TNG Rewatch: 6x10 - "Chain of Command, Part I"

[Dick_Valentine]

I find the pro-Jellico arguments confusing because to me that's not how the episode is written.

Jellico is there to be a foil to Riker in the same way Shelby was, although with Shelby it was angst over someone coming in, doing everything it takes to take your job.
Jellico's completely the opposite C/o to what Riker's been used to and the entire 2 parter is written as "how to deal with an unreasonable boss" and not "2 episode guest star shows up and the crew is mean to him"

Picard was a hardass in the early episodes. He has that side to him if necessary, but it didn't take him long to realise this crew would respond more with encouragement and enthusiasm rather than demands and whipping.

Jellico comes in and his entire attitude stinks of "This may be the best crew in the fleet but now I'm here they should thank their lucky stars they get to work with ME!" arrogance.
He shows up and his very attitude implies the crew have been underperforming, that their countless peaceful conflict resolutions with the Romulans, Klingons, Sheliac, Tamarians and yes, even the Cardassians weren't enough form to prove they could be trusted in tense negotiations with a powerful potential enemy.

Indeed, his scenes reminded me a lot of the first contact situation depicted in Babylon 5's "In the Beginning"
The arrogance of that ships commanding officer ended up causing the firefight that led to a long war they were trying to avoid.
Jellico was the same, in his mind they were in the pre-amble of warfare. He was just waiting for the Cardassians to pull the trigger, peaceful options were just stalling for time.
If he hadn't been checked up by riker he'd probably have started the second cardassian war.

No, his entire role in the episode is to be the antagonist to show Riker not everyone is a decent a C/O as picard, some people are more in it as a power trip and to suit their own ego and don't really have loftier goals like exploration or protecting the federation at heart, they just love getting people to do what they say.

The mistake the writers made was not making him an Admiral.
If he'd been an admiral there would've been no question in anyone's minds he was up to no good

 

[Mojochi]

Except that everything he did worked, and as soon as Riker was out of the way, everything fell into place and the mission was more successful than anyone, including the admiralty that set it up, could have hoped for. He never suggests that the crew has been underperforming, only that it has not been performing the kind of duty that he expects them to soon be in... a war

I think this episode goes deeper than "This is just Antagonist X of the week", like some episode where some short sighted character tries to take Data's kid. This isn't just the "Guy who comes aboard and forcefully takes over" episode, like Pressman or Satie. If it were just that, it would be so tired and overdone, that no one would even like the episode, for how many times they did that in Star Trek. What they did here is flip the table, and say that this guy is rightfully in charge, and furthermore, he knows exactly what he's doing, that there's no evidence to say he is wrong about anything he does, and that the outcome of the mission even supports him. However! He is nothing like Picard. Now that's compelling. It openly challenges what we have gotten comfortable with

 

[Trekker4747]

I dunno, as a child of the '80s/'90s it's hard for me to see Ronny Cox as anything but a villain/bad guy.

 

[Ghrakh]

I find the pro-Jellico arguments confusing because to me that's not how the episode is written.

Agree with all this. I don't think anyone's calling him a villain, or incompetent; no, he's just an ass.

Except that everything he did worked, and as soon as Riker was out of the way, everything fell into place and the mission was more successful than anyone, including the admiralty that set it up, could have hoped for.

This is part 1. Did you jump to the end already? I also find your innate knowledge of Jellico's unspoken thoughts and crystal clear recounting of events that happened off camera to be quite illuminating.

 

[Mojochi]

I also find your innate knowledge of Jellico's unspoken thoughts and crystal clear recounting of events that happened off camera to be quite illuminating.

What do you mean? All I've ever done is state possibilities that could explain why he is behaving the way he is, or doing what he's doing. I've never claimed anything off camera or unspoken as being fact, but when I'm dealing with a counterpoint which essentially boils down to "He isn't nice enough to them" And that's being used to suggest he is both wrong and possibly a bad captain, then I'm in the position of having to open people's minds to what could be the case they are not considering. People are basing their judgment of the man on nothing more than how they feel, but they never seem to be considering why they might be feeling that way, and the episode is purposely trying to challenge prejudice and bias. It makes me laugh that people are unable to even see that this is what they're doing

The man is a top notch, successful Starfleet captain, with an illustrious enough record that he is brought in. Wouldn't you think this would be far easier for him to do, with his own crew aboard the Cairo? That option was not given to him. Picard was given no choice. Riker was given no choice. Stands to reason that Jellico was given none either. It makes far more sense to suggest that he is in a tough spot too, and making the best of a bad deal, all around

Do you think he's sitting on board the Cairo wondering when he'll be able to get a chance to seize control of the Enterprise, and spend what may end up being the beginning of a possible long term assignment making enemies there? What kind of idiot would he have to be for that to be his intent?

For Jellico to be the kind of person people are accusing him of being, a tyrant who is putting his own ego, and personal desires above what is best for the ship, crew & mission, he would have to be either grossly incompetent, or completely idiotic, & all the evidence in the episode points to the complete opposite of that

You trying to say he's just a jerk & that doesn't mean he's incompetent, but actually it does, if he is such a jerk that this crew can't adjust to him. If it were all about him being a jerk, then it is a situation where he isn't savvy enough to command, and the breakdown of the system may cause mission failure. What kind of idiot, with war hanging in the balance, would purposely walk on board a strange ship, and say to himself "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to put these people in their place, and straighten them out but good. They've had it too easy for too long, and I'm just the guy to sort these sorry soft sonsabitches out"?

Nobody. Nobody, who is the clutch man to get the war problem dealt with, would be looking to make more waves for himself & his crew than the mission could afford. He would have to be a bad captain to be that kind of socially inept and grossly shortsighted, & then why in the hell would he be on the short list of people to put in charge of this? Old fly off the handle Will Riker ain't, and this episode is a master class in why

 

[The Old Mixer]

What they did here is flip the table, and say that this guy is rightfully in charge, and furthermore, he knows exactly what he's doing, that there's no evidence to say he is wrong about anything he does, and that the outcome of the mission even supports him.

You forgot the part where he farts daisies.

 

[Mojochi]

He don't have to fart daisies when he crams foot in Cardassian ass and they shit out Picard like they swallowed a dose of Ex Lax

 

[RAMA]

One thing about Cpt. Jelico, he makes me realize how much I don't like Picard. It brings it into focus that Jelico is a captain that really seems to be a strong leader that wants things done well and demands it. Data recognizes this and is rapidly rewarded, Riker doesn't and is sent to his room to pout like a little girl.


And Troi wearing her uniform on the bridge while on duty seems so obviously correct I wonder what the hell were they thinking for 5 plus years. I'd be fine with it if she was a civilian contractor there for the psycological well being of the crew and passengers but she's an officer in Starfleet, she should be in her uniform on duty, or Worf should be able to wear his Hawaiian shirts all the time.

I still don't understnad how anyone can't like Picard. He clealry has strength as well as a vast array of more subtle qualities undreampt of by the previous captain of Star Trek, and performed better I might add.

Jellicoe=stiff boardroom style general with very few subtleties directly out of another century.

RAMA