"The Other Side" ( 4 x 02 )

MIRROR UNIVERSE?

One can only hope… Let’s hit play!

O’Neill’s in civvies (probably just heading out for the night) when the Stargate whirls to life. (That guy just can’t catch a break!) Oh, wait, never mind, he’s just heading in.

They’re receiving a voice message from a man and… oh, crap, it sounds like they’ve tried to send people through the ‘Gate. (Obvious the iris is… down. Ergh. “Splat”, and all that.) His voice sounds… kind of familiar. Anyways, the message is more or less an S.O.S. from a planet called “Euronda”.

The message comes again, and it’s a cry for help in defeating an enemy. They’ve managed to match the frequency, and the man says his name is Alar. His voice, gosh, where have I heard it? It kind of sounds like...

Nah.

OMIGAWD

IT’S RENE

RENE AUBERJONOIS

OMG OMG OMG

ODO! ODODODO…

…Ahem.

They’ve managed to establish visual contact (thus my Auberjonois-related FREAK OUT… squee!! I’m so excited he’s guest-starring!! First Quark and now Odo! SO AWESOME!!) and Odo Alar explains to them that they’re facing an on-world foe (Hm… why is this reminiscent of “New Ground” (3x19)?) and the situation’s not exactly in their favour.

Back at the Hangout, Hammond grants SG-1 permission to go through the ‘Gate. This is, after all, the first time anyone has ever “called home”, as it were. They’re to bring food and medical supplies, but they cannot legally turn the tide of the war in any way.

Besides, they might be willing to give a couple toys to help fight the Goa’uld.

Outside the ‘Gate, Teal’c looks a little apprehensive, and Daniel notices, but they all go through anyways. (Hm…) They find Alar (CHANGELING… oh, wait, he’s human) and meet some other Eurondans, too. Alar seems to have a bit of an issue with Teal’c (Odo! I thought you were better than this!) but I presume that’s just because he’s a Jaffa. Y’know, former-First-Prime-of-Apophis and all. It’s okay. I’m sure he’ll learn to love the guy… er, like him, anyways.

Alar shows them a large facility, which is keeping thousands of bodies in stasis. (Whoa! Desperate measures, huh?) He then takes them to a weapons control sort of place, where remotes control airborne spacecraft. So, all of the bang, and none of the risk of losing people. We also learn that the surface of the planet is poisoned, so very little ground attacks are made.

O’Neill tries out one of the remotes, and they work by doing pretty much whatever the mind tells the planes to do. It’s actually really cool, and very efficient. Unfortunately, the neural interface is damaging after multiple uses.

Later, they have a celebratory toast, and Alar is kind of peeved that Teal’c doesn’t join in. He patiently explains that Jaffa do not drink alcohol (that’s okay, Teal’c, I don’t drink either, I think it’s dumb… and, uh, kind of illegal at my age), but I notice he’s not touching any of his food. Wonder why…

They actually come to a bit of a trade agreement: If the SGC provides them with heavy water (the Eurondan power source for many things, and easily attainable on Earth), the Eurondans will give them instructions on how to build cool weapons and medicine and things like that. Sounds pretty good to me.

Jackson’s not so convinced. He doesn’t want this war to go on, and he certainly doesn’t want the SGC involved. (Way to stick to your moral guns, Daniel.) He thinks that they should just go through the ‘Gate to another world. Besides, this one’s poisoned anyways. Personally, I think that makes more sense, too. They’ve got the means. Why not? He sees no reason for the war.

Bombers start to attack the defense shield of sorts, and O’Neill gets mad at Jackson for speaking out. There is a funny little conversation, though:

Jackson: “We came here to help them!”

Teal’c: “Is that not what we are doing, Daniel Jackson?”

Jackson: “No… their whole world is in flames and we are offering them gasoline. How is that help?”

Teal’c: “We are, in fact, offering water.”

O’Neill: “Thank you!”

Daniel: (Exasperated) “I was speaking metaphorically.”

O’Neill: “Well, stop it. It’s not fair to Teal’c.”

They’re now surely at odds with each other, and O’Neill runs off to go see what he can do to help.

Back on Earth, Carter and Jackson go to talk to Hammond in the Hangout. Jackson expresses his concerns, though they still plan to send the heavy water through, and also that they don’t know anything about the enemy.

On Euronda, Teal’c and O’Neill man a couple stations and prepare to move out – er, move their planes out. Carter and Jackson return with the heavy water, and though Alar doesn’t think it’s enough, he accepts it. O’Neill, in the control room, takes down a bomber, but there’s just one little concern…

…the enemy jet was manned.

Jack looks unusually haunted. Maybe he’s having second thoughts, too.

They’re at the table where they had the original toast, and Alar announces that they will need… well, a lot more heavy water than the SGC is giving them right now.

Jackson then poses a question: How’d this war start?

Alar explains that the enemy had a surprise attack, and then they just kept coming. (But why?!) He seems to be deliberately avoiding the question.

As O’Neill and Alar walk down a corridor, Alar mentions that he doesn’t think Teal’c should come along anymore. (WHAT?! What issue do you have with my man, Odo? He only helped defend your stupid little facility and now you don’t want him back.) It gets even a little creepier when he says,

“It’s not what he said, Colonel. It’s what he is. … Not like us.”

That sounds awfully racist. Even Jack seems a little perturbed. It’s at this point he stops Daniel from dialing out and tells him:

“Go ask questions. Lots of questions.”

Carter realizes something else, too: This facility must have been built long before the war. Hm… That’s kind of fishy.

Teal’c and O’Neill go to investigate the stasis room, and we realize something:

Everyone in stasis is the same. Caucasian. Usually light-haired. And I just realized that a bunch of the Eurondans we’ve met look like that, too.

Oh, crap, I hate where this is going.

Jackson talks to Farrell, one of the Eurrondans, and indeed, they value… genetic “purity”.

(OH GOD DANGIT ODO I THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THIS.)

And their enemy, the “Breeders”? They have “no regard” for that.

Jack is going to feel soooo dumb after this mission. Actually, I think they all will. You’re helping out Nazis, man!

Everything starts to fall into place when Carter realizes that the Eurondans poisoned their own atmosphere, and that they struck first. They all seem to have come to the conclusion that they’re fighting on the wrong side of this war, even as Teal’c and O’Neill man stations. They pull a trick of their own when they lead the enemy ships straight to the site of the defense perimeter, and crash the squadron O’Neill is leading.

SG-1 heads out as the building starts to collapse, O’Neill advising Alar not to follow. They dial out and head through the ‘Gate, but Alar still begs them to let him go with them. As soon as they step through, O’Neill orders the iris closed… and there’s an impact. Carter’s look is haunted as she gazes at her CO.

But Jack knew what he was doing. Even when Hammond expresses concern that they weren’t able to get any of the Eurondan technology, all Jack can say is:

“Don’t be.”

Final thoughts… Well.

I can’t believe they took the actor of my favourite Star Trek character EVER, Odo from Deep Space Nine, and put him into the role of a racist, very Nazi-like character fighting a cruel war. I’m still not all that okay with O’Neill’s decision to close the iris on him as he supposedly jumped through, but… I don’t know. He didn’t like Teal’c. That was pretty bad in my book.

OH THE MORALS! What a crazy episode. Just absolutely insane. It just goes to show you how you can’t know the war you’re fighting until you know exactly what side you’re standing upon. I personally can’t believe I never noticed that pretty much every one of the Eurondans we got to see were fair-skinned and fair-haired, though they were humans. I’d personally like to think I’m “color-blind” in that respect, but still… Just wow.

I suppose this begs another question, and of course I’m going to go right back to Teal’c because he’s my favourite: Why exactly did Alar have an issue with him? Was it because he was dark-skinned, or because he was Jaffa, or merely because he was different? Certainly Jack caught on to it when Alar said, “[He’s] not like us.”  Now, early in the episode, I would have chalked that up to, “Oh, well, maybe they know about the Goa’uld?” I’d even guessed (though I didn’t voice it) that maybe their enemy were Jaffa or something and Alar simply wasn’t telling SG-1 this.

I certainly would have thought that by the time those words left his mouth and Teal’c had obviously proven his allegiance to SG-1 (their new ally) he would’ve been okay. I mean, people have given Teal’c a hard time all through this series, but by the end we’re all good. Heck, even Thor, who inadvertently tried to kill him in “Thor’s Hammer” (1x09) was cool with him by the end of their next visit to Cimmeria. But that’s because Thor is really bra’tac and not a racist jerkface. Even Apophis isn’t a racist jerkface, he’s just really pompous and thinks he’s better than other people.

However, what I find most interesting about this is that on a planet probably thousands of light years away, whose civilization has evolved so differently from Earth’s, and has all this great, advanced technology, they still have the potential for genocide. Which is exactly what the Eurondans we met were trying to do: wipe out the “Breeders”. We’ve literally got our on Holocaust going on here, except on an even wider scale than the Nazis during WWII – they want to wipe out everyone who doesn’t fit their ideal.

I guess it just goes to show you that Earth’s not the only planet capable of screwing up.

PREDICTION/REFLECTION THINGY

(I felt this episode warranted a little bit more of an afterstory. So here’s a different kind of format.)

Area 52 Commissary

A few hours after arriving back from Euronda

                Colonel Jack O’Neill sat at a small table in the mess, idly moving a cake crumb around his plate. He didn’t feel like eating. In fact, he didn’t feel well at all. A furrow creased his brow as he finally threw down his fork and leaned back with a groan. As if today could get any worse… And any day which couldn’t be cured by cake was a pretty bad one.

                “Colonel O’Neill.”

                He winked an eye open, and his gaze traveled up the tall, stocky figure of the only Jaffa in the entire facility. He tried to smile amicably, but only managed a grimace, which itself quickly faded. “Teal’c. If you’re here to chew me out over what I did, don’t bother. I got enough of that from Daniel and Carter.”

                He arched an eyebrow in such a familiar way it almost made Jack smile.

                Almost.

                “The only thing I wish to consume here is food, O’Neill,” Teal’c said rather matter-of-factly, and his dark eyes flickered to the empty spot in front of the colonel.

                “Then by all means…” He waved vaguely toward the spot, not even blinking at the rather large pile of food on his friend’s plate as he sat down. After over three years, there were just some things that didn’t surprise you anymore. “So, then, what’s on your mind? We’ve effectively sabotaged the efforts to keep a war going… mission accomplished…” Even as he said it, he didn’t quite believe it.

                Not one to mince words, Teal’c immediately answered, “I am concerned with how Alar reacted to my presence throughout the ordeal.”

                “Oh.” Jack stared at his uneaten cake before looking back up at the Jaffa’s unreadable gaze. Wincing, he said, “I thought you might be.”

                “I was under the initial impression that perhaps it was because I am a Jaffa that he did not readily accept my presence. However, later on, it seemed more…”

                “Personal?” he supplied.

                “Indeed.”

                Jack sighed. He’d known this would probably have been brought up eventually. It seemed that every other race they’d encountered, even those whom may have initially feared or been wary of any of SG-1, had eventually accepted them as they were. Of course, for many of the Goa’uld-occupied worlds, this may have proved a little more difficult on Teal’c, but they had all known what they’d gotten into in having him as part of the team. Nevertheless, just as Carter and Daniel were invaluable, so was he, and frankly, without any one of them, SG-1 just didn’t feel quite right. But this past mission had been quite a different kind of problem.

                “Teal’c, I don’t suppose Daniel bothered you into reading any World War Two history books, did he?”

                 “…I am familiar with most history of Tau’ri warfare.”

                “Then you know about the Holocaust.”

                “Yes.” A pause, and realization seemed to dawn on him. “You believe that the Eurondans were committing an act of genocide similar to how the National Socialist party did sixty years ago.”

                “You’re quick; I’ll give you that,” he muttered. “The poisoned atmosphere… the relentless warfare…” Jack rubbed his face. “I still can’t believe I didn’t catch on earlier. It was so obvious.”

                Teal’c’s gaze was mildly sympathetic. “The side they presented to us was one of an ally. At the time, it was within our best interests to aid them as we could.”

                “Teal’c, we were helping Nazis.”

                “A fact they did not publicize in a time which they were most desperate. They did not wish to compromise our willingness to assist.”

                “They thought they were doing the right thing. They thought they were on the right side of the battlefield.” Jack thought that his cake now looked rather sickening, and he pushed it away. Not in the mood. His pained eyes met Teal’c’s once again. “We think we’re on the right side of our own war.” Wars, he bitterly corrected in his mind, thinking of those damned mechanical bugs they’d recently been introduced to. Mentally shaking off the disturbing memories of the Replicators, he continued, “What makes us so right?”

                Teal’c fell into a contemplative silence. No doubt thinking of his own past, Jack thought. In many ways, they were not so different. There had been times in his own service to the armed forces that he hadn’t been sure they were “fighting the good fight”, as it were. He’d made questionable decisions, given and followed orders he hadn’t always known to be the best or held to the highest moral and ethical standards, even within the SGC these past few years. Even now he questioned his own judgment.

                His friend’s rumbling, thoughtful voice brought him back. “We fight to free people from oppression and slavery, O’Neill. We attack only those who threaten innocent lives. Our goal is to preserve life, rather than take it unjustly.”

                “Or so we would like to think,” he added bitterly.

                “I will remind you of the time Apophis came to us quite literally on his deathbed and was granted amnesty until his passing.” Something in Teal’c’s eyes darkened at the memory, as if momentarily regretting that they’d ever sent his body back to Sokar. Not that, of course, he wouldn’t have risen to power without dying first. Another war, Jack thought grimly. “You have standards of morality that extend even to those rightfully deemed your enemy. That is something neither the Eurondans nor many of the Goa’uld have ever even considered.”

                “I just hope that we’re on the right side of the war.”

                “I have seen the other side, Colonel O’Neill, and I can most definitely guarantee that the SGC is most beneficial to all.”

                Jack smirked. “Then I guess I just hope you’re right.”

                “I believe I am.”

                Each held the other’s gaze for a moment that seemed to last an eternity, understanding as only two soldiers, two warriors who had seen the universe at its best and worst could. Both had demons in their pasts, yes, for war was never a clean-cut, black-and-white business. It was messy, and there were always casualties on both sides, and even on sides that were never meant to be involved. One simply could hope they were on the right side, and that the other side had an equal chance of redemption. It was a necessary evil that seemed to expand far beyond the stars they could see. For now, they had an obligation to the people out there, no matter what they looked like. The galaxy was too big a place for that kind of discrimination.

                It had been too late for the Eudronans to see that.

                Perhaps the people on Earth would see that before they had another Holocaust rip through.

                “You have not eaten your cake,” Teal’c observed unexpectedly.

                “Hm?” He looked at the dessert. “Oh. Right. Wasn’t hungry.” Figuring it was safe to move onto a lighter subject, he casually noted, “You haven’t touched your food, either.”

                “We were speaking.”

                “Ah.” Jack paused. “So, is there a story behind the…” He motioned loosely at the unusual strip of hair running down the center of Teal’c’s chin.

                “Do not mention it again,” he interrupted rigidly, frowning as he bit into a sandwich with a surprising amount of vigor.

                “I could order you to-”

                “I believe your cake is chilling.”

                “I don’t suppose you-”

                Teal’c cut the colonel off with a sharp glare, and Jack raised his hands in mock surrender. Chuckling wryly, he pulled the small plate back towards him and stuck in his fork. Feeling a little brighter already, he took a bite of the sugary, sweet goodness.

                Delicious.