The episode begins with Teal'c in a tent observing some sort of ritual, which then changes to a sort of nightmare as he is pinned down on a table of some sort and a Goa'uld larva is held over him. He awakens screaming "Rya'c!". He is in the medical bay where Dr. Fraiser was testing some sort of medicine to see if Teal'c could survive without his Goa'uld for an extended period of time. Turns out he can only last a few hours before his body starts to fail, which means the government scientists can't really study the larva. Teal'c then mentions that there is a planet where many Goa'uld larva are located, Chulak. Hammond immediately shoots down that idea since it is too big of a risk to return there.
Teal'c withdraws to his room and is meditating when Jack comes in. Jack gets Teal'c to open up and finds out that he had a family he left on Chulak, his wife and son. His son is nearly the age for the ritual which implants him with a larva, and binds him as a slave to the Goa'uld. Teal'c wishes to stop the ceremony in order to free his son from the bondage of the Goa'uld. With this new information, they are able to convince Hammond to let them put together a mission back to Chulak to rescue Teal'c's family. They disguise themselves as priests and head through the stargate. Teal'c bluffs his way past the guards and they head to his home.
Upon arriving, they find the house burned down and marked with the symbol 'Shol'va', which means traitor. Teal'c freaks out for a bit, but luckily his former master Bra'tac was in the area and comes to confront them. Teal'c introduces the team, and Bra'tac goads them saying they are not the mighty warriors he believed they were. Jack gets into a bit of a throwdown with him to prove his skill. Bra'tac accepts his fighting skill, then tricks O'neill and throws him down, laughs are had by all. Bra'tac then informs Teal'c that his family did escape and they are living in one of the outcast tent areas outside of the city, and they leave to search for them. Daniel and Carter are sent back to wait for them near the gate.
Arriving at a tent village, Teal'c notices an elaborate tent, one used for the implantation ceremony. Teal'c rushes in and stops the priest before he is able to implant his son. His wife jumps on his back during the scuffle to try and stop him, and the priest ends up dead. His wife is bitter about how difficult their life is now that he is a traitor, and she was only trying to help their son. Turns out that Rya'c is sick and the larva would have healed him. Jack thinks it's scarlet fever and if they can get to Earth, the doctors should be able to heal him.
Meanwhile, Daniel and Carter come across a procession of priests carrying an unusual vat of some sort. They follow the priests to a shrine of sorts where a tank holding many larval Goa'uld is seen. Daniel and Carter decide to grab one to bring back to study. They grab one and shove it into a thermos, and as they leave Daniel is seen contemplating destroying the tank, to save others from being turned into hosts. Carter says to leave them, to kill them in this vulnerable state makes them as bad as the Goa'uld. Daniel considers this and turns to walk away...then turns back and blasts the tank to bits.
Jack and Teal'c and company are making their way to the gate, when Rya'c stops breathing. Teal'c decides that he will give up his larva to save Rya'c. Daniel and Carter join them, and when they find out what happened, they mention that they have a larva to give to Teal'c. Teal'c regains his strength, and they are able to head to the gate, which is still being guarded. Bra'tac pretends to be taking them as prisoners to Apophis, and single-handedly takes out the guards. The team returns to Earth, Teal'c glad in the knowledge that his family is alive and Bra'tac will be teaching his son.
First appearance of Bra'tac and Rya'c.
"Bloodlines" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Artistic License – Medicine: Jack identifies Rya'c as having scarlet fever. However, Rya'c doesn't have any of the symptoms characteristic of scarlet fever and only has an Incurable Cough of Death which isn't a common symptom of the disease.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Daniel machine-gunning a tank of helpless infant Goa'uld in front of a shocked Carter.
- Blatant Lies: Teal'c claiming that the word "Rya'c" means nothing to him after waking from a nightmare in which he was screaming it repeatedly. He later admits that this is the name of his son.
- Blunt Metaphors Trauma:O'Neill: We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.Bra'tac: No. The bridge is too well-guarded.O'Neill: No, see there I was using a cliche to...
- Chekhov's Gun: The larval Goa'uld that Carter and Daniel steal to be studied on Earth is used to save Teal'c's life when he gives his own symbiote to Rya'c.
- Forbidden Zone: In the interim since the Pilot, Chulak is now off-limits to any further Gate Travel by Hammond's direct orders (a lockout he temporarily rescinds this episode to assist Teal'c).
- He Who Fights Monsters: The beginning of a subtext that would show up repeatedly throughout the series suggesting that Daniel has a bit of a dark side.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Teal'c's family is forced in the slums as punishment for his actions in the pilot episode.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Carter tells Daniel that if they kill the Goa'uld in their helpless infant state, they will be no better than the Goa'uld themselves. Subverted in that Daniel goes ahead and kills them anyway.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Rya'c who is dying from Scarlet Fever.
- Mark of Shame: Teal'c's house is branded with the mark of a traitor.
- The Mentor: Bra'tac for Teal'c.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Spoken almost word-for-word by Teal'c when he realizes that his son is dying and he's just destroyed the one thing that could have saved his life.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By shooting the Goa'uld tank, Daniel alerts the guards to their presence and loses the option to steal another larva after they have to give up the one they took.
- Not So Stoic: Teal'c falls to his knees on the verge of tears upon finding the burned remains of his former home.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Possibly. Bra'tac is generally a great guy but he initially seems to harbor some sexism towards Carter. However, in the one situation where he shows it, it's a little ambiguous as to whether or not he was just provoking SG-1 to test them, pushing them to see how they would react, until he gets a rise out of Jack who demonstrates his combat abilities, impressing him. Either way, if it is genuine, it doesn't last: he gets better in later episodes.
- Poor Communication Kills: Teal'c's first (but not the last) instance of doing this in the series. He does not inform Hammond or SG-1 that he has family he left behind on Chulak. Jack and Hammond are both initially *pissed* Teal'c lied and didn't trust them (especially when they were willing to go out on a limb and trust him despite his status as an enemy combatant).
- Really 700 Years Old: Bra'tac is 133.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The objective of the mission was to a) prevent Rya'c from being implanted with a symbiote and b) procure a symbiote to be brought back to Earth for study. By the end of the episode Teal'c has given Rya'c his own symbiote to prevent him from dying, and the one that Carter and Daniel manage to steal from the temple is promptly given to Teal'c to save his life.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Hammond has refused to authorize any follow-up missions to Chulak since the events of "Children of the Gods". Any benefits of such a mission (ex. intelligence gathering, the acquisition of Goa'uld technology, etc.) are massively outweighed by the danger of sending teams right back into the heart of Apophis' domain (and especially after SG-1 and SG-2 had to shoot their way out last time). Hammond only very reluctantly acquiesces now to both help Teal'c save his family and because the mission will give the SGC another opportunity to obtain and study a larval Goa'uld Symbiote (and without endangering Teal'c's life again).
- Trojan Prisoner: Bra'tac tries to pull this in order to smuggle SG-1 back through the gate. It doesn't work, and he's forced to blow his cover by taking out the guards instead.
- Underestimating Badassery:
- Bra'tac is less than impressed on first meeting the human members of SG-1 (possibly. He could just have been needling them to get a response and take their measure). He's more impressed when O'Neill knocks him down.
Bra'tac: (to Carter) You were among the warriors who defeated the palace guard? A human woman? ...(to Daniel) And you, a warrior of great skill and cunning? I could snap you like kindling!- O'Neill also does this to Bra'tac; on realizing that he is over 100 years old he hastily apologizes for knocking him to the ground and offers him a hand up, only for Bra'tac to swiftly take him down.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Drey'auc calls out Teal'c for effectively abandoning his wife and son and condemning them to a life of poverty and shame.
- Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Teal'c and Bra'tac go out of their way not to kill the Chulak priests, who are technically noncombatants, even though they're fervent and rather smug supporters of the Goa'uld.
