"Tangent" ( 4 x 12 )

I’ve heard good things about this one. Here’s hoping it won’t disappoint!

We start the episode on a runway, presumably near the Cheyenne Mountain base, and Jackson, Carter, and O’Neill are about to meet with

Hold on a second.

Mr. X?

Okay, writers. Between last episode and this episode and like four other episodes, is this X-Files or is this Stargate SG-1? Because that is SO Mr. X. He’s just a three-star general here.

…Anyways.

He is introduced as Lt. General Vidrine to the team, when suddenly a Death Glider flies right over them! Yeah Teal’c! It’s what they’re calling the X-301 Interceptor, and it’s a hybrid craft – one that we’re pretty darn excited about!

Teal’c lands the Interceptor and heads out to meet the General and the rest of SG-1. There’s actually a bit of funny dialogue:
Vidrine: “How does she fly, son?” (What is with generals calling everyone “son”?)

Teal’c: “The vehicle performed within expected parameters.”

O’Neill: “Wahoo!!” (Everyone looks at him.) “Sorry, sir, I couldn’t help but get caught up in Teal’c’s enthusiasm.”

Now Teal’c and O’Neill are going to do a test of its weapons capabilities.

Woohoo! Adventure time for O’Neill and Teal’c.

It really is a neat-looking little vessel. I love those Death Gliders. Sure, they’re not as cool as the Asgard ships but they’re sleek and just really neat. And since I just really don’t like those Goa’uld ships (I hate the pyramids in the middle. WHAT) this is much better.

They take off for the test, but then some bad things start to happen. Like, uh, losing control of the ship. And being unable to communicate with base.

“Cheyenne, we have a problem.”

…How do I know where this is going?

And why does this remind me so strongly of Star Trek: Enterprise’s “Shuttlepod One” (1x16)?

Teal’c tries to restart the controls, but suddenly they hear…

…Apophis’ voice.

I KNEW IT HAD TO BE YOU BEHIND THIS, YOU JERKFACE.

Pretty much, there’s a security interface on the ship designed to prevent any traitors (like, uh, Teal’c) from running off with a Death Glider. The ship’s set to go back to (presumably) Apophis’ original homeworld. And that’s a long, long, long ways away. Several hundred years away.

Meanwhile, back at Mission Control, there’s a huge time lag between communications. While Jackson goes off to contact some friends with starships, Carter thinks that if they launch their missiles in just the right way, they can essentially slingshot around Jupiter and back to Earth. However, one of the missiles the launch essentially boomerangs –

- and kind of hits them. And the slingshot has failed.

Gets worse. That missile damaged life support. So, instead of having several days, they’ve got maybe two days. Back at Mission Control, they decide to ‘Gate to the world where a Tok’ra operative “important to both of us” (hm…) is and hope to get help from them there.

Go, Carter and Jackson, go!

On the Interceptor, they shut down all non-essential systems. It’s a disheartening realization of their collective mortality, and even the directing is very good as it zooms out from the ship, floating in the dead of space…

Carter and Daniel make it to the planet where a Goa’uld mining operation is in progress. However, they’re suddenly ringed away… and it’s

JACOB CARTER!

“Are you  out of your minds? What the hell are you two doing here!?”

(Nice to see you, too, Dad.)

He’s really upset that they just blew his operation (because of course his little cargo ship can’t stay cloaked while using the transport rings), but he’s immediately concerned when he hears that Jack and Teal’c are in trouble. (This is why I like him. He’s such a good guy.)

However, at the SGC, Major Davis worries they won’t be fast enough to get to the two…

Things look bleak on the Interceptor, but Teal’c thinks that if he can go into a deep enough state of kel’no’reem, it’ll save up some oxygen. O’Neill can’t help but ask, though:

“Who will I talk to?”

Awww, Jaaaaack! And then we get a great line from Teal’c as he chuckles and replies:

“There is little to say, O’Neill. We have fought and won many battles together. It has been an honour to serve the Tau’ri by your side. We are brothers.”

AAHH BEST FRIENDS EVER IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.

And classic O’Neill: “Back at ya.”

With that, they fall into silence.

Back on the cargo ship, they’re pushing the maximum speed (warp eleven, much?) but Jacob Carter’s still upset with the two SG-1’s on board with him. Turns out that the Tok’ra knew of the recall devices, but the SGC’s not in the clear, either; they didn’t tell the Tok’ra of their modification plans.

We do get a bit more funny when Jacob asks how they planned to get the two out of the glider:

Jackson: “Well, we were kind of hoping that you could, like, beam them out.”

Jacob: (Laughing) “Beam them out? What am I, Scotty?”

Star Trek reference for the win!!!

Teal’c is now deep in a state of kel’no’reem (don’t go too far, man) and O’Neill sends one last message to Mission Control. He’s clearly suffering from anoxia, and it’s getting worse.

Jacob and Carter get into an argument about the SGC’s motives and rationale behind trying to retrofit a Death Glider, saying that they’re not advanced enough to really understand it.

“You can’t just slap a U.S. Air Force sticker on the side of a death glider and call it yours.”

They suddenly have to stop for repairs (why does the computer voice sound like Anise?) but they’re suddenly caught in-between two huge Goa’uld ships. Jacob tells Daniel to more or less stall them (“Use your imagination.”) and he and Carter to go make repairs.

On base, Hammond and Davis listen to O’Neill’s final, heartbreaking message. As if anticipating the worst and taking pity on his men, Hammond says this: “Let the man try to sleep.”

It’s kind of funny. At the beginning of this series, I didn’t much care for Hammond at all. I felt he was just another hard-ass military general, but as the series has progressed it’s been wonderful to see him fleshed out. It’s neat to see such an involved character even if he’s primarily just at home most of the time. He really is an integral part of the SGC and he’s so compassionate. Don S. Davis was a fantastic actor and his passing is nothing short of a tragedy in itself.

Jackson has tried to stall the Goa’uld the best he can, but apparently he told them he was… “The great and powerful Oz.”

(Bursting into giggles right now.)

Luckily, they manage to get out of there and now it’s RESCUE TIME!

The cargo ship pulls up across from the glider.

Carter: “Damnit, sir, we haven’t come all this way to take you home in a box! Now wake up!”

That’s tellin’ him, Sam!

They nudge the glider with the cargo ship, and O’Neill is roused awake, but he’s still pretty out of it. It’s actually really funny, especially when he throws a pen at Teal’c’s helmet to wake him up.

“Look, it’s Carter! She wants to talk to you!”

How O’Neill manages to make a joke out of everything is so beyond me but that’s why I love him.

Teal’c is a little more coherent and gets the plan. They need to blow the canopy of the glider, push off, and then the rings will transport them in.

And… success!! Yaaay!!!

They collapse on the floor of the ship but they’re fine.

And back at the SGC?

“Flight, this is Digger Two. We have Colonel O’Neill and Teal’c aboard. They’re both alive.”

Cue obligatory celebratory throwing up of papers and happiness and YAY!!

Final thoughts… Have I mentioned how much I love the friendship that Teal’c and Jack have? Have I? I think maybe once or twice… Let’s see. “Thor’s Hammer”. “Bloodlines”. “Cor-Ai”. “Message in a Bottle”. “A Hundred Days”. “Window of Opportunity”. And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

I think a big part of their bond is that they’re so much alike in their respective histories. In fact, I might go so far as to say that they’re more alike than any other two characters on the show.

See, I’m not much of a shipper. I don’t really get into the whole romance thing that much, and I certainly don’t dig the “slash” thing – there’s a point when it stops being speculation and starts becoming fanservice. But this? This I love. Two guys, stuck on a ship, with the oxygen running out, sort of realizing just how close they’ve become. Add in the desperate race against time and all the odds Carter and Jackson embark upon to save their friends and you’ve got something really fantastic. The bond between friends can be just as strong as one between lovers, just in a different way.

That’s one of the really nice things about SG1. The main team is limited to just the four of them (plus Hammond, and of course Fraiser is important too, but for the sake of this let’s stick to the mission crew). And they’re all really, really different people – an astrophysicist but a headstrong major; a culturally sympathetic, big-picture-thinking anthropologist/archaeologist; a colonel hardened by tragedy but gradually learning there’s more to winning a war than having the best weapons; an alien warrior with a grand sense of honour and loyalty, fighting to one day free his people, but in the process becoming impossibly close to those he serves with.

I talk a lot about how much I love shows like Star Trek, and I know I always will, but there’s a dynamic with these four you don’t even get on those shows. There’s a chemistry between the actors and certainly the characters that simply works. They’ve faced death and things far worse. How many times was it up to Jack’s leadership, or Carter’s scientific expertise, or Daniel’s brilliant way with words, or Teal’c’s fierce determination and loyalty to get them out of a rut? These are the ropes that bind them together.

I’ll be damned if anyone ever tries to break them.

Oh. Also. JACOB CARTER. Love that guy. It might seem like he’s take the side of the Tok’ra just a little too far, but I’m confident he just has their best interests in mind. If anything, maybe this’ll teach them to look before you leap. Seriously, though, these two races gotta start being honest with each other or the alliance just won’t work.

PREDICTION/REFLECTION THINGY

(GROUP HUG. RIGHT NOW.)

O’Neill: H-hey, I’m still suffering from anoxi—

(Carter wraps her arms around him in a tight hug, grinning widely.)

O’Neill: Daniel, don’t even think—

(Jackson chuckles and wraps his arms around both of them.)

O’Neill: …Fine. Teal’c. Get the hell over here.

Teal’c: To what en—

O’Neill: We’re having a goddamn group hug now get over here.

(He tries to hide a smile as he joins in the group hug.

AWWWWW.)