A Collection of Episode Reviews Originally Posted on the MI6Forums Between May 05 and June 17, 2010
"The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2"
Usually when I watch this episode I feel it loses momentum in the third act. This time I enjoyed it much more. It really is just as well written as part one, with some prime classic stuff. I think the main problem is that while it's brilliant to order the Borg to "sleep", the fact that the ship for no reason auto-destructs afterwards is too easy. The Enterprise should've destroyed them. Picard should've been on the bridge, Borg implants still hanging from his face, and ordered "fire!" But I guess Rick wouldn't go for it. I always lol at Shelby's line about Riker having his pick of assignment, and hoping she'd serve under him again -- by 2374 she's Captain of the Sutherland and he's still in the same post.
"Family"
Surprisingly Rick did go for this, after much cajoling apparently. I like all of it, although it does feel somewhat light. I guess its just odd seeing these elements of emotion and relationship after three years of them being virtually ignored. The Picard plot is the strongest, Worf's is amusing at best, and Wesley's is just... there. It's really too bad we never saw Roberre again.
"Brothers"
I guess cause they couldn't fit Data into the previous episode. I like how for a show that resisted doing serial storytelling, all this episode has is the middle part in a serial. Lore returns, Data meets his father, Lore steals the emotion chip and escapes. There's no resolution, it's just a way of saying "Lore's still out there, with an emotion chip meant for Data". But it was still a good episode. First written by Rick Berman, eh? Hey, trevanian, you seem to have all the backstage gossip -- who did the rewrite? I can't believe Berman's this good on his own.
"Suddenly Human"
The whole episode I couldn't help but think that Picard's harumphing about what the Talarians did to Jeremiah is so wrong, and THERE'S WORF RIGHT THERE. Still, a well written and performed episode.
"Remember Me"
The best parts of this episode is the showcase for Gates McFadden, the humour, and the character interactions. The worst is the "use the Force" Wesley subplot with the Traveler. I just didn't buy that. And it was a little heavy on the technobabble.
"Legacy"
I think its hilarious that Tasha gets more character development in this episode, three years after her death, than she ever did when she was on the show. I did really like Ishara Yar. They should've brought her on as a fulltime crewmember. Especially if they'd kept her in that jumpsuit.
"Reunion"
The next part in TNG's Klingon saga has a lot going on. First appearances of Alexander and ghawran (and the vor'cha attack cruiser), and the deaths of K'Ehleyr and DuraS. Big moments for Worf and Picard. I really like how we never find out who actually poisoned qImpeq -- we assume it was DuraS because we don't like him, but it just as easily could've been ghawran. But we're stuck with ghawran because Worf murders DuraS. All in all a great episode with lots of consequences; building on previous storylines and offering possibilities for more. In some ways I wish K'Ehleyr hadn't been killed -- Suzie Plakson was undeniably sexy and charismatic in the role -- but it served an integral and needed story purpose.
"Future Imperfect"
This is a fun episode at times, but of course its all such a cop-out. I actually thought the fake-out revelation if it being a Romulan plot was a better idea than the eventual revelation of the kid. It's a good turn for Frakes as Riker, but its all meaningless; and a similar story was done much better in sixth season (I think) in "Frame of Mind".
"Final Mission"
Hurray! Wesley's gone! This episode has some great production values and great scenes but ultimately I didn't like that the way Wesley solves the problem was meaningless tech nonsense and that we never learned the secrets of the intelligence they were combating. However Wheaton and Stewart do some marvelous work here and it ends up being one of the best Wesley episodes so far -- right when he's finally gone.
"The Loss"
I actually quite liked this episode. It finally gave some much needed three-dimensionality to Troi. I liked seeing her actually counsel people, I liked the scene between her and Guinan -- essentially addressing the overlap in characters, I liked the stuff with her and Riker keeping that relationship alive, all in all it was a great way to show her personality. I heard they toyed with taking her empathy away permanently, but I'm glad they didn't. I think the writers were finally beginning to figure out how to use it at this point, and without it she's kind've a bitch. I also really liked the pseudo-science in this episode, with the cosmic string and the flatlanders.
Two things hit home for me in this episode. One was "wow, Wesley's gone." I didn't so much miss him as just find it... odd that he wasn't there. I wasn't as overjoyed to get rid of him as I thought I'd be at this point. He'd become a welcome character. I did like that the same replacement officer was seen in "Final Mission" and "The Loss" -- Ensign Allenby. She seemed cute and smart and I was annoyed to learn she does not appear any further. I wish they'd had a regular recurring extra in that seat, like an O'Brien: not a regular, but at least not some random new person each week. The other item that hit home was that I have grown to really like the TNG characters. I feel I know and understand them. I don't find them boring or bland. They're not as good as the TOS characters, but I feel by this point attached to them like I have always been to the TOS characters.
"Data's Day"
This was just a great episode. Great premise, to show things from Data's point of view, great character development all around with good scenes with Beverly and Geordi, and of course O'Brien's marriage to Keiko. Also the Romulan subplot was cool and well done. Just overall a well written, memorable, great episode.
So far I just love how season four has gone.
"The Wounded"
Such a prime episode! Cardassians, Miles O'Brien, Nebula-class ships, Ben Maxwell, basically a mild Heart of Darkness Trek-style. Just great. My only quibble is how easily O'Brien gets over his racism against the Cardies. Then again, it probably took the writers a lot of fighting to even allow him to be racist as long as he was -- and it had to be O'Brien, they might've initially wanted it to be a regular and that was flat out of the question. Still, I really like his "it's not you I hate, but what you made me become" speech. Just all around a great episode.
"Devil's Due"
Speaking of "feels like classic Trek", here's an episode based on an unproduced 70s script. Honestly, it just feels out of place and backwards in TNG as its progressed to this point. There are huge plot holes and facepalm moments that might've glossed over fine in TOS, but seem asinine here. And the entire "seduce Picard" subplot just doesn't work -- cause he's NOT Kirk! It was fun, but fluff, and ultimately says nothing.
"Clues"
This is a strongly written, well presented, well produced episode that suffers only because for all intents and purposes it might as well have never happened. But I think this is the only time TNG pulls that, unlike VOY which hit reset on over a dozen episodes.
"First Contact"
A straight up no holds barred awesome episode. First contact with an alien species from the alien POV. Just prime. Tons of great moments, too, from the alien prime minister and Picard to Riker having to bone the alien nurse to escape. Just a great episode.
"Galaxy's Child"
A good follow-up to "Booby Trap", certainly a natural idea to want to meet the real Leah Brahms. Would've been maybe neat to see her a third time to round it out, maybe in seventh season have her come back having divorced her husband and wanting Geordi, but Geordi's moved on and doesn't want her as a switch. But instead we got a mention in an anti-time future in the finale. Meanwhile, the CGI in this episode is acceptable until it moves, then its hilarious.
"Night Terrors"
A terrible, paceless, train wreck of an episode. The idea of going crazy without REM sleep was cool, but the whole thing was pulled off way too poorly. The whole thing felt like something from TNG Season 1 or 2, not Season 4. The first real clunker of the season, for sure. Also, I don't like how we see Miles and Keiko get into a fight, but we don't see them reconcile later. For some reason that bothers me.
"Identity Crisis"
Another pretty terrible episode. I found myself asking "what's the point?", "what's it about?" So Geordi turns into an alien and then turns back. What's the theme? What are we addressing? Did our characters learn anything? Nope, just a bad sci-fi plot. Very much a kind of episode I associate with VOY.
"The Nth Degree"
Now THIS was a great episode! I love TNG Barclay! Really fun and cool, reminded me both of 2001 with the runaway computer and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (TOS) with the human evolving past humanity. A great story and great acting performances.
"Qpid"
Best episode ever? No. But certainly one of the greats. Sometimes its good to just let loose and have fun, and this show definitely shows why. I love that when the episode starts you have no idea its going to end up where it eventually does. Some of the best Q/Picard humour of the series, and definitely some classic Worf moments of course. This episode cracks me up every time I see it.
"The Drumhead"
Barring any episode of TNG I haven't seen (I have a feeling "Chain of Command" will do it, for example), this is my favourite episode. I've seen it many times before now and its always great. For some reason I'm always a big fan of McCarthyism/witch hunts/freedom vs. security style stories. Of course, this episode has a whole ton of similarities to the first season BSG episode "Litmus". Just one is obviously done the BSG way, and one the TNG way. While I found Adama's solution to the witch hunt to be more emotionally satisfying, I think I admire Picard's more -- I'm a sucker for Patrick Stewart delivering well written moralizing speeches about civil rights and such. One minor quabble I had when I watched it this time was that Picard identifies Satie and her methods as a problem too quickly, I think it would've made better impact if he went along with her a bit longer; since now it appears like he's jumping on her too soon, as if he expected this to happen.
"Half a Life"
Wow! A Troi's mom episode that didn't make me want to kill myself (no pun intended). I really liked Majel Roddenberry's performance here, and also really liked the guest appearance from David Ogden Stiers as Timicin. Truly a touching performance. And of course there's Michelle Forbes' minor appearance that is so strong it won her the role of Ensign Ro next season.
"The Host"
So, it introduces the Trill but the way they are depicted is vastly different from the DS9 version -- and not just in appearance. I think the best thing in this episode was getting to know Beverly more as a character, seeing her as a person rather than just a doctor or a mother. I think the best scene of the episode was the one in Ten Forward between Troi and Beverly where they discuss the men in their life. Very good character development in that scene.
"The Mind's Eye"
So this was a fun little Manchurian Candidate knock-off done fairly well for the 50 some minutes they had to do it in. I've always liked sneaky Romulan plots and it all worked quite well here. I've actually been impressed with the way TNG has built up this Klingon/Romulan intrigue plot in the background of Season 4 -- not impressed compared to a show like DS9 or BSG or whatever, but impressed for TNG. Also, I liked the unnerving ending that implies that Geordi will not automatically be all right after this incident (even though he's of course fine by next week).
"In Theory"
A really fun "Data tries Dating" episode that only fails because its A plot and B plot never really meet up -- in fact, the A plot (about the Ent-D investigating a "dark matter nebula" <--- not a thing) suddenly becomes a Picard show at the last minute in a very surprising and uncharacteristic turn. Meanwhile, the Data storyline is much better done than the sci-fi one and was a great time to watch. Also, the Enterprise looks SO cool when only lit with its own lights!!
"Redemption"
A cracking season finale bringing the ongoing Klingon plot to a head. I really like the writing and performances here, great stuff all around. The true ending of the episode feels like the scene where Worf leaves the ship -- but they had to add the Denise Crosby ending so there would be a suitable cliffhanger. Of course, it doesn't live up to last seasons' cliffhanger, but its still very exciting in its own right -- something that couldn't be said of the woefully mediocre season 5 cliffhanger.
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