I've struggled with this episode every since I first saw it as a child. It just seems completely incongruous that Gilligan, who isn't corrupted by power in "My Fair Gilligan," "President Gilligan" or "The Little Dictator", suddenly turns into a bullying tyrant. His boorish behaviour towards the girls is especially cringe-worthy. I'd have decked him if he tried that on me.
I agree with your comment, Im, about the problem arising from the Professor's trying to make them into a conventional society. I find that the episodes where the castaways try to recreate civilized institutions fall flat, because the castaways' society is just too tiny. This episode is the worst example. Why would the Professor decide, after they've lived peacefully and cooperatively together for two and a half years, that they suddenly need a formal police force and a jail, of all things?
"President Gilligan" is the second worst offender, wherein we are expected to believe that the Skipper, the Professor and Mary Ann would goof around and not attempt to help find a new water supply or build a rescue tower.
In "Forward March," at least the Skipper and the Professor acknowledge that their war games are just that - games to keep Mr. Howell and the women preoccupied while the men try to deal with the problem. In "The Chain of Command," we expected to believe the castaways think they can function as an army, complete with silly little clubs, when in all the other episodes where they are threatened by headhunters, they very wisely hide.
The only institution that I felt really worked for the castaways was the court trial in "Plant You Now, Dig You Later." They had just enough people to make it work, and it really did seem like a logical way of solving the problem, with no one acting out of character.
I don't really mind how improbable a plot is, but when the castaways are written out of character, I find the episode is a write-off.
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