He has a proposition for O'Neill and it involves the Prometheus incident where Simmonds was making for a planet on which there was some advanced weaponry. Now evidently the planet has a weapon that could defend the Earth and the nasty NID gits are withholding the information from the SGC. Maybourne says he will help them get to the planet, if Jack persuades the President to give him a full pardon. Jack declines, 'ole Hutch does his trademark Cheshire cat grin and states that there is nothing like a good wiener and Jack replies, yes you are what you eat. Very deadpan and very funny.

Maybourne drops a piece of paper with the address to the planet onto the BBQ and walks away saying he doesn't need it anymore. Jack asks what it is and well surprise it's the gate address to the planet. I have to say Tom McBeath is fantastic and he and Richard Dean have a great chemistry in the scenes already... Jack retrieves it, pouring his beer over the charred paper and Maybourne explains that it's no good just having the address you need to get past an impenetrable doorway for which only he has the key...

Cue the music and start with the exposition, that's the briefing round the table... Jack has a go from Hammond to go to the planet, as Sam put it so eloquently, if Maybourne thinks it's worth a Presidential pardon it must be good. She reckons they can get through the door without him, or at least to try. When they get to the planet, they find an archway and Jonas, looking fantastic this episode, still under-utilised in my opinion, figures out that the language of the writing is that of the Furlings. Jack has some great quips on trying to understand how cute little furry things could have made such a great defensive weapon! Furling, sounds cute and fuzzy to me! Carter doesn't recognise the technology... They work out that they do indeed need to use a key. Well what a surprise!

So Maybourne turns himself in and is escorted with three guards to Hammond. An overkill? He explains that Maybourne's willingness to help in the past has made this possible. Maybourne smiles and brings out the key. He asks when do they leave, Jack says I am leaving, you aren't. As usual Maybourne is holding back the info so that he may have a bargaining chip, after all he is under arrest, he explains that not only do you need the key you need the combination. He had the scroll that was found with the key translated and only he knows it. He insists on coming through the gate and to be the one opening the doorway.

Jack and Hammond talk about how there must be more than meets the eye to this and Jack admits that it is true and that it's gonna be hard to get it out of him much as he'd like to try. Maybourne watches the gate and stands on the ramp waiting. Jack says "Shall we?" Maybourne looks at him and says "You want to know the real reason why I want to do this? I've never actually been through this before." Jack asks him if he is nervous. "Me, nah, I'm just taking the moment." There is a quick beat, then Jack says, "Done?" "Yeah", "Good" Then they walk up the ramp. I tell you this is really funny. When you get to see it, watch their facial expressions in the pauses. Truly a classic.

Both Harry and Jack arrive by the open arch, where Carter is still looking at the power source, she explains that Jonas and Teal'c are off doing another sweep and that he hasn't finished translating it all. Jack points him to the keyhole (two slits) he puts the key in and starts twisting and turning the doohickey left and right. He stops to curse as to why its not working and Carter goes to help him. He grabs her, then zats her. Then he turns and zats Jack, who is reallllllllly pissed. He forces himself up and leaps at Maybourne as he snatches the key, which activates a field of energy, and jumps through. Both are sent to a grassy meadow with no gate or doorway. Carter is left passed out on the floor until Jonas and Teal'c come back. Jonas lifts her up. Now really boys, you shouldn't move anyone until you check for injuries, sheesh, did Dr Fraiser teach you nothing? Sam explains what happened.

Meanwhile Jack and Maybourne are arguing in the meadow and Jack says he wants an answer so Maybourne tells him to follow him. Harry's zat is missing, it seems the doorway removes Goa'uld weapons too. Jack reluctantly follows him across this beautiful setting. Maybourne says he is not going back and that the scroll says that this is some kind of Alien utopia. Supposed to be paradise. He says they maybe able to send Jack back if that's what he wants. Apparently, the aliens set up the utopia and sent out representatives around the Universe to find people suitable for experiencing the paradise. They gave them a key and instructions. Jack figures out that there is no weapon and that Simmonds didn't know about it at all. Harry admits that it was his only way to get them to let him go through the gate. Jack says that he can't believe he lied to him...again. Harry explains that he is tired of hiding and that the money he was supposed to get from Conrad's symbiote sale was his last chance at making a life on Earth, but he did something good and it turned into a disaster. He's tired of running.

Hammond lets the UAV go up to find Jack, who would have activated his homing device if lost, and Sam apologises for letting Maybourne get the better of her. It's been two hours and they still hadn't heard from them. Harry was expecting a welcome from the people there, but they get to the camp and there is nobody there, in fact it looks like it has been deserted for many, many years. They both explore the camp and find nothing but skeletons.

A science team has descended on the ruins to find out how the doorway works and Carter gets snappy with their team leader. Understandable, he is a dork and insensitive about what has happened. He says he can't do it as there is no frame or point of reference. Jack and Harry spend their first night on the planet and in the morning you see Jack get water and pop a tablet in it. Then he goes exploring. There are some beautiful locations that he walks around. When he gets back to the camp, Harry is making a fire and Jack sits and explains there is no way out. Jack says they will just have to survive until they are rescued. Mr Positive! Unfortunately he is stuck with Mr Negative, who says no one knows about it, and Jack pipes up with well no one has the key do they, and proceeds to bite into a cookie taunting Harry. There is some great banter here and in fact throughout the whole interaction between these two on the planet.

We cut to Sam and Teal'c, the former has just been searching the area the UAV had been and they come back to the slimy scientists who are giving up. They've been there for a week and not got anywhere. Sam loses it and reminds him that she says when they are done there. But the moron says that he'll submit his report to General Hammond and he can decide. Whatever happened to we don't leave anyone behind in this episode? The only people that seem to care about it are Sam and Teal'c. Sam a lot. The start of shipping again?

Ok, fishing... Jack gets to fish! We see him do a Huckleberry Finn, sitting on a log, trousers rolled up, bare feet and tugging gently on a line. He is not having any luck however. Harry explains that he isn't sleeping well and that there are sounds. Jack reminds him that he is on an alien planet! He whinges that the leaves he is eating are awful and they have to find something to eat soon! Jack moans that he is talking too much, he isn't going to catch anything. Maybourne simply throws something in the water and blows it up. Jack is open mouthed as Maybourne strides into the water and grabs the concussed fish. "That's just wrong on so many levels..." his hilarious response to fishing by bomb.
Jack tells him not to do it again.

While they are eating. Maybourne carries on moaning about noises and that he hears them all night. There are no tracks so they can't be animals. He wants a weapon to protect himself but Jack refuses point blank, and that the only thing he should be afraid of his him. "You don't like it here? Deal with it, it's your own damn fault!" Maybourne gets increasingly paranoid and disappears off, Jack gets suspicious and hides the ammo. So they are split up, Maybourne gone completely weird, Jack is left on his own.

Back at the SGC, they explain that they have tried everything, Sam wants to send a satellite up, but Hammond refuses due to the cost. The Tok'ra call and send a message through the gate and say they have scanned the planet and they can find nothing.

Two weeks later, Jack is still his own, having to eat the leaves himself, and wakes to find his P90 is missing. Maybourne has been in and stolen it. There is absolutely no dialogue in these scenes, little music, it's all acting by RDA and if I may say so, absolutely brilliant. Jack finds what could be a diary, he leafs through it and figures out there were a certain number of people there. He counts the skeletons, but starts to hear things. He scours the camp trying to find where the noises are coming from, almost panicky, and he can't find Maybourne. He searches farther a field, finding more skeletons, one of which has a symbiote attached to the skull. It's almost a Lord of the Flies moment.

Teal'c walks into the locker room where Sam is fighting not to cry. She talks about it being almost a month and that it seems hopeless...she feels like she only just lost Daniel... This is fabulous acting from Amanda once again, as Sam puts her arms around Teal'c, who hugs her gently as she cries. The dynamic here has been missing in earlier episodes and it is refreshing to see the Carter-Teal'c friendship explored. Great acting from the two of them.

They cut to a scene, the like of which you could describe as a man behind enemy lines. Jack is moving quietly through the forest, trying to search the noises and find Maybourne. Unfortunately, he trips a wire trap set by Maybourne (very Lord of the Flies) and is hit in his right leg by shrapnel from a nearby tree. Then a warthog rushes him, he fires at it, and you hear another kind of cry. Jack forces himself up and finds Maybourne. Where he has shot the hog, he had also hit Maybourne in the side.

Maybourne still paranoid and thinks Jack deliberately shot him. Jack tries to tell him to stop eating the plants because it is hallucinogenic. No he didn't use that big word, but I am sure you get the picture. Jack sits and pulls the piece of dagger like tree splinter out of his leg. Again fantastic acting by RDA, he makes you really want to get there and help him, blood and all.

Carter and Teal'c are still working out how to solve it all, when Jonas pops in and says Hammond is considering a new leader for SG-1 and that Carter is up for it too. She says she knows and what did you find. Right to the point...He hands her early pictures of the artefact. She looks at it again and makes Teal'c wind back the tape. They see the moon in the sky. The doorway doesn't use wormhole technology and that it's a transportation device. Sam figures out that from the design of the artefact/key and that they have been sent to the moon!

We flick channels back to the Moon, where Jack is resting in the camp, sleeping with his gun until he is woken by a noise. Maybourne has finally lost it. He has plastered his face with mud and is hunting Jack. Jack shouts to him and says the Goa'uld caused it, he couldn't bring a weapon through the doorway so he bought a plant that caused everyone to kill each other. Maybourne shoots at Jack and throws grenades at him, tsk, not very nice. But our hero out smarts him and has him in his sights. Maybourne won't drop the weapon and as he turns to shoot Jack, Jack shoots him.

I really didn't want them to write Maybourne out! He is such a great character! I have to say that when I watched this, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened to him Jack leans over him, all you see is Jack's face in soft focus telling Harry that he is not trying to kill him, and that he is going to have to do something as he is losing too much blood.
Then we see Jack sitting on his log, waiting for Harry to come to, by the fire.

He wakes after a day or so. Jack is being nice, saying it's not his fault and that the people here couldn't stop themselves. Some retirement this is! Jack tells him not to die on him now, as Harry starts gurgling and that he had been a very bad boy... Harry says what's the point as a Tel'tac flies over them, it's the Tok'ra to the rescue! Jack thinks he's suffered enough, hell he even got to shoot him and that he doesn't have to go back, he'll get the Tok'ra to find a nice planet for him. He says thanks, and Jack says "Sure Harry..." We fade out with a reflective soft-eyed Jack.

I really enjoyed this episode, it was quite an emotional rollercoster of a ride, and in particular the interaction between Jack and Harry and the moment between Sam and Teal'c. The darkness of the scenes where the both of them slowly lose their sanity are fabulous, no need for fancy violin music, orchestral climax or anything else, just brilliant photography and acting. Watch it, you won't be disappointed.