7-22. Bloodlines.

Picard discovers the son he never knew he had...

THE PLOT

Bok (Lee Arenberg), the Ferengi Daimon who was stripped of his rank and imprisoned after attempting to take vengeance on Picard for the death of his son years earlier, is once again free - and he still wants revenge! This time, Picard is not the target. Bok has found another way to make the captain feel what he felt. He sends an unmanned probe to the Enterprise, with a message that Bok intends to kill Jason Vigo (Ken Olandt) - a colonist in the Camor system who Bok identifies as Picard's son!

A genetic test confirms that Jason is Picard's son, and from there the plan is simple: Keep the young man safe on the Enterprise until such time as they can find Bok and resolve this issue. Then Picard is awakened in his quarters to find Bok standing in front of him. The Ferengi repeats his threat, then vanishes before Security can arrive. Bok has somehow acquired an advanced transporter, allowing him to beam right through the Enterprise's defenses. And if he can beam himself in... He can also beam Jason out!

CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Any Picard-centric episode gets a boost from Patrick Stewart's considerable screen presence and his by this point instinctive command of the character. It's just a shame that Picard's response to this situation is so generic. He is startled to hear this stranger named as his son, but frankly acknowledges that it is possible the young man could be. When a test confirms it, he tries to be a part of Jason's life and wrestles with whether to force his friendship or whether to respect Jason's wish for privacy. He does get one good scene, climbing with Jason in the holodeck, but even that is disappointingly standard fare, given life more by Stewart's performance than by anything in the script.

Riker: Respects Picard's privacy enough that he doesn't ask for details when Bok names Jason as Picard's son. He listens as Picard gives the backstory on his relationship with Jason's mother, but doesn't push for information; he just accepts what Picard wishes to tell him.

Dr. Crusher: As Wesley's mother and Picard's old friend and flirtation partner, she of course is the one Picard goes to for advice on parenting. It might have been more fun if Picard had also collected advice from Worf and Data (the other parents on the crew, albeit only briefly in Data's case)... but then we might have had less time for Dr. Crusher to be Very Earnest.  Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart retain a steady screen chemistry in their scenes together, but with Crusher reduced to simply "the voice of motherhood," there's no chance for any more interesting character interplay to occur (as happened even this very season, in Attached).

Ferengi: Ferengi prison apparently works a lot like old debtor prisons: The convict is jailed until he is able to buy his freedom - which is what Bok did. Though Bok was able to buy his freedom, it was not enough to secure his old title as "Daimon," and the loss of that title is something that stings. Much as was the case in The Battle, Bok's goal of revenge ends up undermining his standing with his Ferengi accomplices. Ransom is fine; but revenge is a pursuit that carries no particular profit.

THOUGHTS

With the series in its dying days and story ideas running scarce, I suppose it's understandable that the production team would look to old episodes for inspiration. But of all the old episodes to revisit, I cannot fathom why they would choose the first season stinker The Battle as being worthy of a sequel. What next? The Wrath of Lutan?

In any case, Bok is back to once again seek revenge against Picard for putting the Ferengi's belligerent and suicidally stupid son out of the galaxy's misery. Somehow, despite having lost his title and presumably most of his influence, Bok is able to get his hands on transporter technology that, Geordi's Technobabbling about its inefficiency aside, appears to have real value as in inflitration and attack tool. Bok can beam onto the Enterprise at any time, and can beam anyone off the Enterprise at any time. Which, of course, means using that technology to goad Picard, thus advertising his one great weapon and its capabilities, thus giving the ship's crew a generous amount of time to figure out how to counter it before the climax. Unlike most Ferengi villains, Bok is not played for laughs... making his extraordinary stupidity all the more toxic to any attempts at drama.

At least this episode has the sense to make Bok's machinations the "B" plot, with the focus really being on Picard and the son he never knew he had. If Jason was a more interesting character, his rebellious streak perhaps reflecting Picard's own less-than-stellar youth, this might have had potential. Instead, we get very generic interactions between the two characters (and not very much of that), before Technobabble and Medo-babble combine to nullify any chance of this episode having any point at all.

In the end, Bloodlines is too flat and generic to work as a character episode; and it not only fails to redeem The Battle, it fails to be any better an episode than that one was. TNG is looking creatively dead at this point, and it's actually a relief that there is very little of the series left to go.

Overall Rating: 3/10.

7-20. Journey's End.

Wesley undergoes a Vision Quest.

THE PLOT

A new treaty with the Cardassians has left several Federation colonies in Cardassian space - including a Native American tribe that lives on Dorvan V. Picard's orders are to relocate the tribe using "any means necessary."

Negotiations with Anthwara (Ned Romero), the tribe's leader, do not go well. Anthwara states that this world is their home, and that he has no interest in finding another. Efforts are further complicated when a Cardassian survey team led by Gul Evek (Richard Poe) arrives. Evek wonders why Picard needs to negotiate at all when the treaty has already settled all this, and his soldiers' heavy-handed presence sparks new tension among the colonists, threatening to reignite the very conflict the treaty was meant to officially end.

Meanwhile, Wesley Crusher visits the ship while on leave from the Academy. His mother and Geordi are eager to spend time with him. But Wesley is sullen and snappish, responding with exaggerated irritation to all attempts at conversation. When Wesley visits the planet, Lakanta (Tom Jackson), a tribal mystic, leads him on a "vision quest" that makes him discover that his disillusionment is because he is on the wrong path - leading him to a decision to resign from Starfleet Academy!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: His inclinations toward peace making are shown at the very start, when Admiral Nechayev (Natalia Nogulich) comes aboard. Picard resolves to diffuse the tension that has marked their previous interactions by laying out a snack tray that includes her favorite canapes. She responds to this gesture, and is clearly pained at having to give what she knows are terrible orders. Picard, to his credit, does not blame her for the assignment and makes sure that she knows this. This side of Picard, the patient diplomat, is on display throughout the episode. His solution is an imperfect one and he knows it, but his victory is that he manages to uphold his duty and avoid starting a new war, even if the colony will end up suffering more in the long-term than if they had simply allowed themselves to be relocated.

Dr. Crusher: Is bewildered by Wesley's sullen behavior, and tries to enlist Picard to snap him out of it. When Picard replies that Wesley will need to work through his issues on his own, she bows to his judgment, but her worry is clear. In a conversation with Wesley, she reveals fear that she pushed him too hard to be what was expected. She accepts his decision at the episode's end, but does not do so happily.

Cardassians: Gul Evek, who would later be seen in Deep Space 9's The Maquis, leads the Cardassian team that intrudes on Picard's negotiations. Evek initially comes across as the Cardassian stormtrooper seen in his DS9 and Voyager appearances. He is not immune to Picard's reasoned pleas for peace, however. He has too much first-hand knowledge of how much the war cost both sides to want hostilities to resume. In his willingness to listen to Picard, he shows that the Cardassian military is not simply made up of mindless automatons... Though his initial tactics show why Picard's solution at the end of this episode never had any chance of long-term success.


SHUT UP, WESLEY!

After the enormous strides made with the character in previous appearances, most notably The First Duty, this isn't so much a step backward as a giant leap. Adding to the disappointment is that this script is from First Duty co-writer Ronald D. Moore, who had previously done such a good job of making Wesley into a relatable human being. Here, he comes onto the ship acting like a bratty teenager. Then he allows himelf to be led by the nose by Lakanta to discover that he doesn't really belong in Starfleet after all. Never mind the years of episodes showing that Wesley genuinely loved being a part of Starfleet - It turns out that was just him doing what was expected of him. So he rebels by... doing what the Traveler (Eric Menyuk) said he should way back in Where No One Has Gone Before, right down to agreeing to have the Traveler guide him in his new studies.


THOUGHTS

Journey's End can lay claim to being an important episode for the franchise. It is the last real appearance of Wesley Crusher (discounting a throwaway cameo in Star Trek: Nemesis). It establishes the Federation/Cardassian treaty that would be so effectively followed up by The Maquis. And with a story that draws deliberate parallels to the forced resettlement of Native American tribes in the 19th century, it draws on the kind of historical/social fabric that has fueled many good and even great Star Trek episodes.

Journey's End is not a good episode.

The episode has many potentially interesting ingredients: The tying of up Wesley's "Traveler" storyline, and making that work with his Starfleet Academy arc by showing his disillusionment with that life (likely in part a reaction to the events of The First Duty); Picard's negotiations with Anthwara, and the revelation of heinous acts against Native American tribes by one of his own ancestors; the dispute with the Cardassians over how to resolve the impasse, and Picard's own ultimate solution. There's plenty here to make for a worthwhile episode.

Which is part of the problem: There's too much. The Wesley material never feels like an organic part of this episode. Tying up his storyline should have been a show in itself - It's not like Season Seven hasn't offered up some expendable storylines that could have made way for it! This episode reduces his story to a hastily-executed "B" plot, making it more of a distraction than anything else.

I will say that the scenes between Picard and Anthwara work well, in large part thanks to the performances and sheer screen presence of Patrick Stewart and Ned Romero. I also enjoyed Picard's interactions with Gul Evek, which provided new background on the Federation/Cardassian War by showing in Evek's final decision that it was a conflict that scarred both sides. The heavy-handed manner of the Cardassians, and the violent way in which the colonists react to them, sews the seeds of the entire Maquis storyline - something that was clearly deliberately done, given that The Maquis aired less than a month after this episode.

Unfortunately, as has been true of almost every Trek treatment of Native American culture, the colony is portrayed in broad and mystical terms. The tribe is mystical and the land speaks to them and they have deep wisdom to share with any white man who wants to be Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves. Voyager co-creator Jeri Taylor evidently intended that Chakotay came from this colony, and it's easy to see echoes of Chakotay's most tedious traits in the condescending way in which this tribe of "magic Indians" are treated. They aren't really individuals - They are stereotypes, with only Ned Romero managing to lend a bit of stature to the weak material.

I will say that Journey's End is far from the worst of TNG's disappointing final season. It is at least trying, and there are some good scenes and elements. But this is an "off day" for writer Ronald D. Moore, who is capable of so much better, and yet another weak episode in the increasingly long string of weak episodes that is bringing this show to its end.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

Previous Episode: Genesis
Next Episode: Firstborn


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7-19. Genesis.

Picard discovers Troi, transformed into an amphibian!

THE PLOT

When a test of Worf's new weapons guidance system results in one of the torpedoes swerving off course, Picard and Data take a shuttlecraft to intercept and disable it. While they are away, crew begins exhibiting strange behavior. Troi complains about the environment controls, finding the ship too dry and too cold. Worf becomes hyper-aggressive. Barclay becomes just plain hyper, working around the clock at full-tilt speed with no sign of fatigue. Riker finds it increasingly hard to concentrate, or even to remember the ship's current assignment. Too late, Dr. Crusher and Nurse Ogawa realize that a disease is spreading through the ship... one that is slowly affecting every member of the crew!

Picard and Data return to find the Enterprise adrift in space with no power. They discover that the entire crew have transformed in various ways; Troi is an amphibian; Riker is a proto-human; Barclay is halfway to becoming a spider; Worf is some strange Klingon creature with an armored hide and an aggressive mating instinct.

They are able to determine that amniotic fluid is the key to curing the virus, and go in search of the conveniently pregnant Nurse Ogawa. But they have only a limited time to find a cure. The disease is airborne - and Picard is already showing signs of infection!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: When Picard begins to "de-evolve," he develops a heightened sense of fear. Patrick Stewart gives Picard a slightly higher pitch to his voice and makes him a little less still and a little more fidgety. Because the process never gets past its initial stages in Picard, we see the man we know struggling to maintain control. When the transformed Worf is battering his way into sickbay, Picard can see that Data - who is working on a cure - is indispensable and that he is expendable in this situation. So he creates a distraction to lead Worf away, despite his terror.

Data: As Picard's faculties start to be affected, Data takes the lead in their investigation. He observes that Spot's newborn kittens were not infected, which provides the vital clue to the cure. He argues against Picard's dangerous plan to lead Worf away from sickbay, but does provide Picard with what he needs to execute that plan. And, as the one crew member immune to the virus, he is in a unique position to save the day. Again.

Worf: Continues to inch toward a relationship with Troi. It seems a bit odd that they would have a dinner date when all their relationship progress occurred in either parallel dimensions or hallucinations. Then again, both Worf and Troi have glimpsed the potential relationship in non-realities, so perhaps by now they have compared notes and decided to give it a try in the real world. Though he ultimately is not "Patient Zero," Worf is the first crew member to be visibly affected. Michael Dorn does a good job of showing Worf's decline. At first, he just seems excessively stressed, then he becomes ridiculously short-tempered and aggressive. When he attacks Troi, he stops, appalled at what he's done... but that is the last time he is able to stop himself. The next time he moves, his mind is basically gone.

Barclay: The opening scene presents Barclay as a hypochondriac, with Dr. Crusher all but treating him like a child while treating him. The fact that she manages to identify a mild illness by the end of that scene in no way stops her from treating him like an idiot. Even after the events of the episode trace the virus back to Crusher being careless with a treatment, the tag scene sees her and Troi basically exchanging eye-rolls over how neurotic Reg is. Why exactly doesn't he want to transfer off this ship? The episode makes less use of Barclay than most previous appearances by him, but Dwight Schultz remains engaging. His scenes both as hyper Barclay and as spider-Barclay are a great deal of fun, largely because of the actor's enthusiasm.


THOUGHTS

"Captain, I believe the crew is de-evolving!"
-Data makes an earnest pronouncement, and actor Brent Spiner somehow manages to keep a straight face.

Genesis is surely one of the silliest episodes of TNG's run. Brannon Braga's script is a dumb premise that exists solely to allow the cast to act in weird ways, all of which is given only the flimsiest justification. It's "science" is straight out of a 1950's "B" movie: De-evolution of humans into amphibians and spiders(!)? The episode might as well have a crew member turn into a crocodile and snap at Picard's heels!

It also spends far too long on setup, with fully half the episode passing before the crew has firm awareness that there even is a ship-wide problem. It should have been restructured in one of two ways: With Picard and Data on the ship throughout, working to stop the infection as it spreads; or with Picard and Data returning to the ship much earlier, with the bulk of the episode focusing on their efforts to resolve the situation. As presented, there is no real mystery, because we spend half the episode watching the disease spread. Picard and Data are able to solve the problem a bit too quickly and easily, because no time is left in the episode for their efforts to encounter serious complications.

Gates McFadden, in her directorial debut, may have gotten lumbered with a ludicrous script, but she makes a good stab at bringing it to life. The dark corridors of the drifting Enterprise of the second half are eerie, the noises of the transformed crew members adding to the atmosphere. Spider-Barclay's abrupt entrance, banging against the glass through which Picard is peering, is a "jump scare" that works, and the makeup job on Dwight Schultz is highly effective (if slightly comical). The chase at the climax, in which the transformed Worf pursues Picard into first the turbolift, then a Jeffries tube, takes care to keep Worf in the shadows to avoid the budget limitations of his costume from ruining the effect. This has the bonus of keeping the focus on Patrick Stewart, acting the heck out of the increasing terror the infected Picard can barely keep in check. I'd love to see another episode directed by McFadden - preferably one with an actual good script.

In a way, this episode feels like the flip-side to Masks. That episode featured Data behaving strangely while the ship transformed around the crew. This episode features everyone except Data behaving strangely, while the crew transforms around the ship. Unlike Masks, there's no sense of anything interesting is struggling to get out. Much of it plays like Braga's first draft for Voyager's infamous Threshold, like he needed a warm-up to figure out what works so that he could be sure to remove those elements from his next try.

In short, it's all dizzyingly dumb... but it's also very watchable.


Overall Rating: 4/10.

Previous Episode: Eye of the Beholder
Next Episode: Journey's End


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7-14. Sub Rosa.

Dr. Crusher is seduced by the mysterious Ronin (Duncan Regehr)

THE PLOT

Dr. Crusher visits Caldos II, a colony world modeled after the Scottish highlands. She is there to deliver the eulogy at her grandmother's funeral, but is about to get swept up in the plot of a bad romance novel. Before you can say,Ghost of the Highlander, she sees the striking young Ronin (Duncan Regehr) pass by her grandmother's coffin to throw a camellia, her grandmother's favorite flower, onto it.

While reading her grandmother's diaries, Beverly learns that Ronin was the dead woman's lover. She goes to the house to start closing things up, only to find the house full of flowers. She hears noises, but sees no one there. Until she looks into a mirror and sees Ronin, who announces that he is a spirit who has been the lover of the women of her family for generations. Now he has come for her - and rather than be appalled by this, as you might expect, Beverly seems perfectly happy at the idea.

And then things start to go a bit wrong with the planet's weather...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: There are two kinds of episodes that make you really mindful of Patrick Stewart's contribution toTNG. First are the heavy-hitting episodes, such as Best of Both Worlds, Family, The Drumhead, and Chain of Command - episodes that showcase his full range by giving him material that demands an actor of ability and stature. Then there are episodes like this one.  In a show in which almost nothing works, Patrick Stewart still manages to salvage a moment or two of dignity. Picard refuses to simply allow Beverly to throw away her career and insists on confronting Ronin face-to-face. He gets his wish, resulting in the only good scene in the episode... a scene sadly cut short when Ronin, realizing he's outclassed, resorts to simply zapping the better man.

Dr. Crusher: Poor Gates McFadden. Her big spotlight episode of Season Seven, and it's one whose prime demand on her is to make an orgasm face every 5 - 10 minutes. Dr. Crusher's characterization is wildly inconsistent from one scene to the next. At first, it plays out as if her free will is drained by Ronin at about the 15-minute mark, leaving her effectively possessed. But at the end, she says she was seduced - which indicates that she acted according to her own will for the run of the episode, which makes most of her actions unfathomable. McFadden struggles gamely, but with no consistent throughline she's just playing it scene-by-scene. The results are unfortunate.

Troi: Is made to look like an idiot. She can sense something is wrong with Beverly's sudden romantic obsession (with her grandmother's lover, no less), but for the first time in the series' history, she refuses to intrude on someone else's privacy. If you see your friend acting bizarrely and might suspect she's under an outside influence, wouldn't you intrude just a little? Or at least ask the colony's governor about the man Beverly is obsessing over, to make sure he is who he says he is? Not if you're Troi, I guess. Marina Sirtis does what she can, but with writing this poor, there's really nothing for her to do except recite the lines. 

Guest Star of the Week: As Ronin, actor Duncan Regehr makes his Star Trek debut. With a debut like this, one wonders exactly why DS9's producers would offer him a recurring role later. In fairness, Regehr isn't actively bad as Ronin. But he isn't particularly good, even given the limits of his material. He certainly doesn't come across as irresistibly seductive, and his screen presence is actually weaker here than as Shakaar on DS9. In the verbal sparring match against Picard at the end, against heavyweight Patrick Stewart, Regehr barely even registers on screen! 


THOUGHTS

Brannon Braga's scripts don't always work, even in his TNG days. Despite this, I generally regard his name on the credits as good news.  Even his misfires are usually cockeyed enough to be entertaining. If nothing else, a Braga script is rarely dull.

Sub Rosa is dull. Extremely dull. It also doesn't feel like a Brannon Braga script. It's more like a particularly bad Jeri Taylor effort - hardly surprising, given that the story is credited to her. Why Braga ended up writing the teleplay is anybody's guess, but the result is that the worst tendencies of both writers are combined to produce an hour of utter sludge.

Braga's work, both the good and the bad, can be characterized as concept over character. That works terrifically well when the episode is Cause and Effect or Parallels. His writing style is ill-suited to a would-be romantic ghost story, however. Any chance of this episode being successful hinges on it working as a strong character episode for Beverly, to watch this capable character be seduced by a being who shouldn't even exist.

In Braga's hands, what we get is an episode in which Beverly is replaced by a hormone-driven pod person at the 15 minute mark. After one scene of (very weakly) fighting Ronin, she becomes all but a slave to him for the bulk of the episode. He's killing people? Well, he can touch her in just the right way, so she'll go along with his every command anyway. Not that there's much contrast with the early scenes. After all, the first stretch still shows her talking entirely too freely in a public place about a sex dream. A sex dream involving her grandmother's lover. Right after her grandmother's death. However creepy that may read, the scene just plays out as ludicrous and boring. My favorite detail? Being regailed with all this, Troi seems neither appalled nor embarrassed. Instead, she claims to be envious and seems to find it funny. 

No bad Trek episode can be complete without a heap of Technobabble thrown into the mix, and ghost stories don't leave much room for such jargon. But fear not! The subplot comes to the rescue. There are malfunctions in the planet's weather control system. This calls for massive amounts of Technobabble by Data and Geordi. Needless to say, the malfunctions are the work of Ronin, who is generating storms threatening the planet for... no apparent reason. If his goal is to delay the Enterprise's departure, that mission is accomplished by causing minor malfunctions. Making the weather problems genuinely life-threatening simply draws attention to his interference. None of this causes any sense of tension either. The subplot creates all the interest of watching characters discuss the weather. Which, come to think of it, is exactly what they're doing.

Ultimately, the episode is too bad and the temptation too great for me not to make an obvious and groan-worthy play on the title. So I'll conclude by saying that Sub Rosa is strictly substandard.


Overall Rating: 1/10.  If I gave zeroes, then this episode would get one.

Previous Episode: Homeward
Next Episode: Lower Decks


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7-8. Attached.

Picard and Crusher escape from an alien prison.

THE PLOT

Capt. Picard and Dr. Crusher beam down to Kesprytt III to meet with Ambassador Mauric (Robin Gammell) of the Kes government. The Kes have made a request for associate membership in the Federation - an unusual request, given that their world is divided between them and the xenophobic Prytt, who want nothing to do with any outsiders. Picard and Crusher beam out... but their transport is intercepted. 

They awake to find themselves prisoners of the Prytt, who fear a military alliance between the Kes and the Federation. They give the two neural implants, telling them that the implants will soon provide all the information needed. But the Kes have spies within the Prytt government, and it isn't long before Picard and Crusher are provided with a map showing an escape route.

That escape is only the beginning, however. By the time they reach the outside, it is clear that the implants are transmitting Picard's and Crusher's thoughts to each other. More than that - if they separate by more than a few feet in any direction, they become physically ill!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: When Crusher calls him on making a decision based on guesswork, he admits that it's sometimes necessary to give the appearance of confident leadership even when he is uncertain. He does make swift yet sensible command decisions, discarding the pre-set escape plan in favor of a dash to the border once it becomes apparent that Prytt patrols are searching for them. In a quiet moment, he admits to Beverly that he had strong feelings for her even when she was married - something he kept hidden out of shame for lusting after his best friend's wife. 

Riker: Left to deal with Ambassador Mauric in trying to retrieve Picard and Crusher. He is initially amused at Mauric's paranoia, smiling a bit condescendingly at the ambassador's earnest statements that what he's about to tell Riker "cannot leave this room" and practically laughing at the security counter-measures put in place. His amusement disappears once Picard misses the rendezvous, however, prompting some very blunt and impatient shotgun diplomacy on his part. To the episode's credit, Riker's tactics are very different than Picard's would likely be, but are highly effective. 

Dr. Crusher: Though she almost always has an acerbic comment on the tip of her tongue, she has learned to (mostly) leave those unvoiced. Gates McFadden has a particularly strong scene in which Beverly recalls making a cute comment while on a date and genuinely hurting the self-esteem of the young man in question. Her claims that she "never knew (Picard) felt that way" about her seem ingenuous, given that they were practically throwing themselves at each other in certain Season One episodes, but it does allow an opening for them to discuss their somewhat bizarre non-relationship. For McFadden, whose performances have often been variable, this is a notably natural performance, some of her best work since Remember Me in Season Four.


THOUGHTS

Attached is the first episode in a long time to deal with the Picard/crusher relationship. Their mutual attraction was a major character component during Season One, but that strand was cut off when Gates McFadden did not return for Season Two. When she returned in Season Three, the Picard/Crusher dynamic was changed substantially. That they were old and close friends was retained, but the romantic undercurrents only occasionally referenced from that point on.

Writer Nicholas Sagan attempts to reconcile both dynamics, reintroducing their old feelings for each other via their shared thoughts. We learn on the one hand that they still have feelings for each other, and on the other that Picard has declared (to himself, and here to Dr. Crusher) that he "no longer has those feelings." Crusher visibly dislikes that statement, and the ending indicates that the statement is a lie - but it's a lie Picard seems to have convinced himself of, at least enough to pursue other romances throughout the series while interacting with Beverly largely just as a friend.

The Picard/Beverly character interplay is far more interesting than the Kes/Prytt plot, though the plot does its job in setting up a reason for the exploration of the two regulars and in providing a dramatic frame for these scenes to fit into. The story is well-structured and well-paced, with the external conflict sufficient to keep things moving without intruding into the character material that is the show's heart. Jonathan Frakes' direction is as solid as ever, and he particularly makes use of the device of Picard and Crusher "joined at the hip" to almost constantly frame the two in shot together.

The external plot is resolved a bit neatly and easily, in predictable fashion, but the tag indicates that the Picard/Beverly issues are only as settled as future writers choose to make them. Enough is left dangling to be picked up later if desired, but it's also tied up enough to allow that strand to fall dormant without feeling like a dropped thread. 

It's not a brilliant episode, but Attached is well-crafted, well-paced, and thoroughly entertaining. In a thus far rather weak season, that just about makes it a standout by default.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Dark Page
Next Episode: Force of Nature 


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7-3. Interface.

Geordi receives a message from
his missing mother (Madge Sinclair)

THE PLOT

The USS Raman, a Federation science vessel, is trapped in the atmosphere of Marijine VII, a gas giant planet. Interference makes it impossible for the Enterprise's sensors tell whether the crew is alive or dead, and it is too dangerous to beam crew members directly aboard. The only option is an experimental virtual reality interface, in which the sensors Geordi uses for his visor allow the engineer to control the probe as if it were his own body.

Just before the mission, Geordi receives disturbing news. His mother (Madge Sinclair)'s ship, the Hera, is missing, presumed lost. Geordi insists on going through with his mission, however, insisting that if the crew of the Ramanare alive, they can't wait the time it would take to retool the interface for someone else's use. He dons the interface suit and plugs in.

He discovers that the crew are all dead. But then something more happens. While attempting to retrieve the data the ship had been collecting, his mother appears before him, telling him that the Raman needs to go down to the planet or else she and the rest of her crew will die!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: He's sympathetic to Geordi's desire to believe his mother is alive, but he isn't willing to risk Geordi's safety on a paper-thin hypothesis that Data deems "almost impossible." 

Geordi: Goes into denial about his mother's disappearance. "The Hera is missing, that's all," he insists. "Until I hear something different, my mother might just as well have taken the crew on an unscheduled holiday!" When his father (Ben Vereen) tries to make him accept that she is gone, Geordi snaps at him. He is more open with Data, however, acknowledging the likelihood of her death but confessing that he doesn't know how he'll be able to deal with it if she really is gone.

Dr. Crusher: Shows immediate concern when Geordi insists on increasing the safety tolerances for better control of the probe, but she does go along with the increases. After an accident with the interface puts Geordi in jeopardy, she has concerns about him returning to it. But she does agree that if the tolerances are kept within a safer margin, that the "risk is acceptable," showing a comprehension of the balance between crew safety and the success of the mission - something that hasn't always been evident in her character.


THOUGHTS

While it's only about an average episode, Interface is a solid piece of television. Writer Joe Menosky does his usual fine job with characterization, and the concept of the VR interface is a nice hook on which to hang Geordi's emotional dilemma. Geordi's need to deal with the loss of his mother is the real story, of course - but by folding that story within the structured narrative of the retrieval of the Raman's crew, Menosky keeps the story moving forward when it might otherwise bog down.

The last episode to spotlight Geordi was Aquiel, a turgid bore that had no interest in his character beyond using him as a plot piece. This episode actually focuses on Geordi's personality. His emotional turmoil surrounding his mother's disappearance is convincingly portrayed, from his guilt at not seeing her the last time he had the chance to his inability to accept her death without wreckage or a body. He grasps at thin theoretical straws to come up with a way that she might be alive - all of which makes his shipmates even more prone to believing, when he receives an apparent message from his mother, that he is actually hallucinating due to the VR interface.

Levar Burton's very good performance and the convincing portrayal of Geordi's emotions keep the episode grounded, but these positives can't disguise a few moments in which Geordi's behavior would simply not be acceptable within a military chain of command. I'm particularly thinking of the ready room scene, in which Geordi responds to a "No" from Picard by literally hitting a chair. There are a few such moments when Geordi's tone or behavior just seem too unprofessional for Picard and/or Riker to overlook, even taking grief into consideration. At the very least, they would look at that behavior and temporarily relieve him due to his emotional state.

That's one reason why this episode gets a "6" instead of a "7," though in truth it's not enough by itself. The other reason why I consider this more of an "average" episode than a truly "good" one is harder to define. It's more a question of personal response. The episode has merit, and I enjoyed watching it. But it just doesn't quite get the level of response from me that I'd have liked. I wasn't bored at any point while watching it. However, I was always watching it, rather than becoming truly involved in it.

If nothing else, this was at the very least substantially better than Liaisons.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: Liaisons
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6-26, 7-1. Descent.

Data and Lore, united with the Borg against the Federation!

THE PLOT

A distress signal brings the Enterprise to Ochniaka III, a Federation science outpost which has suffered a devastating attack. Riker, Worf, Data, and a redshirt beam down to investigate and discover the Borg. But these Borg are behaving strangely, showing no interest in assimilating individuals or technology. They are simply focused on killing.

After the inevitable happens to the redshirt, Data experiences his first emotion: Anger. He wrestles with one of the Borg and kills it with his bare hands, prompting the others to flee. Back on the ship, Picard and Federation Admiral Nechayev (Natalia Nogulich) prepare for a possible Borg invasion. Meanwhile, Data relieves himself of duty to run diagnostics, concerned at his emotional outburst. Finding nothing wrong, he develops a new concern. What if, much as he has evolved to the point of having dreams, he is now becoming capable of emotion? And what if the only emotions he is capable of having are negative ones?

Also troubling is his revelation to Troi. Anger wasn't the only emotion he experienced on the planet. After killing the Borg, he experienced one other feeling:

Pleasure.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Admiral Nechayev may manage the impressive feat of being the most unlikable Starfleet admiral in Trek history (yes, including the ones who were villains), but she is an effective devil's advocate for Picard's decision to send Hugh back to the Borg without the virus. With the Borg apparently preparing a new invasion, Picard is left to watch his recordings of Hugh and wonder if his "moral choice" wasn't also the wrong choice, an effective character beat neatly paralleled by his later insistence to Data that doing something morally wrong can never serve a "greater good." Picard's decision is proved out by Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco)'s return as an ally in Part Two, but his doubts make for one of the two-parter's more effective dramatic moments.

Data: Since the series' start, Data has pursued the goal of making himself more human. Now he gets to experience emotions, but only negative ones: anger, hate, a sadistic form of pleasure. He expresses concern to Counselor Troi that, if this means he is becoming like a human, perhaps he is becoming a bad one. When we discover that the emotions are being externally induced by his evil brother, Lore, we also see the effect is like a drug. Data is pushed into craving the emotions, to the point that Lore is able to influence him by threatening to cut him off from his supply. Spiner plays Data's reactions well, from the confusion to the craving for emotion to his struggle against Lore's influence.

Dr. Crusher: With only a skeleton crew left on the Enterprise in Part Two, Dr. Crusher is left in command. She does a surprisingly capable job. Her compassionate nature will not allow her to leave the crew stranded for the time it would take to report in person to the Federation - but she obeys the spirit of her orders to report by leaving a communications buoy to send the report before turning back to retrieve the others. She works with her "second string" command crew to come up with a plan to maximize their ability to beam the rest of the crew back before the Borg can detect and fire upon them, showing a strong ability to prioritize and to coax the best performance possible out of her relatively untried bridge officers.

Lore: This many years later, it's not much of a spoiler to reveal that Lore is behind the altered behavior of both Data and the Borg. It's always fun to see Brent Spiner trot out his sneering villain routine, and Lore presenting himself as the Borg's savior allows him to indulge in some entertaining speechmaking. It is less emotionally-charged, and thus less effective, than his previous appearance in Brothers. Still, Spiner is enormously watchable, and he retains the odd knack of playing so well opposite himself that you forget in the Data/Lore scenes that there aren't actually two actors present.

Borg: The franchise's reduction of the Borg really begins here. Previous episodes have shown them as an indomitable enemy, one that is single-minded (literally) in pursuing its goal of evolution through assimilation. I Borg veered away from this, but did so in a way that was itself highly effective, exploring the ideas of individuality that go along with the Borg's status as a collective hive. Descent changes the formula again... but instead of adding, it reduces. The Borg are now Lore's henchmen, nothing more. As such, they aren't scary in the least. Even before the reveal of Lore at the cliffhanger, these Borg are simply interested in killing. An enemy that will assimilate you into itself, wiping away your identity in the process? That's scary. An enemy that simply wants to kill you? Much less so.


THOUGHTS

Another season's end, another two-part cliffhanger to tie the seasons together. The Season Five to Six transition was marked by Time's Arrow, an entertaining two-parter that nevertheless felt rather expendable. For the series' last ever season cliffhanger, the decision was evidently made to go big. Descent is scripted by two of the series' best writers: Part One, by Ronald D. Moore; Part Two, by Rene Echevarria. It brings back the Borg and Lore, tying together continuity points from both Brothers and I Borg. Part One ends with Data having turned evil, pitting the crew against Data, Lore, and the Borg all at the same time. With all these villains, it's like watching one of the 1990's Batman movies!

And like most of those movies, it's all rather silly. The Borg want to assimilate, and consider most organic life irrelevant, killing largely as a side effect? That's chilling. The Borg are under the control of Lore, who they refer to as "The One" while using their strength specifically to kill? That just turns them into supervillains.

None of which stops this two-parter from being entertaining. The story may be fundamentally silly, but it moves along at a fast pace. As is almost customary with these season-bridging two parters, Part One is slightly better than Part Two, with more momentum as it builds to the cliffhanger. Still, both parts provide solid entertainment, and make good use of the entire ensemble.

It's also fun to see all the continuity points get used: The emotion chip from Brothers, the state of the Borg in the wake of I Borg. Even the metaphasic shielding from Suspicions gets a nod in a moderately effective game of cat-and-mouse Crusher plays against a Borg ship.

It's all resolved far too easily, and this 2-parter marks the reduction of the Borg from indomitable foes into... Well, thuggish henchmen. Still, while it may be pulp silliness, it's fun to watch, and thus merits a good score.

Still, for all the determination to make this two-parter an "event," it is a bit sad that this really isn't any better than Time's Arrow was.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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