Somebody has stolen a bunch of stargates! SG-1 finds this out after a recon mission to investigate a new Lucian Alliance drug goes haywire and their escape doesn’t go according to plan. Once they get captured, finding out who stole the stargates will be one thing—but they’ll have to get offworld first.
“Off the Grid” generally feels like two distinctly separate episodes stitched together into one. This has strengths and weaknesses; it’s as if writer Alan McCullough had more than enough material for one episode, but not enough for two. As such, this episode’s storyline is best understood as divided between “Part A” and “Part B”.
Part A is about SG-1 tracking down the source of Kassa, a genetically modified addictive corn. The parts where SG-1 is captured by the Lucian Alliance dealers make for some pretty funny back-and-forth banter between each other. The problem, however, is that Kassa is first introduced as a McGuffin central to the plot, but after SG-1 gets beamed off the planet the food gets beamed out of the story entirely. In lieu of that flaw, the episode’s quality picks up in Part B, once the Odyssey rescues SG-1. What follows is a fast-paced action adventure in Stargate SG-1’s classic tried-and-true form. This is especially evident in the whole climactic sequence, where SG-1 infiltrates Ba’al’s Ha’tak vessel to take back the stolen stargates.
As far as the episode’s main antagonists are concerned, you can’t ask for more memorable villains than either Ba’al or Nerus. Nerus, in particular, is just as hilarious as before—Alan McCullough’s very well-written lines for him, coupled with Maury Chaykin’s saucy performance make for one of the most memorable side villains of the Ori arc. General Landry’s interrogation of Nerus is equally as enjoyable as SG-1’s hostage situation on the planet, with plenty of back-and-forth rhetoric between them both. Ba’al is still pretty menacing—even when he’s just a clone of the last of the System Lords. The scene where he pulls the usual villain trick of killing Nerus after feeling betrayed by him underlines just how much of a threat he still poses.
On the contrary, the episode’s ending also makes an effort to establish not only the danger posed by the Lucian Alliance, but just how far the Goa’uld Empire has truly fallen. The Lucian Alliance is relying on Ha’tak vessels scavenged from the Goa’uld after their fall, and they use a fleet of such to destroy Ba’al’s ship. From a plot perspective, it serves to underline how threatening the Lucian Alliance really is in the galaxy right now. But from a setting standpoint, it also communicates visually just how weak the Goa’uld has become. Once a galactic superpower, the last remnants of the System Lords are now so weak that they can be bested by their own ships and weaponry being used against them. This symbolism is communicated subtly through just the visuals alone, with no one character pointing this out with any spoken line. It’s very effective.
While not perfect, “Off the Grid” is a worthy continuation of the classic Goa’uld story threads during the Ori arc. It continues to build on how the Goa’uld, while vastly weakened, are still a menace to the SGC. It also successfully fleshes out a new villain faction that is more earthly than, say, the godlike threats of the Goa’uld and the Ori.
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