An alternate Carter and Kawalsky arrive through the quantum mirror seeking sanctuary after the Earth in their reality is successfully invaded by Apophis. The President agrees to grant them asylum, but things become more complicated when the alternate Carter begins to suffer ill-effects due to being in the same reality as a living counterpart of herself.
"Point of View" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Alternate Universe: After "There but for the Grace of God", this is the second episode to make use of the trope. Both episodes involve Apophis launching a devastating attack on Earth. On this occasion, however, the alternate Earth is saved with the help of the normal version of SG-1 and the Asgard.
- Beard of Evil: Alternate Teal'c has a goatee, and is still in the service of Apophis. Alternate Apophis also has a beard, but he's evil in both realities anyway.
- Big Damn Heroes: Dr. Carter is able to successfully make contact with the Asgard, who arrive by ship to drive Apophis's forces from Earth.
- Bittersweet Ending: With SG-1's help, Dr. Carter is able to contact the Asgard, who proceed to drive Apophis and his forces from Alternate!Earth. But with the mission accomplished, she and Jack must part ways forever at the episode's end. As SG-1 returns home to their reality, Samantha and Jack share a goodbye kiss.Samantha: "You're really not him, are you?"O'Neill: "...No."Samantha: "I just wish..."O'Neill: [nods sympathetically] "...Yep."
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Alternate Carter borrows O'Neill's "Oh, for cryin' out loud!" during her interrogation after her capture. O'Neill raises his eyebrows at this when watching the recording. It serves as Foreshadowing that the alternate Carter and O'Neill are in a relationship.
- Close-Enough Timeline: Invoked when Daniel is flipping through the various realities on the mirror. He lands on one that looks like it might be right, complete with a Carter waiting on the other side; but on closer inspection he notices that she still bears the rank of Captain, and moves on with an apologetic "close..."
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Apophis is seen torturing alternate Hammond in the gate room.
- Continuity Nod:
- Several references to the first usage of the quantum mirror, when Daniel accidentally traveled to another universe in "There but for the Grace of God".
- Dr. Carter travels to the Asgard home planet in her reality using the coordinates O'Neill received from the Ancient repository in "The Fifth Race".
- Also from that episode, the generator that O'Neill makes to get to the Asgard homeworld is used after Carter rebuilds another one for the Alternate Carter to go to the Asgard homeworld in their reality.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: Dr. Carter states that O'Neill was killed defending the mountain in her reality, while Teal'c ends up killing his own alternate counterpart. Inverted with Kawalsky, who had been dead for two years in "our" universe but is alive and well in the alternate one.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Teal'c briefly imitates his counterpart after killing him.
- Death Is Cheap: Alternate Hammond is executed by Apophis, only to be beamed up by the Asgard and revived again not five minutes later.
- Distressed Dude: O'Neill and Kawalsky go to rendezvous with Daniel and find him on his knees surrounded by about a dozen Jaffa, all pointing staff weapons at him and forcing the other two to surrender.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Heartbreakingly subverted, as Samantha and Jack noted as they say goodbye before parting ways forever.Samantha: "This is hard. Goodbye for a second time."O'Neill: "It's the first time."Samantha: "It doesn't feel that way to me. You have to understand. My Jack had the same face, same voice, same hands."O'Neill: "Which brings to mind an obvious question: How could you marry such a loser?"[Both Samantha and Jack share an amused smile at that statement. They then share a bittersweet goodbye kiss, but as they pull apart...]Samantha: "You're really not him, are you?"O'Neill: "...No."
- The Dreaded: As in the main timeline, the Asgard are very much this to the Goa'uld. When an Asgard Mothership shows up at Earth, the Goa'uld run like hell - the Jaffa begin dialing the gate before even asking Apophis!
- Dressing as the Enemy: Teal'c dresses as his alternate counterpart - complete with fake goatee - in order to take his place and get past Apophis without raising too many questions. It works pretty well until Apophis catches him helping Dr. Carter escape through the gate.
- Evil Twin: Played straight with Teal'c's double, who remains loyal to Apophis even after Teal'c gives him a chance to defect. Also discussed by O'Neill earlier in the episode, when the alternate Carter and Kawalsky first come through the mirror:O'Neill: [to Dr. Carter] I don't know you. For all I know, you could be her evil twin. Of course, then we'd be dealing with a cliché, and you know how I feel about those. [To Maj. Carter] No, actually, you know how I feel about those.
- Expendable Alternate Universe: The episode itself is actually an aversion of this trope, with "our" team directly interfering to save what's left of the alternate Earth; however, Teal'c certainly seems to feel that this is the case, delivering the following line after nonchalantly killing his own counterpart:O'Neill: The idea was to zat him.Teal'c: As I said, O'Neill, ours is the only reality of consequence.
- Finishing Each Other's Sentences: The two Carters start doing this once they're done sniping at each other.
- First-Name Basis: O'Neill is thrown by the fact that Dr. Carter keeps referring to him as "Jack", at least until she explains that they were married in her reality.
- For Want Of A Nail: Carter speculates on the details that could have contributed to "our" reality being one of the few to prevent the Goa'uld invasion, such as Daniel's involvement with the program, Teal'c's defection and her own decision to join the military.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: Dr. Carter is easily distinguishable from Major Carter thanks to her very non-regulation longer hairstyle. Naturally, this is gets a lampshade hanging from O'Neill:Carter: Oh my God, this is too bizarre.O'Neill: I know. What's with the hair?
- Kick the Dog: As if we didn't already know he was evil, Apophis has alternate Hammond executed for no other reason than because he feels that Daniel's attempt to explain the concept of alternate realities is taking too long. When the others object to this, he responds by having Daniel zatted too, and would have finished him off if not for a timely interruption courtesy of the Asgard.
- Not So Omniscient After All: Apophis is noticeably unnerved at being confronted with alternate counterparts of his own First Prime and a man he had executed, which kind of undermines his whole 'god' thing.Apophis: What magic is this?Daniel: Oh, you should know better than anyone there's no such thing as magic.
- Only One Me Allowed Right Now: Dr. Carter begins to suffer from "entropic cascade failure" as a result of existing in the same reality as another living counterpart of herself. A case of Early-Installment Weirdness, as this is never mentioned as an issue in later alternate universe stories.
- Orbital Bombardment: Apophis' fleet destroyed most of the alternate Earth's major cities from orbit.
- Portal Cut: The staff weapon of one of Apophis's Jaffa is shown to be cut in half when the stargate closes on it as they attempt to flee from the Asgard.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Apophis responds to Teal'c's apparent betrayal by taking him hostage along with the others.
- Running Gag: The fact that nobody really knows just what the hell "kree" is supposed to mean is lampshaded:O'Neill: Okay, I gotta know [...] What the hell does "kree" mean?Daniel: Well, actually, it can mean a lot of things: "listen up," "pay attention," "concentrate"...O'Neill: "Yoo-hoo"?Daniel: Yes, in a manner of speaking.
- Ship Tease: It's revealed that O'Neill and Carter were married in the alternate universe due to Carter not being part of the military. At the end of the episode, Dr. Carter kisses O'Neill in front of the rest of the team - including Maj. Carter, who looks vaguely troubled by the whole thing.
- Status Quo Is God: It's initially stated that the President has given permission for Dr. Carter and Kawalsky to remain in "our" reality, but since it would get way too confusing to have two Carters running around on a permanent basis, it doesn't take long before something comes up to prevent it.
- The Strategist: Daniel displays a surprising aptitude for military strategy when he devises a plan to thwart the Goa'uld invasion of the alternate universe by travelling through the quantum mirror and contacting the Asgard.O'Neill: Quite the military mind, Daniel Jackson.
- Summon Bigger Fish: The entire plan the heroes come up with; sneak into the SGA around the occupying Jaffa to upload the dialing program to call for help from the Asgard.
- Throat Light: The Goa'uld cattle prods make their first appearance when Apophis tortures alternate Hammond, resulting in this.
- Trojan Prisoner: Teal'c takes the place of his alternate counterpart and pretends that Dr. Carter is his prisoner in order to get her past Apophis to the Stargate.
