Poisoning the Well (107)

[The Flyattractor]

Just noticed that Steve dosen't have any face tats?

Why is that?

Didn't want to mess up his good looks with em?]

[addicted_to_steve]

Just noticed that Steve dosen't have any face tats?

Why is that?

Didn't want to mess up his good looks with em?]

That's my theory. He realised he was devilishly handsome enough without having to highlight his facial features with tats
This does not mean that there are none on his body...

[maneth]

Interesting ep. The ending was rather predictable, however...It would simply have been too easy if they'd found something that would prevent the Wraith feeding on humans without any side effects.

[Skie]

Interesting ep. The ending was rather predictable, however...It would simply have been too easy if they'd found something that would prevent the Wraith feeding on humans without any side effects.

What was too effortless is the fact that they could synthesize this protein so quickly. Such a thing is not easy, especially as we can easily assume that a protein capable of fending off the feeding process is highly complex. I would have made two parts. First make contact with the Hoffans and test the drug on the cells they got from the wraith arm. Let some time go by for other eps. After that show a second ep with the capture of the wraith and then the test on poor Steve.

What they also don't say is the fact that you would need to repeat those inoculations after some years if it works like a vaccination. But if it is not like a vaccination, the protein will catabolize and you need to take it like a drug for it to work (with maybe the risk of dying again). Not to mention that you would loose 50% of every next generation until you refine the drug (that having the risk that it would not be as effective as before or would not work at all) as they would have to be inoculated again.

The other thing is that also some wraiths would be immune (e.g. even for HIV there is immunity) and this would then be genetical, meaning those wraiths who survive are giving this immunity to the next generation.

Something to add:
That was a very slippery road they took and that's why I loved S1-3, the moral issue, which was often brought up by Weir. That's why a civilian has to lead this expedition and not some military guy. Are we any better than the wraith if we use them for experiments and let them starve to death. The wraith were accused for experimenting in THE GIFT but look what we did.

[Skie]

I just wondered today:
If Steve could have fed after he tried to feed on that terminally ill patient, would he have survived? Because we know they have incredible regenerative/healing abilities. Maybe it would have been possible for Steve to recover from the poisoning? Just wondered.

[WraithRichard]

Something to add:
That was a very slippery road they took and that's why I loved S1-3, the moral issue, which was often brought up by Weir. That's why a civilian has to lead this expedition and not some military guy. Are we any better than the wraith if we use them for experiments and let them starve to death. The wraith were accused for experimenting in THE GIFT but look what we did.

Indeed this was confusing. So what they did was bad, but what we did was okay, even though we have laws forbidding it specifically, but those can apparently be ignored if no one's going to tell you it was wrong.

This insinuates all the humans collaborated to a completely different story for their mission reports, or that the IOA, members of which can easily get themselves into--pardon the phrase, I see none better--deep ****, has secretly added 'when we feel like it' to intentional laws of war (all but one country on the Atlantis committee has ratified the Geneva convention alone) and called it a day when it came to Atlantis protocol.

Amazing how representatives of several dozen countries can be written so out of character offscreen.

[Skie]

Amazing how representatives of several dozen countries can be written so out of character offscreen.

You can MAYBE be a bit more forgiving in S1, since there they were cut off from Earth. It makes you more desperate and the IOA could not intervene after reading mission reports. BUT after they regained contact with Earth, this SHOULD have been brought up.
And though I don't like Kavanagh, he was actually right about reporting that incident with Steve to O'Neill in a private message in the ep LOP. But he probably only did it because it gave him the opportunity to criticize Weir. Because I didn't agree with his other whinings as Ford so nicely put it.

[WraithRichard]

You can MAYBE be a bit more forgiving in S1, since there they were cut off from Earth. It makes you more desperate and the IOA could not intervene after reading mission reports. BUT after they regained contact with Earth, this SHOULD have been brought up.
And though I don't like Kavanagh, he was actually right about reporting that incident with Steve to O'Neill in a private message in the ep LOP. But he probably only did it because it gave him the opportunity to criticize Weir. Because I didn't agree with his other whinings as Ford so nicely put it.

Indeed. Just because a person you don't like does something for the wrong reason doesn't mean it isn't right the right thing to do. As a people, we'll have to make a formal apology for it someday

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

I'm starting to think getting ahead of the pace.

I thought was an average episode.

Carson found love and she died, sad

Monday, the Genii make their first appearance.

[hlndncr]

This is the episode that made Dr. Beckett a star. After Paul McGillion's performance how could they not make him one of the principles.

This is the episode where Carson gets his name. If I recall correctly, Damian Kindler went to Brad Wright when he started writing this episode asking what Dr. Beckett's first name was and BW made it up on the spot because he didn't have one.

I think this is a great story and did turn out to be a jumping off point for several later storylines. The Hoffan culture was fabulous. It's the first indication of some advancement among the peoples of the Pegasus Galaxy. We learn something of how the Wraith operate and get a feel for what it must be like to live under the shadow of an inevitable culling. We also have interesting moral questions that are addressed but never fully answered to anyone's satisfaction. I enjoyed the murkiness of it all.

This is definitely my favorite episode so far.

[Lieutenant Sparrow]

Pretty boring ep.

Beckett was pretty good. Paul McGillion's best performance so far.

What's with Teyla's hair? Did she originally have dinner plans? Looked nice anyway.

I know the Hoffan people were desperate but wow. Such a risk.

The Hoffan drug will make for some interesting stories later on.

[mathpiglet]

The Hoffan drug does lead to many episodes later on, but the best part for me was the ethics discussion between Weir and Shepherd. I'm still not sure with whom I agree.

[Krisz]

I completely forgot this episode, don't know if I'd even ever watched it! It explains why when there was mention of this 'Hoffan drug' in odd episodes I happened to watch later on that I wondered where it came from!

It was actually quite a good episode. What a moral conundrum?! It reminded me of the SG-1 episode with the people using Goa'uld symbiotes to synthesise a drug that gave them immunity to disease at the cost of Tok'ra lives it turned out. Again the choice of letting people die for what is believed to be for a greater good. Also killing one species to save another, not much room for moral sensibilities here it seems!

Beckett was great in this episode, he really shines as the conflicted Doctor going against the very oath he stood by. It's the question of how desperate does a person or group get before ethics are questioned and even abandoned in the face of death!

[Lythisrose]

Joe Mallozzi's memories of this episode:
http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/...d-underground/

POISONING THE WELL (107)

This was my favorite episode since the two-hour opener. It offered a difficult moral and ethical dilemma with no easy answers and a wonderful emotional arc in Carson Beckett’s working relationship with Perna, the Hoffan scientist. I like my endings like I like my chocolate, bittersweet, so the conclusion to this one really resonated with me. The episode also delivers one of the most unwieldy, difficult to deliver lines in Stargate history with “One hundred percent cellular penetration in all five test inoculations”! Try saying that five times fast.

The captive wraith gets a name, Steve, only to die before we get a chance to know him. C’est la vie. Given the circumstances and his push to experiment on the prisoner, I found Sheppard’s “We’re gonna help you” assurance as Steve succumbs to the effects of the Hoffan drug altogether bizarre. If anyone would have adopted this conciliatory stance, it should have been civilian Commander Weir and yet even she sees the logic in Sheppard’s arguments, acceding to his demands for experimentation. When he first mentions it, she brings up the Geneva Convention to which Sheppard counters that if the wraith were at the Geneva Convention, they would have no doubt fed on the other participants. Good point. Ultimately, this enemy is not one that can be reasoned with. Short of discovering a way for them to gain sustenance without feeding on humans (and we’ll come to that later in the series’ run), it’s kill or be killed.

There are, of course, those pro-wraithers who point out that the wraith’s actions are dictated by survival instincts. They’re not evil. And, while that may seem true (although the obvious joy they take in torturing their prey suggests otherwise), I would point out that the Atlantis expedition and the rest of the humans in the Pegasus galaxy are simply fighting back, the result of their own survival instincts.

[garhkal]

I completely forgot this episode, don't know if I'd even ever watched it! It explains why when there was mention of this 'Hoffan drug' in odd episodes I happened to watch later on that I wondered where it came from!

It was actually quite a good episode. What a moral conundrum?!

Beckett was great in this episode, he really shines as the conflicted Doctor going against the very oath he stood by. It's the question of how desperate does a person or group get before ethics are questioned and even abandoned in the face of death!

Especially when those taking the drug stand a 50/50 chance of dying from it.
And i agree that this ep MADE dr Beckett.