Divide and Conquer

Wow, there was a lot in this episode. Of course, my favorite part was when Sam and Jack admitted their feelings. Perhaps more importantly, Martouf was killed, and Sam was the one who pulled the trigger.

After a member of SG-14 attempted to assassinate the leader of the Tok’ra and committed suicide, all the SG teams were tested to determine if their minds had been manipulated. In the first round of testing, it was determined that Lieutenant Astor was a za’tarc. She had been programmed to carry out a mission for the Goa’uld and would likely attempt to disrupt a treaty-signing ceremony that involved the President and the Tok’ra High Councilor.

Anise tried a procedure to save the young lieutenant, but it didn’t work. A failsafe mechanism was triggered. After a brief struggle, Lieutenant Astor shot herself in the head. That always stuck me as one of the sadder moments from Stargate. Poor kid.

As the testing continued, Sam and Jack were identified as za’tarcs. We later discovered the results were false positives, because they didn’t admit their feelings for each other in the first test. “I didn’t leave, because I’d have rather died myself than lose Carter… Because I care about her a lot more than I’m supposed to.”

They were not threats, but Martouf was. When the President’s arrival was announced, he lost control and started firing a small weapon. He was shot several times with handguns and once with a zatgun. He failed his programmed mission and was about to kill himself. Martouf pleaded to Sam, so she fired the fatal shot.

This was the last time we saw Anise. It’s a shame the producers tried to make her such a sex kitten, because she could have been an interesting character. If they toned her down just a little (maybe dress her in something other than formfitting rubber), I think she would have been a good addition to the show.

There was also a great scene between Daniel and Jack. Anise’s host, Freya, had just thrown herself at Jack. He was a little confused by her forwardness and told Daniel about the incident. “Apparently the snake likes you.” And I loved the double “What?” at the end. Classic.

My Rating: 9/10