Talk:Finn Collins/@comment-25176701-20141206142712/@comment-24.99.67.19-20141206201736

I'm going to jump in here and address the comment to my post below. I don't know about a comeback later on, but I can tell you right now that Jason Rothenberg, the executive producer and series developer, said in a Q&A that Finn was suffering from PTSD. He said that he and the other writers did some research on these kinds of incidents in Viet Nam and Iraq. However, if you don't want to take his word for it, you can look up the term PTSD and make an assessment yourself. I think you will see that Finn had many of the symptoms.

A person with PTSD can display reckless and dangerous behavior because of despair or urgency. A person can be extreme or excessive and might make a final intense effort. There is hypervigilance, increased anxiety and jumpiness. The person may have a sense of hopelessness. ( I can't forget that look on Finn's face after he let the woman up. He thought Clarke and his friends were dead and there was no where else to look.  There was such despair and hopelessness in his expression.) These symptoms appear when a person is exposed to prolonged stress, especially if the traumatic experience is overwhelming, frightening, unpredictable and uncontrollable.

I can't believe that you don't see how this applies to Finn. How else do you expalin such a dramatic shift in his personality? The writers are exploring the effects of war on the human psyche. This is part of the human condition. Finn made that statement about doing what he had to do because he had not yet processed what happened. Outside of being upset with Clarke, he was emotionally numb. That's part of the disorder, too. He said that it was an accident because he hadn't yet been able to make sense of what he did. Therefore, what actually happened and his feelings about it were disconnected. It was only near the end of the episode when he and Clarke were about to leave the bunker that he finally began to face what happened and his emotions about it, thus the tears.

He still has a long way to go because as he said, he doesn't know who he is. When Finn realizes that he is responsible for the mess they're all in, I imagine it will weigh on him heavily. He will probably struggle with a lot of guilt. He will have to live with this for the rest of his life. No one can probably punish him more than he is likely to punish himself. I can tell you from personal experience that mental and emotional pain can be worse than physical pain.

You may never hear the term PTSD in any of the upcoming episodes  The writers are depending on the intelligence of the audience to figure some things out. People will judge Finn and if and how he should be punished based on their own sense of juctice. I, personally, think Finn deserves and needs some compassion. He's a basically good and descent human being who got screwed up by circumstances beyond his control. How responsible he is for what he did and what should be done about it? There is no easy answer.