7-9. Force of Nature.

Two alien scientists deliver a dire warning.

THE PLOT

The Fleming, a Federation medical transport, has disappeared in the Hekaras Corridor. The corridor is the only safe path to travel through this region of space, which is characterized by intense tetryon fields. The Fleming isn't the only ship to experience issues. During the search, the Enterprise encounters a Ferengi vessel whose warp drive is offline and whose systems are crippled.

After Picard assists with repairs, DaiMon Prak (Lee Arenberg), the Ferengi captain, admits that they observed the Fleming traveling through the corridor and provides Picard with the ship's heading. But the Enterprise arrives too late. All that remains of the Fleming is debris.

Just then, the Enterprise is struck by a verteron pulse, taking the ship's warp drive and shields offline... at which point Hekaran scientists Rabal (Michael Corbett) and Serova (Margaret Reed) beam onto the ship with a potentially devastating revelation!

CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Though he is not pleased at the tactics of the Hekaran scientists, their claims are serious enough that he immediately agrees to let Data review their findings. He states that he considers it part of his job to keep an open mind, even when he's annoyed. When the rift opens near the end of the episode, complicating the ship's rescue mission, there are two obvious options - both of them bad. He tells his officers that he wants them to find him a third option, and trusts Geordi and Data to do just that.

Data: Has allowed his cat, Spot, such a degree of free reign that Geordi finds the cat unmanageable and "out of control." We see that whatever difficulties Data may face in training Spot, the cat has certainly trained Data, who feeds and plays with the animal on cue. In the "A" plot, it is Data who figures out how to complete the rescue mission without using warp engines in the rift, calculating what to do to the exact second.

Geordi: His engineering acumen gives him enough knowledge to improvise when Data's rescue plan gets thrown an unexpected curveball. His basic decency is such that, despite Serova displaying no sympathetic traits whatever, he still feels guilt when she is driven to rash action.

THOUGHTS

Force of Nature is TNG's environmentalist episode. It's the one in which warp drive turns out to be damaging the fabric of the universe. I'd love to say that this idea has potential. The truth is, it was a lousy idea from the start. With warp drive so integral a part of the Star Trek franchise, it was inevitable that the limits put on warp travel in this episode would never be enforceable across multiple series. The only possible result was what happened: The limit was paid lip service to a very few times before being utterly ignored thereafter.

Which... Fair enough. It's an episode that exists entirely in isolation, because it cannot affect the wider franchise. Fine. After all, Ethics paralyzed Worf, ended with us being told that he had a long, slow road ahead of him, and then saw him 100% recovered by the next episode with the incident never even mentioned again.  None of which prevented it from being a worthy episode in its own right. 

7-4, 7-5. Gambit.

Riker joins up with a band of mercenaries!

THE PLOT

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.

Previous Episode: Interface
Next Episode: Phantasms 


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6-22. Suspicions.

An experiment sends a shuttle flying into a sun!

Dr. Crusher is impressed by the research of Dr. Reyga (Peter Slutsker), a Ferengi scientist who insists that he has developed a metaphasic shield that will allow a shuttlecraft to fly safely into a star. The Federation's scientific community is skeptical, both because attempts to develop such shielding have always ended in failure and because Reyga is a Ferengi. But Crusher believes the data, and arranges for a team of scientists from different races to come to the Enterprise to see Reyga's work firsthand.

A shuttlecraft is equipped with Reyga's shield technology, and a manned test flight is arranged. Jo'Bril (James Horan), a Takaran scientist, volunteers to pilot the shuttle into a star. The test appears to be going perfectly, everything happening according to Reyga's calculations. Then there is a sudden rise in baryon particles. Jo'Bril begins to collapse, and by the time the Enterprise is able to retrieve him, it is too late for Crusher to save his life.

The autopsy cannot reveal a firm cause of death, and no malfunction can be found in either the shuttlecraft controls or Reyga's technology. Then Reyga turns up dead, apparently from suicide. Crusher cannot accept that he might have killed himself... but her insistence on investigating may put her entire career in jeopardy!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: As someone who has sent crew members on missions that have ended in death, he understands Crusher's feelings when Jo'Bril dies in a test she made possible. He doesn't attempt to comfort her, as such, knowing that consolation at this point is not possible. He is very protective of her throughout, even when she takes action that violates Starfleet ethics, and he does make a keen observation about her situation: "You're the loneliest person in the world right now. No one can say anything, no one can do anything that will help, and you think that it will never go away. And you're right, it won't. But you can get used to it. I know it doesn't feel like that now, but you can."

Dr. Crusher: The best Crusher spotlight episode since Season Four's Remember Me. Crusher is taken out of her comfort zone. First she acts as a "scientific ambassador," taking it on herself to arrange for the scientists to see Reyga's research in hopes of promoting an exchange of ideas. She really doesn't do badly at this, managing to direct the other scientists' skepticism in such a way that it leads to a demonstration of the technology instead of an outright dismissal. But when things go awry, she is put into another unfamiliar role - that of detective. The one investigative tool she is comfortable with, the autopsy, is specifically denied her, and she is forced to search for the truth without that data. Gates McFadden gives a solid performance, and is particularly good in the scenes that see Crusher feeling alone, out of her depth, and defeated.

Guinan: Seen for the first time since Rascals. Even though her role is small, restricted to the bookends surrounding the story, it's still a welcome return. I'm actually impressed at Whoopi Goldberg's ongoing commitment to a role on a syndicated television series during a period when her film career was at its height. Guinan's interactions with Crusher are a lot of fun. She's just the right sympathetic ear to allow the doctor to vent her frustrations, and knows exactly when to listen and exactly when to push Crusher to action. 


THOUGHTS

The second murder mystery of the season, Suspicions is an enormous step up from the leaden Aquiel. The script, by stalwarts Joe Menosky and Naren Shankar, gets right key things the earlier episode got so wrong.

First, the mystery. Whereas Aquiel suffered from a thin mystery that tried to evoke '40's film noir but came closer to '80's Scooby Doo, this mystery is passably intriguing. New revelations and complications come at a steady pace. There's a twist ending, one that admittedly isn't hard to see coming. But unlike Aquiel, the ending works - in part because that character has a convincing motive, and in part because the script lays groundwork early in the episode to make the revelation halfway believable when it comes. In short, this time the dog didn't do it.

Even more critically, this script grounds itself in the character of one of the regulars. The earlier episode may have been from Geordi's viewpoint, but he wasn't specifically used or examined as a character. Other than his (entirely unconvincing) feelings for Aquiel, nothing was at stake for him. He was simply the designated "character of the week," in a script that could have been rewritten to fit any of the other male regulars with virtually no changes. 

Suspicions feels specifically tailored to Dr. Crusher. The mystery is suited to her character, as is the central challenge: She is certain that an autopsy will solve the crime, and the tool of an autopsy on the Ferengi scientist is what she's specifically denied. There are personal stakes. We open the episode learning that events have put her career in jeopardy. As she continues to push for answers, even when Riker urges her to stop, she makes the situation worse and worse for herself. Picard tells her early in the episode that she is alone, and that ends up being exactly right at the close, her investigation isolating her more and more until she finally is truly alone. Effective structure, and very strong use of character.

Viewed in the context of Aquiel, this episode is a reminder that the murder mystery is a valid genre for Star Trek.  As an episode in its own right, it's well-paced and a lot of fun to watch. Not one of the great episodes, but certainly one I'd consider a good one.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Frame of Mind
Next Episode: Rightful Heir


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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.