Fragile Balance

"Fragile Balance" is the third episode of the seventh season of Stargate SG-1, and is the 135th episode overall.

Synopsis
A teenager claiming to be Jack O'Neill arrives in Stargate Command. Believed to be an imposter, the teen manages to recite every key event from fellow team members. After believing it to be O'Neill, they find out he's a botched clone. They investigate what has happened to the original O'Neill.

Plot
Major Samantha Carter arrives at Stargate Command and meets up with General George Hammond, where she is informed of an intruder on the base. Hammond tells her that the intruder has used Colonel Jack O'Neill's ID card to enter the base. When they walk to the holding room the intruder is being held, Carter is surprised to learn that the intruder, a 15 year old boy wearing clothes that are obviously too big for him. The boy claims that despite appearances, he is Jack O'Neill.

The boy tells Carter that last night, he had dinner and a beer, and then went to sleep, and woke up like he is now. No one believes his claim. Soon, Daniel Jackson and Teal'c arrive to see the "intruder", but they do not believe him also. The boy then recites major events from the team's past, including Carter being taken host by Jolinar, Daniel ascended, and Teal'c has been taking tretonin since he lost his symbiote. After the team leaves, Hammond wonders how the boy could have access to such classified information. Carter starts to think that the boy may be O'Neill. The only way to know for sure is to run tests on him.

Some time later, Hammond and SG-1, except O'Neill are in the Briefing room with Janet Fraiser, who ran DNA tests on the boy and compared them to O'Neill's sample. It is almost a complete match, with a tiny margin of error, tiny enough to convince them that the boy is in fact O'Neill. Fraiser also finds a tiny abnormality, but has no idea what it might be. Carter and Teal'c later see young O'Neill, and attempts to encourage him to enjoy his newfound youth while he can, until a solution can be found.

Later, the team arrive in O'Neill's house to investigate what might have caused his youth. They find some food, which they plan on taking back to the SGC for analysis. While doing some more investigating, O'Neill receives a short flashback with floating lights, and an alien head peering down on him. He tells the team his flashback; he believes that last night, he may have been abducted by an Asgard.

Back in Stargate Command, the team reports to Hammond about the findings. Hammond is sceptical, but he allows Jackson and Teal'c investigate past alien abductions with accounts similar to O'Neill's flashback. Meanwhile, Carter is to give out a presentation on how to fly F-302s to a group of pilots, even though it was originally O'Neill to give out the presentation, until circumstances changed. Jackson and Teal'c manage to narrow the database for all alien abduction accounts that matches O'Neill's description, and they find eight known claims in the United States alone, with them going on for the past 19 years, and decides to visit the eight people.

Carter is giving a group of pilots a presentation on 302s, and gives them a pack for Operation Blue Phoenix to test the flight capabilities of the 302s. The pilots seem more eager to listen to O'Neill, though she tells them that he is unavailable. The briefing is cut short by some commotion from outside, between O'Neill and an SF. Carter lets O'Neill in, and explains that this is O'Neill. Though the pilots at first refuse to listen, the boy convinces them otherwise, and successfully gets the pilots' attention.

Jackson and Teal'c talk to the eight people who claimed they were abducted by Aliens (presumably the same Asgard from O'Neill's flashback), where the eight give away exactly the same description from O'Neill's experience, despite the fact that none of them experienced any physical changes, such as being their younger selves. Carter attempts to contact the Asgard, but didn't hear anything yet. However, Fraiser gives the team some news that help better arrive soon, because she learns that he may not feel any side-effects yet, but he's dying.

Fraiser explains to O'Neill that his degeneration may take days, or weeks. The side effects will include fatigues, and the shut down of vital internal organs. With the Asgard not coming, they seek help from the Tok'ra, who sends Selmak/Jacob Carter to Earth. They give him a solution, instead of implanting him with a Tok'ra symbiote like last time, they could send him in a stasis pod until they can find away to halt his cell degeneration. A reluctant O'Neill asks for some time to think. He is given ten minutes. While the rest of the team wanders if he will do it, they detect a security breach. Young O'Neill is actually behind this, and since he knows the SGC plans very well, he quickly manages to escape Stargate Command. Hammond calls out the local authorities to search for him.

Soon, O'Neill attempts to buy beer from a store, but is quickly kicked out for being too young. He then spots Harlan Beck, who used to serve with O'Neill during Operation Prove Force in the Gulf War. Young O'Neill tells Harlan that he is O'Neill's nephew, and wants him to buy some beer for the boy, though Harlan refuses to do so. In the SGC, Fraiser and Selmak discover what the small abnormality from his DNA's test might be; the O'Neill they know now, is a clone.

Jackson thinks he know why he's a clone; the Asgard must have cloned the abducted to not arouse any suspicion, so the Asgard could do tests on the abducted, until he is finished, and then switches the bodies again. In that case, the real O'Neill would return again soon, but in order for the plan to succeed, they need to recapture "Duplicate O'Neill". They then get a phone call from Harlan Beck, concerning O'Neill's "nephew". With that information, they are able to find Duplicate O'Neill in a wooded area, where they tell him that he's been cloned by an Asgard, and he doesn't have to go into stasis. Instead, they can work on a plan to apprehend the Asgard responsible. O'Neill agrees to this, and they plan to send him back to his cabin, where the Asgard would beam O'Neill, where he hopes to stop the Asgard, and send the others on-board. Hammond agrees to give O'Neill a Zat'nik'tel.

That night, Duplicate O'Neill is on his bed, with his team outside the house, when suddenly he is beamed away by an Asgard transporter. The rest of the team rush to his house, where they see the original O'Neill, lying in bed, waking up, wondering what the rest of his team are doing in his bedroom. Meanwhile, Duplicate O'Neill is on board an Asgard science vessel, where an Asgard tells him not to be afraid. However, he is then stunned by O'Neill's Zat. Duplicate O'Neill goes down and finds a console, where he manages to beam the rest of his team on board.

The team informs the real O'Neill that he has been abducted by an Asgard for seven days, and that for that time, a clone of him has been made. The Asgard wakes up, and tells the team that his name is Loki, named after the Norse god of Mischief. Loki tells them that he is a scientist, and for two decades have been abducting humans to conduct research on them, since the Asgard's cells are degenerating due to excessive cloning, the Asgard will soon die out, and experimenting on humans may hold the solution, until he discovers of O'Neill, as he is "legendary", and may hold the key to end the Asgard cloning problem. He made clones to not arouse suspicion for the public, but made them in a way that they would not live for long, though even Loki doesn't not know why the clone has not reached the target age of 51.

O'Neill decides to have Carter contact Thor, against Loki's wishes. After a few seconds, he manages to beam himself on board. Duplicate O'Neill starts to feel the effects of his degeneration. Thor decides to have Loki punished for his crimes, and after some convincing from O'Neill, Thor agrees to save the clone, so he can no longer feel the effects of degeneration.

Some time later, Thor manages to save the clone, and O'Neill drops him off outside High School, so the duplicate can have a chance to embrace it, something the real O'Neill didn't. The clone agrees not to keep in contact with him, since that would be "weird", and that the United States Air Force would take care of anything. In the end, O'Neill wonders if his younger self is sure about this, which he is. O'Neill decides to go, so his younger self can start High School, as well as hanging out with the three girls staring at him.

Notable quotes
Jackson: This is the security breach? Young O'Neill: Daniel, will you tell them who I am, please? Jackson: Okay, love to, who are you?

Young O'Neill: You know, I think you two are enjoying this just... a little too much. Carter: Well, you are kinda cute. Young O'Neill: That's "Sir" to you. And being trapped inside a scrawny little body isn't my idea of cute, Carter. Teal'c: Does possessing a younger body not have certain advantages, O'Neill? Young O'Neill: No. Not seein' it. What do you mean? Teal'c: Do you not experience increased health and vitality? Young O'Neill: My "vitality" was just fine, thank you.

While Carter gives a presentation on F-302s, she hears commotion between O'Neill and an SF outside the room Young O'Neill: I just dropped by to say... Ow! SF: Sir, please do not resist. Young O'Neill: Hey, ease up, big guy. SF: Relax, sir. Young O'Neill: I'm warning you... SF: Sir, please, stay there. Young O'Neill: Did I just say I'm warning you? Hey! Oh! All right! That's it! Now, I'm mad!

Before the F-302 briefing, Jack speaks to Hammond in his office about his situation because he got stripped off the briefing. Hammond: Come in. Jack, try to understand. Your situation puts me in a very difficult position. Young O'Neill: General, no offense, but you're not the one who went to bed watching CNN and woke up as part of the MTV generation.

Jackson: Look, we're not here to take you to the Tok'ra. There may not be much time. Young O'Neill: Never is, is there. Jackson: Okay, well, (sighs) there's no easy way to tell you this so... Sam's just gonna come right out and say it. (Carter looks at him)

Loki: What's happening? Carter: We were kind of hoping you could tell us. Loki: No, no, no, this is all wrong. O'Neill: Hey!! I'll tell you what's wrong. I just woke up, haven't had coffee, let alone a pee in seven days, and I find out you stole my ass and made a mini me! Carter, I should be irked, currently, yes? Carter: Yes, I-I would be.

Jackson: Uh, what do we do if Thor doesn't show up? (at that second, Thor beams in) Never mind.

O'Neill: I mean, you sure about this. It's... High School. (Young O'Neill looks back at the three girls looking at him, then turns back) Yes. Go forth young man.

Background notes

 * The ID card held in the first scene after the teaser lists Jack O'Neill's date of birth as October 20, 1952 and his name as "John J. O'Neill."
 * When asked to give examples of stranger occurrences, Daniel recalls the time Jack became really old ("Brief Candle"), when they all regressed to cavemen ("The Broca Divide"), and when they all switched bodies ("Holiday").
 * The PlayStation game younger O'Neill played in the course of the episode was "Gran Turismo 3".

Production

 * Michael Welch plays the younger Jack.
 * The song played at the end of the episode was "Who Am I" by Lily Frost.

In other languages

 * "Der falsche Klon" (The false/wrong clone) (German)
 * "Equilibrio precario" (Fragile Balance) (Spain)
 * "L'apprenti sorcier" (The Sorcerer Apprentice) (France) The French version shares its title with a poem/ballad by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and a musical poem inspired by it by French Composer Paul Dukas.