Captain Picard provokes treachery.

S03E10

[@spyrofan9681]

My favourite part of this is still the expression "You think you can dance on the edge of the neutral zone?"

[@vincentjohnflorio]

In the pale moonslight?

[@PR--un4ub]

@@vincentjohnflorio Horrible episode.

[@thammar1990]

@@PR--un4ub literally the best episode of ds9

[@PR--un4ub]

@@thammar1990 Worst episode of _Deep Space Nine_ , actually.

[@paskahalvaus697]

@@PR--un4ub How come?

[@sherpajones]

Picard doesn't mince words. Kudos to the writers and to Patrick Stewart for building such a powerful Captain.

[@mariusraab9076]

Why should anyone spend energy to refute dumbass remarks? Go bitching for attention somewhere else, girlfriend maybe? Oh wait, right. Sorry, my mistake...

[@janetsminten8196]

@monokhem You sound like someone who enjoys Star Trek Discovery lol

[@harborwolf22]

One of the best characters in TV/film history, writing and acting.

[@Luka1180]

@monokhem You haven't given any reasons yourself, you damn hypocrite. By the way, I believe Discovery is the worst of the shows, safe maybe for a lot of TOS. Many obnoxious archetypes/stock/cardboard cut out type characters. Like Tilly, for instance. She wouldn't even have graduated with her unprofessional way of acting

[@ShaunDreclin]

I love how he sounds like a badass in charge without being vulgar or overtly insulting. Makes him that much more of a role model

[@FawzieK]

"You've already betrayed your people, admiral! You've made your choices, sah! You're a traitah!" Love it when that Shakespearean training comes out. 😁👍🏻

[@mikeymcmikeface5599]

I couldn't agree more! Patrick Stewart is absolutely awesome.

[@nb2008nc]

He actually didn't betray his people. He defected to save the civilians of the Romulan Empire from a war that he truly believed his military was about to launch, thereby preventing such a war from happening. Very similar to the defection of Colonel Ryszard Kukliński under President Carter.

[@Terminator484]

@@nb2008nc (spoiler) Turns out that his superiors fed him fake info, just to test his loyalty. He failed the test, and carried the misinformation to the Federation... and killed himself in shame at the end of all this.

[@burstcity3832]

@@mikeymcmikeface5599 His first real role in films was in Excalibur, he showed the same calm and controlled nature as Knight and then the same fire when he chose a side!

[@floppydisksareop]

@@nb2008nc Cool motive, still betrayal. There's nothing that'd guarantee that the Federation wouldn't just launch a preemptive strike, and bomb Romulus to the ground before they can actually gather their fleet except "that's not their style". And in any case, warning the Federation about an attack would only lead to them being prepared and either winning the war, or dragging it out quite a bit.

[@zahrans]

After a Meh season 1, the writers truly stepped up when they realised the gem of an actor in Patrick Stewart

[@CharlesGervasi]

He set Picard-speech phasers to maximum setting.

[@TheMJKnight]

That's a brilliant line

[@jonhunter4187]

it rally is quite tragic what happens to Jarok.

[@johnnybikesalot]

That Romulan... I dunno, for some reason, I feel like he would be really good at raising a baby changeling. Or maybe even telling me about the all new 1992 Lexus lineup.

[@williamcostigan91]

Hmm I don't know... He seems like the kind of guy who would be so harsh that the changeling would hate him years later.

[@furtherback6131]

Seems like he could be a a solid future Alexander Rozhenko as well. Or give Neelix traumatic flashbacks as a guy called Ma'Bor Jetrel.

[@PaperbackWizard]

That captain talks a pretty good piece about Pontiac Grand Ams.

[@frankburns8871]

Yes, captain, I am prepared to do all of that. Unfortunately, I'm wearing an oven mitt, so cooperation will be most difficult.

[@yourcompassioncorner]

Thank you. I have been bothered by the Romulan uniforms and I could never equate them to something but you have perfectly. Also, Frank Burns was my favorite character on MASH. Love your comment.

[@dustintacohands1107]

Patrick steward is such a good actor he makes other actors even better cuz they forget it’s just acting with him

[@vikingfortiesfaeroes]

There's an episode where a Romulan defector is genuine, and another where a different defector turns out to be a spy, and I always get them mixed up

[@danieldickson8591]

The fire between the eyes of these two men could melt steel.

[@fryfry377]

I like it when I can tell an episode is pre-season 4 from the music.

[@bennymutant]

Picard at his best.

[@Camcolito]

This was one of the best TNG episodes.

[@georgexanthopoulos3003]

Top10 - Top15 for sure.

[@Emp6ft10in]

In the end though, didn't Romulan's play them all?

[@randallwong7196]

Riker sat down in a regular way.

[@jdb2002]

1:18-Employees before a meeting engaging in small talk before the boss walks in, and everyone scrambles to their seats.

[@Dowlphin]

My imagination is going wild with the comedy potential.

[@kojack635]

Exactly what I was thinking

[@solomonreal1977]

"You will remain in my ready room punching this hologram of your homeworld until you are relieved SUUHHH!!!"

[@phillippi2]

It's quite interesting because, later in the series, picard's basically on the receiving end of treachery from Ensign Ro.

[@Fuuntag]

We’ll always have TNG.

[@spasjt]

BIG SPOILERS for those who haven't seen this episode. It's to bad that this whole defection was an elaborate plot by the Tal'Shiar who fooled the defecting admiral into thinking Romulus was plotting to start an unprovoked war with the Federation. The whole thing turned out to be a trap to lure the flagship of the Federation into the Neutral Zone to destroy it. Doing this also meant that the Romulan Empire could then claim that the Federation started the war by sending in the Enterprise into Romulan space. Which would give them the excuse to go to war while appearing to be the innocent party. If this defection had not been planned by the Tal'Shiar then the whole balance of power would have been firmly in the hands of the Federation for a long time. This was a great episode that had a great ending I didn't see coming!

[@jdb2002]

To add to that, it was also a test for the Admiral, to test his loyalty.

[@freesaxon6835]

spasjt Hey isn't it a good job this sort of subterfuge does happen on earth🙁

[@jacobbolee7037]

@Thelondonbadger Killing your critics isn't just within domain of left-wing dictators

[@jacobbolee7037]

@Thelondonbadger I meant that pretty much any authoritarian/totalitarian govt will murder its opponents if it feels it has to, left or right. Unless you're suggesting Chile's Pinochet was left-wing?

[@fatbap]

+Jacob Bolee Dont be ridiculous. Dont you know that every dictator in history has been a left wing, communist, socialist, black, mexican, anti-semitic, atheist, muslim? Thats you teached.

[@dragonknightleader1]

James Sloyan is my favorite character actor all of Star Trek.

[@reverv]

I hope the new Picard series doesn't dumb things down.

[@mendeleyev1790]

Oops

[@BrightOranje]

It will, so don't get your hopes up. New Star Trek (and indeed most new sci-fi) is designed to cater to idiotic youngsters who care about explosions and one-liners every 10 seconds.

[@jhwheuer]

Has JJA gotten his grubby lensflared hands on that show, too?

[@gwilym1991]

Written by the same people who wrote Discovery so don't hold your breath.

[@3rdreichball525]

@@BrightOranje umm so did the original star wars in 1970s. Thats what sci fi has always been made for. Kids that like explosions and space ships.

[@andyr0ck]

The Romulan's been going heavy on the gravy browning for his body-building comp...

[@TTony-tu6dm]

You’ve crossed over, admiral. You make yourself comfortable with that

[@firestanderman7755]

You’ve made your choices sir

[@Camcolito]

Great episode.

[@Blastaar7]

"First....you will return the traitor Jarok...."

[@KingGalby]

It's treason then.

[@stringtheoryguitars4952]

UNIMITED POOOOOWEEERR!!!!

[@Smeginator]

I AM The Romulan Senate.

[@teufeldritch]

Same actor played Odo's 'father.'

[@takerdust]

and the Scientist who helped kill Neelix's family on Voyager.

[@Poop-nu1so]

Hell yeah Picard is a fuckin' baller

[@chrisratcliff7466]

Same guy played a Klingon in that episode where I believe he trained Alexander in the Klingon ways

[@Terminator484]

Later revealed to actually be Alexander, trying to change his past self.

[@reelsoffortuneslotsplay4267]

Also played the Doctor who mistreated Odo and forced him to demonstrate and improve his shapeshifting abilities

[@nucflashevent]

The greatest thing about all the Star Trek's, but most especially in my opinion TNG, is how well it draws from real-world examples. Despite being a complete SciFi fantasy, it is still not only very precedent, but also very realistic in its portrayal of advanced lifeform interactions. This episode was a perfect example. You could just as easily substitute "romulan" and "federation" for USSR and United States. i.e. -- If a Soviet Officer had decided that wanted a better life in the United States, certainly they would have been welcome **BUT** they wouldn't have been "entitled" to anything. Meaning, just like with this romulan officer, the Soviet Officer would have been expected to EARN his/her new life in the United States by being an asset, and that means telling us anything and everything they knew *about* the USSR. If they weren't prepared to do that, then I suspect the United States Federal Government wouldn't have been prepared to simply "gift" them a new life (meaning they would have been sent back, etc.)

[@firestorm165]

Interesting. All of the highly publicised examples all involve Soviet officials bringing something valuable with them when they defected (generally in the form of a fighter jet) but from memory there isn't a lot of material on what happens with the rank and file. That being said I'm unaware of any cases where anyone was sent back against their will and from what I'm told even for those officers they could never join a NATO military nor hold a top secret clearance on the off chance that they were a spy.

[@nucflashevent]

@@firestorm165 I suspect only the truly naive would even attempt what the romulan did. After all, what good is it to defect just to be penniless? After all, unlike in the USSR, you weren't guranteed anything in the West, etc (job, food, housing, etc.) That's the one difference in the show than our world. There, every Civilization capable of Superluminal travel by default can also create anything their populations need out of whole cloth (replicators seem pretty universal, etc.)

[@pyrioncelendil]

@@nucflashevent Not entirely true. Off the top of my head I can think of a few civilizations in Trek that had warp travel but not universal access to matter replicators: the Cardassian Union had them, but controlled access to them by military rank, and if you weren't military, you basically starved. And then there was the Kazon, who were warp-capable as a result of having formerly been Trabe slaves, but neither them nor the Trabe had matter replication technology.

[@HankMcGurk]

You make yourself comfortable, you make yourself comfortable~ Perhaps I don't know. I never do, but if I do, I sing, ALARM, ALARM, look, at least look.

[@augustday9483]

SPOILER: Even though the Romulan fleet strategic data was bogus (since the defector had been fed false information for months), I imagine that the specific tactical data about Warbird capabilities was still useful information. I'm sure the Federation still got some decent intel out of this whole situation when everything was said and done.

[@jenniferschmitzer299]

Shakespeare, In Spaace!!

[@TheMJKnight]

Only Patrick Stewart could have made Picard so iconic

[@HankMcGurk]

It is impossible to provoke Treachery. It always exists!

[@Anonerak]

Picard truth bombed the Romulan so much, he should be tried for warcrimes.

[@hawkstringfellow]

Iam rolling with sisko and janeway......

[@energicko]

Credit to actor James Sloyan, as well as Patrick Stewart.

[@andrewworley4401]

Picard is cool.

[@richardlahan7068]

In for a penny, in for a pound.

[@Giraffinator]

Jersey Shore is more intense than I figured

[@livingdeadgirla]

GTL TNG

[@yoshisisland24]

0:47 Now if the Bitter Taste of that

[@Flashbagfolly]

I didn't know Odo's dad served in the Romulan fleet.

[@barcaleicleic7781]

🦄

[@saffakanera]

I'm watching Star Trek: Enterprise, and couldn't help but think that captain Picard would probably have kicked everyone off that ship, lol. Though I'd feel safer serving on Picard's Enterprise than Archer, despite Picard being a complete and utter hardass!

[@Purpleturtlehurtler]

You mean a complete and utter badass.

[@JH-su9vl]

1 scene that is better than the whole of STD and JJ

[@paulsarnik8506]

I thought he was supposed to REVOKE it🤷🏼‍♂️🤓😎🖖🏻

[@paulsarnik8506]

How many Red Angels can dance on the head of a pin? Oops, wrong series😮🤓😎🖖🏻

[@harkyo]

It's the same actor who plays Dr. Mora who found Odo!

[@Renegade2786]

And also the same actor that played the scientist that caused the destruction of Neelix's home world.

[@ricksimon9867]

The last scene makes no sense at all. First of all, that information is exactly what Jarok WANTED to give the Federation. Remember, he wanted to prevent the war because he thought the Romulans would lose, and he wanted to provide the Federation with intel that would force the Romulan Empire to give up their invasion plans. But also: the Romulans knew that Jarok had defected, and the Federation was aware of that. So they have to assume that all of the information that Jarok has is no good anymore anyway. _

[@lyianx]

He didnt provoke it. Jarok was a traitor the moment he went to them for help.

[@ratius1979]

Magical writing and acting

[@monkeymox2544]

I always thought Picard was a massive prick in this episode. Don't get me wrong, his scepticism was warranted, but he did nothing to make the admiral feel like he was doing something worthwhile. Then, when it turned out he'd been duped, Picard might as well have turned to him and said "it wasn't real, you dumb twat." Only at the end after the guy kills himself does Picard say "I wish there were more people like him." Perhaps make defectors feel a bit more welcome in the federation next time, eh?

[@Tmccreight25Gaming]

Scenes like this prove once and for all that Patrick Stewart is the greatest actor of all time, not just on TV but in movies, plays. Whatever form of media!

[@mdteletom1288]

You really should watch more than just Patrick Stewart clips on KZbin.

[@georgexanthopoulos3003]

@@mdteletom1288 I believe it's safe to say that "greatest actor of all time" is really a subjective issue. He may very well have watched tons of other stuff and believe Stewart is the best ever.

[@jimmyzhao2673]

It's a Faaaaake !

[@deelynn8611]

I have no idea what this means.

[@victorsalisbury3554]

Apox to camera

[@tank3532]

which episode is this from?

[@Barsabus]

I don't know

[@scottjo63]

The Defector

[@ryandonovan5895]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defector_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

[@robjackson5245]

Misleading title. Jarok was already defecting before this. He clearly just told him a harsh and unpleasant truth and didn't sugar coat it.

[@SantomPh]

Picard already mentioned that Jarrok was defecting. What Picard noted was that Jarrok didn't want to give details out of loyalty to the true ideals of the Romulan Star Empire, but was defecting pretty much for them. Hence Picard provokes him to give the crucial details, lest his defection be meaningless

[@georgexanthopoulos3003]

He really was "dancing at the edge of the neutral zone" before Picard truth-bombed him. Picard basically made him quit being on the fence and actually defect.

[@XeroCross22]

hey that's the suicidal Q from Star trek Voyager.

[@albertmartinez8721]

Nope! That's James Sloyan, a great 'that-guy' character actor, who has done multiple roles in Star Trek. Quinn, the suicidal Q, was played by Gerrit Graham.

[@aaronhoover7131]

How did he provoke treachery here?

[@EagleEye910638]

It's been a while since I've seen the actual episode but I think it's because the Romulan SAID he was going to help but Picard goads him (with that speech) into actually going through with it to prove he's not just giving them lip service.

[@SeraphinaAizen1]

Basically, the Romulan had defected, claiming that he wanted to warn them about an impending invasion. He wanted to prevent a war by alerting Starfleet and getting the Enterprise to investigate the staging area of the attack, hoping that the Romulans would panic and pull the plug on the whole thing. However, despite telling them about the attack, he refused to give the Enterprise any information about the Romulans other than that. He wouldn't tell them how many ships were in any given sector. What the current defensive plans for the Romulan Empire was. He wouldn't tell them anything about their weapons technology or command structure. Basically, he was encouraging them to take his word for it that there was this huge attack that they should charge into neutral space to investigate, but wouldn't give them any other information to encourage them to trust him. In this scene, Picard was basically laying it down, and stating that he would not accept the word of a man who was refusing to cooperate in every meaningful sense. The guy was trying to defect without defecting, which left Picard with no reason to trust a word he said.

[@jakep1979]

SeraphinaAizen1 He is essentially Ed Snowden, did not like the direction his government was going and decided to leak the information out and made himself a traitor and had to defect to Russia.

[@Scherbenkacks]

jakep1979 Snowden didn't defect to Russia, his government revoked his passport, which left him stranded there.

[@jakep1979]

Scherbenkacks Nope the U.S government did revoke his passport but he was in Hong Kong at the time and since he knew he couldn't stay there for long before he gets extradited, it was Russia who offered him an asylum.

[@sergeantassassin3425]

"Captain Picard provokes treachery." This title is an outright lie. Admiral Jarok had already committed treachery by deliberately crossing the Romulan Neutral Zone and engaging in talks with a Federation captain aboard a Federation starship, all without explicit permission from the Romulan government. Yes, he had good intentions, but that does not remove the fact that he committed treason. Edward Snowden, a real-life example, committed treason as well, though his actions were to benefit the American public, as well as the global public to a lesser extent. This isn't to say that you can't be a good person and still commit treason, it just means that you disagreed with what your country was doing, and took action against it that earned you the title of traitor. Picard just simply laid the facts out for Jarok: you've already crossed a line you can't go back from, have already committed an act that you can't take back. Even if you tell us nothing, your people will still think you a traitor and execute you regardless. Your life as member of the Romulan Empire is effectively over. There is NO turning back. Furthermore, why should Picard believe Jarok if he simply says, "There's an attack coming" and yet refuses to provide any evidence to back that up? Fleet movements, transponder codes, fleet buildup locations, communiques, etc. If this attack is REALLY coming, he'd be able to easily prove it by showing that they're gearing up for it. He doesn't need to give them overly sensitive data like shield frequencies or weapon outputs, etc, but Jarok DOES need to prove that what he's saying is true, as with anyone making a claim this monumental. The alternative is that Picard flies blindly into the Neutral Zone on word-of-mouth alone with no evidence, a surefire way to get yourself and your crew killed and kick-start a war.

[@shrimpbisque]

So a more accurate title would be "Picard provokes commitment to treachery".

[@SantomPh]

he provokes a defector to give actual useful information and truly set him up for charges of treason. Unlike the Centurion who Geordi was stranded with, he would be truly charged with treason by giving the tactical information that would lead to Romulan deaths and a long lasting Federation edge on them. Had he given nothing he might be thought of as lost in space or captured unwillingly.

[@manuelodabashian]

Calling him a traitor is one of the worst things Picard has said. The man was trying to stop what he believed was a war

[@xandercorp6175]

And he was willing to resort to treason to do it. Set out to offer it, actually.

[@GrandSupremeDaddyo]

It was about making him realise the repercussions of what he was doing. If the admiral couldn't handle being called a traitor he certainly wouldn't have been relied upon to give up military secrets that could potentially jeopardise the lives of other Romulans.

[@rayscotchcoulton]

I don't think he was berating the admiral for being a traitor. In the strictest sense of the word, the admiral was a traitor--AND it was because he was trying to stop what he believed was a war. Picard's tone when he says that is more about being forceful in getting the admiral to follow through on his convictions. Basically, "You've crossed the threshold of being a traitor for better or worse--so if you want my help, you have to fully commit."

[@zuur303]

@@rayscotchcoulton Still, Picard's later handwringing over the admirals corpse after he takes his own life always rang a bit false to me. Powerful ending to a poignant episode though.

[@georgexanthopoulos3003]

He wasn't trying to insult him. The term was used for shock value, so that he could make him understand that he had to give them more, so that they could trust his word.

[@manuelodabashian]

Not my favourite scene of picards

[@c.s.7097]

Joke's on him. The dossier was soured