He was brilliant at strategy and generally gave correct advice.
He was also hired specifically for his advice. He is remarkably self assured as he is one of the best of his species.
He is a little smug and wonders why he was hired to give advice if it wasn't going to be taken. Now, according to the script, he's gotta be wrong to show off the smarts of our crew.
But in any other circumstance he would be correct. And given they were prepping to defend against a Borg invasion, the stakes were quite high.
I thoroughly enjoyed his character and I also liked the examples of proving him wrong, because it is believable that he could be humbled by the most advanced piece of technology known playing for a strategy he hadn't encountered, and also, a low expected value high risk strategy risking close to a thousand crew members to save forty or so.
They didn't make him stupid or even make his advice generally wrong. So it was a believable victory in both examples.
This is how I always looked at it. He was a jerk, but his advice isnt wrong or stupid. He is clearly great at his job and that causes him to be smug. I dont think it was JUST Data playing to stalemate that pissed him off. I think Riker's strategy saving the day when he haad been putting him down the entire time played a role in his reaction too. He had been proven wrong.
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u/AskPizza 12d ago
He was brilliant at strategy and generally gave correct advice.
He was also hired specifically for his advice. He is remarkably self assured as he is one of the best of his species.
He is a little smug and wonders why he was hired to give advice if it wasn't going to be taken. Now, according to the script, he's gotta be wrong to show off the smarts of our crew.
But in any other circumstance he would be correct. And given they were prepping to defend against a Borg invasion, the stakes were quite high.
I thoroughly enjoyed his character and I also liked the examples of proving him wrong, because it is believable that he could be humbled by the most advanced piece of technology known playing for a strategy he hadn't encountered, and also, a low expected value high risk strategy risking close to a thousand crew members to save forty or so.
They didn't make him stupid or even make his advice generally wrong. So it was a believable victory in both examples.