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The suspiciously hungry and round bug:

There’s this moment, barely a few seconds long, in S2ep7 of Stargate SG-1, “Message in a Bottle,” that I didn’t even notice on my first watch through. The team is talking to a frightened alien that has infected O’neill and poses a world-ending threat. They’re trying to bargain with it, come to an understanding, and the alien is using O’neill’s emotions and memories to try to reckon with trusting them.

Now, a consistent theme with O’neill, especially in the early seasons, that his emotions are only expressed when it isn’t him speaking. Daniel explains O’neill’s past to Carter, the clone seeks out his ex and paves the path for apologizes, this infection. Only when an outside force pushes him to express something, does he ever.

And this alien that has infected him, expressing it’s will to survive, says “O’neill desires this as well. He wishes to live.”

It then turns, pointedly, to look at Daniel. Daniel, the only other member of the cast from the original movie. The only character who was there to see O’neill at his worst, who went with him on what O’neill knew was a suicide mission.

Daniel, who knew the O’neill who wanted to die.

Dnaiel, who convinced him to try finding a purpose in protecting people again.

The camera lingers on Daniel’s face for a moment, before the alien looks away again. The conversation continues. It’s been said, and said to the person who probably needed to hear it most.

Desert

Vancouver