“Message in a Bottle” ( 2 x 07 )

Hm… Reminds me of the beginning of that Star Trek: TNG novel, I, Q. With the whole girl-finding-a-message-in-a-bottle thing. But since I don’t think John de Lancie nor Peter David were involved with this, I’ll put my suspicions away and just see what’s going on.

SG-1 is in full-on spacesuits (first time I’ve seen that since the Hazmat suits of “Singularity”) on a planet that’s deserted and looks suspiciously like the moon. They discover some kind of device, a small sphere about the size of a softball, which is emitting E.M. frequencies. Jackson thinks it’s a time capsule of sorts. They decide to pack it up and take it back with them, hoping they can learn something from it.

Back on Earth, they get out of their suits and hook up the sphere. Jackson believes the writing, which can only be viewed zoomed-in, is instructions on how to open the capsule. Unfortunately, the Big Wigs over at N.I.D. want to look at it, too. Hammond will give Carter and Jackson twenty-four hours to try and figure it out, but beyond that, there’s nothing he can do.

Good ol’ General Hammond. Always willing to twist the rules a little to help out the team.

In the lab, Jackson and Carter continue to look at and X-ray the sphere. Just as O’Neill calls them away for their next mission, the sphere begins to rise in temperature – rapidly – and radiation levels. It opens up a bit, revealing a blue light within.

Just as O’Neill and Teal’c are about to throw it back through the Stargate to the original planet, it sprouts these huge spikes, and lodges itself in the ceiling, floor, and… between Jack’s shoulder and heart. It literally has him pinned to the wall. They shut the ‘Gate down, and the temperature stops rising. However, O’Neill is still staked through his shoulder, and he keeps shouting for Teal’c to shoot the object down. He’s got his staff weapon now, and he fires one shot, then another. The energy just keeps getting absorbed, and they’re not sure at all how to get him down.

N.I.D. is once again being pricks and now really wants to see this object, since they think it could one day be a valuable weapon. Of course, the focus here is freeing O’Neill, so Hammond more or less locks down the base

Nothing is getting through the pole keeping him pinned, and he’s contracted an injection. The sphere’s temperature continues to rise, slowly but steadily. Fraiser figures out that his infection has something to do with a virus/bacteria the device is continuously flowing into O’Neill’s body. However, it’s also affecting everything else. It’s indiscriminate – people and computers are all at risk.

In other words, we all seem to be… screwed.

But is Teal’c okay?

He sure is. He’s continued to stand at O’Neill’s side through this whole, terrible ordeal. Even when the Colonel tells him he doesn’t have to stick around, Teal’c, ever-loyal, says,

“Undomesticated equines could not remove me.”

(O’Neill) “Wild horses, Teal’c. It’s… That’s a joke. You told a joke.”

It’s enough to make O’Neill smile, though. In a way it’s also an indication of Teal’c’s further understanding of how to make light of a situation, as O’Neill so often does. It’s really been fascinating to me to see these two men grow in their friendship and the ever-present understanding between them. Ever since the pilot, and I’ll say it again, it’s been these two. They’ve got each other’s backs. In a way, they’re almost like Kirk and Spock… Okay, maybe not that close, but getting there!

Just as a Sergeant is almost through the pole with his welding tool, it shifts again and jams the pole further past O’Neill – and further into the wall. It’s not letting him go anywhere.

Carter figures out that they can starve the sphere of its energy – oxygen – but they need to work quickly. It’s started infecting the computers. Even the elevators are going down. And it gets worse – the lockdown Hammond initiated has a self-destruct countdown, and the virus prevents them from stopping it.

Jackson’s staring down a flickering computer, and he keeps seeing the symbol on the artifact. He thinks it’s trying to communicate with them through the computers. Carter proposes they do the opposite of what they just did – lower the oxygen – and see if they can get better communication. Maybe it’s even trying to use Jack as a vessel.

Oh, man, I hope this works!

Teal’c shoots his weapon at the sphere continuously, and then, even after Carter sees that he has no pulse, O’Neill starts to speak in a somewhat distorted sort of voice. The organism within Jack says that their race created the sphere in order to be taken elsewhere. It also states that, if the auto-destruct goes off, it/they will consume the planet. At the same time, it knows Jack’s thoughts and feelings. They offer to send it through the Stargate to a different planet, one that does not have a civilization yet, so that both species may survive.

The organism lets O’Neill go and restores all the computers, so they start dialing up the Stargate, one minute until the whole place goes ka-boom! O’Neill takes the sphere to the ‘Gate, pushes it through, and collapses. Just in the nick of time, Hammond and Carter stop the destruction. SG-1 helps their leader to his feet, and when Carter says she thought he was gone for good, his final words are these:

“Wild horses, Captain.”

Final thoughts… Okay, as much as I love the interaction between Teal’c and O’Neill, and I always do, this episode seemed… largely pointless. From one standpoint, it’s pretty exciting, with the tried-and-true fighting-against-the-clock idea. I thought the ending was kind of interesting, too, with them finally figuring out that the alien(s) was (were?) merely trying to communicate with them through O’Neill. Even the concept of the entity was kind of neat. And yet, this episode failed to truly captivate me in the larger sense of a plot.

That ending was pretty intense, though, with the auto-destruct ticking down to four minutes, then one minute, and then finally shutting down at the 0:01 mark. Also, if you ever check out (or re-watch, since I do believe most of you fine readers have already seen SG-1 in its entirety) this episode, watch Teal’c’s face at the end. Of course, I believe one should always watch Teal’c’s face, simply because it is nice to look at, but he really has some great expression going on. It’s strangely subtle but there’s never any doubt to Chris Judge’s acting abilities. Just spectacular.

REFLECTION/PREDICTION THINGY

(The crew muses over the recent ordeal in the infirmary.)

O’Neill: Ugh, I feel like crap.

Carter: Uh, yeah, you just had a huge pole impaled in your shoulder and you suffered a massive infection. I’m surprised you don’t feel worse.

Jackson: Hey, guys, why do we keep having these sorts of reflective conversations in the infirmary?

Teal’c: It would seem our team is prone to physical injury.

O’Neill: (Chuckling darkly) You think? In our line of work, I’d say we’re damned lucky to be alive.

“Need” ( 2 x 05 )

…Well, that’s a really vague title. Maybe “we all NEED some-bo-dy, to le-e-ean on!” or something along those lines. But since you guys probably don’t want to hear me singing over the internet, I’ll just be quiet and hit “Play”.

Hey, we’re at the Stargate, and there are some guards… and some priests… and they’re sending some naquadah, the raw Stargate element, through the ‘Gate. Teal’c mentions that it is highly valued among the Goa’uld. They look off in a different direction, and there’s a huge pyramid. Jackson runs off after a hooded figure he seems to recognize, and it’s a red-headed woman. She goes to the edge of a cliff, as if to jump off…

…and Jackson runs up to pull her back.

Just then, several guards show up and point their staffs at Jackson, as well as the rest of SG-1. The woman is apparently a princess… and SG-1 is in trouble. Of course.

They are all brought in to a chamber of sorts, and the princess introduces her father as Pyrus the godslayer. He asks them what Goa’uld rules there, and of course O’Neill informs him that there is none. Pyrus accuses him of being a liar and sends the four of them to work in the mines.

In the mines, Carter explains that she didn’t feel anything off of Pyrus, so she doesn’t think he’s a Goa’uld. (Oh, God, now that she’s got a little tiny part of Goa’uld in her she’s going to start having feelings and she feels funny around Teal’c? That’s not creepy at all.) Teal’c echoes her idea.

They continue to work into the night until they are unshackled, and they take advantage of the situation and escape. However, Jackson is caught under rubble from a staff weapon explosion.

The princess speaks with her father, and he says that they have “little naquadah to spare”. A Goa’uld sarcophagus appears and out steps Jackson, perfectly a-okay. She introduces herself to him as Shyla. She’s now being very friendly and takes him along to a forest. She says that he is “her destiny”, and that’s why she’s being so kind to him and treating him so well. She believes they are fated to be together.

O’Neill, Carter, and Teal’c are still in the mines. Jackson comes to see them and explains what happened. He says that he can’t get them out just yet, but that he’s “working on it”. They all give him weird looks as he leaves, and it’s all very… awkward.

That next evening he has dinner with Shyla and her father. He says he got his name by killing a Goa’uld 700 years ago, and that the sarcophagus has kept him alive all this time. However, it is also revealed that they continue sending naquadah through the ‘Gate so that the System Lords don’t find out that the Goa’uld they assigned to this world isn’t really there anymore.

Jackson tries to convince her that the rest of SG-1 is the priority, and she kisses him, more or less agreeing. He climbs into the sarcophagus once again, at her suggestion, and the doors slip shut.

Jackson comes to see the team again, and it’s been days since they’d seen him. They’re upset because he’s prancing about, living as royalty and spending his days in the sarcophagus. He no longer needs glasses. While they’re toiling – dying – he’s becoming what I believe is addicted to the sarcophagus. Maybe the effects aren’t permanent.

He goes on to say that Shyla wants him to marry her, and when O’Neill retorts, Jackson gets extremely upset and says that he’s more or less got it under control.

Back in the castle, he says that he will indeed stay and marry Shyla, even after SG-1 is free.

In the mines, Carter wakes up from some sort of dream… or a vision? (If this becomes a recurrence it could get kind of annoying.) She says that she has this flash of intuition that the Tok’ra don’t use the sarcophagus because it’s dangerous, and that it “changes” you. It’s somehow connected to his soul.

Jack goes to see Jackson, and Daniel’s really living the good life now. He says that Shyla agreed to let him go back to Earth to straighten a few things out, and so he’ll just take SG-1 with them.

They do go back through the Stargate, and Jackson’s feeling extremely… “antsy” is the best way I can put it. I really think it’s a physical symptom of withdrawal from the sarcophagus. Carter goes on to speculate that perhaps it is what made the Goa’uld such dangerous people. He refuses to believe that.

In Hammond’s office, Jackson collapses and… yup, he’s suffering from withdrawal. They’ve had to strap him down, but he’s going to be okay. Maybe.

Jackson escapes from his hospital bed, and O’Neill pursues him. Jackson is all sorts of dangerous, irrational, paranoid… pretty much all-of-the-above. He goes so far as to pull a pistol on O’Neill. The colonel insists that he can get through it, and that “he knows what it’s like”.

Hold on. Did Jack have a drug addiction in his past? Some kind of other addiction? Hm… I hope we get some elaboration on that!

Anyhow, Jackson breaks down crying and the violence spell seems to be over.

It’s been a day or so, and Jackson seems to be okay. However, he still wants to go back to Shyla’s planet and perhaps show her new ways of mining the naquadah so they don’t have to use slave labour to get it out.

Jackson does, indeed, return to P3R-636 and to Shyla. Her father has died. Jackson tells her that the sarcophagus is dangerous, and tells her not to use it. She fires a staff weapon at it, and embraces Jackson one last time.

Final thoughts… I have yet to be as impressed as I was with “In the Line of Duty”, but this was a pretty solid episode. We learned some important things about the Goa’uld technology of the sarcophagus and even its addictive properties. It’s further insight into the overall characterization and ego of the race – and perhaps its dependence as well. Perhaps it is only when the individual is seriously injured that the sarcophagus does only good. When the individual is fine, it becomes addictive like any sort of prescription drug.

Kind of unusually, it reminded me of the whole marijuana debate. In fairly recent years, scientists have discovered all kinds of medicinal uses for the plant – it can help anyone from epileptics to cancer treatment patients. However, at the same time, it can be very addicting and addle the brains to the point where one thinks they need it to survive. Of course, marijuana isn’t usually this addicting, but it’s an interesting analogy of sorts.

In terms of the overall plot of the series, we learn of a couple more interesting things: the naquadah and Carter’s still-lingering connection with the Tok’ra, Jolinar. Obviously the naquadah is highly valued among the Goa’uld. I think that maybe they use it to power their ships or weapons or something. Maybe even in the Death Gliders. Maybe it’s something SG-1 can use against the System Lords.

…And also Carter. I’m not quite sure what I think of this whole Goa’uld-insight thing she’s got going on. What I’m just wondering, mainly, is if it’s something that stays relevant throughout the series. Will it ultimately spell out some sort of doom for her? Will it simply fade away? Are there any other side effects of sorts to this connection?

There’s also her relation with Teal’c, at the very least as comrades. I’m not sure quite how the Tok’ra feel about the Jaffa in terms of superiority (or, rather, inferiority) but maybe she’s merely sensing the Goa’uld symbiote in him.

So many questions, so few answers!

PREDICTION/REFLECTION THINGY

(Hey, the next episode is “Thor’s Chariot”! …That can’t be good.)

O’Neill: Aw, Jesus, we have to go to that guy again?

Teal’c: I do not look forward to it.

Jackson: I don’t know, he could be a really nice guy…

O’Neill: Daniel, he more or less tried to kill Teal’c the last time we were around his cronies! Well – indirectly, anyways!

Carter: Can’t we just skip out? Let some other crew take the mission?

Jackson: I don’t think so… the script’s already been written. We just have to roll with it.

"The Gamekeeper" ( 2 x 04 )

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.

"Prisoners" ( 2 x 03 )

Hm… why am I getting visions of SG-1 committing some grievous crime on a planet they do not fully understand and getting imprisoned for it? Or perhaps finding themselves trapped on a planet because the Stargate is malfunctioning for some odd reason?

Just a hunch. Let’s see how far off I am.

The episode opens with O’Neill once again ready to head back to Earth right away, and Jackson insisting they should study every molecule on the planet.

Then, though, a man appears out of nowhere (I should mention that they did not believe there to be civilization or anything interesting here) and he stumbles towards them, begging for help to protect him from “Taldor”. A white light envelops them and they find themselves in a blue-lit room.

A female voice announces from above that they are now prisoners (ha! hence the episode title!) and at this point Jackson realizes the meaning of “Taldor”: “Justice”.

A male voice joins her and says that they trespassed and committed murder in helping the man, and that they will be sent through the Stargate… to a prison.

What’s that early-season Star Trek: TNG episode with Wesley getting in legal trouble for not understanding a planet? Yeah… this reminds me of it.

They are, indeed, thrown through the Stargate into a prison, Hadante. They are at first harassed by some of the others incarcerated, but an older woman, Linea, stopped them. She seems to be the leader and she takes Carter under her wing, more or less.

The crew goes off to try and see if they can find a superconductor to spark some life into the Stargate. Carter and O’Neill go off to find Linea, and Daniel and Teal’c continue to look for an energy source.

Carter and O’Neill talk to Linea. It is revealed that she gives them a sort of hope in that they can escape by trapping themselves into the Stargate’s vortex – which of course just kills them. However, she still thinks she can help the two SG crew members.

She shows them a sort of plant that reacts on a subatomic level. O’Neill says that if she can help them activate the Stargate, he’ll take her with them back to Earth to learn about their physics.

Back on Earth’s base, SG-3 has gone to find SG-1, and so obviously they return empty-handed. The Taldor merely handed SG-3 the other crew’s weapons and sent them back through the ‘Gate. Another Nox-like anti-violence race? Maybe.

Elsewhere, Jackson and Teal’c (the latter, rather violently) are confronting one of the other prisoners. Teal’c wasn’t happy with the guy’s attitude about something, but he lets him go. O’Neill and Carter meet back up with them.

Out of the Stargate comes a gray sort of slop (food, I presume) and all the prisoners (save for SG-1) rush to eat.

On Earth, a major approaches Hammond and tells him that the Taldor of P3X-775 are open to relations with them. In fact, Hammond says he himself will go down there to meet with them.

He steps through the ‘Gate for his first time, muttering, “The things I do for these people…”

Hammond tries to talk to the Taldor, but they’re not listening. They dismiss him.

Linea has warned Carter that the others may rise up against them, and indeed, they do. Vishnoor, one of the prisoners, and a couple of his men try to fight the SG crew. Jackson is badly injured, but after a while he decides they should escape to P2A-509, where SG-3 is scheduled to go.

Furthermore, though, the balance of power has shifted. The prisoners think that Jackson killed Vishnoor, so they let him make the decisions. While the rest of the prisoners are eating, they rig up the Stargate with the plant Linea had. They manage to get it running, and they all go through… but then some of the other prisoners jump through.

Why do I not like where this is going?

Some SG guards bring in a man who had escaped from the prison, and he reveals that Linea’s crime, destroying a whole world due to her failed attempt to cure a plague, was actually a ruse of sorts – she is the one who started it.

They bring back Linea through the ‘Gate and they are all back home safely. Carter shows her a computer and they start going through some computations. She lifts the device on her palm – the same one she’d used to knock out (or kill, rather) Vishnoor during his grapple with Jackson. She scrolls frantically through the computer and then attempts to go through the ‘Gate. She’s set the self-destruct… but nothing happens…. Except that the system crashes.

Linea has hacked into their computer and leaves them a message thanking them for their kindness… and only then do they realize that they just let a dangerous criminal – a destroyer of worlds – go free.

Final thoughts… I see this being a two-parter. But there was no “to be continued” at the end. However, whether this turns out to be a short arc (or heck, maybe a long arc) it says something about justice systems. The whole issue with the Taldor was that the SG crews did not think that it was a fair and just system, and that their form of “justice” and zero-tolerance policy was not “progressive enough” or something along those lines. They trusted their own instincts and perceptions over a system that had kept this very dangerous woman behind bars.

To me, this kind of mirrors how some “more advanced” nations see the justice systems of other countries. There is always this sense of, “We’re right, and they’re wrong, and our way is the best way and no other way can ever work as well as ours.” Certainly the Taldor’s system was not perfect. It was about to put four largely innocent people away for life simply for stepping in the wrong area and getting mixed in with the wrong guy. It goes to show you that you can’t always trust who you think you can trust.

REFLECTION/PREDICTION THINGY

(SG-1 laments their failure.)

O’Neill: Well, I feel like an idiot.

Jackson: So do I, Jack. God, what were we thinking?

Carter: She seemed so nice!

Teal’c: People are not always as they seem to be. Perhaps Linea was simply very good at deception.

O’Neill: Or maybe we were just too blind to see her true nature…

“In the Line of Duty” ( 2 x 02 )

Let me preface this all by saying that I’m in a very sour mood. The Nebraska Huskers, AKA my school and my favourite American Football team since I was about the age of a fetus, just suffered a torturous loss at the hands of the Wisconsin Badgers.

The Badgers played hard and earned it, but it hasn’t made me a very happy writer.

So I’m watching some SG-1 in an attempt to alleviate my self-inflicted predicament.

Then, I’m going to write an angry letter to Coach Bo Pelini, feel bad because it’s not his fault, and throw it away.

Prediction… this is going to be about the four members of SG-1 doing something. That’s all I’ve got.

We open up on a very pretty lake… which is getting attacked by the Goa’uld. In fact, Death Gliders are flying all around, attacking a village and sending people flying everywhere. SG-1 is there, trying to save people and sending them through the open Stargate. In the midst of the chaos, Carter is performing CPR, and she tries mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a man. There’s a strange hissing noise, and…

…her eyes flash briefly. Like a Goa’uld.

(What’s she going to say? Marie is going to say… Oh, come on, you know it…)

I hate where this is going.

O’Neill and Carter escape back through the Stargate, and he asks her if she’s all right. She says she is, but of course we can all see that she is most certainly not fine. No one is ever “fine”. Rule number one of sci-fi: Everyone lies.

The people they had saved were Nasyans, a peaceful and relatively harmless civilization. SG-1 is confused because, in the past, there had always seemed a reason for the Goa’uld attacks. Teal’c says that he’s seen them attack people for no reason at all, but something tells me there’s more to this than meets the eye. I find it hard to believe they would attack a group for “the lulz”.

Carter speaks up and says that maybe the reasons simply “weren’t apparent” to Teal’c. She says, “After all, you are just a Jaffa.”

Strike number one against her!

Everyone looks at her strangely and she quickly covers her tracks. However, Jackson merely agrees that they should better understand the Goa’uld’s reasons for the attack, or at least try to.

In the infirmary, Doctor Fraiser discovers some kind of abrasion at the back of Carter’s throat.

Strike number two!

However, she lets it go because she didn’t see any of the tell-tale marks of a Goa’uld infestation… I mean, at the back of the neck. I still think that she’s acting weirdly.

Carter goes to see Cassandra, who’s in Fraiser’s office. They embrace, and as Carter speaks, Cassandra seems to pick up on her words before she says them and a look of horror crosses her face before she runs off.

Oh boy.

Strike number three?

I’d say so. Carter immediately pursues the little girl with a scowl and flashing eyes.

O’Neill goes in to speak with Cassandra, since she refuses to speak with anyone but him. She’s huddled up in the corner and she moves over to his embrace. (It’s very adorable, for the record.) He asks her what’s wrong, and she says, “Sam said she would kill me if I told you… She’s a Goa’uld.”

Strike four. And five, for that matter.

Carter storms into the room where Teal’c and Jackson are waiting to go on the next mission. She seems extremely agitated, and when O'Neill sticks her with a powerful tranquilizer and she doesn’t go down, she realizes that her cover is blown. She pulls a gun on him and switches to creepy-deep-Goa’uld-voice, ordering him to open the ‘Gate.

Strike six, seven… Yeah, that’s too many strikes, I’m not even gonna go on.

She then pulls out a grenade, saying that if they don’t open the Stargate, she’ll drop it. She seems so desperate to get out… or, it does, rather.

There’s definitely more to this than I’m getting. I don’t think Carter’s Goa’uld is exactly typical of its race.

Jackson echoes this idea as they’re all (minus Carter) at the Hangout, trying to figure out exactly what happened. They do figure out that she contracted it when she gave the one Nasyan mouth-to-mouth, but beyond that, they haven’t got much else but suspicions.

Over at the hospital, a man wrapped in bandages from Nasya is approached by a doctor. I think he was about to give him an ultrasound, and the man starts to strangle the doctor.

Another Goa’uld? This is just getting weirder and weirder.

Teal’c approaches O’Neill as the latter sits alone in a room. He gives O’Neill a bit of advice in interrogating the Goa’uld, advising him to “assault its ego”, because perhaps then they will gain the information they both need and desire. He also states that, “[Arrogance]… is the Goa’uld’s greatest weakness.” He seems a little bit worried about how this is going to go. Maybe for good reason.

O’Neill goes to Carter/the Goa’uld and speaks to her/it. However, so far, not so good. He tries to insult her, but she simply says that he “doesn’t understand what’s really going on”.

Jackson speaks to one of the victims, Talia. She says that she’d never noticed any change in the man who, presumably, is the one that had the Goa’uld transferred from him to Carter.

Like I said, this can’t be your garden-variety Goa’uld.

But what about the one who just strangled his own doctor and then pulled off all his bandages, only to spit out a really weird ring-looking-object-thing which glows?

Carter/the Goa’uld simply sits in her cell, asking for O’Neill to simply let her go. She says she can find another host and send Carter back to him. She tries to convince him (oh, wait, I just realized that the Goa’uld is a “he”… okay, referring to him as such now), and even lets Carter come out. She begs with O’Neill that he’s telling the truth, but of course, to no avail.

Okay, I am now convinced that there is something very, very different about this Goa’uld. He definitely has a different agenda. I fully believe he did let Carter come out and speak.

Gaaahh, I want answers! I want them now!

Teal’c comes in and speaks to the Goa’uld. He tells him that an even more powerful attack is being planned on Earth, and he is willing to help them thwart it. He goes on to see, in light of Teal’c’s protests, that “not all Goa’uld are the same.”

Knew it.

He calls himself a Tok'ra, and that his name is Jolinar. Something like shock crosses over Teal’c’s face, and he leaves the room.

Oh snap. This is serious business now.

The man who had been in the bandages who broke out and had the weird ring-thing leaves Talia just after waving his glowing ring over her. He passes Jackson, but says nothing more of the woman’s condition other than, “She’s good.” Hm… another Tok'ra?

Fraiser sees the man’s bloodwork… and realizes something about it. Oh man.

Teal’c re-enters with O’Neill after telling him of the Jaffa legend about the Tok'ra, the Goa’uld who allegedly oppose the system lords (i.e. Ra, Apophis, etc.). O’Neill tries to build a little trust with Jolinar and asks him about the man who got out of his hospital bed and knocked out the doctor. Jolinar looks very scared and says it “must be the Ashrak”, an assassin.

And he’s after him.

My prediction? They’re going to try to be tricky about this. Maybe they’ll try to get Jolinar to switch into a different host to confuse the Ashrak, take him/it down, and then we’ll all go home happy.

Jackson and Teal’c now go to Jolinar. Jackson still refuses, like the others, to let the Goa’uld go, but I think that could change, considering Jolinar’s just told him he knows where Sha’re is.

Teal’c and Jackson are largely convinced that this Tok'ra is as honest as he claims to be, but O’Neill isn’t budging. This is going to be his downfall; I just know it is!

The assassin has now impersonated an Air Force officer on the base and has hypnotic skills in his ring as well. He uses them to get into the base. This just keeps getting better and better.

The Ashrak breaks into Jolinar’s cell and uses his ring to start to knock her out – perhaps kill her. The Ashrak escapes completely unnoticed and undetected with two other guards. It takes Jackson hostage, more or less, at the ‘Gate. Teal’c eventually comes on the scene and takes one shot at the Ashrak to force it to let Jackson go, and then another to kill it. Presumably.

Meanwhile, the infirmary team works desperately to try to save Carter and Jolinar, since one obviously cannot live without the other. Jolinar is reported dead, but Carter once more has a pulse. Perhaps the Goa’uld used its last energy to save Carter as a final act of goodwill and compassion. She seems to recognize this: Even as O’Neill tells her, “You beat it. You won,” she says this:

“It wasn’t me. The Goa’uld gave its life for me. It saved me.”

Later that night, Jackson brings Carter a large bouquet of flowers and sits at her bedside, but she’s unresponsive. We learn then that her body is absorbing the Goa’uld symbiote. It’s what saved her. He goes out to talk to Cassandra, and tells her to go see Carter.

The little girl does, and Carter cheers up a bit, but she’s still emotionally moved. It’s a really touching moment and a simple yet moving conclusion.

Final thoughts… Wow, this was a really powerful episode in many, many aspects. We’ve got another mover-and-shaker in the plot again: Goa’uld who aren’t obsessed with conquest.

To be honest, I kind of saw this coming. It was a very natural progression of the plot. No race is entirely evil nor entirely good – it only makes sense that the same would be true for the Goa’uld. In this sense, the Goa’uld seem to be more like the Trill symbiote than anything. It is a mutually beneficial relationship between a creature needing a host and a host needing to survive. And it’s not a completely unreal twist, either. We all know that the Goa’uld have amazing healing capabilities for their hosts. Just look at Teal’c and how many times he’s been okay because of his symbiote.

I know I’m a weenie when it comes to these sorts of things, but I was very sad to see Jolinar die. I was sorely hoping that he would’ve been able to find another host and perhaps returned to SG-1 to assist them at some time.

Furthermore, this is going to impact each of the crew members in a very big way:

First of all, O’Neill. Even as the Goa’uld died within Carter, he still believed that they were the enemy. It seems to be his natural tendency, given all the grief they’ve caused him over the past few years. This encounter with such a different Goa’uld surely changed his perspective, not only on that species, but on the universe and its extremely complex societies as a whole.

Secondly, Jackson. Jolinar told him that he knew where Sha’re was. I think some of the other Tok'ra might know this as well. He was given a ray of hope that his wife could be saved, since Jolinar confirmed that a symbiote can leave its host unharmed – it is difficult, but possible, if the Goa’uld is willing. This knowledge also plays into the medical and scientific side of things.

Thirdly, Teal’c. He says at one point in the episode that Bra'tac (YEEAAA- Oh wait he wasn’t even in this episode. Sad. They really should replace the word “cool” with his name. As in, “That is so Bra'tac!”) was the one who told him of the Tok'ra. Now that he knows that they exist, they might be able to find them, and they could be a powerful ally to Chulak, Earth, and all other worlds that might try to resist against the System Lord Goa’ulds. I can see this ending well in his favour.

And finally, Carter. I’ve saved her for last since she is obviously going to be the one most impacted by this. After all, she had the Goa’uld inside of her. She knew and understood its thoughts, emotions, integrity… I highly doubt Jolinar would have tried to trick her. Furthermore, it saved her. She now understands better than anyone in SG-1 the potential for good a Goa’uld has. I have a feeling it was a kind of “fate” that it saved her, given that she is often among the most compassionate and eager to save of her crew. She had tried desperately to save Jolinar’s original host. I think she can turn tides – within and without her crew. It’ll be interesting to see how this encounter changes her as a character.

All in all, excellent episode. It’s a perfect true “opening” to another season of this great show, and probably another great arc in the plot.

Now I want to see more Tok'ra!

PREDICTION/REFLECTION THINGY:

(Marie once again invades the lives of SG-1.)

(The ever-annoying, Mary Sue-like girl appears in a flash in the infirmary next to Carter’s bed.)

Marie: Carter, hon, I know how you feel.

Carter: (Jumps, startled, and stares wide-eyed at the glasses-wearing blonde) Who are you? How did you get in here?

Marie: That’s not important. What is important is that I am here for you. My favourite football team just suffered a major loss and it was devastating! I swear, my heart was crying for our guys!

Carter: (She balks, and is suddenly upset and defensive) Did you honestly just compare my situation involving a sentient being who just died for me to a damned football game!?

Marie: Well, if you really think about it—

Carter: NO, NOW GET OUT – OUT OF HERE BEFORE I GO BERSERK ON YOU AND STRANGLE YOU MYSELF!

(Marie grimaces and dashes out of the room past a stunned Teal’c, Jackson, and O’Neill.)

O’Neill: …Yeah, I’m not quite sure Carter’s got all of that Goa’uld feeling out of her.

Jackson: Nope, that was simply her womanly fury rivaling that of Hell.

Teal’c: That was so Bra'tac!