Divide and Conquer

"Divide and Conquer" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
The Tok'ra and Tau'ri plan a treaty for their alliance. Unfortunately, mind-controlled assassins who work for the Goa'uld, known as Za'tarcs are among them. Anise invented a device, similar to a lie detector, to determine who is a Za'tarc, but can hardly believe when Major Samantha Carter and Colonel Jack O'Neill are confirmed to be Za'tarcs.

Plot
A meeting is taking place on Vorash between Stargate Command personnel and the Tok'ra for the purpose of discussing a treaty summit; one issue is which day it should be set. One of the SGC men, Major Thomas Graham, goes berserk when he sees Supreme High Councilor Per'sus and starts shooting up the place with a Goa'uld weapon. He kills several people and finally himself. The Tok'ra say that it is not Major Graham's fault. They inform the other summit attendees that Graham is a victim of Goa'uld mind-control technology - a Za'tarc. This technology couldn't be proven to exist, until now. Nevertheless Freya/Anise says that she can detect any other Za'tarcs that might be in SGC, thanks to a device she invented. However the device isn't without flaws.

Back at SGC Anise starts to check the SGC personnel (while the Tok'ra do the same on their base), beginning with Major Graham's team. She then finds out that Lt. Louise Astor is also a Za'tarc. Astor agrees to undergoe a procedure to remove the programming, but because it is very painful she demands it to stop and finally becomes violent. She breaks free and shoots at several people before she kills herself with a gunshot to the head.

Afterwards SG-1 is tested and they find out that Colonel Jack O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter also seem to be Za'tarcs. O'Neill and Carter are incarcerated, with the intention of sedating and restraining them during the summit. After being told that an autopsy of someone who has undergone the procedure might help to refine it, O'Neill agrees - he says Carter's brain is far more valuable than his. Carter gets injected with the sedative, and realizes that she and O'Neill were lying, but not consciously, about one of their previous missions. She asks for a moment alone with O'Neill, and says that there was something she and he were not admitting - "given their working relationship and military ranks." He understands her meaning and is then retested. He relates the incident as before, adding this time that he did not leave Carter on Apophis' ship because he cares about her "a lot more than I'm supposed to". Carter is retested, and like Colonel O'Neill she is also finally determined to not be a Za'tarc.

However, they realize that Martouf could well be one. This conclusion proves to be true, and when the Fake President appears, he starts to fire on him. He is shot multiple times by security before Carter manages to neutralize him with a Zat'nik'tel to prevent him injuring anyone else. His body is preserved in order to later be autopsied, so that his death would contribute to anti-Za'tarc knowledge for the Tok'ra.

Notable Quotes
(Martouf and Anise argue about the Za'tarc technology)

O'Neill: Excuse me! Do we or do we not have a Xanax detector?

Freya: We can complete the zatarc testing in time.

O'Neill: And if we find more?

Hammond: Greater things than the summit could be in jeopardy, Colonel. Proceed. Dismissed.

(Freya gets up)

O'Neill: Well, this is fun! Who's next?

(O'Neill gets up and follows her)

Freya: SG-1.

O'Neill: Do'h.

O'Neill: She made a pass at me.

Jackson: Sam?

O'Neill: Anise. Freya. One of them.

Jackson: Really?

O'Neill: The host half.

Jackson: That's odd.

O'Neill: You're telling me. Odd timing too, doncha think?

Jackson: Yes.

O'Neill: Apparently the snake likes you.

Jackson: Really? (O'Neill attempts to play with a yo-yo} Yep, I think these Jack O'Neill moments that I'll probably miss the most.

O'Neill: What?

Jackson: What?

Carter: Sir, when you wouldn't leave me, are you sure there wasn't something else that you're not admitting?

O'Neill: What are you talking about?

Carter: Something neither one of us can admit given our working relationship, our military ranks.

O'Neill: Oh! Oh, that.

Anise: What were you feeling?

O'Neill: Like someone who was about to die.

Carter: Sir.

O'Neill: I didn't leave. Because I'd have rather died myself than lose Carter.

Anise: Why?

O'Neill: Because I care about her. A lot more than I'm supposed to.

Death

 * Martouf

In other languages

 * French: Diviser Pour Conquérir (Divide to Conquer)
 * Italian: Dividere e Conquistare (Divide and Conquer)
 * Spanish: Divide y Vencerás (Divide and Conquer)
 * Czech: Rozděl a panuj (Divide and Conquer)
 * Hungarian: Oszd meg és uralkodj (Divide and Conquer)