mars2172 - 30 March 2018 10:05 AM
Shifting the focus onto Emerson may soften this angle up though. Emerson and his wife may provided a more stable parental environment for her, beyond the flighty tendencies of her mother Miriya and Max having to assume more and more of the parental responsibilities because of that. Yes, Dana could be still a spit-fire but the more traditional form of family upbringing may have succeeded in taming or nurturing that wildfire to some degree. Plus, Emerson being the career officer could have instilled in Dana a differing perspective of military life beyond merely being the daughter of famous war heroes. Could Emerson be the inspiration for her joining the ASC?
I think this is a plausible explanation. Emerson and the stability of the home life he created for Dana may very well have rubbed off enough on her to instill certain things in her and that’s where we see her inspiration for joining the ASC.
I also have to believe there is some form of a draft during this period. Maybe not for everyone, or maybe for everyone but only for a 2 year stint etc like we see in some places around the world, (South Korea comes to mind). If this type of mandatory service was extremely common place you might not hear people really complaining about it because it’s just the norm.
Going back to Dana’s rebellious stints, and risking going too far off topic, I recently wrapped up New Generation and started watching all over again starting with Episode 1 (because I need my fix, dang it!) and re-watching Rick’s actions after having this thread in the front of my mind… he was just as rebellious and maybe even more so than Dana! A lot of people compare Dana and her being “annoying” to Minmei but I think we have to take another step and see that when it come’s to her rebellious side she’s a lot more like Rick as a person than anyone else.
Rick is constantly butting heads with Lisa, and sometimes even over open comms where his subordinates can hear him.
Rick has no problem trying to reprimand and argue his orders with Lisa while on missions.
Early on he feels the need to exert his control as a “leader” by stating “I’m the leader!” (Wouldn’t that be annoying?!) This is when Rick butts heads with Lisa about bringing his squadron back after Ben’s VT is hit and is leaking. Lisa says no way, and Ben chimes in as saying he’s really ok. Rick then makes sure everyone know he’s the leader and everyone’s lives are on his shoulders and thus he’ll be the one making the call. Now of course we know Rick is right in this situation, heck even Roy jumps in and says so but not before adding “Lieutenant Hunter, you talk too much.”
I know the original question was about how much Minmei Dana had in her, but we sort of veered off into maybe Dana acts that way because of her age, or lack of discipline.
I bring this stuff up about Rick because I was really surprised to find myself seeing a comparison between Dana and Rick’s performance and behavior as junior officers.
They do both end up growing into the roll and excelling at it. Just food for thought.