diff --git a/flow/connectors/bigquery/bigquery.go b/flow/connectors/bigquery/bigquery.go
index 91214f31e2..1d30a7e8c6 100644
--- a/flow/connectors/bigquery/bigquery.go
+++ b/flow/connectors/bigquery/bigquery.go
@@ -550,6 +550,10 @@ func (c *BigQueryConnector) NormalizeRecords(req *model.NormalizeRecordsRequest)
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get batch for the current mirror: %v", err)
 	}
 
+	// override for debugging.
+	batchIDs.SyncBatchID = 364
+	batchIDs.NormalizeBatchID = 363
+
 	hasJob, err := c.metadataHasJob(req.FlowJobName)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to check if job exists: %w", err)
@@ -611,13 +615,19 @@ func (c *BigQueryConnector) NormalizeRecords(req *model.NormalizeRecordsRequest)
 		for i, mergeStmt := range mergeStmts {
 			c.logger.Info(fmt.Sprintf("running merge statement [%d/%d] for table %s..",
 				i+1, len(mergeStmts), tableName), slog.String("mergeStmt", mergeStmt))
-			q := c.client.Query(mergeStmt)
-			_, err = q.Read(c.ctx)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to execute merge statement %s: %v", mergeStmt, err)
-			}
+			// TODO (re-enable later)
+			// q := c.client.Query(mergeStmt)
+			// _, err = q.Read(c.ctx)
+			// if err != nil {
+			// 	return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to execute merge statement %s: %v", mergeStmt, err)
+			// }
 		}
 	}
+
+	if 1 > 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("normalizeRecords will error out temporarily")
+	}
+
 	// update metadata to make the last normalized batch id to the recent last sync batch id.
 	updateMetadataStmt := fmt.Sprintf(
 		"UPDATE %s.%s SET normalize_batch_id=%d WHERE mirror_job_name='%s';",