"Divide and Conquer" ( 4 x 05 )

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

I hope your day is wonderful and blessed, and that it is Black Friday before you read this because it means you were spending the holiday with your family. I'd just like to thank EVERYONE reading this because I am thankful for you and you are what keeps this blog going. Now let me hurry and post this (I actually wrote this review last night) because the bird's nearly done, the table's nearly set, and all my relatives are nearly here! I am forever blessed to have such wonderful people in my life, even if it's only through the internet. 

Sam/Jack shippers, this one's for you!

Prediction... someone is trying to divide someone! Maybe someone’s trying to sabotage some alliance, like they did in the events before “Shades of Grey” (3x18)?

(Maybourne, I see you smirking in the background!)

We start out on Vorash, and a few SGC officers are speaking with a few of the Tok’ra, O’Neill, Jackson, and Martouf among the group. They’re trying to arrange a meeting between the High Councilor, Per’sus, and the President (of the U.S.). Suddenly, one of the SG officers uses some kind of device and starts SHOOTING PEOPLE OH STOP HIM SOMEBODY. O’Neill yells at him to stop, and he pushes the ring device… and explodes.

WHOA.

Okay, maybe not Maybourne. That was some pretty sick technology.

A little later they reconvene, and the Councilor will be okay, but others have died on both sides. Martouf explains that the ring weapon is Goa’uld (jerkfaces!) and our good friend Freya/Anise explains that Graham was a za’tarc – one under Goa’uld mind control.

(Are we going to have another Rya’c on our hands? Because that was no fun.)

Pretty much this is just a theory, but she is confident in her thinking. It’s covered by a false memory, so anyone recently in contact with a Goa’uld could be a za’tarc. They would never know what they were, and the technology is very difficult to detect.

Well, that’s not good.

Given this, the SGC thinks that the President may be the next target. They want to call off the meeting, but Anise thinks she might have a way to determine who’s a za’tarc and who’s just fine.

Back on Earth, Anise has set up her detection system, but none of the SGC seem particularly happy about it. After all, our last few encounters with her haven’t been all that great.

The first to be tested is Lieutenant Astor. She’s hooked up to a kind of lie detector, except that it even can tell if someone’s not aware that they’re lying. Astor’s test doesn’t go… well, it doesn’t go very well. Freya (she’s been out more this episode) has an idea to remove the technology, but when she tries it, Astor rips out of her restraints, steals a pistol, and ultimately shoots herself.

But the testing must go on. SG-1 is tested and questioned on the last mission – the mission to destroy Apophis’ ship from “Upgrades” (4x03). However, when O’Neill and Carter get to the part about Carter yelling at him to leave her, the lie detector starts to get a little fuzzy..!

And now Freya thinks they’re both za’tarcs.

CRAAAAP.

They both agree it might be possible, since they were both unconscious at the same time in the ship. They are thus put into solitary confinement.

Freya visits O’Neill in his room, and apologizes for this mess, and then thanks him for saving her life… by putting the moves on him. The lip kind of moves. It’s a bit of an awkward “What’cha doin’?” moment for O’Neill (’cause we all know who he likes) and we find out that Anise is more into Jackson.

Wait, what? How is this relevant to the plot? Freya! Jesus!

He gets a little uncomfortable and bids her farewell… But, you know, alien cultures and all.

Freya worries that by keeping them confined, the inability to achieve the objective will ultimately lead both Carter and O’Neill to self-destruction – suicide, like the others. Martouf tries to convince Carter to go through with the procedure tried on Lieutenant Astor, and confesses he’s got feelings for her.

GAAH FEELINGS.

Jackson does the same for O’Neill (not the, uh, “feelings” thing) and he seems more willing to try the procedure again.

On the day of the summit, O’Neill decides to go through with the procedure despite the risks, saying that if he dies, maybe a proper autopsy could save Carter. (Oh snap. Do I see feelings there?) The Major, on the other hand, decides to go through with the sedation, but she’s clearly very unhappy with him taking the risk.

Jackson, Martouf, and Hammond are in the ‘Gate room as the Councilor arrives, and the President is coming next.

Meanwhile, Carter is sedated, and Jack is strapped in. Teal’c stands off to the colonel’s side with an armed zat gun (yeah, just a precaution). On her bed, Carter realizes that they lied, but they didn’t even realize it. (WHAT? ABOUT WHAT?)

Fraiser rushes into the infirmary and stops the procedure, and Carter meets with Jack alone. She explains to him through this question:

“When you wouldn’t leave me, are you sure there wasn’t something else you weren’t admitting?”

Oh snap.

O’Neill of course tries to play it oblivious, but eventually they both come to the realization that in not admitting their feelings for each other, the machine thought they were za’tarcs.

With only Fraiser, Freya/Anise, Carter, and Teal’c as the witnesses, O’Neill admits this in his retesting with Freya:

“How were you feeling?”

“Like someone who was about to die. I didn’t leave because I’d have rather died myself than lose Carter.”

“Why?”
“Because I care about her. A lot more than I’m supposed to.”

AWW!! JAAAAACK!!! You cannot be a ridiculous romantic! This is ridiculous but it’s so cute!!

They are both retested and both found not to be za’tarcs. Teal’c and Fraiser don’t say anything (good god, what could you say to that? This relationship would be totally forbidden by the regs) and given the comment I just made, the two agree that what just happened here won’t leave the room.

Well. Looks like we’ve got another Mulder/Scully on our hands, except that these two at least got to the point of admitting their feelings to each other. (But it’s so early in the series! But more on that in Final Thoughts.)

But this still begs the question: Is someone else the za’tarc?

Carter then realizes something else…

Martouf was never tested.

In the launch room, Martouf puts on a ring (CRAP) and Jackson sees this happen. The President is brought in and Martouf starts to freak out. Jack tries to shoot him in the leg, but it does nothing. They riddle his body full of bullets but he keeps going. He finally starts to come to his senses, and Carter takes… the second shot of a zat gun.

Ooohhh my god.

Turns out that the “President” they brought in was not the real one – it was merely a precaution to draw out any possible za’tarc. Martouf is dead, and Carter cradles his body, but they will not allow his passing to be in vain.

Final thoughts… Well, geez. Tough times, eh?

Relationships never seem to really work in sci-fi. In Star Trek, someone usually either dies or is forced to leave in some way, shape, or form (see Deep Space Nine). In Fringe, we blame it on the other universe for screwing up our love lives (see the latest season). In X-Files, it just leads to awkwardness. In Stargate, apparently, you shouldn’t even try because they’ll end up either dead or your relationship will be more forbidden than poor Romeo and Juliet’s.

The past couple episodes have just been broken hearts all over the place. First Teal’c lost Shan’auc, and now Martouf is dead (and he and Carter at least had a connection through Jolinar), Freya now realizes for sure she can’t have O’Neill, and Sam and Jack can’t be together even though they are clearly in love with each other. I suppose what I chalked up to be loyalty between team members and an unwillingness to leave anybody behind turned out to be more than just that back in “Upgrades”. I mean, I suppose I’ve known for sure ever since “A Hundred Days” (3x17) that Carter was in love with Jack (or at least unusually fond of him) but now things just get awkward. I’m pretty sure they’ll just try to keep this very “today never happened” but now that the truth’s out there, that could be easier said than done.

We also should probably address the little issue of the witnesses of this confession.

Freya/Anise I’m sure will just mind her own business. She’s not part of the SGC and so this really doesn’t concern her.

Dr. Fraiser is really kind of the one that worries me. I’d say she’s at least relatively close to SG-1 as a whole (how many times has she saved each of their lives?) and is very good friends with Carter. She seemed pretty concerned back in “Hundred Days” when she asked Carter if the fact that she cared about Jack would be a “problem”. She doesn’t want to see her friend lose her position, certainly.

Teal’c… I’m not sure about him. I know for a fact he trusts his team to always do the right thing (thus why he’s so ridiculously loyal to them all) but he understands the chain of command. My guess is, he won’t see this as any of his business and let it go.

Jackson I don’t doubt already had suspected this and so if he doesn’t know by now he will soon. Sometimes he’s kind of oblivious but he’s often very perceptive and he’ll pick up on it.

But that’s not the only relationship addressed in this episode… There’s also the Tok’ra-Earth alliance which was almost wiped out thanks to our slimey Goa’uld friends. (Well, snakey Goa’uld, anyways.) They had basically tried to undermine the trust and respect of the fledgling alliance, which has at times been strained, but always turned out okay. I foresee tough times ahead for the alliance, but I believe it will ultimately succeed. However, if the Tok’ra continue to keep secrets as they have so often done, it could get ugly again… and this time, it wouldn’t be the Goa’uld.

(But it could be that slimeball Maybourne!)

REFLECTION/PREDICTION THINGY

(RELATIONSHIPS BLARGH.)

Jackson: Why do relationships have to be so complicated?

Teal’c: Such would seem to be the way of the world, Daniel Jackson.

O’Neill: They’re not complicated. They’re cut-and-dry. You like someone, or you don’t.

Carter: Black and white.

O’Neill: No grey areas.

Carter: No complications.

O’Neill: Easy-peasy.

Carter: Yup.

O’Neill: Mm-hm.

(Awkward silence.)

"WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY" TONIGHT! I've heard such good things about this. Can't wait!

I'll be making my folks watch with me, haha!