Originally posted by Dream-a-Little
Actually I think we might be making the case for why Mitchell as a character should be the leader of SG-1. (As a character, not as an actor. As an actor, Ben should be playing the leader of SG-1 because that’s what he was cast to play. Nuff Said!) The consensus on various boards that I have visited seems to be that Colonel P. is actually the one in command here due to the fact that he is the Commander of the vessel and no one gets to usurp his command while on his ship. This seems to be the case whether you are using Navel or Air force protocol and also based on a prior mission in a season 6 episode with Jack involving the Prometheus. Colonel P. also outranks both Mitchell and Carter. He is a full Colonel. And yet, both here and in Beachhead the writers create a situation where Colonel P. abdicates his authority and essentially creates a command vacuum.
In Beachhead someone has to make a decision that is more than likely to be wrong, no matter which road you take. It’s not the kind of decision that you want to make if you can possibly get somebody else to do it. And here we do a round robin of pass the responsibility off to someone else. Colonel P. passes it to Sam, Sam then says she can’t make a call because she says she doesn’t have enough information to make the call and passes it to what looks like Daniel and Teal’c. (Sam is a scientist and is used to basing decisions on facts not supposition. Unfortunately, you are not always going to have the luxury of waiting for all the information to come in. Sometimes you are just going to have to go with what you have and fill in the blanks with intuition.)
Mitchell then steps up and makes the decision and gives the order, because hey somebody has to and no one else was willing to take responsibility. In the end, it turned out to be the right one. They wouldn’t have been where they needed to be for Vala to intervene if they had retreated. But it could have easily gone the other way and it’s not the kind of decision anyone would want to have to make.
Here in Ethon we repeat the pattern. We have an order that needs to be given. No one really disagrees that it has to be given, but who would really want to be the one to give it? You know if you are successful in your goal, that Daniel’s captors will most likely kill him in retaliation. Who wants to be the one that gives the order that sends Daniel home in a body bag? So once again Colonel P. abdicates authority and creates a command vacuum. He passes the buck to both Mitchell and Carter. We do the round robin bit, Mitchell looks to Carter, Carter looks to Teal’c (apparently joint command has now expanded to include Teal’c
) and Teal’c looks to Mitchell. Mitchell steps up and makes the decision and gives the order.
So the writers have deliberately created a situation twice that illustrates why you must have a clear chain of command. They deliberately undermine their own stated solution to the command issue by illustrating why it doesn’t work. In the field you don’t have time to have a conference, come to a consensus or take a poll. Someone has to be in the position to make clear and decisive decisions. In Ethon we proved that a lack of a clear chain of command leads to failed missions and people die. If they really believe in or want joint command, then creating situations that show why it doesn’t work is really beyond pea brained.
However, IMO what they are successfully illustrating here is a very clear reason why Mitchell as a character deserves to be leading SG-1. Mitchell should be leading SG-1 because in the end he is not afraid to make the hard decisions. The ones that no one else wants to make, the ones where there is no clear cut wrong or right or you may have to give an order that will cause a team mate to have to give his life in the line of duty. Because those are the kind of decisions that the leader of the front line SG team will quite often be facing and he’s proven that he can and will step up when others can’t or won’t. And maybe that’s the point their actually setting out to make here in both of these situations. If they insist on proving me wrong I am just going to have to dispair of them ever showing any sense or growing back certain body parts (male that is) that they seem to have let some fan groups cut off!
In Beachhead someone has to make a decision that is more than likely to be wrong, no matter which road you take. It’s not the kind of decision that you want to make if you can possibly get somebody else to do it. And here we do a round robin of pass the responsibility off to someone else. Colonel P. passes it to Sam, Sam then says she can’t make a call because she says she doesn’t have enough information to make the call and passes it to what looks like Daniel and Teal’c. (Sam is a scientist and is used to basing decisions on facts not supposition. Unfortunately, you are not always going to have the luxury of waiting for all the information to come in. Sometimes you are just going to have to go with what you have and fill in the blanks with intuition.)
Mitchell then steps up and makes the decision and gives the order, because hey somebody has to and no one else was willing to take responsibility. In the end, it turned out to be the right one. They wouldn’t have been where they needed to be for Vala to intervene if they had retreated. But it could have easily gone the other way and it’s not the kind of decision anyone would want to have to make.
Here in Ethon we repeat the pattern. We have an order that needs to be given. No one really disagrees that it has to be given, but who would really want to be the one to give it? You know if you are successful in your goal, that Daniel’s captors will most likely kill him in retaliation. Who wants to be the one that gives the order that sends Daniel home in a body bag? So once again Colonel P. abdicates authority and creates a command vacuum. He passes the buck to both Mitchell and Carter. We do the round robin bit, Mitchell looks to Carter, Carter looks to Teal’c (apparently joint command has now expanded to include Teal’c
) and Teal’c looks to Mitchell. Mitchell steps up and makes the decision and gives the order.So the writers have deliberately created a situation twice that illustrates why you must have a clear chain of command. They deliberately undermine their own stated solution to the command issue by illustrating why it doesn’t work. In the field you don’t have time to have a conference, come to a consensus or take a poll. Someone has to be in the position to make clear and decisive decisions. In Ethon we proved that a lack of a clear chain of command leads to failed missions and people die. If they really believe in or want joint command, then creating situations that show why it doesn’t work is really beyond pea brained.
However, IMO what they are successfully illustrating here is a very clear reason why Mitchell as a character deserves to be leading SG-1. Mitchell should be leading SG-1 because in the end he is not afraid to make the hard decisions. The ones that no one else wants to make, the ones where there is no clear cut wrong or right or you may have to give an order that will cause a team mate to have to give his life in the line of duty. Because those are the kind of decisions that the leader of the front line SG team will quite often be facing and he’s proven that he can and will step up when others can’t or won’t. And maybe that’s the point their actually setting out to make here in both of these situations. If they insist on proving me wrong I am just going to have to dispair of them ever showing any sense or growing back certain body parts (male that is) that they seem to have let some fan groups cut off!
Like you, I hope that we're not reading traits that these producers cannot live up to, that they have grown some and this is what they deliberately are portraying in their stories for this season. I must confess, it's certainly coming across that way. Too many subtle instances, as you've stated.
The first time he has been give a chance to really shine, but hopefully not the last!
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