sga_squee | Childhood's End Week (Reply)

A couple of interesting things going on here -- other than the armed kids.

One, Sheppard defers to McKay and Teyla for the first time. Even in "38 Minutes," Sheppard was in charge despite being fed on by a bug. Here, he steps back so McKay can take the lead -- "Stand back! I'm about to do Science!" -- and then he works with Teyla to keep them from harming or being harmed by the kids. As

melagan noted in yesterday's post, they're starting to find their feet as a team, playing to their strengths to minimize their weaknesses.

Thinky thought #1: Did the writers set Sheppard and Teyla up as co-leaders here to represent "parental" figures to the kids?

Two, this is the flipside of the Pegasus galaxy. With the Wraith, the expedition is outnumbered and outgunned. Here, well, they're still outnumbered, but their weapons are far superior than those of the local population. They either have too much firepower or not enough. Later in the series, that balances out a little more, but for now, they're very much aware of the damage they can do, and choose not to do it at the expense of being "captured."

Think thought #2: Yes, they'd be killing children, but did this encounter with primitive weapons set the stage for later missions where similar or no weapons lulled them into a sense of restraint/security? (Yes, Cowen, I'm looking at you.)