Daniel: Wait a minute, you're actually saying that you need someone dumber than you are?
O'Neill: You may have come to the right place.
O'Neill: You may have come to the right place.
A week since the events of "Nemesis", O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c are finally able to return home after stopping the replicators from invading Earth. They don't have much time to celebrate their victory, however, as Major Davis reports that a Russian submarine is now infested with replicators after one of those on board the Beliskner survived the crash. At the same time, Thor shows up to once again request assistance dealing with replicators in his home galaxy; Carter agrees to accompany him, while the rest of the team deal with the situation on earth.
"Small Victories" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Hug: Carter impulsively hugs Thor when her plan to destroy the replicator ships works. For his part, Thor appears somewhat surprised by this, but not overly concerned.
- And Mission Control Rejoiced: A somewhat stunned, subdued version occurs when Daniel realizes that O'Neill and Teal'c were beamed out of the sub just before it was destroyed.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Overlapping with No Fourth Wall, the Russians in the sub at the beginning. For the most part done correctly, except for one speaking Russian and the other speaking Ukrainian.Russian Sailor 1: What could that noise be?
Russian Sailor 2: Maybe these are the bugs from the previous episode. - The Bait: Carter plans to destroy the replicator ships attacking Thor's homeworld by getting them to chase the state-of-the-art Asgard ship O'Neill into hyperspace where their shields won't work, and then using the O'Neill's self-destruct to wipe them all out.
- Bilingual Bonus: Reportedly the dialogue on the Russian submarine was improvised by the actors; it aired in unsubtitled Russian and Ukrainian. One of them breaks the fourth wall and says the noise in the torpedo tube might be "the bugs from the previous episode."
- Bring It Back Alive: The Pentagon has apparently requested that one of the replicators on board the Russian sub be preserved for study, despite everybody immediately pointing out what a monumentally stupid idea that would be. To their credit, they're convinced to cancel the plan pretty quickly after SG-1 points out said plan had a rather high chance of causing the end of all life on Earth.
- Call-Back: To the previous episode, with Carter chasing O'Neill out into the hallway after he's done telling her about his planned fishing trip.O'Neill: Déjà vu.
- Continuity Nod: Fraiser is shown checking up on Daniel's recovery after his appendectomy at the beginning of the last episode.
- Cold Open: The episode opens with the deaths of the hapless Russian officers whose sub has been infested with replicators.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: One of the Russian officers gets sprayed in the face with acid from the replicator.
- Expospeak Gag:Teal'c: The replicators are impervious to Goa'uld technology. They are, however, susceptible to human projectile weaponry.
[Davis looks blank]
O'Neill: Guns. - Facehugger: Invoked at the beginning of the episode, when one of the replicators launches itself out of a hatch on the submarine and latches onto the Russian officer's face.
- Funny Background Event: When Thor walks through the gate and SG-1 rush to meet him, Walter Harriman is staring completely slack-jawed at seeing an Asgard presumably for the first time.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Once it's become clear that they're fighting a losing battle, O'Neill rips his headset off and practically begs Daniel to blow the sub before they're overrun by replicators.O'Neill: Listen to me: we are not getting out of here! Mission accomplished, blow it!
Daniel: Jack!
O'Neill: Daniel, please! ...[static]... before I get eaten alive by these goddamn bugs!
[Daniel looks conflicted]
O'Neill: Davis, give the order! - Insect Queen: The replicators on the sub have one that is several times bigger than the others and protected by the "drones". It's responsible for assembling new replicators, and at its core is the original replicator that survived the destruction of Thor's ship.
- Just in Time: Thor is able to beam O'Neill and Teal'c out of the sub just as it's destroyed.
- Muggles Do It Better: This trope is stated to be the reason why Thor asks SG-1 for their help in fighting the replicators, since the Asgard's over-reliance on advanced technology has caused them to lose the capacity for innovative thinking demonstrated by humans.Carter: If you ever need any more dumb ideas, you know where to find me.
- Mundane Solution: Daniel realizes that the replicators on the sub are susceptible to rust as they're made from the same materials as the sub itself, so once they've destroyed the original that survived the crash of the Beliskner, they can just blow up the sub with regular torpedoes and let the ocean take care of the rest.
- Oh, Crap!: Said by O'Neill when the replicators begin to attack en masse after he and Teal'c destroy the queen.
- P.O.V. Cam: Used a few times due to the headset cameras worn by the team that board the submarine.
- Running Gag: O'Neill invites Thor to go fishing with him, much to the dismay of Carter and Teal'c.
- Related, O'Neill keeps elaborating the size of the fish, and then admitting that they're significantly smaller. They get smaller every time he admits he's exaggerating.
- Shoot the Dog: Daniel very reluctantly gives the order to destroy the sub while O'Neill and Teal'c are onboard, since they're about to die anyway and the replicators could very well take over the entire planet if they managed to get to dry land. Fortunately, Thor is able to beam them out in time.
- Shout-Out: Plenty of homages to Aliens; from POV cameras to a facehugger or a hive queen.
- Teleportation Rescue: Once again, Thor's transporter saves the day.
- Time Skip: Roughly a week has passed since the events of the previous episode, during which time O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c were stranded offworld while the second gate was being set up after the original got dumped in the ocean with the remains of the Beliskner.
- Title Drop: At the end of the episode, Thor mentions that the destruction of the Replicator ships was a "small victory" in the overall war.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Carter and Thor foil a replicator invasion in Asgard space, while O'Neill, Teal'c, and some Red Shirts fight them back at home.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:O'Neill: Would it be necessary for me to mention my insane aversion to bugs at this time?
- The World Is Always Doomed:
- Lampshaded twice:O'Neill: Where's the fanfare, General?
Carter: We did kind of save the planet, sir.
O'Neill: Again. This should not get old, General. - Later:Carter: Sir, if there are still a small enough number of replicators on board, a properly equipped team could possibly...
O'Neill: Save the world?
Carter: Getting old for you, sir?
- Lampshaded twice:
