Chain of Command, Part II is not as flawed as its predecessor, Part I, however, it isn’t as well crafted as one would have hoped. And for every success, it seems to trip itself up. We get a decidedly compelling performance from Picard. But Riker comes off very, very poorly — it’s either the writing, the performance or both, but either way, it’s unpleasant. The episode gets credit for addressing the issue of torture — in as frank and sober terms as possible — but at the end of it all, we’re left asking, what was the point?

We begin with Gul Muldred’s interrogations of Picard. He wants Federation secrets and has injected Picard with a kind of truth serum in order to get what he wants. The problem for both Muldred, and even for Picard, is that Picard really does not have the information that Muldred seeks. But as he stated in Part I, Muldred sees Picard as a “challenge” of sorts. And so what follows is more than just a matter of interrogation — it’s a battle of wills.

We know Picard has the stronger will, but he’s also subjected to dehumanizing and excruciating psychological and physical mistreatment at the hand of Muldred. Watching the scenes is uncomfortable — and they should be. Portraying torture, even the heavily implied torture of this episode, cannot be done in a cavalier nature. Fortunately, the subject of torture is treated with the gravitas it deserves. As Picard tells Gul Muldred, “Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information… it is ultimately self-defeating as a means of control … and so one wonders why it is still practiced.” Wise words, especially nowadays. But as I also said, it is uncomfortable to watch — and it certainly isn’t entertaining.

For the episode, Muldred strips Picard of his clothes, and his humanity, calling him, simply “human.” A device is implanted in Picard’s nervous system that creates pain. And Muldred uses it to begin exerting control over Picard. Because that’s what this is all about: power and control, the breaking of Picard’s spirit. Symbolically, this is done via a battery of four lights behind Muldred’s desk. He asks Picard how many lights there are. Picard responds: there are four lights (immortalized by “The Picard Song“). Muldred tells him there are five. Everytime he answers with the truth, four lights, Muldred inflicts pain.

Back on board the Enterprise, Jellico continues to run roughshod over the crew. But they begin to adapt to the new reality — everyone, that is except for Commander Riker. From the get go, he resists every order he receives from Jellico. He sneers, he rolls his eyes, he pouts, he walks around in a huff. And when Jellico tells him that it would be irrational to try and rescue Picard, Riker has a temper tantrum and forces Jellico to relieve him of duty. And so Riker goes off to sulk in his cabin. It’s a really pathetic performance because Riker ought to know better.

About the only good part of Riker’s meltdown is Data’s promotion to First Officer (he even gets the red uniform). Data performs his duties quite well. We knew this, of course, from his performance at the end of Redemption, Part II, but it was nice to see him get yet another opportunity to demonstrate his abilities.

Jellico, too, demonstrates his own abilites by deducing the Cardassian invasion plan and implementing a plan to foil it. It seems their invasion fleet is hiding in a nebula, so he decides to send in a shuttle to surreptitiously plant magnetic mines around the fleet. There’s even an interesting scene where he and LaForge find some common ground. But he also learns from LaForge that the person best qualified to carry out the mission is the one pouting in his room: Riker. So Jellico does what a good commander should, presses the right buttons, strokes the ego the right way, and gets Riker to carry out the mission. All in all, Riker comes out of the exchange like a prima dona.

Riker succeeds. Jellico uses the mines to convince the Cardassians to back off of their invasion plans — and to release Picard. And we get one final scene between Picard and Muldred. While their scenes have been difficult to watch, we’re still left with an admiration for Picard’s spirit. It seems infinitely resolute. But Muldred’s torture has taken its toll. And he has given Picard a choice: a life of ease, or of unceasing torture. The price? Tell the “truth” about the lights. At the climactic moment, guards arrive to transport Picard back to the Enterprise and he utters one final cracked declaration: “There are four lights.” He has won the battle of wills.

Or so we think. Once back on board the Enterprise, Picard resumes command from Jellico who departs rather unceremoniously. But inside his Ready Room, Picard begins his healing process with Troi. And he reveals something chilling: not only was he ready to proclaim that there were five lights, he actually saw five lights. And that is how the episode ends.

First of all, it is important that the episode confronts the healing process. But it’s also a very important statement on torture. In the end, people will believe in any lie to get the torture to stop. It devalues and dehumanizes. And it serves one purpose only: it is purely an obscene exercise in power.

Chain of Command, Part II is a good episode. It gets credit for it’s focus on a difficult subject matter. But the rest of it, particularly the performance from Riker, just doesn’t achieve the same measure of success.

Topics: Cardassians
Filed under: TNG Reviews