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| Riker joins up with a band of mercenaries! |
After Picard vanishes while studying some ruins, the Enterprise crew goes to the bar where he was last seen. Their hopes of finding their captain are harshly dashed when Yranac (Alan Altshuld), a Yridian criminal, informs them that Picard was vaporized.
Riker is determined that the captain's killers be found and brought to justice. He uses information from Yranac to guide the ship to Barradas III, home to another archaeological site. He leads an Away Team to the surface, only to come under attack by a group of mercenaries. Riker is captured and taken aboard the mercenaries' ship, where the crew argues with their leader, the vicious Arctus Baran (Richard Lynch) over his fate.
"Kill him," a familiar voice grits out. Riker turns to see the mercenary who's spoken. The man Baran knows as "Galen," but who is actually Captain Jean-Luc Picard!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Goes undercover with the mercenaries to learn why they are stealing Romulan artifacts. He sizes up Baran very quickly and determines that his best course is to undermine the other man's command. He doesn't have to work too hard at this. He basically just acts as aggressive as possible while observing how poor Baran's decisions are at every turn. Well before the end of Part One, it's clear that the crew would happily remove their captain, if only something could be done to nullify the threat of death he holds over all of them.
Riker: When he learns that Picard was apparently killed by mercenaries, he is angry and is determined to remain so until he brings his captain's killers to justice. He focuses his rage in a very controlled way, intimidating Yranac into providing information. Once he's captured, he uses his wits to gradually gain Baran's confidence, making himself the mercenary captain's ally against Picard/Galen. This allows Jonathan Frakes to do trot out his "Riker the Rogue Pirate" persona, indulging in some entertaining ham - which he knows to swiftly drop every time Riker stops playing that part and has a chance to talk privately with Picard about their situation.
Data: With both Picard and Riker on the merecenary ship, Data spends the bulk of this two-parter in command of the Enterprise. We have seen Data in command before, most notably in Redemption II, so it's little surprise that he does a good job. He gives his orders with confidence. He does not shut out alternative viewpoints - though when Worf gets a bit too free in voicing his own point of view in public, Data does have a private word with him, a situation which he also handles admirably.
Worf: The subplot with Worf showing irritation at Data's command decisions is a minor one, but worth noting both as a counterpoint to the belligerent mercenary crew and as a look at Worf's character. As Security Officer, he has always felt free to voice aggressive opinions, even when they have contradicted those of Picard and Riker. When Data makes him acting First Officer, he has trouble adjusting his attitude. When he grumbles once too often about Data holding back action instead of doing something/anything, the android finally talks to him about it. To his credit, Worf apologizes and amends his behavior in the remainder of the episode.
Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Robin Curtis, Saavik in Star Trek III and IV, is Tallera, Baran's Romulan second-in-command. I found Curtis rather poor as Saavik, but I actually quite like her as Tallera. She is clearly more intelligent than Baran, and the crew clearly recognizes this. Narik (Cameron Thor) tells Picard early in Part Two that if he hopes to have the crew's support in a mutiny against Baran, then he will need Tallera on his side. She is intrigued by Picard's self possessed attitude and his willingness to stand up to Baran, giving him room to hope to turn her to his side.
THOUGHTS
Gambit wastes no time in getting its story started. We open with the crew already searching for Picard, leaving the crew - and us - playing "catch up" with the plot for more than half of Part One. It's only when Picard finally has a chance to talk privately with Riker that we can more or less rest assured that we know what is going on.
This is well-done, with writer Naren Shankar doing a good job of using our (and Riker's) ignorance of the full situation to allow the story a lot of momentum from the teaser on. The initial part of the story is given focus and coherence by Riker's anger, and the rapid movement from Picard's apparent death to Riker's determination to avenge it to the first action scene and Riker's capture maintains a brisk pace that doesn't let up until the story's true focus is revealed.
This isn't a particularly significant story. Compared to last season's Chain of Command, or even Season Five's Unification, this is simply a fun action caper. But it's a pretty good action caper, with writers Shankar and Ronald D. Moore maintaining a tight pace through some fairly clever plot turns. After a couple of less than compelling episodes, this is just what was needed to show that TNG can still deliver good entertainment.
The script draws some enjoyable parallels between the Enterprise crew and the mercenary crew, with Baran's command-through-intimidation contrasted with Picard's instinctive ability to command through force of personality. Baran's clashes with Picard are contrasted with Data's issues with Worf. Baran, a man not fit to lead, can only growl, snap, and threaten. Data, who has commanded a ship in the past and who has observed three very different but effective commanders (Picard, Riker, and Jellico), knows to simply take Worf aside and reason with him.
The story itself could easily have been condensed to a single episode, though writers Shankar and Moore deserve credit for keeping the action well-paced and absorbing through most of the 90 minutes. Gambit does suffer from a weak ending, however. Once all the plot twists have played out, the final turn in the end confrontation feels weak and labored by comparison with the rest. The result is an enjoyable caper with a limp conclusion. The ending doesn't negate the fun of what went before, but it does leave it feeling a bit unraveled.
Thankfully, there's a very amusing tag that allows us to go to credits with a smile and possibly a laugh. A reminder that while the two episodes preceding the ending were insubstatial, they were at least good fun.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
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