Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 10 (Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2)

It occurred to me while watching Star Trek: Picard how easy it would have been for it not to have happened.  The details vary, but it would seem that Patrick Stewart didn’t want to return for a fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  If he had left the show, Picard would have remained assimilated or would have been killed.  If this happened, I might be reviewing an episode of Star Trek: Riker right now.  Of course, I’m not sure how accurate the details are.  I suppose it would make for a great alternative history cameo or something.

Anyway, this review is about the final episode of the first season of Star Trek: Picard.  The androids are facing the threat of being annihilated by Romulans.  Rather than listen to Picard’s grand speech or hope that Starfleet will arrive in time, the androids are building an antenna to call the super AI interdimensional beings for help.  What’s scary is that this help will come in the form of killing all organic life in the galaxy.

There’s a lot of deception and trickery on both sides, but Picard is eventually able to stop the annihilators from crossing over into our universe.  Of course, it is at the last second.  (You know, I’m not really even sure what it would look like not to have it at the last second.)  But the universe is saved and we’ll get a second season.

This isn’t to say that the episode doesn’t pull at the heart strings.  Picard gets to meet Data one last time and Data has a rather emotional request for Picard.  You might be wondering how this is possible.  To be accurate, it’s the copy of Data’s memories that were copied from B4.  Either way, it’s a more appropriate sendoff for the character.

One thing I find curious is that the Romulans really did have a huge fleet.  This raises several points.  First, why send so many ships to wipe out one planet?  I guess they may have been expecting the galaxy-destroying AI to already be there.  Of course, had the AI already been there, it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

Also, where did all those ships come from?  If the Romulans had those ships before their sun went nova, couldn’t those ships have been used in the evacuation?  If not, it would mean that they were built after the evacuation.  It would be a testament to the Romulans that they could find the resources to make that many ships.  (For that matter, the Federation also has a lot of ships.)

This isn’t to say I dislike the episode.  There was some personal growth for many of the characters.  And there is going to be a second season.  I would hope the major characters will return.  My only question is if this will include Dr. Jurati.

She was supposed to turn herself in for the murder of Bruce Maddox.  That got sidetracked, but she still did it.  She still has to answer for that.  Maybe the second season will start with Jurati in an orange jump suit.  The entire season could be breaking her out of jail for a special mission.  I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 9 (Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1)

There were a lot of questions for the first season of Star Trek: Picard.  What is this impending AI apocalypse?  Will Soji be the one to end all organic life in the galaxy?  Where was this Zhat Vash when Control was taking over on Star Trek: Discovery?  At least some of these questions are answered in the two-part finale.

We don’t get a flashback here.  The story starts with Picard, Soji and the rest of the crew trying to land on Soji’s home planet.  Right behind them is Narek, the shady Romulan who was playing Soji for information.  Oh, and Seven of Nine actually brought the Borg Cube to help out, which is a nice touch.

Unfortunately, the androids have an impressive defensive system.  Giant flowers come up and disable the ships.  All three of them crash on the planet’s surface, including the Borg Cube.  It’s not a long walk, but they do have to walk and the Borg cube lands in the opposite direction from the android city.

First, Picard makes sure everyone is safe on the Cube.  I suppose it’s the decent thing to do and it gives him one more chance to be called Locutus.  Then, it’s off to Android City, where nearly everyone is dressed like something out of The Original Series.  The only notable exception is Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, son of Noonian Soong.  It was he who made the androids from Data.

The androids are advised of the impending attack by the Romulans.  Picard has already informed the Federation of this, as well, but there’s no promise that Starfleet will get there first.  There’s also not much that anyone can do.  Yes, the flowers took down a Cube, but there are two dozen of them.  The Romulan fleet is going to have 218 ships.  It’s not exactly a fair fight.

Also, one of the androids, Sutra, is able to do a mind meld with Dr. Jurati.  Jurati was shown the Admonition, which apparently didn’t drive her totally insane.  Sutra is able to view the Admonition and determine that it was meant for artificial life.  It’s not a warning to organic life, but rather a promise to artificial life.  The advanced AI race will protect artificial life by wiping out all organic life.

This sets the stage for Soji to build an antenna, as per the Admonition’s instructions, to call the advanced AI.  And we’re left with a more proper cliffhanger.  Picard is held prisoner in the house.  The Romulan fleet is coming.  Also, it’s not entirely clear if Starfleet got Picard’s message telling them where to go.

There were a few questions, like how Sutra was able to do a mind meld.   Before you get all giggly thinking of the Kama Sutra, it’s worth noting that Sutra is a Sanskrit word meaning discourse.  It would make sense that she’s the one to do the mind meld.  I suppose if we accept that Vulcans can do it, so could androids.  It’s also probably an issue of convenience.  The alternative would be having an android go get the Admonition directly.  It does make for a cleaner narrative.

One thing that always gets me is how fathers always look like their children.  It’s never the mothers.  At least here, I get that it’s a chance for Brent Spiner to have a decent role in the series.  He’s also stated reservations about playing Data, noting that years have passed since the movies.  Who am I to complain?  It is nice to see him again.

Something I noticed was that Irumodic Syndrome was never mentioned by name in the entire season.  Picard finally comes clean to the crew in this episode, but it’s always danced around.  Someone mentions something in his brain, but never what it is or could be.  I suppose there could be some copyright issue with whoever wrote the finale to The Next Generation.  I don’t know.  Anyway, Part II should be just interesting.

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Star Trek: Picard -- Season 1 Episode 1 (Remembrance)

I know that one show alone isn’t enough for me to subscribe to CBS All Access.  Yes, the second season of Discovery was pretty good.  And yes, I know that they have other series.  However, I can get The Twilight Zone and the first five Star Trek series on Netflix and DVD, at least for the time being.

So, the addition of Star Trek: Picard isn’t going to get me to sign up.  I’m reviewing the pilot episode, but I’ll be waiting for the rest of the first season on DVD.  (For those that are wondering, I was able to get the first episode through YouTube.)

I’ve been curious about the show.  I know that it centers on Jean-Luc Picard, now a retired admiral.  It’s been years since the events of Nemesis.  (In fact, it’s now roughly in the future time frame of All Good Things….)

Picard meets a mysterious woman who feels compelled to find him after she’s attacked and her boyfriend is killed.  Picard is living with two Romulans after he led an aborted evacuation of Romulus.  (It’s not the kind of thing he likes to talk about, though.)

The scenes you see of Picard and Data are Picard’s dreams.  It’s been a while since synthetic life forms, such as Androids, have been banned.  How does Data figure into all of this?  He holds a key to the mysterious woman’s identity.  Also holding a key may be Bruce Maddox, who has gone into hiding.  (There’s no mention of the Holographic Doctor from Voyager…Yet.)

It would seem that Picard misses days gone by.  We get that he has his reasons, and they would seem to be valid ones, but this episode doesn’t go into all the details.  It would seem to be a bridge between Nemesis and the rest of the series.  We learn at the very end that a Borg cube is being studied, but it’s not yet clear who has claimed it or to what end.

The series credits have the show as being based on The Next Generation, rather than the original Star Trek.  There are a lot of references, notably the Captain Picard Day banner you may have seen in the coming attractions.  There will also be appearances from Troi, Riker, 7 of 9 and Hugh.

I was torn as to whether to review this now or to wait for the rest of the season.  I decided to review it now because I wanted to offer a perspective of someone who has decided to wait to continue.  It’s going to be a long wait.

Not much is offered in terms of the overall story line and I know that there’s more to it.  I don’t blame anyone for this.  I’d rather have things spread out so that I have something to look forward to.  I’d rather have it spread out than to have details come out unevenly.

I don’t think any of us wanted the game to end.  It had to.  It looks like this is going to be a whole new game.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episodes 177 & 178 (All Good Things…)

Every show comes to an end.  Some, like the original Star Trek, get cancelled abruptly.  In other cases, the show ends on its own terms, having told the story it wants to tell.  Star Trek: The Next Generation came to an end after seven seasons, despite being contracted for eight.  The final episode was a two-hour episode called “All Good Things…”.

The episode begins with Troi and Worf exiting a holodeck and walking back to her quarters.  Outside Troi’s door, Captain Picard approaches them and asks what the date is.  He claims that he was moving around in time, having been to both the past and the future.  The details are blurry, but he’s certain that he’s moving through time.  Dr. Crusher examines him; after our first on-screen glimpse of the time shifting, she examines him again to find that he has two days of new memories.  There’s something to it.

There are three distinct timeframes, including what we would call Picard’s present.  The other two take place seven years in the past and 25 year in the future.  Why seven years in the past?  That’s when Picard first took command of the Enterprise.  As for 25 years in the future, why not?

The past is exactly what you’d expect.  Tasha Yar is still chief of security.  Riker, La Forge and a few other crewmembers are still at the Farpoint station.  Data is still unbearably inquisitive.  Picard makes a few mistakes, like telling Worf to do Yar’s job, but he starts to get the hang of it.

The future is one where Picard is suffering from irumodic syndrome, a degenerative neurological disorder.  Picard is shown tending his vineyard when he’s approached by La Forge.  It appears that Picard has retired to his family estate.  However, his health is deteriorating.

In the past and present, an anomaly shows itself.  In both cases, the Enterprise is called to investigate.  It would appear that events in one timeline don’t affect events in the others, other than Picard remembering and acting on them.  He keeps the past crew in the dark, mostly because they’re still new.  However, he mentions it to the present and future crews.

There’s still no news in the future about the anomaly, which is strange.  Picard, La Forge and Data have to arrange passage to the system, which is in the Romulan Neutral Zone, as Picard can’t seem to persuade Admiral Riker to give them a cloaked ship.  Who do they turn to?  Captain Beverly Picard.

This still doesn’t answer the question of who’s behind all this, although we have seen clues.  Those that have been watching the entire series will recognize Q’s handiwork.  Q shows up, or rather pulls Picard back to the trial he and the bridge crew faced in “Encounter at Farpoint”.  This isn’t a new trial; the original one never really ended.  It’s now time for Q to pronounce his verdict:  Guilty.  Humanity will be destroyed and it will ultimately be done in by Picard’s hand.  Will Picard be able to save humanity once again?

I’ve often thought about the choice of time periods.  There were a lot of other things that the series could have done.  They could have gone back to Picard’s time on the Stargazer.  They could have gone back to just after Picard graduated from the academy, as per Tapestry.  Ultimately, that could have gotten too muddled.  Instead, we have a nice set of bookends.

The future does make for more humorous notes, like Data using a skunk for a toupee.  (Well, not really, but his housekeeper seems to think so.)  We also get to see one possible future where Riker and Worf aren’t talking to each other.  Most of the characters have aged, some better than others.

There are a few questions that I’ve had, such as the anomaly growing bigger in each timeframe, despite being bigger in the past.  I suppose this could be accounted for by the fact that each timeline is separate.  The big question people have asked is why there are three Enterprise-like beams in the anomaly when one of them should have been from the Pasteur.  While it’s true that Data never said they were all definitely from the Enterprise, we don’t actually see the Pasteur sending any energy beam into the anomaly.  When Picard and Co. make it to the Anomaly, it’s on the Enterprise.  I would think that it’s more probable that a beam would have emanated from that ship.

One thing I had to wonder is what the universe would have looked like had the anomaly run its course. Q stated that it was supposed to wipe out humanity, even going so far to show Picard early Earth and the goo that would have hosted the first proteins.  If humanity never existed, would the Federation or something like it still have formed?  (For that matter, the anomaly is pretty big way in the past.  How did it affect only Earth?)

You’d probably want to watch the rest of the series first.  (I mean, really.  Who watches the series finale first?)  This episode would probably be a little confusing without a good deal of knowledge.  Fans will probably pick up La Forge’s mention of Leah, a probable reference to Leah Brahms.  I have to wonder, though, as Leah Brahms was a little creeped out by Geordi’s behavior, and rightfully so.  Either she’s gotten over it or he has a thing for women named Leah.

I will say that of all the finales for the modern Star Trek series, this was probably my favorite.  I never really liked what they did with Deep Space Nine.  I felt that having everyone go in separate directions was somewhat forced.  Voyager was exactly what you’d expect.  They’d be some big push to get the ship home, which would just barely work.  It would only come down to details.  As for Star Trek: Enterprise, they never really got the finale they deserved.  (Also, can someone explain to me exactly what the heck happened?  Were they trying to imply that the entire series was Riker’s doing?  He must have been spending way too much time in the holodeck.)


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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 176 (Preemptive Strike)

WARNING:  I’m going to give away the ending to this episode.  If you don’t like spoilers, you might want to hold off reading this review.


Life was never easy for Ro Laren.  She was a Bajoran born during the Cardassian occupation of her home planet.  She was kicked out of Starfleet for not following orders, then brought back in for a mission of questionable morality.  When she disobeyed orders again, she was kept on the Enterprise.  Just when things were going well, Ro Laren, now a lieutenant, is given a mission to infiltrate a Maquis cell.

Who are the Maquis, you ask?  They came about after the Cardassians annexed the planets they were on as a result of a peace treaty.  Their goal is to fight back to the mistreatment they receive from the Cardassian government.  They are still Federation citizens, but choose to live in what is now Cardassian territory.  The Cardassians claim that the Federation is arming them, which the Federation denies.  (The Federation makes similar claims against the Cardassians, which the Cardassians deny.)

Being that Lt. Ro doesn’t like the Cardassians, it’s going to be a difficult mission for her.  She’ll be working against people who share her interests.  She claims she can do it; she wants nothing more than to prove herself to Captain Picard.  She soon realizes that it’s not so easy.  The leader of the cell is a man named Macias.   The more she deals with him, the more she comes to like and respect him.  He eventually becomes a father figure.

The longer Ro stays, the more conflicted she becomes.  Picard eventually has to threaten her with another court martial to get her to complete the mission.  It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Ro eventually defects to the Maquis, leaving Picard so mad that he can’t even talk to Riker in the final scene of the episode.

When I first saw the episode, I remember wondering why the writers would have a recurring character defect.  It kind of makes more sense now that I’ve had time to think about it.  We get the emotional impact of an established character leaving without having to sacrifice one of the main characters.

The writers would also have needed someone who is used to making tough choices.  On the one hand, the Maquis are getting more aggressive by this point.  So far, they’ve been taking defensive stances, warding off an aggressor.  Now, they’re looking to go on the offensive, possibly attacking the Cardassians.  On the other hand, it’s not so easy to be dispassionate about a group when you go to live with them.  It’s even harder when they agree with you from the onset.

Sure, any Bajoran could have been used.  However, useing a new character wouldn’t have had the same impact.  Her actual history keeps the lying to a minimum.  However, she owes Picard a lot.  This actually seems like the perfect story arc for Ro Laren.  If I had to write a way out for her myself, it probably would have looked something like this.

The Maquis was never really The Next Generation’s thing.  It was used more on Deep Space Nine, which dealt more with Bajorans and Cardassians.  The shame is that we never see Ro Laren again in any of the TV shows.  It would have been interesting to have heard from her on Deep Space Nine.  Instead, we’re left to assume.  Interestingly, the character of Ro Laren was supposed to be Deep Space Nine’s first officer.  When Michelle Forbes didn’t want to join the cast, the part was rewritten as Kira Nerys.

I do recommend watching the episode.  For those that are watching on Netflix or on the season sets, you’re going to want to wait to see this one.  There were so many things over the previous three seasons that led up to this.  You don’t necessarily have to have watched DS9 to understand the episode.  It’s fairly self-contained in that respect, but you probably should have some background with The Next Generation to fully understand what’s going on.


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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 175 (Emergence)

It seems that there are two times when things go wrong on The Enterprise: during a routine mission and during some critical state of an important mission. In this episode, The Enterprise is on a routine mission. Picard and Data are in the holodeck when the nearly get run over by the orient express. That, alone, is troubling since the holodeck is supposed to have safety protocols to prevent injury and also Picard had called for the program to end several times. What’s puzzling, though, is that they’re running a Shakespearean program. They shut the holodecks down while repairs can be made.

Later, The Enterprise jumps to warp and comes out of warp a minute later. No one can offer an explanation except to say that had The Enterprise not jumped to warp, it might have been destroyed. Coincidence? It must have been. There isn’t anything about the ship that would make it do that on its own.

This leads to the discovery of several strange nodes throughout the ship. Also strange is the fact that the holodeck is still running. Data, Troi, and Worf enter and investigate to find the Orient Express still running. Onboard is a strange set of characters. There’s the conductor and engineer, who both belong, but there’s also a knight and a Chicago-style gangster. (If you look closely, many of the characters resemble characters from previous episodes. The knight and gangster may be references to the original series.)

The Orient Express is on its way to a place called Vertiform City. (It’s later realized that the ship needs a particle with a similar name.) There seems to be a direct relation between the holodeck program and the Enterprise. When the train stops, the ship stops. When the program experiences an earthquake, the ship also shakes.

Eventually, the crew realizes that the ship is trying to create a new life form. Should they try to stop it? Should they let it go on? They decide to let it develop. At the end of the episode, Data is worried about unleashing an unknown life form on the universe. Picard tells Data that the life form was created out of the ship’s programs, the crew’s logs and so on. How bad could such a life form be?

Parts of the episode seemed contrived. At the very least, the writers could have come up with a better name for Vertiform City. The concept of the Orient Express is explained, at least in part, by Dr. Crusher who notes that all sorts of people could meet there. There’s also a reference to Prospero, who could sense his career winding down and wanting to go out with a bang. (This is the third-to-last episode of the series.)

The episode starts to make sense when you look at many of the parts. I was going to bash the episode in this review, but I started to realize things as I was writing it. In a way, that’s the fun of a lot of the episodes. You could go back and watch this episode several times and start to pick things up. I’d definitely recommend that you buy this episode if you’re looking to buy them on tape. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 174 (Bloodlines)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

One of the problems with continuity is that it’s sometimes a stretch. In the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, we learned that Captain Picard had commanded a ship called the Stargazer long before taking command of the Enterprise and while commanding the Stargazer, Captain Picard ordered the destruction a Ferengi ship. Picard claims it was in self-defense, but the destroyed ship’s daimon (the Ferengi equivalent of a captain) had a father (also a daimon) who wanted revenge. After a failed attempt to get his revenge, he was stripped of his command own command and sent to prison.

That brings us to this episode. Apparently, Bok bought his way out of prison and is trying once again to get revenge. He’s using a holographic representation of himself to tell Picard that he knows about Picard’s son. Picard is somewhat mystified since he has no children. After some thinking, Picard realizes that the child that Bok referred to might be the result of a relationship he had with a woman about 28 years ago. She did have a child, Jason Vigo, who is about 27 now. Picard tracks him down and has him beamed aboard the Enterprise. Unfortunately, the mother died a few years ago and only told Jason that his father was in Starfleet.

Dr. Crusher performs a test, which reveals that the two really are father and son. Picard has to figure out how to protect someone that seems resistant to that help. Mostly, Jason is resistant to Picard. He grew up not knowing his father and seems to resent the intrusion now. He doesn’t want to be held on the Enterprise and doesn’t like having security guards follow him everywhere. Then, there’s the issue of how Bok is performing his tricks. He can seem to appear and disappear at will. Obviously, this presents a very big hole in security.

In the end, it turns out that Bok had actually manipulated Jason’s DNA to make it look like he was Picard’s son. It was all an attempt to make Picard feel the pain of losing a son. It’s obvious that Jason’s mother had another relationship. (Whether or not he was in Starfleet is up for debate.) I had to wonder if Picard was mistaken about the timeline or if Jason’s mother had two relationships within a few months of each other. The exact dates were never mentioned.

This was one of the better episodes. One of the major issues that comes up throughout the series is the balance between family and career. A lot of the episode deals with Picard getting to know a son he never knew he had. It’s not easy to meet your father and find out that someone’s out to kill you at the same time. I think what I like best is that it didn’t really rely too much on Bok. Another character could have just as easily been used. However, there are those that don’t give up.

I think that this episode was well placed near the end of the series. With the show nearing its end, I don’t think the writers could have a story that looked to the future. 

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 173 (Firstborn)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Worf is a Klingon and proud of it. Klingons are a warrior people with a long, proud tradition. Being a Klingon parent, Worf wants his son to grow up with said Klingon traditions. Unfortunately, Alexander doesn’t want to grow up as a Klingon. Alexander spent the first few years of his life with his mother, K'Ehleyr, who was half human. (Alexander is 3/4 Klingon and 1/4 Human.) She didn’t particularly embrace Klingon traditions and values and passed this sentiment on to her son.

It hasn’t been easy for Worf to instill Klingon values in Alexander. It comes to a head in this episode when Worf wants to have a talk with Alexander about the first Klingon Right of Ascension. The First Right of Ascension is a coming-of-age ceremony where a Klingon dedicates himself to the ways of the warrior. Alexander has the right to refuse to undergo this, but if he doesn’t do it before his thirteenth birthday, he can never do it.

Alexander finally becomes excited when he and Worf visit a Klingon outpost that the Enterprise happens to be near. There’s a festival underway, which would be a good way for Alexander to see part of what it means to be Klingon. Alexander does get excited about his Klingon heritage and has a chance to meet other Klingons his own age. However, when Alexander and Worf are heading home, several Klingons attack them. Another Klingon comes to the rescue. He identifies himself as K’Mtar, who Worf recognizes.

K’Mtar is a trusted member of Worf’s house. (Here, house is used in the sense of noble family.) Worf’s brother, Kern, sent K’Mtar to protect Worf and Alexander. The word is that the Duras sisters are out to assassinate someone in Worf’s house. (The Duras sisters are members of a rival house.) The Enterprise eventually tracks them down. When presented with the evidence, one of the sisters notices something strange. Eventually, the truth comes out. For the sake of not ruining it, I won’t give it away. However, Worf and Alexander seem to come away understanding each other a little better.

The latter part of the final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation had a sort of lame-duck feel to it. The series got to end on its own terms, which meant that everyone knew that the end was coming. You can see it in a few other episodes. They all seem to be preparing for the final episode, which ties everything together.

Here, the acting was pretty good, as was the script and the sets. However, they weren’t great. When K'Ehleyr and worf were together, they served as great foils for each other. It took a while for Alexander to fill that role. In previous episodes, he always appeared a little out of place in the episode. Even in this episode, Alexander seemed a little awkward. The character was just about where he needed to be, but not quite. (Alexander appeared in a few episodes of Deep Space Nine, but was played by a different actor and had started to accept his role as a warrior.)

It’s a good episode, but not excellent. It’s somewhere between three and four episodes, not really average but not really above average. I’m more inclined to give it three stars.


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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 172 (Journey's End)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Way back in the first few seasons of The Next Generation, it seemed like Wesley Crusher was always there to save the day. It earned him a bad reputation because it seemed like this teenage kid knew more about the ship than all of the engineering personnel on the flagship of the Federation. Eventually, it came time for Wesley to go of to Starfleet Academy. It seemed like the natural progression of the character. However, things may not have been what they seemed.

In “Journey’s End,” Wesley returns to the Enterprise as the ship is about to go to the newly formed demilitarized zone, or DMZ. In a treaty with the Cardassians, the Federation handed over several colonies. The residents of those colonies have to be relocated before the Cardassians can properly claim their new property and start surveying it. The trouble is that the residents of one of the planets don’t want to leave. Even though they’ve been there for only 20 years, they feel an attachment to the land.

The Enterprise has been sent there to mediate things and see if he can get the colonists to leave. Picard is to use whatever means he sees fit to remove them. Wesley sees what’s going on and feels that it’s wrong. He openly defies the captain and makes things worse. Picard calls Starfleet Academy and finds out that this isn’t unusual; Wesley has been acting up in class lately. Upon being questioned about it, Wesley admits that he’s dreading his graduation from the Academy. He doesn’t want to be in Starfleet.

A solution is worked out that isn’t exactly what Starfleet expected, but is acceptable to everyone. I don’t want to give away how the episode ends. What I will say is that you have to have seen the rest of the series prior to this episode to fully understand it. I don’t think someone could fully understand Wesley’s history by being told. There are several aspects of the series that come into play in this episode. Also, this episode sets up episodes of Deep Space Nine and hints at the series Star Trek: Voyager. This episode is not for the casual viewer.

The writing for this episode is great. Captain Picard is given a difficult problem. Like Wesley, he also knows that what he’s been ordered to do is morally wrong and the admiral giving him the orders argued against it. However, Picard has too much invested in his career to risk it over this. Even if he did, Starfleet could simply find another captain to command the Enterprise.

I’d give this episode four stars. As I said, it’s not for everyone, but someone collecting the episodes on VHS should buy this one. I’d say that it’s not really essential, but has a high replay value.


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