Alex and I have been watching Battlestar Galactica together. It’s been a great show (so far, we’re not that far into it yet) for us to watch, as it spurs a lot of conversation. It’s an apocalyptic Science Fiction show that focuses not on epic space battles or daring missions, but instead on the human aspect of politics and war and decisions that must be made when the small remnant of humanity is stuck on a fleet of ships running from a robot force that can look just like us.
We had a really interesting discussion based on a short interaction in the first episode, where the president and the commander discuss the lack of supplies and how they’ll need to be rationed. The president makes it known that the violent prisoners on board a prison ship will not be left out of the rationing process. It’s a three or four line part of a conversation that ended up leading to an hour long discussion between Alex and I on how one could or should handle the violent criminals who are not able to be a part of society due to their dangerous tendencies. Can you change their sentence to fit the situation? How do you handle the drain they would be on resources while still maintaining fair justice? What rights or lack thereof do they have and how does that change post end of the world and society as they know it?
Sidebar: I really love how Alex discusses movies and TV shows after he watches them. If we watch something it invariably follows that we discuss the character’s choices and motivations, the plot, the story decisions, or what have you. It deepens and enriches any viewing experience and is an absolute joy to join in on. 10/10, would always recommend watching something with him.
So anyway, Monday night. We start a new episode of Battlestar Galactica and are about 5 minutes into it when the prison ship is again mentioned. They mention that the men on board the prison ship were on their way to parole hearings and presumably that implied that they had some chance of being reintegrated into society. And could they use them for necessary hard labor, a character asked, and maybe use it as a way for them to work towards their freedom?
Alex was very excited. He had this wonderful, energetic grin on his face and his eyes shone with elation. “Pause it!” he exclaimed, “We have new information!”
And I did pause it, quite excited myself and ready to dive into a renewed discussion on the rights and handling of violent prisoners in an end of the world scenario.
And then his internet crashed and we were unable to chat for the next 3 hours. No discussions on morality or TV watching for us. Ah, the hurdles of a long distance relationship. We rely intensely upon technology for 95% of our interactions, and technology tends to like to get in the way of itself a frustrating amount of times.
So there’s a random night for us. And yeah, it really sucked not actually being able to hang out like we had planned. But dang, he was so adorable when he was about to launch into the what-ifs and if-thens of a fictional scenario in a fictional world, right before his video chat suddenly cut out. Thinking of him in that moment made the night of not talking to him a little less painful. It’s still a nice thought.
I Say It Better In Writing 