SG-1 Picks of the Week: Fragile Balance

Welcome back to Day 3 of SG-1 Picks of the Week and I have one of the more humorous episodes of the seventh season.  Imagine if you will coming into SGC only to hear some disgruntlements and seeing baffled faces.  Apparently a young man broke on to the base using Colonel O’ Neill’s base ID.  As General Hammond and Major Carter interrogate the lad they discover he claims to be Jack aged 30 years in reverse.  So batten down the hatches, prepare yourselves for the teenage years and stop trying to sneak a beer.  This is Stargate: SG-1: Fragile Balance.

 

A tale of two O' Neills.

Teal’c: Are you conducting some sort of scientific experiment, O’Neill? 

Jack O‘Neill: Hey, come on, that spoiler’s still good.

Confusion and disarray happens in Stargate Command as a 15 year old boy attempts to breach security using Colonel O’ Neill’s base ID and explains to the nay sayers that he is in fact Jack O’ Neill.  Too bizarre you say? Come on, this is status quo for this base.   Carter and Dr. Fraiser each try to figure out what is to be gained by regressing Jack’s age as the team investigates Jack’s house. 

Finding a terrifying aging salsa and some leftover Thai food they come up with not a whole lot until Jack remembers subconsciously he may have been abducted…possibly by an Asgardian.   This of course raises more questions on why would the Asgard do such a thing to their allies let alone to the first human that has shown an amazing evolutionary step in our genetics.   

Yes, I am having the Coco Pebbles and what of it?

Unbeknownst to Jack, his situation is direr than he was lead to believe.  We find out that not only he was de-aged but his body is actually dying as well.   Knowing full well Earth based medicine has nothing to combat this and the Asgard is taking their sweet ass time to respond, Jack leaves the base and goes off the grid.  The SG team find out that Jack may not be Jack after all according to Jacob Carter/ Selmak (Carmen Argenziano of L.A. Law, Booker, Melrose Place, Angels with Angles and CSI: NY) it would appear that Jack is actually a clone.  So where is the original?   Will we be able to get him back and catch the Asgardian responsible for this pain in the butt?   What do they do with the clone once they have the original?

Now just some fun notions of this episode in question.  Young Jack tries to con people to buy him beer.   The pop culture jokes revolve around The Island of Dr. Moreau and Austin Powers.   The Asgardians Loki is voiced by Stargate: SGI’s director Peter DeLuise (Stargate: Atlantis, Kyle XY, SGU Stargate Universe, Sanctuary and R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour) as Loki and Michael Shanks (24, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Stargate: Continuum, The Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon, Burn Notice and Smallville) voices Thor. 

Remember Thor, the safety word is apples.

The briefing on the reversed engineered Death Glider a.k.a. the F-302 is hilarious as a young Jack O’ Neill has to enlighten experienced fighter jocks the ends and outs of the vessel from a pilot’s perspective.  It is completely worth the view for just that scene alone.