"The Defector" Ending's Oversight?

[Maurice]

I'd not thought about this episode in years, but somehow it popped to mind last night and I realized something about the ending. Picard decided to investigate Admiral Jarok's claims about a Romulan base on Nelvana III, and gets confronted by two warbirds, but susprises the Romulans when heretofore invisible Klingon ships decloak.

But if Picard had multiple cloaked ships escorting/meeting him, why did he ever bother going into the Neutral Zone at all? Why not just ask the cloaked Klingons to snoop around planet and check out Jarok's claims?

Seems like a screenwriter oversight. Whoops.

 

[MikeHaveNot]

Asking Klingons to possibly fight: *thumbs up*
Asking Klingons to do some boring scans: *thumbs down*

 

[JesterFace]

Who knows, maybe Picard suggested to Klingons that they would go and snoop around and they said no.
"There's no honour in sneaky surveilance."
So they took Jarok with them and went right in.
Might Picard even like tricking Romulans and Tomalak with his plan?

 

[Maurice]

Maybe, but I doubt the writers even thought it through.

 

[Mojochi]

Because the Picard's ship had... the defector. "Hey, would you Klingons like to go into the Romulan Neutral Zone for us, to investigate this defector's blathering?"

OTOH... "Hey Klingons. We're going into the Romulan Neutral Zone, because we think they're up to some dirty business, got our back?"

 

[Farscape One]

It's worth noting that earlier in the episode, Worf was handling some communiques alone. And this was at a time before Duras got Mogh accused of treason.

Perhaps Duras got wind of Worf helping to set up the Klingon backup against the Romulans, and told his Romulan pals. They set things in motion to get Mogh accused of being the one to assist in the slaughter at Khitomer. Quite a coincidence that it was a recently captured Romulan ship that just happened to have the records of that massacre from decades before. Despite it containing evidence of Duras' father, he was able to get Mogh blamed because of the huge power his family had in the Empire.

AND... both episodes ("The Defector" and "Sins of The Father") were written by Ronald D. Moore.

 

[WAMTNG]

Asking Klingons to possibly fight: *thumbs up*
Asking Klingons to do some boring scans: *thumbs down*

I absolutely see it this way. I just can't imagine Klingon vessels agreeing to violate the Romulan neutral zone to gather intel for the Federation... But I can effortlessly imagine them jumping at the chance to face battle against Romulan Warbirds in a tactical situation where victory could be won because they have a Galaxy-class starship on their side.
Of course, behind the scenes, the reason it plays out this way is that it's the more dramatic ending. But even inside the world of the story, I do think these events make good sense as-written. (It probably helps that this is one of my favourite episodes! )

 

[Finn]

Plot reasons....and the Klingons wouldn't have liked doing it

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Because letting Klingons run around unsupervised in the Neutral Zone while scanning the alleged base of their most bitter enemy is a good way to instigate a war, which was the exact thing Picard was trying to avoid.

If a Starfleet vessel was discovered by the Romulans there might be a chance to negotiate a way out of fighting or escape. If the Klingons were discovered by the Romulans it would certainly end up in a shooting war because neither the Klingons or Romulans would back down or try to escape.

Picard might have needed real-time information from Jarok (access codes, ship patrol routes, cargo delivery schedules, the outpost's defensive capabilities, etc.), and there was no way the Klingons would allow a Romulan on their bridge, or respect a defector.

Plus, Starfleet wouldn't want to turn over the biggest intelligence prize of the last half-century to the Klingons, who might torture or kill him or keep any information he divulged to themselves.

Also, Picard didn't entirely trust Jarok. If the Enterprise had remained at the edge of the Neutral Zone and not investigated the outpost, that would have alerted Jarok that something else was going on, and if he were a Tal Shiar spy and had some kind of undetectable one-time burst communications implant (similar in composition to the suicide chip he had which went undetected) he might have alerted the Romulans to be on the lookout for cloaked vessels.

 

[matthunter]

Possibly in order to perform the kind of in-depth scan that might be needed to detect the facility (or rule out its existence), they'd need to decloak.

 

[Mojochi]

If a Starfleet vessel was discovered by the Romulans there might be a chance to negotiate a way out of fighting or escape..

While I agree with all your points, & this one certainly could be the way they'd see things too, after his claims, we now know there was never any way the Enterprise was going to get out with negotiations or escape

In fact, it's become clear to me in hindsight, that this episode is rather a continuation of a Tomalak arc that began with The Enemy.

I think now that this plot was never about Jarok at all. He was just a patsy so Tomalak could get retribution against Picard personally, for his humiliation at Galorndon Core, & maybe win back some credibility in the Empire at Jarok's expense.

It also goes to show that Picard was savvy enough to see this was a trap, & one that he probably coudn't talk his way out of. Heck, if it was specifically designed to lure Picrd personally, him knowing their territorial areas to patrol might have even clued him into the fact they they'd wanted to lure him specifically. He certainly didn't seem shocked to find Tomalok staring across at him.

 

[WAMTNG]

In fact, it's become clear to me in hindsight, that this episode is rather a continuation of a Tomalak arc that began with The Enemy. I think now that this plot was never about Jarok at all. He was just a patsy so Tomalak could get retribution against Picard personally, for his humiliation at Galorndon Core, & maybe win back some credibility in the Empire at Jarok's expense.

Spot on. They are only separated by two intermediate episodes so I always thought it was planned this way. Looking at the production history, though, it seems quite unlikely, as it seems all the drafts were absolutely about Jarok. Only later did the opportunity for Andreas Katsulas to come back as Tomalak get worked in - but that cameo really does perfect this story!

 

[Farscape One]

Doubtful Tomalak was the driving force for Jarok's downfall so Tomalak can get his reputation back because Jarok said he had been speaking out for months before he defected.

But it was always nice to see Tomalak, played brilliantly by Andreas Katsulas.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm sure Tomalak relished the chance to do away with Jarok (surely they were longtime enemies) but Jarok's fall from grace was orchestrated by pretty much the entire Romulan military.

Tomalak just got to deliver the goods, so to speak.

 

[Maurice]

A lot of this presumes the Klingons were barred from the Neutral Zone. There's zero indication of this. And, c'mon, you think the Klingons aren't gonna use cloaked ships to sniff around the borders of a mortal enemy? They were probably already doing it.

 

[Mojochi]

I'm sure Tomalak relished the chance to do away with Jarok (surely they were longtime enemies) but Jarok's fall from grace was orchestrated by pretty much the entire Romulan military.

Tomalak just got to deliver the goods, so to speak.

Well, I admit I'm off on a theory here, but I kind of think Jarok's fall from speaking out about aggressive actions really only took the form of having been censured & posted to penalizing or at least to distant & less significant assignments etc... all of which surely would've had to have been going on prior to the events at Galorndon Core, 2 episodes earlier, & probably something that was known quite well around the water cooler, but I mean griping & condemning command doesn't necessarily speak to traitorous intent. It's just dissent, & gets treated the way he had been

However, the plan to oust him as a traitor by feeding him bad intel had maybe only been going on recently enough to get him to take immediate drastic measures, & could've been spearheaded by a power-hungry or desperate party like Tomalak, in their ranks, with a current blemish, & something to prove. That it would be Tomalak & Picard to end up face to face once again is just too coincidental for him to not have had some motive in play.

So, while in reality, the show likely just had 2 really good Romulan scripts, & a recently new stellar actor to bring back as their Romulan bad guy, the way it plays out kind of lets me play with a little head canon, & think that when Tomalak got humiliated at Galorndon Core, he had to face some music back home, & his scheme was to pitch a face save, by luring a Starfleet ship to crossover in the Neutral Zone, the way he'd been caught doing recently, by throwing out a bone they'd been trying to deal with already anyhow. 2 Birds, 1 stone.

I mean the whole scheme's motive was purely to get a Starfleet ship to violate treaty by entering the neutral zone. What's the impetus of that besides that they themselves had just recently been caught doing that very thing & got bad PR from it, & having their counterparts do it too saves face some? Tomalak is neck deep in the controversy, & I like to think he saw a chance to save face for himself & everyone, & a chance to get back at Picard, if they pinpointed where they let this play out, & got a chance to take down a superior, & maybe get a power grab of some kind for himself too.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Sending the Enterprise in provoked the Romulans into decloaking and showing their hand, and the Klingons were Picard's ace in the hole. One of Picard's major concerns was to neutralize the advantage of cloaking technology under the supposition that scans might reveal nothing. From http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/158.htm:

PICARD: It is hard to believe in what one cannot see. And yet conceivably, with their cloaking technology, a fleet of Romulan warships could be passing before our eyes. There must be some way to neutralise this advantage.​

By provoking the Romulans into revealing their strategy, sending the Enterprise in can be regarded as a way of nullifying the advantage of cloaking. Keeping the Klingons out of play until they decloaked preserved their use as a surprise trump card.

Also, the Ent-D had first sent in an unmanned probe ahead of the ship. Its results were indicative of the possible presence of cloaked objects but were otherwise inconclusive. This was the bait. Would the Klingon scanners have been any more effective? We don't know, but it's plausible to suppose that they wouldn't have been as good as the Ent-D scanners. It's also plausible that they wouldn't have been better or substantially better than the Ent-D's probe, and, if this had been the case, then sending in the Klingons first would have revealed little or nothing.

Because letting Klingons run around unsupervised in the Neutral Zone while scanning the alleged base of their most bitter enemy is a good way to instigate a war, which was the exact thing Picard was trying to avoid.

If a Starfleet vessel was discovered by the Romulans there might be a chance to negotiate a way out of fighting or escape. If the Klingons were discovered by the Romulans it would certainly end up in a shooting war because neither the Klingons or Romulans would back down or try to escape.

Picard might have needed real-time information from Jarok (access codes, ship patrol routes, cargo delivery schedules, the outpost's defensive capabilities, etc.), and there was no way the Klingons would allow a Romulan on their bridge, or respect a defector.

Plus, Starfleet wouldn't want to turn over the biggest intelligence prize of the last half-century to the Klingons, who might torture or kill him or keep any information he divulged to themselves.

Also, Picard didn't entirely trust Jarok. If the Enterprise had remained at the edge of the Neutral Zone and not investigated the outpost, that would have alerted Jarok that something else was going on, and if he were a Tal Shiar spy and had some kind of undetectable one-time burst communications implant (similar in composition to the suicide chip he had which went undetected) he might have alerted the Romulans to be on the lookout for cloaked vessels.

All good points. It's quite reasonable that sending in the Klingons first would have substantially increased the risk of war.

 

[Captain Dax]

I can't believe he didnt seperate the ship and took all those children to possible war

 

[flandry84]

Maybe it was a job for a runabout.

But I love this episode,great scenery-chewing and a chance(for once)to look smarter than the Romulans.
The Romulans are such good ‘bad guys’ and to think of all those endless Klingon episodes.

 

[Farscape One]

I never had a problem with Klingon episodes. (My wife, however, does not like them.)

Maybe the writers hit a few mental blocks, and decided to... Kling-on to a race that was already there.



(I know that kind of pun has been done to death. Even with a bat'leth. But I couldn't resist.)