"The Devil You Know" ( 3 x 13 )

Okay.

Maybe Apophis will die for REALZ this episode.

But frankly, I just want to know what the heck he’s up to!

And I want Jacob Carter to get better!

So! Bynarr is dead. Apophis, contrary to popular belief, is alive. And Teal’c is a little preoccupied.

Jackson decides he needs to get a little snarky with Apophis, and says,

“Your mate Amaunet is dead. Sorry to ruin your day. Actually, no, I’m wrong about that. I’m not sorry.”

Ooo, snap, there he goes! Antagonizing the person who literally has their lives in his hands! (It’s okay, Daniel, you’re just learning from O’Neill.)

He’s more interested in why Teal’c isn’t with them (‘CAUSE HE DOESN’T WANT TO SEE YOUR UGLY MUG), but he then finds the communication device and sends a message to Teal’c, saying that he’s back and all that. However, when he’s done using them to get out of there (by way of their knowledge and a that) he plans to kill them. Why? I don’t know. Because he’s Apophis and he’s a jerkface.

Apophis speaks to the other prisoners and tells them that he will bring a new day, a new dominion, he will deliver them, blah blah blah… He’s quite the orator but he’s failed to move me.

Meanwhile, Sokar decides that they will move the attack on the System Lords up to two days from now, rather than like… ten. (OH SNAP.) We also get a first really good look at his super-pale face. (Don’t worry, he still has a nose.)

Apophis orders that Carter be brought to him, and… this can’t be good. He forces her to drink a substance he calls the “Blood of Sokar” (ew) and I presume it’s a sort of drug. She gets trapped in a memory right before her mother’s funeral, where it seems her father is trying to get her to tell her how to get back to Earth and the iris codes but she catches on that this isn’t right and resists. Apophis finally pulls her out and gives up.

Teal’c has gone back to the Tok’ra to tell them of Sokar’s planned attack, and also that SG-1, Jacob, and Martouf are still trapped on Netu.

Next, Apophis brings in O’Neill, again forces the drink down his throat, and forces him to relive one of his last memories of his son. Charlie (in the memory) tries to get Jack to tell him how he made contact with the Asgard. O’Neill catches on that it’s not real, and resists. Apophis fails again!

Teal’c and another Tok’ra, Aldwin, re-enter the pyramid cargo ship and Aldwin has brought a weapon on board. He plans to launch it through to the core of the moon once Sokar takes his ship into orbit, and the resulting blast will take out Netu… and the ship. Teal’c reluctantly agrees not to stand in his way, but I don’t see Teal’c being willing to sacrifice his friends. Hm…

What he wants to do is try and rescue SG-1 and the others before Sokar enters orbit. However, if he’s already there… it might be too late.

Martouf is now forced to have the memory and the Blood of Sokar, and they place Carter in front of him, but all he sees is Jolinar. Apophis threatens to kill her if he doesn’t tell him where the Tok’ra are, and he says they’re on… Antak?

But, wait! When Aldwin and Teal’c were on the Tok’ra planet, Aldwin said it was Vorash!

Oh, you sneaky person you, Martouf. I like you a little better now.

Jackson is taken in last to Apophis, and has a memory of Jack talking to him after Sha’re’s funeral. However, he’s acting very out-of-character, and Daniel catches on. He refuses to tell Apophis where the harsesis, Amaunet’s son, is, but before Apophis can go on he’s interrupted by Sokar. Sokar agrees to hear Apophis out for whatever information he has, and is taken away by the transporter rings.

But just before Jackson is taken away by guards, he grabs the communication device. Nice thinking!

Just as Carter gets to Teal’c, though, Aldwin launches the weapon (NOOOO) and the planet starts to shake violently and erupt. Teal’c lets them know what’s going on and that they’ve basically got ten minutes until the end of the world.

Apophis is up on Sokar’s ship and I swear, Sokar is just… creepy! Even his voice is creepy. Unlike some of the other Goa’uld like Apophis, Heru’ur, and Cronus, who are all very strong speakers, Sokar is rather soft-spoken. It’s like, “I’m going to kill you… slowly… and I’m going to enjoy… watching you die…” as opposed to “DIE NOW BLARGH”. It’s like facing Khan rather than a Klingon you can at least reason with. But now I’m getting into dumb metaphors. Also, Sokar always looks down on people. He always lifts his head slightly and never looks people straight-on. Ugh. Shudder.

However, Sokar has caught on that there are no Tok’ra on Antak (whoops!) and he orders Apophis killed. Just before he is killed, though, he murders Sokar’s guards and escapes before Sokar can go after him.

Aldwin wants them to get out of there, but Teal’c throws him in a holding cell (hahaha take THAT! He won’t leave his friends for anything!) and starts to move towards Sokar’s ship.

Down on Netu, SG-1 and the Tok’ra get to the transporter rings and Teal’c successfully intercepts the matter stream! They get the heck out of there and escape the blast, which presumably took out Sokar’s ship with it… as far as we know.

And now it’s SO MUCH HAPPY because we’re all here and SG-1 is okay and JACOB CARTER IS OKAY and Teal’c saved the day and they got the hell out of there. (Ha, ha.)

BUT APOPHIS IS STILL ALIVE!!

Final thoughts… HOLY. HOLY COW. That was super intense! That was almost as intense as the Nebraska – Penn State game yesterday afternoon!

Oh, my goodness, so many unanswered questions. However, the biggest and most pressing is this:

What’s going on with Apophis?

It seems to me that Apophis was able to escape to the main planet (not Netu) before Netu erupted and took out Sokar’s ship. So, now that Sokar is presumably dead (I’m assuming he didn’t have time to get off his ship), Apophis is still alive. What will happen if he returns to Chulak? Will he meet resistance from Bra’tac (SO AWESOME) and any Jaffa he has managed to convince to rebel with him? Or will they once again recognize him as a god, truly now that he has “risen from the dead”, as it were?

(Ooo, Teal’c would be in so much trouble with them…)

Also, I’m curious as to why neither Goa’uld (Sokar nor Apophis) was willing to be reasonable with SG-1. Aside from that he might want to hand them over to Sokar, why didn’t he just kill them when he failed to get them to tell him what he wanted to know? I think that maybe, deep down, he remembers what they did for him while he was freaking DYING and though he’s still a jerkface (mangled jerkface now) he has some sense of honour. (Hey, the Serpent Guards have got to get it from somewhere.) It’ll be interesting to see what he tries to do. He certainly doesn’t seem as bad as Sokar. Besides, I don’t think that SG-1 realizes he’s even still alive!

There’s also the little matter of his son. Maybe he’ll go off in search of his son, lest the harsesis be found by a System Lord and killed. (Joint mission with SG-1? …Nah. He’s too proud.)

All right, I know I’ve gone on this whole time about Apophis and no one else, but let’s face it, I named my fish after him. He’s pretty epic. He’s pretty cunning.  I’m just excited to see where they go with this. So many possibilities! So many chances to see Bra’tac again!

REFLECTION/PREDICTION THINGY

(SG-1 and their guests thank their lucky stars as they hang out on the ship, headed back to Earth.)

O’Neill: That was too close.

Teal’c: It was seemingly by chance that we were able to escape.

Jacob Carter: Maybe someone out there’s looking out for us, huh?

Martouf: The Asgard?

Carter: I don’t care who. I’m just glad the timing was just right.

O’Neill: I’m just glad that Sokar’s dead.

Jackson: Well, at least we think he’s dead.

Carter: I don’t see how he could have survived. I’m pretty sure he was still on his ship.

Teal’c: What of Apophis?

O’Neill: Uh… Good question.