Seth

Stargate SG-1 Season 3 Episode 2 - Plot: Jacob Carter/Selmak arrives on Earth to enlist the help of SG-1 in finding a missing System Lord, Seth.


SG-1 uncovers Goa'uld led cult

SG-1, with the aid of the Tok'ra brought down a brainwashing cult outside of Seattle. The cult, led by a System Lord named Seth, had been recruiting local youngsters in to its heavily fortified HQ. The Tok'ra had been conducting a census of System Lords when they realised that one was unaccounted for. They believed that he may never have left Earth. With the help of Daniel Jackson, it was uncovered that the Goa'uld had been leading suicide cults throughout history.

A swift operation saw SG-1 members Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter and Dr. Jackson allow themselves to be captured to infiltrate the base. Following this, the team were brainwashed, but had safe guarded against this being permanent by carrying devices designed to deliver an electric shock to snap them out of it. Seth was later killed by Captain Carter, who was able to utilise a Goa'uld hand device.

President resolves jurisdictional dispute

The Air Force and the ATF were involved in a jurisdictional dispute over who should lead the operation to bring down the Cult of Seth. ATF mission leader, Agent Hamner had claimed that the cult was a civilian matter. However, the presence of a Goa'uld within the Cult allowed SG-1 to rely on the President to clear the matter up. In the end, SG-1 ran the mission with co-operative support from the ATF

Jacob Carter returns to Earth to resolve family matter

Selmak encouraged a return to earth having become aggrivated by an unresolved matter between Jacob Carter and his estranged son. Jacob and Sam Carter were successfully reunited with Mark, now a father of two children.

The review

This was certainly back to normal after a dissapointing season finale and premiere. It was nice to see Carmen Argenziano return as Jacob Carter, even if the family matter was rather tagged on to the plot.

The idea of a Tok'ra census of System Lords was an interesting one, reinforcing the fact that there is a wider entwork of System Lords than we were initially led to believe. Indeed, Jacob Carter brough a Tok'ra device back with him to display Ra's fmaily tree. This included the likes of Apophis and Hathor, as well as Seth. It stands to reason that there may be other families of Goa'ulds out there that SG-1 will encounter at some point.

In truth, this episode could've worked really well as an episode of The X-Files. I can imagine Mulder and Scully being placed in the position of the ATF quite easily. I guess an X-Files episode would've focused more on Seth's mysterious powers, his huge life span and brain washing abilities. This episode of SG-1 focused instead on the building of a mission to bring the Goa'uld down. After all, the abilities and history of the Goa'uld is no mystery to us.

This isn't the most thrilling of episodes, but it's one of the strongest Earth based ones that we've seen so far. The way that SG-1 had to work under strict confidentiality to prevent the ATF from becoming aware of what was really going on was particularly interesting. It's a decent concept to roll out from time to time, providing it isn't used too often.

7 out of 10