Re: SGA--The buddy cop ep ("Midway" spoilers)

"puzzlrr" <puzzzlrrr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote: 

>>> so she should have been there.
>>
>> No moreso than he should. And since she's the commander of the
>> Atlantis base, she's less expendable than he is.
> 
> Huh?  They guy who knows everything about everything is less
> expendable? Okay.

First of all, McKay knows everything about everything. So does
Carter. So on that point, they are equal. But Carter is also the
commander of the Atlantis base, and McKay is not. So that makes
her more valuable, and therefore less expendable.

There is absolutely no reason why she should have gone on that
mission. Her skills as a scientist/engineer are equalled by McKay's.
Her skills as a soldier are irrelevant. They need another person
who can shoot a machine gun, they can send a grunt who's much less
valuable. After all, they've got more grunts than they can shake a
stick at.

Simply put: it's not her job. Having Carter go on that mission would
be like General Petraeus leading insurgent sweeps in Fallujah.

The only justification for her going on the mission would be a
meta-textual one: she's the highest profile cast member, and they
should get more for their money by having her in the center of
the action.

And yes, it's frustrating to have a great character like Carter
sitting on the sidelines, when she's even in an episode. But from
a tactical perspective within the story itself, sending her on
the mission would be an egregiously stupid thing to do. And since
Carter is the only one who can put herself on the mission, she'd
have to be egregiously stupid to do so, and she's not stupid.

-- jayembee