Wallace Shawn as Arlos in STARGATE SG-1 - The Ties That Bind.
© Sci-Fi channel

Mania Grade: B
Reviewed Format: TV Show
Network: Sci-Fi Channel
Original Airdate: 5 August 2005
Cast: Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge with Beau Bridges and Michael Shanks
Developer: Jonathan Glassner & Brad Wright
Writers: Paul Mullie & Joseph Mallozzi
Director: William Warring

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STARGATE SG-1 - The Ties That Bind

STARGATE SG-1's ninth season continues the difficult process of breaking in what is, essentially, an entirely new series. Despite the continued presence of Michael Shanks along with Amanda Tapping's continued screen credit, psuedo-guest spots by Christopher Judge, and actual guest appearances by Richard Dean Anderson, the show seems be finding a new direction in a post-Goa'uld universe.

Despite her hitherto unbeatable chemistry with Ben Browder, Claudia Black is working the very same magic with Shanks. Their three episode adventure leading to the discovery of the Ori concluded, it looks like Vala will be on her way. Things take a turn when Dr. Jackson collapses and Vala's immediate return reveals that the two are still linked via the bracelets Vala brought with her when she arrived. In light of this inescapable bond, Jackson and company resolve to discover the nature of his connection to Vala via the bracelets previous owner...the man Vala stole them from.

Wallace Shawn turns in a slightly mournful performance as Arlos, the scientist who studied the bracelets until Vala absconded with them. His recollections of "very carnal times" truly paint a "very vivid, very disturbing" picture and the writers and Shawn are to be commended for every squirm and cringe this perverse sequence draws from its audience. Black takes the whole thing in stride with a series of face contortions that accentuate the comedy of Shawn's Shawn's lurid tales. His charge that she's suffered enough for "what [she] callously threw away" evokes almost painful spasms of laughter capping the sequence.

The meeting with SG-1's senate oversight committee is another instance of high comedy with SG-1's budget being apparently appropriated by the civilian administrated Atlantis project in the wake of General O'Neill's departure. This is both a friendly jab at SG-1's sister series and a conscientious commentary on the politician's perpetual desire to shortchange a project the second it's outside the public conscience. One imagines General Landry and Lt. Colonel Mitchell grumbling to themselves that this never happened to Jack. Teal'c, disturbingly attired like a man late for a Wall Street shareholder's meeting, provides some visual laughs, while Vala's accusation that the senator is merely overcompensating with Atlantis to cover other shortcomings is another classic character moment for this seemingly unending source of quality shenanigans.

The series of trades initiated in the aftermath of the team's visit to Arlos take on an increasingly epic scope while becoming ever more petty in a style that compliments Vala's character. Teal'c's assurance that he's only along to assist Daniel Jackson, and that this in no way indicates a desire on his part to rejoin SG-1, offers a lovely insight into his new life as a Jaffa politician, unwilling to make promises and careful to limit the definition of any enterprise he enters into. His implied sarcasm in comparing Mitchell to O'Neill is completely misunderstood by the former who, in the best O'Neill tradition, considers it an honor. Though it's certainly not the series it once was, STARGATE SG-1 seems to have settled into its new era with an array of well drawn characters continuing the work begun by now legendary heroes, some of whom are still along for the right...though that doesn't necessarily mean that they've any intention of re-joining SG-1, officially speaking.