Stargate SG-1 S4E15 "Chain Reaction"
Fantastic acting. Easily in the top 10 most hated characters I've ever seen played.
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2026
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Guy plays a scum bag in every movie/show I've seen him in.
That's why he was so perfect in TNG. He comes in to replace Picard and the audience is primed to hate him. We see him from the perspective of the crew who have to adapt to this new hard ass that wants to make seemingly arbitrary changes and who lacks the flexibility of their previous captain.
And yet, his character isn't just another incompetent asshole from starfleet command. He's a leader taking command in a crisis that will very likely result in a war. He doesn't have the luxury of slowly getting to know the crew and earning their trust, and respect, and friendship. He needs them to be as ready as possible as soon as possible, and he needs to know his orders will be carried out to the letter and without delay. His orders aren't unreasonable, he just isn't indulging the crew and being the warm and fuzzy type.
Any other actor and this would have probably been an unremarkable B plot.
Also, everyone else needed to believe that Picard wasn’t coming back for the whole gambit to work. He plays the extra layer of knowing the burden well, he knows he is going to be disliked for what he is doing but he has a duty to make the mission successful no matter how much he would like to be liked by this crew.
Everything you say is true, but Jellico was a total dick :)
Part of being a good commander is understanding your crew and being willing to work with them.
If they dont trust you enough to do what you say in times of crisis without hesitation, youre gonna have a bad time.
This is true, but it's also worth noting that the only member of the crew he has a significant conflict with is Riker. And ultimately, Riker is the one who is repeatedly out of line in that situation. He's insubordinate, he refuses to follow orders, and he undermine's Jellico's authority.
And that last point is uniquely important in their mission. He's managing a tense situation with cardassians, and he knows they are looking for the slightest hint of weakness. If Riker, second in command on the Federation's flagship, can't behave like a disciplined officer, the cardassians could very well see that as proof that the federation lacks the resolve for a real fight.
He's flawed and could absolutely have handled things better. And we see that he can when he goes back to Riker because he's needed for the mission. He patiently lets Riker vent at him, lets the whole conflict between them get aired out, and then sets his own ego aside and appeals to Riker's sense of duty and asks him if he's willing to take on the mission. He's not backing down and still being himself, but he's letting Riker get what he needs emotionally and trusting him to do what needs to be done.
After being told off by Troi, at least. Begrudgingly.
Beverly Gills Cop 1 and 2 he's a stickler for procedure, but definitely a good guy. One of those shark movies he plays a reasonable guy as well, I think.
he sorta redeems himself in his last appearance, when he wears a wire, but he becomes a goauld. apparently he never was seen on-screen again or died off screen so fans speculated he likely got out of the ship before it exploded.
Must be his squinty, smug little eyes eh
He's plays amazingly hateable characters in stuff. My favorites are Dick Jones in Robocop and Cohaagen in Total Recall
Super hateable.
Contrast with Harry Mayborne who arcs from a slimy weasel to a lovable scamp. Kinsey is a shitbag through and through.
He was probably a lovely man IRL.
I wouldn't be surprised.
This, and:
"Colonel, the United States is not in the business of interfering in other people's affairs."
"... Since when, sir?"
"The government of China does not believe in keeping secrets from its citizens."
I swear these little digs are spread all through SG-1 and Atlantis. Love them.
That dialog is such a Netflix moment that I can't really appreciate it. He is explaining how he will get re-elected already.
Please explain what "Netflix moment" means. I have no idea because I pirate everything.
It's when people repeat the same information, again and again, because you are doing dishes and scrolling your phone while the movie is on TV.
~~LOL what you just described is called ADHD. It doesn't need a new name.~~
What you are doing is called ADHD. What the movie is doing used to not happen often enough to get a name and happens whether you are paying attention or not.
I see. Thanks for the clarification.
The shows are pandering to the ADHD audience
Yes that was already explained to me, thank you.
For everyone that got this far without paying attention to anything, there was a meme posted and someone made a comment about it being a netflix moment, another person asked what they meant, and they said that they were referring to writing for audiences that aren't really paying attention so they still don't get as lost, and then it was rehashed with different wording, then a user said this was already explained, then I explained what happened.
This will be repeated again shortly for anyone not paying attention to this, or you can ask your favourite AI to give you a summary so you can pretend you were always following along.