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| Picard gets too close to Kamala (Famke Janssen). |
The Enterprise is mediating a peace agreement between the Valtese and the Kriosians, two people from a common homeworld who have been at war for generations. When the ship intercepts a distress call from a Ferengi vessel, Picard detours to rescue the two crew members just before their ship explodes. Naturally, the Ferengi immediately cause mischief. They sneak into the cargo hold to free the "gift" that is the centerpiece of the Kriosian ambassador (Tim O'Connor)'s presentation to the Valtese: The beautiful Kamala (Famke Janssen), an empathic metamorph who will adapt her personality to perfectly suit whichever man she bonds with.
As the ship continues to the rendezvous with the Valtese, to negotiations that will begin with Kamala's marriage to Alrik of Valt (Mickey Cottrell), Picard finds himself drawn ever closer to the young woman. Kamala is also intrigued by the strength she senses beneath the captain's reserve. When the Kriosian ambassador is incapacitated, Picard is force to take over the negotiations - which forces him ever closer to a woman intended to be another man's wife!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Picard is instantly taken with Kamala, that much is obvious from the expression on his face when she first emerges. But he refuses to show interest in her, and does everything he can think of to evade her interest - which grows in direct proprotion to his resistance. "Even the walls of Jericho fell," she observes with a smirk. As she coaxes him to lower his guard, he begins to wish he could stop the ceremony, though his sense of duty is strong enough that with Kamala wishing to go through with the ceremony, he does not interfere.
Dr. Crusher: Though she only gets two scenes of substance, those scenes do serve as a reminder of the closeness between Picard and Crusher. As early as Season One's Symbiosis, we saw Dr. Crusher feeling comfortable challenging Picard on his adherence to the Prime Directive. It's at her urging that he investigates Kamala's conditions, therefore making their relationship in this episode her "fault," as Picard points out. Picard also trusts her as a friend, which is why he turns to her to talk about the situation near the end of the episode, even though all she can really do is to act as "a shoulder" for him.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Season Five seems to have been TNG's year for future film actresses. The Game featured a very young Ashley Judd. Now we get a young Famke Janssen. Janssen has particular fun with the scene in Ten-Forward, as she moves from one personality to another based on the most dominant male present - her growling at Worf is a priceless moment. She and Patrick Stewart have good screen chemistry, making a believable romantic couple despite the age gap, and their scenes together are by far the best of a fairly pedestrian episode.
THOUGHTS
The Perfect Mate is the most difficult kind of episode to review. It's really not bad. The acting ranges from pretty good to at least reasonable; the plot more or less holds together; the characterization is consistent and in some cases even fairly good. All of which means there's not much to mercilessly rip apart and make fun of.
At the same time, this episode isn't very good. The entire plot rests on the ragged cliche of two races that have been at war for generations over, essentially, the backstory of The Trojan War. We can see immediately that Picard and Kamala are drawn to each other, meaning that anyone viewing can predict the rest of the episode. There are no surprises, and the movements of the plot are largely mechanical. That's not even mentioning the desperately contrived third act "crisis" which forces Picard and Kamala together. It would have been more dramatically convincing if the old man had simply fallen while going to the bathroom. If anyone actually goes to the bathroom on TNG, that is.
The resulting episode is a passable time filler. It's largely watchable because of the considerable appeal of Patrick Stewart and Famke Janssen. All of their scenes work, but unfortunately all of their scenes put together would only stretch to a little over ten minutes. I can just about envision a genuinely interesting version of this episode: One without the Ferengi, and one which focused tightly on the Picard/Kamala material, wrestling with the questions of personal freedom versus duty which the present script raises but barely bothers to examine.
As it stands, this is perfectly acceptable filler... but it's shallow and predictable, and ever-so-slightly boring.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
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