On the title screen is O’Neill and some strange woman.
Why do I get the feeling this is going to be SUPER AWKWARD and have something to do with Carter’s feelings? No, not those feelings I always whine about. The other feelings. The normal feelings. The feelings she feels when she’s feeling things. …Okay, that came out kind of strangely, so, um, I’ll just hit play and…
We start out on a cliff, SG-1 and a woman, who we learn is named Laira, staring out into the night sky, two moons hanging overhead. The woman describes to them a phenomenon they know as “fire rain”. It’s really just a meteor shower of sorts, but it’s awfully close to the ground. Oh oh! This doesn’t look good!
Carter figures out that this world, Edora, actually passes through an asteroid belt every year, and with each passing year, it gets into denser and denser asteroids. Turns out that there’s actually a legend that the asteroids have struck before.
O’Neill enters the cabin Carter and Laira are in, and Laira sends her son Garran off to go look at some geological evidence with Jackson. (Whew! That’s a lot of names!) Meanwhile, she and O’Neill go off to discuss a treaty between their two worlds.
In a cave are Garran, Jackson, Teal’c, and a girl whose name I don’t know. Jackson figures out that every 150 years, the asteroids strike… and this is the 150th year since the last strike.
Of course.
Jack goes on a walk with Laira, and we learn that SG-1 is after the naquadah found in the soil on Edora. Many of the locals aren’t so keen on the idea of the SGC poking around in their dirt, but Laira seems to be pretty okay with him. (Oh yeah, sure she is.)
And then the meteors start to get closer…
Just as the meteors begin to strike, SG-1 begins to move people towards the Stargate so they can evacuate to Earth. However, Garran and his friend are back at the cave… I’m thinking it’s likely because Jackson hypothesized it was once a place of shelter in past centuries. Laira and O’Neill head back to the cave, and Teal’c, Carter, and Jackson are ordered to get everyone (that is, everyone who wanted to go) through the ‘Gate. They do find her son, but the strikes are coming too quickly..! They’re stuck in the cave!
Carter and Teal’c had planned to stay behind and wait for O’Neill, but they see a meteor coming straight for them, and they jump through at the last minute. Teal’c of course wants to go back RIGHT NOW for O’Neill, but Hammond’s not going to fly with that. They’ll wait 24 hours and hopefully send a search party then.
The next day, they fire up the Stargate and send in the MALP, but nothing comes through.
There’s no way to get the Edorans back, it seems… and no way to get Jack home.
Back on Edora, Garran, O’Neill, Laira, and Garran’s friend enter into Laira’s home and there are only a few Edorans left. What’s worse… the Stargate is…
…Gone.
Well, crap on toast. How on Earth are they going to get out of this mess?
Back on Earth, they figure out that the molten rock probably melted over the Stargate like an iris, and that’s why they can’t get through to the planet. Hammond declares O’Neill missing in action. Jackson suggests contacting the Tollan and Tok’ra, who both have ships, but Hammond doesn’t seem to think there’s any hope of getting O’Neill home.
Carter thinks that if they can build a particle beam generator, like the one Sokar used to partially bend the iris, they can melt the other “iris”… and rescue O’Neill.
She works through the night on the generator, and Fraiser tries to console her that she’s doing everything she can. The doctor observes, “You miss him.”
All Carter can say is, “Yeah.”
Fraiser gives her a bit of an odd look (your feelings are all over your face, Carter!!) but she walks away without another word.
Back on Edora, O’Neill is shown trying to unbury the Stargate, presumably anyways, but he can’t get to it. I doubt he really knows where it is. The scene changes and he’s standing at a lake, and Laira approaches him. She tries to console him, to make him feel welcome. It turns out that her husband died, and… Oh, yeah, I can see where this is going. And I kind of don’t like it.
THREE MONTHS LATER
O’Neill’s… in a boat (wow, it’s taking a long time to build this particle beam generator), and he’s wearing the clothing of the locals. He’s apparently living with (and in a relationship with) Laira and has integrated into Edoran society quite well.
And that night, after some drinking and dancing and other fun things like that, they… um… Well, let’s just say that Jack moves on from his old life in a pretty big way.
Back on Earth, they’ve successfully created the particle beam generator, and they fire it through. They check with the MALP, and sure enough, there’s an iris-looking-thing there!
Teal’c suits up (like a BOSS) and is ready to take on that iris.
He goes through the ‘Gate and suspends himself above the event horizon, and starts to drill through the iris. However, it’s taking a lot longer than he expected. And it gets worse: He’s got about four hours of oxygen.
I sure hope you spent a long time in kel’no’reem last night, Teal’c, ‘cause Junior’s going to be working overtime today.
On Edora, just as Laira is going to throw out some of Jack’s old things (with his permission of course), she finds a radio… and it’s working… and Carter’s voice is on the other side.
Later that day, Laira reports her find to O’Neill, and he gets this odd look in his eyes… Like hope..! But of course Laira is crushed because she knows what’s going on now.
O’Neill rushes outside with the radio in hand and calls in – it’s Teal’c on the other end, of course. It’s really a great scene for RDA as he yells into the radio, “TEAL’C, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?” and rushes to poke through to the other side, Garran assisting. He pauses only briefly to look at Laira, and you just know this won’t last. He finally does dig a hole and smiles down at Teal’c, “…you are one stubborn son of a bitch!”
Yeah, and he just saved your behind. You better be grateful as heck!
They successfully unbury the Stargate, and the refugees reunite with their families. Carter looks heartbroken when she overhears O’Neill say that he’s not exactly happy to be going home, and he asks Laira to come back with him. He says he’ll be back… but I don’t buy it. This three-month fling’s over.
Final thoughts… See, these sorts of episodes always bother me in sci-fi TV. It’s the classic guy gets trapped on a planet, sees no way out, falls in love with a woman, and then is sad to leave her. As fun as the Sam/Jack implications are, I really don’t care for the way some people (not necessarily the writers) linger on the issue. Like I’ve said, it’s like The X-Files: They’re never really going to get together. It’s all just a tease!
That said, I still found it interesting how O’Neill really made a concerted effort to re-integrate into a society and make the most of life despite the unfortunate circumstances. However, this also begs the question: What did the rest of SG-1 do for those three months? How well will O’Neill be able to get back into the swing of things? Will Laira ever come back?
There’s also the little issue of the beam generator Carter created. Could they possibly use it in the future? Will there be applications for it later in the series? So many possibilities!
I’m pretty sure everything’s going to turn out all right for the team, but hey, it’s fun to speculate.
And did I mention? Teal’c just saved the day; second episode in a row. He seems to put his life at risk a lot for his teammates… I hope one of them writes him a thank-you card one of these days!
PREDICTION/REFLECTION THINGY
(Stuff happens now that Jack is back… Or does it?)
Marie: Uuugh I don’t know what to write because my head is pounding and I have to get ready for an outing tonight and GEEZ YOU GUYS HELP ME OUT HERE.
Jackson: What exactly do you expect us to do? Shove ideas into your head?
O’Neill: Just write about what you think will happen in our next adventure.
Marie: Uuuh, okaaay… I predict that you will make some snarky comments, Jackson will try to be diplomatic and subtle, Carter will be her usual smart self, and Teal’c will allow you all to bask in his glory.
Carter: That doesn’t really sound like Tea—
Marie: IT DOES BECAUSE I SAY IT DOES AND BECAUSE I’M THE WRITER NOW LEAVE ME ALONE.
Teal’c: (He lifts an eyebrow but says nothing in reply.)
O’Neill: …I could use some cake. Anybody else want cake? We should all get cake. They never had cake on Edora. (He tugs on Jackson’s sleeve.) …NOW…
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