"Adria is no longer available."
— Ba'al in Adria
The team hatch a complicated plan to capture Adria using Vala as bait, but fail to account for the appearance of Ba'al, who derails their efforts by implementing his own plan to take Adria as a host and control her armies.
Last appearance of Ba'al, Adria, Col. Albert Reynolds and Agent Malcolm Barrett.
"Dominion" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ambiguous Ending: It's left unclear as to how Adria's ascension will affect the Ori movement, and the team are uncertain as to whether there are any Ba'al clones still on the loose. These issues are both resolved in The Ark of Truth and Continuum respectively.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: After Vala learns that her memories of the last several days are fake:Vala: So... no IOA? No Reynolds' men? No television program about dancing with supposed celebrities?Daniel: Actually, that part was real.Vala: How very disturbing.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Adria achieves ascension at the end of the episode due to the death of her physical body when Ba'al releases a toxin into her system.
- The Bus Came Back: The Tok'ra make an appearance for the first time since "Threads". Their long absence is justified in-story, as the Tok'ra had formally parted ways with the SGC after the events of "Death Knell". With Selmak and Jacob's deaths during "Threads", the Tau'ri also lost their last advocate and ally on the Tok'ra High Council. On a Meta level, the absence is also justified between the end of the Goa'uld's tenure as the series Big Bad (barring Ba'al) and Jacob's death removing the show's most prominent Tok'ra character.
- Call-Back:
- In Vala's false memories, Daniel tells her that the IOA are considering locking her in a cell in Area 51, as they believe her to be a security risk. This was the fate of the Vala from the alternate universe that Carter visited in "The Road Not Taken".
- Daniel using a staff weapon is a call back to the original movie.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: The Galaran memory device and the symbiote poison both get reused.
- Continuity Nod:
- In Vala's false memories, she has a dream revealing what appears to be the location of the Clava Thessara Infinitas, believing it to be a latent memory from her time as Qetesh dredged up by Athena.
- Teal'c points out that Adria has implanted misleading information in Vala's dreams before.
- Once inside Adria, Ba'al is able to confirm that Daniel's plan to send the Sangraal to the Ori home galaxy was successful and all of the ascended Ori have been eliminated.
- Deadly Gas: Adria vents a supposedly toxic coolant into a corridor outside the Odyssey's infirmary while Daniel is sealed inside, though he doesn't appear to suffer any ill effects.
- Determinator: Lampshaded by Adria, who notes to Vala that her "friends are very determined" as they try to force their way into the infirmary where she's being held hostage.
- Enemy Mine: Ba'al tried to invoke this by pointing out to the team that he could be useful to them inside Adria as he has access to all her knowledge and control over her armies. Unfortunately for him, they decide to cut out the middleman by having him removed and replaced with a Tok'ra symbiote less likely to double-cross them.
- Et Tu, Brute?: After Vala has the dream for the second time in her false memory, she excitedly relays it to the rest of the team, only for Landry, Mitchell, Carter and Teal'c to leave the room as they're convinced that Adria is using her. Vala hopefully turns to Daniel instead... and he follows suit by getting up and walking out without a word.
- Evil Versus Evil: Ba'al vs. Adria.
- Expendable Clone: Ba'al seemingly has all of his clones killed to prevent them from revealing his plan to take Adria as a host. However, the team encounter another clone guarding Adria when they go to extract her from his ship, and Mitchell notes at the end of the episode that there's no way they can be sure there are no more out there.
- Fake Memories: Vala is given fake memories of the team betraying her so that she can put on a convincing act for Adria.
- Frame-Up: This is why Ba'al doesn't take Adria's threats about her followers coming after him seriously: The Ori Crusade has no reason to suspect his involvement. After all, as the System Lord points out, Adria's people have no idea where she is and it'll be days before they begin to question her disappearance. And even when they finally begin following her trail, their inquiries will only lead them directly to the Tau'ri (who did in fact try to capture the Orici) rather than to Ba'al.
- Genre Blind: For all of Ba'al's pragmatism, his clones genuinely don't foresee their progenitor betraying them in order to cover his tracks from SG-1.
- In Medias Res: The episode opens with Vala gambling in a disreputable looking tavern, having seemingly reverted back to her old ways, before the arrival of Adria prompts her to explain How We Got Here.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Adria attempts to kill Vala, though admittedly Vala pulls a gun on her first. She also seems to accept Vala's claims that they aren't really family, in contrast to her previous attitude.
- Living Lie Detector: Adria's ability to read a person's intent makes it necessary for Vala to genuinely believe that the rest of the team have abandoned her if the plan is going to work.
- Memory Gambit: Vala is given false memories in order to fool Adria and lure her into a trap. It's later revealed that this was entirely her own plan.
- Mercy Kill: The Tok'ra doctor recommends giving Adria an increased dose of the toxin released into her system by Ba'al in order to spare her a painful death. Unfortunately Adria wakes before he can administer the injection, and she has other plans.
- Moment Killer: The commotion in the infirmary when the extraction process goes wrong interrupts an emotional moment between Daniel and Vala.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Adria's death allows her to ascend and assume the power that was previously distributed among all the Ori, making her more powerful than ever.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Reynolds furiously calls out Vala in one of her false memories when her intel leads his team into a trap and gets two of his men killed.
- Note to Self: Vala is revealed to have made a video for her future self explaining the above-mentioned Memory Gambit and the fact that it was her idea, knowing that she would be angry and hurt with the rest of the team after their perceived betrayal.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Adria seriously underestimates Baal as a threat after his capture of her, mocking his attempts to sweet talk her and his declared wish to take control of her armies. It's only when he drops his human voice for his Goa'uld one that she realizes how screwed she is. By the time he brings in his clone symbiote, she's shivering with fear.
- Oh, Crap!: Adria, of all people, when she realizes that Ba'al intends to make her into a host. Later the entire team has a Mass "Oh, Crap!" moment when "Adria"'s eyes flash gold.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Carter assists with the symbiote extraction, despite being an astrophysicist with no surgical training.
- Pet the Dog: Adria seems genuinely concerned when she realizes that Vala has been abandoned by her friends and is apparently back to living the life of a con.
- Power Nullifier: The team and Ba'al both use the anti-Prior technology to cancel out Adria's powers.
- The Purge: Ba'al kills off his clones (under the guise of a summit to discuss the Adria situation) to cover his tracks and prevent SG-1 from catching up to him. It's not explicitly stated, but one can also interpret it as Ba'al ensuring none of them can hijack the plan for their own ambitions and egos.
- Psychic Strangle: Adria does this to Vala when the latter pulls a gun on her.
- Reaction Shot: Adria's ascension isn't shown directly, with the audience seeing the light shining on Vala's face as she watches.
- Separated by the Wall: Daniel and Vala are trapped on either side of a sealed bulkhead door, each frantically trying to reach the other as Adria tries to kill them both.
- Sole Survivor: A single Jaffa survives Ba'al's attack on the summit of his clones, as he uses tretonin and is unaffected by the symbiote poison.
- Spanner in the Works: Ba'al completely derails the team's plan to capture Adria.
- Ba'al's plan to implant his Symbiote in Adira is only foiled by killing off his clones and their Jaffa. He didn't realize one of the Jaffa uses Tretonin and thus would be impervious to the Symbiote toxin. SG-1 is able to interrogate him and catch up to Ba'al and Adria.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Once the team has realized Ba'al is now in control of Adria:Landry: What do we do now?Teal'c: Kill them both.(Beat)Mitchell ...Hard to argue with that logic.
- Superdickery: The first fifteen minutes or so of the episode has the rest of the team shunning and abandoning Vala for what appears to be an honest mistake, before the reveal that none of it ever really happened.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As an Ori/Human Hybrid — and with her powers temporarily neutralized — even Adria is helpless against becoming a host to a parasitic life form like a Goa'uld Symbiote.
- Taking You with Me: The team tries to forcefully extract Baal's symbiote from Adria's body, only for it to release a neurotoxin as an insurance policy.
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: Vala claims that as far as she's concerned Adria isn't her daughter; though some of her actions would seem to belie this, such as when she tenderly strokes the hair from Adria's forehead while she's unconscious. On the whole, it's made clear that Vala is more than willing to kill Adria, but she can't quite seem to help feeling something.Vala: Let's get something clear: she's not my daughter, Daniel. The Ori impregnated me against my will and forced me to bring her into the galaxy. I was an incubator, a shipping crate, and nothing more.
- Villain Respect: Ba'al compliments the Tau'ri (albeit condescendingly) for their ingenuity in coming up with the Prior Disruptor technology (which he's acquired through the Trust to use against Adria).
- Villainous Rescue: Adria shows up to "save" Vala when she's being held at gunpoint by several disgruntled gamblers after cheating at the alien equivalent of poker.
- Welcome Back, Traitor: Subtle example when Agent Barrett briefs them on Trust intel. While it's not explicitly stated, the subtext is nobody's forgotten the events of "Insiders" (even if Barrett was brainwashed and not in control of his actions). Barrett especially seems embarrassed and uncomfortable to be back at the SGC.
