(no subject)
Jul. 25th, 2006 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyficIn Misbegotten the Atlanteans fuck up repeatedly. I see this incompetence as the result of their unwillingness to relinquish the role of hero. The most logical road to survival, as best represented by John, is to eliminate the prisoners. But Weir and especially Beckett still see themselves as essentially good people doing what's right which means that they go down this immoral path but they won't take things to their logical conclusion. Carson Beckett, who has created this retrovirus that clearly violates his Hippocratic oath, asserts his morality only after the retrovirus has been deployed and he has two hundred human/wraith prisoners. He still sees himself as a good doctor. This moral floundering on his part and the part of Weir is what makes the situation as bad as it is. If either of them were willing, as Sheppard is, to relinquish the role of hero and admit that they are doing what they have to to survive, they would have killed the prisoners and not risked endangering Earth again.
And let's not forget that the dithering about giving the prisoners ethical treatment leads to the death of a few guards. I was most amazed by Beckett's blind faith that the Wraith prisoners will behave. He trusts them with an absurd amount of responsibility, given that they are POW's and he is at war with their kind. I can't see this as anything other than a rationalization to himself that the creatures he has created with his retrovirus are in fact human and essentially good -- because if he admits that he has radically changed them without changing their nature then he admits that he is unethically experimenting on them rather than "curing" them.
By administering the retrovirus, the Atlanteans are clearly gaining something. They are (at least temporarily) pacifying and neutralizing an enemy. Particularly in the case of Michael -- they give him the treatment the second time just to eliminate the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of their interactions with him. They do it specifically to erase his memory, and therefore control him.
But throughout all of this, Beckett and Weir insist they are doing it for the Wraith's own good. This is clearly a conflict of interest, and one Michael pointed out in his first appearance. They can't be doing it to benefit the Wraith if they are clearly doing it to win the war.
This is what bothers me the most about Weir's role in all of this. If she just admitted it was survival, fine. I'd understand that. It's that she insists that it's in the Wraith's best interests -- heck, that she knows and has the right to decide the best interest of an entire sentient race -- that seems so immoral to me.
Man, oh man. Clearly this ep has me riled. But I will take this any day over the complete apathy I feel after watching season 10 episodes of SG1.
And let's not forget that the dithering about giving the prisoners ethical treatment leads to the death of a few guards. I was most amazed by Beckett's blind faith that the Wraith prisoners will behave. He trusts them with an absurd amount of responsibility, given that they are POW's and he is at war with their kind. I can't see this as anything other than a rationalization to himself that the creatures he has created with his retrovirus are in fact human and essentially good -- because if he admits that he has radically changed them without changing their nature then he admits that he is unethically experimenting on them rather than "curing" them.
By administering the retrovirus, the Atlanteans are clearly gaining something. They are (at least temporarily) pacifying and neutralizing an enemy. Particularly in the case of Michael -- they give him the treatment the second time just to eliminate the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of their interactions with him. They do it specifically to erase his memory, and therefore control him.
But throughout all of this, Beckett and Weir insist they are doing it for the Wraith's own good. This is clearly a conflict of interest, and one Michael pointed out in his first appearance. They can't be doing it to benefit the Wraith if they are clearly doing it to win the war.
This is what bothers me the most about Weir's role in all of this. If she just admitted it was survival, fine. I'd understand that. It's that she insists that it's in the Wraith's best interests -- heck, that she knows and has the right to decide the best interest of an entire sentient race -- that seems so immoral to me.
Man, oh man. Clearly this ep has me riled. But I will take this any day over the complete apathy I feel after watching season 10 episodes of SG1.