"Believers" discussion [spoilers]

[ruuger]

This is the discussion post for the episode 1X10, "Believers". 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 "Believers" at Lurker's Guide.

Comments

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

One of the better standalone episodes; I do find Franklin very hard to sympathise with, though. Which is, admittedly, a sign the episode works fairly well when you can sympathise with perspectives other than ‘save the kid’s life!’…

- Very first scene, Franklin’s being pretty damn arrogant and showing no respect for the parent’s beliefs. I find it very hard to have a great deal of sympathy for him; sure, he’s just trying to reassure the kid, but he’s also effectively forcing the kid to chose between listening to him and listening to his parents.

- And then a few moments later, he grabs the mother by the arm as she goes to leave. That’s incredibly rude, and culturally inappropriate in a lot of societies. He doesn’t know anything about Shon’s culture or what the issues with surgery are, but he’s already placed himself in a confrontational position against the parents.

- Five minutes later, he criticizes the other doctor for ‘insulting the patient’s beliefs’. Well, good to see he’s at least aware that’s a bad thing; if only he could see it in himself. We don’t exactly see him trying to work with the family’s beliefs in the rest of the episode.

- And then there’s the Gloppit Egg. Because the ‘kid needs a friend’. Never mind that his parents are presumably going to be there for him most of the time – even if their kid wasn’t sick, I can’t see them leaving him alone to check out B5’s night life. It also seems somewhat in bad taste to give the kid a toy egg to talk to when his people worship ‘The Great Egg’…

- Shon’s people appear to be matriarchal; Sinclair assumes if they had an ambassador it’s be a woman, and Shon’s mother several times speaks on behalf of his father.

- Man, the Zocalo has tiny tables – Sinclair’s meal barely fits.

- “Now I know how Pontius Pilate must have felt.” Personally, I’ve always seen Pilate to be acting more along the lines of the ambassadors than Sinclair – not genuinely trying to work out the best course of action so much as trying desperately to work out what choice wouldn’t end up casting blame on him.

- Once Sinclair talks to Shon, I rather feel the debate is over. It’s tragic that a child is going to die, sure – but if the patient refuses treatment, there’s nothing that can be done. Dr. Franklin should have a better grasp of ethics than to force surgery on an unwilling patient, even if it’s life-saving. The parents, the religion – they don’t come into it anymore. I really wish that point had been emphasised more.

- The Ivanova/Raiders storyline seems incredibly tacked-on; considering we don’t even get to see how she escaped, I wonder why it was included at all. I guess the idea was to build up the raiders a bit so their destruction in “Signs and Portents” would seem like a big deal – but all this story did was indicate that a single Starfury can take out an entire squadron of raider fighters. The time, I feel, could have been better spent – maybe with a scene where Franklin tries to get more information from Shon’s homeworld, see if there’s a loophole in their dogma.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

It also seems somewhat in bad taste to give the kid a toy egg to talk to when his people worship ‘The Great Egg’

I don't think so. They also hatch from eggs. Human children play with baby dolls. So the basic idea was not that bad.
It may even Franklin's attempt to be culturally aware, as is the comment to his colleague. One of his problems is that he doesn't see how he's failing (but we do).

Still - I also like the fact that the kid isn't fooled by the egg :-)

Personally, I’ve always seen Pilate to be acting more along the lines of the ambassadors than Sinclair.

I agree, Sinclair isn't like Pilate, but I bet he's the only one the parents appoach who has this thought. It is part of how aware he is of his responsibility.