Stargate Atlantis Rewatch: Poisoning The Well

Welcome to Hoff (Photo from GateWorld.net)

Poisoning the Well

Story by Mary Kaiser
Teleplay by Damian Kindler
Directed by Brad Turner
Guest Starring Alan Scarfe (Chancellor Druhin), Allison Hossack (Perna), Paul McGillion (Carson Beckett), James Lafazanos (Wraith), Dean Marshall (Bates), Edmond Wong (Technician), Neil Maffin (Merell), Darren Hird (Dying Patient)

WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND!

Summary
The expedition meets a civilization that has developed a drug that poisons Wraith who feed on those who have taken it, but the benefits come at a high price, and Dr. Beckett is confronted with serious ethical issues.

General Impressions
The establishing shot for the Hoff civilization is lovely, a sprawling city that looks like it belongs in turn of the 20th century Europe. This is the most advanced culture the team has encountered so far. The entire civilization–man, woman and child–has dedicated itself to developing a Wraith killing drug, a project they’ve been working on for generations. It seems incredibly promising: Humans that take the drug become poison to Wraith who try to feed on them. Too good to be true? Yes and no.

This is Dr. Beckett’s Day In The Sun. It revolves around a medical solution to the Wraith problem along with a bit of romance between Beckett and the lovely blond Hoffan scientist Perna. This is also the episode in which we get some payoff from last episode’s capture of a Wraith (and I still enjoy Sheppard’s conversations with him). Sheppard names him Steve, starting a trend of giving the Wraith mundane English names that continues throughout the series. Steve, while chatty, has not given Sheppard the intel he’s after, making himself the perfect guinea pig to test the Hoffan drug.

The Good
I’m no doctor, so maybe I’m just befuddled by all the medical jargon tossed around in this episode, but I really loved the focus on medical science. The more science I can get in my science fiction the more I enjoy it. I couldn’t help but remember Rodney’s condescending assessment in Hide and Seek that medicine is “about as much a science as voodoo” and think of this episode as Beckett’s retort. Even though the drug kills more humans than it makes poisonous to Wraith and is therefore in Beckett’s opinion a failure, the fact is that the Hoffans and Beckett go about developing it using science. So yes, Rodney, medicine is a science.

Through the Hoffans’ research we learn new things about the Wraith, specifically about the substance the Wraith inject into their victims as they feed. This will become a major plot point at the end of the first season and the beginning of the second.

One thing that I found interesting is that we have two people who are “going to die anyway”, but one that is pitied and one that is not: The Wraith prisoner who is being starved to death, and the Hoffan volunteer who has a terminal illness. Sheppard tells Weir he has no pity for his starving Wraith prisoner, and we’re expected to feel the way he does because the Wraith feed on humans, so they’re the bad guys. And yet, as Steve is dying Sheppard tells him “We’re going to help you”. I couldn’t tell if he was sincere or not. The Hoffan volunteer, however, is another matter. Beckett feels nothing but compassion for him and a determination to uphold his oath as a physician not to take life. Nevertheless, the volunteer is given the drug and bravely lets the Wraith feed on him. The test is successful, but that doesn’t get rid of the bad taste in Beckett’s mouth. As a scientist, he rightfully objects to the Hoffans taking one successful test to mean their drug is a categorical success and should go into mass production and use. Experiment results must be consistently reproducible in order to be considered truly successful.

Even though there is a romantic subplot, it’s not the kind we’re used to. Science plays the role of courtship here. There’s an obvious attraction between Beckett and Perna, but it unfolds through their research partnership. Medicine is the matchmaker. For me, the fact that this romance wasn’t filled with on screen physical displays made Perna’s death all the more poignant. They shared their greatest passion, medicine, and she gave her life for it. The best part is, the attraction never distracts viewers from the important points the writer was trying to make about ethics and survival.

The Bad
Honestly, I can’t think of anything. This is one of my favorite episodes of the first season and maybe even the entire series.

The Awesome
Oh where to begin? Medical science as a surrogate for lovemaking. All of the many ethical issues, like who deserves pity, whose life deserves respect, whose life deserves defending, is there such a thing as acceptable loss to save the lives of many? I could go on and on. Then there’s the culture clash: The values of the people from Earth, a world that has never known the Wraith, and the Hoffans, whose people have sacrificed everything trying to save their civilization. It’s best summed up in the final dialog in the episode between Beckett and Sheppard:

BECKETT: “Victory at all costs.” That sound familiar, Major?
SHEPPARD: Churchill.
BECKETT: Aye. Never thought I’d disagree.

The episode demands that we take a side. We are simply not let off the ethical hook.

Rating
10 out of 10. Seriously. This episode is so well written and confronts the characters and us with so many ethical questions–and does it so well–I can’t say enough good things about it.