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| The fabled Kahless (Kevin Conway) returns, as prophesied... or has he? |
A crisis of faith leads Worf to request a leave of absence. He travels to the Klingon temple on Boreth, where the high priests await the prophesied return of Kahless. Here, he hopes that prayer and meditation will bring him a vision of the Klingon emperor, something to answer his doubts about his faith.
What he doesn't expect is the actual return of Kahless (Kevin Conway). While Worf is praying, a Klingon appears before him and claims to be the fabled emperor, returned to lead his people back to their roots as honorable warriors. Koroth (Alan Oppenheimer), the leader of the priests, is overjoyed, but Worf is skeptical. And Gowron (Robert O'Reilly), the Klingon Chancellor, is enraged, insisting that this is a ploy by the priests to steal his power.
Gowron, Kahless, and Koroth all are taken aboard the Enterprise and treated as honored guests. But it is clear that if the situation is not resolved before they reach the Klingon home world, then the Empire may descend yet again into civil war!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Recognizes that Worf's crisis of faith is not something the Klingon can resolve on the Enterprise. He grants him an indefinite leave of absence to find the answers he seeks, and wishes him luck. At the same time, however, he makes clear that he expects Worf to be ready to act as a Starfleet officer when he returns.
Worf: His experience in the Romulan penal colony, in which he awakened the faith of the young Klingons, has left him grappling with his own crisis of faith. It's no wonder: He grew up away from the Klingon Empire, absorbing the stories of glory and honor - only to come face to face with a corrupt Empire ruled by men more interested in power than integrity. He has also served as a Starfleet officer, trained to gather evidence before simply accepting a claim. This leads him to initially doubt Kahless, only to become his most devout acolyte once he is convinced of his true identity.
Data: Though his role in this episode is not a large one, he does get a key scene late in the show. He talks with Worf about his own "leap of faith," when he decided to consider himself as a person capable of being more than just programming rather than merely a machine. This gives Worf the inspiration he needs to find his own solution for the Kahless situation.
Klingons: Writer Ronald D. Moore fills in more of Klingon society, introducing the high priests and filling in substantial detail about Kahless and his teachings. We learn that Koroth has opposed Gowron's leadership from the start. Gowron has no belief in Kahless, dismissing him as an imposter from the first. Even when presented with evidence, he challenges the other man, refusing to reliquish his power. This puts Worf in the middle, with both Gowron and Koroth trying to win his support because of his brother's seat on the council.
THOUGHTS
After the disappointment of Birthright, I wasn't exactly overjoyed to see a follow-up. I should have had more faith. With Ronald D. Moore in the writer's chair, the Klingons come to life as a complex, genuinely interesting creation once again.
Rightful Heir is the kind of episode Trek tends to do well. It uses a science fiction setting to examine human issues: In this case, the power of faith versus the need for empirical proof. The priests want Klingon society to accept Kahless simply because he exists, says all the right things, and makes all the right claims. Gowron rejects Kahless out of hand because his return after more than 1000 years is simply impossible. In between the two exremes is Worf, who desperately wants to believe but who will not make the leap of faith without evidence.
It's a thoughtful, layered script. Neither side is painted as entirely right or wrong. Gowron is clearly driven by a need to protect his own power, but he is right that the return of Kahless has the potential to split the Empire. Koroth is right that Klingon society has grown decadent and corrupt, something past episodes have provided ample examples of. Then there are scenes simply discussing faith, from Data's musings on his own decision to be more than a machine to the Klingons who kneel in the holodeck for hours on end, waiting for Kahless to return to the room to talk to them once more - to fill a need that's gone unfilled.
The plot is well-constructed, too. Just as Worf's time in the Klingon temple is becoming stale, Kahless appears and the Worf/Kahless conflict takes center-stage for Act Two. Once that plays out, the setting shifts back to the Enterprise, with the Gowron/Koroth conflict taking the fore. There's a plot twist that fits within the Star Trek universe, and which instead of rendering the issues explored irrelevant is actually used to bring those issues into focus for the resolution. It's well-structured, and the plot twists just enough to remain enjoyable throughout.
Overall Rating: 8/10.
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