Stargate: SG-1 Re-Watch: The Enemy Within (Season 1 Episode 3)

Okay, now that we’ve all caught our breath that our heroes weren’t killed during the pilot episode–-it would be a terrible series if they were–-let’s get down to the knitty gritty.

Stargate: SG-1 Season 1 Episode 3 “The Enemy Within,” written by series creator Brad Wright and directed by Dennis Berry, functions as a transitory episode that helps flesh out some details of the universe and deals with some of the questions left at the end of the pilot episode.

We have a Goa’uld in Kawalsky, questions about Teal’c’s trustworthiness, and some more procedural stuff that has to be ironed out, before we can delve into the series proper, and “The Enemy Within” juggles these objectives well.

Hitting the pause button before the characters jump off-world might not seem like a great choice for a second episode, but “The Enemy Within” addresses one of the main questions that came out of the pilot: what happens when a person is taken as a host by a Goa’uld.

Picking up some time after the events of “Children of the Gods.” Stargate Command has been under siege by Goa’uld, who keep trying to send, what SG-1 thinks could be Jaffa, through the gate.

KAWALSKY: Man, those Goa’ulds are persistent.

O’NEILL: I think we pissed them off.

But don’t worry, the Iris is supposed to keep them safe. Just in case though–since you can never be too careful when your job involves working in a secret military base underneath N.O.R.A.D–there are several U.S. Air Force Officers and an auto-destruct in place that will vaporize the entire mountain.

When these the Jaffa, human slaves, or projectiles come through the gate, they come in contact with the iris resulting in a bang that rivals that of a giant shouting “Fee, fi, fo fum,” so things are understandably tense.

Since none of the teams are going anywhere, this is the perfect time to deal with any hesitation that Hammond and the rest of those in charge have about Teal’c. They’re worried that because he’d defected once he’ll do it again, so Colonel Martin Kennedy, guest star Alan Rachins, is coming in from Langley to ask him some questions, and maybe put him through a test.

Teal’c is planning to cooperate–and he does throughout the entire episode–but O’Neill isn’t convinced that they’ll trust him even if Teal’c tells them everything he knows about their enemy and pledges his allegiance to earth.

As far as O’Neill is concerned, he knows everything he needs to know about Teal’c from his actions in “Children of the Gods.”

O’NEILL: Teal’c, I saw you stand up to a god. You refused to kill, I saw you make that decision…In that moment, I learned everything I needed to know to trust you.

Meanwhile, Kawalsky is in the infirmary getting checked out because of some bad headaches. The doctor seems to think it could be a reaction to gate travel, but then finds a bump on Kawalsky’s neck. Before the doctor can say anything, the Goa’uld takes over and kills the doctor.

While that’s going on, Carter and Jackson are explaining the Dial Home Device, or DHD. Since the wormholes only travel in one direction, to get home travelers have to dial Earth to get back. It’s basically like memorizing your phone number in case you lose your cell phone, get lost, and need to use a payphone, with an old rotary dial!

As they are explaining how this device works, they notice Kawalsky, who is blacking out and walking around the embarkation room. To their credit, they don’t waste a lot of time on this exposition. The function of the DHD is passing dialogue that segways back into Kawalsky’s storyline perfectly.

While another doctor examines Kawalsky, it’s time has come for Teal’c to meet Colonel Kennedy. Colonel Kennedy immediately grills him about the power source that the Goa’uld use to power their ships and the physics behind the stargate. Teal’c doesn’t know any of this, since he was serving gods, and the gods wanted to keep their “magic” a secret.

This is the scene where the magnitude of the Goa’uld threat comes into play. The Goa’uld rule over many hundreds of words, they have no need for peace, and they are growing in numbers. Add that to what we’ve seen so far with Kawalsky, and the constant barage of attacks through the stargate, and they’re definitely starting to seem pretty scary.

Teal’c also talks about a world called Tau’ri that the Goa’uld discovered long ago where “beings of this form” first evolved. The Goa’uld turned some of those beings into hosts, some became Jaffa, and the rest were enslaved and sent amongst the stars. Teal’c explains that that world has been lost for centuries.

But, “beings of this form” evolved on Earth. They weave together the story of Ra from “Children of the Gods” and figure out that if the ancient peoples of Earth hadn’t rebelled, then this command wouldn’t have become strong enough to mount a formidable defense.

Which makes Earth the galaxy’s greatest hope. (Cue the heroic music!)

This is an effective way to raise the stakes. In setting up for a show like this, you want the enemy to be formidable. I can only imagine so many skirmishes with Apophis running off shaking a hand going: “I’ll get you next time SG-1! Next time!”

While ships, fuel, and tactics, are important in the larger scope of the series, there is an immediate problem to deal with, and that’s Kawalsky and the Goa’uld inside him.

The Kawalsky storyline takes a larger, and mostly unknown, threat and gives it a human element. Yes, this is only the third episode of the series, but Kawalsky and O’Neill have a personal history and we’re invested in these two characters.

A second doctor has given Kawalsky an MRI and finds the Goa’uld wrapped around his spine. It comes to light that Kawalsky’s blackouts are caused by the alien taking control and that the reason the Goa’uld can’t take him over completely yet is because it’s not matured.

With the help of Teal’c they attempt to reason with it and offer to let the symbiote live if he leaves Kawalsky willingly. But the Goa’uld doesn’t take this well and demands to be released. So they have to prep for surgery.  However, Colonel Kennedy thinks that route is a mistake.

Kawalsky’s chances of surviving the surgery are ten or twelve percent at most, and removing the parasite will kill it.  Instead of risking Kawalsky’s life and killing a living specimen of their new enemy, Colonel Kennedy wants to send Kawalsky to Langley.

Teal’c explains that the Goa’uld infants are born with genetic memory and that this Goa’uld harbors the knowledge of all those that came before it. Kennedy is hoping that they can convince this Goa’uld to work with them and share his knowledge. I assume that he means knowledge of that “Goa’uld magic” that Teal’c couldn’t explain.

When Jackson explains that this would be pointless, Kennedy switches his focus to studying it.

What makes Stargate: SG-1 so interesting, is that it takes place in present day and when you have these types of scenarios come up it’s harder not to confront the questions that are being presented. If you widdle this down, Colonel Kennedy is advocating to study a human who is infected with a parasite.

Science fiction has always been a place to explore topics that might be controversial, but with Stargate: SG-1 you have heroes that are in the real world in the present day. What Colonel Kennedy suggests is understandable, and at the same time unthinkable, even if we’re dealing with other-worldly circumstances.

While the chance to get information sounds appealing, we aren’t entirely in the dark about Kawalsky’s feelings. He goes on to say that he wants to wake up as himself or not at all, and he’s genuinely distressed when he finds out that he injured Carter and killed one the base doctors.

Fortunately, General Hammond tells Kennedy to check himself because if there is a chance that they can save Kawalsky they are going to try.

Kawalsky’s surgery goes more easily than they anticipated. Daniel is understandably thrilled because if they can reverse what happened to Kawalsky there’s a chance for Sha’re.

While it looks like Kawalsky is going to recover, it’s later revealed that the Goa’uld had already become one with the host and that what the doctor removed was a dead husk. Kawalsky tries to escape through the stargate, setting the auto-destruct code in the process.

O’Neill and Teal’c manage to stop him by sticking half of his head in an open wormhole and shutting the gate down and killing Kawalsky. Kawalsky’s storyline is tragic, and while it isn’t the last we’ll see of this character–remember, this is science fiction–his storyline serves another purpose as well.

Remember in “Children of the Gods” when Daniel begged to be chosen because he was sure something of the host must survive?  Carter points out to him the fact that the Goa’uld was able to activate the self-destruct means that there is hope for Sha’re and Ska’ra, because each person has their own unique code to activate that system, and only that person knows it.

In short: something of the host survives.

This small piece of evidence is a stepping stone to a larger plot that will be debated and ultimately dealt with in other episodes, but this is the first inkling of it, and it sets the tone for how we perceive the Goa’uld. It also makes the idea of being host to a Goa’uld symbiote that much more horrifying.

For anyone keeping score: the Goa’uld are now pretending to be gods, have control of numerous worlds throughout the galaxy, possess genetic memory, and can hide in plain sight. That’s a quadruple dose of things to worry about right there before you take into account parts of the host surviving and the trauma that must cause.

Looking at this series years later, I almost wish there was a webisode following a Goa’uld host. Thinking about it now, and having consumed so many more stories, I imagine it would be like Stephanie Meyer’s The Host, where the main character is mentally fighting with the “soul” inside her the entire time.

The episode ends with some good news, Teal’c’s assistance in this episode has earned him a pardon of sorts. While Colonel Kennedy was hot to get him back to Langley to study the symbiote he carries, Hammond gets on the red phone and gets Kennedy’s orders scrubbed. SG-1 is now a full team consisting of O’Neill, Carter, Daniel , and Teal’c.

Overall, “The Enemy Within” is nice coda to “Children of the Gods” it finishes setting up some logistics of the universe, and gives us a human perspective on exactly how much the Goa’uld should scare us.

There’s a lot going on in this episode, but it finishes setting up the series very well, and at the end, I’m anxious to see SG-1 go out into the galaxy and confront the Goa’uld.

What do you think of this episode of Stargate: SG-1? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

All ten seasons of Stargate: SG-1 are currently available on Hulu.

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