Weekend Trek “Chain Of Command Part Two”

Man, we get Patrick Stewart vs David Warner and Ronny Cox off to the side in the definitive anti-torture episode of genre TV?  And it’s a part two?

Jimmy and Tom have some thoughts on that below.

“Chain of Command Part Two”

Riker clashes with Jellico while Picard learns how to count.

jimmy:  Do you think Picard’s confession at the end takes away from his scream of there being four lights just as he’s rescued?

tomk:  Yes and no. It’s a point to show no one can hold out forever as many fictional characters like Picard often do and to further hammer home a point Picard made earlier in the episode that torture doesn’t work, but it does show he still had enough inside him to possibly show David Warner he lost.

jimmy:  Yeah, I was mixed on it was well.  The first reaction is that Picard never broke. Way to go Picard!  But then it was like, oh, I guess he did break. But that just makes him human.  

tomk:  Right. You want someone who won’t break, use Data. Or Batman. Or maybe even the surprisingly durable Porky Pig.

jimmy:  Do you think this was a worse experience for Picard than being assimilated?

tomk:  Huh. Hard to say. He didn’t unwittingly betray Starfleet this time. What do you think?

jimmy:  Say what you will about the Borg, they’re not cruel. And to my knowledge they don’t torture people.

tomk:  Sure. Everyone likes having limbs removed and eyes experimented on.

jimmy:  I’m not saying it’s great, but it’s probably not painful.

tomk:  The Borg basically don’t care. The Cardassians want people to suffer.

jimmy:  Right.  They even teach it to their kids.

tomk:  It’s better than the stuff they teach in the Bajoran schools according to this pamphlet written by Gul Dukat.

jimmy:  That may be propaganda.

tomk:  So I shouldn’t give all my money to the Pah-Wraith cult?

jimmy:  Not all, no.

tomk:  I wasn’t going to give any.

jimmy:  Even better.

tomk:  But what happened to Picard here certainly was harrowing.

jimmy:  For sure. Did I mention the Cardassians are jerks?

tomk:  Not recently.

But we did get some really good acting there with Stewart and Warner. And we know bad acting when we see it.

jimmy:  I’m going to ignore that last part.  Yes, Stewart and Warner were awesome.  Even if we did see one of their naked behinds.

tomk:  In shadow.

jimmy:  Wasn’t much shadow in the first shot…it also might not have been Patrick Stewart.

tomk:  Maybe it was the Garbage Day Guy.

jimmy:  Maybe.

tomk:  It ain’t Captain Jake.

jimmy:  No.  You’d recognize that butt anywhere.

tomk:  Captain Jake was probably offering up consolation drinks to Riker.

jimmy:  Riker did seem pretty relaxed in his quarters.

tomk:  It was no longer his problem what happened.

Despite the fact Jellico got all the results he needed to.

jimmy:  I was surprised Riker didn’t break ranks and go after Picard himself.

tomk:  Jellico took his shuttlecraft keys too.

jimmy:  Heh.  And wasn’t it Riker that fired on Picard after he was assimilated?

tomk:  He tried to.

jimmy:  So he knows that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

tomk:When it suits his needs.

jimmy:  And the needs of the plot.

tomk:  Well, it’s different when a Borg cube is parked right in front of you.

jimmy:  And when you’re the actual Captain and not at odds with the current Captain who you don’t like.

tomk:  Plus, near as I can make out, Jellico’s only crime was he wasn’t very sociable.

jimmy:  That and making Data wear a red uniform, which just looked weird.

tomk:  It did bring out the gold in his eyes.

jimmy:  Yeah.  Weird.

tomk:  You can change your uniform if you get the right promotion.

Like when you got promoted to Gabbing Geek’s head of marketing.

jimmy:  It was nice to get out of that French Maids outfit.

tomk:  That wasn’t your old uniform. You just had to wear a tie and a pair of pants.

jimmy:  …

That’s not what Watson told me.

tomk:  Since when did you listen to Watson?

jimmy:  He does sign the checks.

tomk:  That’s Ryan.

jimmy:  Oh.  Dang.

tomk:  Watson is in charge of other departments of little importance to keep him busy.

jimmy:  That makes more sense.  Like Troi.

tomk:  Troi does the HR stuff. And she didn’t really object to Jellico here meaning she probably thought Riker was in the wrong.

jimmy:  Yeah, I was surprised she didn’t speak up there.

tomk: Did anyone?  Looks like they all just did their jobs.

jimmy:  Except Riker.

tomk:  Worf was probably loving Jellico’s tough guy ways. The others hadn’t complained about a new officer like they did in Part One since the time Worf’s brother came over in that officer exchange program.

jimmy:  And like you said, Jellico got the job done.  Even if people didn’t like/weren’t used to his style of leadership.

tomk:  Yeah. If Picard did all that to save Jellico, we wouldn’t be complaining.

jimmy:  The only one to really push back was Riker.  And that might have been more personal than anything.

tomk:  Riker just isn’t as professional as Troi, Geordi, Worf, Data, Crusher, Captain Jake, Ensign Ro, Guinan, Barclay, you, all of Geordi’s ex-girlfriends, Data’s cat, the holographic woman from Riker’s jazz club, Alexander, Picard’s fish, or the O’Brien clan that moved to Deep Space Nine.

jimmy:  Unceremoniously.

tomk:  They had a big party between episodes.

jimmy:  They better have.

tomk:  I was there. Didn’t you get the invite?

jimmy:  …no.

tomk:  Must be why I saw the Garbage Day Guy there.

jimmy:  Glad I missed it then.

tomk:  Yeah. Worf kicked his ass and tossed him out an airlock to the approval of all.

jimmy:  MVP!

tomk:  You miss all the good parties.

jimmy:  Story of my life.

tomk:  I hear you instead go to even better parties.

jimmy:  Probably why I don’t remember them.

tomk:  Those are Captain Jake’s best parties.

jimmy:  Jellico’s parties are not so great.

tomk:  Mostly because he doesn’t throw any.

jimmy:  That’s not great. Though I don’t say Picard does either.

tomk:  Picard throws classy, formal ones.

jimmy:  He definitely seems more like a fancy dinner party sorta guy.

tomk:  Yeah. Probably not the place to gulp down raw eggs.

jimmy:  The only place for that is when you’re starving to death.

tomk:  Probably because of torture or war or because you have a big fight with Apollo Creed coming up.

jimmy:  All acceptable.

tomk:  Maybe David Warner would have problems breaking Rocky Balboa.

jimmy:  You think Rocky would be hard to break?

tomk:  Apollo couldn’t do it, and that guy is a god.

jimmy:  It’s not all about physicality. Picard’s far from Rocky Bslboa-shape.

tomk:  Rocky’s whole thing is he doesn’t quit.

jimmy:  What is he like some not giving up guy?

tomk:  But not for a school guy.

jimmy:  Completely unrelated, did we know Riker was the best pilot in Starfleet?

tomk:  It comes up sometimes that he’s the best on the ship. Better than Geordi, who used to be the pilot, and Data, who is Data.

jimmy:  And the time Picard flew the ship instead of Data.

tomk:  And Riker.

jimmy:  That’s consistent.

And Geordi even said he could fly the mission, but Riker would be better. If Geordi could do it, why ask Riker and reinstate him?

tomk:  Because then Riker won’t be like Achilles sulking in his tent.

jimmy:  And the producers needed to give him something to do to justify his salary.

tomk:  Unlike Troi.

Unless Jellico asked Riker to go because he was hoping Riker was going to get killed in the flight.

jimmy:  Ohh…interesting spin.

tomk:  But that would be unprofessional.

jimmy:  But interesting.

tomk:  As interesting as Cardassian Take Your Daughter To Work Day?

jimmy:  That’s more on the disturbing side.

tomk:  You only say that because you don’t like it when that Watson girl from that alternate reality comes to visit.

jimmy:  Very disturbing.

tomk:  You were saying there were five lights when she left at the end of her last visit.

jimmy:  I would have said 10.

tomk:  There were two.

jimmy:  I stand by my answer.

tomk:  Do you stand with Riker or Jellico?

jimmy:  Well, everything worked out, so I guess Jellico was right. But Riker is my guy.

tomk:  Jellico even got Picard back.

jimmy:  Exactly.

tomk:  Still, this was a great episode for the Picard stuff alone.

The Jellico stuff just shows a Star Trek where people could not get along and still get the job done.

jimmy:  Which is probably more common than the lovey dovey TNG “family”.

tomk:  Gene Roddenberry thought everyone in the future would get along. Just like in Star Trek Picard.

jimmy:  That doesn’t hold up, even for TOS, or there wouldn’t be a show.

tomk:  You just have problems with guest stars.

jimmy:  I do not. Ronny Cox was just a jerk.

tomk:  No, I meant the show would, not you personally. You just have a problem with Watson and the Garbage Day Guy.

jimmy:  Indeed.

tomk:  But maybe there are other forgotten foes that Picard might need to deal with.

jimmy:  He has a lot of those.

tomk:  This one may be a bit more familiar to you.

jimmy:  Only one way to find out.

tomk:  Indeed.

Next:  “Ship in a Bottle”