I think they would have done better to have the characters do something in the "here and now" to make me like them than to try to do it through flashback. They suceeded in Lt. Scott when he gave Dr. Rush his warning about trying to take over. Unfortunately, putting a character I don't like in his place isn't a good precedent. The senator had a good exit (which I could see coming a mile away) but it didn't make me like his daughter any more.