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| Data is bewildered by the emotional Keiko (Rosalind Chao). |
THE PLOT
Data is recording a log for Bruce Maddox of the Daystrom Institute, to assist the scientist in his research. The goal of his log is to record his activities and reactions during a normal day. But the day he has selected proves to be far from normal.
It starts off simply enough. Chief O'Brien is getting married, and Data is to give away his bride, Keiko (Rosalind Chao), as he was the one who introduced the couple. Keiko has developed cold feet, however, leaving Data bewildered as to how to handle a situation that presents so many emotional contradictions.
This minor personal crisis quickly takes a back seat when T'Pel (Sierra Pecheur), a Vulcan diplomat, comes aboard on a top-secret mission from Starfleet. She orders Picard to a secret rendezvous in the Neutral Zone, to engage a Romulan war bird in negotiations. But when she prepares to beam aboard the Romulan ship, there is an apparent accident, leaving T'Pel dead and the negotiations scuttled. Picard orders Data to investigate - and it isn't long before the android discovers that more than a simple malfunction may have been at play...
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Does not like T'Pel (Sierra Pecheur)'s insistence on cutting the command crew out of her mission briefing, but silently accepts it as her prerogative. He does not allow her judgment to override his in other matters, however, including his insistence on going to red alert when the ship makes its rendezvous with the Romulan war bird.
Data: His dance lesson with Dr. Crusher shows something about how Data masters skills. He is excellent at imitating what he observes, hence his rapid mastery of tap dancing. Slow dancing is much more challenging for him, because here he is called upon to "lead" and to improvise, rather than simply repeating the same pattern of steps. The dancing becomes a metaphor for Data's interactions with humans; the seemingly difficult, highly technical and expert work that he does comes quite easily to him, while the seemingly simple matter of dealing with people in a social setting is extremely challenging.
Dr. Crusher: Was known as "the dancing doctor" because of her skill as a dancer, something which she has kept buried because of her disdain for the nickname. She agrees to teach Data how to dance, provided he keeps it a secret. I suspect this scene largely exists to make use of Gates McFadden's background as a dancer/choreographer, though it does allow the doctor and Data a different type of interaction to that normally seen.
THOUGHTS
The episode begins with an amusing continuity nod, in that the entire episode is framed as a log Data is keeping to assist with the research of Bruce Maddox - showing that Data was entirely genuine when he encouraged Maddox to continue his research in The Measure of a Man, and that the two have remained in contact since. It's nice to see that, by this point in its run, the series has developed its own internal continuity to the point of mining it for extra details such as this.
Data's Day is a well-made episode, very well put-together. The script, by Harold Agler and Ronald D. Moore, does an excellent job of balancing an "A" plot and a "B" plot that might have been badly at odds. By filtering both plots through Data's perspective, they don't clash at all. Instead, we see that Data reacts to Keiko's last-minute wedding jitters and to the mission involving with the Romulans with exactly the same seriousness. To him, one is not more important than the other. Each is simply a challenge to be confronted.
The Romulan plot takes an interesting turn in the final third of the episode, ramping up the tension and allowing for some strong scenes between Picard and his Romulan counterpart. One interesting aspect is the respect the Romulan captain clearly shows toward Picard. He compliments Picard several times, and not with the sarcastic sneer that Tomalak would have used. It's obvious that he finds Picard a worthy adversary. This sense of respect among enemies creates an interesting undercurrent, and I wouldn't mind seeing this particular Romulan captain a second time. In any case, TNG continues to use the Romulans particularly well, drawing on cues from their two TOS appearances to create a truly dangerous and intelligent adversary.
The subplot is less gripping, though the scenes in which Data attempts to comprehend the incomprehensible interactions of O'Brien and Keiko are amusing, and the episode is noteworthy for introducing Keiko (the lovely Rosalind Chao) to the series. She doesn't get much of a personality yet in this episode, but later episodes - particularly on Deep Space 9 - would show her to be a valuable addition.
Overall Rating: 7/10
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