The reluctance of the Atlantis team to use the vaccine was very stupid considering the dangers faced by the Hoffans, as well as Atlantis and Earth itself. When faced by an unstoppable enemy bent on mass murder, biological weapons are prudent.
5 Reviews
Hippocrates vs. Hypocracy
rwseidel9 December 2022
Medical ethics get short shrift here, with predictable results, making the Tuskegee Experiment pale by comparison. Although the lesser of two evils is chosen, it's still and evil, revealing the Hyde within Altantis' Scottish medical doctor.
The planet is menaced by the Wraith, one of whom is in custody in Atlantis, and Major Sheppard offers him up without first getting approval from Dr. Weir, whose civilian control rankles him. The Scottish doctor is charmed out of his resistance by the lovely daughter of the planet's administrator, who is desperate to complete a weapon that can be used against the wraith. Sweetness and light give way to despair and death in yet another imperialist incursion.
The planet is menaced by the Wraith, one of whom is in custody in Atlantis, and Major Sheppard offers him up without first getting approval from Dr. Weir, whose civilian control rankles him. The Scottish doctor is charmed out of his resistance by the lovely daughter of the planet's administrator, who is desperate to complete a weapon that can be used against the wraith. Sweetness and light give way to despair and death in yet another imperialist incursion.
"Poisoning the Well"
allmoviesfan12 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
"Poisoning the Well" had a good premise and started out well, but got bogged down and the end result - as far as I'm concerned, anyway - is that it could have been a lot better.
A civilisation that looked very much like Earth from the early 1900's or a decade earlier, even (one guy looked and dressed like Robert E. Lee!) have come up with a defense against the Wraith. It turns out to be a kind of vaccine that will provide them immunity from the Wraith, at that warlike race's painful detriment, the Atlantis crew are told, leading to some curly ethical questions about using a prisoner Wraith as a guinea pig, amongst other things.
We even get a Geneva Convention mention. How does that apply to the Wraith? They're not signatories and they aren't the sort of race to adhere to such things. Kind of a dumb bit of dialogue.
Definitely an episode of missed opportunity.
A civilisation that looked very much like Earth from the early 1900's or a decade earlier, even (one guy looked and dressed like Robert E. Lee!) have come up with a defense against the Wraith. It turns out to be a kind of vaccine that will provide them immunity from the Wraith, at that warlike race's painful detriment, the Atlantis crew are told, leading to some curly ethical questions about using a prisoner Wraith as a guinea pig, amongst other things.
We even get a Geneva Convention mention. How does that apply to the Wraith? They're not signatories and they aren't the sort of race to adhere to such things. Kind of a dumb bit of dialogue.
Definitely an episode of missed opportunity.
Squandered potential
mvclark7817 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I completely agree with the previous review. This has to be one of the worst episodes of the series. I loved this series overall but, Major Sheppard was beyond idiotic. It's established half way through that the vaccine is a poison. These "brain surgeons" never thought to use it as such. Poison tranquilizer darts, poison ballistic grenades, etc.
Questionable
henrys-8854810 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I thought the Atlantis team came off a bit too beta in this episode. "We can't torture the Wraith ... the Geneva convention!" And the criticism of Winston Churchill at the end, what was that about? The episode was OK, I guess. I just don't think the moral of the story (victory at any cost) was executed very well. Instead of hating the Hoff people. I found myself having sympathy for them. The Atlantis team should have continued to work to make the drug safer instead of acting morally superior and leaving.
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