“A spark lights a flame but the candle will only burn as long as the wick.”
- Release Date: 10th January 2000
- Season 4
- Episode 17
- Director: Peter DeLuise
- Writers: Robert C. Cooper
We start on Abydos, with SG-1 meeting with Kasuf about a recent event – a sandstorm came through the stargate and everyone heard the name “Sha’re”. They head to a spot in the desert and a sandstorm tornado appears, calling Daniel’s name. Daniel tries to speak to it and it fades, leaving behind a boy. He claims to be Shifu, the child of Sha’re, an Harcesis that has all the knowledge of the Gou’ald. They decide to take him back to Earth.
Dr Fraiser checks him out and he has similar nanites to what was seen in “Brief Candle”, but they’re now dormant, which explains why he’s no longer a baby. Hammond says they’ll contact the Tok’ra (much to their disappointment) due to their treaty. Jack isn’t too happy with this, as he thinks we should find out what he knows first. The Gou’ald genetic memory has been hidden by Oma Desala, the ascended being that was protecting him. The plan is to use the memory recall device, but Fraiser is concerned about how it would affect him mentally and Daniel is concerned about emotions – seeing the atrocious acts the Gou’ald perform.
Daniel speaks to Shifu about Sha’re – Shifu’s mother and Daniel’s wife, saying she was able to give him a message through the Gou’ald hand device. Shifu, like Oma, speaks mainly in cryptic phrases and Daniel does the same. Shufu does not like the idea, he’s concerned that the subconscious desires can overtake the conscious if presented with an opportunity. Essentially, with great power comes great responsibility. Shifu decides to share the knowledge and taps Daniel’s head, who passes out.
Daniel wakes up in the infirmary and gets visions of Gou’ald technology, realising that Shifu has shared his knowledge. He speaks to Carter about some technology, which uses heavy liquid naquadah. After her help understanding the technology, he presents his idea to Hammond: a series of satellite weapons that can detect anything coming towards them and can destroy Gou’ald motherships. They request more engineers and scientists to help them out. Daniel also says to not tell the Tok’ra – they can’t risk anything leaking.
Daniel summons Teal’c (interrupting his kel’no’reem meditation) to ask for help with a translation – and we see Daniel’s intrusive thoughts of having Teal’c bow down to him. Teal’c is not pleased and seems concerned with how Daniel is acting. After this, Daniel is in charge of a meeting, making demands. He gives the details of the satellites and says that it needs to be done within one year, which Major Davies says will be extremely expensive. All SG teams will be focused on getting naquadah for the project and Daniel wants the Russians excluded as they may leak it to other nations. He also has some personal requirements, which Major Davies is flabbergasted by.
Jack tries to speak to Daniel, saying that he’s very concerned about how he’s acting – giving orders, making requests and so on. Making weapons is not what Daniel does and Jack is worried that he’s going down a dark path. Jack asks about Teal’c and Daniel has a thought about attacking Jack with the Gou’ald hand device (which he regrets he can’t use even though he understands how it works, due to no naquadah in his blood), before simply saying that he’s on a mission for him and dismisses Jack.
We cut to a year later, and Daniel wakes up in his mansion with a ton of staff around him. Carter arrives and Daniel asks his staff to send her away, although she makes it to him, yelling that she knows what he has planned (it’s rather annoying that she doesn’t say what in front of everyone). Daniel deflects and tells Carter that she’s changed before having her arrested. He tells his assistant that she’s insane. Jack visits her in jail and she asks him for help. He thinks Daniel has gotten carried away, but says he doesn’t think Daniel will jeopardise the planet. They talk about Teal’c as though Daniel is responsible for his death, but Jack says that there was no proof.
Jack visits Daniel and Daniel is welcoming (even though he saw the conversation between Jack and Sam though CCTV). It’s the day of the launch of the satellite system and Daniel asks Jack to join him, using a ring system to reach a control room in a secure bunker. The deployment works fine, with multiple satellite weapons reaching the right spots in orbit. Daniel is very calm while Jack watches, clearly concerned.
The president is due to make a speech revealing the Stargate program, but it gets postponed – Russia and China have gone on high alert due to the appearance of these satellites. The Russians aren’t happy that their treaty was ignored and ask for control to be given over to them, or else it will be seen as an act of aggression. As the Russians prepare an anti-satellite weapon, Daniel (under approval of the president) blows it up.
The Russians start preparing more anti-satellite weapons and the head of the air force says the plan is to respond proportionally. The plan is to attack the launch site, while the president is reconsidering keeping control of the technology to themselves. It seems he’d rather have peace with other countries. Daniel sees this as a sign of weakness and takes full control of the system, cutting off the general. He wants to bring everyone in line by showing the world how powerful the defence network really is. He targets Moscow.
Jack calls out Daniel out of concern over what he’s doing and Daniel says that the radiation won’t spread – it will just be the city. Which is still full of innocent people. Jack pulls out a gun and tries to shoot Daniel, but Daniel has a Gou’ald shield protecting him. Jack makes one last attempt, saying that perhaps Shifu was a Gou’ald trap, hoping that Daniel would destroy the world, and Daniel admits that this is what he wanted all along. He fires on Moscow, wiping out the entire city.
We cut back to the infirmary, Daniel is in some kind of coma, but seems to be dreaming. Shifu says that he’s teaching Daniel. They get the Tok’ra lie detector from earlier in the system and ask Shifu some questions but he’s telling the truth. Daniel walks in saying “The only way to win is to deny it battle” – he can’t go evil if he doesn’t have the knowledge. The Tok’ra still want to extract information (forcefully, from the way he talks), but Daniel says that won’t happen. After Daniel and Shifu discuss the chances of meeting again, Shifu turns into an energy light creature and heads through the stargate.
While this has similarities to when Sha’re gave Daniels memories, it does it in a different way. Daniel casually destroying Moscow is a rather scary idea. It does mean that the entire plot with the Harcesis has pretty much fizzled out, but it’s about time that Daniel is on the team because he wants to save the world, instead of it being related to his wife.
