Stargate: SG-1 10.15: "Bounty"

Written by Damien Kindler
Directed by Peter DeLuise

The Lucien Alliance is to “SG-1” as the Genii are to “Stargate: Atlantis”. They are the go-to villains whenever the writers need a generic enemy to fight or complicate matters. As a result, their involvement in an episode is usually disappointing, because motivations are often situational. In this instance, the writers needed someone to send bounty hunters after the team. Who better than the Lucien Alliance?

That fuzzy beginning gets a lot more interesting as the focus turns to each team member as they go about their various mundane activities. Mitchell and Vala end up at his hometown for his high school reunion, Carter ends up at a convention, Daniel is studying, and Teal’c is back to dealing with Jaffa matters. Each is targeted in turn, and the response to each attack is where the fun begins.

The most time is spent with Mitchell and Vala at the reunion, which helps to flesh out Mitchell’s character a bit. It’s all quite consistent with the information given previously, fitting Cam’s down-home attitude quite well. It’s scary to think that Mtichell’s home town was so small that only a couple dozen people attended the reunion (almost as scary as the genetic Cure-esque music).

Daniel’s subplot was a bit odd, especially when the femme fatale was mashed by a bus, and Carter’s subplot would have worked better if the scenes had been cut to a more interesting pace. Those scenes progressed far too slowly. Even Teal’c’s scenes felt oddly paced. A bit more attention to balance early in the episode would have helped.

The reunion setting is played for laughs, and at times, the comedy is a bit too broad. That said, the mixture of the serious and the comic (and even tragic) works pretty well, once the situation begins to fall apart. Unfortunately, it seems to end just as it gets interesting, and the little issue of using alien technology in the middle of a relatively crowded room is never truly addressed.

Unfortunately, as much as the premise seems to promise insight into Mitchell’s character, most of the exploration is fairly shallow and amounts to Mitchell seeing the girl of his youthful dreams. In other words, the usual “school reunion” cliché. There might be some consequence for the Lucien Alliance, but the audience isn’t given much reason to care. With so few episodes left, this average installment is more a reason for frustration than anything else.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10