Avalon, Part 2

"Avalon, Part 2" is the second episode of the ninth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
The team finds a mass of treasure in an Ancient cavern underneath Glastonbury Tor, England. Among them is a Long-range communication device, which is connected to the same stones used by Joe Spencer. When Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran place the stones on the device, their consciousnesses travel millions of light years to another galaxy, where they originally believed the Ancients to live, but find a completely different, yet similar race.

Previously on Stargate SG-1
Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell joins Stargate Command and is placed in command of SG-1. Vala Mal Doran comes to the SGC with a tablet written by the Ancient Merlin and uses Kor mak bracelets to link herself with Dr. Daniel Jackson. The tablet leads to a cave under Glastonbury Tor where is trapped in small rooms with Ancient knowledge puzzles and the ceiling begins to slowly drop.

Plot
Dr. Daniel Jackson solves their puzzle, a logic/Ancient Proverb hybrid. He and Vala Mal Doran correctly assume that Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Teal'c are facing a similar test. They arrive in time for Daniel to translate one word of the Ancient text on the other puzzle, and Mitchell barely manages to rearrange the 8 blocks (corresponding to the numbers 1 through 8) in correct order.

They return to the main anteroom, where Mitchell is now able to remove the Sword In The Stone. However, as soon as he does so, a Knight, fully armored, appears, and Mitchell is forced to fight. Teal'c attempts to shoot it with his P-90, but it turns out to be a hologram. Hologram or not, ignoring it appears not to be an option, because while a blow across the back does not actually leave a cut on Mitchell, it "hurt[s] like hell." In fact, Mitchell is the only one able to wield the sword - to everyone else it is just a hologram. After taking a number of blows, Mitchell manages to impale the knight, and the hologram disappears.

Nothing happens after he defeats the knight, so Daniel hypothesizes that perhaps only Mitchell has gained the right to actually continue the quest. The others leave by means of the rings, and as soon as they do, the room begins to shake. Mitchell does not interpret this as a good sign, and rings up to the Prometheus himself. Daniel immediately divines that Vala is the cause of the problem, and asks her what she has taken. She has, in fact, taken the coin which was the "treasure" spoken about in the riddle that Daniel solved.

Mitchell rings back down with the coin, and replaces the coin before the caverns collapse. On a hunch, he replaces the sword into the stone, and upon doing so, a massive amount of treasure appears in the cavern.

Among the treasures, which the SGC sends a team to catalog, Daniel finds a book which reveals more about the Ancients than was previously known. Apparently, the Ancients (originally called Alterans) actually originally came from another galaxy to the Milky Way. Daniel extrapolates from this that there may actually be Alterans living in some other galaxy in the present day - that perhaps not all Ancients ascended after they returned to the Milky Way from the Pegasus galaxy to flee the Wraith. It could mean that some non-ascended Ancients can share knowledge with them freely. Major General Henry Landry has no problem with Daniel's theory, but wants hard evidence and/or a plan of action. Daniel has hopes that one strange device found along with the treasure may be a method of intergalactic communication.

Dr. Bill Lee has managed to figure out more about the device - it appears that in conjunction with the Ancient Long-range communication stones (which appeared in "Citizen Joe"), the device actually allows the user to see through the eyes of someone else. Daniel lays claim to one of the stones, on the grounds that he has already missed his chance to go Atlantis because of the treasure hunt, and Vala takes the other spot, on the somewhat feeble grounds that the "separation" might be enough to activate the Kor mak bracelets they are wearing. They insert the stones next to each other on the device, and it emits a brief blue light, causing them both to collapse.

They appear together in the same room, though Daniel appears as a skinnier man, and Vala appears as a somewhat shorter, blond-haired woman. They appear to be themselves in mind, but certainly not in body. Daniel further discovers that they are husband and wife. The general atmosphere of the house, coupled with their mode of dress seems very different from what either of them expected Ancient culture to be.

Daniel and Vala (Harrid and Sallis) are apparently expected to attend something called "prostration," which they duly attend. They find that it is some sort of religious daily worship, a worship of gods called "the Ori". However, while at prostration, someone their inhabited bodies apparently know tells them it is necessary for them to meet by the "portico of light at the hour of bly."

Daniel and Vala arrive back at "home" after what was apparently six hours of "prostration". Upstairs in the house, Vala discovers a fake "Book of Origin" (the sacred text of the religion of Origin), which actually contains Ancient communication stones.

Later, the friend who Daniel and Vala were supposed to meet shows up at their house, and Daniel reveals the truth of who they are to him. Fannis explains that they are actually part of a secret group of heretics, and that since Daniel and Vala cannot seem to return to Earth, they must pose as Harrid and Salis so that the group is not discovered. Vala leaves to go to some meeting with an acquaintance of hers - apparently the wife of some type of priest.

Back on Dakara, the site of the new government which is to govern all the newly free Jaffa, Gerak has established the government as a High Council, made up of representatives based on military strength, which Teal'c strongly opposes. Having won this political battle, Gerak is instated as the new leader of the Free Jaffa Nation, much to Teal'c dismay.

Outside Harrid and Sallis's house, a crowd gathers around some sort of altar in the middle of the street. Daniel goes outside to find out what is happening, and Vala is brought to the altar. Daniel tries to explain, but he is restrained as is forced to watch as some sort of burning liquid is poured into channels which guide the liquid across the altar to where Vala is chained. Vala reveals to Daniel that she did not recite some type of blessing, which caused the priest's wife to accuse her of heresy.

While Vala is ignited by the burning liquid, on Earth, her body goes into cardiac arrest. Dr. Lee cannot remove the stones, and Daniel's attempts at explaining the circumstances to the priest go unheeded. Vala is burned to a crisp. On Earth, Dr. Carolyn Lam pronounces her dead.

As Daniel holds Vala's charred body, a man in robes, holding an ornate staff, approaches the altar. The staff begins to glow, and Daniel watches in amazement as he brings Vala back to life. Daniel thanks him, but he responds, "Thank the Ori". He then tells them to follow him out of the square, and they follow.

Notable Quotes
Jackson: What happened?

Mitchell: The whole place is collapsing. We must have done something wrong.

Jackson: What'd you take?

Vala: What? I—

Jackson: Truth of Spirit. What'd you take?

Mitchell: Well, that figures--a room full of gold and jewels and Dr. Daniel Jackson finds the one book.

Jackson: We know the Ancients left their galaxy for Pegasus and returned later when they lost the war to the Wraith, but what happened to them.

Landry: I thought they ascended.

Jackson: Well some did that we know, but what if others went home? Even if they didn't, the book I read suggests that the Altarens left civilization behind.

Landry: And your point is?

Jackson: My point is that we haven't met a single living Ancient who's willing to share their knowledge freely with us and there could be an entire advanced civilization of them out there somewhere in another galaxy. I mean isn't that why we're doing this, all of this? The Stargate program, the [?], is so we can meet new races, gather advanced technology, possibly learn about ourselves in the process.

Vala: Oh c'mon. You do it to meet women.

Mitchell: She has a point, sir.

Landry: I've been thinking I need to get out on an off-world mission or two.

Jackson: What the hell did you say?

Vala: I think it's more what I didn't say at first. You see apparently there's a blessing you're supposed to recite over the leaves before you drink—which, nobody warned me about. Then I think it's what I did say. I was trying to politely explain what was going on, and then his wife started screaming and accusing me of being overcome at which point I believe I suggested she might think about procreation... with herself.

Jackson: Are you okay?

Vala: I've got tingles all over. Don't flatter yourself, I'm pretty sure it's not you.

Goofs

 * After Dr. Daniel Jackson rescues Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, when the door opens, Daniel leans on the wall, the wall is seen to sink in like a rubber wall.
 * The puzzle Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell created by Merlin presumably sometime around the lifetime of King Arthur (5th - 6th century) were the Arabic numbers "1 through 8 and their reflections" but this number system did not reach Europe until the 10th century, at the earliest.

Characters

 * Dr. Carolyn Lam
 * The Administrator
 * Harrid Cicera
 * Sallis Cicera
 * Fannis

Race

 * Prior

Planet

 * Celestis

In other languages

 * French: Le Trésor d’Avalon (2ème partie) (The Treasure of Avalon (part 2))
 * Italian: La Fortezza di Avalon (The Fortress of Avalon)
 * Spanish: Avalon (parte 2) (Avalon (part 2))
 * Czech: Avalon (část 2.) (Avalon (part 2))