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| Riker is less than happy to be reunited with his former C. O. (Terry O'Quinn) |
The Enterprise receives orders to pick up a Starfleet intelligence operative: Admiral Erik Pressman (Terry O'Quinn), who was Riker's first commanding officer. Riker served as his helmsman aboard The Pegasus, a prototype vessel lost near the border of Romulan space twelve years earlier. The ship was assumed destroyed - but now intelligence has leaked that debris has been located in an asteroid field in the Devolin system. It is urgent the the Enterprise find the lost ship before the Romulans do and either recover it or destroy it.
But a secret lies within the engineering section of the Pegasus, one which led to a shipwide mutiny and which has left Riker plagued with guilt ever since. If those secrets are discovered, Riker will have to make a choice - one which may lead to the end of his Starfleet career!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: In a scene that lends new context to the very first Picard/Riker scene in Encounter at Farpoint, he reveals that the reason he chose Riker as First Officer was the very thing he seemed angry about in that episode: Riker's insistence on blocking his previous captain from leading a dangerous Away mission. "I wanted someone who would stand up to me, someone who was more concerned with the safety of the ship and accomplishing the mission than with how something looked on his record. To me, that's one of the marks of a good officer." That statement echoes later, when Riker refuses to share information with Picard, using "orders" as his excuse. He makes it clear that if Riker is concealing anything that endangers the Enterprise, then he will "re-evaluate this ship's command structure."
Riker: The "Captain Picard Day" teaser may seem irrelevant, but it performs an important function: It establishes the norm for Riker's relationship with Picard. We see Riker completely relaxed, bantering humorously with his friend and captain... which makes his reaction to Pressman's entrance all the stronger by contrast. It's very clear that Riker hoped never to see his former C. O. again, and he's strained in every interaction. He does his job at all points, but he does not want them to find The Pegasus, and offers up the "destroy the ship" option at the very first opportunity. Jonathan Frakes plays Riker's anxiety and internal struggle well, delivering one of his best performances in the series.
Pompous Space Bureucrat of the Week: Admiral Pressman (Terry O'Quinn) has a complete opposite view to Picard of a good officer: "I've always felt it was more important for an officer to trust his captain's judgment. In a crisis, there's no time for explanations. Orders have to be obeyed without question or lives may be lost... (Sense of duty and loyalty) say more about a man than the rank on his collar or the uniform he wears. They define him."
Those words echo another character in a Ronald D. Moore Starfleet script - Locarno in The First Duty, who prized loyalty to the team above Starfleet honor codes. Like Locarno, Pressman comes across as an intelligent man who believes in what he is saying, which grants him a certain integrity, even though he is clearly the villain of the piece. Terry O'Quinn is excellent, and it's not hard to see why he went on to greater success after this role.
Romulans: More a plot device than anything, though the friction between the Romulans and Starfleet is the story's inciting incident - The secret Pressman and Riker are protecting simply would not exist without them. Beyond that, they wring a little extra tension out of the search for the Pegasus, introducing a "ticking clock" into the episode.
THOUGHTS
The Pegasus is a Ronald D. Moore script, which is almost always good news in itself. Moore is willing to play within the Trek rules, but he does like to push those boundaries a bit. Starfleet may itself be honest and above-board, but Moore knows human nature too well to accept that everyone within it is the same. Just as his Klingon episodes showed the corruption beneath the pretense of honor, his Starfleet episodes show some of Starfleet's most praised breaking rules and jeopardizing others to advance themselves.
The script for The Pegasus brims with tension in every strand. Riker has two internal struggles: his feelings of guilt over his actions from twelve years earlier and his desire to tell Picard what's going on despite his orders not to tell. This internal conflict also drives Riker's external conflicts with both Pressman and Picard. Pressman dresses him down for wanting to destroy The Pegasus rather than recover it. Picard later confronts Riker with evidence of a mutiny on the ship twelve years earlier. His grave disappointment when Riker tells him he is under orders not to discuss the issue hits Riker far harder than Pressman's chewing out had done.
Though the story could have been carried just through these conflicts among Riker, Picard, and Pressman, the external threat of the Romulans does not feel tacked-on. Instead, it enhances the episode, infusing the search for the lost ship with more suspense. There's a clever bit in which the Enterprise finds the Pegasus' location but can't go straight to it lest the Romulans notice. Instead, they emit an ion pulse to mask the ship's signature and move on before the Romulans get within sensor range. Then there's a wonderful pause with our characters just watching the screen, waiting to see whether the Romulan ship stops or moves on itself. It's just characters staring at a screen, but it is extremely suspenseful.
All in all, another excellent episode following right on the heels of the previous, excellent episode. Dare I hope that Season Seven may recover from its rather dismal opening set of shows?
Overall Rating: 9/10.
Previous Episode: Parallels
Next Episode: Homeward
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