I'm willing to forgive him being way too slow to get suspicious of Maverick, because he's a big dumb idealist and Maverick hasn't ever given him a reason to be suspicious of Barnaby's father figure before now. I agree that the whole thing with Kaede is getting really frustrating, though. Having him promise to quit and come right back only for him to break it and promptly undo all the progress they made in ep 17 was too much considering the crap poor Kaede is getting dumped on her now. :(