"Look, Carter, here's the bottom line: no one is seeing what you've seen, and until that happens we're all gonna think you're nuts!"
— Col. Jack O'Neill
Carter mysteriously collapses while the team investigates what they hope could be a powerful weapon on a seemingly deserted planet, and is later followed home by an ascended being who claims to have fallen in love with her. She tries to warn the others, but none of them believe her claims and suspect that she is suffering from a stress-related nervous breakdown.
First appearance of Colonel Simmons.
"Ascension" provides examples of the following tropes:
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite everything they've seen so far, the others refuse to believe that Carter was followed home by an alien who can disappear at will and instead assume that she's having some kind of nervous breakdown.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Orlin re-ascends at the end of the episode after he's been shot, claiming that the Others have given him a second chance to avert the weapons test.
- Blatant Lies: When Carter calls Daniel to ask how his translation of the column on Velona is coming along:Daniel: Yeah, I'm almost done. It, uh, miraculously seems to hold the key to all the mysteries of the universe.Carter: ...You just got there, you haven't started and I should leave you alone.
- Continuity Nod:
- Fraiser reels off a list of the traumatic things that have happened to Carter in the last few years in order to make the point that she could be suffering from exhaustion:
Fraiser: At least consider what you've been through the last few years. You have had a Tok'ra symbiote die in your brain, your memory has been stamped and your entire consciousness has been transferred out of your body, into a computer and then back again, and that is just for starters.- Hammond re-introduces Carter and Colonel Reynolds, pointing out that they met before when Reynolds was working at Area 51.
- After learning that Orlin is an ascended being, Carter mentions Oma Desala.
- The Exile: Orlin was exiled by the Others after breaking their non-interference policy and helping the Velonans build their superweapon.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Orlin initially takes human form while remaining incorporeal in order to communicate with Carter; later, he decides to become fully human and mortal so that he can be with her.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Orlin builds a functioning stargate in Carter's basement using spare parts from her toaster and items ordered online.
- Hypocritical Humor: O'Neill's response when Carter expresses her disbelief that he's never seen Star Wars:O'Neill: Well, you know me and sci-fi.
- I Resemble That Remark!: When O'Neill suggests that Carter has been a little tense of late, she very tensely informs him otherwise.Carter: Tense?! Me? I'm not tense. Am I? ...When did you notice?O'Neill: As we met.
- Learnt English from Watching Television: Orlin claims that he learned how to speak English, as well as how to act and dress like a modern American human, after watching TV overnight.
- Love at First Sight: Orlin claims that this is what he felt for Carter when he first saw her on the planet. Carter finds this incredibly creepy.
- Mud Wrestling: Discussed:Teal'c: I have read of a place where humans do battle in a ring of Jello.O'Neill: Call Daniel.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Orlin broke the rules to give the Velonans the information they would need to build their superweapon and defeat the Goa'uld, as he was unable to stand by and watch them get wiped out. This came back to bite him in the ass, as the Velonans quickly turned their attention towards conquering other races with their new firepower, prompting the Others to intervene by wiping them all out and banishing Orlin to the wasteland that was left as punishment.
- Noodle Implements: Orlin somehow uses Carter's microwave to make her a giant emerald, and later uses parts from her toaster to fashion a working stargate.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Colonel Simmons.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Daniel and Simmons do this at the briefing room table when Daniel objects to the testing of the Velonan weapon.Simmons: Need I remind you, Dr. Jackson, of the danger that we're trying to defend Earth against?Daniel: Oh, could you? I mean, go slow.
- Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Teal'c has apparently seen it nine times. Although Carter thinks O'Neill is the weird one as he hasn't even seen it once.
- Spies In a Van: Simmons' men have a surveillance van parked outside Carter's house.
- Stalker with a Crush: Orlin towards Carter, at least to begin with.
- Stalking is Love: Averted; Carter is incredibly creeped out at first when Orlin shows up at her house and starts saying that he loves her, explicitly calling it stalking and repeatedly telling him that they are not in a relationship. She does eventually grow to like him after his behavior mellows out a bit, but never quite falls for him to the same extent that he claims to have for her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Carter calls out O'Neill — and by extension, the rest of the SGC —for keeping tabs on her without her knowledge.
- Workaholic: Carter is completely unable to switch off when she's given down, at one point stating that she doesn't really have anything to do outside of work. This leads O'Neill and Hammond to assume that she is having some kind of stress-related mental breakdown when she starts talking about invisible aliens in her home after collapsing on a mission for no apparent reason.
