“Somehow he’s very important to me. I think his name is… Homer.”
- Release Date: 1st September 2000
- Season 4
- Episode 10
- Director: Peter DeLuise
- Writers: Heather E. Ash
SG-1 wake up in some kind of underground power station. They seem to be unaware of who they actually are. Instead, they think their names are Jonnas (Jack), Thera (Carter), Karlan (Daniel) and Tor (Teal’c), although I’ll stick to their real names. Jack and Carter are close friends while Daniel seems to be in a relationship with a woman called Kegan.
Kegan seems to absolutely hate Sam, withholding bread when serving her food. Jack argues for Sam while Daniel defends Kegan, with them getting into a scuffle. Teal’c interrupts, saying that they’re friends and they’re part of SG-1. He gets taken away by the guards, with the saying that he’s suffering from “night sickness”. When told to get back to work, they all mutter that it’s an honour to serve – a mark of brainwashing.
On Earth. Hammond is talking to Administrator Calder. It turns out that there is a big city that none of the workers know about, and the people there live a life of luxury due to the brainwashed slaves (although Hammond doesn’t know about that). He claims that SG-1 investigated something on the frozen surface and got lost in a blizzard. A team is sent to look for them, but fails. The leader tells Hammond that there’s no evidence that SG-1 were even on the surface, and that he thinks the administrator is lying.
After their encounter with Teal’c, Daniel starts dreaming about the Stargate and gets even more suspicious when Teal’c seems to have no memory of their previous encounter. Carter seems immensely smart and submits ideas to massively improve the efficiency of the facility to their boss, Brenna. Daniel, Carter and Jack start speaking to each other about how they don’t seem to have strong memories of what they did before this job.
Brenna takes Sam’s ideas to Calder, where he rejects them outright. If efficiency is improved as much as her ideas will do, they won’t need many workers and they’ll start asking questions – he doesn’t want to share what they have in their domed city. She’s clearly unhappy, and her response makes Carter even more suspicious. Jack, Carter and Daniel meet up in secret ad night to try and remember where they’re really form, although Jack and Carter also meet up to discuss their feelings for each other. Teal’c ends up collapsing and is unconscious in the infirmary, dying.
Brenna tries to speak to Calder again about SG-1 and the treatment of the workers. The memory stamp – what they call their brainwashing – is fading. It turns out SG-1 were captured because Jack was going to advise against trading with them due to enslaving their own people. Brenna is ordered to kill SG-1 by forcing them into the cold (repeating the same phrase, which makes her realises she’s also had her memory altered), so she gets SG-1, along with Teal’c on a stretcher, brought to her office.
She agrees to help them. They start to remember stuff, including how Teal’c likely got ill due to not knowing he needs to meditate. Calder and a few men come in (wielding painted NES Zappers) but Teal’c wakes up and overpowers them. He explained he peaked under his bandages and saw the Gou’ald, which made him remember. Jack drags Calder to the workers and tells him the truth, but they don’t believe him. He shoots the skylight, the thin layer of ice is fake and everyone can see the city.
As Calder doesn’t want to share the city, the workers are offered the option to relocate to a tropical planet that SGC recently discovered, and Jack tells Calder that his people will need to learn how to work for themselves.
It’s a really enjoyable episode, and it’s nice to see how SG-1 still have their traits, even without their memories. A few months later, Voyager would also have a very similar episode (Workforce) which let us get to know the fake personalities a little bit more as it was a two partner, but the SG-1 episode is still great.
