Are you talking about the scientist in QoL? I thought she was portrayed quite well as far as this sort of thing goes.

"Sorry, Worf, wrong again. There are actually FOUR lights."

The poker game
One more thing that bothered me: it's ridiculous that they didn't finish out the poker hand to settle the beard bet. I mean, once that bet was made, obviously no one was going to fold, as their chips do not represent actual money and the side bet is of far more consequence. So they should've just…

Yeah, I think it's symptomatic of their overall odd choice of making the episode about the definition of life rather than the definition of sentience. I guess Quality of Sentience isn't as catchy a title, though.

I totally wanted Picard to absolutely take him down in their scene together where Jellico slams Riker and, by extension, Picard's judgement.

I think that may have been what they were going for, WS, but they seriously only ever discuss if the things are "alive" or not, not if they're sentient. So strange.

Quality of Life
Something else that bothers me about Data's stance at the end is how he explains it as being unwilling to sacrifice one life form for another. Would he really not sacrifice an earthworm or, hell, a tree to save picard and geordi, either?

THERE ARE THREE POSTS.

Chain of Command pt 1
Odd how the training exercises Picard has them engage in for the mission involve running around in caves making forcefields and not practicing the proper counting of illumination sources in an oddly-lit room.

If it shows Chicago getting trashed, I would think that would make it big in Chicago.

However long you spent coming up with that, pho, it was worth every minute.

@RW And after missing with his phaser, no less. I would find it far more plausible that he didn't get a shot off than he did and MISSED.

I guess they thought they had gotten past it by making the commander a rogue one from Ferengi society. Which, honestly, is an idea I rather like (I mean, why would a smart Ferengi stay confined to their absurd society?).

@phodreaw In their defense, they do at least attempt to get around those questions by having it be really unstable and only lasting for a few seconds.

Do I have to take your word for it?

Rascals
I more or less agree with Zack's text and grade. I think, though, if you swap out the Ferengi for a more menacing villain and have the incredible shrinking Picard actually be a part of their plan, you could have a good or even great episode.

Third least favorite child
When the narrator calls GOB her fourth least-favorite child, is it a joke making fun of Lucille for mixing it up, or is it a writing error? Wouldn't that make him her favorite?

@spicoli I see what you are saying, but there's a not-inconsiderable difference between donating money to charity and frivolously spending thousands of dollars of company money on selfish and ridiculous pursuits.

Noel, please also add a stray observation for "the best joke in the On the Next AV Club Review of Arrested Development tag"

The Treason line… *slight spoilers, I suppose*
…is, I think, one of the clearest examples of why I enjoy this show so much. It seemed like such a ridiculous throwaway line upon my initial viewing of the series, as I could think of no plausible way that his company's troubles could actually be treasonous. But then…