I don't see why people would call it a cheap send off for Vala. But it would've been much better if Carter hadn't said that there might've been a chance that Vala survived.

I don't like Carter's new hair, by the way.

I also disliked the fact that they joked about her being a message. So she's in the Ori home galaxy. Don't any of them realize what grave danger she's in?!

I don't know if it's my deductonary skills, but the moment she opened her mouth at the end there (the 1st time), I knew she had the solution, but that Jackson would prevent her from venting it, that she would go out and do it herself and somehow, in the process, sacrifice herself.