Star Trek

This is an episode from Season 1. Geordi is in command (has that ever happened since this episode)? And that engineer comes to the bridge demanding to be put in charge. The reason? He wants The Enterprise to break out of orbit and leave. Well, Geordi says NO WAY and then the Enterprise keeps fighting some cloaked or whaterver ship and nearly gets her ass kicked. Engineering dude then comes to the bridge again, but THIS time he berates Geordi for LEAVIING! What a PLOT HOLE! First he wants to leave, and then (even after Enterprise takes an ass wuppin) he wants to stay. Saying that they cant leave the away team behind. Whaaaaaa? Not 10 minutes earlier had this jack wagon teling Geordi to LEAVE. Then he bitches about saving the away team. How could the writers miss this?

Television often sets up these kinds of exchanges,
where it doesn't matter WHAT is being said, but WHO
it's coming from, to make the point of any given scene.

The engineer, we'll pretend, was perfectly right,
but because Geordi's the guy we're routing for,
the engineer is an idiot by default. But that was
not the case, of course, he was a major A-Hole -
and white - to increase the sympathy factor for
Geordi. But none of  that mattered, What's important
is that it created drama and the hero surmounted the
odds and the pressures of command and proved himself.

"The Arsenal of Freedom" is still one of the better first season episodes in my opinion. It's also highly unusual since it's the only single-part episode in which the ship is separated.

I agree. It is one of the better TNG episodes.

Sorry. Should have said one of the better first season episodes.