The Enterprise is preparing for shore leave when they suddenly experience a brief temporal loop, in which everyone on the ship repeats a few seconds of time exactly. The ship then receives a distress signal from Paul Mannheim (Rod Loomis), a scientist who years earlier went off to conduct experiments with time. The signal hits home for Picard, who shared a close relationship more than 20 years ago with Mannheim's wife, Jenice (Michelle Phillips).
When they reach Mannheim, they find him unconscious, suffering convulsions. Something went wrong with Mannheim's experiments. They "worked too well," Mannheim gasps when he comes to, and he "opened a crack" into another dimension. If Picard's crew is unable to stabilize this, then that dimension will break out fully into their reality, changing it forever!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: An episode centered around Picard, which is good news both in that it centers the episode around the show's strongest actor and in that it provides some needed depth to a character who has too often been a cipher. Here, we see Picard as a man who struggles to contain and evade emotions. He regards analyzing his feelings as "self-indulgence." His feelings for Jenice, both past and present, are clear enough to the viewer to carry the episode, but Picard doesn't dwell on them or behave like an emotional teenager, as characters in these sorts of episodes too often are prone to doing. He remains stoic, behaving properly throughout, with just enough in the script and in Patrick Stewart's excellent performance to allow us to know what he's feeling at every point.
Data: Reacts to the time distortions with a sort of detached interest and bemusement. As Picard notes, he is the member of the crew who is the least disoriented by the occurrences. Because Data perceives time as a "constant," he is able to tell - even at the climax, when he is split into three - which is the "correct" time stream, and which are incorrect.
Dr. Crusher: She very definitely notices Picard's reaction to his reunion with Jenice. She refuses to descend into petty jealousy, and focuses her attention on being the ship's doctor. When Troi tries to approach her about her feelings, Crusher does her best to shut down that line of inquiry. She states only that she "can't compete with a ghost." It's fair to say, though, that she's a lot happier once Jenice is off the ship.
Hot Space Babe of the Week: Michelle Phillips is Jenice, Mannheim's wife and Picard's old flame. Phillips is better than average "guest actress of the week" casting for this show, both attractive and reasonably age appropriate as a love interest for Patrick Stewart. Beyond that, there isn't that much to the character. Phillips plays reasonably well opposite both Patrick Stewart and Rod Loomis. But this episode is concerned with Picard's character. Jenice is only important in the reactions she raises from Picard, and therefore her actual characterization is kept fairly thin.
THOUGHTS
This last run of episodes has been as bad as any the show has yet provided. Even that very first run of post-pilot episodes had the badness offset by Where No One Has Gone Before. This run of episodes, starting with The Arsenal of Freedom, has gone from mediocre to bad to hideous.
It is with some relief, therefore, that We'll Always Have Paris offers a sharp upturn in quality that will hopefully sustain through the run up to the season finale.
One way in which this episode instantly stands out from the preceding three is in visual terms. Robert Becker's direction is much more precise than the "point-and-shoot" direction that has marked so much of Next Generation. Just little things, like the fencing match Picard is having with a subordinate, or the post-credits moment in which we watch Picard put away his fencing gear from a vantage point inside the cabinet. I'd also point to the scene in which Picard gradually relaxes his guard for Jenice. At the start of the scene, they are on opposite ends of the room, with Picard clearly more comfortable with distance between them. As the conversation goes on, and Picard relaxes his guard, he gradually moves closer and closer to her, until they finally share the frame.
The time distortions are staged simply but effectively, and the script ably uses the growing threat of the distortions to build momentum in what is basically a character episode for Picard.
Rating: 8/10. A good one.
Previous Episode: Skin of Evil
Next Episode: Conspiracy
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