“No bomb in the chest? A little biohazard in the tooth maybe?”
- Release Date: 27th January 1999
- Season 2
- Episode 20
- Director: Peter DeLuise
- Writers: Jonathan Glassner
There’s an incoming wormhole at Stargate command and the iris keeps opening on its own. A young boy walks through the gate. After being checked for any kind of hidden weapon by Carter and Fraiser, he’s cleared. He claims that he was sent here to warn the people of Earth. He also says that his “mother” is invisible and in the room with them and that he’ll only speak to Jack, and alone – his “mother” (an alien called a Reetu) snuck in with Tonane (during the episode spirits) and determined, due to the actions of others in that episode, only Jack and his team can be trusted.
I do find it amusing to think of this Reetu just hiding in the background of the last six episodes, seeing Earth almost get destroyed by the stargate twice (once due to a black hole and again with a Gou’ald weapon), and witnesses Jack download an Ancient database and swap bodies, and she’s just there watching for the entire time. A lot has happened on Earth since she hitched a ride over. Of course, at this time, Jack only has the word of a kid to go on, he could be having them on and using psychic powers to read their minds.
When Jack gets Teal’c to listen to the kid talk about how the Gou’ald destroyed the Reetou, Teal’c rushes out. The Gou’ald larvae was afraid of something in the room. When “mother” gets annoyed about the humans not believing she is there, she blasts a computer. I’m not sure why she never tried sending a message using the computer keyboard, as she was able to use one to open the iris. After a lot of back and forth, it’s explained that the child was cloned (badly, as Dr. Fraiser discovered, he won’t live much longer) and that he was sent to help the Reetou and SG-1 talk. They explain that Reetou Rebels have a plan of wiping out all Gou’ald hosts.
Hammond decides to ask the Tok’ra for help, with Jacob Cartner (and his symbiant Selmak) coming to meet them, he quickly sends for some weapons, which are special anti-Reetou weapons that can make them visible, then kill them. They scan the infirmary and see “mother”, who is not happy. Jack tries to explain that these are Tok’ra, and are also enemies of the Gou’ald. The child – who calls himself Charlie after Jack’s son – gives them the coordinates for the rebels, while Sam installs a palm scanner to prevent the Iris from being opened again in a similar way.
They investigate the planet and discover a vast amount of Reetou, returning to tell Hammond that the threat is real. They think they’re safe (not sure why they didn’t keep one gun behind to aim at the gate to reveal any Reetou following), but Teal’c detects a Reetou. Jacob explains that this team of five have powerful bombs that could destroy a few cities. They lock the base down and split into teams – Teal’c leading one, Jack and Daniel being part of a second and Carter and Jacob heading up a third. They each have a redshirt to die along the way.
They manage to kill a couple of the Reetou and make it back to the infirmary. The “mother” kills one after it hits Jack, but she is then killed by another. This scene is odd as Charlie and “mother” should be able to see the two Rebel Reetou, but seem just as surprised as everyone else. The current threat is over, but Jacob warns that they will try again, and only Teal’c can detect them (again, they could just add a scanner device to the stargate). Then these aliens are never seen again, and Charlie is sent to become a Tok’ra host so he can survive and, like the Reetou, never seen again.
