Since the dawn of television, you could always count on heroes large and small to do the right thing, saving the day in the process. It doesn’t always work out, though, and the good guys sometimes have to face impossible choices. Being a hero isn’t just about making everything work out, it’s sometimes about having the courage to make the tough call when things don’t.
Adama Orders the Deaths of 3% of the Human Population – Battlestar Galactica
The Cylons didn’t give William Adama a full episode before forcing him into an impossible choice. In the episode “33,” the Cylons relentlessly track the human fleet through FTL. The fleet is forced to jump every 33 minutes while fending off the Cylon attacks and for five days, they operate with no meaningful sleep and not knowing when – or if – the attacks will end.
Eventually, mistakes seep in. They lose track of a civilian ship, the Olympic Carrier, that has 1,345 people aboard, which was roughly three percent of the remaining human population. After that, the attacks stop. When the ship returns, most of the fleet rejoices, but Adama orders the countdown clock to restart. Right on schedule, the Cylons return. With only minutes to decide, Adama determines the Cylons are tracking the ship and orders it destroyed. The passengers may not have still been alive, but Adama made the call knowing they could be – and probably were – dying by his order.
Jack Bauer Executes a Man at the Orders of a Terrorist – 24
Volumes could be written about the questionable choices Jack Bauer has made for the greater good. Yet for the most part, Jack’s actions have been directed at bad people. In Season 3, however, terrorist, Stephen Saunders, has released a bio-weapon into a hotel and threatens to release more into the general populace if his demands aren’t met. One of those demands is to execute CTU Director Ryan Chappelle, who has come close tracing a money trail to Saunder’s location.
CTU races against the clock to find Saunders while Jack and Ryan listen in, hoping for a reprieve. Unfortunately, the location proves to be a decoy, and Jack realizes he now has no choice as he leads a despondent Ryan to his death. Jack reluctantly allows Ryan the dignity of doing it himself, but when Ryan can’t, Jack takes over. He apologizes for letting Ryan down and puts a bullet in the back of Ryan’s head.
Sisko Facilitates the Assassination of a Romulan Senator – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
The Dominion War is going badly for the Federation. Every week a new and lengthy casualty list comes in. Captain Sisko determines the only way to avoid losing the war is for another power, specifically the Romulan Empire, to join the fight. With the help of Cardassian spy-turned-tailor Garak, Sisko hatches a plan to forge a data rod recording suggesting the Dominion plans to attack Romulus. The simple plan ultimately leads Sisko to compromise everything Starfleet stands for to keep the Federation alive.
We see the slippery slope as Sisko is forced to bribe Quark to not report an assault and trades deadly bio-materials in exchange for the data rod. After all of Sisko’s moral compromises, Romulan Senator Vreenak discovers the recording to be a fake. On the way back to Romulus, however, the Senator’s ship blows up, killing all on board. It doesn’t take Sisko long to realize Garak planted the bomb. After an initial outburst, he comes to accept the fact that this is the only way it could have gone, and he’s okay sacrificing a criminal and a Romulan Senator if it brings peace to the Alpha Quadrant.
Carol Murders a Child – The Walking Dead
The apocalypse is fraught with impossible choices. To survive, even good people must be willing to do bad things. After the fall of the prison, Carol and Tyreese find themselves on the road and caring for three young children: the orphaned sisters Mika and Lizzie, and Rick’s infant daughter, Judith. To complicate matters, Lizzie doesn’t understand what the walkers are and wants to be their friend. She has a meltdown when Carol kills a walker she’d been playing with.
Carol and Tyreese return from hunting to find Lizzie has killed Mika so she can return as a walker, and was about to do the same to Judith. Realizing Lizzie’s illness makes her a danger to everyone, particularly the defenseless Judith, Carol walks with her into the grove, tells her to look at the flowers, and shoots her in the back of the head.
Clarke Kills the Entire Population of Mount Weather, Including Children – The 100
What does it say when allowing the total destruction of a village to protect the identity of an infiltrator is not the worst thing you’ve done that week? At the insistence of Lexa, Clarke chooses not to warn the residents of Tondc of an impending missile attack that kills hundreds of Sky People and Grounders. Not long after, Clarke faces an even more impossible choice as she returns to Mount Weather to free her people and stop the fatal bone marrow extractions.
Trapped in the command room helplessly watching her people – including her mother – suffer, Clarke does what she has to do. Along with Bellamy, she pulls a lever, and the exhaust fans reverse, streaming lethal radiation through level five, where the entire population of Mount Weather has gathered. Soon all – even the children – are dead along with those, like Maya Vie, who helped Clarke and Bellamy. A society that survived the end of the world falls at Clarke’s hands, cementing her as Wanheda, Commander of Death.
