A Jaffa rebellion led by a charismatic former first prime of a fallen system lord (Imhotep) has taken shape and drawn the interest of Bratac and Tealc who in turn jockey for the SGC to recognise and aid the rebellion with weapons and other logistical support. SG1 visit the world with a sampling of weapons and aid to meet the man who has bought together remnants of various Jaffa factions including families and while the initial talks go well it soon becomes apparent that all is not well within this community.
The Warrior is standalone episode although naturally sits in the current arc describing the fall of many of the system lords and the fracturing of their Jaffa followers/armies as the power shift continues. On the face of it K’tano is everything you would want in a rebel leader being a strong orator able to give impressive speeches on the fly as well as work within a volatile audience as shown early on when his followers demand weapons and other resources. The fact that Bra’tac and Teal’c are enamoured with K’tano speaks volumes although that may be the case they have been waiting so for long for this step to be taken they were not even willing to admit to themselves the tactics and reality of this rebellion may not be what they would have championed.
Brothers in Arms
The Warrior was written by Peter DeLuise but based on a story created by Christopher Judge himself and why not write an episode which not only features your own character but his own story arc, it’s good for an actor to be looking to expand his characters narrative especially as too often Teal’s can just be “background”. What is surprising is how fast our favourite Jaffa fall under the “spell” of K’tano (Rick Worthy) even when he employs tactics which are boarding on insane given his resources in men and hardware but the promise of freedom blinds even the most wise. That said when the truth is revealed via a system lord no less which was a nice twist we see Teal’c at his avenging beast but ultimately it’s the usual Goa’uld arrogance that leads to the downfall of this rebellion (for now).
K’tano, watch me mommy I can fly..
The Warrior does have some positives in terms of production, they location is pretty and exploited to it’s full extent and rare for the show they have real interior shots with actual views of the outside of the tents rather then green screen it which has been the traditional way. The interaction of the real world and more controlled interiors adds a lot of texture to the scenes something which would be quite normal in a feature but stands out on a TV budget and while this show didn’t go overboard with CGI the location gate looked stunning as did the Tel’tak surrounded by mist.
The other very spectacular element of this episode is the integration of the unarmed combat discipline Mastaba which was based on the Brazilian art form Capoeira which combines agility, grace and flexibility something which may not be exactly native to the bulked up Jaffa but it does look spectacular.
Damn Sat Nav, where the hell are we?
Promo…
Links…
- The Warrior Wiki
- Tony Amendola
- Rick Worthy
- Obi Ndefo
- Kirby Morrow
- Vince Crestejo
- Capoeira
- Season 5 Poll
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