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| Geordi falls for the prime suspect in a murder! |
THE PLOT:
The Enterprise arrives at a communication station near the Klingon border. They are there to deliver supplies, but discover that the station is deserted. Neither station officer is anywhere to be seen, and some organic residue on the floor indicates some kind of violent confrontation.
Geordi accesses the logs of Aquiel Uhnari (Renee Jones), the station's communications officer. Her entries indicate conflict between the station's senior officer, Lt. Rocha, and herself. She also mentions trouble with Commander Morag (Reg E. Cathey), an aggressive Klingon officer who harrasses the station regularly.
When Picard contacts the Klingons, they insist that they had nothing to do with whatever befell the station. They do have one thing to contribute to the investigation, though - a surprise for the Enterprise crew: Aquiel Uhnari, alive and well... and now the prime suspect in the death of Lt. Rocha!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Gets one decent scene early in the episode, as he faces down the Klingon governor, Torak (Wayne Grace). Torak tries to establish dominance through belligerence. Picard responds by being pleasant and polite - and by pleasantly and politely invoking his relationship with Gowron to intimidate the Klingon into cooperating. All very obvious stuff (as with everything in this script), but it is at least entertaining, which raises this one moment above everything else in the episode.
Riker: A look at the respective records of Aquiel and the missing Lt. Rocha is enough to make Riker suspect the young woman of murder. Rocha has a spotless record, Aquiel a very bad one. As we've seen in his previous dealings with Ensign Ro, Riker has a tendency to equate "bad officer" with "bad person," and does not believe a thing the young woman says from that point on, instead shifting into prosecutorial mode.
Geordi: Another Geordi-centric episode that reduces this likable and competent character to little more than a hormone-driven boy with a crush. In an attempted nod to Otto Preminger's excellent Laura, Geordi begins falling for Aquiel even when she's presumed dead, smitten by the young woman he sees in her logs and correspondence. This fails to convince, as does Geordi's borderline insubordinate behavior when Riker points out (gruffly, but not unreasonably) that Aquiel might be a suspect and that it might not be good for the engineer to get too close to her.
Hot Space Babe of the Week: Though this is a weak script to start with, the episode is doomed by the casting of Renee Jones as Aquiel. Jones gives a flat performance, devoid of any hint of the humor Geordi tells us she displays in her logs. Her entire personality is told to us. Geordi informs us that she is quirky and complicated, but these traits are completely absent from the woman we actually see on screen. Levar Burton struggles gamely, but neither Jones nor the script ever convince me that this woman is worth Geordi's time - or ours, for that matter.
THOUGHTS
Writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga have been individually responsible for many enjoyable to outright excellent hours of Star Trek. It's fair to say that, in TNG terms at least, seeing either name on the credits of an episode is good news. Which makes it all the more disappointing that Aquiel is such an utterly worthless piece of television.
This was apparently intended as a departure into film noir. This could work with a sharp script, a good guest cast, and atmospheric direction. Aquiel possesses none of these qualities. The script is competently structured but bland, Moore and Braga obviously finding no inspiration in the story. Even the Klingon scenes, usually Moore's strong suit, come across as requisite posturing with little of interest. Nor does Cliff Bole's static direction provide anything visually interesting to make up for the other shortcomings. Everything is just... flat.
It isn't even bad enough to be funny. The series' early days saw some horrible episodes, but I could at least enjoy tearing into the likes of The Last Outpost, Angel One, and Justice. They were horrible television, but I wasn't truly bored by them - I was too shocked at the blazing ineptitude on display to find them boring.
Aquiel is one of the dullest hours of Star Trek I've seen. If some of the Season One stinkers were TNG's answer to Spock's Brain, so bad that you just had to sit back and laugh... Well, this is TNG's The Lights of Zetar - an episode so tedious and lifeless that no one can even bother to remember it.
Overall Rating: 1/10.
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