“Hm. Almond bark. Barcalounger. Beetlejuice!!”
- Release Date: 6th August 1999
- Season 3
- Episode 7
- Director: Martin Wood
- Writers: Robert C. Cooper
SG-1 are investigating a downed UAV. There seems to be no Gou’ald presence on the planet, yet they find the UAV shot down by a staff weapon. They try to move further when they find themselves trapped in an energy field. A bounty hunter named Aris Boch reveals himself and gets SG-1 to drop their weapons, and they get escorted to a cloaked Gou’ald cargo ship.
He leaves them there and eventually returns with a wound on his back. He asks Daniel Jackson to fix him as he’s a doctor – to which he responds he’s not that kind of doctor. Sam does it instead (even though it’s just following his instructions). They talk about how much each of them is worth to the Gou’ald, and what they can offer him. He claims to be hunting a Gou’ald called Kel’tar. If they help him capture him to send to Sokar, he says he’ll let them go.
They agree, so he takes Jack and Daniel with him. He says he’ll get them to surrender to the Gou’ald and when they’re close, they can use a Zat to knock him out. Jack immediately uses the Zat to knock out Aris Boch. Jack and Daniel head back to the ship, manage to activate the cloak but accidentally activate the self destruct. Aris Boch comes back and takes back his gun (it only works for him) and turns off the self-destruct. Not only do Zats now work on him, but his people are also immune from being taken over by Gou’ald. As a result, his people were mostly killed and the rest enslaved.
Aris Boch takes them back to where Kel’tar is hiding. He sends Jack, Daniel and Teal’c while keeping Sam behind. They manage to disarm the automated defences and smoke out Kel’tar. However, he doesn’t act how they expected. He claims to be a Tok’ra called Korra and that there are other Tok’ra hiding in Sokra’s forces that he doesn’t want to give up under torture. He also says that Aris Boch’s people are dependent on a substance the Gou’ald made. A sticky situation for all involved. Sam talks to Aris Boch and gets to him by pointing out that he’s not happy with working for the Gou’ald.
They leave behind the Zats (as Aris Boch can track them) but Aris Boch knows they’re up to something, so he stuns Carter, leaving her as a trap. Jack tries to save her but gets captured, with Aris Boch rounding the rest up afterwards. SG-1 try to explain the difference between Gou’ald and Tokra. Boch gets really confused when the Tok’ra is about to kill himself with poison in his tooth – a Gou’ald looking out for other Gou’ald is unheard of.
Aris Boch wants to change his mind, but he’s already contacted Sokar so needs to give him something. Teal’c offers to go in his stead and Aris Boch lets the rest of them go free. He asks Teal’c why he abandoned Apophis and if he thinks Earth and the Tok’ra have a chance at defeating the Gou’ald. We cut back to everyone else back on the planet and the cargo ship explodes – with two escape pods coming into the planet.
With a change of heart, Aris Boch has faked his death to Sokar. The Tok’ra thanks Teal’c for choosing to take his place – something that will carry a lot of weight with the Tok’ra. Aris Boch hands over the substance to Carter, saying that perhaps some day Earth can figure out how to free his species. They all head off (although, interestingly, you don’t see a single Stargate in this episode).
It’s a fun episode, with Aris Boch being a fun character. It’s a shame we never see him again.
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