Cure

"Cure" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
SG-1 arrives on Pangar, where the inhabitants have created a drug called Tretonin to cure all ailments. They soon realize that Tretonin is actually made of Goa'uld symbiotes. In a twist of fate, SG-1 learns that it is not a Goa'uld queen making the symbiotes, but a Tok'ra.

Plot
On the planet Pangar, several people stand in front of the Stargate. They talk about the visitors who will soon arrive (the leader expects an excellent and savvy negotiator) that may have more advanced technology than theirs; when the Stargate activates SG-1 comes through. The team is led into the city, where they talk with the representatives of Pangar about diplomatic negotiations. The Pangarans also show them their greatest invention, Tretonin, a drug which gives them perfect health.

At the ruins with the Stargate, Jonas Quinn and Teal'c meet Zenna Valk, with whom they talk about the Stargate. In the city Colonel Jack O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter continue their negotiations about the Stargate and the Tretonin; however, when they give the Pangarans ten addresses to peaceful worlds, the Pangarans instead want the addresses to visit worlds which are under Goa'uld control. Back at the ruins, Jonas and Teal'c are led into an underground chamber where they find out more about the Goa'uld, who once ruled the planet. Zenna also wants to tell them something about the Tretonin, but when Jonas later confronts her she doesn't want to talk. Because of this Jonas sneaks into her tent and searches through some material, where he finds a map of the city.

At night Jonas and Teal'c sneak into a large facility, where they find a large basin full of Goa'uld symbiotes. They are discovered, and during a fight, Jonas and a guard fall into the basin. While Jonas is rescued by Teal'c, the guard is taken by a Goa'uld. The next day, the leader of the Pangarans informs SG-1 that the symbiotes are used to produce Tretonin. When SG-1 wants to know where the Pangarans got all the symbiotes, despite not knowing how to travel through the gate, they show a Goa'uld queen. They then talk about the infected man, who shows an unusual behavior for a host and so SG-1 decides to call the Tok'ra.

Jonas later talks with Zenna, who apologizes to him. In the facility two Tok'ra, Malek and Kelmaa, examine the infected man and later the queen. It turns out that the queen will die soon. However, the symbiote inside the guard has none of the knowledge that the queen is supposed to pass on. Dr. Janet Fraiser later informs SG-1 that the Tretonin destroys the immune system of the user so the user becomes dependent on it. The Pangarans later tell them that they found the queen 60 years ago and because of their research they finally developed the Tretonin. However, they have no method to reverse the effects of the Tretonin. In the underground chamber, Jonas, Teal'c and Zenna do more research, where they find out that Ra once lived on the planet. It also turns out that the queen is in fact Egeria, the mother of all Tok'ra, who was defeated by Ra and imprisoned here. They talk with their teammates about their research and then inform the Tok'ra about it. However, the Tok'ra tell SG-1 that they are not able to easily find an antidote because there is something strange about the symbiotes. When the Pangarans refuse to set Egeria free, Kelmaa shoots the guard outside Egeria's room with a Zat'nik'tels and enters. She sacrifices herself, leaving her host so that Egeria can enter her and be free. O'Neill later talks with Carter about what will happen now, when Egeria awakes. She tells them that she will die soon but she is happy about how her children have turned out.

Jonas in the meantime talks with Zenna about his people and how they built a Naquadria bomb. Egeria reveals that she passed on a flawed gene to her children so that they would stop producing Tretonin. She also knows about how to find an antidote, which will be her final act. Because of this the Pangarans apologize to her. Later the dead Egeria is brought away and the Pangarans hope that there will be further negotiations. The episode ends with Carter dialing out.

Notable Quotes
Dollen: (Reffering to O'Neill) They are sending their most respected team of representatives. No doubt, the leader of this group will be a brilliant and savvy negotiator.

Tegar: We must be at our best to match the challenge.

Dollen: Personally, I cannot wait to meet a man of such genius.

O'Neill: (Just after stepping through the Stargate) Howdy folks!

O'Neill: Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Dollen: We call it tretonin, Colonel. It is our greatest scientific discovery.

Carter: How so?

Dollen: Major Carter, from what you have told me of your world people suffer from a myriad of illnesses, many of them are untreatable. Tretonin makes our immune systems impervious to any ailment. We live in perfect health.

Tagar: Would you care to tell us what you were doing at the tretonin facility?

O'Neill: You want to tell us why you have a pool full of Goa'uld symbiotes?

Dollen: You have betrayed our openness with you.

O'Neill: Openness? You're raising Goa'ulds. When were you going to tell us that?

Jonas: I have an admission to make. You know Teal'c and I tracked down the tretonin facility.

Zanna: Yes, I heard.

Jonas: Yeah. Well I did it by going through your stuff when you weren't here. I was wrong.

Zanna: I know.

Jonas: What, you know it was wrong, or...

Zanna: I know you did. I saw you.

Jonas: Really? 'Cause I thought that we were, were...

Zanna: Not so good.

Malek: As you know, memories passed on genetically by the queen allow them to be born with the collective knowledge of their lineage.

Kelmaa: It is possible that the queen that spawned him was unable to pass on this information to her progeny.

O'Neill: Unable?

Malek: The knowledge imparted on her young by a queen is done so voluntarily.

Kelmaa: In this case, if nothing were passed on to the symbiote it would be, as you say, an empty vessel.

Carter: Can you remove it without harming the host?

Kelmaa: Possibly. Although such a procedure would be dangerous.

Jonas: Wait a minute. "Here lies Egeria, betrayer of the Goa'uld. May she ... suffer for all eternity.” Egeria. Dr. Jackson's notes mention her. Isn't she supposed to have been killed?

Teal'c: Indeed she was. Yet this would seem to indicate otherwise.

Jonas: That means—

Teal'c: The queen the Pangarans are breeding is not Goa'uld. She is the origin of the Tok'ra.

Egeria: The cure for the Pangarians will be my final act. Such is the way of Tok'ra.

In other languages

 * French: La Reine (The Queen)
 * Italian: La Cura (The Cure)
 * Spanish: Cura (Cure)
 * Czech: Lék (Cure)