Stargate SG-1--"Crossroads"

Heh. Anise/Freya returns only to screw over the SG-1 team yet again. As far as allies go, the tok’ra really suck. Or maybe it is just Anise/Freya. Selmak/Jacob and Martouf seem all right. The Tok’ra en justifies the means bit is only part of the story. Shan’uac, one of talc’s old flames, visits earth with important news about her symbiote.

Shan’uac, a high priestess of Chulak, visit’s the SGC at the suggestion of Bra’tac. Shan’uac has learned to communicate with her symbiote through meditation and has convinced it the goa’uld is evil. She wants to get into contact with the Tok’ra so the symbiote can be placed in one of them, in doing so, all the secrets of the goa’uld will be in the hands of the Tok’ra.

Teal’c and the rest of SGC are skeptical, but anise shows up eager to accept Shan’uac’s offer. The Tok’ra have had a difficult time finding new hosts before their symbiotes die. Converting Goa’uld is a promising prospect. The tok’ra find a willing host named Hebron. Once blended, the Goa’uld symbiote pledges loyalty. When in private later, Hebron reveals his intention all along was to become a spu within the Tok’ra. He murders shan’uac to keep his secret.

Teal’c realizes Shan’uac was murdered through the same mediation vision method in which he confirmed Shan’uac was telling the truth about her symbiote’s conversion. He vows to kill hebron, but Anise stops him. The tok’ra want to keep him around and in the dark long enough to discover the Goa’uld’s long term plans. Anise swears she did not know the Goa’uld was meant to be a spu before Shan’uac was killed. Teal’c vows to hold his peace…for now.

“Crossroads” is not a bad episode overall, but it does drag in places. Almost two-thirds of the episode is the main characters with their thumbs up their butts trying to decide if Shan’uac is telling the truth. The brief rekindled flame of love between she and teal’c is so fleeting, it is difficult to appreciate the emotion supposedly behind it. Nevertheless, ‘Crossroads” is strangely entertaining because it feels like it is setting up big events down the road. The episode effectively brings on the anticipation of future events. There is a lot to be said for that. I am not that big a Teal’c fan, so it is difficult for me to muster must enthusiasm for episodes centered around him.

Hebron is played by Peter Wingfield. You have seen him in every Vancouver filmed television series over the last twenty years except for The X-Files. It is strange how he missed that one. He has a tendency to play weirdly sinister characters. He would have been a natural.

Rating: *** (out of 5)