Absolute Power

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S4 (Absolute Power)

…And it was all a dream. And yet it was really all a lesson about absolute power corrupting absolutely, and so the groan-worthy route of the cliche was softened greatly, even managing a sting in the tale with a beautiful ending. This is certainly not one of those episodes you can watch half-asleep, you have to be focused on what's happening because it covers a fair bit of past events. The opening sets things up well with a trip to Abydos where Kasuf, Share's old Dad has had a strange experience. The team arrive to see a spectacular visual effect of a sand whirlwind which leaves behind a young boy who claims to be the Harsesis, the child Apophis fathered with Amaunet/Sha're. They'd been on the lookout for the kid ever since he was taken off by Oma, or Mother Nature, an energy being, but his genetically ingrained knowledge of the Goa'uld was highly valued in the fight against them.

He turns out to be wiser than they realised because he knows that giving Earth all this knowledge at once would corrupt them, so Daniel gets to live an entire year in a dream in which he begins by treating Teal'c as a mere resource, becomes impatient and demanding and eventually rises to take control of the powerful satellite system he helped create with the Goa'uld knowledge, destroying Moscow and becomes twisted enough that he wants to destroy any opposition to himself. There was a very true moment after Jack failed to assassinate him, and Daniel says he was never very bright and he sadly agrees. Daniel is suitably chastened upon awakening, and the Harsesis leaves, his mission over, presumably to return to Oma, maybe to go into the galaxy and teach someone else a lesson, and it's all very fitting and quietly wise.

I had never seen this story before, but it certainly helps having seen … from … season where we learned about the Harsesis. They even mention the nanites which overran O'Neill, we see Apophis begging for his life in an imagined scenario by the power-crazed Daniel, and there are links to the Goa'uld and the Tok'ra. I didn't realise it was Shifu teaching Daniel something until it said 'One Year Later.' Clearly they weren't going to do another time travel story right after the last one, so it had to be something to do with Shifu touching Daniel's forehead, and there was even a clue before that when Daniel mentions how he lived a lifetime in a dream when Amaunet tried to kill him. It wasn't very easy to believe, anyway, with Daniel quickly becoming this important, integral figure in the Pentagon, ordering team members around, and, I assume, sending Teal'c to his death. None of that would happen, but it made for a reasonable look into another 'what if?' scenario. I have a feeling his Asian assistant in the bunker was the same guy who played the Eighth Doctor's gang member assistant in the 'Doctor Who' TV film. I liked the way they left it open for Shifu to come back since 'many paths cross,' so hopefully that will be another element to explore in the future, worth mining for being the only other link, aside from Kasuf, to Daniel's dead wife.

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