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SGA season 3, ep 2
I think this is one of those like "Michael" and "Poisoning the Well" that I'm probably not going to want to watch again anytime soon. Not because it wasn't good, but because it was so -- uncomfortable. What an incredibly difficult situation to be in. I like the fact that this show delves into the really difficult moral questions, situations where there are no right answers (and I remember some episodes of SG1 did likewise). I do wish that the writers had the time or inclination, within the confines of an hour-long, episodic show, to explore the ramifications of the characters' actions more deeply than they do.
What makes it a lot less tricky than the real-world analogs to this sort of situation is that in their natural state, the Wraith are an enemy that cannot be appeased, made treaties with, or dealt with as anything other than deadly enemies. Therefore, converting them to humans against their will is less morally problematic because the only other option is killing them -- if you want to avoid bloodshed, there really IS no other way. Which is the greater wrong, depriving a sentient being of free will, or killing it? Probably killing it. If your ultimate aim is to save your enemy rather than destroy him, the only way to do it in this particular case is by saving him against his will. There is no other outcome than death, his or yours.
So then they're stuck with a group of human beings that they're responsible for ... and that's where this particular episode kind of squicked me. The funny thing is, I'd just been involved in a discussion on another LJ about a fanfic in which two of the characters (Teyla and Ronon) massacred an entire village who had captured and almost killed their teammates -- at first to save them, but then they went ahead and finished the job even after they had rescued their people. It was something that I had a very strong negative reaction to ... it didn't seem in character that they would do such a thing, and I didn't like how the consequences were glossed over at the end. Yet ... pretty much the same thing happened in this episode, with Sheppard giving an order that resulted in the deaths of dozens of currently harmless, currently *human* ex-Wraith -- and then Elizabeth gets kudos for perpetuating her very own My Lai. The fact that they had the failsafe bomb in place tends to imply that they were prepared to do this from the very beginning -- and this, then, would imply that the Atlanteans (with the possible exception of Beckett, who I suspect is going to need a LOT of sessions on Heightmeyer's couch after this one) don't perceive even the humanified Wraith as fully human ... even though they are GENETICALLY human. And that's *very* morally problematic for me. Not that I can't understand why they would feel that way, having seen and suffered from what the Wraith can do. But still ... it's problematic, made more so by the fact that they deliberately put the Wraith in this condition. If the objective is saving their lives rather than committing genocide on them (the only other option for dealing with Wraith, since the show has set them up as an enemy that cannot be dealt with by treaty) then what are they saving them FOR? As one of the characters pointed out in this episode, they can't ever trust them in regular human society, even with the drug. Which would mean that if they ever did "de-Wraithify" large numbers of Wraith, they'd have to be relegated to exile, much as these were -- and since they would be all-male, they'd basically just have to live out their natural lifespan on some godforsaken planet and then die; they wouldn't be able to have children and create a community. The eventual outcome is genocide in any case; it's just slow genocide. Basically they'd be killing off the Wraith in a way that makes *them* feel better about it, not necessarily a way that is any kinder for the Wraith than simply being blown out of the sky.
Probably the closest thing I can think of in real life is a pathological serial killer or rapist, who can be helped with medication but can't ever be released into society because of the risk of recidivism. Such a person might not want to be helped and might prefer to stay in their natural state, but can't be allowed to do so because they are a threat to other people. And though they might undergo a change of heart in prison, they'd still have to deal with the consequences of having done things when they were ... well, insane. But it doesn't parallel exactly because the Wraith are acting in a way that's normal for their society. They've been socialized that way -- I think we saw with Ellia that Wraith raised among humans are fully capable of picking up human social mores, of loving and wanting to fit in. Wraith raised in Wraith society, however, are very violent and caste-oriented, and don't seem to have a whole lot of loyalty towards each other as individuals, nor do they appear to have anything approaching love or friendship with each other (at least not that we've seen). Having been socialized that way, there's no telling how much of that would be carried over into the behavior of humanized Wraith, even without their memories. I would have to re-watch Michael to get a better feel for this, but watching it the first time I sort of got the impression that Michael was mainly going through the motions of getting along with people, especially towards the end right before he began reverting. His isolation and fear was genuine, but as far as trying to make friends with people -- how much of that was just doing what was expected of him in a social situation? In this episode, too ... we've seen humanform Wraith afraid and uncertain, but never really seen them exhibit anything like compassion, friendship or individual loyalty. The Wraith in their natural state have a definite group loyalty to each other, but individuals seem to be perceived as totally expendable. And if humanform Wraith continue to behave that way, then they never *will* be able to exist in human society.
Too much thinking for a Saturday morning ...
Besides just being much heavier going, this episode didn't have nearly as many squee-ful moments as the last one. I did, however, love Elizabeth's awkward attempt to tell the group how much they mean to her, and Rodney's characteristic defusing-with-humor followed by his little "I knew what you meant, though" smile towards her. Awwwww! Later on, though, the "defending my honor" conversation between Elizabeth and Sheppard didn't get nearly as positive a reaction from me. The scene in the conference room seemed very natural and in-character; whereas the scene in Elizabeth's office seemed kind of forced.
I still can't figure out how they're going to deal with Caldwell this season. I really like Caldwell and am hoping not to have him presented in a bad-guy role. And, let's face it, if he really wanted to get Sheppard's job as ruthlessly as he's often portrayed in fanfic, he's had MORE than enough opportunity -- in this episode, for example, where he pushes the newly repaired Daedalus just to rescue Sheppard & co., when he could have stayed in orbit around Atlantis with a perfectly valid excuse to just let them die out there. At the very least, I think he's been presented as an honorable person in canon, even if he's not personally that fond of the Atlanteans as individuals. I liked the one-on-one Caldwell/Weir and Caldwell/Sheppard interaction that we got last season, and I'm hoping they'll be, at the very least, amicable opponents this season.
What makes it a lot less tricky than the real-world analogs to this sort of situation is that in their natural state, the Wraith are an enemy that cannot be appeased, made treaties with, or dealt with as anything other than deadly enemies. Therefore, converting them to humans against their will is less morally problematic because the only other option is killing them -- if you want to avoid bloodshed, there really IS no other way. Which is the greater wrong, depriving a sentient being of free will, or killing it? Probably killing it. If your ultimate aim is to save your enemy rather than destroy him, the only way to do it in this particular case is by saving him against his will. There is no other outcome than death, his or yours.
So then they're stuck with a group of human beings that they're responsible for ... and that's where this particular episode kind of squicked me. The funny thing is, I'd just been involved in a discussion on another LJ about a fanfic in which two of the characters (Teyla and Ronon) massacred an entire village who had captured and almost killed their teammates -- at first to save them, but then they went ahead and finished the job even after they had rescued their people. It was something that I had a very strong negative reaction to ... it didn't seem in character that they would do such a thing, and I didn't like how the consequences were glossed over at the end. Yet ... pretty much the same thing happened in this episode, with Sheppard giving an order that resulted in the deaths of dozens of currently harmless, currently *human* ex-Wraith -- and then Elizabeth gets kudos for perpetuating her very own My Lai. The fact that they had the failsafe bomb in place tends to imply that they were prepared to do this from the very beginning -- and this, then, would imply that the Atlanteans (with the possible exception of Beckett, who I suspect is going to need a LOT of sessions on Heightmeyer's couch after this one) don't perceive even the humanified Wraith as fully human ... even though they are GENETICALLY human. And that's *very* morally problematic for me. Not that I can't understand why they would feel that way, having seen and suffered from what the Wraith can do. But still ... it's problematic, made more so by the fact that they deliberately put the Wraith in this condition. If the objective is saving their lives rather than committing genocide on them (the only other option for dealing with Wraith, since the show has set them up as an enemy that cannot be dealt with by treaty) then what are they saving them FOR? As one of the characters pointed out in this episode, they can't ever trust them in regular human society, even with the drug. Which would mean that if they ever did "de-Wraithify" large numbers of Wraith, they'd have to be relegated to exile, much as these were -- and since they would be all-male, they'd basically just have to live out their natural lifespan on some godforsaken planet and then die; they wouldn't be able to have children and create a community. The eventual outcome is genocide in any case; it's just slow genocide. Basically they'd be killing off the Wraith in a way that makes *them* feel better about it, not necessarily a way that is any kinder for the Wraith than simply being blown out of the sky.
Probably the closest thing I can think of in real life is a pathological serial killer or rapist, who can be helped with medication but can't ever be released into society because of the risk of recidivism. Such a person might not want to be helped and might prefer to stay in their natural state, but can't be allowed to do so because they are a threat to other people. And though they might undergo a change of heart in prison, they'd still have to deal with the consequences of having done things when they were ... well, insane. But it doesn't parallel exactly because the Wraith are acting in a way that's normal for their society. They've been socialized that way -- I think we saw with Ellia that Wraith raised among humans are fully capable of picking up human social mores, of loving and wanting to fit in. Wraith raised in Wraith society, however, are very violent and caste-oriented, and don't seem to have a whole lot of loyalty towards each other as individuals, nor do they appear to have anything approaching love or friendship with each other (at least not that we've seen). Having been socialized that way, there's no telling how much of that would be carried over into the behavior of humanized Wraith, even without their memories. I would have to re-watch Michael to get a better feel for this, but watching it the first time I sort of got the impression that Michael was mainly going through the motions of getting along with people, especially towards the end right before he began reverting. His isolation and fear was genuine, but as far as trying to make friends with people -- how much of that was just doing what was expected of him in a social situation? In this episode, too ... we've seen humanform Wraith afraid and uncertain, but never really seen them exhibit anything like compassion, friendship or individual loyalty. The Wraith in their natural state have a definite group loyalty to each other, but individuals seem to be perceived as totally expendable. And if humanform Wraith continue to behave that way, then they never *will* be able to exist in human society.
Too much thinking for a Saturday morning ...
Besides just being much heavier going, this episode didn't have nearly as many squee-ful moments as the last one. I did, however, love Elizabeth's awkward attempt to tell the group how much they mean to her, and Rodney's characteristic defusing-with-humor followed by his little "I knew what you meant, though" smile towards her. Awwwww! Later on, though, the "defending my honor" conversation between Elizabeth and Sheppard didn't get nearly as positive a reaction from me. The scene in the conference room seemed very natural and in-character; whereas the scene in Elizabeth's office seemed kind of forced.
I still can't figure out how they're going to deal with Caldwell this season. I really like Caldwell and am hoping not to have him presented in a bad-guy role. And, let's face it, if he really wanted to get Sheppard's job as ruthlessly as he's often portrayed in fanfic, he's had MORE than enough opportunity -- in this episode, for example, where he pushes the newly repaired Daedalus just to rescue Sheppard & co., when he could have stayed in orbit around Atlantis with a perfectly valid excuse to just let them die out there. At the very least, I think he's been presented as an honorable person in canon, even if he's not personally that fond of the Atlanteans as individuals. I liked the one-on-one Caldwell/Weir and Caldwell/Sheppard interaction that we got last season, and I'm hoping they'll be, at the very least, amicable opponents this season.