this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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I honestly feel like that was a really cheap way of putting tension between Sisco and Picard.
DS9 is a very different show than TNG. Picard and Sisco have an extremely different philosophy towards command. There are a ton of real ways that their values could come into conflict.
Instead DS9 shows Sisco showing open bitterness and contempt because of "Picard Killed his wife". Only he didn't and was very obviously a glorified meat puppet during the entire ordeal.
But that's the thing, despite their differences they respect each other. If it weren't for Picard being the instrument of Jennifer's death and for Sisco being emotionally stuck in that experience they would grudgingly get along (as they did at the end of the episode).
The conflict is mostly internalized to Sisco, about him being unable to process and move on, not an actual irredeemable point of contention with Picard.
He knows Picard wasn't Locutus otherwise he wouldn't treat him as a Starfleet officer — but he still extends him the courtesy, which to me is very interesting because it signifies that on some level he's aware that his hostility towards Picard is not logical.
Picard seems to be caught completely unaware of it too, which suggests that he's used to everybody accepting he wasn't Locutus. To run into someone who asserts that he was and not only that but openly blame him for a victim of Wolf 359 is not only completely unexpected but also a deeply hurtful cheap shot, judging by the way his face fell.
No, I think you notice something subtle in tng: after the borg, for a while picard becomes less gregarious, he starts by going to spend time with family, spends more time among his crew, but doesn't reach out to strangers as much seemingly, there's a different kind of distance he has between anyone he doesn't consider family, ie ent-d crew.
It wears off over time but it was noticeable to me, in a way the torture later is part of it. It shows up a few times actually. In the beginning he was proud of being picard of the enterprise and for a while he isn't, he's captain, but he feels the responsibility more than he enjoyed it.
I think either tapestry or the flute one are where it started to break, also for a second in Rqbin hood and a few others, and by s7 it felt like it started to pass.
But I think it wasn't shock at siskos reaction, it was abject terror. He knew this happened, he knew he'd have to face it someday, and it was literally his worst fear, because he could deal with anything, except his bottomless guilt.
Edit: actually, they should have had it come up during redemption pt2, where he's assembling the fleet, and some starfleet officers were nervous at dealing with picard after losing friends at wolf 359.
As much as I like DS9, it also marks the beginning of the downfall of Star Trek for me. The episodes just stray further from the point of Star Trek as a whole.
Yea, by being actually good.
(To be clear, I'm joking. Kinda.)
I mean, DS9 is one of the most beloved trek shows, and for good reason. But it does stray from what Trek was about before that, enlightened people seeking out the unknown in the spirit of exploration and friendship, facing philosophical questions and abstract real life issues along the way; but always with a sense of optimism and positivity.
Meanwhile DS9 is very much centered around a specific place and the surroundings like bajor and cardassia; dropping the episodic nature for a continuous storyline that, in addition to introducing magical beings and spiritualism to the setting, is very heavy on conflict and the darker side of the federation like all episodes related to section 31.