11 Times Star Trek The Next Generation DID Have Conflict
4. Pulaski Was From Mars, Picard Was From Venus
Picard never gets along with his medical officers, and Second Season newcomer, Dr. Kate Pulaski was no exception. There was almost never a call one would make that the other didn’t take issue with.
Pulaski was an opinionated malcontent, not unlike the good captain. But where Picard was terse and distant, Pulaski was loud and in-your-face. It’s classic dog and cat incompatibility.
Unnatural Selection may be the pinnacle of this conflict. The entire episode consists of Pulaski making more and more dangerous requests as Picard argues for pragmatic inaction.
In Time Squared Pulaski almost seemed to delight in discussing whether Picard was still fit for command after encountering his time lagged doppelgänger.
Picard’s desire to hide any weakness from Pulaski was so strong that he preferred to take a several day long shuttle ride with Wesley than allow the cantankerous doctor to operate on his artificial heart in Samaritan Snare.
While Pulaski sneakingly admired Picard and requested the Enterprise as an assignment, she constantly went out of her way to test his authority.