Retroactive justification for Riker's friction towards Jellico?

[suarezguy]

Lots of folks here can't seem to see past their affection for these characters to recognize that Riker was terribly written after "The Best of Both Worlds." This is just one instance of that awful writing. Everyone knew and acknowledged it, even Frakes. The only way to save the character was to let him leave the ship and have Frakes appear in occasional episodes while directing or kill him off in season four and replace him with Thomas Riker.

Don't think it's at all awful writing to have a character decide he doesn't need to be captain right now, prefers continuing as second in command to continue being with his current crew.

This is exactly why I dislike the crew so much in this episode. Jellico was right, he just wasn't nice. If the crew cannot or does not want to see that then maybe they're not that great.

They were a bit openly resentful but Riker was the only one who was outright defiant/insubordinate, the rest still worked their best with/for him.

 

[Ragitsu]

I've never had issues with the fact that he made the crew work extra-hard, sometimes a captain's got to do that.

If Geordi was any indication, the crew - a reminder: the crew of the flagship of The Federation - was not averse to applying elbow grease.

LAFORGE: Yeah, well, I don't mind making changes and I don't mind hard work

It was how Jellico went about arranging the crew that caused unnecessary difficulty; the man made suboptimal choices...which is probably why he was the Captain of The Cairo.

 

[flandry84]

Well Jellico did bring along and display his granddaughters(?) paintings so maybe he had intentions to make his temporary transfer more permanent.
Forcing Riker out might have been the ultimate goal.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

They were a bit openly resentful but Riker was the only one who was outright defiant/insubordinate, the rest still worked their best with/for him.

Only after several days of Jellico disrespecting and dismissing him at every turn, while he was dangerously overworking the Engineering Department, and possibly other sections as well.

The first time Riker was actually defiant/insubordinate was when he insisted that Starfleet acknowledge that Picard was officially acknowledged by Starfleet and even then only the manner of his objectives were out of line, not the point itself.

 

[Oddish]

Jellico did bring along and display his granddaughters(?) paintings so maybe he had intentions to make his temporary transfer more permanent.

It was his son, actually. And I think that more likely, he left his family on the Cairo because he believed that he was taking Enterprise into battle. Maybe his son gave him the drawing as he was leaving.

It's never stated, but it would have made sense for all children and support staff on Enterprise to go to the Cairo as well. No reason to endanger innocents.

Forcing Riker out might have been the ultimate goal.

If it was, it would have been for his own good. Riker gets his stalled career jump-started, and Data gets the red uniform and commander pips he deserves.

The first time Riker was actually defiant/insubordinate was when he insisted that Starfleet acknowledge that Picard was officially acknowledged by Starfleet and even then only the manner of his objectives were out of line, not the point itself.

I believe that Jellico was right. Acknowledging Picard wasn't his call or Riker's; it was either Necheyev's or Starfleet Command's. And he should have reminded Riker of that. But wrong or not, if Riker believed Jellico staying silent was a mistake, it was his duty to point it out.

 

[fireproof78]

Don't think it's at all awful writing to have a character decide he doesn't need to be captain right now, prefers continuing as second in command to continue being with his current crew.

I mean...sort of? Riker's whole goal and reason to be, and even part of his back and forth with Troi during her engagement, was that he wanted to be a starship captain, more than anything else.

Now, obviously individuals can change, and determine they'd rather stay at a certain level, but the point is this is an established driving force in Riker's life and then it's dropped. It's going to stand out.

 

[flandry84]

Yeah,I haven’t seen those episodes in ages.