[7.5/10] This is the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that has felt like good ol’ TNG to me. It’s hard to put my finger on why -- sometimes these things are just the nebulous accumulation of a lot of small but beneficial choices -- but if I had to boil it down to one idea, it would be a pretty simple one: humanity. Everything and everyone in this episode feels a little more human, a little more fallible and relatable, then we saw in the first eight episodes of the series.
That begins with Picard. As I’ve said in prior write-ups, he comes off like something of a supercilious dick in a lot of these early episodes. He’s short with his subordinates and while soliciting input, often tends to bulldoze his way through to the right answer. But here, he starts out being lauded as the “Hero of Maxia” and the venerated inventor of “The Picard Maneuver,” but closes the episode as a man out of sorts, unsure of himself, and under the influence of enemies who’ve gotten him to question his very being.
This is not the unflappable champion who can remain steady regardless of the gravity of the threat in front of him; it’s a beleaguered veteran suffering from PTSD and occasionally lapsing into madness. That makes Picard more interesting, seeing not only the ways in which he can be bested and undermined by his adversaries, but how he can have regrets, how he can relive harrowing moments and not be at ease, how he can just feel under the weather in a way that humanizes him. Seeing our dear captain riddled with pathos and disrupted like this makes him closer to us, rather than leaving him the disapproving head honcho on high.
He also shows more warmth to his colleagues. In particular, the scene with him and Dr. Crusher where she encourages him to rest and asks him to talk about his traumatic memories from his time on the Stargazer has the ring of their later playfulness, trust, and rapport. Likewise, Picard’s admission to Riker that he feels he can’t even trust his own thoughts anymore is a startling one, revealing some vulnerability to his first officer for the first time. Patrick Stewart gets to show off more of his range in these scenes, and the character-building all around pays off.
That said, the episode still has to grapple with some significant flaws that have hindered the show in prior outings. For one, the pacing and structure of the mystery continues to be a weak point. While it’s not as bad as “Lonely Among Us”, it’s pretty plain to the audience from the beginning that the Ferengi are responsible for Picard’s malady. The episode spends a long time spinning its wheels on this before the Enterprise crew figures it out, without much dramatic tension.
Still, at least when the Enterprise recovers a log from the Stargazer that seems to contain a confession of wrongdoing from a young Picard, nobody believes it, and we don’t have to fumfer around over an obvious ruse for very long. But we do have to deal with the contrivance of the Ferengi hiding his “thought-maker” in Picard’s old footlocker, that Picard never bothered to poke through once it was brought on board. This episode relies on a number of things going the Ferengi’s way to work as long as it does, and at times it strains credulity (as do the less than convincing special effects in Picard’s flashbacks, but that’s more forgivable for 1987).
And yet, the episode also humanizes the Ferengi. This is a big improvement on “The Last Outpost” in terms of their depiction, toning down some of their worst qualities and showing shades and variety among them. In particular, there’s something compelling about Bok as an antagonist here, eschewing not only profit, but giving up a lifetime’s worth of funds to pull of this scheme with one central motivation -- revenge.
It’s a familiar one in Star Trek, with shades of Wrath of Khan here. Bok’s plot to not only defeat the man who killed his son at the Battle of Maxia, but to dismantle his mind, discredit him, and force him to destroy his own crew in the guise of reliving that battle, is a psychologically cruel but clever plot. There’s some fuzziness as to how the “thought-maker” works exactly, but I like that there’s a Ferengi who isn’t motivated by venal interests, who cares about family enough to basically give up everything to avenge his son, and who has a scheme complex and poetic enough to give him shading as an antagonist.
Even so, I might like Riker’s interactions with Kazago, Bok’s second in command, even better. He initially seems to be a more stereotypical Ferengi, scoffing at Bok for engaging in this unprofitable venture and scornign the prospect of peace with the Federation. But as the episode progresses, he and Riker see eye-to-eye, with Kazago taking Riker’s warnings and information about what’s happening to heart, even as he pushes back on them.
There’s something that feels true to the frayed edges of diplomacy when he hails the Enterprise in the middle of Picard’s mental episode, seemingly to tell Riker that the Ferengi want no involvement with this “internal Federation matter” but also letting him know that Bok has been relieved of his command and even wishing Riker good luck, a tacit acknowledgment of wrongdoing by his countryman with a hint of detente.
WIth that acknowledgement, Riker gets through to his captain, encouraging him to blast the device that’s caused his headaches and mental break. Sure enough, Picard does, with a characteristically Star Trek speech about the futility of revenge in the process, narrowly avoiding completing Bok’s scheme in all his psychological ardor and returning to the ship.
In the process, we see him reminiscing about his days as a younger man, wrestling with the ghosts of his past, and falling under the influence of a hostile force that weakens him considerably. We see Riker called to command, Dr. Crusher forced to order the captain around, and caricatured enemies treated as equally complex beings with more layers than snarling evil. That all feels much more like the version of The Next Generation I know and love than prior outings, and gives me hopes that future outings can fly as high and feel as human.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-01-15T23:39:01Z
[7.5/10] This is the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that has felt like good ol’ TNG to me. It’s hard to put my finger on why -- sometimes these things are just the nebulous accumulation of a lot of small but beneficial choices -- but if I had to boil it down to one idea, it would be a pretty simple one: humanity. Everything and everyone in this episode feels a little more human, a little more fallible and relatable, then we saw in the first eight episodes of the series.
That begins with Picard. As I’ve said in prior write-ups, he comes off like something of a supercilious dick in a lot of these early episodes. He’s short with his subordinates and while soliciting input, often tends to bulldoze his way through to the right answer. But here, he starts out being lauded as the “Hero of Maxia” and the venerated inventor of “The Picard Maneuver,” but closes the episode as a man out of sorts, unsure of himself, and under the influence of enemies who’ve gotten him to question his very being.
This is not the unflappable champion who can remain steady regardless of the gravity of the threat in front of him; it’s a beleaguered veteran suffering from PTSD and occasionally lapsing into madness. That makes Picard more interesting, seeing not only the ways in which he can be bested and undermined by his adversaries, but how he can have regrets, how he can relive harrowing moments and not be at ease, how he can just feel under the weather in a way that humanizes him. Seeing our dear captain riddled with pathos and disrupted like this makes him closer to us, rather than leaving him the disapproving head honcho on high.
He also shows more warmth to his colleagues. In particular, the scene with him and Dr. Crusher where she encourages him to rest and asks him to talk about his traumatic memories from his time on the Stargazer has the ring of their later playfulness, trust, and rapport. Likewise, Picard’s admission to Riker that he feels he can’t even trust his own thoughts anymore is a startling one, revealing some vulnerability to his first officer for the first time. Patrick Stewart gets to show off more of his range in these scenes, and the character-building all around pays off.
That said, the episode still has to grapple with some significant flaws that have hindered the show in prior outings. For one, the pacing and structure of the mystery continues to be a weak point. While it’s not as bad as “Lonely Among Us”, it’s pretty plain to the audience from the beginning that the Ferengi are responsible for Picard’s malady. The episode spends a long time spinning its wheels on this before the Enterprise crew figures it out, without much dramatic tension.
Still, at least when the Enterprise recovers a log from the Stargazer that seems to contain a confession of wrongdoing from a young Picard, nobody believes it, and we don’t have to fumfer around over an obvious ruse for very long. But we do have to deal with the contrivance of the Ferengi hiding his “thought-maker” in Picard’s old footlocker, that Picard never bothered to poke through once it was brought on board. This episode relies on a number of things going the Ferengi’s way to work as long as it does, and at times it strains credulity (as do the less than convincing special effects in Picard’s flashbacks, but that’s more forgivable for 1987).
And yet, the episode also humanizes the Ferengi. This is a big improvement on “The Last Outpost” in terms of their depiction, toning down some of their worst qualities and showing shades and variety among them. In particular, there’s something compelling about Bok as an antagonist here, eschewing not only profit, but giving up a lifetime’s worth of funds to pull of this scheme with one central motivation -- revenge.
It’s a familiar one in Star Trek, with shades of Wrath of Khan here. Bok’s plot to not only defeat the man who killed his son at the Battle of Maxia, but to dismantle his mind, discredit him, and force him to destroy his own crew in the guise of reliving that battle, is a psychologically cruel but clever plot. There’s some fuzziness as to how the “thought-maker” works exactly, but I like that there’s a Ferengi who isn’t motivated by venal interests, who cares about family enough to basically give up everything to avenge his son, and who has a scheme complex and poetic enough to give him shading as an antagonist.
Even so, I might like Riker’s interactions with Kazago, Bok’s second in command, even better. He initially seems to be a more stereotypical Ferengi, scoffing at Bok for engaging in this unprofitable venture and scornign the prospect of peace with the Federation. But as the episode progresses, he and Riker see eye-to-eye, with Kazago taking Riker’s warnings and information about what’s happening to heart, even as he pushes back on them.
There’s something that feels true to the frayed edges of diplomacy when he hails the Enterprise in the middle of Picard’s mental episode, seemingly to tell Riker that the Ferengi want no involvement with this “internal Federation matter” but also letting him know that Bok has been relieved of his command and even wishing Riker good luck, a tacit acknowledgment of wrongdoing by his countryman with a hint of detente.
WIth that acknowledgement, Riker gets through to his captain, encouraging him to blast the device that’s caused his headaches and mental break. Sure enough, Picard does, with a characteristically Star Trek speech about the futility of revenge in the process, narrowly avoiding completing Bok’s scheme in all his psychological ardor and returning to the ship.
In the process, we see him reminiscing about his days as a younger man, wrestling with the ghosts of his past, and falling under the influence of a hostile force that weakens him considerably. We see Riker called to command, Dr. Crusher forced to order the captain around, and caricatured enemies treated as equally complex beings with more layers than snarling evil. That all feels much more like the version of The Next Generation I know and love than prior outings, and gives me hopes that future outings can fly as high and feel as human.