CoveTom said:
I accept the explanation as the intention of the scene. But it still strikes me as coming off unnatural. Regardless of their respective ranks, Riker and O'Brien had served together for years and, although certainly not the best of friends, were colleagues and at least good acquaintences who respected one another.Brutal Strudel said:
Funny thing is, while this is the obvious explanation, you'll still find tons of people in the DS9 forum looking for another answer. People are fascinating and by fascinating I mean--
For Riker to come out of the blue with some cryptic remark about there being nothing to say and "I think you know why," and the O'Brien to just accept that and leave without questioning it in the slightest seems a bit... off. I just don't see that as being the way people would really behave. I would think O'Brien would be taken aback by Riker's comments, and make an attempt to inquire.
Something as simple as O'Brien saying "I... beg your pardon, sir?" and Riker replying "I have nothing further to say to you chief, you're dismissed" would make that scene play a whole lot more naturally to me.
It would have improved it, yes, but I can still buy it as is.