Summary
Sam and Vala have just returned from what looks like
a massive shopping trip. They're both gussied up and
carrying quite a few bags. Mitchell and Siler turn a
corner discussing the cancellation of some television
series when they catch an eyeful of the girls. Siler
makes a quick exit -- and slams into a door -- but Mitchell
stands firm and learns that Vala has been introduced
to the pedicure, the mochachino and Victoria's Secret.
The team has to be off-world in an hour but before Sam
and Vala can run off to change into their army duds,
an unscheduled off-world activation interrupts.
In the control room, General Landry converses with a
strange man (talking through the M.A.L.P camera) who
claims to have vital information for the safety of Earth.
Before he can divulge said information, Vala, Sam and
Mitchell walk in. Vala calls the man Jacek and, after
a little prompting from General Landry, explains that
the man is her father.
(After the opening credits.)
Jacek warmly greets his daughter only to get a rather
nasty retort from Vala. Apparently, they do not have
a very good relationship. Mitchell cuts to the chase
and asks about the information. Jacek wants to be allowed
through the stargate. General Landry wants Vala to vouch
for her old man but she declines. So, it looks like SG-1
will be going to meet Jacek. As they wait for the wormhole
to open Vala reveals that her accent comes from her mother,
explaining why her father does not have one.
Once on Jacek's planet, Vala admits that she has a bad
feeling about this entire situation. Jacek steps out
from behind some bushes and greets the team (and insists
that Vala's worrying nature comes from his teachings).
After a short and nasty exchange between father and daughter,
Jacek spills the beans: before Arkad died (at the hand
of Teal'c last episode) he sent out some cargo ships
brimming with naquadah. And, in return for "sanctuary" on
Earth, Jacek will divulge the location of these cargo
ships.
Back on Earth, the team debriefs General Landry. Vala
will not believe a word her father has said. Daniel and
Sam think the benefits outweigh the risks while Teal'c
sides with Vala -- the jaffa cannot collaborate anything
Jacek told them. Mitchell suggests the team try to check
out Jacek's story and General Mitchell agrees, much to
Vala's dismay. The team sets about preparing to leave.
General Landry pulls Dr. Lam away from a patient (poor
Siler, with a busted nose) and admits that ever since
she came to work at Stargate Command, he has been thinking
about trying to reach out to her mother (his ex-wife).
It has been five years since he last talked to her and
he wants to at least try to communicate. At the moment,
the ex-wife is in Europe but Dr. Lam volunteers to call
her when she gets back and try to set things in motion.
Aboard the Odyssey, Vala insists that they will not
find any cargo ships. When the ship reaches its destination
(some random planet) a total of twelve life signs are
found along with quite a lot of naquadah. The Odyssey's
sensors indicate that the life signs are starting to
move, so the ship opens fire with some missiles. When
they hit the planet, a rather large secondary explosion
is observed.
Back on Earth, Vala begs General Landry not to allow
her father to come to Earth. Or, at the very least, putting
him in jail. In the gate room, Vala and General Landry
watch as a pair of soldiers just barely make it through
the stargate, each carrying several large bags. Jacek,
not carrying a thing, comes with them. He is overjoyed
to be on a new planet with a fresh start. Vala, however,
is not so thrilled.
(After a commercial.)
Vala, hair all in curlers, lies on her bed reading a
magazine. A knock at the door brings General Landry into
her room with a letter from her father. She promptly
files it away in the garbage can. General Landry tries
to share his own experience raising a family with Vala,
explaining that he always put his career ahead of family
and missed out on so much of her daughter's life. But
Vala will have none of it; Jacek only came home when
he needed to hide from his latest marks. Still, when
she was younger she loved the times when her father came
home. That all changed when she grew up and realized
what sort of man her father was. Nevertheless, General
Landry pulls the letter out of the garbage and reminds
her that the good memories should count just as much
as the bad ones.
At Jacek's new digs, Mitchell and Daniel pay a visit
on the planet's latest alien resident. Jacek has been
running a twice-weekly bingo game in his room, in addition
to a few scams on the side. He begs Mitchell and Daniel
to help him get in touch with his daughter. Daniel suggests
talking to Vala while Jacek was leaning more towards
trickery. He even offers a monetary award.
Back at the SGC, Dr. Lam drops by her father's office
with the news that her mother will be in Colorado Springs
this coming Friday and is willing to have dinner with
her ex-husband as long as their daughter comes along
as well. After offering to make the reservations, Dr.
Lam leaves with one final piece of advice: don't wear
the brown jacket.
Mitchell and Daniel run into Vala and try to convince
her to go see her father. However, since she has already
decided to go see him, there is really no point. When
she shows up at Jacek's room, Vala explains that she
has only come for catharsis. She quickly begins raging
at her father, demanding to know how he can swoop in
and potentially screw up her relationship with the SGC.
It was a beautiful rant (and one that she rehearsed a
little) and after delivering it Vala prepares to leave.
Jacek first offers pie and then offers to do whatever
it takes to convine his daughter he is trying to change.
But Vala turns to leave anyway. Before she does, Jacek
pulls out a necklace he picked up at some planet he used
to bring her to. She tells him she has thrown out her
box of trinkets, which he thinks is understandable, and
after a momentary issue with a stuck door, she finally
leaves. Jacek asks her to call him Dad but Vala replies
he has yet to earn that right. This makes Jacek happy,
because it indicates he might potentially do so.
Back at the SGC, Sam has something she needs to show
Vala. She found it on the Internet. It is a video of
Jacek hawking something called Stardust which will allow
anyone to "tap into the source" for only $19.95.
Disgusted, Vala walks out of the room.
(After a commercial.)
Mitchell confronts Jacek about his stardust scam. He
thinks he is selling people hope, Mitchell thinks he
is selling people glitter. And he reminds Jacek that
as a guest on planet Earth, there are certain rules that
need to be followed. Jacek thanks Mitchell for a third
chance and heads off with Teal'c to be escorted off base.
Teal'c suggests that Jacek try being less annoying. As
they wait for the elevator, Jacek spots Vala walking
by and calls out to her, asking if she is free on Friday.
She is not.
Vala hauls in the last box of books for Daniel and turns
to leave. Daniel asks her to sit down and the two have
a heart-to-heart chat about Jacek. She is disappointed
in herself for actually believing her father. Daniel
tries to compare Vala with her father and somehow gets
through to her. The two head off to drop in on Jacek.
Nobody answers the door so Vala pulls out her nifty lock-picking
set and busts in. The apartment is empty. Jacek is gone.
But he left his ankle monitor. Thankfully, Dr. Lam implanted
a subcutaneous transmitter in Jacek during his physical,
which shocks Vala, because she thought everyone else
trusted him.
At the SGC, Mitchell is apprised of the situation. Jacek
is on the run with Daniel and Vala giving chase. Sam,
Mitchell and Teal'c oversee things thanks to a computer
tracking all three. Daniel and Vala find Jacek in the
midst of negotiations with another man. Daniel pulls
out his pistol and confronts Jacek and the man, who whirls
around and fires a zat at Daniel. He misses and Daniel
returns fire, hitting the man. Vala runs out from behind
cover and pulls back the dead man's hat revealing a jaffa
symbol on his forehead.
Back at the SGC, SG-1 once again debriefs General Landry.
It turns out Jacek had a communicator on him that he
used to contact the jaffa. More importantly, one of the
cargo ships turned naquadah bombs is currently somewhere
on Earth. It looks like Jacek knew this and his plan
all along was to come to Earth, find the cargo ship and
the jaffa, sell the naquadah and split the proceeds.
Since the cargo ship is cloaked, there is no way for
the SGC to find it. Thankfully, Jacek has offered to
help, calibrating the SGC's detection system to the unique
signature of the naquadah. In return, he will not be
locked away for the rest of his life.
Jacek, Sam and Dr. Lee work on finding the naquadah
but, unfortunately, due to the Stargate program not getting
the funding it used to from the people in charge, things
are going slowly. Jacek then proceeds to ask Sam out
on a date. She declines, citing her busy schedule and
Jacek being a jerk. He apologizes for tricking everyone
but does not seem to realize the toll it has taken on
his daughter.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lam calls up General Landry to remind
him of their dinner that night. It seems as if her father
has let it slip his mind due to the problem of Jacek
and the missing cargo ship. He suggests they reschedule
but eventually promises to be there. He hangs up right
as Sam and Jacek walk in. The jaffa and their naquadah
have been located some thirty miles away from Cheyenne
Mountain (the stargate was one of the targets). General
Landry wants to send in some tactical units but Jacek
suggests using stealth and cunning instead. And he offers
to help out. His offer is accepted once he explains that
the cargo ship is rigged to explode and only he has the
override code.
Out in the forest somewhere, Jacek and Vala (back in
her black trickster outfit) discuss old times while Sam,
Daniel and Mitchell standby. General Landry -- who seems
to be antsy to leave -- oversees everything in the control
room while Teal'c delivers some "package" to
some "location." Suddenly, a handful of armed
jaffa surround Jacek and Vala. Plans have changed and
Jacek is no longer a necessary partner.
(After a commercial.)
Vala gives the signal ("Oh, Jacek, you idiot.")
and Mitchell, Sam and Daniel spring into action. Vala
and Jacek try to stall the jaffa (and their impending
deaths) long enough for SG-1 to show up. Mitchell pops
up just in time and fires off several rounds. Vala slams
into her father, saving him from a staff blast, and the
two rush off to find the cargo ship while the rest of
the team handles the jaffa. Jacek manages to convince
Vala not to accompany him into the cargo ship -- he does
not want to risk her life -- and gives her the necklace
he had tried to give her earlier. He powers up the ship
and flies off, explaining over the radio that there never
was an override code.
A heartbroken Vala returns to the scene of the firefight
and rolls one of the fallen jaffa onto his back, revealing
Teal'c. The cargo ship Jacek just flew off in was the
package Teal'c delivered earlier. The real cargo ship,
the one with the naquadah, has been secured. It was all
a trick. General Landry is pleased to hear that things
went so well but has to rush off to meet his ex-wife.
At the restaurant, General Landry finds his daughter
sitting alone. He got away as soon as he could but is
still late. Thankfully, his ex-wife stuck around long
enough to see him show up, even if he was late. The three
sit down to dinner and General Landry thanks his ex-wife,
Kim, for coming. They have a lot to talk about.
On some unnamed planet, the cargo ship sits parked next
to a canyon. Onboard, Jacek talks deal with a trader
for the weapons-grade naquadah. The naquadah turns out
to be lead bars and a whole lot of foam packing peanuts.
Jacek manages to turn this potentially deadly turn of
events into a winning transaction, convincing the trader
that the packing peanuts are the Jibbaran Virility Enhancers.
Vala, in her quarters at the SGC, pulls her box of trinkets
out from under her bed and places the necklace her father
gave her inside. A knock at the door reveals Sam bearing
drinks for a girls' night in. That same night, Cameron
has a date, Daniel is exhausted, and Teal'c got tickets
to some show...
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