The ninth season continued on 6 January, 2006, leaving us with the Gerak (Louis Gossett Jr.) cliffhanger, revealing himself as a Prior for four months. Written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, things resume from where we left them…

The plague continues sweeping the SGC and North America that threatens to become a global pandemic (that sounds familiar). Teal’c (Christopher Judge) and Bra’tac (Tony Amendola) confront Gerak. Orlin (Cameron Bright) is trying to help Carter (Amanda Tapping) in discovering a cure and Mitchell (Ben Browder) and Daniel (Michael Shanks) are being held by the Sodan and their leader, Haikon (Tony Todd).

Orlin is beginning to suffer from a collapse of cognitive functions, he’s no longer ascended, but human. He’s struggling to hold onto the information so that he can share it, but it’s killing him.

Teal’c and Bra’tac work on organizing a fleet to defend the Jaffa.

Mitchell is delighted to find the Sodan are firmly on their side, but that puts them in the same danger that Earth is currently in. How will SG1 save the day this time? and on so many fronts?

The Ori seem unstoppable and all powerful, and Mitchell, Daniel and the Sodan confront CSM, rather the Ori Prior Damaris (William B. Davis).

But our heroes may find a way to take them down, or at least circumvent the Priors powers. But how will they stop the plague? With a sample of blood taken from Damaris.

Hammond (Don S. Davis) makes another welcome appearance. Landry (Beau Bridges) goes off-world and comes back infected with the plague. But it allows for a nice moment between he and his daughter, Lam (Lexa Doig).

But it is Orlin who has made the biggest sacrifice and he has a great interaction with Damaris that may help save the day. It’s a solid episode, but was it worth waiting four months for? Well there’s the reveal that the Ori are coming to destroy the Ancients… but it wasn’t as big as one may have been expecting.

Still Teal’c convincing Gerak of what is right is very well done, and consequently, the plague can be stopped… and that means another sacrifice.

Doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome, and the series is continuing its commentary on religion, and sacrifice for a greater good.

Collateral Damage first aired on 13 July, 2006. It was written by Mallozzi and Mullie, and feels very familiar to anyone who has seen Star Trek: The Next Generation, or Star Trek: Voyager. But don’t let that fool you.

On a distant world, Mitchell is arrested for murder of a scientist he seemed to be having a relationship with. It seems the planet there and its people are working on a technology that allows the grafting of memories.

Earth thinks it may be a useful training tool.

When Mitchell spends the night with the scientist in charge, Reya (Anna Galvin) he wakes to discover her dead. And he’s arrested for it. But he’s convinced that he didn’t do it, and is determined to learn what is really going on.

Of course, we know that Mitchell is innocent. He has to be, he’s one of the leads of the series. So who could the murderer be? I bet there’s a high profile guest star that is more then the likeliest suspect… oh look there’s William Atherton. Is it that easy? Or is he a welcome red herring?

Still, there are some nice complications in the case. One of the people trying to help SG1 was Reya’s husband. Even as SG1 finds evidence that may lead to his innocence there are complications.

Despite the initial recognizable trappings, it goes in a smart, if chilling direction, and works really well.

It’s also a glimpse inside Cameron Mitchell’s mind, layering his character out a little more. He’s not a happy-go-lucjy guy that he appears to be, there’s a lot going on under the surface – and honestly we know Browder excels in that type of role because we just saw him do this in Farsacpe as well.