“T’akaya, my friend! My, your coat shines beautifully today.”
- Release Date: 23rd October 1998
- Season 2
- Episode 13
- Director: Martin Wood
- Writers: Tor Alexander Valenza
At the Stargate Command briefing table, Hammond is informing SG-1 about the current mission of SG-11 – they discovered a substance called Trinium, a very strong metal, and are currently mining some on a planet. However, they’re two days late for their check-in. SG-1 is going to be sent to investigate. However, SG-11 dial the gate – but they don’t come back through. Instead, a metal arrow flies through, goes straight through the window and into Jack’s arm. He’s going to have to sit out of this one, so it’s Carter’s first command.
Daniel identifies the arrow as a native American design, so he expects descendants to be on the planet. As Sam, Teal’c and Daniel arrive, they find an abandoned camp, then a totem pole which tells the story of their gods conquering the Gou’ald. Teal’c keeps noticing something following them – a wolf of some kind. The three of them are then hit with tranq darts.
They wake up in a native american settlement, which has lots of trinium elements etched into its design. The leader of the settlement, an extremely chill guy called Tonane, explains that they ask their spirits for it and it ends up in the river for them. He said he can take them to the forest to meet them. There, they encounter a wolf and a raven, with Tonane encouraging Sam and Daniel to talk to them. Tonane claims that they said they’ll “think about” releasing SG-11, but end up letting them go. SG-11 claim they blacked out then just woke up in a mist.
In an effort to get mining rights for the trinium, Tonane is asked to return to Earth with SG-1 and 11, so he can be shown various mining methods. Back at SGC, he refuses to accept any of them but says they can still have what washes up in the river. Hammond asks Daniel to give Tonane a tour and reveals to Jack and the SG-11 leader that he’s been ordered to wait for the natives to migrate then steal their resources while they’re away. Jack is absolutely appalled. Hammond is usually sympathetic and tries to argue against orders, but here he just seems to accept it with no fight.
It turns out that SG-11 are the spirits – who aren’t gods, but shapeshifting aliens. They also have the ability to make anyone vanish with ease – so they take over SGC, even posing as General Hammond. Jack encounters a doctor that claims he hid in a cupboard when people started disappearing, but Jack is suspicious and shoots them, with them turning out to be one of the aliens.
They take him to the infirmary, with Daniel and Tonane also turning up. They try to explain that this alien has been posing as his spirits. Daniel tries to head through the stargate to ask the village elders for forgiveness, but the other aliens stop him – he said if they let him speak, he’ll take them to their injured friend.
They agree, and Daniel manages to convince the aliens to bring everyone back and to bury their stargate once they return, which will prevent Earth from returning. Jack also suggests revealing themselves to the people – they could live side by side as friends instead of pretending to be their gods. They decide to follow the advice and leave.
I wasn’t a huge fan of this episode, Hammond’s usual morality is completely gone and others just seem a bit off. Not to mention the extremely powerful aliens that are never mentioned again.
