The Fifth Man is episode 4 of season 5 of Stargate SG-1, first aired in 2001.
SG-1 rushes back from a mission, leaving Lieutenant Tyler behind. The problem: there is no Lieutenant Tyler. The man is an alien whose species secretes a pheromone that implants false memories, and while the team fights to go back for him, the NID smells the opportunity for a perfect manipulation weapon.
Why it matters to the mythology
A standalone episode, but Colonel Simmons enters the scene: Maybourne's successor, colder and more dangerous.
First appearance
Colonel Frank Simmons
The review
An elegant paranoia premise: what if your longtime teammate had only existed since this morning? The episode cleverly plays both sides, the team ready to die for a stranger they believe is one of their own, and the brass who see it as proof of compromise. Simmons immediately establishes his silky voice of an inquisitorial bureaucrat. The creature under the mask is quickly forgotten, but the mechanism sticks in your head. A good, smart B-movie.
Written by Sebastian
Founder and editor-in-chief of Stargate Initiative
Gallery · 3
Stills from the episode, via TMDb.
The community watches the episode
Creators watch it, react to it, break it down. We're just the bridge: the views stay on their channels.
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