“Basically he was the original Satan.”
- Release Date: 6th January 1999
- Season 2
- Episode 18
- Director: Peter DeLuise
- Writers: Katharyn Powers
Responding to a set of coordinates sent to them by radio, SG-1 are waiting on a planet for their contact to turn up. They’re about to give up when a death glider comes into view, chased by other death gliders. It gets shot down and, when SG-1 reach it, they find a wounded person pleading for help – Apophis. They take him back to Earth, where he requests sanctuary on Earth.
Apophis is taken to the infirmary and tied up. The results show that both Apophis and the host are dying, and it seems like he was tortured by another Gou’ald. Apophis says he’ll give information in exchange for a new host – which Jack says they would not do. Apohpis says that he was defeated by an old and powerful Gou’ald called Sokar – who ruled purely by fear and suffering. Daniel clarifies that this Sokar is the original inspiration for Satan.
Martouf, from the Tok’ra arrives and, upon hearing about Sokar say that they should send Apophis back to where he came from, Earth isn’t ready to make an enemy out of Sokar yet. Sokar dials Earth and uses a subatomic particle beam to display an image of a fiery face on the Iris, demanding the return of Apophis. Hammond isn’t ready to do so – there’s tactical and moral reasons for keeping Apophis (and his host), so Sokar blasts the iris, which starts to heat up.
Daniel tries talking to Apophis, but when Apophis talks about loving Ammunet (who is using Daniel’s wife as her host), Daniel decides to act like a complete idiot and gloat instead, telling Apophis that Daniel Jackson stole and hid his son, not Heru’ur. He’s essentially risking Abydos because he doesn’t think Apophis can get out of this situation. Teal’c also visits him, saying that if need be, the Jaffa will breed and use the Gou’ald to sustain themselves, killing them as they mature. Throughout this, the host himself comes through, speaking in ancient Egyptian – he’s still intact after thousands of years.
The iris heats more and more and when the 38 minutes is up and the stargate disengages. They try to dial out but the DHD is quicker. Sam tries to speed up the process for next time. This mimics a similar situation in season 1 in an alternative world, so it’s surprising that SGC never thought to implement the countermeasure earlier. Hammond (and his superiors) decide to send Apophis back, as they can’t keep up with this attack.
When Apophis and his host dies (with Daniel reading him ancient Egyptian death rites to ease him at the end of his life), everyone acts as though the moral issue is now taken care off, they’re just sending back a dead body. The new dialling program works and they send the body though – and Sokar stops his attack. Everyone seems satisfied with the resolution when Martouf points out the obvious: Sokar will use a Sarcophacus to revive Apophis. I’m not sure why they all forgot about that possibility.
It was great seeing Apophis so weakened, and the introduction of Sokar without seeing his face at all was great – he was able to nearly destroy the Iris and get to Earth before we ever encountered him. SGC and The Tok’ra do exchange more efficient ways to communicate with each other, so something good came out of it.
