I was bothered about what happened or didn't happen to Picard after CoC, as well as, after BoBW. He regained his command of the Enterprise after both those incidents as though nothing had happened to him. He was not only traumatized by the Cardassians and the Borgs, respectively, but he was also compromised. They messed with his mind. Realistically, after just one of those incidents, Star Fleet would have trust issues with Picard. Realistically, Picard would not have been given back command of the Enterprise after BoBW and certainly not after both CoC and BoBW had occurred. He would have been reassigned to a desk job or forced to an early retirement. But I understand that this is a tv show. And the show must go on with Picard as captain of the Enterprise. So I was kind of shocked by how the writers set up the story for the movie, First Contact. Star Fleet sent its flagship far away to the neutral zone, away from battle even though the fate of the Earth hung in the balance, all because, presumably Star Fleet couldn't trust Picard in any dealings with the Borg. I have to give the writers credit for being somewhat realistic in that Star Fleet had trust issues with Picards regarding the Borgs. (Then again, wouldn't it have made more sense for Star Fleet to strip Picard of the command of the Enterprise and to give the command of the ship to somebody else so that the Fleet's pride and joy could be used to defend the home planet?) Yet the writers were unrealistic in giving Picard back his command of the Enterprise after both CoC and BoBW had happened. They were unrealistic to begin with. They follow illogic with logic. They turned things upside down. But they got their way. It's their show. I guess they had their cake and ate it too.
If Picard hadn't said his speech about pitying Madred, the episode wouldn't have had any point at all. Everything was leading to that moment. If Picard had just said: "Okay, five lights, let's move on shall we?" then we may as well not have watched it at all. Keep in mind this was a very important episode for Patrick Stewart, as well. Star Trek has always bent the rules in favour of telling a greater story, this is no different.
If that US army officer was worthy of the uniform he wore, he would spit in his captor's faces until his dying breath. As would Picard, because that's what he would always do in the face of terror and oppression and death.
Not always. When Picard was facing oppression at death at the hands of the borg because of Q, he begged him for help.
I'm sure that if most other Army Officers had a Genie there offering their help in exchange for some humility, they'd show that humility.
Funny thing about "Q Who" is that Picard sat there in Ten Forward and told Q that they were ready to meet whatever the Galaxy had to throw at them. Q (operating on the premise that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence) decided to put Picard to the test, and rightly so. Picard had to save his ship and crew from becoming the victims of his own hubris. Of course he'd debase himself before Q to do that. Also there was a time when Picard faced the Borg without Q around. Anyone here remember what he said when facing assimilation?
I'm pretty sure they are trained NOT to do that because there is likely to lead to further torture or beating and reduce their ability to effectively resist or escape if the opportunity presented itself.
They wanted to make a point that torture as a policy was ineffective and very corrosive; the Cardassian had the physical advantage but Picard had the psychological advantage. So, Picard was ultimately stronger by a lot than the man tormenting him. I thought it was great drama and very ironic. David Warner was excellent.