Star Trek: TNG Review - 6x11 Chain Of Command, Part II | Reverse Angle

The Enterprise is in trouble without Picard, who is busy being tortured by David Warner.
Patreon gets you early access and behind-the-scenes content: / reverseangle
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Sources:
Abatemarco, Frank. “Chain Of Command, Part II.” Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry, Season 6, Episode 11, Paramount Television, CBS, 1992.
Verhoeven, Paul, director. Total Recall. Tri-Star Pictures, 1990.
Bier, Susanne, director. Bird Box. Netflix, 2018.
There are four lights.

[@martynstembridge7714]

I met David Warner at a small convention about 4 years ago and he was SUCH a nice guy ... Great sense of humour and told his assistant not to charge me for a photo with him. One of my happiest memories ... He's been in so many movies and shows that I grew up with.

[@TokyoXtreme]

He was the big bad in Tron, as well as the second-in-command AND the third-in-command. When you get David Warner, you got to get as much as you can out of him.

[@Xanous]

David Warner died 24 July 2022. RIP.

[@1down4upworkshop61]

One of the many cool aspects of this episode was how whenever Gul Madred asked Picard how many lights, looking for him to say five, his face is in the center of the four lights making his face the fifth....

[@daleus2]

ah so that's what the spoon hole is for. It's where the cardies keep their check-engine light.

[@WolfRamAndHart]

The 4 vs 5 lights is a riff on the novel 1984. Very good episode, and I see why Ronnie Cox' leadership was disliked, though perhaps the right person for the moment.

[@marvelsandals4228]

Its also the idea that they were using the principles of behaviorism to condition Picard to think/act according to their agenda. If you see 4 and say 4, then the act is met with swift, extreme pain. In the final scene, Gul Madred introduces a new element: if Picard says 5 lights, then his torture will end and he will get to live a long, peaceful life of luxury. He knows that the most desirable option is to say 5, instead of 4, even if its false. Through conditioning that idea is so compelling that it actually warps his mind, as he persuades himself that "surely, there must be 5 lights, yes, I'm not lying, I just didn't notice it before."

[@alanguages]

@@marvelsandals4228 A big reason why in the end, when Picard talked to Troi, he said, that he believed to have seen 5 lights. It was an indication Picard himself that his spirit had actually been broken by Gul Madred.

[@MLBeaton]

“That Picard refused to answer a simple question… what a rock!” “Ummm Sir… it turns out one of the lights was out… There were four lights…” “Oh DAMN I fried him so many times thinking he was just refusing to answer correctly!”

[@marvelsandals4228]

lol imagine he turns around and is like...wait, you mean he was telling the truth the whole time? I thought he was just being defiant for no reason. Now I just feel like an asshole.

[@garypotter5569]

LOL 😆 🤣

[@RamenNSoup]

There's a friggin Cardassian invasion fleet hiding in a nebula along the Federation border and Riker is complaining about not having fun in preparing for them.

[@awesomemccoolname7111]

Not like the cardasians are an actual threat to the federation lol.

[@SirMarshalHaig]

He had one point though, adding a new shift with inexperienced officers in charge maybe days before a battle...that is the one thing Captain Jellico did that I consider dumb.

[@Greatermaxim]

When Picard slept on the floor of the interrogation room he woke up from a dream of Mars. He watched two people kiss on the mountain right after the flash atmosphere of the planet appeared.

[@AliceBowie]

If the Cardassians were going to torture me in this way, the first time they asked me how many lights I saw, I would just say "seven". Maybe I would say "eight", but then they'd just think I needed glasses. Which I do.

[@markmcla]

There are FOUR lights! I give this episode an A++++

[@ogto]

can't say enough good things about David Warner in this episode. talk about elevating the material. my favorite antagonist from TNG (other than Q)

[@docbones213]

That part with the lights was taken whole from 1984. Only the book didn't have such a happy ending.

[@classiccroissant]

it ends with love

[@Bringmeoneofthosechickens]

@@classiccroissant Love for Big Brother?

[@billparrish4385]

2:17 In Picard's defense, he _was_ on something of a 'commando' mission when he was captured. So....

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

I love how the KZbin subtitles think you’re talking about the invasion of the Federation by Kardashians.

[@Freakazoid12345]

The Kardashians are the real villains.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

@@Freakazoid12345 yeah, always oppressing the Bajenners 😢

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

“Space bombs” should _definitely_ be the new name for photon torpedoes.

[@scottfox1596]

I look forward to this every Monday

[@jabbawonger6572]

David Warner and Patrick Stewart both shine in their scenes and show what great actors they are.

[@mr.a8315]

Great profile pic! ❤️

[@jabbawonger6572]

@@mr.a8315 "Jurassic Park!!"

[@earlleeruhf3130]

@@jabbawonger6572 I don't remember David Warner or Patrick Stewart in Jurassic Park. not Ronny Cox either.

[@Outerwebs]

The Cardassian 'Ninja Rap' torture cracks me up everytime. 😂

[@conroypawgmail]

7:37 - "And Troi again gets no lines." Maybe, that's why I enjoyed this episode so much? I think they got a good thing going on here!

[@woogha]

I never considered that his robot heart was why he could endure so much torture. Good call!

[@DavidWsTrainVideos]

THERE ARE 4 LIGHTS!!!! It was a good episode. I do agree the amount of crap that Captain Picard has gone through. He would be suffering from such bad PTSD.

[@Mehwhatevr]

We saw in previous episodes that he is

[@dstu322]

Just imagine the kids living on the Enterprise, by this point facing death, war, and/ or mutation would have taken a massive toll.

[@amazingfincher]

I've only seen one Review of Picard and, well, I am so thankful for you guys to supply me with my Star Trek Fix whenever I need it 🙏 TNG is Love, TNG is Life ❤️

[@andrewblanchard2398]

EDDIE STEAK reviewed PICARD season 2 & 3 and TNG

[@VincentVonDudler]

11:04 - "Showing that he's not fit to command a starship in the first place." lol

[@Nordy941]

Find you guys great been waiting for this episode. Deserve more views.

[@WolfRamAndHart]

"Depends on their Turbinium!" Lol. Brilliant. I'm sending my hard years labor of Turbinium straight to y'all!

[@saturn580]

Picard tells Gul Madred that torture is an ineffective interrogation method, then later admits that he would have told the Cardassians anything and believed everything they wanted him to. Every government in the world today will deny using torture to acquire information, but they all do for the simple fact that it works.

[@marvelsandals4228]

It doesn't seem logical to me. I would imagine 99% of people would immediately agree to tell the truth just under the threat of torture, out of fear alone. The interrogators would have no way to verify whether or not the victim was telling the truth or lying, so they will torture them anyway. In that situation, the victim will end up saying whatever they THINK the interrogator wants to hear, even lie to their face, make up random stuff on the fly, anything that might stop the pain. How does any of that help the interrogator figure out what's actually true?

[@leonardwei3914]

@@marvelsandals4228 As someone who was a HUMINT Collector for the U.S. Army, I've had the opportunity to analyze this question. The harsh reality that few wants to admit is that "torture" is just another toolset. We don't condone it because it's not morally acceptable and it looks bad. Not because it isn't necessarily ineffective. On the flipside, there is no guarantee a detainee will tell you the truth just because you get along with them and give them all the incentives they possible want. A detainee can still feed you all kind of bunk information just because he thinks that's what you want to hear. Although we are supposed to vet the info through other sources, usually determined by detainee's knowledge, placement, and access. Yet we don't factor or talk about the effectiveness of providing incentives as a means of gathering pertinent info, because there is no moral quandary in doing so. Keep in mind that throughout the history of mankind, many regimes or governments have used torture not because they necessarily want or care the prisoner tells the "truth", they just need a confession or a statement for some political means. So to the interrogator, they got what they want, regardless if the prisoner was really an enemy of the state or guilty of any actual crime.

[@Slopmaster]

🎶go ninja go! go ninja go!🎶

[@curtisberard7831]

You go through that much torture and you'd likely start ro believe you could see five lighta.

[@moshiach2]

I'm going to rate this video: There. Are. FOUR. Stars!

[@garylobo348]

No, There. Are. Five!

[@WAAA51]

I watched this last night because of your part one video. It's a good episode!

[@user-do2ev2hr7h]

2 weeks of Total Recall jokes. Now I'm spoiled.

[@ondrejnovotny3273]

(speaks in Picard): THIS. IS. AN. A. EPISODE. ROBERT!!!

[@MLBeaton]

Isn’t it telling? Picard would manage the area in a fight… So starfleet doesn’t bother telling him anything… I bet starfleet sent misinformation and had him targeted

[@garypotter5569]

Cardashians are very cunning. Kindness is all too often seen as weakness.

[@jordancobb509]

Jellico wasn't that bad. All he wanted was for Riker to do his job. When he was unable or refused to do so. Jellico replaced him as you would expect any boss to do.

[@oddish4352]

And in this matter, Jellico was right. Picard was on a covert operation where full deniability was required. To acknowledge his actions as a Federation op would have undone this.

[@SirMarshalHaig]

Riker had one point though, adding a new shift with inexperienced officers in charge maybe days before a battle...that is the one thing Captain Jellico did that I consider dumb.

[@garypotter5569]

THERE! ARE! FOUR LIGHTS!!!

[@The_Gimmick_of_Specific]

I just watched a few Star Trek videos. You guys are funny . Just liked and subscribed

[@Verbalaesthet]

I really liked this episode. I agree that this one was the real high light of the two. No pun intended.

[@olivierpeartnoy]

One of my favourite episodes.

[@MLBeaton]

"There are 4 lights"... Pretty good but I kinda wanted Picard to call him a scared child...

[@lazm3518]

There. Are. No. Geordi's Beards!

[@larissabrewington9065]

This was HILARIOUS!!

[@cheradenine1980]

Warner was an absolute powerhouse.

[@earlleeruhf3130]

Picard being captured and tortored was brutal, Then John Sharidan from Babylon 5 was captured and tortured through several episodes. The Orville had a young child captured ,tortured until her father rescued her which included vicious revenge on her captor. It would be interesting to compare the stories but pretty hard to get find humor in the reviews.

[@darthroden]

Jellico owned the Cardassians, recovered Picard....and then got home in time for cornflakes.

[@classiccroissant]

"I can only count to four"

[@mikeluit3027]

Interesting the polarity of grades on this one...I gave this episode a B+...It's tough to get by the implausible logic in Picard's capture. I liked the episode and the fact they used strong character interactions more appropriately. This still wasn't a great episode but got pretty close. I know some people grade this the best episode of this season, however, I think there is one other that actually grades A (great).

[@ronin7997]

I'm curious which episode you'd grade higher. For me, I'd pick Tapestry or Face of the Enemy.

[@mikeluit3027]

@@ronin7997 Ahh, I just can't completely spoil it! Let's just say that the answer is yes.

[@david4176]

Guys overlooked the subtle 1984 reference

[@TalkernateHistory]

Sad we didnt get a "They think he's F---ing George Washington" Hopefully we'll get that with Mark Alaimo in DS9

[@ThunderingJove]

Good review, thanks!

[@mr.a8315]

3:12 Picard does his Austin Powers impression for Gul Madred.

[@amazingfincher]

Is there any explanation why they switched the colors of the shirts from TOS btw? Never looked into it but was wondering seeing Data in a red shirt which looks kinda odd as well tbh ✌️😅

[@macmcleod1188]

Great job. Classic episode.

[@Mehwhatevr]

Yay a new episode, and a classic

[@brianhourigan]

If the Cardassians wanted to break Picard they should have done their homework and brought up memories of his borg assimilation or played the flute from inner light. That would have triggered PTSD in Picard and allowed for a better continuity with the series as a whole. But nope the writers dropped the ball on that too. Four lights is fine but the cardies should have broken Picard first with the PTSD stuff THEN did the four lights. Picard overcoming the four lights with triggered PTSD would have been more powerful.

[@ShumaniTatankaOwachi]

Or bring up his mother who hanged Hershel.

[@marvelsandals4228]

I think their strategy revolved around dehumanizing Picard (ironically, by reducing his identity to that of a mere "human"), stripping him of his rank, his name, his uniform, and treating him like a lab rat or slab of meat with no rights or value. Your suggestion would require reminding him of his memories of the past, of who we was and thus, who he really is, a person on a journey with his own story and experiences. While re-living those memories would be painful, it would undermine the kind of torture they were aiming for, which was intended to break his mind.

[@TheStarTrekApologist]

No RoboCop lines

[@chuckselvage3157]

You two are like two little kids with the snickling laughter.

[@Freakazoid12345]

Snickering?

[@user-md4di6yg2p]

You guys are great! Kinda reminds me of MST3K!!

[@radfordra]

They actually wanted to tone down the torture scenes but that pissed Stewart off

[@afanwithtoomuchtime4375]

Rule 1 of space according to George Lucas, there is no underwear in space.

[@daffyf6829]

They still did the"being an asshole for no reason" thing better than The Last Jedi

[@RichardBejtlich]

I’d like to know if the writers researched POWs. They nailed it. I graduated from the USAF SERE school and this episode offers disturbing reality of POW suffering.

[@masere]

Stewart has said he spoke to torture victims to prepare for the episode, and what he learnt from them made him join Amnesty International.

[@RichardBejtlich]

@@masere really! Wow. Thank you.

[@awesomemccoolname7111]

You cut out the part where he shook off the cardasian guards as he walked away in the end. I always thought that was cool/funny.

[@garypotter5569]

It was rage at his indignation. It was shakespearean in it's perfection! 🤗

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

Why did the Cardassians want minos korbin?

[@fixedguitar47]

If you invert the prism matrix relay into the inverse reactive fluvial current generator it would cause a feedback graviton generator apex and cause a fifth light!

[@Freakazoid12345]

Is that true?

[@fixedguitar47]

@@Freakazoid12345 Absolutely. Have to have a magneto alignment inverse current array otherwise it will side fumble but it works.

[@pythagras]

I hope you guys do DS9, which is goofy, campy, and great at different points. With lots of Cardassian arcs.

[@dycedargselderbrother5353]

Jellico, you're fired!

[@Doctoranthetardis]

You have my loyalty and my ax!

[@Ciofey]

There are FOUR sandwich runners!

[@donovanulrich348]

Lololol 😂😂😂 12:43 So i knew this Mason, coolest dude ever. Even tho he was a Mason. His brother comes over one day, and they get in a minor argument and his brother leaves. My Boss didnt say anything else but "do you know who drives Mercedes? Shmucks drive Mercedes" 😂😂🤦‍♂️ And my boss was a insurance agent, a underwriter 😂😂😂 he knows peoples driving habits

[@marvelsandals4228]

This is probably common knowledge by now, but Deanna Troi's actress (Marina Sirtis) much preferred wearing the same formal, standard uniform as the other characters over her old skimpy outfit. Jellico supposedly forced Troi to wear it and it is highly implied that he was a scumbag for treating her that way and she was insulted...even tho truth be told, it is really weird that every other officer (inlcuding female officers) all conform to their policies aside from Troi, so its reasonable for a new captain to state that he would APPRECIATE it if she followed their policy in the future. Ironically, even after Jellico leaves the Enterprise and Picard is back in his old post, Troi continues to wear the formal uniform, even tho she isn't obligated to anymore, since Picard wouldn't object to it if she did. Plot twist: maybe Troi changed her mind and actually agreed with Jellico on the issue. Hell, maybe she was impressed by how he saved Picard and this is her way of showing her gratidue/respect, idk

[@garypotter5569]

Yeah I never got the body suit either.

[@richardsaunders9412]

Maybe they will make a Trek Series about Jelico

[@jayburdification]

28. Impressive. You make me wish I had three hands.

[@Freakazoid12345]

28 quotes and 1 sound.

[@RilianSharp]

jellico still has no clear motivation for his terrible commands. they accomplish nothing.

[@brianjones8206]

Hahaha ….. “Red Data”

[@NerdilyDone]

Jellico did nothing wrong. Except apologize.

[@geraintthatcher3076]

Are you guys doing Buffy S4 and the spin off Angel or have you given up on those ?

[@reverseangle]

We talk about it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJrQlWZ7lNiWaLc

[@geraintthatcher3076]

@@reverseangle Cool, I do hope you do the Crossovers, especially with E3 Spike/E8 Buffy and E15/16 and 18 and 19 with Faith Almost forgot there is a hidden crossover in E1 of both Buffy and Angel

[@geraintthatcher3076]

@@reverseangle It's a bit late but for new shows to review have you guys seen Chernoybl. It's only 6 episodes but damn is it fantastic TV

[@agentcarbunkle]

Too obvious to mention the orwell 1984 references?

[@douglascarter2078]

I quit this series here because I couldn't deal with the annoying "cymbal crash" sound the one commentor keeps doing. So obnoxious and annoying. Unsubscribed as well.

[@Freakazoid12345]

He did it in 2 out of hundreds of videos.

[@pedrocortez3485]

Funny, i subscribed last episode because i knew A+ were coming as this was a very adult episode, not for kids. But i see now that i subscribed in error. Unsubscribed.

[@-Bill.]

Kinda agree, they make juvenile jokes instead of engaging with truly good episodes of television. I'm not sure why they are doing this since they seem to dislike science fiction. Even minor technical details are derided and treated like a boor. I think I'm leaving too. Best of luck guys.

[@LordExor]

It's just their opinion, and it's a fair opinion.

[@theoneonly259]

Who the %$%$ would recognize the Total Recall quotes? So what is the %$%$ing point? Are you trying to be annoying?

[@Freakazoid12345]

Total Recall was a popular sci-fi movie that came out in the middle of the run of STNG. Hope that helps.