“False god. Dead false god.”
- Release Date: 25th June 1999
- Season 3
- Episode 1
- Director: Martin Wood
- Writers: Brad Wright
Following on from the season 2 finale, Hathor has Jack, Sam and Daniel as prisoners. Her overly convoluted plan to trick SG-1 with a fake Stargate command has failed, so her backup plan is to use one of them as a host for a Gou’ald (they’re immune to her power now). The mature Gou’ald picks Jack but, as Jack tries to kill it, Hathor’s scientist, Dr. Raully, stuns him with a Zat gun. She takes him away to get implanted once he wakes.
Back at the real SGC, Colonel Makepeace rushes from the stargate to inform General Hammond – the Tok’ra have found where SG-1 are being held. Hammond gets every SG team currently on the base (despite Pentagon contact Major Davis voicing his concerns) into the gateroom to prepare a rescue. He asks for volunteers and they all do so. They head through the gate to rescue SG-1. In the previous episode, I thought Jack, Sam and Daniel were being held in separate fake SGC facilities, but there just seems to be one.
Jack gets implanted by the Gou’ald while Daniel and Sam are taken by guards. Hathor goes….somewhere so Dr. Raully is left to keep an eye on Jack. She informs Jack that she is a Tok’ra and she has a plan – the cryogenic process they used to trick SG-1 is actually deadly to the Gou’ald, so she puts him into stasis. Hathor returns and throws her against the wall, but keeps her alive.
The rescue squad make it into the base without much hassle and rescue Sam and Daniel (who, so far, has just looked lost for the entire episode, no reaction to what happened to Jack or anything, it’s odd) but encounter an issue when they get to the gate – there’s a forcefield keeping them from getting to the stargate. Some manned turrets come out of the ground and quite a few SG members get killed, with the rest finding their way into some Tok’ra tunnels for some cover.
Hammond manages to get into radio contact with them and promises reinforcements. The MALP is used to get some intel, but Hathor’s general shoots it, breaking radio contact. Sam comes up with a plan: she will head back into the base to destroy the power source while everyone else holds the line – Daniel can’t go as he’s injured. I do wonder if Daniel essentially being background for these two episodes is why the actor seemed like he couldn’t be bothered in this one. Back at SGC, Hammond’s request for reinforcements is denied.
As Sam searches though the base, she encounters Jack in cryo. The Tok’ra explains what she did and the Gou’ald is dead. Carter brings him out of storage, but Hathor comes back (where is she even going to? Her general is handling everything) and starts to kill Sam with her hand device. Jack wakes up just in time to stop Hathor and throw her into the cryo pit, killing her. The Tok’ra spy says she will recover and Sam and Jack find the reactor and set charges.
On Chulak, Teal’c finds an injured Bra’tac – he was attacked by people still loyal to Apophis. Teal’c demands a meeting and calls for people to help him – the Gou’ald are false gods. It’s a very passionate speech but most of the Jaffa leave as they’re scared that Klorel will return to claim them. Bra’tac is disappointed but Teal’c is very happy that a few have decided to stay. Hammond is among those, asking Teal’c for help to save SG-1. Bra’tac has an idea involving a ship that was stashed in the forest a hundred years ago.
To buy a bit more time, Jack tries to head to the general pretending to be a Gou’ald – the plan fails miserably as the general tries to talk in the Gou’ald language. Jack just then talks to everyone and really confuses the general instead, which works – there’s an incoming wormhole, Sam blows up the reactor to shut down the forcefield and a special death glider that fits through the gate appears, piloted by Teal’c and Hammond (always great to see Hammond involved), followed by a small group of Jaffa.
They manage to destroy the towers and kill the Gou’ald general, with SG-1 reuniting before they all head home. And the Needle Threader death glider is never seen again. There’s some good action here, and Hammond seeking help from Teal’c and joining forces is great, it’s the beginning of the Jaffa choosing to be free. But Hathor is a really weak villain and pretty much does nothing in these two episodes, and her just vanishing from the action multiple times is just odd.
