“Listen, I’m not saying the first woman you’ve fallen for since Sha’re isn’t a peach…”
- Release Date: 15th October 1999
- Season 3
- Episode 11
- Director: William Gereghty
- Writers: Tor Alexander Valenza
SG-1 arrive in a warehouse, where stuff related to the stargate is being put in storage, with a cover over the DHD. They surmise that these people probably don’t know what the Stargate is. Some people walk in, with one saying that they heard some kind of explosion. Jack introduces them all, which I do find amusing – they’ll keep the Stargate secret for themselves, but will gladly tell other cultures about the existence of alien life.
The two locals, Mayris and Orner, are baffled about how SG-1 seem to have memories that go back for a while, as the people on this planet only have memories from the past year, nothing before an event they call the Vorlix. On top of this, there are no elders (despite having pictures of them) and they also note that there are no children – this is extra baffling as there are also no pictures of children. They take SG-1 to Ke’ra, who has quickly become their leader, helping them restore their knowledge (but not memories) and being an amazing doctor.
SG-1 try to help, with Ke’ra taking them to the library. They ask about the Stargate and Ke’ra tells them about a journal – an elderly traveller came through the Stargate and tried to help them. They found the bodies of two elderly people after the Vorlix and presumed that these were the person who wrote the journal and this visitor. Ke’ra finds a name: Linea. Every member of SG-1 instantly recognise this name, as she was the woman that helped her escape from a prison planet, someone who escaped SGC when they found out that she was the “Destroyer of Worlds” and created plagues to lay waste to planets. During this scene, Daniel is acting extremely comfortable with Ke’ra, being rather flirty, putting his hand on her back and so on – it’s quite unnerving.
Dr Fraiser takes Ke’ra, Orner and Mayris back to Earth to perform more complex medical tests, which results in her discovering that a substance was in the brain, Dargol, blocking the memories. So it turns out that the issue may be reversible. Daniel gives them a tour, before showing Ke’ra in her room and joining her, with them being all lovey-dovey. Ke’ra kisses Daniel, who first mentions he just lost his wife, then tries to justify by saying that she was actually taking a long time ago, and then kisses her back. What???
Dr Fraiser has a revelation. The Dargol in their brain was something that caused the people on the planet to live longer, but also made the population sterile. Sam has been looking into Linea’s notes and discovers she was working on using this substance to reverse aging. However, they also have a revelation: she might have been successful, but something went wrong and affected the whole population, which meant that Linea isn’t dead and would be much younger. Sam’s suspicion is that Ke’ra, with her advanced knowledge, is Linea.
A meeting is called and DNA tests show that Ke’ra is Linea. Daniel tries to defend her, pointing out that without her memories, she’s a new person, and attempts to poorly use Teal’c as an example by asking him who he worked for before SGC – which is a terrible point as Teal’c chose to change his ways. Now, Daniel is correct in that she is essentially a different person – but the memories are still there and could be recovered, making her a big danger. They decide to put her under guard, with Daniel claiming quarantine.
It isn’t long until Dr Fraiaer and Carter have to ask for her help again. She comes up with a way to reverse it, but it doesn’t work. She quite coldly dismisses Orner’s suffering and wants to make a new version and try again instantly – one of Linea’s traits coming through. They decide to take a break. Ke’ra confronts Daniel that she knows they suspect she is Linea. He explains that there are test results that prove it, and she realises that she can never take the cure herself – she doesn’t want to harm anyone. After synthesising a new cure, it works this time, with Orner getting his memories back, he and Mayris have been married for over 40 years.
Daniel escorts Ke’ra back to her room, where she tells him “All debts have now been paid” before she enters the room. Daniel starts walking away until he pauses – that was the message Linea left them all when she escaped. He enters the room to find Ke’ra with two vials, she tells Daniel to leave, as what she has on her will create a poisonous gas – she’s trying to kill herself. Daniel convinces her to try something different – they can erase her mind again.
Orner and Mayris agree to take Ke’ra back with her (even though she endangered all of them as Linea) and they head back through the stargate. This is quite an insane ending – she’s a colossal threat to the world, and they’re letting her go back to the one place that has the cure to her condition. Everyone else is going to be cured around her, so there’s no way she’s not going to be tempted to have the cure herself. It makes no sense.
The placement of this episode also harms it massively. It’s the episode after Sha’re’s death, and Daniel is already having a romance story? This should have been saved for later on in this season or, even better, the following season. It makes Daniel look incredibly shallow.
