244. Chain of Command, Part IIFORMULA: The Empath + The Wounded + The Best of Both Worlds, Part II
WHY WE LIKE IT: Picard and Madred's sublime scenes together.
WHY WE DON'T: Riker's unprofessionalism goes a bit too far.
REVIEW: So it turns out that the whole mission was a trap to lure Picard specifically to Celtis III for capture, interrogation and torture. I don't know if that makes the Cardassians surprisingly great planners or the writers spectacularly lazy. But it doesn't matter, because that's just a context to something truly excellent. Chain of Command, Part II is really an unflinching, adult look at torture and the relationship between a Cardassian captor and his dehumanized captive. David Warner and Patrick Stewart in the roles simply seals the deal. It's a must-see.
The performances are very strong, and Warner delivers the entire Cardassian template in the course of a single story. Their pride, their love of family, their desperation and use of all resources for war, their semi-abandoned spirituality, their Orwell/Kafka justice system, their vile cuisine, and of course the way they like to paint themselves as the good guys only trying to help "lesser" cultures. It's all there for DS9 to work from.
Picard is tortured, humiliated, stripped of his identity and toyed with, but he gives as good as he gets. Picard is stronger - must be stronger - than his cruel captor. His use of psychology matches that of Madred's as much as his willpower does. In the end, Picard never admits to ever seeing more than four lights (a set piece worthy of 1984). But in the end, though Madred walks off defeated, Picard must admit that he HAD been broken, and that's pretty powerful stuff. And bold.
Over on the Enterprise, the Jellico-Riker relationship comes to a head and bam! Data's in a red command shirt. What follows is a little more predictable, though perhaps nice to see no begrudging respect between the two men at the end.
LESSON: There are five lights. (Damn, he got me.)
REWATCHABILITY - High: For the first time, Part II is better than Part I, and a sign of things to come once Deep Space 9 gets good and going. Cardassians are proving to be formidable villains where the Ferengi and neo-Romulans have yet to truly succeed.
Comments
The stuff on the Enterprise really showed that Riker should have transferred to his own command years ago. I did like the scene with Jellico and Geordi though.
As an aside, I'd like to say how much I appreciate your frequent comments on the Star Trek reviews. It makes them more than just a way for me to count the days since the blog opened.
Take this episode, for example. I remember really disliking it at the time; I preferred the similar Babylon 5 episode in series 4 when Sheridan was interrogated. But on reflection, I just don't think I really understood what the episodes were getting at.
Hopefully this episode will roll around again soon on the British Sky One repeats.
Isn't Riker supposed to be a military man trained to follow orders? Plus, if I recall correctly, Jellico turned out to be a great captain in his own right - even if he wasn't as likable as the still pretty stern Picard.
I don't know if there's a concerted plan to make the characters "darker" or less sympathetic, after all, Troi was shown to be an ass as early as The Loss. You may be right about DS9, maybe the trend was simply toward darker stories and writers were doing the same thing in TNG. Or perhaps darker characters is simply a natural part of an evolving series, the effect of exploring other parts of characters we've known for a while now.
I'm glad to hear that Voyager will be following DS9 on the Blog of Geekery. I hate to think what it will be like without my daily dose of Trek here!
Secondyly: Keep the reviews coming! Glad to hear DS9 will come next and you will go all the way to Voyager. Dare I ask, Enterprise? Finish it out, keep our daily dose of Trek joy coming as long as possible?
Enterprise should follow Voyager, yes, though I don't own the DVDs as yet. I've got a long way to go still, so before then, it could happen. From my calculations, one episode a day over the course of all 5 series comes up to exactly two years.
I see that he is unprofessionnal, I'll agree to that. But leading the crew the way Jellico does, I can see no real alternatives for Riker. The crew is reporting to him that they don't appreciate the new captain (see Geordi in the hallway). So I can imagine he's torn between his subordinates and the captain. They're willing to adapt, but Jellico never changes a bit. I'm just glad to see Riker react the way he does because it made him look more human - i.e. not a perfect officer.
But, that's not the main attraction and I must point out the great acting. Stewart is delivering an excellent performance throughout.