This is a good, honest episode which definitely integrates Vala to the team, oddly enough considering that for most of the episode she's on her own. (In the next episode, she will join SG1 on the famous last shot of the opening credits).
Now, considering how hard Vala usually works at hiding her true self and feelings, I guess amnesia was the best option to really show her true colours, even though that particular plot device feels a bit done to death. It turns out that despite her slight and spontaneous tendency to lie and try to cheat her neighbour, the former smuggler really has a good heart -along with excellent fighting skills and a stunning capacity for adaptation. And as an aside, I was surprised at how different she was as a waitress. (I mean, she usually is so classy. Here... not so much. Congrats to Claudia Black for that piece of acting.)
Besides showing what Vala is really like under all the bluster, the episode also manages to pick up some loose ends -such as that mysterious Goa'uld female who was with Ba'al in Ex Deus Machina (her reintroduction is a bit phony, but well), Vala's past as a host (I wish we had learnt more), the situation with Bennet from the NID, and of course Vala and Daniel's relationship (they are SO cute together, especially with Daniel stubbornly pretending there's nothing to it. --but what he says about her, to Mitchell and herself, is really moving.)
So all in all, a good episode with plenty of good moments, character development, humour and action.
Now, considering how hard Vala usually works at hiding her true self and feelings, I guess amnesia was the best option to really show her true colours, even though that particular plot device feels a bit done to death. It turns out that despite her slight and spontaneous tendency to lie and try to cheat her neighbour, the former smuggler really has a good heart -along with excellent fighting skills and a stunning capacity for adaptation. And as an aside, I was surprised at how different she was as a waitress. (I mean, she usually is so classy. Here... not so much. Congrats to Claudia Black for that piece of acting.)
Besides showing what Vala is really like under all the bluster, the episode also manages to pick up some loose ends -such as that mysterious Goa'uld female who was with Ba'al in Ex Deus Machina (her reintroduction is a bit phony, but well), Vala's past as a host (I wish we had learnt more), the situation with Bennet from the NID, and of course Vala and Daniel's relationship (they are SO cute together, especially with Daniel stubbornly pretending there's nothing to it. --but what he says about her, to Mitchell and herself, is really moving.)
So all in all, a good episode with plenty of good moments, character development, humour and action.