Stargate SG-1, Season 3, Episode 4

"Legacy"

images used above are courtesy of Gateworld and MGM

Overall Rating:  Good

Shortly after returning from an off world mission, Daniel begins having auditory, and visual, hallucinations.  His delusions become more and more intense, and he can no longer discern the real from the illusory.  Daniel gets locked up in a psychiatric ward.  We're talking full room padding, and medications galore.

Daniel’s symptoms began after SG-1’s last mission, when they found nine desiccated Goa’uld bodies in a room locked from the inside.  There was no clear cause of death.  Crazy, huh?  Not as crazy as SGC’s medical team leaders.  Taking an Occam's Razor is for sissies approach, the doctors ignore the mysteriously dead corpses Daniel recently spent time with.  Instead, with no proof, the doctors conclude that gate travel is the likely cause of Daniel’s mental issues.  All stargate travel through Stargate Command is stopped until it is conclusively proven that gate travel does not cause schizophrenia.  SG-1 mourns for their team member, as Daniel jitterbugs to a tune only he can hear.

Michael Shanks is excellent as Daniel.  Most of the story is pretty good.  Despite the inane illogic of Daniel’s diagnosis, this episode is worth viewing.

Failures:
It is difficult to shake off the weirdness of no one pursuing the possibility of a connection between the Goa’uld bodies and Daniel’s illness.  It’s hard to stay in the moment while shouting, “What’s the matter with you people?  The dead Goa’uld?  Hel-lo?” at the television.  For me, anyway.