Stargate SG-1, Season 3, Episode 12

"Jolinar's Memories"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Some Tok’ra, including Martouf (“The Tok’ra: Part 2”) visit SGC, bearing bad news, as usual.  The Tok’ra never travel to Stargate Command with good news.  Jacob/Selmak was captured by the Goa’uld Sokar (who is first mentioned in “Serpent's Song”).  Sokar is serious about portraying the Devil, including sending people to his facsimile of Hell, the moon Netu.  Netu is replete with flames, torture, and a lack of hope for its denizens.  If Jacob/Selmak is still alive, he has been sent to Netu.  Only one person is known to have escaped from Sokar’s version of Hell -- Jolinar, the Tok’ra symbiote who infested Carter (“In the Line of Duty”).  Martouf wants to try to access Jolinar’s memories that are in Carter to learn how she escaped.  Carter wants to save her father, so SG-1 joins the rescue mission.

The Tok’ra tend to write off their comprised undercover agents, yet they are willing to attempt to rescue Jacob/Selmak.  No, the Tok’ra have not gone soft.  They believe that Sokar intends to attack the Goa’uld System Lords, and may well be able to defeat them.  One all-powerful Goa’uld is a nightmare for the Tok’ra.  They want to find Jacob/Selmak to learn the details of Sokar’s plans, and foil them.

Carmen Argenziano returns as Jacob/Selmak, and JR Bourne is back as Martouf.  This is part one of a two-episode arc, and is a character driven episode.  Fans of Carter, Marfouf, and Sokar should really enjoy this story.

Failures:
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this episode.  It is just not one I look forward to viewing.  The two-part episode formula of having one episode be primarily character driven, and the following episode being primarily action driven, is not my favorite.  I prefer a mix of character development, and action, in every single episode.