The Curse (Stargate SG-1)

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Stargate SG-1 episode
“The Curse”
Episode no. Season 4
Episode 13
Guest star(s) Anna-Louise Plowman as Sarah Gardner/Osiris
Ben Bass as Dr. Steven Rayner
Teryl Rothery as Dr. Janet Fraiser
David Abbott as Dr. David Jordan
Lorena Gale as Curator
Dan Shea as Sergeant Siler
Writer(s) Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie
Director Andy Mikita
Production no. 413
Original airdate September 22, 2000
Episode chronology
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"Tangent" "The Serpent's Venom"

Episode chronology

"The Curse" is an episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details for Stargate SG-1 Season 4 follow.

The episode opens with the scene of an older man, apparently an archaeologist, working with some obviously Egyptian artifacts. A younger man comes in, apparently a research assistant, and after a brief exchange, revealing that the artifacts are from 'the Stewart expedition' and that they are due to be returned to the Egyptian government shortly, the elder man leaves the room. The younger man, whom we later find out is Dr. Steven Rayner, picks up one of the artifacts, a gold amulet, and appears to be contemplating something.

Dr. Daniel Jackson happens to see in a newspaper that his archaeology professor, Dr. David Jordan, has died in a lab explosion. He attends the funeral, where he is reunited with colleagues whom he knew before he began speaking about his 'wild theories' concerning the Egyptian gods. Dr. Steven Rayner, who was apparently still working with Dr. Jordan, is not pleased to see Dr. Jackson, apparently because of Dr. Jackson's theories. As far as they know, he has been missing from the world of academia for about five years now (though of course he has been on Abydos, and then in the Stargate program for that time period). Dr. Sarah Gardner, on the other hand, is happy to see him, and we learn that they had some sort of relationship at some point before the events involving the stargate. She admits that she thinks the reason Jackson has been away for so long was because of their failed relationship. Though he obviously cannot tell her anything about the stargate program itself, he does say that his reason had to do with his theories, and that even his theories only scratched the surface of Egyptian mythology.

In Jackson's absence, SG-1 is (again) given personal leave by General Hammond, and Major Carter (again) declines to go fishing in Minnesota with Colonel O'Neill. Teal'c, however, takes O'Neill up on his offer, and they do manage to leave the base without anything unexpected happening.

Gardner shows Jackson's what they had been working on (the artifacts from the Stewart expedition), and jokingly warns him that the artifacts are cursed - the members of the expedition died less than a year after the expedition, and the ship returning the artifacts to the U.S. sank after an explosion onboard. Apparently, the artifacts were only recently recovered from the wreckage. Jackson offers to stick around and help her catalog them, but before she can respond, she realizes that there is an artifact missing - the gold amulet which we saw Dr. Rayner interested in at the beginning of the episode. Jackson goes to the storage area of the museum, where he finds another artifact seen in the opening scene - a canopic jar which Dr. Jordan had been forbidden to open (by the Egyptian government). Jackson calls Major Carter, and informs her that the canopic jar which he has found has not only Egyptian hieroglyphs, but Goa'uld symbols on it as well. Jackson returns with the jar to the SGC.

Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c are happily fishing in Minnesota though there are no fish in the pond, when Teal'c's cell phone rings. Jackson asks Teal'c for translation of a line, which apparently reads "banished to oblivion." Teal'c offers to return, but Jackson says it will be unnecessary. O'Neill removes the battery from Teal'c cellphone, throws it away, and gives the phone back to Teal'c.

Back at the SGC, Jackson explains to General Hammond and Major Carter that the jar is related to the myth of the mother of the Egyptian gods, Isis, who was thrown into the Nile along with Osiris by Seth. Furthermore, the record of the expedition which found the jars records two jars having been found. Jackson returns to Chicago that night in search of the other jar. Back at the museum, the first thing he finds is Dr. Rayner, who is suspiciously sneaking around in the storage room at the museum in complete darkness. Jackson tells Rayner he is looking for the Osiris jar, and Rayner quickly responds that it was destroyed in the explosion of the ship. Jackson then asks about the amulet, but Rayner deflects the question by expressing his annoyance that Jackson is around. Jackson responds that Rayner needs his help, and just as Rayner sarcastically quips "Why? Because you think there might be aliens involved?", they round a corner and find the curator lying dead on the floor.

Back at the SGC, Samantha Carter performs an MRI on the canopic jar of Isis, and finds inside it a Goa'uld symbiote. Dr. Janet Fraiser removes the symbiote from its jar, and it proves to be dead, though in perfect condition - not mummified.

The curator's death is ruled a freak accident, apparently caused by some falling bricks. Jackson reveals to Gardner that he knows what the symbols on the canopic jars mean, though he cannot tell her how or why. While looking through Dr. Jordan's computer, Gardner discovers that all of his files are missing. She manages to restore some of them from the hard drive, and finds an email he received (but presumably never read) on the night of his death. It reveals that the carbon dating analysis on the missing gold amulet proves it to be about 10,000 years old. Dr. Gardner realizes that this means Dr. Jackson's theories have been right all along. However, Gardner also realizes that the results of the test were not just sent to Dr. Jordan - they were sent to Dr. Rayner as well.

Meanwhile, Dr. Fraiser elaborates on the apparently recent death of the symbiote. Apparently, the jar itself is actually some kind of advanced containment field, meant to keep a Goa'uld symbiote alive, but sedated, possibly indefinitely. Though this one is dead because there's a crack on the outer surface of the jar, we know that the other jar survived, making it possible that there is another Goa'uld loose in the world.

Jackson confesses to Gardner that he believes Dr. Rayner is behind not only the theft of the amulet, but also the (now) three deaths which seem to be related to the artifacts - the technician who performed the carbon dating has been found dead. However, Jackson still cannot reveal how he knows what he does, nor why he is so concerned about the situation, and though Gardner pleads with him to tell her what he has been up to for the last five years, he is unable to do so. Jackson returns to the SGC, and pitches his theory that Steven Rayner has been possessed by the Goa'uld Osiris, and is in possession of a gold amulet which could be some sort of Goa'uld device. They get a lead which indicates that Rayner is headed to a temple near Cairo, Egypt, so Carter, Jackson, and Dr. Fraiser leave immediately.

Dr. Rayner beats them to the temple, which was apparently a temple dedicated to Osiris and Isis. He does indeed have the gold amulet, which he uses as a key to open an advanced container holding a Goa'uld hand device. He appears to not know exactly what to do with it, but as he attempt to put it on, he is surprised by an intruder.

The team from the SGC arrives at the entrance to the temple, and they enter. They find Rayner lying on the floor with severe internal bleeding. He confesses to having taken the amulet, and apologizes to Daniel Jackson for not having believed his theory. However, he did not open the Osiris jar, and Major Carter does not sense that he is a Goa'uld. Jackson asks him who attacked him, and Sarah Gardner/Osiris walks out of shadows, eyes flashing, and says that she was the one. Daniel fires a tranquilizer dart at her, but she deflects it with the hand device that Rayner removed from the container, and grabs him by the neck. She asks him where the Stargate is, and where is Isis and he responds that he doesn't know what she's talking about. Yet he talked about the Goa'uld they killed. She begins attacking him with the hand device in attempt to extract information, but he manages to take one of the tranquilizer darts out of its package and shove it into her stomach with apparently no effect.

Osiris removes the dart, and uses the hand device to activate something which raises a pyramidal spacecraft (possibly a Ha'tak) out of the temple. She rings into it, and escapes, saying: "Osiris will return. And the Rivers will run red with blood." Rayner barely survives, though as Jackson remarks, the SGC will have to make up a good story to explain to him what has happened.

[edit] Quotes

  • Daniel: [after being released from Osiris' hand device] I think I'm gettin' used to that thing.

[edit] Notes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • For whatever reason, we never see Osiris' class of ship again after this episode.
  • Rayner's line "Maybe the world wasn't ready to hear that the pyramids were built by aliens... or was it men from Atlantis?" is lifted almost word-for-word from Daniel Jackson's first scene in the Stargate feature film, where the audience at his lecture begin to mock his beliefs about aliens constructing the pyramids. Jackson is often heckled by his peers for this theory, but ironically he never actually states this belief in the film (but it does seem to be established fact, at least from the television show's canon, that Jackson truly did believe this).
  • Late in the episode, Jackson sarcastically states, "I think I'm getting used to that thing," referring specifically to the Goa'uld Hand Device. Jackson has been exposed to the torture device numerous times in Stargate lore. Once in the Stargate feature film, again in the Season One finale "Within the Serpent's Grasp," countless times in the Season Three episode "Forever in a Day," plus a handful of other times after this episode.

[edit] External links

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