At the beginning, it's nothing much: another plea for help against the Ori, this time from the world where Daniel was stranded in "Icon" last year. You'd think people who were almost destroyed by a zealot would resist a bit more, but no --even though the president, of all people, seems the only real convert in the lot. (All along we'll never know what really motivates the Rand nation as a whole: belief in the Ori, fear of them, a grudge against their traditional enemy, or merely meek obedience to their leader.) Daniel's best attempts at negotiating a truce are then cut short when, well, he's thrown to jail without having said a single word. (Nice use of transitions here, by the way: it's a trick the series rarely uses but it constitutes one of the few funny moments in the episode.)
As the episode progresses, things get worse and worse. I was left gaping when Prometheus simply blew up halfway through (with really impressive SFX by the way). The way it is destroyed is particularly dramatic as we see it come apart with every blast, while everybody is scrambling to save it; to the last second, we expect Carter to have one of her genius ideas and save the day.Nope. Bye Prometheus. Honestly, that ship has been in dire straits almost every time they used it; but it was Earth's most reliable defense, and its loss is bound to have consequences. (Of course, the title was a huge hint, but even if you know the story of Prometheus, I doubt you'd recognise the name Ethon. I had to look around for a while before I found the info and added it to the Trivia section).
Anyway, after that debacle, SG1 does manage to get some of its own back: first Carter comes up with a brilliant idea to save the day; then Daniel comes up with an even better idea to save the world. Things get a bit tense there, but we get our happy ending as expected. For 5mn, everything is perfect --until Daniel reveals that it has all been for nothing. This, coming from the guy who never gives up, puts the lid on a very, very gloomy episode. Clearly, the good old days when SG1 routinely triumphed against all odds at the last possible second, are definitely gone. So the episode is good, very dramatic and sadly believable in some parts, but --gosh, I *miss* the good old days.
As the episode progresses, things get worse and worse. I was left gaping when Prometheus simply blew up halfway through (with really impressive SFX by the way). The way it is destroyed is particularly dramatic as we see it come apart with every blast, while everybody is scrambling to save it; to the last second, we expect Carter to have one of her genius ideas and save the day.Nope. Bye Prometheus. Honestly, that ship has been in dire straits almost every time they used it; but it was Earth's most reliable defense, and its loss is bound to have consequences. (Of course, the title was a huge hint, but even if you know the story of Prometheus, I doubt you'd recognise the name Ethon. I had to look around for a while before I found the info and added it to the Trivia section).
Anyway, after that debacle, SG1 does manage to get some of its own back: first Carter comes up with a brilliant idea to save the day; then Daniel comes up with an even better idea to save the world. Things get a bit tense there, but we get our happy ending as expected. For 5mn, everything is perfect --until Daniel reveals that it has all been for nothing. This, coming from the guy who never gives up, puts the lid on a very, very gloomy episode. Clearly, the good old days when SG1 routinely triumphed against all odds at the last possible second, are definitely gone. So the episode is good, very dramatic and sadly believable in some parts, but --gosh, I *miss* the good old days.
