Martin Gero pens the teleplay for Earth from a story developed alongside series creators Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper. First broadcast on 6 November, 2009, things take an interesting turn for the Destiny crew.

Young (Louis Ferreira), and Camile (Ming-Na Wen) use the communication stones to report in to Homeworld Command on Earth. They are surprised to see O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is there, and they deliver a reveal that there may be a way home.

Rush (Robert Carlyle) isn’t entirely receptive to the plan. When Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) swaps places with Young, when he uses tthe stones with Eli (David Blue) and Chloe (Elyse Levesque), he plans to enact the plan whether Rush is on board or not.

Telford confines Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) back to quarters, and clashes with Rush. Of course, Rush is right to be cautious; the ship is old, and things aren’t in pristine condition. Telford is only willing to tolerate so much.

But some of the ship’s crew don’t think it’s going to work, but Telford is determined to try anyway.

Communication are infrequently disrupted by glitches, which allow Young, Eli and Chloe glimpses of the plan; supercharge the gate so that they can dial home. Unfortunately, it’s not going to work, and Rush is able to stop things from going sideways, this time, with a bit of a theatrical plan.

It’s nice to see Eli interacting with his mother (Glynis Davies).

It’s a strong episode, and shows some conflict developing between Young and Command, but also helps him settle into his role as the ship’s leader. He also asks Eli to investigate the plan, and see if there’s a way to make it work, and if Rush is hiding something.

It’s a complicated show, made more so by Telford visiting Young’s wife at the end of the episode.

Time was written and directed by Robert C. Cooper and plays with temporal issues.

The Destiny arrives and is exploring their first alien planet. A recovered Kino shows their entire visit, a visit that hasn’t happened yet.

A number of those who visited the planet begin to fall sick. TJ (Alaina Huffman) works to keep things quarantined, but there may be something more going on here, and I’m not just talking about the night attacks that seem to kill everyone in the expedition.

Ten minutes in, we get the reveal of the temporal loop. And the crew who recovered the Kino, after reviewing the tape, enforce a quarantine on the ship. But they start to get sick anyway.

So what’s going on?

As Eli and the rest watch the Kino of future events, TJ works hard on discovering the truth. Remember the ice planet? Microbes in the ice.

And on the Kino? What happens when they go through the gate? They go back in time, returning to the same planet, again (caused by solar flares if you know your gate mythology). And the answer to everything may be to go to this planet for the first time? And to capture one of the nocturnal creatures that could kill them.

But is this the right timeline? Will they be able to get through this convoluted take and survive? It ends with Scott (Brian J. Smith) throwing a Kino through the gate, with warnings, information, and instructions on what to do.

A solid, puzzler of a piece. I liked it.