From: wombat@eng.umd.edu (Jose Gonzalez)
Subject: *** Spoiler *** Comments on "Chain of Command Part II"
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 92 16:03:41 GMT
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park
Originator: wombat@coke.eng.umd.edu


*** Spoilers ***



Wow.  We *finally* have an instance where part II of a two-parter is better
than part one.  Boy, was this great.



As great as *I* think this episode was, I don't think the episode is going
to appeal to everyone.  Some friends of mine I showed it to said that they
just didn't "get it."  I think this makes sense when something this well-
written, well-acted and well-executed is so *different* from what we usually
get on Star Trek.   

Some Random Comments:

- I think I'll start with the Enterprise half of the story, because as 
excellent as I thought that was, the parts that were phenomenal were the
Gul Madred vs. Picard scenes. 

- I was thouroughly impressed with the Captain Jellico aspect  
of the story.  I found that I liked Jellico at the *end*, but not *during*
the episodes.  Troi was right, though, he wasn't sure of himself.  Control-
freaks never are.  To compensate for his feelings of inferiority, as Riker
said, he had to control "everything and everyone."  *This* is why he
changed the watch-rotations, not because it was necessarily the wisest thing
to do, but because he wanted things *his* way.  This is why he made changes
that weren't necessary.  Very, very well done character.  If the rumors that
Stewart are leaving after this season are true, I would not mind at *all* if the
rumor that Ronny Cox would replace him is true as well.  Yes, he would be
very different form Picard, but he has a long way to go, character-wise, and
that would be very interesting to watch. 

- The Riker-Jellico clashes were the second-best parts of the episode, behind
Madred-Picard.  There was a very realistic feel to the fact that it wasn't
necessarily Jellico's orders that pissed off Riker, it was the way he gave them.
The final clash between Jellico and Riker in Riker's quarters really had
a lot of energy.  Jellico had gone into there, hoping that after he mentioned
the plan, Riker would volunteer for the mission.  The fact that things
didn't go exactly as planned, and that he had to *ask* Riker, really took
Jellico down a peg or two.  *Everyone* I saw this with was cheering after
Riker's "You're welcome."  About time Riker finally got his due.
 
- The ending of the Fed-Car plot was well-paced and well-executed.  Jellico
turned out to be a decent captain, when I was almsot sure he was going to
fail.  The bit with laying the mines was fun, but does anyone realize just
how *close* 500 meters is in space?  I suppose if I could buy ten meters
in "The First Duty," this shouldn't be too hard to suspend disbelief.
Nice directing here too.  The scene managed to be exciting despite the
fact that we never see one Cardassian ship.  Jellico is obviously at
his best when he's holding all the cards.  It would be interesting to
see what he would do in a situation where his back is against the wall,
such as Picard's was in "Data's Day."  Looks like the Cardassians are
developing into some excellent villians.  I'll be interested to see what's
done with them in the future, both on TNG and DS9.

- *Now*, to the part of the episode that had chills continually going
up and down my back, the torture/manipulation scenes.  These scenes
not only dealt with physical aspect of torture, but with some very
intense psychological intimidation.

- I had not expeted Gul Madred to be such a well-thought out and motivated
character.  I thought we were going to delve into Picard's psyche, when 
in fact just the *opposite* occured.  David Warner was *the* choice
for this role.  It really says something about the quality of TNG when
two such fine actors as Ronny Cox and David Warner are willing to be
on it.  

- At one point, a friend of mine said to me, "Who's torturing who?"
That's it exactly.  Gul Madred may have been the one holding all the 
cards *here*, but it was Picard who turned out to be the best torturer. 
He's the one who got what he wanted to know from Madred, and used it
againt him.  His first jab about Madred's daughter was especially
effective, because while her belly may be full and spirit empty, Picard
may go hungry but Madred had not broken *his* spirit.  Picard got
a double-zinger in there, reminding Madred of his failure as both a 
father and a torturer.

- The thing that made these scenes so powerful is the fact that nothing
that was done to Picard was anything that I haven't read about being
done to real victims.  The giving of hope and then taking it away is 
a common manipulative technique in the real world.  After Madred had
lied to Picard about Beverly, Picard could no longer hope for this
to be over, because Beverly would be next.

- I can't see how the academy can pass Patrick Stewart up for an emmy-
nomination after this performance.  The penultimate and final torture
scenes were so phenominally well-acted by Stewart that they *felt* real.
I could almost feel Picard's pain as he screamed in agony, "You are six
years old! Weak and helpless!"  Whew.  (Can you imagine William Shatner
in the same role: "You Cardassian *Bas* *Tard*, you killed my *Kling* *On*")    

- The idea of stating how many lights there were was a simple, effective way
to let Gul Madred and the audience know if Picard had been broken.  The 
final scene of this where the camera slowly focused in on Picard as he
strained to see how many lights there were.  As we find out next scene,
it's fortunate that the guards walked in, or Picard might have said five.

- Of course, what we learn in the final scene in the ready room is that Madred
has screwed with Picard's head so much that he actually thought there were
five lights there.  That's why Picard's final "There are *four* lights!"
sounded so much like a denial.  Madred could not break Picards *spirit*, but
he did manage to break Picard's mind.  Although, I doubt we'll ever see
it, I would like to see how Picard deals with *that*.

- Despite the fact that we may never see this mentioned again, though I
hope we do, I didn't feel the ending was rushed.  Everything is *not*
okay, and this was clearly shown.  One way to deal with it, of course, is
to bring back Madred at some point.

"Chain of Command," on a whole, I think it just behind BOBW in terms of 
consistent quality.  And it's got an edge in the fact that part II was
better than part I.  Incredible job.

Grade: 10

Next Week:


I'm going skiing! (-:  And when I get back on the 31st, I get to watch
Deep Space Nine.  It should be an interesting week, as long as I  don't
break anything.  We'll see.......

 
-- 
Jose Gonzalez                

                          
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