7-21. Firstborn.

Klingon warrior K'Mtar (James Sloyan)
challenges Worf about Alexander's future.

THE PLOT

6-23. Rightful Heir.

The fabled Kahless (Kevin Conway) returns,
as prophesied... or has he?

THE PLOT

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.

Previous Episode: Suspicions
Next Episode: Second Chances


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6-20. The Chase.

Picard is reunited with his mentor (Norman Lloyd).

THE PLOT

Picard receives a visit from Professor Richard Galen (Norman Lloyd), his old archaeology mentor from his Starfleet Academy days. At that time, Picard had disappointed Galen by turning down the chance to become an archaeologist in favor of a career in Starfleet. Now, Galen is offering Picard a second chance at archaeology, asking him to take an indefinite leave to join him on an expedition to complete the most ambitious project of the old man's career.

Picard knows he can't leave the Enterprise, and so disappoints Galen a second time by refusing his offer. It isn't long before he crosses paths with the professor again, however. He encounters Galen's shuttle, under attack by Yridians. The Enterprise destroys the attackers, but not before Galen is killed.

Now Picard is on the trail of Galen's research - But he has competitors in this chase: Klingons, Cardassians, and even Romulans, all seeking this ultimate prize: Be it a power source, a weapon... or something else entirely!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Another good performance from Patrick Stewart, though I confess I'm starting to feel a bit Picard-weary at this point. I know he's the lead, but it feels like we've had almost nothing but Picard-centric episodes for quite a stretch now, with only Birthright having broken the pattern. Oh, well: At least Picard is a sufficiently multi-faceted character to carry it. Here, we focus on Picard's archaeology background. First, he is tempted by the ghost of the past, The Road Not Taken, by Professor Galen's offer. Then his feelings of guilt at Galen's death push him to pursue his old mentor's research to a point questioned by both Riker and Troi - though when his pursuit begins yielding results, all questions end.

Riker: He's actually doing his job as First Officer by pointing out to the captain that he is neglecting one of his commitments to chase after leads that are hardly promising, and it's good to see Riker questioning Picard - something we haven't seen in far too long. Even before the search begins yielding results, however, Riker stands by his captain, executing his own orders in his usual, professional fashion. 

Dr. Crusher: Her friendship with Picard is very visible in this episode. While Riker and Troi are initially skeptical, Crusher is supportive throughout. She is his sounding board when he mulls over Galen's offer, and she listens to his thoughts on that offer without pushing him in either one direction or the other. Once the pieces of the DNA puzzle begin falling into place, she becomes Picard's primary support, assisting him in quietly assembling the solution while the representatives of the other races exchange loud threats mere feet away from them.

Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians: Oh, my! The episode basically delivers exactly what you'd expect of each of the three races. The Klingon is violent but straightforward; the Cardassian is crafty and deceitful; the Romulan watches the proceedings from stealth, waiting to make himself known at the most advantageous time. I could have wished for a more interesting portrayal, with something unexpected from at least one of the three, but it would likely have been difficult to have managed this within the strict 45-minute time limit. As it stands, each race is effectively represented, though I do rather wish the representatives had been recurring characters. The ending scene, in particular, would have been far more meaningful if the Romulan had been Tomalak - or even Sela. 


THOUGHTS

While Birthright offered up a two-parter that should have been a single episode, The Chase may be an example of the opposite. This episode gives us an intriguing and complex story, one with many good ideas... But one which feels underdeveloped and muted by the need to cram all those ideas into a single, 45 minute package.

Which is not to say that The Chase is a bad episode. Though it feels constricted and underdeveloped, it is still a highly entertaining piece. The base concept may be nonsense drawn from Chariots of the Gods, but it does fit well within the Star Trek universe. The ending, when we discover the ultimate secret, is a perfect reflection of the idealism of classic Trek, as instead of a superweapon, something far simpler and - to Picard, at least - far more meaningful is uncovered.

The episode gets a boost from the casting of Norman Lloyd as Galen. A veteran actor instantly recognizable to most viewers of the early '90's, Lloyd has a presence that makes Galen memorable despite very limited screentime. His scenes with Picard are among the episode's highlights, and enough of a relationship is drawn in those few scenes to make Picard's determination through the rest of the episode convincing.

In the end, I liked The Chase well enough. But the obviously limited budget hampers it. The action only leaves the Enterprise at the end, for a particularly cheap-looking planet set, and is otherwise restricted to standing sets. The limited running time keeps many of the story's ideas from being developed to their full potential. As a two-parter, with a few extra stops and some added complications, this might have been something memorable. As it stands, it's enjoyable but - as I said - muted. Easy to watch, but not one that lives in the memory.


Overall Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: Lessons
Next Episode: Frame of Mind


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6-16, 6-17. Birthright.

Tokath (Alan Scarfe), commandant
of a most unusual prison camp.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is docked at Deep Space 9 so that Picard can coordinate with the Bajorans on rebuilding their aqueduct system.  Worf is enjoying a meal on the station when he receives a visitor: Jaglom Shrek (James Cromwell), a Yiridian information broker. Jaglom claims that Worf's father is alive, held with other Klingons in a secret Romulan prison camp. Worf is reluctant to believe this, as surrender casts a Klingon's line into dishonor for three generations, but he decides he must follow up. What he discovers at the camp is very different than what he was led to expect.

Meanwhile, an accident in Engineering provides Data with a vision of his own father, Dr. Noonian Soong. It is a flash of images, one that puzzles him when he can find no sign of malfunction. Determined to pursue it further, Data unlocks a dormant message from his creator - one that promises to expand the limits of his reality!

CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Looks almost physically pained at the prospect of spending days, if not weeks, poring over the finer points of Bajoran aqueducts. I can't say that I blame him for that. This makes him receptive to Data interrupting him, and the advice he gives is sound: Rather than drawing on cultures that are not his own to assign someone else's meaning to his vision, he advises Data to pursue it himself to find his own meaning for it.

Worf: One area in which Birthright excels is as a showcase for Michael Dorn's Worf, who has developed into a genuinely complex figure by this point in the series. He goes through a number of shifts across the two episodes. He first reacts as a man receiving news he doesn't want might, with denial. Then he is a Klingon warrior in the best sense, determined to face the truth whatever it may be. Then he is a defiant prisoner, determined to escape the Romulan camp. Finally, he takes on the role of teacher, demonstrating through himself the best virtues of the heritage denied to the Klingon children of the camp. Dorn is good throughout, and particularly good in the scenes opposite the Klingon youth. It may not be an excellent episode, but it is a fine showing for Worf.

Data: The glimpse of Soong in his vision is something he can't ignore. Data begins by falling back on his usual pattern: Questioning his friends to search for the ways they would apply meaning to his situation. This is hardly unusual, but then he does something that shows his development across the series: After his talk with Picard, he is actually able to act on the advice of applying his own meaning to the experience.

Geordi: Acts as a supportive friend to Data, listening as Data talks about his vision and helping him to recreate the accident to unlock it. Just as a good friend might, he is willing to go along to a point - but he tells Data that if the risks become too great, he will stop the experiment.

Dr. Bashir: Crossing over from Deep Space 9, Bashir plays a key role in Part One's Data subplot. Refreshingly, he gets more than just a cameo - He has a full supporting role, allowing TNG viewers to get a sense of his character. This is the Bashir of DS9's first season, but fortunately writer Brannon Braga steers clear of the character's early boorishness. Instead, the script focuses on his enthusiasm for new discoveries. He is amazed at the more mundane aspects of Data, recognizing the complexity that went into such things as growing hair and incorporating breathing and a pulse into the maintenance of his functions. Bashir recognizes how much work went into making Data appear so human, and recognizes that this is part of what makes the android such a marvel - not his computing capabilities, which many machines can match, but those traits that allow him to actually live as a man instead of just a machine.

THOUGHTS

Birthright is a two-parter that shouldn't be. There is certainly good material in it. Themes include generational conflict, prejudice, and the importance of connecting young people with their culture. Worthy topics, and there are many fine scenes and some excellent performances.  All that's missing is a story that justifies a 90 minute running time. Separate the Data subplot into an episode of its own, and the Worf storyline would play fine in 45 minutes. In fact, it would play better.

Part One just about works, the pace given a considerable boost by the strength of the Data subplot. Brannon Braga scripts the first episode, and he juggles the two plot strands well enough to keep either from ever feeling diminished by the other. There's a sense of unity, the strands brushing against each other at just the right moment for Data's personal quest to push Worf to act.

Rene Echavarria's script for Part Two, however, narrows its focus strictly to Worf's story. There are interesting scenes, as Worf pushes the young Klingons born in the compound to connect with their heritage. But it becomes very clear, very fast, that this episode has been left to fill 45 minutes of episode with maybe 25 minutes' worth of material. This shows - most particularly in a leaden and unconvincing romance subplot involving Worf and the half-Klingon daughter of Tokath (Alan Scarfe), the Romulan who runs the camp.

Scarfe is particularly good as Tokath.  He is in conflict with Worf throughout the episode, but he is never treated as a villain.  He is instead consistently shown to be a sincere and well-meaning man, one who has given up a promising career to protect his Klingon charges.  The climax is particularly good in its treatment of both Worf and Tokath, and allows the episode to end on a strong note.

Ultimately, this gets a mixed response from me. It has some good material, and Part One works quite well. But as a full piece, Birthright is just stretched a bit too thin. The main plot would have been better-served by being confined to a single episode, perhaps with the Data material allowed an episode of its own.

Worth viewing on the strength of several of the individual parts... It's just a shame those parts never form a very satisfying whole.

Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: Tapestry
Next Episode: Starship Mine


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6-13. Aquiel.

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.

Previous Episode: Ship in a Bottle
Next Episode: Face of the Enemy


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5-07, 5-08. Unification

Picard and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) are caught in a Romulan trap.

THE PLOT

Picard is given a top-secret mission from Starfleet Command. Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has disappeared from Vulcan, only to reappear on Romulus! Starfleet suspects Spock has defected. Spock's dying father, Sarek (Mark Lenard), thinks otherwise. Sarek suggests Spock has made a rendezvous with Pardek (Malachi Throne), a former Romulan senator who has been a voice for peace and moderation within the Empire. Picard calls in a favor owed by the Klingons to secure a cloaked ship for travel across the Neutral Zone.

Picard is able to find Spock fairly quickly and discovers that Sarek was right. Spock has not defected to Romulus, but is instead working with Senator Pardek and a Romulan underground movement. Through Pardek, Spock is trying to appeal to a new Romulan proconsul to work toward the reunification of Vulcan and Romulus. But when the proconsul appears a bit too eager to help Spock achieve this dream, Picard suspects they have all walked into a carefully-laid trap!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: It is now difficult to remember how weakly Picard came across in the early days of the series. Between the ever-improving character writing and the performance of Patrick Stewart, Picard has grown from the tedious grumpy old windbag of early Season One into a genuinely complex and formidable figure. We get to see multiple sides to him, even within the first twenty minutes. He is gentle and compassionate in dealing with Sarek, even as he keeps firmly on topic in getting what information the old Vulcan can give.  In contrst, he is all tough shrewdness in dealing with the Klingons, selecting his words with care to convey just enough of a threat to remind Gowron of how much he owes to Picard and Starfleet. These two scenes, coming one right after another, are masterful demonstrations of Picard's skill as a commander, and Patrick Stewart seems to revel in them.

Spock: Leonard Nimoy's special guest appearance as Spock was heavily advertised at the time... which probably left a lot of viewers of Part One frustrated, as Spock barely appears in that episode. Part Two makes up for that, giving him a very large role that respects the character's place within the franchise without marginalizing Picard in any way. Spock's interactions with Picard are vastly different than his interactions with Kirk. There, Spock was usually the voice of caution. Here, Picard fulfills that function, cautioning Spock about the likelihood of a trap and trying to make the Vulcan slow down and think. Effectively, Picard becomes Spock's version of Mr. Spock - adding to the humor of Spock's observation of how "analytical and detached" Picard is. It's actually a very interesting partnership, and I'm actively sorry that Spock wasn't seen again in TNG - either in the show or the movies.

Riker: The "B" plot puts Riker back in command of the Enterprise. It's a role that continues to suit him, which only reinforces how insupportable it is for him not to be transferring to his own command by this point. We do see some of the differences between Riker and Picard in command. Where Picard tends to be analytical, Riker is more instinctive. His handling of the Ferengi in the smugglers' bar is certainly more Kirk than Picard, as he does not hesitate to get physical and intimidating in order to get the information he needs.

Sela: Denise Crosby makes a return appearance as the half-Romulan Sela. I think she's better here than she was in Redemption, with her stiffness well-suited to a character whose only real emotion is thinly suppressed anger. Still, save for a single reference to Redemption, there's nothing here to really use the character's backstory. You could easily replace her with Tomalak for the same effect - and I'd actually have preferred that, as the thought of Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, and Andreas Katsulas all acting up a storm is genuinely irresistible. Ah, well. Crosby's not bad here, and I actually think it's a shame that the character never recurs again.

Sarek: Mark Lenard only has a single scene, but it's a powerful one. Sarek is reduced to near-incoherence, lying on his bed, shaking and moaning. We are told this has become an almost constant state, save for brief periods of lucidity. Picard's presence manages to spark one of these lucid moments, but it's not the old Sarek - not even the declined Sarek of the late Season Three episode - that we see. It's an old man who can, in his most lucid moments, remember being that man. A double torture, and he's unable to even cling to that for more than a couple of minutes. Lenard's performance is striking, and it's difficult to shake that this ignoble agony is the ultimate fate of such a dignified figure.  This, coupled with the standout performances of both Patrick Stewart and Mark Lenard, make this scene by far the best of the entire 2-parter.


THOUGHTS

This highly touted 2-parter opens with a dedication to the recently-passed Gene Roddenberry. Though The Game was the first episode broadcast after his death, this is an infinitely more appropriate story for the dedication. It's a big episode: the return of both Spock and Sarek, and the final appearance (chronologically, at least) of the latter character.

It's a story that pulls together many different running threads of the series. We touch on the Klingons again, and learn that Gowron is rewriting Klingon history to eliminate the Federation's role in his succession. We see more of Romulan society, with a culture that seems modeled on life in East Berlin before the Wall came down. There are informants everywhere, and Picard and Data are initially taken for being secret police. Meanwhile, we see that Romulan society isn't monolithic, with a growing group of younger Romulans clearly yearning for something more. In this way, both the Romulan and Klingon strands that have run through this series since Season Three are developed further.

It's interesting that this 2-parter has different writers for each episode. Jeri Taylor, the credited writer for Part One, is generally weak on plot but good with character scenes (at least, when not allowed to dip into soap opera melodrama). Part One is fairly light on plot, just putting some story pieces into play around several strong character scenes. Most of the story happens in Part Two - which is written by Michael Piller, arguably the series' best writer in pure plot terms. By tailoring the nature of each part to the strengths of the two writers, both are allowed to do good work. Even better, both halves fit together as a single piece. I watched both parts in one sitting, essentially as a "movie," and it played quite well.

Quite well, but not perfectly. It is clear that there isn't quite enough story to support 90 minutes. Part One has a blatant scene of padding in which Picard attempts to sleep on the Klingon ship, but is unable to relax because of Data's presence. The scene gropes about for laughs that it utterly fails to find, and the only reason for it to have remained in the episode was to stretch the running time. In Part Two, we get yet more padding, with endless scenes involving a four-armed piano player in a smugglers' bar that's basically a poor man's Mos Eisley. Despite all the padding, the resolution feels rushed, the defeat of the Romulans' trap accomplished all too easily.  It's not an awful ending, but neither is it entirely satisfying.

Despite the padding and the flaws, Unification is still a strong episode. Not only is it wonderful to see Leonard Nimoy's Spock again in a way that ties the full franchise more closely together, this is a good story, one that is mostly well-told. It's not the great episode that I'd have liked from TNG's sole Spock story. But it's still well above the series' average.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: The Game

Next Episode: A Matter of Time

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Thoughts on Season Four

The Enterprise at the edge of Federation space in The Nth
Degree, a good episode in the midst of a good season.

After two seasons that varied between pathetic and wildly uneven, TNG finally hit its stride in Season Three. The hit rate improved, with even the failed episodes mostly legitimately trying to be about something. The acting was better across the board. And the season cliffhanger, as Picard was converted into "Locutus of Borg," still stands as an iconic television moment.

Season Four's biggest challenge was to maintain that level of improvement. I'm happy to say it succeeds, and in some ways even improves on Season Three's successes.


THEMATIC CONSISTENCY

One thing that really stands out about Season Four of TNG is its thematic consistency. Even Season Three wasn't, as a unit, really about anything. It was simply 26 episodes that were of generally higher quality than what came before. In Season Four, whether deliberately or by happy accident, the writing staff have assembled a season with a unifying theme. This is best expressed by the title of the season's second episode:

Family.

Picard finds himself again after the Borg incident by returning home to his brother and his nephew. One episode later, Data is confronted with both his father and his brother. The crew meet Tasha Yar's sister, and they try with near-desperation to see something of their fallen comrade in a girl whose loyalties lie elsewhere. Riker is presented with a future in which he is a father, and he takes to it surprisingly well.

Though the tight focus on family broadens by the midseason, the sense of the Enterprise crew as a family unto themselves remains. Even the characters who don't and will never quite work are inhabited by actors who are now fully comfortable playing those parts. Interactions no longer feel forced. These are people who know each other and support each other without even having to think about it.

The family theme comes up in a very big way with Worf. Family reunites him with his human parents and shows us a glimpse of the pain he feels at his discommendation. Reunion presents him with a son and develops his discommendation further, as he agonizes over allowing his son to share a name that is tarnished. Finally, Redemption reunites him with his brother and allows him to reclaim his name - but at the cost of seeing just how poor a fit he is with Klingon society. He cannot be truly part of the Klingon family, so the start of Season Five sees him returning to the one place he does belong: the Enterprise.

Worf leaves the Enterprise to support his Klingon family.

ONGOING QUALITY

Season Four begins with a high-quality run. Of the first eight episodes, only two are weak and even those are legitimate efforts. The quality grows more variable thereafter, but good and very good episodes continue to come with regularity. It's a lot easier to wade through a couple of bad episodes when you know there's liable to be something like The Wounded or First Contact around the next corner.

By this point, the production staff knew how to make the show well. Production values are high, occasionally even cinematic, with only a few stray moments of cheapness. The days when this series looked even more dated than the 1960s original are far in the past by this point.

This is matched by attempts to stretch the series' narrative format. Family gives us an entirely character-centered episode, with no external threat at all. First Contact provides an episode that is largely from the point of view of the alien society Picard is contacting. The Romulan and Klingon episodes show a further push toward arc storytelling, with all the Romulan and Klingon stories of the past two years intertwined and built on. Reunion is a rich episode because it builds so effectively on Sins of the Father and The Emissary. Redemption actively assumes familiarity with Reunion and Sins of the Father, making few concessions to new viewers even as it folds in the events of Yesterday's Enterprise and The Mind's Eye.

It's not at the level that would later be employed by Deep Space 9, but the series is showing enough confidence to assume viewers can follow running arcs... and indeed, that they are interested in doing so.

Data comes face-to-face with his creator. It doesn't go well.

SEASON FIVE WISHLIST

For Season Four, I mainly just wanted to see the improved quality of Season Three maintained. Now that they've done that, I would like to see the show go a bit farther.

The series continues to be uneven, with great episodes sitting side-by-side with mediocre and even terrible ones. With 26 episodes per season, that's never going to be entirely resolved, but I do think there's room for improvement. The series has shown its facility for building and intertwining strong running arcs. Though I don't expect TNG to develop this as far as Deep Space 9 does, I do think that more focus on these arcs would diminish the number of bland filler episodes.


IN CONCLUSION

Another strong season in a series that, at its start, appeared to be a poor imitation of its classic predecessor. It's hard to say whether I would rate Season Three or Season Four as the stronger. This season had more thematic cohesion, and I think it had a slightly better hit rate... but Season Three's highs felt a bit higher; and, of course, it had a stronger finale.

In any case, this was a second very good TNG season in a row. Going into the series' fifth year, it's clear that these characters still have plenty of life in them - something that seemed inconceivable way back in Season One!

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4-26, 5-01. Redemption

The crew honors Lt. Worf.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise returns to the Klingon homeworld, so that Picard can complete his role as arbiter of the Klingon succession by installing Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) as the new chancellor. No sooner has the ship entered Klingon space than Gowron hails them. Officially, his ship is acting as an escort. Unofficially, he needs to meet with Picard to discuss a grave matter: The threat of a Klingon Civil War!

Duras' sisters, Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynth Walsh) are challenging Gowron's claim to leadership by presenting their own candidate: Toral (J. D. Cullum), the illegitimate son of Duras. Toral is a mere boy, a clear puppet of the Duras Sisters - but he does provide them with an opportunity to split the council, turning Duras' old supporters against Gowron.

This is also an opportunity for Worf.  With Picard's blessing, he bands together with his brother Kurn (Tony Todd) to reclaim their family honor by fighting alongside Gowron. But as the conflict escalates, Worf finds that his service to the Empire may not be compatible with his role as a Starfleet officer...

CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: His ongoing support of Worf is apparent from the very beginning. The episode opens with Picard urging Worf to challenge his discommendation. With Duras dead and Gowron being confirmed as Chancellor, Picard feels the time has come. Worf's discommendation "is a lie," Picard tells him, "and lies must be challenged." Despite his personal feelings, Picard will not use Federation resources to interfere in Klingon matters. He does declassify the Federation information about the Khitomer massacre to help Worf, by making it available to anyone - but he also tells Worf that this is as far as he's willing to go.

Worf: Worf has become a sound strategist. When his brother urges action against the entire council, Worf refuses because such an act would be dishonorable. But he doesn't insist on immediately supporting Gowron. "We will wait," he tells Kurn, "until he feels the grasp of his enemies around his throat. Then we will offer him our support - and the price will be the restoration of our family name!" It's a plan that Kurn cannot ignore, both because Worf's goal is one he shares and because Worf's plan actually has a chance of succeeding.

Data: Part Two introduces a subplot in which Data takes command of one of the vessels in Picard's fleet. This gives the android his first proper command of a starship. Naturally, he must contend with a First Officer who does not believe an android can possibly be suited to command. It goes without saying that Data proves himself. That he does so by stepping outside the strict dictates of rules and regulations, applying his own judgment to a critical situation, is a good plot turn. It emphasizes the flipside of In Theory. While that episode showed that Data was too much of a machine to carry on a relationship with a human (at least, with an emotionally needy one), this episode reminds us that Data is still much more than just a machine.

Sela: Denise Crosby's official introduction as the half-Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar comes here, though she was previously heard as the voice of a figure in the shadows in The Mind's Eye. Though Crosby's acting limitations remain, the coldly guarded Sela's characterization is better-crafted to disguise her weaknesses than Tasha was. She gets a strong introduction, too, being shown to be tactically shrewd when she evades Picard's trap. Though her gambit fails, she judges Picard and his responses perfectly. She simply makes the mistake of underestimating Data, selecting him as the weak link in Picard's fleet when he's actually probably the strongest.

Klingons/Romulans: Seasons Three and Four have steadily built up the Klingon and Romulan arcs, and have gradually intertwined them. This two-parter pays off all that setup. We previously saw the Romulans attempt to drive a wedge between the Federation and the Klingons through a political assassination. Now they use their influence over the Duras clan to create a full-blown civil war. With Starfleet too "noble" to interfere, even to support their own interests, the Romulans are able to build up the Duras clan to the point that Gowron seems all but defeated. We also see yet again the corruption at the heart of the Klingon Empire, with the Klingon council effectively a tool of the Duras sisters.


THOUGHTS

Season Four comes to an end, and Season Five begins, with this 2-parter. Though it follows the precedent established by The Best of Both Worlds, ending the season on a cliffhanger, it is a vastly different episode. The Best of Both Worlds' first episode was a steady march to doom, with its second part forcing the characters (particularly Riker) havng to find it in themselves to face a massive external threat. This 2-parter is about corruption from within an empire: Civil Wars and alliances.

It lacks the spectacle of Best of Both Worlds, and it doesn't have anything as iconic as "Locutus of Borg." But in its way, this is almost as good - particularly the first part.

One major difference between these 2-parters lies in their episode structure. The previous two-parter was very much a single narrative, divided at the moment of greatest drama. Redemption instead is structured so that each part is very much its own unit, with its own focused narrative within the broader story of the Klingon Civil War.

The first part centers on Worf's struggle to regain his family name, with the emerging Klingon Civil War as a backdrop that makes this possible. This part features a lot of political maneuvering. The Duras Sisters introduce Duras' illegitimate son in order to split the council and lay claim to the throne. Worf presses his brother to enlist Klingon squadrons to support Gowron... but not until Gowron's moment of greatest weakness, to push for the restoration of their family name. Picard attempts to walk a tightrope between supporting Gowron in his role of arbiter and maintaining neutrality in his role of Starfleet captain.

There are some terrific scenes here, particularly on the Klingon homeworld. The best scene is probably the confrontation between Picard and the Duras sisters. They extend an invitation to him, attempting to influence his decision as arbiter. Picard observes their efforts for a few minutes, then shuts them down by giving a bluntly accurate assessment of their actions. He ends by telling them they have manipulated the situation "like a Romulan," simultaneously insulting them as Klingons and telling them that he knows whose interests they are truly serving. A terrific scene, brilliantly performed by Patrick Stewart.

Part 2 picks up some time after the events of Part 1. The war has been raging for weeks, and Gowron is losing. The focus here is more on Picard than Worf, as he attempts to block the Romulans from supplying the Duras forces. The emotional center is the revelation of Sela, with Picard having to wrestle with the thought that he (in another reality) was responsible for her. Worf's material is more of a subplot, with his scenes focusing on how his values differ from that of the other Klingons around him - all to set up his inevitable return to Enterprise.

It's all good drama, but there is a sense that the second part is stretched out a bit. The subplot involving Data's recalcitrant First Officer feels forced, and the entire arc of this subplot is extremely predictable. Meanwhile, the civil war is resolved too quickly and neatly to entirely convince. Civil wars are historically bloody affairs, rarely over quickly and never neatly. This is an inevitable consequence of a series that insists on resolving its plots within 1 - 2 episodes: Stories that cry out for additional development are cut off before there's time to do anything but hint at their potential complexity.

Still, if it falls short of full marks, this is nonetheless another very good piece. With Sela and the Duras Sisters still out there, and with Worf having chosen Enterprise and Starfleet over his Klingon heritage, there are any number of new dramatic possibilities for the series - and that can't be anything but good for a series that has now firmly found its voice.


Rating for Part 1: 10/10.
Rating for Part 2: 8/10.

Overall Rating: 9/10.


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