Stargate SG-1, Season 1, Episode 12

"Fire and Water"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Fair

Waiting thousands of years to learn one, vitally important, bit of information can make a being seem noble, and make an episode epic.  Unless, the time is spent on a backwater planet, literally waiting for the one bit of info to drop out of the sky, or in this case, the stargate.  Then, it can make a being seem dense, and make an episode lame.  Hint: this episode is not epic.

SG-1 makes an early return from an off world mission.  Daniel is missing.  Dead.  O’Neill, Carter, and Teal’c vividly remember Daniel’s last moment before his death, and planetary conditions too hostile to even attempt to retrieve Daniel’s remains.  Yet, … for no justifiable reason, SG-1 members feel that Daniel is alive.  What happened to SG-1, and Daniel?

I think there probably is an algorithm that you can use to figure out if a TV series character is dead or not.  Not having the algorithm, I use a simpler method, one I call, “he dead.”  If it is said no more than twice that a character is dead, then, most likely, “he dead.”  However, the more times a character’s death is mentioned, the more likely that the character is alive.  Daniel’s death is mentioned so many times that if used as the basis for a drinking game, participants would get alcohol poisoning.

Daniel missing, or dead, and SG-1’s memories are scrambled.  Who is the what which is holding Daniel?  The answer is so random, that you will have a moment of wondering whether something messed with your mind, and you may have forgotten parts of the story. Bad news/good news: it's the story, not you.

This episode is watchable, however, you will not miss anything if you skip it.  Except Daniel Jackson yelling because that is Michael Shanks' acting choice when Daniel Jackson is profoundly frustrated.  He raises his voice, shouts out words, and the yells are sometimes accompanied by non-obscene gesturing with his hands and arms.  That is only flaw I can remember seeing in Shanks’ performances as Daniel Jackson.

12th episode broadcast.
11th episode in the DVD set.

Failures:
The episode is not bad.  It is just pointless.  Still, for being just over mid-way through the first season, the ensemble acting is meshing quite well, and a number of the other episodes form a strong foundation for the next nine seasons of the show.