“I have no idea what it means, but I buy it.”
- Release Date: 8th October 1999
- Season 3
- Episode 10
- Director: Peter DeLuise
- Writers: Jonathan Glassner
This episode has a really confusing start: SG-1 are in the middle of a battle, rescuing people from inside a large fence, one of them being Kasuf, which means that these are the people from Abydos. It feels like the second half of a two-parter. While Jack, Sam, Teal’c and some backup mow down dozens of Jaffa, Daniel spots Amaunet (the Gou’ald using his wife, Sha’re, as her host). After killing a few Jaffa guards, he walks into her tent attempting to get through to Sha’re to resist Amaunet. She uses the hand device to kill him when Teal’c interrupts and shoots Sha’re.
Daniel wakes up in the infirmary, dazed. Jack quite coldly tells him that Sha’re is dead (an early hint things aren’t what they seem), but Daniel is confident that she would have been revived. They take him to see his body, he’s angry that they didn’t leave her behind to be brought back to life (all her Jaffa were dead anyway) and absolutely hates Teal’c for killing her – although he says he would do the same again, as he was saving the life of a friend.
He falls asleep and wakes up to find Sha’re next to him, saying that she was revived by the Tok’ra and Amaunet was removed. It doesn’t take long for things to get strange, as Sha’re starts telling Daniel that she came here to tell him about the boy, before she vanishes. Daniel wakes up and realises that Sha’re is still dead.
After recovering and being released by Dr Fraiser, Daniel hands in his resignation to Hammond. He joined SGC to save his wife, and that’s no longer attainable. Jack says he’ll be back soon, saying that he’ll miss them along with discovering new things, but Daniel is adamant. Travel will just remind him of his loss, besides, he’ll only miss Sam. Teal’c speaks to him as he leaves, but Daniel shuns him.
In his apartment, Daniel gets another vision of Sha’re, this time with two messages. First is that he must forgive Teal’c for killing her, and the other is that she wants Daniel to find her son – as he will know the secrets of the Gou’ald. We cut to the funeral, on Abydos, with Teal’c notably absent. After the ceremony, Kausif talks to Daniel about finding the boy, when Sha’re appears again to ask him to save the child.
Daniel wakes up and returns to SGC. SG-1 are returning from a mission with Daniel’s replacement, Rothman. Jack hates him and everyone else just sees him as a poor replacement. He asks Sam about the hand device and she says there is a mental and emotional connection (which explains why she was so affected by one when she killed Seth). Daniel thinks Sha’re implanted a message when Amaunet was attacking him.
Daniel’s view on things starts getting even stranger, he returns to his apartment with Jack and Kasuf waiting for him, with Kasuf wanting him to speak to Sha’re about the child. He leaves through a door and is on the planet where Sha’re is killed. Sha’re explains that a human child of two Gou’ald is called a Harcesis, and is a human with all the genetic knowledge of the Gou’ald. He confirms this information with Teal’c (who calls him Daniel instead of Daniel Jackson, another sign)
After this dream, Daniel rejoins SG-1, but when he gets to the planet on his first mission, he activates the stargate and runs through, with the rest not knowing where he went. He’s back at where Sha’re died. She tells Daniel that he needs to keep going on his journey, and to search for the mythical land of Kheb, as that’s where her son is. We cut back to Amaunet attacking Daniel and Teal’c killing her, as this entire episode was a dream induced by the message Sha’re was trying to send. She tells Daniel that she loves him as he dies, and Daniel tells Teal’c that he did the right thing – the dream allowed him to forgive him instantly.
I like the idea of this episode, and Michael Shanks does some great acting in it, but there was just something off. It just comes out of nowhere and I feel like it needed to be a two-parter, with the first being about Abydonians getting abducted and explaining how Kasuf managed to contact Stargate Command after they were all captured. It’s an abrupt end to Daniel’s search – his main motivation – so he was given a new motivation. It just could have been done a bit better.
