Wray's 'Negotiation' Skills

[meo3000]

Kiva said it best:

"I can see that you're someone who enjoys talking through problems. But if you don't solves this new one then neither of us will have anything to talk about."

If Wray knew what she was doing, when they brought the body, she should have pulled a gun and shot one of the four LA hostage in the head. Turn to Kiva and say: "Now, thats a fair exchange". Maybe then Kiva would have respected her as a leader. Instead she panicked and now Kiva knows theres no real leadership on Destiny.

Good job!

[RedXian]

Wray is not a trained negotiator. She was the head of the HR department on the Icarus Base. And not a very high in the IOA echelons either.

She, like everyone else on board, is being shoehorned into a a role that they are not quite up to perform.

Expecting Wray's negotiating skills to be high when she doesn't even understand the motivations of whom she is negotiating with is a bit much.

[garhkal]

/approve of this post

Seriously though, Wray is not a trained negotiator, so it's not exactly a surprise that she failed.

On a side note as to why she failed: Kiva is insane.

I was wondering if someone was going to mention that scene.

I think it's interesting that much Wray's actions have been based on the fear that Young would become despotic. In Kiva, she finds the actual representation of her fear.

That is true. If nothing else, this has shown her that Young is NOT what she thought he was, and that it is sometimes better the Devil you know.

If Wray knew what she was doing, when they brought the body, she should have pulled a gun and shot one of the four LA hostage in the head. Turn to Kiva and say: "Now, thats a fair exchange". Maybe then Kiva would have respected her as a leader. Instead she panicked and now Kiva knows theres no real leadership on Destiny.

That would have been something to see, but i don;t think Wray has that cold calculating mindset.

[RJLCyberPunk]

She talked big but faltered under pressure. Go figure, she's your regular bureaucrat.

As others said she is a freaking politician not a trained hostage negotiator, she was well intentioned but pretty darn naive. She is quickly learning how though life can really be beyond a desk.

[magictrick]

I like Wray far more than Young. She attempted to soothe the situation with minimal casualties and I can applaud that.

She's annoying to no end. I hate people who pretend to know better but actually don't. She always tries to prove that her way is better than Young's or the military, which is ok, but she goes about it the wrong way.

As others said she is a freaking politician not a trained hostage negotiator, she was well intentioned but pretty darn naive. She is quickly learning how though life can really be beyond a desk.

Yep that's exactly my point. They all talk like they are experts, but have no idea how negotiating actually works in these types of situations. I'm not saying many people can be trained to negotiate with criminals on a spaceship millions of lightyears from Earth, but you get the picture

[jmoz]

Spoiler:

Think they're just giving her scenes, building her up so that she can take over in future episodes. All the while making Young make some unbelievable mistakes again to build her up taking over. Going to be more "I wanna be Prom Queen" (in charge) "stuff", it seems. My opinion, may not be yours.

[koroush47]

Does she actualy have any? The only thing that she was actualy supposed to be good at and she flails miserably, as per usual. She really is useless.

She is pretty bad at it, she should of not given four prisoners and food for 3 + a dead one.

What a bad negotiator. Keep in mind that wray was in the position of power also.

[Kelara]

Love how startled she was when Young immediately agreed with her and allowed her to try. Also loved the look on Rush's face when Young immediately agreed with him as well. All of them might be starting to view the others a little differently after this.

The question would be why Young agreed so readily this time. Just one episode before, he couldn't even tell her he was having a plan while doing the "near death experience breakes brainwashing" trick. What would it have hurt to tell her about that in half a sentence and thereby stop her snapping and yapping at his heels?

And this time she just mentions how things could be different and he gives her full authority. No wonder everyone was startled to high heavens. Could be that he's worried that he can't be impartial/ controlled enough (seeing as his child is a hostage along with TJ). Could be that he has decided they are in a no-win situation anyway and he could as well benefit by deliberately setting Wray up to fail (since he knew no one was really proficient in hostage negotiations). So she will keep her mouth shut in the future. Like "See, this is what happens when we do it your way. Way to go girly!" Seeing how Young seems to really be into mindgames, it's at least a possibility. Build your position not by strengthening it, but by weakening others.

[Can you tell I'm not the greatest Young fan ?]

[meo3000]

Could be that he has decided they are in a no-win situation anyway and he could as well benefit by deliberately setting Wray up to fail (since he knew no one was really proficient in hostage negotiations). So she will keep her mouth shut in the future[...] Seeing how Young seems to really be into mindgames, it's at least a possibility. Build your position not by strengthening it, but by weakening others.

Its actually a not a bad strategy considering how things turns out when he unilaterally makes decisions.

[Kelara]

Its actually a not a bad strategy considering how things turns out when he unilaterally makes decisions.

You mean with the people dying? So not bad for who? Young?

It'd be tragic if he was one day standing around yelling "I want that fixed, now!" only to realize that the only one left to do the fixing would be himself. Tragic, I tell you .

~~~

Jest aside, the "benevolent dictator" type of leaderis historically proven to be a very volatile type of leadership. As for me, I'm not convinced he could pull the "benevolent" part off anyway *shrugs*, but I guess the writers consciously leave that character (and others) open to different ways of interpretation. Can't pull any suprises if the characters are too clear cut.

[tomstone]

I actually think she did a good job that for her shame backfired. Exchanging the hostages was a great move in aspect of getting the civilians out of the way and also to may get TJ out so Young would finally vent the corridors and they would be done with.

As for the 8 remaining militaries on the other side. I did my time at the Military, and at least our law stated that we were objects and property of the Military. They face the chance they could die on a daily basis. So having them passout to, in the worst case, reanimate them is a risk that would be worth taken.

And as for her weak reaction when they dragged along a dead body. Show me a civilian that isnt shocked by that when not expecting it.

[jmoz]

Would have been crazy if she shot one of the Lucian dudes, eye for an eye.

[EllieVee]

As others said she is a freaking politician not a trained hostage negotiator, she was well intentioned but pretty darn naive. She is quickly learning how though life can really be beyond a desk.

Do you actually know the difference between an elected official (i.e. a politician) and a bureaucrat (i.e. someone who works for the government)? Clearly not. Wray is a HR Manager and yes, she should be used to negotiating because managers have to but Kiva's not the sort of person with whom a win-win negotiation can be made. I think Wray did very well under the circumstances and has done from the beginning.

I don't think Kiva is insane. I think she knows precisely what she's doing. An insane person is not responsible for her actions.

[Shai Hulud]

And also totaly against the mold that character has been cast in this Season of SGU. Wray doesnt have the cojones to even consider weilding a gun, let alone capping someone as reciprocation for Kiva's awesome move in handing over a dead body. She's far too weak to make any such proactive moves.

[jmoz]

Eh, think she did more of Chamberlain's appeasement than anything.