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| A hostage situation on the Enterprise! |
THE PLOT
An ancient distress call from the Essex, a 200-years-lost Deadalus-class starship, leads the Enterprise to an M-class moon. Storms surrounding the moon make transport unsafe, so Riker, Data, and Troi take a shuttle to the surface. When the intensity of the storm causes them to crash, some improvisation on Chief O'Brien's part allows him to transport down to boost the signal, so that they can all transport up again - but not before an electromagnetic strike leaves the entire landing party unconscious.
They wake up in Sickbay, apparently unharmed save for Riker's easily mended broken arm. Everything seems back to normal until they return to the bridge. Then Data, Troi, and O'Brien make a sudden and almost successful attempt to take control of the ship. They are thwarted, but evade capture and manage to take hostages in Ten Forward. Then the aliens who have taken control of these three bodies make their demand: Take the ship to the moon's southern pole, or hostages will die!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Maintains his cool in the presence of the alien invaders. I suppose once you've been assimilated by the Borg, a few standard body snatchers are less than terrifying. He is courteous at all times to the aliens, but doesn't believe their story about being the disembodied Essex crew for a heartbeat. As he observes to Worf, if these truly were Starfleet officers, he would expect far better behavior from them. He doesn't hesitate to give himself up as a hostage in exchange for medical care for the wounded. He also promises Riker to provide "an opportunity" - a promise he makes good on at the end.
Riker: Saved from alien possession by a broken arm, in one of the bits of story logic it's best to just squint at. This allows him to take command once Picard joins the hostages. He coordinates the efforts to neutralize the invaders. He also knows the Enterprise about as well as Picard does, and quickly recognizes Picard's plan at the end when it goes into effect.
Troi: Is possessed by the leader of the three entities, which allows Marina Sirtis to break away from her usual touchy-feely persona. This entity is ruthless and extremely intelligent - a cold-blooded counterpart to Picard. Sirtis' performance is quite good, and the episode showcases just how much the Troi part has stifled her own acting talents.
Data: Brent Spiner indulges his hammier side, playing the most violent of the three alien entities. Spiner always seems to enjoy playing villains, throwing himself into it with glee. By this point in the series, though, we've already seen him trot out his "psycho villain" routine on multiple occasions. The novelty value just isn't there anymore, and his performance ends up being the least interesting of the three "possessed" crew members'.
O'Brien: While Spiner simply taps into his inner ham, sneering like a silent movie villain who's been granted the power of speech, Colm Meaney provides the episode with a far more disturbing presence. The entity who has taken over O'Brien taps into O'Brien's love for Keiko and responds by gravitating toward her throughout the hostage crisis. He selects her as his victim if he is called upon to kill someone. He also keeps talking to her about O'Brien's memories of her, and at one point goes in for a kiss, ignoring the frightened woman's cries to stop. Meaney doesn't overact these scenes, which makes him more frightening, despite having less to do than the other two.
THOUGHTS
I note a story credit for long-departed TNG story editor Maurice Hurley. Things I've read about Hurley and the production team leave me doubting that this was a pitch he made to the show he had left years earlier. This was more likely a leftover Hurley concept, radically reworked by the current writing staff to suit the show in its current (much improved) form.
Power Play melds the Star Trek standby of having regulars' bodies taken over by aliens with the all-purpose television standby of the hostage episode. The results certainly won't win awards for originality. But originality matters less than entertainment value, and this episode is very entertaining. I particularly enjoy seeing the "chess match" between the Enterprise crew and the entities. Riker and Geordi take steps to neutralize the invaders. Then they tap the knowledge of the people they've possessed to counter those moves. It's well-structured and easy to follow at every turn.
The "ghost story" aspect never really works. It actually would have been a good twist had the aliens been telling the truth, given that neither Picard nor we actually believe them. Since they are lying (as expected), it just results in a few throwaway lines that neither add nor detract. The only interesting thing to come of this cover story is another look at Worf's superstitious nature, as he is far more prepared to believe in spirits than Picard is.
In the end, this is a case of rapid pace, strong production values, and a tight script overcoming a lack of originality. There isn't a single surprise in this piece. It really is a stock episode. But it's a good stock episode, and as such merits a solid rating.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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Spiner is a bit one-dimentional in this show. Just like Data can be excessively curious about human trait X, he can also be excessively evil.
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