I am still a little flabbergasted that this man is still living among the humans and even for the remainder of the show. The pilot episode clearly showed that he came on board to murder everyone there. He was going to kill three adults, one teenager, and two young children. The mistakes was getting trapped on board the ship. He still could have done it too... but he was a coward. He did not want to die along with the sabotage.
Is Dr. Smith evil? It is very clear, in the earliest episodes, that he did not care for the other crew members at all. He was constantly trying to find ways to get back to Earth and let the others rot out in space. He would even occasionally fantasize that his faction had come to rescue him, not realizing that his faction was not really all that concerned for his own well-being.
Over time, Dr. Smith forms an unstable bond with the crew, especially Will who he dotes over constantly. When the crew gets fed up with him, they will sometimes ask him to leave. Even though Dr. Smith does not care about these people, the order always hurts his feelings. A lot of this seems to come down to him not wanting to die alone. And that brings us to our next point: Dr. Smith is a raging coward.
Dr. Smith had no problems killing a family of humans but not if his life was put in jeopardy. This man is afraid of even the smallest bug. Getting lost in space really put him out of his element, to be sure. One of the most notable things that he does when danger strikes is to hide behind Will or Penny. It's an incredibly shameful thing to do but not at all surprising the more you learn about him.
Dr. Smith is also lazy. He is always trying to get out of doing any work at all. Even when he is forced into it, he still does a half-assed job at it and sometimes makes the whole thing worse than before. Dr. Smith tends to get the robot to do his work for him whenever he can and then proudly takes the credit for it afterwards.
Is Dr. Smith Evil? Well, what are his biggest traits?
Ego
Laziness
Cowardice
Murderous Intent
Indifference to Others
I'm sure somewhere in that list is, at least, a little evil. But I must admit... when he cries in misery at all the horrors that the universe places upon his shoulders, I always feel some empathy for him. Here is why: At the end of the day, Dr. Smith is a hopeless case of evil. He made his choice and daily suffers for that choice. His life is nothing but pain and misery. He is lost in space, and will never see his nice, comfortable, warm home ever again. He knows that choice was made by him. No matter how much he rationalizes it out as other things, in his heart, he knows it was him. When he cries out in misery, I feel for him. Nevertheless, at the end of time, Dr. Smith will be damned... and when that time comes, he will perfectly know why. His suffering from that point on won't be a mystery anymore to him. Yes, Dr. Smith is evil.
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Not only is he evil, his wickedness is the common evil. He's simply melodramatic when scared or frustrated. He is the little creature who fancies himself the center of the universe... as the common wicked typically do.
ReplyDeleteThe bit you said about him fancying himself as the center of the universe: He was accused of that in a recent episode I saw.
DeleteThose who do not care about others do not deserve to be cared for. What they deserve is the suffering they have caused. Do not let their misery go to waste.
ReplyDeleteWhenever Mr. Smith is miserable, I always feel for him. There are a lot of scenes where he literally cries, and it isn't always fake when he does it. He doesn't understand that he brings this stuff upon himself. Humans are often stupid in this way.
DeleteDr. Smith is an example of someone who let what they are become who they are, emotions, urges, and ego control his every action. He always had a choice but he chose poorly and those around him suffer for it. Interesting that he is much more predictable because he is ruled by his natural traits, like a programmed being or animal.
ReplyDeleteYou can pretty much expect that any problem the crew may be having had something to do with him. Dealing with an occasional monster here and there would be easier if he did not act so selfishly all the time.
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