"Infection" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 1X04, "Infection". Spoilers for the whole of the series, including the spin-offs and tie-ins, are allowed here so newbies beware.

Extra reading:

The article for "Infection" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

The odd thing about the episode focusing on Hendrick's 'shortcuts' is that the episode never seems entirely clear on what Hendrick's job actually is. If he's a doctor, a medical researcher - as Franklin's complaints imply - then sure, he should be focusing on original work. But most of the rest of the episode implies he's an archeologist who happens to also be familiar with alien biology - in which case, digging up dead worlds isn't a 'shortcut' - it's what he's trained to do!

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Yes! At no point did Franklin's arguments ever seem to make any sense to me because Hendricks came across first and foremost as an archaeologist. Frankly, even if he was a xenobiologist, his archaeological pursuits wouldn't be 'shortcuts' either. The only shortcuts we have any evidence of him taking is actually getting the artifacts onto Babylon 5, which is bad, but has nothing to do with his profession.

[aris-tgd.livejournal.com]

For a show in which so many of the major guest and trigger characters are archaeologists, there was some real scant in the research department. I only took a semester of linguistics in college and I have a hard time watching Eilerson talk about his work in Crusade. ;)