You're assuming she doesn't have that experience based only on the fact that she looks young and she doesn't talk about where she gets her experience from. I don't mean to pick, but that's absoluately ridiculous. Of *course* she has that experience. Surgical talent isn't something you're naturally gifted at; there is *no such thing* as being naturally gifted at surgery.
This is totally true. But I think I'm justified in asking how she got that experience.
This isn't just in the show; it's a double standard that exists in real life. If I were about to get complicated brain surgery, and Dr. Carson Beckett walks in, I'd be, 'Great to meet you, nice blue eyes, oh, are you Scottish?'
If Dr. Jennifer Keller walked in - I would raise an eyebrow, and find a polite way to ask if she was really the senior doctor, and if so, was this her first surgery or what? Because 26 year old neurosurgeons are very unusual. I'd need to know why I should trust her.
I see a fundamental problem with Keller's basic character concept. She has two possible stories, and they're both flawed.
Either she's a decent doctor who got through med-school a few years early, and in her residency somehow stumbled onto Atlantis and into the position of head of medicine without any real experience, and turned out, luckily, to be amazingly good at medicine and administration.
In which case I cry bad writing, because it would be criminally irresponsible to put an untried doctor in charge of Atlantis. Yes, she's working out now. But why did she get the job to begin with? Why does the staff think she's doing a great job before they've ever been tested in a crisis? I've never worked at a hospital, but I have worked in academic environments, and when a new director comes in, people are usually suspicious, especially if that person's an unproven quantity. Did Keller buy everyone off with chocolate or what?
(Honestly, have you ever heard of a 26 year old doctor heading up a hospital, or a department? From my understanding, most 26 year olds are still in med school!)
Or, Keller has another story: that she was an incredibly gifted prodigy who aced med school, then whipped through her internship and residency and trained intensively in neurosurgery and a variety of other disciplines (pediatrics? she seems to like kids) with what had to be obsessive devotion, to accrue the experience you're saying she must have in only a few years.
In which case I cry bad writing, because that's an interesting story that they have never mentioned. Why was she so driven? Why does she act so nervous and diffident when she must have spent her life standing up to people older than her, convincing them that she could do it despite her age? Why, when Elizabeth was reassuring her that she could do it, did Elizabeth not say, "After all, you were the youngest doctor ever to pass the Johns Hopkins program" (or whatever)? Heck, why does Keller ever need reassurance - how could she possibly make it that far, that young, without buttloads of self-confidence? Also, I've heard Keller called "ordinary," but by this story, she is anything but - she is absolutely extraordinary. So why does she call herself a "regular doctor" and why doesn't Elizabeth refute that?
I'm holding Keller to a different standard than Carson because Carson is not that unusual a pick for a hospital director. He's on the young side, but he's not strikingly so. Keller is very, unusually young for her position, but the show's never explained why, and not a single character has ever questioned her suitability. There's no other character on the show that I can think of that, at first glance, I wonder how they possibly got their job. Except Keller. And I maintain it's bad writing that the writers have never bothered to address this question.
(Or else they could just have her mention off-hand that she's a very, very young-looking 35, though she really doesn't act it...at least it would shut my questions up!)
Re: second part
This is totally true. But I think I'm justified in asking how she got that experience.
This isn't just in the show; it's a double standard that exists in real life. If I were about to get complicated brain surgery, and Dr. Carson Beckett walks in, I'd be, 'Great to meet you, nice blue eyes, oh, are you Scottish?'
If Dr. Jennifer Keller walked in - I would raise an eyebrow, and find a polite way to ask if she was really the senior doctor, and if so, was this her first surgery or what? Because 26 year old neurosurgeons are very unusual. I'd need to know why I should trust her.
I see a fundamental problem with Keller's basic character concept. She has two possible stories, and they're both flawed.
Either she's a decent doctor who got through med-school a few years early, and in her residency somehow stumbled onto Atlantis and into the position of head of medicine without any real experience, and turned out, luckily, to be amazingly good at medicine and administration.
In which case I cry bad writing, because it would be criminally irresponsible to put an untried doctor in charge of Atlantis. Yes, she's working out now. But why did she get the job to begin with? Why does the staff think she's doing a great job before they've ever been tested in a crisis? I've never worked at a hospital, but I have worked in academic environments, and when a new director comes in, people are usually suspicious, especially if that person's an unproven quantity. Did Keller buy everyone off with chocolate or what?
(Honestly, have you ever heard of a 26 year old doctor heading up a hospital, or a department? From my understanding, most 26 year olds are still in med school!)
Or, Keller has another story: that she was an incredibly gifted prodigy who aced med school, then whipped through her internship and residency and trained intensively in neurosurgery and a variety of other disciplines (pediatrics? she seems to like kids) with what had to be obsessive devotion, to accrue the experience you're saying she must have in only a few years.
In which case I cry bad writing, because that's an interesting story that they have never mentioned. Why was she so driven? Why does she act so nervous and diffident when she must have spent her life standing up to people older than her, convincing them that she could do it despite her age? Why, when Elizabeth was reassuring her that she could do it, did Elizabeth not say, "After all, you were the youngest doctor ever to pass the Johns Hopkins program" (or whatever)? Heck, why does Keller ever need reassurance - how could she possibly make it that far, that young, without buttloads of self-confidence? Also, I've heard Keller called "ordinary," but by this story, she is anything but - she is absolutely extraordinary. So why does she call herself a "regular doctor" and why doesn't Elizabeth refute that?
I'm holding Keller to a different standard than Carson because Carson is not that unusual a pick for a hospital director. He's on the young side, but he's not strikingly so. Keller is very, unusually young for her position, but the show's never explained why, and not a single character has ever questioned her suitability. There's no other character on the show that I can think of that, at first glance, I wonder how they possibly got their job. Except Keller. And I maintain it's bad writing that the writers have never bothered to address this question.
(Or else they could just have her mention off-hand that she's a very, very young-looking 35, though she really doesn't act it...at least it would shut my questions up!)