“Not bad for a man of 133!”
- Release Date: 10th October 1997
- Season 1
- Episode 12
- Director: Mario Azzopardi
- Writers: Jeffrey F. King
SGC are attempting to create a drug that would allow Teal’c to survive without the Gou’ald larva inside of him, but the experiment fails and has to be put back in. During this, he has a nightmare about someone called Rya’c – who turns out to be Teal’c’s son. He wants to return to Chulak (from episode 1) to stop the ceremony that would implant a Gou’ald into his son – which Teal’c sees as imprisoning him.
Teal’c and Jack initially try to convince Hammond to let them return to Chulak by suggesting a mission to steal Gou’ald larvae for study. When Hammond says it’s too risky (and that he knows something else is going on), the truth about Teal’c’s wife and son is revealed, and the mission is approved: stopping the initiation ceremony, gathering a Gou’ald larvae and to try to strum up more Jaffa resistance.
Upon arrival, they ditch their disguises (not sure why) and find Teal’s house, completely destroyed. Then Bre’tek appears, a great character who we’ll get to see many more times and, after testing Jack, lets them know that Teal’c’s family, while outcasts, are alive Jack and Teal’c follow him while Danial and Sam are ordered to protect their exit. .
Bre’tek has many questions about Earth and who its rulers or gods are, with Jack answering as best as they can – people have different beliefs, but there’s no specific tangible entity ruling over as a god. Upon reaching the settlement, Teal’c stops the ceremony but ends up accidentally killing both the priest and the Gou’ald – his wife is not happy at all, and to make matters worse, Rya’c is ill – his immune system is already failing and he won’t live without a symbiont in him.
Sam and Daniel end up spotting other priests moving Gou’ald larvae around, eventually setting them up in an open temple and leaving them unguarded. Sam takes one in a container and Daniel asks why they don’t just kill them – Sam says killing innocent babies is wrong (kidnapping one is apparently fine), but Daniel shoots them anyway, which gives away that they’re on the planet.
As they all flee, Teal’c ends up having to move his Gou’ald into his son, letting him live. Teal’c is immediately weakened, but Sam and Daniel turn up – and they just happen to have one of them that Teal’c can have – which means none to take back to study. Teal’c’s wife and kid decide to stay on the planet and, with Bre’tek, hopefully drum up more of an uprising. It was nice to get some more backstory on Teal’c.
