Cameron is visiting an old friend who has a terminal condition, his friend Major Bryce Ferguson has been digging into the exploits of Cameron since their careers diverged and is very close to realising what Cameron has been up to since the battle over the Antarctic. The Jaffa high council is close to ratifying the move to a democratic system of government but some last minute changes of opinion by key pro-democracy supporters throws the plans of Bra’tac and Teal’c into chaos. They know that something is wrong and along with Daniel investigate those that have altered their votes and then Teal’c goes missing but Jaffa honour and integrity can not be as easily overcome as a simple change of opinion. Cameron racked with guilt over the accident which led to Bryce’s condition swings it so he can let Bryce live his memories of recent events thanks to the memory technology recently acquired from Galaran and bidding a goodbye Cameron joins the mission to rescue Teal’c from an old adversary.
A quiet moment.
Stronghold has two very definite story lines which in the best tradition overlap more and more as the episode moves on, it was interesting to see that Cameron while getting the reward of being assigned to the SGC believes his friend would be in his place if things had gone differently. The ongoing political games going on at the sharp point of Jaffa government is something you would think they would not be prepared for but the seem to have picked up the back stabbing and power plays in the manner of the best of human politicians. Of course this particular turn of events is the doing of an outside force using Tok’ra technology and as always Ba’al does a bang up job of setting things into motion but thankfully for the Jaffa and the SGC the endgame fails in spectacular fashion. I have to say that the fire fight is an excellent example of a television budget battle sequence and again Stargate benefits from using practical effects where ever possible, CGI bullets and muzzle flashes still ruin scenes, you can’t be real blanks and pyrotechnics. When all is said and done it’s perhaps the simple discussion between Teal’c and Cameron that the episode will be remembered for, despite Cameron feeling he deserves nothing and that the job is the job we see that integrity and the desire to do the right thing no matter the consequences is the only way to live a life.
We got some nice feedback via Facebook and Google+ along with the usual ongoing chatter on Twitter, many thanks for all of that and continued support via retweets and other postings. This weeks promo is for the Star Trek podcast Two To Beam Up and next week we return to Atlantis for the episode Grace Under Pressure and the first appearance of a new guest host. We’d love to hear from you about anything to do with Gatecast and more importantly Stargate and we’d appreciate any reviews/ratings you care to give us so keep watching the show and listening to us blabber on about it:)
Promo…
Links…
- Stronghold IMDB
- Stronghold Wiki
- Reed Diamond
- Tony Amendola
- Cliff Simon
- Dakin Matthews
- Eric Breker
- Veena Sood
- Simone Bailly
- Yan Feldman
- Peter DeLuise
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Tretonin I don’t believe would be useful and at this point in the story I wonder how many Tok’ra there are left, you get the impression their numbers drastically declined during the years the SGC were doing their thing. Ferguson had been cleared for F302 training (unbeknown to him) so it was plot convenient as well as supporting Mitchell’s character that he felt guilty and owed his friend a debt. Good episode though.
Since they were willing to authorize the usage of the alien memory device, I found myself wondering why didn’t they offer tretonin (does that not work on those types of disorders), or offer Ferguson the same Tok’ra option they offered Sam’s father. Wasn’t he slated for that program originally before he got injured?
Ba’al the ultimate lobbyist with his manipulation behind the scenes although as you say too much of a hands on approach and while I think at times he has been sincere long term he couldn’t spend the next few hundred years being a big fish in a small pond.
As a self-confessed Baal fan, Stronghold is one of my favourite episodes. It really shows how different he is to the other Goa’uld… and the lengths he’ll go to in order to defeat the Ori. The clones – originally created to seek out a way to destroy Anubis – are now looking to form a sort of defence.
“What I do not want to see happen is the utter subjugation of this entire galaxy at the hands of the Ori. That would be an utter shame for all of us.” If nothing else, Baal sure knows how to pitch a speech. First time I watched Stronghold, I found myself nodding – even though I knew I wasn’t supposed to! But like with the Replicators, sometimes the enemy of SG-1’s enemy could be their friend. I do think Baal was trying to do good. Though I admit he went about it in completely the wrong way.
However, was there ever a right way? Baal approached SGC over the Replicators and got slammed down. He has to assume any approach to the Jaffa would end up the same way, if not worse. I do wonder what, if his plan had been successful, the end result would have been? Could the Ori have been defeated years before they were?
I am playing devil’s advocate here. Of course he shouldn’t have gotten away with brainwashing Jaffa. Force is never the right solution to a problem. But still, I’m curious… 😀