5x5-Red Sky: Is an episode that at the minimum proves why the "enlightened" and more advanced civilizations the SGC has come across refer to humans as primitive. It's also revealing that when the Ancients mention there are safe guards in place to prevent what happened from happening Carter admits they bypassed them. To review they visit a world but have to bypass a built in Gate safety feature. The wormhole passes through a sun, in doing so a heavy element pollutes the sun and begins it's collapse. So who is smart enough to recognize a safety feature and dumb enough to bypass it, primitive humans apparently. Overall I really liked the episode though. Especially the extra mentions of Norse lore, like Sutur being mentioned.
5x6-Rite of Passage: Interesting surprise by revisiting Cassandra as a 16yr old teen but how this milestone is celebrated is going to harken back to her origins and an old SGC foe. Nirti that evil witch doctor of the Gou'ald has implanted a protein marker in her race in an attempt to find a way to genetically improve them to be better hosts. What I'm coming to see(maybe late but realizing it all the sam) is there is no minor event the script team will not revisit and expand upon. Which leads me to this point, when the SGC honors there deal and lets Nirti go for curing Cassandra Nirti says in her place she likely wouldn't have done the same. Jack says he'll remember that. So, some point down the road I now expect her to "owe" Jack one.
5x7-Beast of Burden: I was just feeling that "revist thought" and I started this episode. The Unas Chaka it and others Unas it seems are being used as slave labor. I know it was a season or two ago(the "ice planet" ruse") where this theme was covered but for the target audience(western culture) I just don't feel this is a social theme that needs more exploring. Slavery bad, yep, we get it. Shaking that out I just couldn't see any thing else going on in the episode of note to further sub plots etc along. Thumbs down episode.
5x8-The Tomb: This episode felt a bit like an homage to the Alien/Aliens films. Seems this string of episodes is about touchstones to other episodes. In this case the short lived Russian use of the second Stargate. Seems before the mishap with the living water aliens a team went to this planet. One where the culture is more Babylonian. I do like the spreading out o ancient earth cultures. I enjoyed this episode.
5x9-Between Two Fires: Those underhanded Tollans who like to be isolationists have just been bit in the ass. Now they in turn will sell us out to save their own enlightened arses. The story also sets the SGC's primary goal back a notch as it seems the Gou'ald now have a defense to the Tollan Ion canons that we wanted. The big reveal of what's going on is that the Gou'ald Tanith is alive after all. The ole "escape hatch" excuse but I'm good with that as he's a good foil for SG-1. The episode ends with a seeming cliffhanger. The Tollans are at war, SG-1 goes home. I have to believe we revist the fallout of this episode down the road.
5x10-2001: A sequel episode to 2010 where the Ashen race that was our saviors were secretly making humans infertile and enslaving us. This episode starts by having the team visist a planet, unknowingly, under Ashen "rule". The people there see them as benefactors. This pulls at the thread and ties back to the bloody note Jack and all risked to send back using their knowledge of their trippy '69 time travel stint. I enjoyed Boran the Boring Ashen. That actor deserves props for looking so constipated and pissed in every scene! LOL! I am curious now though as it relates to the evolving Carter/O'Neill "romance". Since this episode re-introduces Ambassador Faxon, that in the alternate timeline Sam marries. Now he was last seen fighting to allow Sam to escape on the Ashen Harvester, what's his fate, what burgeoning feelings will be at play. I doubt based on what we saw that the Ashen would kill Faxon.
5x11-Desperate Measures: Oooh, John DeLancie's duplicity Colonel Simmons is back along with the government inner mole Maybourne who used to hold that role. While it's been evolving I fee like Maybourne is becoming the Garak or Dukat to O'Neill. Maybourne may not be fully trustworthy but he's become lots of fun to watch. So Sam is kidnapped because of her former experience with being a Gou'ald host. Maybourne did a job, passed on some intel that the outcome was Sam being kidnapped, but he didn't know that. Seems some rich, self righteous mogul is dying and he's aquired himself a Gou'ald which he wants to use to cure himself. He has a team of doctors and scientists working to isolate how the symbiote cures but without implanting the symbiote. Time is running out and they have to implant. After it all shakes out the sad/funny thing is that Jack thinks Maybourne shot him, when it was really Simmons. I know that's going to be fun to revisit next time these guys cross.
5x12-Wormhole X-Treme: Producer Peter DeLouise finally finds away to get himself some serious face time in an episode that revisits the character of Martin, an alien part of a band of deserters. It's a cheeky episode that reminds one of GalaxyQuest. Fun episode all around and a good way to end this batch of episodes.
I really only found the one Unas episode, Beast of Burden, a let down during this stretch. They all had a theme of revisiting elements from prior episodes. I don't think a single episode introduced new elements. The closest is that Simmons is a new character in season 5 I suppose. But overall we are now deep into the show so the expansion of what is established isn't that surprising. They are doing a great job with it thus far imo. Half the season to go.
