Stargate SG-1: Singularity

• Release Date: 31st October 1997
• Season 1
• Episode 15
• Director: Mario Azzopardi
• Writers: Jonathan Glassner

SG-1 travels to Hanka, where SG-7 has set up an observatory to witness the eclipse of a black hole. Daniel is surprised when Jack mentions the accretion disc, before Sam reminds him that he has a telescope set up at home. However, when they get there they find a dead body and quickly don hazard gear while they investigate – it was nice seeing some actual containment procedures this time, it really should be standard procedure.

It seems that it isn’t just the team that’s dead, but also the nearby village – over 1000 people in total. After Janet Fraiser checks the team out and decontaminates the observatory, SG-1 begin tagging the bodies, which is where they discover a young girl. She’s got no trace of the bacterial infection, but she does have Naquadah in her blood – this is the same element that the Stargates are made from, and I believe this is the first time it gets a name in the show. With everyone dead, they decide to take the girl back with them, and she’s formed an attachment to Sam (who says everything will be all right, even though everyone she ever knew is dead). Jack and Teal’c decide to stay behind to man the observatory – the findings could be important.

The girl grows more and more attached to Sam, not wanting Sam to leave her side. She is given a room, which gets decorated. There’s also a really nice transition into the CCTV to go from a briefing to Sam speaking to the child, who eventually opens up and says her name is Cassandra. As they bond some more, Cassandra has pains in her heart, with Janet becoming concerned that something has appeared in her heart.

After looking at the device surgically and taking some samples – which causes Cassandra’s heart to be temporarily shut down by the device before they end the surgery. It clearly doesn’t want to be looked at. After analysis, it seems like her cell walls are slowly breaking which will cause a build up of Naquadah and potassium to come into contact. Testing with a microscopic amount of both in a lead lined room, Sam discovers the horrible truth: Cassandra is a bomb.

Jack tries to explain a black hole to Teal’c and during the eclipse, they spot a star that really shouldn’t be visible. Zooming in, they discover it’s something much closer – a Gou’ald Ha’tak starship under the command of Nirrti, a rather devious Gou’ald, who used a body to destroy a stargate on a previous encounter with Apophis. They realise the girl is a trap and rush to the Stargate, avoiding death gliders.

With time running out, Hammond orders the girl to be sent back to her planet (who collapses as she gets close to the Stargate), as SGC is dialing (which is thankfully slow), Jack and Teal’c quickly dial from the planet and return, saying not to send the girl through. Hammond suggested taking her to a nuclear test site 20 minutes away. Sam wants to be the one to take her down the long lift (with Cassandra waking up as they move down, which will get everyone screaming that she’ll get better away from the Stargate) and has a heartfelt goodbye, saying that she’ll be back shortly and that she’ll be fine.

On the way back up the lift, Carter has a justified breakdown before deciding to stay with Cassandra. The deadline passes and Cassandra doesn’t explode. It cuts forward to SG-1 in a park with Cassandra. Jack has bought her a dog and says that every kid on Earth needs one – it’s the law, and it’s mentioned that Dr. Fraiser is looking after her until adoptive parents (with security clearance) can be found. It’s a very touching episode and a great look at how caring Sam can be.