10 Worst Episodes In The Stargate Franchise
3. Family Ties - Stargate SG-1
As Stargate SG-1 proceeded into its twilight years, the cracks began to show in the kind of stories it chose to tell, with meaningful discussions on the nature of faith and power replaced with sardonic gags and quirky cameos.
Such quirk came to a head in season ten's 'Family Ties', where Vala Mal Doran's conman father Jacek comes to Earth, requesting sanctuary in exchange for information regarding weapons grade Naquadah and an Ori plot to attack Earth. Meanwhile, General Landry attempts to mend some family ties of his own by meeting his daughter and ex-wife for dinner.
Despite a terrific performance by the late Fred Willard as Jacek, this final season romp is bereft of any sense of peril, as the swindler is only using the SGC to sell Naquadah himself and suffers little to no consequences as a result. Add to this a few awkward meta-jokes about the show's cancellation, some weirdly out of place gender stereotypes, and the Landry B-story being completely redundant, and it all adds up to a largely meaningless episode which squanders potential backstory on Vala, one of the season's most complex characters.