In a nutshell: the Dagger Mariah escapes and takes O'Neill hostage as she tries to take revenge on seaQuest and its crew, blaming them for her imprisonment.

Okay. Another out-of-character oddity, with a few class moments thrown in to keep the regular viewers from getting too frustrated and switching off.

We start with the Dagger Mariah getting busted out of jail in a very clever sting using a robot that looks like Commander Ford. It is clear that she has no idea who is responsible (and doesn't seem to recognise Ford – did she ever see him?) but she goes along with them anyway. That 'Ford' is actually a robot is discovered when it falls from the get-away helicopter and loses its Ford-face.

Meanwhile over on seaQuest, Tim O'Neill is sounding off to Darwin about his woes. Apparently, he is feeling out of place on seaQuest, feeling as though everyone else is 'going someplace' except him. He cites Lucas (giant brain, going to be a big time scientist, no doubt), Ford (super-cool, always goes by the book), Ortiz (the guy is just never bugged) and Piccolo (he's got gills, but he's always happy) as examples. Darwin is fairly unsympathetic.

Now, for a start, I have no idea where this is coming from. O'Neill has always seemed totally bonded as a valued member of the crew, albeit a bit shy; I know these were the days before story-arcs became popular, but you'd think they could have built this up a bit more before throwing it in like this. I mean, we see more of O'Neill socialising with other crewmembers than Ortiz, for heavens sake. Plus, this is coming hot on the heels of all the backslapping male bonding in 'Something in the Air' with Ford and Brody. Anyway, he then leaves the seadeck only to run straight into Henderson, who is over-enthusiastically congratulating Lucas on having what sounded like a terribly dull article on soil analysis in the Caspian Sea published in some obscure science journal. It's nice to know that at least one person on seaQuest is still doing scientific research, although just when is beyond me. Maybe this article was researched and written during season one when seaQuest still had a science contingent on board, and it has taken until now to get published? Anyway, O'Neill congratulates him too, but clearly takes it as proof of what he was talking about earlier. Can you say 'crisis of confidence'?

Anyway, Bridger, Brody and Ford have a video-conference with McGath and view the security footage of Mariah's escape. Brody finds the Ford robot terribly amusing, and even Bridger isn't above pulling Ford's leg about it; Ford looks tremendously discomfited – the 'slur' on his character and reputation doesn't sit well with him. I just loved the other two teasing him over it – it is very in keeping with the competitive friendship Ford has with Brody, and with Bridger's personality, as we've seen him in playful mood teasing his crew before now. And Ford's reaction to the teasing is very in character as well: embarrassed and uptight. Anyway, the upshot of the meeting is that apparently the helicopter disappeared into the sea, and they decide to go to the spot where it crashed and look for it.

O'Neill goes to see Bridger to hand in a letter of resignation. But he has spelled resignation wrong. Excuse me? This is O'Neill. Linguistics expert. Making a spelling mistake? Please, could we at least try for a bit of consistency in our characterisation? I hate this scene so much. He tells Bridger that he feels like a square peg in a round hole, and wants to reinvent himself. But his description of what he wants to do (get a cool place in a beach town and paint beautiful girls and scenes) sounds more like a teenager's fantasy such as Lucas or Piccolo might come up with (minus the painting) than an adult and career navy man like O'Neill. It's just so out of character and has come out of nowhere. Anyway, Bridger refuses to accept the resignation, but gives him 30 days unassigned leave, making him take a PAL communicator with him in case he is needed.

On the bridge, Ford arrives for his shift and instantly notices that O'Neill isn't there. Ortiz tells him that O'Neill has taken a personal day. Surely his post should still be covered, though? Piccolo is thereabouts, but seems to be handling helm rather than communications. Ford gives Piccolo some coordinates, and he amazes them by knowing where it is. Seeing Ford's astonished expression, Ortiz makes a crack about a broken clock being right twice a day, and then there's a very cute exchange where Ortiz tries to explain what that means to a very obtuse Piccolo, who simply doesn't get it. Or at least pretends not to get it. Ford tolerates the chitchat, but quickly gets them back to work, tracing the downed helicopter that freed Mariah. It's a nice scene showing the three of them interacting in a work environment: Ortiz comfortable enough to joke and tease, and Ford allowing it, but not at ease enough to join in, which fits both their personalities. Piccolo is just Piccolo, wherever he is and whoever he is with.

Meanwhile, Mariah has been taken to meet her liberator, a wheelchair bound man called the Marauder (horribly over-played by the actor). He offers her revenge on seaQuest and Bridger, and spouts off about cold fusion and a substance called trillium, which is made from the fossilised remains of bugs. Odd. He shows her a stealth submarine, which she can use to fight seaQuest, complete with a secret weapon – a bio-engineered squid that is programmed to feed of seaQuest's bio-genetic skin. In that case, how has he been feeding it up to now? Mariah is in. But first, they need someone from seaQuest to help them. Ooh, can we guess who?

On shore, O'Neill is surrounded by a bevy of beautiful bikini clad girls, and has got one of them to pose while he paints her portrait. He isn't very good, and to my mind at least looks far more out of place here than he ever has on seaQuest. He doesn't even seem to have attempted to fit in. The model is complaining, and a random passing OAP points out that the painting looks nothing like her. Maybe his not fitting in here is the point of the scene – to demonstrate that seaQuest truly is where he belongs, despite his longing to be something else.

Then we get a truly fantastic scene, of the type that I love best – adding almost nothing to the plot, but wonderful in terms of character interaction. At mess, Dagwood is sitting contemplating a pineapple. At the next table, Ortiz and Brody are having lunch together. Sort of. Well, they are at the same table, at least. Brody is eating; Ortiz' plate is untouched as he is playing some kind of hand-held computer game, although he does eventually put it down to eat. I love dialogue that includes action – so much more natural to have them talking and eating at the same time, instead of just standing spouting off the words. Here, Brody can see that Dagwood is having trouble with the pineapple, and remarks to Ortiz that someone should help him out. So Ortiz tells Dagwood not to eat the part that hurts his mouth. Dagwood thanks him, and then bites into the pineapple through the skin, leaving the other two to regard him quizzically. It reminds me of the moment in 'When We Dead Awaken' when these two again shared a meaningful glance over Dagwood, coming to the same silent conclusion that some things are best left unsaid. Why even try to explain?

It's worth noting as a character reference typical of seaQuest that Brody the officer observes Dagwood's dilemma but doesn't do anything beyond commenting that 'someone should help out'; it is Ortiz who takes action upon it and actually does something. The difference between an officer and a non-com, perhaps? It is clear which is the thinker and which the doer. And just why is Brody eating with Ortiz anyway? Shouldn't he be in a separate officer's mess? But then, we have seen these two socialising off-duty before, in Vapors.

Piccolo then joins Brody and Ortiz, complaining bitterly about O'Neill being given 30 days off while he, as an ex-con on parole, has no choice about being on the ship. Watch carefully. Ortiz pinches a bread roll off Piccolo's tray while he grumbles and takes a quick bite while eying Piccolo to see if he has noticed, which he doesn't. I love the character of Ortiz. Brody, and particularly Ortiz tease Piccolo cheerfully. Piccolo is convinced that O'Neill will be back; Ortiz isn't so sure, and from what he says it sounds like O'Neill has talked to him about it. He says that O'Neill wants to change his life, to be somebody; Piccolo retorts that he wants to be a painter, and they don't get to be somebody until they are dead. Good point.

And since Piccolo knows about this ambition, clearly the whole thing is general knowledge – just how did this happen? Ship's grapevine in action? Brody then sits back and listens in amusement as Ortiz teases Piccolo some more. Maybe Brody just isn't as quick-witted as Ortiz at thinking up these jibes? So he just lets the master work. It is a fantastic scene.

On shore, O'Neill has run out of people to paint and is reduced to structures, when Mariah approaches him. How did she know he was there? She uses all her seductive wiles, and he falls for it, only recognising her at the last moment when it is too late. You would think, given how few GELFs there presumably are in the world, that he would recognise her a bit quicker. She uses an electric taser to knock him out, and drags him away – his PAL falling to the ground, unheeded.

Back on seaQuest, Dr Smith has a go at Bridger for letting O'Neill leave, complaining that if he is having a life crisis, then it is her job to help him with that and that sending him off to a beach town may not be the best therapy. I always knew that her function was really ship's counsellor, rather than doctor – that's the way she behaves, at least, and her medical skills seem questionable to me. Anyway, Bridger doesn't see what the fuss is all about. She tells him she is worried about O'Neill, but can't pin it down to 'big sister' worry or 'psychic' worry. Going into her quarters, she suddenly doubles up with pain, and has a psychic flash, seeing the Marauder in his chair, then herself in his chair covered with bugs (a reference to the trillium, I presume) and O'Neill's face flashing up on a screen. Bridger hears her scream and comes running.

Bridger and Smith go to see Lucas to dig up information on the Marauder; Lucas sounds almost reverential when he talks about this famous super-hacker (very in character, in line with how he reacted to The Regulator in season one), but more sceptical about his scientific theories. They leave him to work on finding out more.
Over on Mariah's ship, O'Neill is in trouble. She uses electric shocks to make him give her seaQuest's stealth codes, and he gives in ever so easily. She then goes to launch her attack.

On the bridge, Henderson reports that O'Neill is exactly where they left him. This is not surprising, really, since he dropped his tracer. Why is Henderson doing the tracing? Her function is navigation and helm. Just then, seaQuest is taken completely by surprise when the missiles are launched at them, and takes a bad hit. Most of the bridge crew have time to strap in and hang on, but Lucas arrives on the bridge at just the wrong moment. Bridger promptly leaps to his feet to make the boy sit; the missiles strike, Bridger takes a bad fall, and has to be rushed off to medbay unconscious.

Frantic with worry, Lucas nevertheless waits long enough to tell Ford that he's in charge now (which is patently obvious) before hurrying off also. Why does Lucas feel the need to say this to Ford? I know, it is exposition to make sure the audience realises, but from a character point of view – is this another example of Lucas' need to be in control somehow?

SeaQuest then takes a second hit, and is unable to see Mariah's ship, which is on the seabed disguised as a rock. Ford tells Ortiz to fire a torpedo at first one apparently random spot, blowing up a rock, and then another. When Ford orders a third strike, Brody yells at Ortiz not to do it and defies Ford right there on the bridge in front of everyone, challenging his authority and questioning his command decision. These two are always competitive, but Brody doesn't normally defy Ford so openly. In terms of naval protocol, Brody is way out of line here and technically once it is all over should get into serious hot water over it. Ortiz sits with his finger over the button waiting for them to decide who is in charge. Ford slaps Brody down (although not literally) for undermining his authority, and Brody then tells Ortiz to go ahead. Why is it that the sensor chief also controls weapons? Ah, of course – it's because they don't have a weapons officer anymore. Season one had so many more recurring characters, which added a strong sense of realism. The third strike hits Mariah's ship, which is forced into the open. Brody has to grudgingly admit that Ford was right, and Ford admits it was a guess.

A dogfight commences. Mariah's ship quickly comes off worse, and even the giant squid fails to help her, as seaQuest quickly dislodges it. Ford contacts her to order surrender, and when she refuses warns that he will be forced to destroy her ship … only for her to drag the unfortunate O'Neill into view. Everyone is terribly shocked. O'Neill apologizes, as he should, and tells them to do what they have to, all self-sacrifice again (as seen previously in 'Dead End'). Ford leaves Brody in charge of the bridge (to Brody's delight, hope the power doesn't go to his head) and goes off to see Bridger to ask what he should do. Like I said, the man likes to have his hand held. Bridger is still in medbay with concussion, unfit for duty, and promptly passes the buck straight back to Ford. Ford is in charge; it is his decision, like it or not. UEO policy is to never negotiate with terrorists, but Ford decides that O'Neill is worth making an exception for. He makes a deal with the Marauder – O'Neill in exchange for letting Mariah escape. For now.

It all goes smoothly. Once O'Neill is safely aboard, Ford tells Mariah that she can leave. She seems amazed, but doesn't need to be told twice. Ford then checks with Brody that he did the right thing, apparently needing reassurance. This guy just isn't confident enough of his command decisions. Not a good sign in someone bucking for a captaincy. He is too insecure; a captain needs to be decisive.

In medbay, O'Neill and Bridger are in neighbouring beds. O'Neill admits that he belongs on seaQuest. Identity crisis resolved. Happy ending. Ha.

As for the plot … well, it was a nice idea, in theory, to revisit the character of Mariah, but in practice it just wasn't smoothly done. If it had been written better, with improved characterisation, it could have turned out so much better than it did. Okay, so not everyone was out of character – in fact many of the incidental scenes had the characterisation spot on, but so much focus of the episode was on O'Neill, who was horribly out of character most of the time. In fact, the episode pivoted on his out-of-character actions. Maybe he was meant to be that unlike himself? As a sign of his discontent – that his depressed mental state was making him act in a way he wouldn't normally. Maybe, but that isn't enough, and the viewer can't believe that he would do that, which makes the rest of the episode hard to swallow. Overall, not the best, but with some lovely scenes that saved it.