Well, season 8 has been a season of change. While O'Neil's move to command of the SGC means less time for him in the field, it also means that SG-1 seems to have more freedom since the big guy understands where they're coming from. Toward the end of the season, O'Neil does make it into the field several times. While not nessesarily a great season in itself, season 8 wraps up a lot of old threads and if you've been watching up untill that point, it would be a mistake not to continue.

Wrapping up all these things makes me intensely curious about what will happen next season. With the direct confrontation with the goa'uld ended, will season 9 be more like the pure exploration of season 1? The aquisition of the ZPM is an interesting development; really, it only allows them to visit Atlantis or the Azgaurd and power the Antarctic defense system, since the other side would need to be capable of getting any teams back. The possibility exists that season 9 will focus on the erradication of the replicators in Azgaurd space.