Armstrong's decision is sensible and the right thing to do for the greater good. It is consistent with the little we know about the senator, a man dedicated to seeing the Icarus Project succeed. Despite Chloe's pleading, her father is undeterred and sacrifices himself "so they might survive another day."
The episode begins to let us in to each of the characters that will form the core of the series narrative. We begin to see their fears, their passions, their strengths, and weaknesses.
Rush disarms us, and Eli, in the aftermath of Armstrong's suicide mission. We can see the exhaustion in Dr. Rush's eyes, and in his body language. He seems however not to care about what he's just witnessed – the death of a crew member, someone he knew apparently well. Not unexpected for what we believe we know about the calculating scientist. Eli is deeply affect by the Senator's death, horrified that Rush simply continues working as if nothing significant has just happened in the their midst. "Don't you even care?" Eli asks Dr. Rush, furious with him.
Rush answers him, clear that he's barely holding it together himself, between the stress (and I suspect his own private feelings about the senator's action), fatigue, and the need to concentrate on the multiple system problems on the ship. "I'm trying to learn as much as I can, as fast as I can," he tells Eli defensively, but clearly upset that Eli doesn't understand.
He tells Eli that he's learned the name of the ship. "Destiny," he says, explaining almost reverently what he understands of The Ancients, the civilization whose technology built the ship. A chastened Eli apologizes for lashing out at Rush, having not understood the enormous responsibility resting on the scientist's shoulders.
We get a sense from this brief scene that despite what we may think of Dr. Rush at this point: scheming, secretive, manipulative man with his own agenda – the villain of the piece, there is something far more complex about him. That is not to say that we — or the crew of the Destiny — should trust him.
Although they manage the breach enough to stop the loss of breathable air, they have another problem. The scrubbers, which remove Carbon Dioxide from the ship's atmosphere, have long since passed their shelf life. If they are not able to find something to replace the sequestration material in the scrubbers, they will all be asphyxiated.
Article comments
1 - Outtie
Somehow I never saw Rush as the 'villain of the piece', just more of an internal person who tended to keep his thoughts, plans and emotions hidden from public view. As for his famous pragmatism - he was basically right about most things, he just tended to forget that other people aren't him.
2 - barbara barnett
I also don't think of Rush as the villain (personally, I see Telford as ultimately the villain, since it was likely his intelligence that led to the original attack by the Lucian Alliance). And that's the reason I call him the "nominal' villain--the person who, on the face of it, is to blame for their predicament, is untrustworthy, etc...
Yes, he's right about a lot of things--nearly everything. But he does have his own agenda that excludes the consideration of others on the ship.
Rush is by far and away my favorite character.
3 - Paul
I liked the conflict between military and civilian. Rush is right if this is a scientific exploration, that he should have ultimate decision. But if this is a warship, the military have to control it.
I never saw Rush character as the problem. He clearly was the one to follow. I saw everyone else as the problem.
If I was to be critical, I would say many characters had no business being on the top secret Icarus base or Destiny. They struck me as neither scientist nor military.
4 - barbara barnett
Wray was the IOA representative, and Chloe, her dad and Eli were just visitors to the base, but other than that, I think all the civilians were science personnel or engineers of one kind or another.
5 - Paul
Perhaps but they didn't act like any scientist or military I've seen.
6 - Outtie
I was pretty firmly in the 'civilians should be running the ship' camp for most of the shows run. Towards the end they were finally coming together with all the groups working together rather than at opposing purposes.
Personally I'd have been Team Rush all the way. Young was hardly worth listening to until about 'Twin Destinies'.