6-14. Face of the Enemy.

Troi wakes into a nightmare: Life as a Romulan!

THE PLOT

Counselor Troi wakes up in an unfamiliar room on an unfamiliar ship. She stumbles to the mirror, attempting to activate the lights all the way. The sight that greets her at the mirror is a shock. The face staring out at her is herself... as a Romulan!

Troi has been abducted from a conference by Subcommander N'Vek (Scott MacDonald), a member of Ambassador Spock's Romulan dissident movement. N'Vek has had her surgically altered to appear Romulan, and has furnished her with an identity as a member of the Tal Shiar. A Romulan intelligence organization dedicated to ensuring the loyalty of all Romulans, the Tal Shiar has wide discretion in its operations and is almost universally feared... giving Troi exactly the leverage she needs to force the shrewd Commander Toreth (Carolyn Seymour) to go along with a mission.

If successful, this mission could pave the way for mass Romulan defections, lending power and momentum to the dissidents. But if Troi's masquerade is discovered, then she is certain to be executed immediately!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Spends much of the episode dealing with Stefan DeSeve (Barry Lynch), a former Starfleet ensign who defected to Romulus in his youth. Now DeSeve has returned with a message from Ambassador Spock. Picard isn't sure whether to trust him, until the man tells him both why he went to Romulus and why he left. In his youth, the moral certainty of the Romulans appealed to him, but as he has gotten older, he has come to question the value of such absolute certainty. Picard recognizes the appeal of the first statement and the wisdom of the second - so from that point on, he largely accepts DeSeve at his word and stops treating him as a traitor and prisoner.

Troi: A Troi-centric episode that works, both as an episode and as a vehicle for Counselor Troi. A big reason why this is such a good episode for her is that she is thrust into a situation where she absolutely cannot be her usual, touchy-feely self. As a member of the Tal Shiar, she must behave as someone who assumes total control as her due. She cannot show empathy or doubt, and can only express remorse at loss of life behind closed doors. Marina Sirtis gives possibly her series-best performance here, managing to inhabit this ruthless facade without losing the sense for the audience that we are watching "our" Troi at all times.

Romulans: "Clarity of purpose is a more ambiguous matter than I had thought in my youth." One element of this episode that is mined to superb effect is the contrast between the two significant Romulan guest characters, Commander Toreth and Subcommander N'Vek. Toreth abhors the police state tactics of the Tal Shiar, which claimed the life of her grandfather. She is dedicated to her crew's welfare, and is appalled by the murders of the freighter crew. N'Vek is cold, calculating, and absolutely ruthless - The freighter crew is killed by his choice, because he cannot allow loose ends to endanger his mission. In the normal course of events, you would expect N'Vek to be the villain and Toreth the ally... Yet this episode traps Troi in a situation in which the ruthless N'Vek is the only person she can trust, and the more thoughtful Toreth is a deadly enemy. This adds texture to the interactions among these three characters, and gives added dramatic heft to an already strong episode.


THOUGHTS

Face of the Enemy is a very good episode, one that nicely washes away the bitter taste of Aquiel. It is effectively a Cold War thriller, a genre with which Star Trek has often had success. Naren Shankar's script is tightly structured, with no dead space in the episode at all. It gets a further boost by the direction of Gabrielle Beaumont, who makes good use of the lower light levels of the Romulan spaceship sets as well as the tighter quarters to create an effective, claustrophobic atmosphere.

The episode does an immediately good job of making the viewer feel trapped with Troi in this situation. We open as Troi wakes and discovers what has happened to her. We then spend the entire first Act of the show with her, receiving only as much information as she does. It's a superb first Act, giving neither Troi nor the viewer much chance to gain a solid footing. N'Vek gives some quick exposition before bundling Troi onto the bridge for her first confrontation with Commander Toreth, pushing Troi to face down this imposing woman with no real information at all.

Only after this first encounter, as Troi fully assumes her role, do we finally cut to the Enterprise. This is a good fifteen minutes in, a full third of the way through the episode, before we get any point of view other than Troi's. Nor is this wasted material, either, as Picard gets hints of the bigger picture that are denied to Troi (such as the involvement of Spock's dissidents).  From there, the two strands dovetail nicely.  The finale is also well-handled, with both Picard and Troi improvising to think their way out of a seemingly impossible situation.

All in all, a splendid episode. If Aquiel felt like a series going through the motions to fill airtime, then this feels like a show at the height of its power to hold the audience in its grip.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

5-05. Disaster

Data gets zapped.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is struck by a quantum filament, which leaves the ship crippled, its power reserves unstable. Reading a hull breach, automated protocols go into effect. Bulkheads seal off the bridge from the rest of the ship, leaving those on the bridge trapped. With the ranking bridge officer dead, Troi finds herself in command, with O'Brien as her sole support and Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) all too clearly seeing her as unsuited to command.

As Troi, O'Brien, and Ensign Ro begin re-establishing power to the bridge, we look in our other regulars. Picard is caught in a turbo-lift with three children - a nightmare scenario for him. Dr. Crusher and Geordi are stuck in a cargo bay, where a plasma fire threatens to set off chemicals being stored there. Riker and Data attempt to get through to Engineering using a service shaft. But their route is blocked by an electrical charge, leading them to drastic action. And in Ten-Forward, which Worf has converted into a makeshift sickbay, the pregnant Keiko (Rosalind Chao) begins going into labor...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Has somehow been roped into giving a tour of the ship to the winners of the school science fair (I sense a certain meddling counsellor's hand in this). He is clearly uncomfortable, and neither he nor the children seem likely to be having a very good time. Once the disaster hits, he switches into command mode. By simply being himself, he is able to not only save himself and the children, but also bond with them. Very standard stuff, which Patrick Stewart nevertheless manages to bring to life by really hitting on the pain Picard is in as a result of a broken ankle.

Riker: Once again shows confidence and pragmatism in a command role. When Data reports that the bridge has been sealed off, he decides that they must assume that the bridge crew are dead, then makes gaining control of Engineering into their top priority. With no access to sickbay, he puts Worf in charge of converting Ten-Forward into a temporary sickbay, then takes Data to help get him to Engineering.

Troi: When O'Brien points out that she is the senior officer on the bridge, she gets an utter deer-in-the-headlights look, then instantly starts fishing for suggestions from O'Brien and Ro. O'Brien is supportive of Troi's command, while Ro clearly feels that the counsellor is not qualified. Troi gradually gains confidence in listening to suggestions from both O'Brien and Ro while making the final decision about which path to take. Still, she admits at the end that she doesn't feel "cut out for command."

Data: His body is able to absorb a considerable charge without being irreparably damaged. His head is also detachable, so that he is able to assist Riker even after sustaining damage.

O'Brien: Cut off from Keiko and with no way to check on her safety, O'Brien focuses on his job. He retains a level head throughout, dealing with each new task as it comes. Still, he refuses to believe that the people in the drive section (which would include Keiko) could be dead, and in an episode of a less optimistic show, O'Brien's insistence on inaction might have had a very different outcome.

Ensign Ro: The episode presents her as the inverse of O'Brien, reacting more emotionally and more driven to do something (anything) to act on the situation. In one respect, though, she's actually more like Riker. Faced with a situation in which the entire ship might be destroyed, she makes the same pragmatic call: That they simply can't assume that people in the other part of the ship are still alive. She would rather save the saucer section and the hundreds of lives that go along with it, rather than risk having the entire ship destroyed. The episode largely presents her in a negative light. Still, as Troi notes, Ro "easily could have been right," and the character does stay on the right side of the line of insubordination. She may dislike Troi being in command, but she sticks to voicing her opinions, obeying Troi's orders when they are given.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

When we open the episode with two never-before-seen crew members on the bridge, I knew it was only a matter of time before at least one of them would be dog food. The script's need to put Troi in charge means that the honor goes to Lt. Monroe (Jana Marie Hupp), who has the con when the disaster strikes. We see just enough of Monroe to register that she's very competent. After the first impact, she manages to warn the ship to brace for a second impact. Then her station literally blows up in her face, killing her and sending us into the credits.


THOUGHTS

Star Trek tackles the Irwin Allen disaster movie formula - with surprisingly enjoyable results!

Disaster is a very well-made episode. The cast are divided into different parts of the ship, and each area has its own distinctive look and lighting scheme. By giving each character set and each situation its own feel, it makes cutting between all these strands flow much better than might have been the case. Director Gabrielle Beaumont deserves credit for handling the visual aspect of the show so well.

The Irwin Allen formula is pretty well adhered to. A disaster affects different but connected characters, grouped in different but connected settings. As they attempt to deal with their situations, crises continue to pile up. There's even a bit with a character giving birth near the climax! If you were to mix in a few celebrity cameos and up the on-screen body count, this would fit right in with Allen's 1970's output.

One benefit of this formula is that it not only is easily adapted to a large ensemble - It's literally made for this purpose. As a result, this is a rare TNG episode in which every regular gets something to do. It's nice to see every member of the cast get some good scenes within the same episode, and the performances are strong across the board.

That's not to say I'd want episodes like this one to become a regular fixture of any of the Star Trek series. One time is fun; more than that would quickly become lazy and tedious. But as a one-off, I found Disaster to be a very enjoyable change of pace for the show.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

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