The Serpent's Lair (Stargate SG-1)

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“The Serpent's Lair (Part 3)”
Stargate SG-1 episode
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 1
Guest stars Alexis Cruz as Skaara/Klorel
Tony Amendola as Bra'tac
Gary Jones as Walter Harriman
Peter Williams IV as Apophis
Robert Wisden as Lt. Colonel Samuels
Written by Brad Wright
Directed by Jonathan Glassner
Production no. 201
Original airdate June 26, 1998
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Within the Serpent's Grasp (Part 2)" "In the Line of Duty"
Episode chronology

"The Serpent's Lair" (Part 3 of 3) is the Season 2 premiere episode of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details for Season 2 follow.

Carter is prepared to detonate the C-4, destroying the Goa'uld mothership and them along with it, when an identical ship slides into view. Teal'c says Apophis' ship has defense shields and will not be sufficiently damaged by the destruction of this one. Jaffa break into the room and throw a shock grenade, disabling and capturing SG-1.

On Earth, Hammond wants to know why they haven't gone to full alert. Colonel Samuels, coordinating with the Pentagon, informs him that Area 51 has created two "Goa'uld Busters", missiles with stealth Mark 12-A warheads enhanced with the Stargate element, naqahdah. Curiously, the Goa'uld ships have delayed entering orbit, giving the United States the necessary time to prepare.

Bra'tac secretly disregards Apophis' order to kill SG-1, and informs them that he engineered the Goa'uld's delay by placing Klorel in a sarcophagus. He knew Apophis would wait until Klorel arose, hopefully giving Earth's warships time to attack. He originally planned to lead his fighter wing (Teal'c makes four) against Apophis in Klorel's name, leading father and son to attack each other's ships in the heat of battle. However, they will now bond against their common enemy. O'Neill thinks they need a new plan.

Hammond evacuates people through the Stargate, the best in their fields of expertise to preserve humankind at an off-world Alpha Site. Samuels' missiles are easily repelled by the defense shields, but Klorel almost didn't raise them, as Skaara continues to fight his symbiote for control.

Samuels unknowingly repeats the embittered General O'Neill's orders in the alternate reality ("There But For the Grace of God") as recommendations to Hammond: Waiting to send people on the Alpha/Genesis list to the Alpha/Beta Site as they defend Earth, and sending a bomb to Chulak. Hammond scoffs at his recommendations and his request to join an Alpha team.

Bra'tac and SG-1 fight their way to Klorel's command center without raising an alarm, Bra'tac quietly dispatching Jaffa guards. On the bridge, Klorel is captured and Bra'tac directs the ship closer to Apophis', but one of the guards seriously wounds Daniel. Daniel orders his friend Jack to leave him. "You're just gonna blow up with the other ship anyway! What difference does it make? Go! Just go! I'll stay and watch your back."

The rest ring over to Apophis' ship. With Klorel as a temporary hostage, Bra'tac destroys Apophis' steering console. O'Neill then drops two grenades into the core of the ship, destroying the shield generators so both ships will go when the C-4 does. Bra'tac is impressed but prepares to die. O'Neill nixes that plan, and directs the team to the glider bays. One shock grenade later, all the guards in the glider bay fall unconscious, and two gliders, with one human and rebel Jaffa each, launch.

Apophis and Klorel, unable to control either ship, escape through the rings and Stargate.

Daniel wakes up in a sarcophagus, having crawled into one to heal his injuries. With seconds to go, he dials the Alpha Site, hoping the coordinates are the same in this reality. Both ships collide and explode. "Sir, sir, we've got reports from all over the country. A huge fireball in the night sky!"

The gliders have escaped but are heavily damaged from the proximity. They share a quiet moment, reflecting on the beauty of Earth. And the shuttle Endeavour, which Hammond had prepped for launch to rescue SG-1 on the very small chance that the flash of light witnessed on one of the Goa'uld ships (from the first shock grenade) was SG-1 sabotaging the ship. When Daniel arrives and confirms SG-1 was in those ships, Hammond had the shuttle launched.

SG-1 returns to the SGC to applause and to Daniel Jackson, who gets at least two hugs and one affectionate "Space monkey" from O'Neill.

[edit] Notes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • O'Neill repeatedly says they are (just) having a bad day: When Jaffa enter a room through the only door, when Daniel despairs that he has seen this before, and when Bra'tac asks if our shuttles are formidable warships. Later, after they have desroyed the Goa'uld Ha'taks and they prepare to die in damaged Gliders in Earth's orbit:
Carter: Gonna be a beautiful sunset, sir.
O'Neill: You know, Captain...this wasn't such a bad day after all.
  • At least 13 Alpha teams disembark.
  • Colonels Samuels, Maybourne and Senator Kinsey, all opposed to Hammond's style of interplanetary diplomacy, are involved in the "Goa'uld Buster" plan. Samuels is not heard from again in this timeline, but the other two continue to oppose Hammond and SG-1 for years to come.
  • Bra'tac and Teal'c have a preoccupation with dying, and at numerous times prepare for it in this episode, only to be put down by O'Neill, who recommends carrying on with life, at least for a while. When told that he should be honored that he could expect his supporters to lay down their lives for Earth, O'Neill points out that the goal of war is to make the enemy lay down their lives (a belief expressed by George S. Patton).

[edit] External links

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