The past few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about the 1990 Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes The Best of Both Worlds (Parts 1 and 2). The episodes start out with a conversation between Captain Picard and his First Officer, Will Riker, over why Riker had quietly turned down taking a command of his own – twice – to stay as second in command on the Enterprise. Throughout the series to this point, Riker is shown as a charismatic, confident, and loyal first officer; he is well known for his strategic acumen, strong leadership, deep sense of duty, and ability to balance professionalism with warmth, humor, and a flair for diplomacy and adventure. As Picard points out, Riker has been more than capable of taking his own command for a while, but Riker counters that he just doesn’t feel ready for “the big chair.” Later in the episode, Picard is kidnapped by the Borg and assimilated as Locutous, forcing Riker into a field command captaincy of the Enterprise where he has to lead his ship, save Earth from assimilation, and (hopefully) pull off a miracle rescue of Picard from his Borg captors.
These have long been one of my favorite episodes in the TNG series, specifically because of how brilliantly Jonathan Frakes played out Riker’s story in it, but it wasn’t until recently I really understood where Riker was coming from. While he admits early in the first episode about the prestige of the Enterprise being a factor in his reluctancy to take command, there’s more at play here: namely, Jean-Luc Picard. Reserved, philosophical, and deeply principled, Picard leads with intellect, diplomacy, and a strong moral compass, often preferring reflection and negotiation over impulsive action; this contrasts with Riker’s bold, instinctive, and emotionally expressive style. The styles complement each other well because Riker sees and appreciates the value that Picard’s experience and reserve bring to the table, and he not only wants to learn that, but he wants to learn from the very best. Riker knows from the beginning of the episode that he has what it takes to command his own ship and be a good captain – in his mind, that is never in question – but he is not content with being a good captain. He wants to be a great captain, he knows Picard has the skills he needs to learn to achieve that, and although any assignment to the Enterprise is yes a feather in an officer’s cap, I’d lay good money that if Picard closed the scene saying he’d decided to go to another ship, Riker would be following along by the end of the episode.
It was never about his readiness or his ambition. It was all about his recognizing the best teachers, understanding what a rare honor it was to be given the chance to learn from them, and purposefully placing himself in a position to make as much as he could out of that opportunity.
Riker’s smart, charismatic, and built a strong reputation for tactical agility and personal connection. This trifecta gives him the ability to turn down offers (like two command posts) that others only dream about so that he can pursue reaching his full potential. But his sense of duty and his understanding of his own leadership role mean that when Picard is taken by the Borg, he has to eat whatever personal grief he’s feeling and BE the leader he’s been groomed to be. The crew of the Enterprise are as devasted by the loss of their captain as Riker is; if he can’t step into that fray and right the ship, all is lost.
This year, I finally understood where Riker was coming from.
On New Year’s Eve, instead of posting my annual playlist, we buried one grandmother and I started picking up the broken pieces of mental illness and generational trauma so we could try to find some reasonable path forward.
Six months later, literally minutes after I finished collecting the first set of data for my dissertation project, I got the call to bury my other grandmother. With that, I started picking up the pieces of broken families, trying to separate lies and misconceptions so we could cobble together something like the life we wanted to have moving forward…only to have that almost taken away as soon as it began.
This week, I lost the best boss anyone could ask for – the Picard mentoring my Riker – and, like Riker, had to eat that grief and strategize what life on our ship would look like without him. Leaders gotta lead, right? Also like Riker, I have no qualms about stepping in and doing my duties for my team; this is what I’ve trained and prepared for for years. Readiness for leading is not the issue here. The issue is that, like Riker, I hate the circumstances that led to it.
But unlike Riker, there’s no chance of a daring rescue that puts my Picard back on the bridge. Corporate world doesn’t work like that. I get to skip that part of the story and go right into all the offscreen novels that lead to my becoming admiral and then eventually commander of the entire damned fleet (coincidentally, I’m already married to a counsellor so I guess this analogy still works?); if I’m lucky, I might get to pull my now-former boss out of his iteration of Chateau Picard for some future educational adventuring.
For the moment, though, I’m draining a glass of whiskey, side-eyeing the stack of papers I need to catch up on for my dissertation, and maybe…ah.
*clicks on the TV.*
thefourthcastle.com 