I actually like how morally ambiguous this show is.
Finn should totally have taken ownership of his actions - but I kind of agree with one comment I saw that basically pointed out the giant chain of morally ambiguous (or outright horrible) choices that lead to that massacre. Like the adults sending kids down as guinea pigs instead of adults who were trained. The kids bumbled around and set off a war, with attrition on both sides. The Grounders did pretty brutal things starting with Jasper. And as Clarke pointed out, she has all kinds of Grounder blood on her hands. This is not necessarily a defense of Finn, but one could see his actions as a result of PTSD from being a kid fighting a war he wasn't trained or prepared for.
One of my friends has a cousin who did a couple of tours in Iraq. Ground stuff. And he was discharged because he was losing it. And instead of treating him, they just stuck him back in society. And then one day he snapped and went into a subway (as if he were on patrol or something) and shot it up and killed several people. He's in jail for the rest of his life. And while he is responsible for his actions, I do feel that PTSD (and not being treated for it when there were clear signs he had it) played a significant role.
Clearly there are other issues with Finn - as the flashback showed, he had a history of rash actions made for women he loved. (And in fact even getting involved with Clarke while having a girlfriend was sort of a rash action.) So clearly he was a guy that didn't think. But toss in some PTSD (and I would be amazed if every single kid DIDN'T have it after what they've all been through) and you have a recipe for disaster.
Also, who was dumb enough to put guns in his hands because rescuing her daughter trumped everything and everyone? Abby.
Again, I'm not a huge Finn fan, but I see a lot of people culpable in what happened in that village even if Finn is a reckless dumbass.
And everyone has blood on their hands. Even Bellamy - if he hadn't destroyed that radio, then the culling wouldn't have happened.
I don't disagree that Finn's got a bit of a "nice guy" things going. And they pushed too hard to make him the dreamy hearthrob. Which is why I kind of liked that at the end he did something so bad that there was no more waving it off. I liked that the show didn't back off from him having to die. And I liked that ultimately he turned himself in even knowing that he would probably be killed horribly.
I like the way it happened, because then it was about Clarke and her having to be strong. And also, I don't think anyone deserves torture no matter how bad they are - so I was glad she was able to kill him, because it would have been really sickening to watch them brutalize him.
The worst part of all this of course is that I have to wait for new episodes now! And I won't be able to marathon them!
ETA: All that was a way of saying, I like that Finn wasn't all dreamy hero or all bad guy - he was a confusing mix that made him hard to root for. And most of the characters are like that. And hardly any of the choices any one make are easy or perfectly moral ones.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-01-03 01:53 am (UTC)Finn should totally have taken ownership of his actions - but I kind of agree with one comment I saw that basically pointed out the giant chain of morally ambiguous (or outright horrible) choices that lead to that massacre. Like the adults sending kids down as guinea pigs instead of adults who were trained. The kids bumbled around and set off a war, with attrition on both sides. The Grounders did pretty brutal things starting with Jasper. And as Clarke pointed out, she has all kinds of Grounder blood on her hands. This is not necessarily a defense of Finn, but one could see his actions as a result of PTSD from being a kid fighting a war he wasn't trained or prepared for.
One of my friends has a cousin who did a couple of tours in Iraq. Ground stuff. And he was discharged because he was losing it. And instead of treating him, they just stuck him back in society. And then one day he snapped and went into a subway (as if he were on patrol or something) and shot it up and killed several people. He's in jail for the rest of his life. And while he is responsible for his actions, I do feel that PTSD (and not being treated for it when there were clear signs he had it) played a significant role.
Clearly there are other issues with Finn - as the flashback showed, he had a history of rash actions made for women he loved. (And in fact even getting involved with Clarke while having a girlfriend was sort of a rash action.) So clearly he was a guy that didn't think. But toss in some PTSD (and I would be amazed if every single kid DIDN'T have it after what they've all been through) and you have a recipe for disaster.
Also, who was dumb enough to put guns in his hands because rescuing her daughter trumped everything and everyone? Abby.
Again, I'm not a huge Finn fan, but I see a lot of people culpable in what happened in that village even if Finn is a reckless dumbass.
And everyone has blood on their hands. Even Bellamy - if he hadn't destroyed that radio, then the culling wouldn't have happened.
I don't disagree that Finn's got a bit of a "nice guy" things going. And they pushed too hard to make him the dreamy hearthrob. Which is why I kind of liked that at the end he did something so bad that there was no more waving it off. I liked that the show didn't back off from him having to die. And I liked that ultimately he turned himself in even knowing that he would probably be killed horribly.
I like the way it happened, because then it was about Clarke and her having to be strong. And also, I don't think anyone deserves torture no matter how bad they are - so I was glad she was able to kill him, because it would have been really sickening to watch them brutalize him.
The worst part of all this of course is that I have to wait for new episodes now! And I won't be able to marathon them!
ETA: All that was a way of saying, I like that Finn wasn't all dreamy hero or all bad guy - he was a confusing mix that made him hard to root for. And most of the characters are like that. And hardly any of the choices any one make are easy or perfectly moral ones.