Rush's attitude

[garhkal]

I have to say I agree. White lies are necessary sometimes to prevent worse stuff from happening, and while Eli's idealism is admirable, it was the wrong place and time.

Its just like when a GF or wife asks their Sig other whether they look good or fat etc. IF they don't and you tell the truth you could be harming your relationship. BUT if you lie by saying yes, you only MAY harm it if they find out you lied.

[GateroomGuard]

I can understand Rush's reasoning for wanting Eli to have been quiet, but I can certainly understand why Eli would disregard them.

If Young is having Eli spy on everyone with the kinos Young probably told Eli to keep him informed of everything happening on the ship. Eli was probably just following orders.

Rush probably realizes that and if he can drive a rift between Eli and Young he can better run the ship.

[Captain Obvious]

The primary attitude issues with rush stem from the fact that he is the Head Scientist of the entire Icarus project, and as such, he is actually better prepared to be on the mission than most of the rest of the crew. Colonel Young was not going on the mission (he was going home after), Telford was. This is why Telford keeps asking what Rush thinks whenever he is on board. Telford knows exactly what Rush is capable of because they specifically picked the base personnel together, he obviously has a very high opinion of Rush!

Other scientists have inferiority complexes about him because he doesn't feel the need to explain himself to anyone. This is because he is Technically their boss! Right now he only follows the directions of young (loosely) because he has control over the necessities of life.

Like I previously predicted, I fully expect people who ignore Rush's advice will just keep dying off until people begrudgingly respect him and accept the fact that he is their best chance at survival.

When it comes to Eli, I think Rush sees a small bit of himself in the Mathboy. Rush gets infuriated when Eli does the opposite of what he does- internalize all but necessary information. I see thier relationship growing, with Rush learning to communicate more openly and Eli learning to hold some things closer to his chest.

[dropstitch]

Water doesn't premier here until tonight, but browsing the forum has made me think about Rush a little.

In Atlantis, McKay once said "None of you are capable of understanding this on the same level that I do!".

Rush actually reminds me a lot of that. His character strikes me as the kind of guy who has a big chip on his shoulder from having to work around people he considers to be less intelligent, just like McKay.

Also, slightly off-topic, but it makes me wonder whether..

Spoiler:

..he's the one who sabotages Destiny later this season because he doesn't want to leave.

[Joey]

I don't think this is a maturity issue as much as it is a trust issue.

Eli's probable train of thought: Young is the military leader, he is supposed to know what goes on on the ship and is always in the need to know. An alien on the ship is a big deal and Young needs to know about it.

And I think Eli was just essentially, even though he is not really a soldier, being a "good soldier". Compare this to the scene in Air where the he does the right thing and "rats out" Franklin, Curtis and Palmer.

I agree with some of the other posts, that Col. Young was fully capable of either commanding his people to handle the situation or trusting that they had it covered. And that the fault is ultimately with him. He needed to show leadership and trust whom he delegated. (Honestly, I think he shouldn't have been on the away mission in the first place.)

I feel that, sadly, Eli's only fault was that he trusted Young to make the right decision- and he should have been able to do so.

Rush, on the other hand, does not trust Young, so from his perspective, any proper following of military style protocol would have seemed immature to him. Also, Rush like's having Eli's loyalty and does not want to share it with Young.

[Blistna]

This is kinda the same topic, but what do u guys think of Rush? I mean, everyone I know seems not to like how he is so mathematical about human things. Like for instance, the water. My wife called him heartless not caring about Scout's life. And Chloe probably thought the same judging by her actions....but if they didn't get that ice, and the Destiny jumps...it could be days or weeks before they can get more water. And trying and failing to save one life could end up killing every life on that ship.

And the same thing during the pilot, where he wanted someone "of less value" to be the one to get in that shuttle. I mean, lets say Rush did go in there and kill himself to save everyone. Where would that put everyone else? Or Eli for that matter...or TJ, the only medic. You see? Things would be bad if those people, or people with skills you need, die.

Now I for one don't think you can ask someone (or force) them to kill themselves. However, if you had to, then do it wisely...you know?

[SurfingEagle]

I think Rush was too hard on Eli, and in fact, I think Rush was being manipulative toward Eli. Eli was actually doing the correct thing by informing the guy in charge of everything that's going on. Rush is trying to circumvent Young's ability to make decisions. In effect, Rush is trying to withhold information so that his decision to make water a priority overrides any possible decision that Young could possibly make. See, what happened is that the information about the aliens was made known and then a short debate occurred, but Young ended up focusing on the water any ways which was what Rush wanted. But Rush didn't want to take that chance, but in another situation withholding information from Young could go very wrong. So, I think that Rush was wrong to even scold Eli for what he did. Eli did the appropriate thing.

At one time, when I worked in IT as a technical lead with several programmers working under me, I used to run into this same problem occasionally. A programmer would hide something or just not tell me about some problem for whatever reason, and eventually the problem would come out into the open but by that time it was usually either too late to fix it or the problem became a lot bigger. So, that's why I think Eli was correct.

[Soledat]

This is kinda the same topic, but what do u guys think of Rush? I mean, everyone I know seems not to like how he is so mathematical about human things. Like for instance, the water. My wife called him heartless not caring about Scout's life. And Chloe probably thought the same judging by her actions....but if they didn't get that ice, and the Destiny jumps...it could be days or weeks before they can get more water. And trying and failing to save one life could end up killing every life on that ship.

And the same thing during the pilot, where he wanted someone "of less value" to be the one to get in that shuttle. I mean, lets say Rush did go in there and kill himself to save everyone. Where would that put everyone else? Or Eli for that matter...or TJ, the only medic. You see? Things would be bad if those people, or people with skills you need, die.

Now I for one don't think you can ask someone (or force) them to kill themselves. However, if you had to, then do it wisely...you know?

I totally agree with you. I

n my opinion, Rush is logical in his actions. He thinks about all of them and his judgement is rational, not clouded by emotions. I totally agreeded with him in Water, because they could loose the ice and two men instead of one.

People suspect him the worst because he's so unsocial and sarcastic, but I love these things in him. They make him more interesting and I just can't wait to see more interaction with him and the rest of the crew.

It's true that he risked everyone's lives to pursuit his dream about the 9th chevron but since they are on Destiny, he keeps them alive. They can hate him for putting them in situation like this, but if they ever find the way to go back, they'll have the tale to tell

From SGC point of view he made a discovery and I'm sure that most of scientist consider life of 80 people less worthy than wasted opportunity to see what's on the other side. I know that it's bad, but if you could have asked them - I'm sure that would tell you this.

Spoiler:

I think that he had no idea if they will survive or not in "Light" but he didn't want to risk further, so he kept his hopes to himself until it was sure that the Destiny will make it.

[Avenger]

Well, he is right about doing for the greater good. He's not very diplomatic in this approach nor is he emotionally attached to the decisions or suggestions he makes. Put those two things together and you get a person who will rub people the wrong way, particularly if they are emotionally attached in some way. As far as Chloe goes, this is the second time Rush has talked about sacrificing people she has emotional attachment to, so she is going to take it even harder because she could feel like he's picking on her.

[EllieVee]

We always see Rush in semi-hostile mode. Way too one dimensional. Telling Eli to grow-up or arguing with Young. There was a great opportunity to develop a more complex side of him when Young says he needs Eli and tells Rush to get some engineers to help him. A female engineener who finds Rush exciting could have been introduced. Think about the sexual tension! Rush does have a heart. He seems to have lost a great love in the past. He needs someone to long for him.

Something like this would also open up more storyline

I don't think Rush is being hostile. On the contrary, he has been very polite and rather awkward around those who have done nothing but treat him with hostility and suspicion. If he was that awful on Icarus Base, he would have been fired no matter how clever he was. As I've written elsewhere, I suspect he's been 'Rush' for a long time, rather than 'Dr Rush'.

Well, he could have been a bit more sensitive (but then we know he isn't) and Eli was written as being way to childish there.

On the other hand Rush wasn't nearly harsh enough on Chloe - he should have smacked her one when she started with her hysterics.

Feeling a little guilty over the Senator, perhaps, something that he has no reason to be. Rush didn't go to the Senator and say, 'Listen son, you're injured, you're of no value; how about you pop into the shuttle and shut the door for us, eh?' In fact, it was Chloe herself who told her father that someone had to go into the shuttle. Rush didn't know until the radio alert, I think. The only thing Rush can be blamed for, if it is blame, is getting them onto Destiny in the first place and he actually had a scientific basis for doing it.

[Captain Obvious]

At one time, when I worked in IT as a technical lead with several programmers working under me, I used to run into this same problem occasionally. A programmer would hide something or just not tell me about some problem for whatever reason, and eventually the problem would come out into the open but by that time it was usually either too late to fix it or the problem became a lot bigger. So, that's why I think Eli was correct.

Working on software development is a far cry from a military/survival situation. Eli was essentially breaking the chain of command by saying anything to Young. TJ was in charge on the ship, she agreed with the recommendations of Rush. TJ could not publicly admonish Eli in the way that he needed to be admonished, but Rush could. If TJ had done it, she would have come off as bossy/Catty/arrogant to Eli (and others). Rush was actually doing something he rarely does, uphold the chain of command. He is trying to help Eli learn to compartmentalize things better.

Even better when Young did find out, he essentially shrugged it off and decided he trusted TJ to do her job, and that the Mathboy was out of line.

[SurfingEagle]

Working on software development is a far cry from a military/survival situation. Eli was essentially breaking the chain of command by saying anything to Young. TJ was in charge on the ship, she agreed with the recommendations of Rush. TJ could not publicly admonish Eli in the way that he needed to be admonished, but Rush could. If TJ had done it, she would have come off as bossy/Catty/arrogant to Eli (and others). Rush was actually doing something he rarely does, uphold the chain of command. He is trying to help Eli learn to compartmentalize things better.

Even better when Young did find out, he essentially shrugged it off and decided he trusted TJ to do her job, and that the Mathboy was out of line.

It's true that software development is not like a life and death survival issue, and I wasn't trying to compare the two at that level. I was trying to compare human behavior which is similar in either situation. Meaning that people often have their own agenda, and they will be manipulative to achieve their goals regardless of how high the stakes are in a given situation.

Also, Rush was not left in charge, and it was not his job to admonish Eli. It was up to TJ to do that, and she chose not to do that. It's not established that Rush has any position with in the military chain of command. Greer didn't have a hard time pointing that out to Rush when he put a gun to Rush's head. Rush is more or less a consultant to Young. Meaning that he just fills Young in on what the options are, and Young makes the call. Eli has no military rank either. He works as an underling for Rush but he also reports directly to Young sometimes. Plus, this survival situation is a combination of civilian and military personnel. So, it's only semi-military not a true military situation.

[creed462]

You have a hard situation If young returned they run out of water. Rush knows that young doesn't trust his crew. By the same token Young needed to know about the situation, but the way Eli brought it across would have brought young back before they had their needed water. So yes Rush was right to tell Eli to grow up, Eli was right that Young needed to know the truth. There needed to be a better way to covey that info.

[Captain Obvious]

Also, Rush was not left in charge, and it was not his job to admonish Eli. It was up to TJ to do that, and she chose not to do that. It's not established that Rush has any position with in the military chain of command.

I beg to differ. Rush is the Head Scientist of the entire Icarus project. This means he is likely the highest ranking civilian on the ship (although Wray would like to think otherwise). He was full within his rights and within the scope of his duties to tell Eli what to do and what not to do. TJ could possibly come off badly by admonishing Eli, whereas Rush has no such issue. Eli takes admonishment from Rush better than he does from anyone else, because Rush admonishes everyone. If it had come from anyone else ( like when when he was called off to the " secret" meeting) he would most likely freak way more. Somehow he accepts criticism from Rush more easily. This might be because our Mathboy knows that Rush is the smartest guy there, the whole Nerd respect factor.

[SurfingEagle]

I beg to differ. Rush is the Head Scientist of the entire Icarus project. This means he is likely the highest ranking civilian on the ship (although Wray would like to think otherwise). He was full within his rights and within the scope of his duties to tell Eli what to do and what not to do. TJ could possibly come off badly by admonishing Eli, whereas Rush has no such issue. Eli takes admonishment from Rush better than he does from anyone else, because Rush admonishes everyone. If it had come from anyone else ( like when when he was called off to the " secret" meeting) he would most likely freak way more. Somehow he accepts criticism from Rush more easily. This might be because our Mathboy knows that Rush is the smartest guy there, the whole Nerd respect factor.

The highest ranking civilian is contrived in that situation. They're trapped on a ship. It's not an organization or project. It's a life boat situation. The only reason the civilians are even following the military guys is because the military guys have all the guns. See, Chloe stands up to Rush, and she has no ranking. In fact, she practically kicked Rush's butt in the first episode. There's no reason that Eli needed to answer to Rush in that situation for what he did. It was just Rush jumping on someone that did something contrary to what he wanted, but Young never gave Rush that authority. In fact, Young told Rush that he needed to fill him in on critical information at one point. Rush is still doing his own thing.