG-1 and company there.

The final scene is significant, but where will it lead. I found it interesting that Daniel wished he had killed Adria when he had the chance. When did he get so bloodthirsty? Of course, this was his reaction to Khalek in last season's "Prototype", as well. In both cases, the threatening being had powers similar to ascended beings - presumably that's what has Daniel so concerned. In the same scene, Mitchell says they need a new plan. Well, duh. So what will they come up with? Their new plan is what is going to determine how this season is going to progress. I hope it's something good.

Why did the Ori go to Chulak first? Poor Chulak has suffered numerous planet-wide attacks throughout this series - it's hard to believe there are still that many Jaffa there. I would think it would make sense for the Ori to go to Dakara or Earth first. Possibly they are hoping to make an example of a small world to reap more conversions from the more populous worlds. I very much appreciated Vala's argument with Adria about Chulak: once Adria had listed the virtues of the Jaffa, Vala asked Adria why she was murdering them. Too bad Adria never really had the chance to frame a reply.

We didn't learn too much about our characters. Teal'c was gratuitously tortured yet again. Carter and Daniel were pretty much the same as usual. One interesting item was Mitchell's very vehement argument with Bra'tac about not killing themselves ramming the Ori ship. He was persuasive that living to fight another day was more useful than dying, but he didn't convince Bra'tac (or Teal'c or Carter, since they did not join him trying to convince Bra'tac).


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