02-09: Secrets

[Livia Sabina]

EPISODE NUMBER - 209
ORIGINAL U.S. AIR DATE - 08.21.98
SYNDICATION AIR DATE - 11.08.99
WRITTEN BY - Terry Curtis Fox
DIRECTED BY - Duane Clark
GUEST STARRING - Carmen Argenziano (Jacob Carter), Vaitiare Bandera (Sha're), Peter Williams (Apophis), Douglas H. Arthurs (Heru'ur), Chris Owens (Armen Selig), Erick Avari (Kasuf), Michael Tiernan (Ryn'tak)



Jackson discovers that his wife has returned to Abydos, and is nine months pregnant with the son of Apophis. O'Neill must keep the secret of the Stargate program from being uncovered.

[Torie2]

You feel sorry for Daniel in this episode. Having to deliever his wife's baby and the baby's not even his son, but Apophis's. And he came so close to helping Shar'e. If he had gotten her through the gate in time they could have gotten her to the Tok'ra in the "Tok'ra" episodes and they could have removed Amounet and Shar'e would have been able to raise her baby and keep hom safe from his father. Daniel I think would have loved the baby like a father. On a side note, I think it was good to bring Jacob Carter in now and show that he was dying from cancer. That sets him up for the Tok'ra episodes later.

[Woolsey]

This episode just doesn’t seem right to me, it is either a case of the writers not communicating properly on the underlying story arcs or the producers mixing up the order in which the episodes will be shown, but whichever it is it does a serious disservice to Daniel Jackson.

Daniels main motivation for joining SG-1 is to find and rescue his wife Sha’re and yet when given his first opportunity to achieve this objective he fails to act for some reason, given that three episodes earlier SG-1 had returned to Cimmeria for the “Thor’s Chariot” episode and at the end of that episode Gairwyn informs them that Cimmeria will be safe again as Thor’s Hammer will be repaired - surely therefore Cimmeria would go straight to the top of Daniels list of places to take Sha’re if he ever managed to get hold of her.

So in this episode when Daniel is taken to meet Sha’re I don’t understand why he doesn’t immediately take her through the Stargate to Cimmeria, especially as it actually is Sha’re as Amaunet is sleeping, and you would assume that Sha’re would go willingly with her husband if he told of a place that could remove the Goa’uld from her.

So for me this episode fails, bigtime, as it either doesn’t address information that would be extremely relevant to Daniel and the SGC in general or it was badly placed within the schedule.


Wooley

[Robin K]

I think you're missing the 'human' element here. Daniel had been looking for Sha're. When he finds her, she's big as a house preggers with a Goa'uld's child. That's a double blow for him...Daniel had a deep, dark hatred of the Goa'uld, which had been born in the original movie, and of course only grew deeper when Sha're, Skaara and the others were taken from Abydos. It's bad enough that his wife was carrying a child that wasn't his, but the fact that it belonged to a Goa'uld...that's tough. He's a good man, but he's only human. And as I recall, there was a bit of hesitancy on the part of Sha're and Daniel to take her back to the SGC, because Daniel knew she'd be locked up and kept as a prisoner until Amaunet was removed from her.

Also, they had been told that Thor's Hammer would be repaired...they had no proof that it had been done. Taking a pregnant woman through the hammer? Not such a great idea.

So for me the episode really brought home that finding Sha're was only the beginning of a whole new set of problems. AND...since she was so far along, and knew that the baby was due at any moment, there really wasn't a lot of time to do anything. You have to remember, Daniel would have had to receive permission to bring Sha're back, because of the Goa'uld. Security measures would have to have been put into place. That takes time as well. (Realistically, and that's one of the things I liked about Stargate SG-1, it was realistic in the way it portrayed the military...for the most part. Until the writers went stupid.)

[Wraithicator]

LOL Robin I have to laugh at your last comment...and this time, I actually agree...I had a sort of Stargate epiphany...I know, I'm off topic again...oh well. The writers did go stupid. Really stupid.
Back on topic...I realize that I haven't actually seen this episode. I don't know how I missed it, but I did. I just might have to go find it and see what I think about the episode.

[Robin K]

LOL! I think I have a believer here! :yea:

It's a very interesting episode, and oddly enough, one that gets 'missed' a lot. There are a few episodes that seem to 'fall through the cracks' when reruns are being aired, and this is one of them. Why, I have no idea.

I'm anxious to hear your take on it, once you've seen it!

[Woolsey]

I totally agree that it would have been a bad idea to take Sha're to the SGC as once there Daniel would lose control of the situation, that is why Daniel should have gone straight from Abydos to Cimmeria.

Whether or not Thors Hammer had actually been repaired is a moot point, (although I would believe it to be a 10 second job for Thor to beam out the broken hammer and then beam in a new one) because Gairwyn also told SG-1 that "Thor comes from a race who are friend to all, except the Goa'uld with whom they are at war" and that Thor was going to leave an Asgard teacher on Cimmeria to help the Cimmerians, therefor even if the Hammer had not been repaired surley the Asgard teacher would not refuse a request to help remove the Goa'uld from Sha're?

Why not take a pregnant woman through the hammer?, the hammer was designed by the Asgard to remove the Goa'uld while keeping the host alive therfor we have no reason to believe that the hammer would harm the unborn baby.

The 'human' element is shown in Daniels reluctance to get close to Sha're initially, but he clearly gets over this, yet the only plan he can come up with is to take Sha're to the SGC, and even if we do put this mistake by Daniel down to some sort of emotional stress there is still a question of why Teal'c didn't suggest Cimmeria to Daniel as a possible solution for Sha're.



Wooley

[Robin K]

The only thing I'm going to say is...were you watching at all when Teal'c tried to walk through? You expect a pregnant woman (who's body is already contending with said pregnancy!) and an unborn child to survive that? Yes, it was designed to kill the symbiote. Which, btw, would not go easily. Remember, when a symbiote dies, they release a toxin into the host body. So, it would seem that Thor's Hammer was somehow able to overcome this problem.

While *I* don't believe you're seeing the 'whole picture', you're most certainly welcome to your opinion on the matter.

And that's where I'll leave this discussion.

[Wraithicator]

Robin...I...uh...nope. I've gotta hold off on saying anything until I've watched Secrets.

[Woolsey]

Sorry Robin but I think that it is you who are not seeing the full picture.

Yes Teal'c did experience pain as result of Thors hammer, but as you rightly surmise that pain was as a result of the hammer keeping the host alive while the symbiote is trying to kill it, the hammer itself is designed to keep the host alive so why would it kill an unborn baby, and the pain itself lasts only a few minutes with no permanent physical damage done so would anyone really not put up with a few minutes of pain if it meant they could get rid of a Goa'uld?

And even if they were worried about the hammers effects on an unborn, they know that there is an Asgard teacher on Cimmeria, so they could go there, allow Sha're to be taken by the first device, and then go and ask the Asgard's advice as to whether it would be safe for a pregnant woman to go through the hammer, and if the Asgard said no it wasnt safe for whatever reason do you really think the Asgard would sit back and do nothing about the situation.

Yet neither Teal'c nor Daniel even seem to consider Cimmeria as an option, despite Daniel commenting the first time round that had they not destroyed the Hammer that it would be the perfect place to bring Sha're if he ever got the chance.


Wooley

[Angelica Constantine]

Good luck on getting a response to this Wooley. When Robin says she has left a convo...she means it.

[Wraithicator]

Yep. And not even Goa'uld torture can get a response out of her. :) And I say that with a great deal of admiration.
I have seen this episode, actually...if Daniel had taken her to Cimmeria the Sha're arc would have been wrapped up too quickly and where would Daniel and Sha're go from there? Besides, Apophis (not to mention Amonet) could have showed up at any time.
I have to disagree though, with one thing Robin said. Daniel's hatred for the Goa'uld paled in insignificance beside his love for Sha're, and I think he still would have done anything for her.