sig by selene0789
The Tok'ra (Pt. 1)
Summary
Carter’s possession by Jolinar comes to the forefront of this episode. Sam’s ongoing efforts to access the memories left behind by Jolinar finally meets with success, as she recalls the evacuation of a Tok’ra base. We see a first-person experience of a Jaffa attack on the Tok’ra, and all is chaos until Sam—who sees herself in place of Jolinar’s previous host—dials a new planet on the DHD.
Hammond authorizes a mission to the recalled planet, and SG-1 goes through hoping to meet and ally with these supposed enemies of the Goa’uld. They are met with wary vigilance, resulting in a tense stand-off until Sam recognizes Martouf, and reveals that she was Jolinar’s host. All parties involved agree to engage in peaceful discourse, and SG-1 is taken into the Tok’ra base, which is revealed to be an elaborate tunnel system beneath the desert surface of the planet.
They meet with the Tok’ra and tensions quickly rise. Accusations are thrown as SG-1 attempts to understand what makes the Tok’ra different from the average soul-sucking Goa’uld. The Tok’ra assumes that SG-1 sought them out to become hosts, but when SG-1 is offered the chance to host Selmak, a Tok’ra whose host is dying of old age, they refuse, horrified. Tempers flare, but eventually, a Tok’ra council is held to examine what the Taur’i might offer in way of an alliance.
In the meantime, Hammond visits with Jacob in the hospital. His cancer has metastasized to his liver, and he doesn’t have long to live. However, when Hammond moves to recall Sam from the mission, Jacob stops him, citing all the reasons Sam anticipated he’d give. Soon after he goes into defib, and though the doctors manage to shock his heart back into a normal rhythm, they tell Hammond that he doesn’t have much longer, and that if he has any family, they should come as soon as possible.
Favorite Lines
(In reference to his lymphoma) Jacob: They cleaned out my lymph nodes… Problem is, apparently, one squadron of those little buggers got themselves reassigned to my liver.
This line gets me every time. One wouldn’t think that cancer is as methodical as a military unit, but dang if it isn’t as efficient. Cancer can reduce an immune system to zilch seemingly overnight, and I love how Jacob identifies the condition as he would a military threat.
Favorite Scene
I actually have two favorite scenes. The first is the briefing room scene when Sam is convincing Hammond and SG-1 that a) what she remembers isn’t just a dream, and b) that they should move on the information as soon as possible. It’s a favorite because while the other officers are definitely wary about trusting the information, they do trust Sam. The whole situation with Jolinar is tenuous, and while they want to find an ally in their war against the Goa’uld, they refuse to forget what Jolinar did to Sam.
My second favorite scene is when Sam is talking with Martouf on the surface. And yes, I know that Martouf is creepy for lusting over the host of his dead lover, but while there is the creep factor, I understand his attachment to Sam. He loves Jolinar very much, and suddenly she’s there in the form of Carter’s memories.
But what makes this scene a favorite is Carter’s vulnerability. She opens up to Martouf in a way she hasn’t to anyone else, and we can get a glimpse of how she’s been recovering from her ordeal. At certain points she’s even tearing up, and while she’s clearly trying to understand what happened and who it was that left all the memories in her head, she’s still traumatized. There’s a depth to Sam in this scene that takes my breath away.
General
This is a major episode in terms of information. It’s clearly a set up for Part 2, which means there’s a lot of problems introduced that don’t have a lot of solutions. For example, Jacob is dying from cancer, and Selmak, a vital member of the Tok’ra, will need a new host or else she will die as well. The Tok’ra don’t trust SG-1, though there are those among them whose own actions are suspicious. And then, at the climax, when SG-3 comes to retrieve Carter so she can be with her father on his deathbed, the Tok’ra show their own untrustworthiness by preventing them all from leaving.
Sam and Jack
When Sam is briefing Hammond and the rest of SG-1 on what she saw in her memory/dream, Jack is at once skeptical. He calls into question her objectivity (gently) and when Sam suggests at least visiting the planet, Hammond puts the decision in Jack’s hands. Sam knows he’s skeptical, but when she says that she is confident that she’s right, Jack trusts her, and accepts the mission.
Jack also jumps to protectiveness when Martouf invites Sam up to the surface. He’s clearly not liking the idea of letting Sam alone with the guy, and yet when Sam tells him that she needs to go with him, to learn more about Jolinar, he trusts her and lets her go. Interestingly enough, though, when the Tok’ra council agrees to meet with SG-1, he sends Daniel to retrieve her instead of going himself.
Also, coming back to when SG-3 comes to pick up Sam, Jack immediately accepts that he and the rest of SG-1 will likely not be allowed to leave, but automatically jumps to convince them to let Sam go. It’s like he reads her emotions—her desire to be there for her father, regardless of the strain in their relationship—and goes to bat for her. Some might say that any commanding officer worth his salt would do the same, but the vehemence with which he beseeches the Tok’ra attests to a deeper emotion regarding the whole situation.
Overall
There’s a very touching scene in this episode that just gets me, and that’s when Hammond talks to Sam about her father. Sam has just gotten off the phone with Jacob, a call that is awkward and unappreciated by Jake, though it’s clear that Sam is concerned about leaving on the mission while her father is sick. Sam reveals her fear in a very brief moment with the base commander, and Hammond is so incredibly gentle with her that it makes me think that maybe they’d met before. The idea has been thrown around in fanon, but never was actually confirmed in canon, but I think this scene is near enough confirmation of it.
Also, I know this episode ups Martouf’s creep factor with his immediate infatuation with Sam, but I have to admit the man has dreamy eyes. He’s got such a youthful, open face, and it seems to be at such a disparity with the harsher, more distrusting nature of the other Tok’ra that I can totally believe that he’d be at home on an SG team (as is manifested in “Ripple Effect”).
And I wonder why in the memory/dream that Sam has about the Tok’ra, all the people she sees is dressed in loose, flowy, colorful attire, when the Tok’ra they meet are all either sand-colored or dressed in the horrendously jagged and coarse wardrobe they favor for the rest of the series. I would have rather seen the colorful stuff rather than the desert drab stuff they usually end up wearing. But that’s just me.
My Fics - the fluffy/silly variety
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