So, do you think Rush knew that the Destiny wasn’t going to burst?
My headcanon is that he didn’t realize it straight away because he was in nicotine and caffeine withdrawal, he hadn’t slept in days, everyone blamed him for their situation and he felt under incredible stress.
He collapsed, slept for twelve hours, woke up and realized that he had missed the obvious. Destiny predated Atlantis. Atlantis had all the new shiny tech. 3 ZPM’s powered Atlantis’s shield for 10,000 years before being depleted. Destiny had been flying around on auto pilot for a hell of a lot longer than that. It was impossible for it to have done so off the equivalent of a single tank of gas.
He didn’t tell Young because he knew it wouldn’t make a difference. Young would ask Rush if he could prove it and there was no proof, and no way to get proof with all the consoles being dead due to lack of power. Young would still have had to do everything he did just in case.
He could have told Young and then been able to say “I told you so” when he was proved right. If he had told the rest of the crew, then maybe that would have been the start of them trusting him. I have never been quite sure in my headcanon why he didn’t go down that route. Was it because he felt that he deserved their hatred and mistrust? Was it because he wanted revenge? Was it for another reason I can’t think of right now?
I don’t know. Either way I’m pretty damn sure that Rush knew it was going to be fine by the time he took his name off the shuttle.
So, do you think Rush knew that the Destiny wasn’t going to burst?
IMO, the answer is clearly stated in how the scene with Eli and Chloe on the observation deck was acted (and a lot of other scenes in that episode too). Rush was so surprised that they still lived. And Rush is a bad actor (but RC is a great one), so if he lied about it, the whole scene would be completely different.
And even if he read A. C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama and remembered the story, this outcome was not what he’d expected, and how could he?
To understand this question you only need to watch Rush carefully (and forget Rumple, they’re not the same).
His reaction to Young is from my POV very understandable. I’d be pissed like hell if someone would treat me as if I become his new pet, after something like that.
I initially thought that he didn’t know it, but then I started to doubt…
But I’d really like to think that he didn’t know.
To be honest I have gone back and forth on it a lot before I arrived at my headcanon. Watching the episode I do kinda agree with you that he didn’t know. The last scene in the mess hall, I think he’s sort of trying to imply that he did know because he wants Young to think he’s that smart. Either that or you are right again that he is just mad at Young. Was this when he said “rewarded at your whim”? Because that was a very good point. It was an unfair leadership thing and not a good sign for moving forward but then Young was an awful leader.
This is when I then run into trouble because Rush should have been that smart. In fact he didn’t even have to be that smart to work it out, it was a simple matter of logic. I loathe when characters are made dumb so the plot can work. Rush is my favorite, therefore it’s easier for me to headcanon that he secretly knew, than accept that the writers made everyone be dumb for the “forced jeopardy” of the episode.
Anyway, @sarashouldbestudying I’m sorry for jumping all over your posts about SGU. I’m a big Stargate fan and it’s hard to restrain myself. I’ll try not to be too scarily overenthusiastic heh. It’s just so cool to be able to discuss this show for a change.