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| Crew members recreate a shared nightmare on the holodeck. |
Riker is having sleep trouble. Not insomnia - He's getting to sleep just fine, and he's sleeping the whole night through. But he has difficulty waking, and he goes through the day in a haze of tension and exhaustion.
His problems began with the Enterprise's entry into an uncharted globular cluster. Issues aren't confined to Riker for long. Soon, Geordi's visor begins cutting out at random intervals, while Worf responds with paranoia to a barber's scissors. Something is affecting all of them. And if they can't find the source soon, then it may threaten the entire ship!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: He only fully becomes involved in the final stretch of this story, but we do get a good look at his ability to listen to his people and make decisions based on their input. He is able to guide Geordi to find a way to trace the source of the issues. He also accepts Riker's offer to be used as, essentially, bait to spring a trap. He is a pragmatist, and he makes it clear that if Riker is trapped, then the plan must go ahead - even if that results in the first officer's death. The ship is more important than any one crew member, something Picard knows and Riker accepts.
Riker: A strong episode for Riker, which is something that's become much rarer than it used to be. He is the first crew member to be affected, and his nonstop exhaustion makes him the most visibly affected. His leadership skills show when he meets with other affected crew members. He is the one who leads them to the holodeck and initiates the reconstruction of their shared memory, which provides the first steps toward achieving a resolution. He also plays the hero role at the end, risking himself to save the ship.
Geordi: His sensor modifications put the ship in danger (apparently, though I'm not sure the timing works out - more on that later). But even if his eagerness to tinker plays a role in creating the situation, his ability to tinker successfully is what makes it possible for the ship to extricate itself.
THOUGHTS
Schisms starts out slowly. The teaser is downright boring, with Riker's all-day bedhead seeming to be the only thing out of the ordinary and with us being lulled to the credits with the genuinely hideous spectacle of Data performing a poetry recital.
After credits, though, it doesn't take long for the episode to start hooking the viewer's interest. Riker guards against oversleep by asking Geordi to stop by his quarters. We see him settle in for the night, only to be wakened a few seconds later by Geordi. The engineer is keeping his appointment. Even though Riker just settled down to sleep and even though we've been watching him, what seems like a few uninterrupted seconds was actually hours.
This is a Brannon Braga script, so the mind immediately jumps to there being some kind of time anomaly. When Data suddenly loses 90 minutes, that starts to seem like the most likely explanation. Then Riker reacts badly to a console, Worf responds with fear to a pair of scissors, and it becomes clear that something more is happening.
One of the reasons Schisms works so well is that the characters behave intelligently. Riker has sleep trouble for multiple days in a row? He goes to Dr. Crusher to find out if something's wrong with him. Geordi's visor gives him trouble? He does the same. Riker and Worf react emotionally to common objects? They go to Counsellor Troi - Where they learn that others are having the same problems, enabling them to put the pieces together.
There's an outstanding scene about halfway through the episode. Once those affected get together and start reconstructing what happened to them, Riker takes them to the holodeck to literally reconstruct a shared vision. Bit by bit, they create something. It starts as a simple wooden table. Then the table is curved. Then it is metal. Then there is a restraint. Then there is a swinging arm. An attachment. A blade. Like the episode itself, what begins seeming benign and even a bit dull (a sleepy man, a wooden table) becomes something frightening.
"I've been in this room before," Geordi says, looking physically ill at the realization. Riker is grim, purposeful even, as he responds: "We all have."
From that point, it's a rapid build to the resolution. The last Act of the show moves quickly to an effective enough close. The solution relies heavily on Technobabble, but the basic principle of tracking something to its source is easy to grasp and seems sensible, which makes the meaning of the jargon comprehensible and maintains the suspense right up to the end.
That said, there is one structural issue. We are told that the problems occur because Geordi's sensor modifications attracted unwanted attention. But he doesn't use the modified sensors until after the show opens - and Riker is already affected by that point. Which means that the timing just doesn't work out. A minor point, and one that can be handwaved away (Geordi had already tested it before mentioning it to Riker, and the test was what drew attention), but worth mentioning.
Still a good, creepy episode with an ending that avoids evaporating the atmosphere. Schisms is a bit reminiscent of Night Terrors in overall feel - but solid storytelling and a good use of a slow build make this episode succeed where that one failed.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Previous Episode: Relics
Next Episode: True Q
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