7-24. Preemptive Strike.

Ro Laren is assigned to infiltrate the Maquis.

THE PLOT

The demilitarized zone along the Cardassian border has been destabilized by the Maquis, the resistance group formed by Federation colonists whose worlds were repatriated to Cardassia. With many in the Federation sympathizing with the Maquis, the group has grown in numbers and in access to Starfleet weaponry.  This has in turn renewed tensions with the Cardassians.

Picard turns to Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) to infiltrate the Maquis. Her background, both as a Bajoran and as a Starfleet outsider, will make her apparent defection convincing. Ro has little difficulty ingratiating herself with the Maquis cell run by the kindly Macias (John Franklyn-Robbins). She volunteers to use her knowledge of the Enterprise's security systems to steal medical supplies, and the success of that mission gains the confidence of the entire group.

Which is when Picard proposes the next step. A convoy will be planted as a target, with intelligence spread to indicate that the ships are transporting components of biogenic weapons. The potential threat will be too great for the Maquis to send anything less than its full force to combat - allowing the Enterprise to cripple the resistance group in a single devastating blow!

It's a good plan, and with Ro's help its success is all but assured. But Ro is uncertain about betraying a group whose motives strike so close to home...

CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: When he sees Ro overwhelmed by the effusive welcome of the full command staff, he sends an official call for her to report to the bridge to allow her an escape. He understands that while she wants to catch up with everyone, she prefers to do so "one at a time." He is very proud of her achievements, and acts as something a father figure for her in the episode - an authority figure who has nurtured her, and whom she desperately doesn't want to disappoint. He remains fiercely dedicated to duty, however.  When he sees Ro beginning to question her assignment, he does not hesitate to outline the damage to her career if she sabotages the mission.

Lt. Ro: This is very much Ro's episode, as she agrees to infiltrate the Maquis. It's easy enough to predict the story trajectory, as she bonds with the members of the Maquis cell and starts to question her assignment. It is a combination of Michelle Forbes' very good performance with writer Rene Echevarria's understanding of the character that makes the drama work as well as it does. Her final choice is extremely easy to anticipate, but her progression to that point is so convincingly played that the journey remains absorbing.

Cardassians/Maquis: As was the case in DS9's two-parter, The Maquis, we see that the Cardassians are deliberately and repeatedly violating their agreement to respect the rights of the Federation colonists. Gul Evek (Richard Poe) insists to Picard that the Cardassian government is doing all it can to stop these abuses, but his assurances ring hollow - though, to the episode's credit, so do Picard's return assurances about Starfleet's efforts to curtail the Maquis. The episode does stack the deck, in that the Maquis we meet are all clearly decent people - It would be more interesting, and ring truer, if there were a few criminals or fanatics in the mix. Still, the script makes clear that both Cardassia and Starfleet have elements who are sympathetic to the supposedly unauthorized actions of individuals, which lends some enjoyable moral complexity to the situation.

THOUGHTS

Season Seven's otherwise mediocre Journey's End concluded with Picard negotiating a settlement that allowed Federation colonists to remain in territory that a peace treaty had ceded to the Cardassians - a far from ideal solution, but the best of the bad options available. The direct fallout was saved for Deep Space 9. That series' very good 2-parter, The Maquis, showed the escalation of tensions on those colony worlds, leading to the formation of the Maquis.

Preemptive Strike bounces the Maquis thread back to TNG, as Picard attempts to deal with a Maquis that is on the rise, gaining strength and growing ever more aggressive in its fight against the Cardassians. As if conscious of picking up where Deep Space 9 left off, writer Rene Echevarria creates an episode that feels closer in tone to DS9 than to TNG - and in so doing, he manages to deliver something that I haven't seen since Lower Decks and didn't expect to see again until All Good Things: A genuinely good episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

As a writer, Echevarria has always been particularly good at character material, and he plays to that strength here. He opens the episode by focusing on Ro's return to the Enterprise, signaling that this story will center on her. He allows a couple of scenes to lay out the "big picture" issues of the Maquis conflict: The Cardassian abuses of Federation citizens, the tensions flaring up between Cardassia and Starfleet over the rise of the Maquis, and the fear that it might spark a new war between the two powers. This shows us why Picard is so focused on stopping characters we will soon see as sympathetic, while at the same time acknowledging the Cardassians' bad behavior and the legitimacy of many of the colonists' grievances.

Then the episode returns to Ro and stays almost exclusively with her until the (very effective) tag with Picard and Riker. Ro is a character particularly well-suited to the Maquis arc. Her background as a one-time prisoner of the Cardassians, someone who watched as they murdered her father, makes it a given that she sympathizes with the Maquis. Her rising Starfleet career and her respect and gratitude for Picard leave her torn. But Ro has always been led mainly by her emotions. She sees people who have genuinely been oppressed, much as her own people once were, and quickly finds herself balking at the thought of stopping them from fighting back. Through this filter, the focus becomes the decision she must make - a decision that's all but a foregone conclusion, but that still feels earned by the end.

It's not quite as sharp as the very best Trek stories: There isn't much negative shown about the Maquis; the viewer doesn't directly see that their actions might harm innocents.  Sure, Admiral Nechayev (Natalija Nogulich) talks in vague terms about their increased aggression and worries about a new war - but nothing is demonstrated to show a dark side to what is, in effect, a terrorist group. This keeps the story from being as morally complex as it should be, though it is still far above-average for the series in this respect.

Mostly, I'm just relieved to be able to give a good review to TNG's final single-part episode. After the creative death march that has been the last third of the season, it's good to remember the kind of storytelling the series is capable of.

Overall Rating: 8/10.

6-10, 6-11. Chain of Command.

Gul Madred (David Warner):
"Tell me how many lights you see."

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is called to the border of Cardassian space for a meeting with Vice Admiral Nechayev (Natalija Nogulich). Picard is the only one at the meeting, where he is given surprising news: He is being relieved of command!

Picard's replacement is Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox), a career officer who was one of the key players in the peace agreement with the Cardassians. Starfleet believes that, with the Cardassians engaging in sabre-rattling near the border, Jellico's presence on the Enterprise might persuade them to avoid taking action that could lead to war. Jellico's first priority is to turn Picard's Enterprise upside-down, making it battle ready as quickly as possible with no regard whatsoever to the opinions of the crew - or of Picard, for that matter.

Meanwhile, Picard is teamed with Worf and Dr. Crusher for a secret mission. Starfleet believes the Cardassians may be developing a metagenic weapon on the planet Celtris III. If true, this devastating biological weapon would be capable of decimating all life on any planet on which it is deployed, making even the strongest world an easy target for conquest. Picard and his two crewmates secure transport to Celtris III and begin their infiltration.

But they are walking right into a Cardassian trap - one which will test the limits of Picard's strength and even his sanity!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: After sitting in the background of the previous couple of episodes, he is thrust back into the foreground. Part Two particularly tests Picard's limits in a way that's never been done before. The Borg assimilated Picard, overwhelming his mind in a way he couldn't resist. What's done to him as a prisoner of the Cardassians might be even more frightening. He is broken down, piece by piece, worn to exhaustion not only by torture, but by Gul Madred's calculated denial of regular sleep and even by his rare moments of kindness. Patrick Stewart's performance in this 2-parter ranks among his very best, and the script scores by allowing him moments of strength even when he's at his most helpless.

Riker: Observing Riker's work, Jellico remarks that it's "no wonder he's still a first officer." He finds Riker to be arrogant and willful, and Riker has much the same opinion of Jellico. Riker resists Jellico's changes every step of the way, though he never crosses the line into direct insubordination. While viewers are encouraged to side with Riker, it is to the script's credit that both men have reasonable points of view, and that each man is pretty much dead on when he reveals his assessment of the other's flaws.

Cardassians: "Cardassians are like timber wolves... bold in large numbers, cautious by themselves." This is Jellico's assessment and, while simplistic, it's not without merit. The new captain's opening gambit in his talks is a transparent ploy to gain dominance, yet it's clear that it initially unsettles the Cardassians. Only when Picard's failed raid provides a clear advantage do the Cardassians begin to gain confidence in their dealings with Jellico.

Gul Madred: The most dominant Cardassian presence by far is that of Gul Madred (David Warner), Picard's interrogator. A lot of Cardassian backstory is revealed in the scenes between Picard and Madred. The Cardassians were once a peaceful and spiritual people, but their world was impoverished and the people starved in the thousands. When the military took over, they instituted agricultural programs and developed new resources, eliminating starvation - though the military expansion also resulted in enormous casualties.

Pompous Space Bureaucrat of the Week: Admiral Jellico (Ronny Cox) is a very different style of commander than Picard. He isn't particularly interested in hearing various viewpoints and weighing them before making a decision. He makes a decision and expects his department heads to "get it done." And done now.  Most scripts would turn him into a martinet and make it obvious that he is utterly in the wrong. One of the many excellent features of this teleplay is that Jellico doesn't come across in this kind of 2-dimensional way. When he is giving instructions to Geordi about his expectations for Engineering, for example, Geordi is appalled at the level of overhaul the new captain wants. But Data confirms that every one of Jellico's demands is "an attainable goal." His expectations are high and his manner brusque, but he is neither unreasonable nor incompetent. He simply has a style of command that's 180 degrees removed from the one both the crew and viewers are used to.


THOUGHTS

Chain of Command is the series' first really "big" 2-parter since Redemption, and its best 2-parter since The Best of Both Worlds. It may well be the equal of the Borg two-parter, and it does this not by trying to match it as an action piece but instead by tightening the focus onto character.

The story is framed around two tests of wills among two pairs of strong characters. The first is between Riker and Jellico, basically a battle over how the Enterprise should be run. Both characters have legitimate points of view, with Riker ultimately on the losing side of this contest simply because "captain" (let alone admiral) outranks "commander." It would have been a dramaticaly easy choice to portray Jellico as out of his depth, with Riker needing to save the ship at the climax. Instead, Jellico's plan is sound, and the nod to Riker's dignity is given by having his participation be key to its success.

The other test of wills, the one that's the centerpiece of the two-parter, is the one between PIcard and Gul Madred. We only barely meet Madred in Part One, his introduction providing the cliffhanger. Even that brief scene is enough for him to make an impression as he rattles off Picard's official credentials while circling the captain like a vulture over its prey. He is an immediately imposing figure, and David Warner is superb in the role. He is intelligent and cultured, but also absolutely ruthless in his insistence of total control. The contest between him and Picard is ultimately not about information. He stops asking for defense information very quickly, and instead breaks Picard down with one seemingly innocuous directive:

"Tell me how many lights you see."

In a way that's similar to Babylon 5's excellent Intersections in Real Time, these scenes portray interrogation and torture without showing anything explicit, anything that would push the bounds of broadcast television standards. But it's as disturbing as those bounds would allow, with Patrick Stewart superb in conveying the pain of the Cardassian torture device, and the tactics of Madred's torture based on genuine torture tactics - right down to the denial of sleep and the temptations of food and water. It's stunning stuff, particularly for a series that rarely delves into anything genuinely disturbing.

The episode ends with a scene that's low-key on the surface. Picard and Troi have a conversation, both using normal tones of voice. Picard makes a matter-of-fact statement in a matter-of-fact tone. It's the context that makes this one of the series' best tags. In context, Picard's admission to Troi is one of the most chilling end lines in the entire, enormous Star Trek franchise.


Overall Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: The Quality of Life
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