Line #8 Recap/StargateAtlantisS01E07PoisoningTheWell


1	--> ''"The battle rages at the very threshold of our laboratory now. Those of us working to the last know that these few final hours have been dearly purchased, yet our concentration has not waned. We cannot hope to save ourselves but we can hope that one last insight, one last revelation before we take our dying breaths, may prevent this terrible day from happening again."''
2	---> -- Ferrel's last journal entry
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4	Sheppard's team as been in negotiation with the comparatively technologically advanced people of the planet Hoff. The Hoffans have painstakingly preserved their learning through each Wraith culling, and now believe they are on the brink of a defensive breakthrough. The "weapon" is a drug that they hope will prevent the Wraith from draining the life of those inoculated. A previous team, lead by a Dr. Ferrel, had been on the verge of breakthrough during the last Wraith culling 150 years ago, and Hoffan scientists have finally succeeded in replicating (and perhaps improving on) his work.
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6	The research looks promising, so Dr. Beckett is called in, along with more advanced equipment (like microscopes). He and the Hoffan chief scientist Perna are able to develop the drug to a state of efficacy against Wraith cells in laboratory conditions. The next step, of course, is to test it against a living Wraith. Happily, Atlantis happens to have one, Steve the Wraith, captured in [[Recap/StargateAtlantisS01E05Suspicion an earlier episode.]] The Hoffans are also able to provide a terminally ill man more than happy to donate himself to the cause, no matter the risk. Although such an experiment raises severe bio-ethical issues, both on the side of Steve (vis a vis the Geneva Conventions) and on the side of the Hoffan volunteer (vis a vis Dr. Beckett's Hippocratic Oath), they eventually decide to go ahead. Perna shoots the volunteer full of the drug and they toss him into the cell with Steve.
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8	The drug works perfectly - Steve is unable to feed and there is much general rejoicing (apart from Steve, of course). Against Dr. Beckett's objections, the Hoffans immediately begin to distribute the drug to their entire population. Rejoicing turns to alarm, however, when within 24 hours both Steve and the Hoffan are dead. Soon more Hoffans are dropping, and Sheppard asks them to stop the inoculations. It turns out that the drug, while effective, kills 50% of the people who take it. To the Hoffans, however, this is an acceptable sacrifice for the benefit gained, and even knowing this statistic, 96% of the population remains in favor of general distribution, although the leader earlier refused to specify how the referendum question was worded. Despite Sheppard's warning that the drug's poisonous qualities will invite retaliation rather than apathy from the Wraith, he is unable to convince the Hoffans to stop the inoculations. The team leaves in horrified disgust, speculating that if they ever return, no one will be left alive.
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10	!!Tropes
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12	* ApocalypticLog: Ferrel's journal (see page quote)
13	* ChekhovsGun: The Hoffan drug. [[spoiler: It returns in Season 4 as part of Michael's campaign against the Wraith]].
14	* ConvenientTerminalIllness: The first test subject for the Hoffan drug is a man dying of a terminal illness, who Beckett affirms can't be treated even by Atlantis's technology. A scene is dedicated to Beckett and Perna talking with the man to get his informed consent for his use as a test subject of the drug, as they explain that they can't know if the drug will work in its current form and Wraith feeding will be a painful way to die if it doesn't work, but the man accepts despite the risks as he's dying anyway and even if he dies earlier it will allow the doctors to learn more about the drug for later development.
15	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by the team. The Hoffans consider a 50% fatality rate a ''success.''
16	* {{Determinator}}: The Hoffans have utterly refused to let the Wraith culling cycle keep them down, meticulously recording the knowledge of each iteration of their society to rebuild it afterwards. [[spoiler:And they're so dedicated to escaping the culling cycle that they almost unanimously think a 50% casualty rate is acceptable if their new drug will prevent future cullings.]]
17	* NoControlGroup
18	* InhumanableAlienRights: The team commits war crimes by experimenting on a captured Wraith prisoner. Their justification is that "if [the Wraith] were there when the Third Geneva Convention was signed, they would have eaten the attendees instead."
19	* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: [[spoiler: Especially when Michael unleashes the drug upon the galaxy in Season 4 and 5]].
20	* ProfessorGuineapig: Perna is among the first inoculated, [[spoiler:and is among the initial wave of casualties in the first 50%]].
21	* ShoutOut: to the original ''Series/{{Star Trek\|The Original Series}}''.
22	-->'''Sheppard:''' He's worse than Doctor [=McCoy=].
23	-->'''Teyla:''' Who?
24	-->'''Sheppard:''' The TV character that Dr. Beckett plays in real life.
25	** Also lampshades the fact that Dr. Beckett is a fairly transparent {{Expy}} of [=McCoy=]
26	* SomeCallMeTim: Sheppard names their current Wraith prisoner "Steve".
27	* TemptingFate: The Hoffans. Sheppard points out that if the Wraith find out about the drug, they are more likely to destroy them rather than simply ignore them. [[spoiler: Season 4 reveals [[BusCrash he was right]]]].

Context Recap / StargateAtlantisS01E07PoisoningTheWell