Although Young's decision to eliminate himself from the lottery seems a noble decision, he really has no other choice. As the military commander, it is his responsibility to stay with the bulk of the crew, not letting them perish alone while he abandons ship; he takes himself out of the lottery because he has no other choice.
The crew's other nominal leaders, Dr. Rush and Camille Wray (Ming-Na) disagree with Young's lottery decision, believing that the survivors who transport to the planet would have a better chance of survival if Young exerts more control on the selection process.
Wray, a politician, and official of the IOA, believes that Young should hand-select those that will be sent ahead to the planet. The people with the necessary survival skills will lead to a better outcome on the planet's surface, and she believes Young's choice is a cop-out, and a refusal to do his job as commander. Young will hear nothing of Camille's argument (perhaps it hits too close to home for him).
Threatening to take her name out of the lottery entirely, he warns her to leave the subject alone. For what it's worth, I think Camille has a point, but she backs off, not wanting to press Young further, lest he makes good on his threat. Her reaction enlightens us about her leadership qualities as well; she is not especially courageous - a weak leader. It's a significant reveal given events later in season one.
Young's refusal to take responsibility for selection feeds my sense that he has lost his taste for command (something that only grows as time goes on), and perhaps that he really isn't fit to lead the survivors and make the sometimes hard choices.
Rush's reaction during the entire episode is fascinating, as he is much chastened since his breakdown in "Darkness." Perhaps the weight of the unforeseen consequences resulting from dialing the Ninth Chevron has softened him. His attitude throughout "Light" is conciliatory, even with Young.
Like the colonel, Rush has removed his name from the lottery. But his motives are different, and much more personal. Going through the Ninth Chevron gate has been his life's work, something that has cost him greatly and very personally. It is, as Rush says, his destiny to be aboard the ship, and to die aboard her makes more sense to him than trying to survive "on a rock with a bunch of strangers."
The relationship in this episode between Rush and Young takes on an interesting new dimension. I believe that Col. Young finally realizes that tinkering with the ship's systems without Rush's input had been foolish. While Rush had been trying to understand the ship's systems and power needs, Col. Young had been allowing personnel to push a lot of buttons, and ultimately to make the power-draining move of dialing the ship's stargate.
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Article comments
1 - ashimon
Interestingly, I did not really have a problem with the final scene. I mean Young and Rush's relationship has always been uneasy and the necessity to cooperate did not change that at all. Young never trusted Rush and Rush doesn't really trust Young.
But my take on this is that Young probably realized that if Rush is really the brilliant scientist he claims himself to be than it must have occurred to him that the ship may use the sun to recharge (I am no hard scientist, but having energy problems and going toward the largest energy source that there is made me figure out rather early that they would use the sun to recharge). And let's be honest, Rush isn't the person of beautiful and noble gestures -- it seems he always have an (hidden) agenda.
I think partly the issue is of principle for Young: if he does not have all the available information, he cannot make the best possible decision (This is something that comes back later in the season and even in the second season.)
It could have also changed the nature of the decision because if there is a chance that they might survive on the Destiny probably not everyone would have wanted to participate in the lottery.
As for Young's decision to take himself out of the lottery: I think you are right, he had no choice. But that does not mean that the act can't be viewed as heroic. If he is a good commander he can't go, but it makes it no less a personal sacrifice. Young was "cursed" with the ability of being able to do the math: 1) injured people has no place on the mission, 2) the captain (or so) always goes down with his ship, 3) his choice could serve as a good example for those who were not lucky to be selected on the lottery. I have found rather intriguing that it was not one of the civilians but one of his soldiers who could not understand this. The embarrassment on Young's face is clear when Spencer starts acting up.
I found your take that Young chose to do the lottery instead of hand-picking the shuttle crew as a sign of his unwillingness to command interesting. I am not sure I agree with it, but it has never occurred to me before.
Ugh, I guess this got a little lengthy...