“How long were we standing here?”
- Release Date: 17th January 2001
- Season 4
- Episode 18
- Director: Peter Woeste
- Writers: James Phillips
Daniel is currently offworld with SG-5 investigating an abandoned Gou’ald palace, with Jack talking to Lt Barber, a member of SG-5 who is returning to the planet after reporting back to ask Teal’c for translations. Jack gives him money for losing a bet with Daniel and he’s being coy with Carter – who realises the bet is about her working instead of taking a weekend off. As the stargate activates, Lt Barber suddenly runs up, right into the unstable vortex, which kills him instantly.
SG-5 and Daniel are recalled from the planet but nobody has seen any signs of depression – Daniel even says that Barber was quite happy. Jackson seems rather impatient to get back, but that’s quite normal for him. However, when Jack visits him later Daniel seems almost like he’s in pain to return, and later even yells at General Hammond to let him go back now, berating him (Hammond calmly responds that he’s spent the past two hours writing a letter to Barber’s family, as he can’t put any details there). The crazy thing is that the mission is scheduled for the morning, so it’s not like it’s a long wait.
The next morning, Daniel doesn’t show up for work and his phone is off the hook. Jack visits his apartment and finds Daniel standing on the balcony – on the opposite side of the barrier, as though he’s about to jump. Jack is very cautious, not making any sudden movements while trying to reason with him to head back indoors. Daniel seems to wake up from whatever state he’s in as he asks “Jack?” and it’s only at that point that Jack moves forward to hold Daniel. It’s a really wonderful scene and shows how reasonable Jack can be in situations like this – he handles it extremely well.
Daniel gets taken to the infirmary and Fraiser reports that he’s showing symptoms of drug withdrawal, along with the rest of SG-5, but there’s zero evidence of any drugs in their system. Hammond doesn’t want to send anyone back to the planet, but Jack points out a shadow Teal’c saw in Daniel’s footage and that the lives of SG-5 are on the line, so he approves the mission.
Jack, Carter and Teal’c enter the Gou’ald palace through the Stargate and spot a young man running off. Exploring the place, they see a room with a strange device emitting a stunning light display. All three seem mesmerised, staring at it, until Jack snaps out of it and interrupts Teal’c and Carter. There appears to be no radiation or anything dangerous coming from it, though, but they decide to check back later.
They manage to find the kid that was sneaking around. He says his name is Loran and that he came here with his parents, but they’re not here at the moment. Jack asks Loran to follow them as they investigate. General Hammond calls them on the radio to check in on their progress and Jack says they’ve only been there a few minutes, but Hammond says they’ve been there for over an hour (they spent it gawking at the light and not noticing). He has some bad news: SG-5 have all died from the withdrawal and Daniel isn’t doing very well.
Jack heads back to Earth with the samples while Teal’c speaks to Loran. Loran shows Teal’c a photo of him (much younger) and his parents on a digital camera, one that looks quite advanced for the time, and says they were explorers. He shows Teal’c a toy gun – a present from his father. When Teal’c says they don’t celebrate birthdays on his world, Loran gives the toy to Teal’c. At SGC, Jack is getting frustrated that Janet hasn’t found a solution to save Daniel then realises he’s suffering from the effects, too. Daniel’s heart stops and Dr Fraiser realises that the only thing that can save him is going back to the planet, and none of them can leave until they have a solution.
Daniel starts to recover while on the other side. Jack goes to get Carter and Teal’c as Daniel wakes up – and as Jack also gets stuck in a trance alongside the other two, Daniel is able to contact Hammond and get supplies and a remote (that Daniel took to Earth with him) sent to him. He’s able to translate it and turn off the light. Jack questions Loran about his parents again, but he reflects once more. Daniel works out that this is essentially an opium den for Gou’ald, except that the Gou’ald are immune to the side effects (as should Teal’c).
Jack and Sam explore the surrounding area, getting into a petty argument over absolutely nothing. Teal’c finds two bodies – it’s Logan’s parents, and they’ve been dead a long time. When they return, they tell Daniel about the withdrawal effects, but he’s fine. It seems the palace still causes the drug-like high and the light just keeps you entranced. So they’re not just trapped on the planet, but have to stay close.
Jack speaks to Loran again, saying he knows his parents are dead, he opens up another panel and leaves, with Jack following. Loran opens up with the truth. His parents came here with his parents but they got addicted, he had to get food for them whenever needed. Eventually, he stopped seeing them and it took them days for their hunger to be enough for them to leave. He turned off the machine. They yelled and eventually went out into the sea. He turned it off, but they kept going until they drowned. He feels guilty for their deaths, but Jack says it wasn’t his fault and he was trying to help.
When they get back, Teal’c, Carter and Daniel have figured out how to turn the device off properly and in small amounts. Doing it bit by bit over the course of three or four weeks will wean them off it, even Loran will be very fine to leave, and Jack says he can go to Earth with the.
The way this handles drugs, withdrawal, depression and suicide is really good, done in a sci-fi but still realistic way. I do think the episode ends abruptly, with the solution solved off-screen, but there’s still a lot to like.
