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ABYSS

Abyss

06.06 Episode 116 (#P653)
Airdate: July 19, 2002

Near death from a mysterious contagion, O'Neill had agreed to be implanted with a Tok'ra symbiote. However, the Tok'ra, Kanan, travels to the secret outpost of the System Lord Ba'al, where he is captured, and flees the body as O'Neill dies. O'Neill awakens in a sarcophagus with no memory of events since the implantation. He is a prisoner of Ba'al, held in his secret outpost which uses anti-gravity chambers as prison cells and a means of torture. Ba'al demands to know the reason for O'Neill's mission, and when O'Neill is unable to answer, he is tortured to death and revived again in the sarcophagus.

At the SGC, the team realizes that Kanan had used Ba'al's slave, Shallan, as an informant and had fallen in love with her. Blending with O'Neill had awakened a sense of duty in Kanan not to leave her behind. As O'Neill endures repeated torture, Daniel appears to him in his prison cell. Daniel warns that the cycle of torture and resurrection will continue until O'Neill loses his own identity. As an ascended being, Daniel cannot intervene, but he offers O'Neill an escape through ascension. O'Neill refuses ascension as an option, but he asks Daniel to use his power to make his next death the last.

Ba'al's stronghold is too heavily fortified for an attack from SG-1, but in a moment of enlightenment, Teal'c suggests informing Lord Yu of Ba'al's secret outpost, certain that the Goa'uld will attack. O'Neill has begun to remember Shallan, and fearing that he no longer has the strength to withstand the torture to protect her, he begs Daniel one last time to let him die. Daniel promises that his ordeal is almost over, and as Yu's forces attack, O'Neill has an opportunity to break free and escape. As O'Neill recovers at the SGC, Daniel appears to him once more to promise that everything will be alright.

Written by: Brad Wright
Directed by: Martin Wood

Guest Starring: Dorian Harewood as Thoran, Cliff Simon as Ba'al, Gary Jones as Technician, Special Guest Appearance by Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson, Teryl Rothery as Dr. Fraiser, Ulla Friis as Shallan, Patrick Gallagher as Jaffa Commander

Reference: Anti-Gravity, Ascension, Ba'al, Gravity Cell, Daniel Jackson, Kanan, Lo'taur, Jack O'Neill, Others, Sarcophagus, Shallan, Tal'vak Acid, Thoran, Tok'ra

DESTINATIONS & INHABITANTS

Destinations & Inhabitants

Ba'al's Secret Outpost

Destinations & Inhabitants

Ba'al

NOTES OF INTEREST

  • Kanan's last mission was as an operative aboard Zipacna's fleet. He managed to escape during a battle with Lord Yu's forces.
  • Kanan had worked undercover as a minor Goa'uld in Ba'al's service several months ago. Ba'al had kept the existence of his secret heavily fortified outpost hidden from the other System Lords. The outpost was a secret test facility for weapons technology and gravity field generators. Over a period of several months, Kanan was able to map out the entire facility using Ba'al's lo'taur for access.
  • Presumably Ba'al's outpost was destroyed by Yu's attack from the air. The fate of Ba'al is unknown.
  • Daniel is energy now. He has the power to change things, but is not permitted to interfere. Ascension doesn't make you all knowing.
  • While a mature symbiote can take control of the host body whenever it wants to, it doesn't work both ways. It is possible for a symbiote to block all sharing and take complete control of a host, as in the case of Kanan.
  • Article Nine of the Earth-Tok'ra treaty provides for the sharing of information and mission reports.
  • Tal'vak acid is capable of slowly burning all the way through a body. Though it cauterizes the flesh as it burns, a very small amount often finds its way into the blood and begins to spread.
  • Shallan will stay with the Tok'ra and continue to fight in Kanan's name.

MEMORABLE REMARKS

  • Well, take no offense there, Skippy. I'm sure you're a real hot, important Goa'uld. I've just always been kind of out of the loop with the snake thing. [O'Neill]
  • I am Ba'al. [Ba'al]
    That's it? Just "Ball"? As in "Bocce"? [O'Neill]
  • Do you not know the pain you will suffer for this impudence?" [Ba'al]
    I don't know the meaning of the word. Seriously, "impudence," what does that mean? [O'Neill]
  • I'm energy now. [Daniel]
    How's that working out for you? [O'Neill]
  • Yeah, well, you know what it's like, coming back from the dead. Takes a while to get the color back in the cheeks. [O'Neill]
  • If I'm catching the next plane of existence out of here, you've got to give me something. [O'Neill]
  • Though a candle burns in my house, there's nobody home. [O'Neill]
  • Come on, Jack. You think the Asgard named a ship after you because they thought it was a cool name? Now is not the time to play dumb. You're a lot smarter than that. They saw our potential in you, because of who you are and what you've done. Humanity's potential. [Daniel]
  • You're a better man than that. [Daniel]
    That's where you're wrong! [O'Neill]

FOR THE RECORD

  • Oy: 1
  • Injuries:
    • O'Neill: repeatedly tortured to death and revived in the sarcophagus: killed by a staff weapon, killed by 3 knife wounds to the chest, tortured with tal'vak acid, revived in the sarcophagus at least four times and suffering withdrawal symptoms