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Recap / Stargate SG 1 S 4 E 13 The Curse

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"The prodigal son returns."
— Steven Raynor

Daniel returns to his academic roots in Chicago after attending the funeral of one of his old college professors and runs into his former girlfriend Sarah Gardner. As the two reconnect, Daniel begins to suspect that the artifacts Sarah has been studying indicate the presence of Goa'uld activity on Earth.

First appearance of Osiris.


"The Curse" provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Adventurer Archaeologist: Since the episode explores Daniel's archaeological roots, this trope is naturally prevalent. Steven Raynor also seems to consider himself one of these, though his decision to explore Osiris's temple alone doesn't work out too well for him.
  • Agony Beam: Daniel once again gets put under the Goa'uld hand device for an extended period of time, this time by Osiris. He later quips that he's starting to get used to it.
  • Alien Autopsy: Fraiser performs one on the dead symbiote found in the Isis jar.
  • Always Someone Better: It's implied that Steven feels this way towards Daniel, hence the antagonism between them and Steven stealing the amulet after he realizes Daniel's theories have been true all along.
  • Badass Boast:
    Osiris: Make no mistake, Osiris will return, and the rivers of Earth will run red with blood.
  • Bait-and-Switch: The audience and the characters are led to believe that Steven is the Goa'uld, but the ending reveals that it's actually Sarah.
  • Blunt "Yes":
    Sarah: You're just going to disappear again, aren't you?
    Daniel: Yes.
  • Combat Medic: Fraiser accompanies Daniel and Carter when they go to Egypt to track down Osiris.
  • Continuity Nod: O'Neill makes a few mentions of how his previous attempt at taking a vacation was cut short before he even got out the door.
  • Cryonics Failure: Isis, like Osiris, was kept in a stasis jar, but died because the seal was damaged in transit.
  • Dramatic Irony: Daniel's theories are finally validated by his former colleagues, but he can't let them do anything about it without compromising the secrecy of the stargate program.
  • Gender Bender: Possibly; it's been previously established that the Goa'uld symbiotes themselves have No Biological Sex, but Osiris is a male god in Egyptian mythology and ends up taking the very female Sarah Gardner as a host. Notably, Osiris doesn't take the opportunity to jump into either Steven or Daniel.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Though Jack falsely reported Daniel as dead after the events of the original film, this information was not made public, and Daniel himself neglected to get in touch with anybody after he returned to Earth from Abydos. Instead, as far as Daniel's friends and colleagues in Chicago knew, he simply vanished five years earlier with no explanation, and they aren't particularly pleased with him about it.
  • Neck Lift: Osiris does this to Daniel during their confrontation at the end.
  • New Old Flame: Sarah is introduced as Daniel's previously-unmentioned college girlfriend, revealed at the end of the episode to have been taken as a host by Osiris.
  • Revealing Skill: Daniel tries to deny it, but it's plainly obvious he recognizes Goa'uld symbols and knows more than he's letting on, both of which Sarah (actually Osiris) presses him on. Once she no longer has a need to hide who she is, she grills Daniel on the location of the Stargate and Isis.
  • Reveal Shot: A close-up shot shows Carter intently working on something in her lab; she goes to answer the phone, and a zoomed-out shot reveals that she and Siler were actually fixing up her motorcycle.
  • Rewatch Bonus: Knowing Sarah is possessed by Osiris casts her actions towards Daniel in a very different light; he lost his credibility for saying the Pyramids were alien landing platforms, which Osiris knows to be true, and then disappeared for five years. It's not a stretch to assume he went in search of evidence, and possibly found it. Osiris is clearly trying to manipulate him into telling "her" where the Stargate is; in particular, it's clear that Osiris deleted all record of the lab results and then made a show of finding the files.
  • Running Gag: O'Neill once again tries to convince the others to go fishing with him when the team is given leave, and Carter once again turns him down to continue working on base. He does manage to convince Teal'c to accompany him this time, however.
  • Sadistic Choice: Daniel is torn between taking out Osiris and trying to save Sarah, something which Osiris wastes no time in gloating over.
    Osiris: Even now you are torn between your desire to kill me and your concern for my host.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Osiris makes this trope about as literal as it can get, having been preserved in a canopic jar (actually a kind of stasis pod) for several thousand years on Earth until some hapless archaeologists accidentally set him free.
  • Spanner in the Works: It's implied that Osiris was released from the canopic jar during the explosion that killed Daniel's mentor.
  • The World Is Not Ready: Daniel cites this trope while trying to explain to Sarah why he can't tell her what he's been doing or how he knows the things he does.
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Osiris beats a hasty retreat in a hidden ship after getting stabbed with a tranquilizer dart.

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