While on a remote planet, Carter, Teal’c and O’Neill are busy setting up an observatory to monitor the solar flares emanating from the sun. Meanwhile, Daniel is giving Malaki, an alien archeologist, a hand in examining some ruins, which includes an altar of some kind. Just as SG-1 prepares to leave before the solar flares get any worse--without warning--Malaki uses a weapon to stun Daniel, and then activates the altar. This in turn sends a massive energy pulse through the stargate, as well as the surrounding area. When O’Neill and Teal’c try to subdue Malaki, the trio are all engulfed by a burst of energy. The result is that O’Neill inexplicably finds himself back in the commissary earlier that morning, eating breakfast with Daniel and Sam.

And as the same day progresses, O’Neill and Teal’c quickly realize that they are both reliving the same events over and over again. It ends with the stargate being engulfed in the energy burst, and begins for O’Neill back in the commissary with Daniel and Sam, while Teal’c has to endure the indignity of reliving having a door accidentally slammed into his face each and every time the same day begins anew. Window Of Opportunity is basically the Stargate remake of Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray comedy/fantasy about a guy reliving the same day over and over. And O’Neill even references the Murray film at one point in the episode. But what makes Window Of Opportunity such a great episode is how the creative team adapts this concept to their own characters.

At one point, Daniel informs O’Neill and Teal’c that they could easily take advantage of the situation by doing off-the-wall things without worrying about the consequences--and the sly look that O’Neill and Teal’c share signals the hysterically funny scenes to come: which include Teal’c and O’Neill learning how to juggle, O’Neill learning arts and crafts, and both of the boys playing golf in the gate room by whacking the balls right into the active stargate. Yet my favorite moment is when O’Neill, clad in civilian clothes, strides into the stargate control room and offers his letter of resignation to Hammond. When Sam asks why he’s resigning, O’Neill replies, "So I can do this." And then he promptly takes her into his arms and kisses her.

The subtle sexual tension that had been building between O’Neill and Carter within the past few seasons--and which reached a crescendo in the previous episode, Divide And Conquer--have been paid off, to an extent, here. Technically, once the timeline is restored, the kiss never actually happened, yet O’Neill still retains a pleasant memory of it (resulting in a funny scene with O'Neill giving a confused Carter a knowing smile across the conference table). And, lest people think it’s a complete laugh fest, Window Of Opportunity still manages to deliver a poignant scene at the end that effectively conveys the pain of letting go of a lost loved one. Thanks to its perfect balance of comedy and drama, Window Of Opportunity is one of the best Stargate SG1 episodes that’s deservingly become a minor classic.