Memento Mori

"Memento Mori" is the eighth episode of the tenth season of Stargate SG-1.

Synopsis
Vala Mal Doran is kidnapped by The Trust, led by Athena, who once allied herself with Qetesh to get to the Clava Thessara Infinitas. Vala escapes, but loses her memories, and now works as a waitress in a diner. It is now a matter of who will retrieve her first, the Trust, or SG-1.

Plot
For some reason, Vala Mal Doran is working as a waitress in Sal's Diner. She gets along well with the customers and the cook. Suddenly, a pair of criminals attempt to rob the restaurant. Vala quickly takes them down in hand-to-hand combat much to everybody's surprise, including Vala's.

The scene then rewinds three weeks to a fancy restaurant Vala and Dr. Daniel Jackson are having dinner together, since they have spent so little time off-base for recreation, though Vala insists that Daniel is taking her out on a date (a fact which Daniel vehemently denies). As she leaves the table to go to the bathroom, Vala is ambushed, drugged, and kidnapped by an unknown assailant. Once Daniel realizes what has happened, it is too late. Vala and her kidnappers are gone.

Vala wakes up in an abandoned warehouse, strapped to an alien machine. She has been captured by The Trust because Athena, a Goa'uld who knew Qetesh (for whom Vala had been a host), believes that Vala possesses repressed memories that can lead her to the Clava Thessara Infinitas, an unimaginable treasure left behind by the Ancients. Using a Goa'uld Memory recall device, the Trust attempts to forcibly retrieve Vala's repressed memories. Meanwhile, Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Teal'c, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, and Daniel manage to track down the locations of several Trust safe houses and simultaneously raid all of them. The safe house SG-1 raids turns out to be a dead end, but another team raids the correct safe house and a firefight ensues between the soldiers and the Trust. During the fight, a stray Zat'nik'tel bolt strikes the memory device, causing Vala to lose her memories. With both sides still fighting, a dazed and confused Vala manages to escape and disappear.

Back at Stargate Command, Daniel and Teal'c interrogate a man named Weaver (the man who was interrogating Vala with the device) in the isolation room, while Mitchell and Carter watch. Weaver isn't very forthcoming with information, and is clearly concerned about what will happen to him if he helps them. Teal'c whispers something in Weaver's ear, causing him to lose all of his courage and tell SG-1 everything he knows.

Meanwhile, a confused Vala wanders the streets of a city alone; being hungry, she enters a diner. When she tries to skip out on the bill, the owner, Sal, stops her. She confesses that she has no way to pay her bill ... and, in fact, she doesn't even remember who she is. She has no memory of her life before she walked into his diner. Sal offers her a job as a waitress, which she takes. Time passes, and Vala begins to get the hang of her new job. However, she experiences disturbing visions (pieces of her repressed memory) and has a nagging feeling that being a waitress just isn't her lot in life. She refuses to seek medical attention. Now the first scene of the episode is shown again, as the criminals enter and Vala defeats them.

She is then taken to the local police station, where Detective Ryan is suspicious of Vala's superior combat skills. When Vala can't even tell him her real name, he decides to detain her and begins sending out fliers seeking to find anybody who can identify her. Both the SGC and Trust receive a flier and race to retrieve Vala. Trust agents disguised as Air Force personnel reach the police station first and take Vala with them. SG-1 arrives minutes later and, realizing what has happened, Mitchell commandeers a motorcycle and sets off in pursuit. A scared Vala then attacks the Trust agents, causing their car to crash. Mitchell catches up with them, but is injured by one of the Trust agents. Vala, unsure whether Mitchell is a friend or enemy, takes him prisoner.

SG-1 tracks Mitchell down and find him semi-naked and handcuffed to a motel bed. Vala, realizing that she is being tracked, flees into a nearby warehouse. SG-1 pursues her but runs into several Trust agents. A firefight ensues, and SG-1 defeats the agents. Vala attempts to flee again but is stopped by Daniel, who convinces her that he and SG-1 are friends.

Back at the SGC, Vala recovers her memory and is given a gift by Major General Henry Landry: SG-1 badges. She is now an official member of SG-1. When Mitchell proposes going to a rib restaurant near his place to celebrate, Vala tells Daniel that they'll have to finish their date next week. When Daniel denies that it was a date, the team merely walks out the room without saying a word.

Notable Quotes
(Both Vala and Jackson start talking at the same moment, then stop)

Jackson: Listen ... uh ... let me start.

Vala: Okay.

Jackson: Um, look, I know it hasn't been easy for you ... adjusting to your new life here, learning to trust other people, and, most importantly, refusing the temptation to fall back on your old ways. But you have worked hard to make a place for yourself with us and dinner tonight is my way of saying 'thank you'. Thank you for proving me right when I said we could take a chance on you.

Vala: I don't know what to say.

Jackson: Say what you were going to say before I interrupted.

Vala: Okay, I need to use the bathroom.

Weaver: How are you feeling?

Vala: A little dizzy. A little tired. And very very angry.

Weaver: That's because the flashbacks you're experiencing are dredging up some long-buried emotions that may be coloring your subconscious mind.

Vala: I'm going to kill both of you in the most painful way possible.

Sal: I'm Sal, the owner.

Vala: Sal the owner. Of Sol's Diner?

Sal: Yeah. Sol was the original owner. I bought the place from him. So, how was lunch?

Vala: Delicious.

Sal: Delicious enough to pay for it?

Vala: Yes! If I had the money, I would certainly have paid for the meal. And given the lovely waitress a sizeable gratuity.

Mitchell: Where are we going?

Vala: Just drive.

Mitchell: You know I'm bleeding here.

Vala: Shut up.

Vala: What's this?

Landry: Let's just call it a Welcome Back present.

Vala: These are—

Landry: Team badges. You're now officially a member of SG-1.

Carter: Congratulations. You earned it.

Goofs

 * Detective Ryan said that the car which was used to kidnap Vala Mal Doran had U.S. Government license plates, but when the vehicle crashed it clearly had standard Colorado plates with no government markings.
 * When Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell is chasing Vala's kidnappers on the motorcycle, you can see a sign on the side of the road that says "Ladner" "Surrey". Surrey, British Columbia was the location of the production shooting.
 * During the second scene in the motel when Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell is handcuffed on the bed, his right hand is holding the bar of the bed or is dropped, depending on the camera view.

In other languages

 * French: Amnésie (Amnesia)
 * Italian: Memento Mori
 * Spanish: Recuerda que Eres Mortal (Remember That You Are Mortal)
 * Czech: Pamatuj na smrt
 * German: Tödliche Erinnerungen (Deadly Memories)