A guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the security of that card.
s3e22 “The Most Toys”
I like how that episode establishes that Data will straight up murder someone if they’re a big enough piece of shit.
Also, recently realized that was Donny from Frasier.
It’s so much better than that though. He won’t murder him just for being a piece of shit. He spent the entire episode of peacefully resisting but refusing to harm another sentient being, even to free himself. He values life to such an extent that he won’t take it unless there is no other option, and he had all the time in the world to attempt to escape.
But Fajo changes the equation when he not only murders someone in cold blood, but makes clear that he will do it again and again if that’s what it takes to get what he wants out of Data. In this situation, Data unemotionally, logically determines that the only moral course of action is to kill him. Not in the heat of the moment, not in immediate self defense, just gunning him down where he stands because he cannot be allowed to continue.
It’s a chilling moment, and I love it. I just wish they hadn’t felt the need to insert that line about the weapon going off by accident. It comes across as a lie, and I think it undermines the episode a little.
It really is, and I admit to grossly oversimplifying it.
I just wish they hadn’t felt the need to insert that line about the weapon going off by accident.
Agreed, though that might have been due to executive meddling (I don’t know, just guessing). Without that, I agree, the moment would have been way better, but it might have been too dark for the time.
OP said they were putting together a discussion post for that later, and I’m totally here for that.
Yup, my understanding is that it was executive meddling.
Apparently there was some disagreement about that scene and a producer insisted that Data wouldn’t kill someone like that, which sounds good in a vacuum but in context makes no sense. Data’s intentions are pretty clear right before he gets transported out, it’s hard to reconcile his actions leading up to the transport with the idea that he wasn’t willing to pull the trigger.
And it’s not like Data never kills people. He carries a phaser for a reason, it’s part of the job. He doesn’t like it (emotion chip shenanigans aside) but he will do what is necessary.
Which, to bring it back around, is part of why this is such an intense scene. A logical being guided by a moral framework that values life looked upon this man and determined that his death was necessary.
oh but you see, the phaser had a malfunction which O’Brien luckily could rectify :)
Ah, right.
😉
A discussion post I’d already planned to put up a bit later.
Be a real shame if Fajo’s shuttle malfunctioned and that card was (presumably) lost in the explosion.
I totally forgot Saul Rubinek was in that episode. I loved him in Warehouse 13.
that was SUCH a good show. The plots of the seasons moved really fast, the tone was the perfect balance of dark and comedy, the chemistry of the cast was awesome.
Shame about the 45 min episodes.
I loved it too. The only thing I didn’t like was the last-minute romance between Pete and Myka at the end. It seemed unnecessary, just throwing a bone to the shippers. They could have just stayed friends. And I think they should have. Not every male/female professional couple on TV need to have a romance.
