"The state department has received a ransom demand for Dr. Jackson and Dr. Lee. We've been given 72 hours to pay, or they will be killed."
— Gen. George Hammond
O'Neill heads to Honduras and teams up with CIA Agent Burke — an old acquaintance from his Black Ops days — to rescue Daniel and Dr. Lee, who have been taken captive by anti-government rebels after retrieving a powerful Ancient device. Meanwhile Carter, Teal'c, Jacob and Bra'tac undertake a recon mission of one of Anubis's strongholds in order to find out more about the Kull warriors.
"Evolution, Part 2" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Auto Doc: This is actually what the Ancient healing device is designed to do (it's basically just a super advanced medical device). The problem is, it is designed for the physiology of the Ancients. While the Ancients (before they ascended anyway) were outwardly similar to humans, their physiology is MUCH more advanced. For baseline humans, it is far too powerful, making people Drunk with Power, eventually driving them totally insane, then killing them, and reanimating them as mindless zombies when they die. It is indicated later in the series that these devices were perfectly safe for the Ancients to use and didn't have any side effects for them. A Goa'uld named Telchak found the device and, by significantly lowering the power, created the first sarcophagus. He eliminated the insanity and zombification problems, but he was not able to solve the Drunk with Power problems.
- Badass in Distress: Daniel endures days of torture and starvation without breaking, helps Lee through the worst of their ordeal and manages to engineer an escape by the time O'Neill and Burke arrive.
- Bittersweet Ending: SG-1 manages to retrieve Telchak's Device and kill the Goa'uld Queen Anubis was using to create his Kull Warriors. But even with this setback, Anubis was still able to manufacture thousands of Kull Warriors. Even with Telchak's device in their possession, it will still take the SGC time to develop a countermeasure — time they and the System Lords don't have as Anubis' campaign continues.
- BFG: Burke takes out a reanimated guerrilla with a grenade launcher.
- Brick Joke: When O'Neill and Burke find the tour guide who was shot by the rebels, he urges them to leave him and save Daniel and Lee. O'Neill hesitates, and the guy elaborates further that they "owe him a lot of money".
- Buffy Speak:Burke: (about the Telchak device) Hey, is that that thing that made that guy do that thing?
- Came Back Wrong: It turns out that the Telchak device is capable of reanimating dead tissue, turning one of Rafael's henchmen that he shot in a fit of rage into a murderous and nigh-indestructible zombie.
- Captain Obvious: Daniel comments upon seeing one of the henchmen who kidnapped him and later who Daniel saw being killed by Rafael firing off a machine gun like a crazy person, "That's not good."
- Cassandra Truth: Daniel attempts to convince Rafael to turn the device off, pointing out that the writings about it included some serious warnings, that it likely has some serious negative effects, and that none of them know how to work it. Rafael doesn't believe him until a dead man starts spraying his camp with machine gun fire.
- Chunky Salsa Rule: The reanimated henchman shrugs off machine gun fire like bee stings. Getting reduced to a fine mist by Burke's grenade launcher, on the other hand, does the trick.
- Continuity Nod:
- Daniel is uncharacteristically jumpy around the Telchak device due to his previous bad experiences with the sarcophagus, since it's a more powerful variant of the same technology.
- Anubis is revealed to have a captive Goa'uld queen that he's using to produce blank symbiotes for his Kull warriors; Teal'c notes that this is too similar to the situation on Pangar to be a coincidence, and realizes that he must have gotten the idea from probing Jonas's mind.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Just as Rafael has Daniel cornered and is looming over him with a machete, O'Neill arrives on the scene to gun him and his remaining goons down.
- Cutting the Knot: When attacked onboard their ship by a Kull warrior that they have no way of killing, Bra'tac's solution is to teleport it outside the ship - midflight.
- Denied Food as Punishment: Rafael mentions at the beginning of the episode that Daniel has not had anything to eat or drink in two days, and then proceeds to slowly eat a pineapple in front of him as a form of psychological torture.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Jacob disguises himself as one of the Kull warriors to get into Anubis's base, partly as a means of disguise but mostly because the armor will allow him to pass through the forcefield protecting the stargate.
- Electric Torture: Daniel and possibly Lee are tortured with what looks like a car battery and jumper cables, though it happens offscreen.
- Faux Affably Evil: Rafael starts out acting this way, though the mask slips after he turns the device on and Sanity Slippage begins to set in.
- Flaying Alive: Rafael threatens to do this to Daniel after catching up to him when he escapes.
- Friend or Foe?: It's implied throughout the episode that the reason O'Neill has a problem with Burke is because he accidentally shot another member of their team on a past mission gone wrong; however, Burke eventually admits that the guy was actually a mole and he shot in self-defense.
- Hidden Depths: It's revealed that O'Neill is fluent in Spanish.
- Implacable Man: After they flee Anubis's compound, one of the Kull warriors manages to follow Carter, Teal'c and Jacob onto their ship by forcing open the cargo doors while it's in flight.
- Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: Daniel manages to pry loose one of the wooden planks from the shack that he and Lee are being kept in using their belts and one of his boots, allowing them both to escape.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Burke scores a direct hit on the reanimated rebel - with a grenade launcher. Boom.
- Million Mook March: Carter, Teal'c and Jacob witness thousands of Kull warriors marching in formation to pledge their allegiance to Anubis.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Daniel gets one when he sees the car battery that Rafael intends to torture him with, and then again when he realizes the device has been turned on.
- Carter, Teal'c and Jacob also have this reaction when they realize just how many Kull warriors Anubis has.
- The rebels have one after seeing their dead comrade zombified and wielding a machine gun.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Daniel gets shot in the thigh and doesn't seem to be in any immediate danger, though he has to lean heavily on O'Neill in order to walk.
- Similarly the guide from the previous episode is remarkably relaxed about having been shot.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The rebel reanimated by the Telchak device is capable of running and firing a gun, and is only destroyed when Burke blows him to bits with a grenade launcher.
- Power Glows: Lampshaded:Lee: At least, we think it's off. It's not glowing anymore, so...Daniel: The glowing thing really gives it away, so if it's not glowing anymore it shouldn't be on anymore.
- The Power of Legacy: Burke eventually admits that the reason he never admitted the truth about what happened on his last mission with O'Neill is because if word got out that their teammate was a traitor then the widow, who was also a close friend, would never receive any of her husband's pension.
- Race Against the Clock: Hammond tells O'Neill at the beginning of the episode that the US government has been given 72 hours to pay a ransom for Daniel and Lee before they're executed — meaning that O'Neill has the same amount of time to find and rescue them, since the government has no intention of paying.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rafael gives one to Daniel at the beginning of the episode.Rafael: What gives you the right to come into our country and steal valuable artifacts? You call yourself a scientist? You're nothing but a thief. And you think you're better than me. But I have reasons for what I do.
- Replacement Flat Character: Lee takes on the role of the sheltered civilian scientist in order to contrast the competent badass that Daniel has become after six years on an active field unit.
- Sanity Slippage: The guerrillas aren't exactly the sanest bunch to begin with, but this definitely starts to set in after the Telchak device is activated and they become Drunk with Power.
- Shout-Out: Burke makes an Evil Dead reference after killing the zombified rebel.
- The Stool Pigeon: Lee is unable to take the torture and cracks, telling the rebels "everything" about the device.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Between O'Neill and Burke to begin with, due to trust issues arising from the last time they worked together. This is averted by the end of the episode, when O'Neill realizes the truth about what happened and promises to make a recommendation that Burke be given a better assignment.
- Terrorists Without a Cause: Rafael's guerrillas are said to be "Honduran anti-government revolutionaries". Their reasons, legitimate or otherwise, for opposing the Honduran government are never stated.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: A variant where Bra'tac rings the Kull warrior out of the cargo ship as it takes off from Anubis's base, though they're still in the planet's atmosphere at the time.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: How does Burke respond to the sight of a gun-wielding zombie rebel? Blow it up and crack an Evil Dead reference.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Jonas Quinn is indirectly responsible for the creation of the Kull Warriors — or at least their inspiration (see Continuity Nod).
- Villainous Rescue: An inadvertent example, as Anubis shows up to drag his lieutenant away just as he's about to blow Jacob's cover.
- Walk into Mordor: The planet Tartarus is protected by a sensor array that cannot be penetrated without notice, and the Stargate on the planet is protected by a forcefield. Selmak's solution is to wear the supersoldier's armor and "walk through the Stargate".
- Weirdness Magnet: Burke gives his opinion on O'Neill and Daniel after nonchalantly saving them from a zombie:Burke: What's with the guy from Evil Dead?O'Neill: Um...Burke: Classified?O'Neill: Yeah.Burke: (laughing) You guys are into some crazy crap, man!
- You Are in Command Now: Carter takes command of the mission to Anubis's base while O'Neill is in Central America. He commends her on a job well done at the end of the episode.
