Well, this is a most interesting title picture. It’s Teal’c, hooked up to some kind of machine that’s got him knocked out or something. Virtual reality sort of episode? We’ll see.
The episode starts off with SG-1 going to a planet that, according to what they’ve seen from the MALP, looks pretty advanced. They enter into a beautiful, enormous garden of sorts, and of course they’re immediately suspicious. After all, nothing is ever as it seems (though they could’ve used that philosophy in the last episode) and, indeed, they find people strapped into these chambers of sorts. They’re alive, but in some sort of stasis. They approach four empty chamber-chairs (how convenient! there are four of them!)… and wires pull them in.
This can’t be good.
The scene opens up with Teal’c and O’Neill in beige uniforms and black beanie caps, no longer in the garden. A van pulls up the road, and out comes…
Kawalsky?! And some guy named John!?
This can’t be reality.
Jack tells Teal’c that this was a mission he went on in 1982; one that the John guy died on. O’Neill thinks that maybe they time-traveled. I think O’Neill is reliving some kind of memory… but, then, what’s Teal’c still doing there?
(Oh, right, wait ten seconds.)
Kawalsky tries to talk to Jack, basically telling him he’s losing it and he needs to get his head back in the game. O’Neill tries to prove a point, and wrenches off Teal’c’s hat…
…only to see that the Jaffa is no longer a Jaffa. His Serpent Guard marking is gone, and he has hair. And Kawalsky knows him as “Thomas”. (“Thomas”? Really? That’s kind of a lame name.)
(WHOA! Teal’c with hair! And it’s not weird hair like he had in “There But for the Grace of God”! )
Teal’c further hypothesizes that perhaps this is an opportunity for Jack to correct his mistakes… but with the addition of Teal’c, wouldn’t that change everything? Or maybe Thomas was actually a guy in O’Neill’s squadron and Teal’c is just taking over that role.
The unit moves in to the target, but even with O’Neill’s “intel” of sorts, John still gets shot and killed. O’Neill and Teal’c, along with the rest, fall back… and they’re right back where they started. The van once more pulls up, and Kawalsky and John step out.
This is one crazy time loop.
Maybe they will just have to keep trying until they succeed in saving John, like in that one episode of The Dead Zone where Johnny had to continue trying to save this girl until he finally got it right, and the right one was reality. Or maybe O’Neill and Teal’c will just be freed and return to Earth.
Meanwhile, Jackson and Carter appear in the New York Museum of Art. It’s a similar reaction to the one that Teal’c and O’Neill had. He sees his parents as they were many years ago, and he tries to yell at them to get out from the exhibit they’re working on constructing, but then a chain breaks and they’re buried in the heavy blocks.
Back in East Germany with O’Neill and Teal’c, they’re once again reliving the mission. They see dark, hooded figures watching them this time, but John is still shot despite Jack’s best efforts.
…And it loops. Again.
He demands answers, and he gets them when an elaborately-dressed man, the “Gamekeeper”, steps out and says they must proceed with the mission. The man seems to want to give O’Neill the chance to change the past, if only to give himself some closure, and will continue to repeat this. O’Neill refuses to play the Keeper’s game, and they simply sit back
Back in New York, Carter figures out that this must not be real. It’s instead some kind of memorial recreation. (BUT WHY IS SHE THERE?!) Again, after a couple unsuccessful loops, the Keeper makes himself known, as well as the hooded figures, and repeats what he told O’Neill: That it’s a simulation designed to allow people second, third, fourth, and so on, chances.
Jackson is obviously very upset that the Keeper is forcing him to relive his worst memory – the same as O’Neill. The Keeper has a perverse sense of entertainment, as well, reminding me a bit of Q in “Tapestry” (Star Trek: TNG), except even more amused. Jackson, too, refuses to participate in this game.
The Keeper becomes very irritated and brings O’Neill and Teal’c back, now into this New York reality. He confirms that this reality is entire from their memories, and he can change it at will. It’s like a giant computer program, and their brains are the software. However, we also learn that the program will not work with Teal’c’s and Carter’s minds… the former because of his Goa’uld symbiote shielding, and the latter because Jolinar was absorbed into her body back in “In the Line of Duty”. They can still receive memories, nonetheless.
SG-1 asks why they don’t just leave the chambers and live in the real world, and the Keeper insists that their world is poisoned and desecrated… but of course we know that it’s perfectly fine out there. He again says that SG-1 is lying, and I think he knows that the world is okay now. But then why is he trying to keep his residents – the hooded figures – out of the loop?
It appears that SG-1 is free, and so they return to Base. However, after some very unusual debriefing and out-of-character encounters with Fraiser and Hammond, they figure out that they are still in the simulation. The Keeper simply took their memories and made them think they were free.
A false Kawalsky tries to convince them that this isn’t so bad, but O’Neill still isn’t buying it. He wants reality.
Outside the cell where they were being held (and just broke out of) two of the hooded figures, two women, ask the crew to tell them what it’s really like outside. They do, but before they go through the virtual Stargate, the Keeper at last reveals himself and SG-1 chases him through a door and back to… the garden. They see themselves in reality, and the simulation ends. They’re free for real this time.
They once more go after the Keeper and he confesses that he’s been tending this world’s garden for years now. He says that he kept the residents in the simulation so that they would not once again destroy the planet.
The residents enter into the real garden and SG-1 dials home. They promise to help the Keeper and the residents get back on their feet, and leave a very agitated-looking Keeper and some very happy inhabitants.
Final thoughts… This episode is strangely appropriate for my generation and time, perhaps more than it was in 1998. In today’s society we do have the very real problem of becoming addicted to virtual realities, especially with the rise of the internet. It’s the idea that reality is so at risk that we can only safely live in virtuality.
The other side of the story, the idea of changing the past in order to fix the future, is tried and true. How many times have you said to yourself, “Oh, if only I could retake that test! If only I could redo that date! If only I had called!” or something along those lines? In the end, though, we realize that the past is gone and there’s largely nothing we can do about it. What was entertaining for the Keeper and his residents was torture for SG-1, specifically O’Neill and Jackson. Even seeing Kawalsky again was more a curse than a blessing. They could have stayed there, but in the backs of their minds would have always been the idea that this wasn’t even real.
And, this is a very small thing, but I liked the nod to the fact that Carter had that connection with the late Jolinar. It was minute in terms of the plot but it’s an indication that the events of that episode aren’t going away. Good idea from the writers, even though I would’ve liked to have seen events from Teal’c’s and Carter’s respective pasts, especially the former.
REFLECTION/PREDICTION THINGY
(SG-1 talks about the merits of virtual reality and smart things like that.)
O’Neill: Augh, man, I do not want to have to go through that again.
Carter: I’ve got to agree with you, Colonel, that was pretty rough.
Jackson: How could they think that was enjoyable?
Teal’c: Perhaps we did not fully understand their culture.
Carter: You’ve got to admit, though: It was pretty funny to see the Keeper freaking out over the residents picking flowers from his garden.
Jackson: I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I’ve got to agree… that was karma in action.
(He notices Teal’c staring at his hand.)
Jackson: …Something wrong?
Teal’c: Your thumb is not green at all.
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