01-02: The Enemy Within

[Livia Sabina]

EPISODE NUMBER - 102
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE - 08.01.97
SYNDICATION AIR DATE - 09.21.98
WRITTEN BY - Brad Wright
DIRECTED BY - Dennis Berry
GUEST STARRING - Jay Acovone (Major Charles Kawalsky), Kevin McNulty (Dr. Warner), Gary Jones (Technician), Alan Rachins (Colonel Kennedy), Warren Takeuchi (Young Doctor)

Major Kawalsky is possessed by a Goa'uld, and the SGC must find a way to remove it without killing him.

[cb49747]

I like the show, I think in season one they were still trying to find what works and this was one of the episodes that did work. As much as I like Kawalski, I think it did the show good to show early on, that anyone could be affected and killed. Although they did not keep to that as much as I would have liked.

[Colonel Carter]

I loved Kawalsky in the movie, so I was really disappointed in the actor they got to play him in the tv series, nothing close to the character in the movie. So the loss of the tv character didn't matter to me.

I thought the blending was a bit confusing. They managed to get the Goa'uld out but it was too late, they had already melded. Did that mean half the Goa'uld was left inside and could survive with half it's body cut off or was it something else? I'm not sure the medical science in what occurred there would match up with later information we've obtained about the Goa'uld.

I think it's possible that they were going off the movie where Ra who possessed a human body, was not a snake inside but was truly one with the human - probably more similar to ghostly Anubis inhabiting people. So their explanation was that originally a snake enters the body but once it melds with the brain the actual snake becomes obsolete because it was a melding of the two brains into one that can never be severed.

But then later they decided that Goa'ulds can be removed from the body which then totally discredits Kawalksy's death.

That's what I think. I think the writers should have planned ahead better than they did.

My favorite lines were the banter about which planet each person got to go to at the very beginning.

[Livia Sabina]

What did you think of the episode as a whole? How would you rate it out of a possible ten stargates?

On the whole, I thought that it was a pretty good episode. Not one of their best, but still dramatic and it did a nice job bridging the movie and 'Children of the Gods' with the new show. I give it seven and a half stargates.

What did you like best and least about this ep? Best and worst lines?

I liked the banter between Jack and Kawalsky at the beginning and I loved the way General Hammond's protectiveness towards his people was shown.

I loved the line

Hammond: As long as there is a snowball's chance in hell that my officer will come out of this procedure alive, we'll go ahead with it.

Any particular thoughts about the characters, main and supporting?

I thought that Hammond had some great moments, and I enjoyed the interaction between Jack and Kawalsky and between Jack and Teal'c.

What do you think about the decision to kill Kawalsky off?

I thought that it was a good choice in terms o the storyline, as his infestation and the failure to remove the Goa'uld brought home gow grave a threat they were. As well as that, writing out Jack's previous friend left them free to explore the interaction of the members of SG-1.

Any other observations or comments?

This episode, like 'Children of the Gods', felt like a way of rounding out the movie before they moved on with the series. In a sense, it is almost a part of 'Children of the Gods' rather than a free-standing episode.

[Anissa T]

I was a little saddened that is was Kawalsky, but I guess they were trying to prove a point about getting infected. Very good episode.