While I personally feel that TNG is the best of all of the Star Trek series, this is one of many episodes that they did that makes the whole series weaker. In my opinion this is an episode that was just poorly conceived, and the writers decided that people would be too stupid to tell how bad an idea it is.
In summary: Captain Picard is relieved of command of the Enterprise in order to infiltrate a suspected Cardassian weapons laboratory. While he, Lt. Worf and Dr. Crusher are on this mission, he is captured by the Cardassians and subjected to prolonged torture in an attempt to get him to reveal sensitive information. This plan is foiled by the resolve of the Captain and he is sent back to the Enterprise having told the Cardassians nothing of importance apparently.
While this is occurring a new officer is brought in to captain the Enterprise, a Captain Jellico, and the crew struggles to deal with the leadership style of this new captain.
On the surface this seems like a plot that could be interesting. But when the writers decide that they need to have main characters do everything, the plot simply falls apart.
While I have no doubt that virtually any government would see a weapons program like this as a danger that must be dealt with, I highly doubt that any government would choose to send the captain of the flagship to perform covert operations. Especially one as recognizable as Captain Picard, or to be blunt someone as old as Picard.
The writers come up with a flimsy rationale for this, Captain Picard apparently has more experience with Theta waves than any other currently serving captain in the federation. One massive problem with this excuse is that the weapon is not Theta waves, they are only the supposed delivery vector. Another massive flaw with this is that while Picard is the most knowledgeable captain on this subject, there surely must be other people in the federation with similar or superior knowledge of the subject, that are not captains, are not pushing 60, and could not jeopardize entire fleet movements and Federation strategy.
If you need to send someone on a secret mission, you would not send someone that nearly everyone on the enemy's side could immediately recognize. And you especially would not send a person that has information stored in their head that could threaten the entire federation. That is just stupid. You would send trained but expendable members of the military (e.g. Army Rangers), or members a covert organization (e.g. CIA) to do the dirty work because that is what those people do. Someone like Picard should then receive the information and review it due to his apparent expertise, not be sent out to play James Bond.
As for Jellico and the Enterprise, it actually seems like a subplot. To then have that subplot essentially go nowhere is not only frustrating, it makes one feel like an entire episode has been wasted when the main plot is that flimsy. All the Enterprise and it's crew did during the entire two part episode is run around following the seeming whims of a power hungry egomaniac (such as changing duty schedules from three shifts a day to four for no apparent purpose, since he makes everyone in engineering work for 48 hours straight anyway), and complain. They could have left the Enterprise at a space station for all the good it did for the story and delivered mines onto the enemy craft using a shuttle, which they did anyway.
To be fair the acting was well done. Both Jellico and Gul Lemec are loathsome characters that you could see actually existing somewhere, and Patrick Stewart does some fine acting while he is being "tortured". You can feel the anguish with him in several scenes. But good acting cannot make up for a plot that essentially makes no sense.
If they had sent Picard and the Enterprise onto the scene after the secret mission to help deal with the ramifications of running covert operations in territory controlled by a treaty partner, this could have been a very good episode. As it is though this two part episode feels very forced and unbelievable, and is one episode I will not make the mistake of watching again.
In summary: Captain Picard is relieved of command of the Enterprise in order to infiltrate a suspected Cardassian weapons laboratory. While he, Lt. Worf and Dr. Crusher are on this mission, he is captured by the Cardassians and subjected to prolonged torture in an attempt to get him to reveal sensitive information. This plan is foiled by the resolve of the Captain and he is sent back to the Enterprise having told the Cardassians nothing of importance apparently.
While this is occurring a new officer is brought in to captain the Enterprise, a Captain Jellico, and the crew struggles to deal with the leadership style of this new captain.
On the surface this seems like a plot that could be interesting. But when the writers decide that they need to have main characters do everything, the plot simply falls apart.
While I have no doubt that virtually any government would see a weapons program like this as a danger that must be dealt with, I highly doubt that any government would choose to send the captain of the flagship to perform covert operations. Especially one as recognizable as Captain Picard, or to be blunt someone as old as Picard.
The writers come up with a flimsy rationale for this, Captain Picard apparently has more experience with Theta waves than any other currently serving captain in the federation. One massive problem with this excuse is that the weapon is not Theta waves, they are only the supposed delivery vector. Another massive flaw with this is that while Picard is the most knowledgeable captain on this subject, there surely must be other people in the federation with similar or superior knowledge of the subject, that are not captains, are not pushing 60, and could not jeopardize entire fleet movements and Federation strategy.
If you need to send someone on a secret mission, you would not send someone that nearly everyone on the enemy's side could immediately recognize. And you especially would not send a person that has information stored in their head that could threaten the entire federation. That is just stupid. You would send trained but expendable members of the military (e.g. Army Rangers), or members a covert organization (e.g. CIA) to do the dirty work because that is what those people do. Someone like Picard should then receive the information and review it due to his apparent expertise, not be sent out to play James Bond.
As for Jellico and the Enterprise, it actually seems like a subplot. To then have that subplot essentially go nowhere is not only frustrating, it makes one feel like an entire episode has been wasted when the main plot is that flimsy. All the Enterprise and it's crew did during the entire two part episode is run around following the seeming whims of a power hungry egomaniac (such as changing duty schedules from three shifts a day to four for no apparent purpose, since he makes everyone in engineering work for 48 hours straight anyway), and complain. They could have left the Enterprise at a space station for all the good it did for the story and delivered mines onto the enemy craft using a shuttle, which they did anyway.
To be fair the acting was well done. Both Jellico and Gul Lemec are loathsome characters that you could see actually existing somewhere, and Patrick Stewart does some fine acting while he is being "tortured". You can feel the anguish with him in several scenes. But good acting cannot make up for a plot that essentially makes no sense.
If they had sent Picard and the Enterprise onto the scene after the secret mission to help deal with the ramifications of running covert operations in territory controlled by a treaty partner, this could have been a very good episode. As it is though this two part episode feels very forced and unbelievable, and is one episode I will not make the mistake of watching again.