It’s hard to know what to say about this episode in a general sense. It’s not a real heavy action-filled plot, but rather more character driven. The introduction of the kids gives us a chance to look at several different characters (i.e. Bridger, Westphalen, Crocker, Lucas, Hitchcock, and even Krieg) and how they not only interact with the children, but how they’re dealing with personal issues of their own as well. This also means quite a bit of interactions between characters, most of which are well done. And I just love the teaser. It’s a great set-up for the rest of the episode by telling us the back story and the different factors that will cause problems for them. And I like how they get everyone who’s sitting in on the meeting into the discussion.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:
The Depot - I’ve been saying how the writers set up this great, full future world and keep building on it all season. This is another addition. I don’t see it as much of a stretch that the military would use their underwater buildings as a storage area for weapons. So much of the military is designed and built around weapons or with weapon systems in mind. But what I don’t understand is why they didn’t do an extensive study of the surrounding area before they built the depot. Usually the government is over-anal about doing environmental impact studies. I would think they would have looked at the currents in the area and the other hazardous factors nearby and decided not to build there.
CHARACTERS:
I’ve noticed Westphalen deals with the little kids quite well. She simplifies things for them and bends down to their level. But her treatment of teens is less impressive. She basically treats Lucas and Cleo like they’re the twins’ age. In fact, I’m not sure she really does treat Lucas like much of an adult until “Higher Power.” I know he’s not an adult, but you also can’t treat him like a 10-year-old.
One of my favorite character explorations going on in this episode is with Hitchcock. Up until last week, she came across as more focused on career than her personal life. But that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be that way. Krieg jokes about her biological clock and it hits a little close to home. It’s a case of you don’t know what you’re missing until you experience it, and Hitchcock gets hit hard with that feeling. And she discovers she doesn’t know how to deal with it. I keep saying I don’t want to have kids, to which my mother keeps telling me that someday I’ll change my mind. I don’t doubt that eventually I will get that urge to reproduce, but at least I probably won’t have future promotions riding on my mothering instinct. It’s nice to see Krieg being serious for once, and his heartfelt response to Hitchcock’s worries is perfect: “You’ll get whatever you want because you deserve it.”
Lucas Wolenczak:
Like Darwin, Lucas is one of the more unique characters on the show. The ship is a mix of scientists and military, but the link between all of them is that they're adults. Lucas, however, is still a teen no matter how much he wants to protest that fact. But because he's surrounded by so many adults, he's forced to act more like an adult than a kid. And part of that is because he's a college graduate also. He's suddenly been forced into a place where he has to act like an adult. Yet he still has moments that remind you he's sixteen -- like using the ship's computer to play games. But for the most part, he's not very childlike. Then you bring in Cleo. She's a wonderful foil against which to compare Lucas. At a very early age she was forced into a role of mother and protector that she wasn't ready for. She's had to be the voice of reason and responsibility for three years, non-stop. Lucas, on the other hand, "live[s] with two hundred adults who do nothing all day but run [his] life." Yes, he's got certain responsibilities aboard (as we'll see in a few weeks with "Photon Bullet") but he's not ultimately in charge of anyone but himself. He also misses spending time with people his age (see "The Regulator"); Cleo has had no one but kids to talk to for three years. Just as most people like spending time and talking with people in similar age groups and circumstances, most like to at least occasionally talk with older or younger people for a change of pace. I know all the old folks I work with like seeing the new faces around the office as we hire a new crop of young people. Lucas is in the awkward position of not having anyone near his age and circumstances to talk to. That's why he jumps at the chance to visit Node 3 in "Photon Bullet." And it's why he spends so much time with Cleo here. Early on, being on the seaQuest was a neat vacation for him. And by the end of the year, Lucas will have gone through his growing phase and mostly be well adjusted to the ship and crew. But in the middle, he's got a lot of the teenage awkwardness going on.
QUICK QUESTIONS, QUERIES, QUANDRIES AND COMMENTS:
The kids catch their food with nets and traps, but I’m not sure how you could do that without going outside and exposing yourself to the outside pressure. Remember, that’s how one of them got sick.
I love the trouble the twins get into. These are true kids, unlike the trouble-less Lucas.
It’s nice to see someone (Westphalen) acting as an advocate for these kids. Everyone else seems to be just tolerating them until they can get back to port and get rid of them. And kids can easily get lost in the foster care system in this country.
Bridger knows Crocker just left with Matthew and Brawley, yet he still calls him to clean up the drawings on the navigation table. Why?
Just a little semantics here, isn't it technically impossible to 'ground' someone on a submarine underwater?
BOB BALLARD MOMENT:
Man has lived in space for over a year, but the longest underwater is seventy days aboard a nuclear submarine. Undersea habitats are being built around the world for scientific research.
