From: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon)
Subject: TNG Grade Report: "Chain Of Command" Part II
Reply-To: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Dept., Madison, WI
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1992 19:59:16 GMT

Spoilers for the TNG episode "Chain Of Command" Part II...

While this was by no means a bad episode, or even a letdown of the proportions
of "The Best Of Both Worlds" Part II, I'm afraid it does fall into the
category of "tastes great, less filling."  By which I mean that, while it was
enjoyable to watch, it didn't leave much of an impression on my mind.
Afterwards I just shrugged, thought "that was an adventure, not much unlike
any other", and went off to play Monopoly.  (The friend I watched it with
thought it was an outright boring episode, but this isn't his review.  :-)

Where the story went wrong, I felt, was in focusing more on the torture of
Picard by Gul Madred than on the interplay between Captain Jellico and the
crew of the Enterprise.  Moreover, I didn't even feel that the torture scenes
were particularly well done.  (Not that they were *poorly* done, mind you, but
they certainly didn't jump out at me.)

I was left with the impression that Patrick Stewart gave a disappointing
performance.  There was something about the way he contorted his voice when
being tortured, and his last "There... Are... Four... Lights!" statement that
just didn't ring true... it *seemed* like he was acting, rather than actually
*being* Picard under those circumstances.  Rather peculiar, coming from
Stewart.

The main thing that I think was done WELL about the torture thread was Gul
Madred's motivation for his actions, i.e., that he tortures people to inflict
the pain he felt as a boy upon others, a sort of undirected (or at least
misdirected) retribution.  Certainly the torture of Picard defied all logic
not long after the episode began, and Picard's observation that Madred is "a
pitiable man" was the high point of their exchanges (though somewhat marred by
the final seconds of the scene, as noted above).

I felt that the low point of the torture thread was Madred's declaration that
Picard would be stripped of identity and referred to only as "human".  How
unoriginal.

Mind games under these circumstances are usually interesting to see, and this
was no exception.  Madred's efforts to get Picard to see a light that wasn't
there became particularly provocative when Picard eventually asked, "What
lights?"  The bit with the Taspa eggs, which began the exchange regarding
Madred's childhood, was also quite well-done.

In final analysis, though, the whole thread left me with a "So what?"
expression on my face.  The final exchange between Picard and Troi seemed very
weak indeed, especially since a similar issue (Picard's spirit being broken)
had been dealt with in more depth and with greater delicacy in "Family".  Next
to that episode, this one seems entirely redundant.  It would have been more
useful to have placed a different crew member under the proverbial knife to see
how THEY would react.  (Although we already got a taste of such an experience
with LaForge in "The Mind's Eye".)

I also wonder whether this experience will leave any indelible traces at all
on Picard's psyche.  If he is "completely recovered" from the Borg experience
(as he declared in "The Drumhead" and as has certainly seemed to be the case),
what, then does this episode leave us with that we didn't know before?  Not
much that I can see.  It was fun (?) while it lasted, but the memory fades
quickly...

(As a final comment, Picard's observation that "torture has never been a
reliable means of extracting information" leads me to wonder what IS.  But
that's a story for another episode, if at all...)

Given the vast amount of screen time devoted to the torture thread, the, in my
opinion, more interesting thread of Jellico's interactions with the crew was
truly given the short shrift.  The only satisfying moment was when Riker
finally confronted Jellico and stated in no uncertain terms that he felt that
Jellico was making a mistake.  (While it is certainly arguable that *Riker*
was the one in the wrong, the explosion was true to his character, and is the
sort of emoting that Frakes can - and did - pull off quite well.)  Relieving
Riker of command made sense, too, given Jellico's nature.

This (maddeningly brief) look at Riker's character hearkens back to Picard's
assessment of him in "Peak Performance", as someone who prefers to work with
the people below and above him.  One interesting question this brings to mind
is:  CAN Riker work with people in any other way?  Presumably he has had to
before, when he was a cadet and a young officer and had relatively little say
in command decisions.  Has he forgotten how?

Unfortunately, we never find out, since there really is no reconciliation
between Riker and Jellico.  The issue of duty to the ship and to Starfleet
causes them to call a truce to their personal war to handle the Cardassians,
but nothing is really resolved (though their differences are laid out on the
table).  They do not interact again before Picard returns.  Can Jellico modify
his style of command to work with the Enterprise crew?  SHOULD he?  This issue
is not really addressed either.

Unfortunately, the only way that these questions could be truly handled
satisfyingly would be to jettison Picard from the series and install Jellico
as the permanent captain.  With his final demand of the Cardassians, to
release Picard, Jellico cemented himself in my mind as a character worthy of
continuing to be the captain of the Enterprise on TNG.  While it may appear
that his order to have Picard released was only an afterthought, I'm convinced
that it was only a show for the Cardassians (and a wonderfully-written and
acted one, at that).  It was actually with some disappointment that I watched
Picard reassume command of the Enterprise, since I think that a lot of
potential is being flushed down the drain (and a lot of questions raised in
this story being left unresolved).

Sigh.

Finally, there's the Cardassian plot to attack Minos Korva.  This struck me as
nothing less than silly.  Given that they held Picard captive, the *smart*
thing to do, I believe, would have been for the Cardassians to have bided
their time for several months, extracting what information they needed from
Picard (that he had), and waited until the Enterprise and Starfleet's
attentions were directed elsewhere, and THEN to have attempted their attack.
Hiding their ships in the McAllister Nebula seemed a rather stupid risk to me,
and put unnecessary time pressure on their plans.  While not as dumb as the
"three ships to take Vulcan" scheme of the Romulans in "Unification", this one
doesn't do anything to endear me to the story.

On the whole, this was an episode rife with potential, with many interesting
issues raised and nicely-handled atmosphere.  Unfortunately, in final
analysis, "Chain Of Command" struck me as nothing more than an enjoyable,
bite-size, and easily digestible adventure.  Not a bad epitaph, but it could
have been *so* much sweeter...

Grade: B

SEASON SIX AT A GLANCE:
Time's Arrow II: B-
Realm Of Fear: C
Man Of The People: C
Relics: B+
Schisms: B-
True Q: D-
Rascals: D+
A Fistful Of Datas: B
The Quality Of Life: C+
Chain Of Command: B+
Chain Of Command Part II: B
---
Total Points: 26 1/3
Season Average: 2.394 (C+)
(Rise of 0.061 from last episode)
-- 
Michael Rawdon				  rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department,  Madison, WI
( Now in the Boston, Massachusetts area! )

Be warned: I will answer flames and condescensions in kind.
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