ST:TNG Season Two, Episode Twenty "The Emissary"

ST:TNG Season Two, Episode Twenty "The Emissary"
Production Order: 20
Air Order: 20
Stardate: 42901.3
Original Air Date: June 29, 1989

Okay, so here's why I haven't posted in a few weeks:
Two weeks ago (the weekend of June 17/18), the cat rescue that I volunteer with worked a festival. I worked on getting the rescue to that festival for six months, and then worked the whole weekend.
"I'll go home and blog after festival each night," I told myself.
Yeah, no. I went home and crashed.
Each time I will be heavily busy with something else, instead of saying, "I will not have time to blog that weekend, and should make an announcement," I end up saying to myself, "I will do both, I will do the blog ahead of time."
 It never happens. Time management is not one of my strengths, no matter how much I work at it. And so I post nothing. Sure, I will put forth the effort. I did the cold opening in the week leading up to the festival, but then got so busy that there was no time to finish anything else.
"I will finish this post and then post it next Monday instead."
And then several other things fell into my lap, and I wasn't finished in time for Sunday midnight deadline. In those cases, I have to wait until post-work Monday night to complete the post and put it up. So last Monday night, I did so, and hit "publish." It did nothing. Then it ate my post. All of it. Everything but the screencaptures, which I always save with another program. I suppose I could have started over right then, but I had to spend some time screaming at the laptop, and if I don't have something posted by Monday at midnight, I consider it a wash, and save it for the following Monday. Because truth be told, each one of these posts takes 8-10 hours to create, so by that point, we're talking about posting on Wednesday, then immediately turning around and starting another post.
Blog burn-out is a thing, and I'd rather not force myself into that position, especially given that I still have 6+ years of blogging to go before I reach the end of the current material.
So: I will work on my time management in regards to this blog, and I will be more realistic about when I can and cannot post. I can't really do much about the technical issues that seem to have plagued me since infancy, but I can try to be better about posting each week.

Cheers,
Lady Archon

*******

We start out in Riker's quarters (I mean, I guess they're Riker's? It's dark). Everyone has gathered for the weekly poker game. Data uses a poker term incorrectly, substituting a synonym, but it's kind of cute, so even though they correct him, nobody seems to mind. Worf is winning. There's some "are you going to play, or talk?" banter, and play resumes, but Worf wins the whole pile.

"You could at least be happy about it," says Pulaski to the stoic Worf. "Those were the last of my chips."

They give the Klingon a nickname - "The Iceman."

Meh. It's kind of boring and unimaginative.

Anyway, everyone gets called to the bridge.

So they all tromp back up to their positions (sans Pulaski and Geordi, who I guess go to their respective departments). Data sits at his spot and reads off Starfleet's instructions: "Go to these coordinates, and wait for more info."

"That's it?" demands Riker. "We were in the middle of a damn game."

"Oh, fuck me," groans Picard. "Cloak and dagger crap. Somebody drink some powdered cocoa mix, because it looks like we'll need a decoder ring for this mission."

He tells navigation to set the coordinates and get there ASAP. 

When they arrive where they're supposed to be, they're hailed by a woman named Gromek, which is a terrible name for an admiral.

"Okay, so you're gonna rendezvous with this emissary, and she'll be coming to you in a special way, so be careful with how you take her on board," she tells Picard.

"How about some deets?" he asks.

"Can't give 'em to you," she apologizes. "Look, I know this sucks, but they're being all mysterious for a reason. The emissary will tell you about the mission when she gets there."

She signs off.

"Um, the emissary is approaching us in a class-8 probe," announces Data.

"Dude, a probe is only six feet long," protests Riker. "Nobody could fit in there."

That's not true, Riker. What if the emissary is a leprechaun?

"Okay, but what if they take all the stuff out?" says Picard. "I bet it's do-able."

"Also, a probe can do warp 9," Data points out. "By sending her out to meet us, instead of us going to get her at the nearest starbase, they've shaved six hours off our travel time."

They all kind of nod in realizing that time must be of the essence here, if they're stuffing VIPs into probes. They find the probe in space.

O'Brien calls to say that he's tractored the probe in and beamed it aboard.

Riker calls for Pulaski to meet him down there.

They meet in the transporter room, where O'Brien is staring at the probe. For some reason, gordi is there when the probe comes on board, but he gives command of the situation to Riker when he arrives, which I don't understand. Why was Geordi even there...? Does LeVar Burton's contract have a screen-time quota?

Together, O'Brien and Riker remove the probe's top.

Alien!

(Well, I mean, probably.)

The emissary removes her life support mask. Houston, we have a Klingon!

"Hello, I'm K'Ehleyr, and I'll be your emissary for this evening."

Riker greets her in Klingon. She's impressed, but he's humble.

She climbs out of her flying coffin. "I know Klingons are supposed to be hearty and shit, but that sucked a lot."

Pulaski, who is doing medical scans, says her vitals are all whack-a-doo, even for a Klingon.

"I'm half-Klingon," she admits. "Father was a Klingon, mother was a human."

Okay sister, we don't need your life story.

Also, you know her! It's Dr Selar, you guys!

Riker takes K'Ehleyr (Kay-lar) to the Obs Lounge, where the rest of the senior officers are waiting. Riker introduces her to Picard, who in turn introduces her to everyone else, including -

"Worrrrf," she purrs. "So this is where you've been hiding. Told you we would meet again."

I love the way that Suzie Plakson says his name. It's sort of husky and drawn-out, and she appears to be channeling cheesy 60's female villains. It's like the way Catwoman says "Batman," the way Jeannie II purrs "Tony," or the way Serena says "Darrin." The tone of voice tells you that here is someone who is probably a harmless trouble-maker, most likely has more fun than you, and most importantly, is in charge of her own sexuality. Because spoilers, K'Ehleyr is definitely in charge of that.

Worf is silent.

"Aren't you going to greet me?"

"I have nothing to say to you!" he barks.

Everyone looks mildly uncomfortable, especially Troi, who probably has an inkling of what's going on.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Later (like a minute later), K'Ehleyr fills in the staff on the dealio.
Seems that 75 years earlier, when the Klingons and Federation were at war, some secret warbird, the T'Ong, was sent out, with all of the crew in cryogenic sleep. The crew is about to wake up now, in the middle of an area that's full of Federation outposts that will most definitely not be able to survive an attack from a Klingon cruiser.
"And our job is to find the T'Ong and find convince them not to fire on anyone," guesses Picard.
"Yeah," says K'Ehleyr. "But these are old-school Klingons, trained from birth to hate the Federation. They're not gonna listen and believe us that the war is over, and we'll end up having to kill them."
"I don't like that ending," says Picard, shaking his head.
"How come the Klingons aren't sending someone to talk them back from the proverbial ledge?" asks Troi.
"They are," says K'Ehleyr. "But the P'Rang is two days behind us. They'll most likely be awake in that time."
So now we know why K'Ehleyr was sent by probe when no ships at the starbase were to be had.
"Okay," says Picard. "Now we have all the facts, and everyone's homework is to figure out how to fix this without killing the Klingons."
He dismisses them.

"Oh, also. Worf, I want you to work with K'Ehleyr."

Worf looks like Picard just instructed him to eat a decroded piece of crap.

Troi offers to take K'Ehleyr to her quarters, and everyone else exits.

"I think Riker or Data would be better equipped to help K'Ehleyr," Worf tells Picard.

"Do you not want the job because of personal reasons?" asks Picard.

"Yes!" says Worf.

"How about professional ones?"

"...no." He pauses. "Yeah, okay. I'll work with K'Ehleyr."

Troi walks K'Ehleyr to her quarters, and they discuss being interspecies. K'Ehleyr mentions having felt like she was being pulled between two cultures when younger, and Troi, ever the optimist, says she tried to find the best of both. K'Ehleyr says that her heritage has gotten her into trouble, with her mother's sense of humor mixing with her Klingon side.

"Everybody has a temper," says Troi sympathetically.

"No, my Klingon half feels like a monster living inside of me, that I have to keep tight control over."

I never noticed how tall Suzie Plakson was until I took screencaptures of her
standing next to Marina Sirtis and Diana Muldaur. Plakson is 6'2" and both Sirtis
and Muldaur are 5'5". I'm realizing now that Riker's prediction about how a person
wouldn't fit in a probe are correct - if the probe is only six feet long, it wouldn't
be big enough to hold K'Ehleyr.

Worf is working in the security chief's office when K'Ehleyr enters in a different outfit. He admonishes her for being late.

Sassy Guest Star Moment: "Sorry. Had to make myself beautiful."

Bitchy Worf Moment: "I fail to see why."

"You're not even looking at me," she teases.

Sassy Worf Moment: "I am familiar with your appearance."

"Why are you so guarded?" she asks. "I don't bite." A pause. "No, that's true. I do bite."

They dance around the fact that they knew each other six years ago, but nothing definite is said, so other than some kind of fling, we know nothing of it. Worf prefers not to talk about it, and instead tries to look up info on the T'ONG.

She argues that there won't be any, because the T'Ong was on a secret mission.

The fight gets heated. He wants to know everything he can about the situation, and she keeps insisting that they're just going to end up killing the Klingon crew. They're yelling about the T'Ong, but you know this argument has nothing to do with Klingons. Not those Klingons, anyway.

Just before stalking out of the room, K'Ehleyr reaches deep into her bag of sarcasm, and pulls out this: "Upon due consideration  of the problem and careful examination of all possible options, my original recommendation stands! Meeting adjourned!"

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

 

K'Ehleyr goes back to her quarters, fists clenching, and looks around. You know that look, that says "I need to destroy something." She spots a glass-topped table and smashes it with her fist.

Right away, she regrets it. She's no longer enraged, but she's still pretty pissed off.

The door chime rings, and it's a bad time for company, but she still yells, "Come!"

Troi enters and sees the table.

"Shittastic day?" she asks.

"I did say my Klingon half was bad," K'Ehleyr replies.

"Can I make a suggestion?"

Sassy Guest Star Moment: "I thank you, Counselor, but I don't want any counseling."

"Naw," smiles Troi. "I was gonna say that when I get frustrated, I like to go to the holodeck, and use their exercise programs to blow off steam."

"Exercise, instead of dismantling the ship?" asks K'Ehleyr, amused.

Troi smiles. K'Ehleyr smiles back. 

K'Ehleyr goes to the holodeck in a third outfit, and I'm wondering if she packed all these clothes with her in the tiny probe, or if she's been replicating them, because girlfriend has a wardrobe like Lwaxana Troi. (Actually, I rather like the outfits they've put on her. The probe one was lightly Klingon and lightly militaristic, and it worked. Her red outfit is spandex and leather, with gold accents, kind of playful, but also mildly "dangerous." The exercise outfit is patterned with some kind of geometric or animal print, and accessorized with black leather pieces that have spikes, and come off. Like Lwaxana, each of these outfits tends to speak to her character, and says that she's independent, and a bit of a wild card.)

Anyway, she asks the holodeck for exercise programs, and finds Worf's... you know, the one he did with Riker. She chooses that one, goes inside cautiously, and puts on the spiked glove thing.

Picard enters the bridge and asks Data for an update. Data reports that they're about 15 hours away from where they're guessing the T'Ong will be.

Worf storms the bridge, relieves the tactical officer, and begins punching buttons angrily. Picard and Riker exchange looks, because Worf is not supposed to be here.

"What are you doing?" asks Riker, hesitantly. He is Worf's CO, but Worf is taller, heavier, and could probably take him. 

"Running tests on the weapons systems," growls Worf.

"We just did that," Riker points out.

"Needs to be done again!" barks Worf.

Picard pulls him aside.

"Dude, you need to relax."

Worf realizes that he's yelling at the captain, and dials it back. "K'Ehleyr... called a break. I'm checking to make sure our weapons systems are up to spec if we need them, because we're going up against Klingons."
"And that's awesome, and you're a great security chief, but you're super pissed off right now, and you really need to chillax."
Worf agrees, and leaves.
"That was scary AF," Riker remarks to Picard. "I guess the Iceman is melting."

Worf has the same idea as Troi: he will go to the holodeck to cool off. But when he gets there, he sees that someone else is already using his program. He enters and sees K'Ehleyr kicking ass and taking names. Apparently, he's some kind of Klingon ninja, because he manages to sneak up on her. Sensing his presence in her peripheral, she spins and tries to take him on. But when she realizes her mistake, she tries to brush it off.
"Not much of a program," she says nonchalantly, to cover the fact that he snuck up on her.
He picks up two swords, hands one to her, and tells the computer to set the program for level two.

The program reanimates the creatures she just killed, and adds a third. They kick ass together. Worf slices one of them like a fruit ninja.

Foes vanquished, she turns on him, coming at him with the sword. Her heart's not really in it, and he subdues her easily.

Cue the porn music.

He sniffs her open palm.

She sniffs his open palm.

They sniff each other.

He closes his fist over hers, and squeezes it tight enough to dig her fingernails into her own palm, causing it to bleed.

Brown chicken, brown cow.

Concerned music, like the show is worried that Worf is not making good life choices here... Commercial break!

When we return, there's no putting on of boots, but K'Ehleyr is no longer wearing the removable black leather pieces of her outfit. She is sitting near the ground, while Worf sits on a rock or something above her.

Sassy Guest Star Moment: "Some exercise programs are better than others."

He gets on her case for using humor to hide her feelings. She requests pillow talk. He gives her none.

"Why didn't we do this six years ago?" she muses.

"We weren't ready," he says.

"I was," she replies.

"We lacked commitment," he suggests.

She considers that. "Maybe courage, too."

"I no longer lack courage," he answers. He stands and bellows something in Klingon at the holodeck sky.

She is startled. "Worf, WTF?"

"We are mated!"

Sassy Guest Star Moment: "I know! I was there! But it doesn't mean anything!"

He's irritated. "That's a human concept!"

So the basic gist is this: Klingons get together, then they take an oath that essentially makes them married for life. K'Ehleyr signed up for a one-night stand, and got a marriage proposal.

Worf is pissed that she won't follow through on something he considers to be of great importance to the The Klingon Way, but K'Ehleyr is firm - nothing doing.

"I refuse to believe that this night had no meaning!" he roars.

K'Ehleyr is kind of sad in her response before gathering her things and leaving:

 We go to the bridge, where the crew is busily trying to find the T'Ong, using their scanners. Picard and Riker talk about  how one of the outposts in this area could survive a Klingon attack.

You guys, look! The Gold at Tactical is Diedrich Bader!

Worf shows up in the security chief's office with Data in tow. K'Ehleyr is already there working, and she gives Worf a wan smile.

"You got yourself an android chaperone?"

"No, I thought he could double-check our work," Worf replies.

Oh, Worf. Nobody believes that but Data.

K'Ehleyr asks Data if he finds human behavior or Klingon behavior more confusing.

"About equal," he says, perplexed.

K'Ehleyr starts talking about their options for the T'Ong, and there's some fancy camera work here where she starts talking, and the camera zooms in on her face. When it zooms out, she is still talking about their options, but now she's telling the senior staff in the Obs Lounge.

"Okay, two possibilities," she says. "One is that we get there, and they're still asleep, in which case we just fiddle with the controls and keep them asleep until the P'Rang arrives."

"Good plan," says Geodi. "I can easily beam over and do that."

"The other possibility is that we get there, and they're awake and ready to start firing. I don't think talking to them will work. I still think we're going to have to kill them."

Riker is busy looking for other solutions. "Can we disable their ship?"

"Yeah, I can do that from here," says Geordi.

"No good," replies K'Ehleyr. "We break their ship, they hit self-destruct, and they die anyway."

"Klingons do not surrender," says Worf, which is kind of ironic coming from him, as he's just finished trying to force a half-Klingon to marry him.

"Hey," interrupts Data from the bridge. "Found the T'Ong."

They all go out to the bridge to see the cruiser.

"Are they awake or asleep?" asks Picard.

"Dunno," replies Data. "I see life signs, but can't tell. Their engines are offline, so I would guess asleep?"

The T'Ong fires on the E.

Sassy Data Moment: "However, I could be in error."

 The T'Ong cloaks.

"Missed your chance to fire on them and end this quickly," K'Ehleyr tells Picard.

"I have an idea," says Worf, and it's such a fucking good idea that I'm surprised no one thought of it before now.

Geordi comes up from Engineering and sets up his station, telling them that the gamma ray output from those old cloaking devices are visible when you know what to look for. He tweaks the equipment and finds the T'Ong right away. But the ship takes off at warp five.

"Okay," says Picard to the conn. "I want you to kick it up to warp eight, leap-frog over them, and then stop like some jackass who pulls out in front of you when you're doing eighty."

The conn does so, and the T'Ong has no choice but to stop. They decloak and fire on the E again. Hailing frequencies are opened, and this is what K'Temoc, captain of the T'Ong sees when the viewscreen is turned on:

"K'Temoc!" roars Worf. "Did you fire on my ship? What the ever-loving fuck! That's treason!"

"I have standing orders to fire on all Federation ships!" yells K'Temoc. "And what the hell is this treachery?"

Worf then tells K'Temoc that the war is over and has been for a while. He insinuates without actually saying it, that the Klingon side may have won. Then, when K'Temoc says he finds no evidence of this, Worf accuses him of being blind. 

"Look," says Worf. "You're new here, so I'm willing to cut you some slack. Drop your shields, and I won't bring you up for insubordination."

"Fuck off!" yells K'Temoc.

"Fine," says Worf curtly. "Blow up their ship," he tells tactical.

Not wanting to risk his spot in Sto'Vo'Kor, K'Temoc suddenly changes his mind and turns control of his ship over to Worf.

 "Awesome," replies Worf. "I'm sending you Commander K'Ehleyr. She'll acclimatize you to the 24th century, and then the P'Rang will be by in a few days to take you back to Qo'noS."
Just imagine how pissed off K'Temoc will be when he finds out that he surrendered and took orders from a Starfleet lieutenant.
When the viewscreen is turned on, Picard and Riker approach from the side, where they were waiting off-camera.
"How'd you like command?" asks Riker.
Worf considers the question before answering with a bit of a joke: "Comfortable chair."
K'Ehleyr, trying to make up for the fact that she turned down his marriage proposal, compliments his brush with command, but he rolls his eyes at her before they leave the bridge.

They go down to the transporter room, where Worf has O'Brien plug in the coordinates before telling him to leave. Poor O'Brien. He is our Chapel and Yar: one line per episode, if that.

K'Ehleyr starts to get on the transporter platform, but then she pauses. 

"You really gonna let me leave without saying anything else?"

"There's nothing left to say," he growls.

She gets down. "You giant d-bag. Look, I lied, okay?  Before, that did mean something to me. I've never had such deep feelings for anyone, and it scared me. I almost took the oath with you, even though our lives and careers are moving in different directions."

"I also have deep feelings for you," he admits.

"So you weren't just asking me to marry you out of some sense of honor?" she asks. "You really just wanted to marry me?"

"Yeah."

"Sucks to be us," she sighs. "Maybe we'll meet again later."

They clasp hands again, though there isn't a blood ritual of any kind this time.

She climbs back up on the transporter pad.

"I will not be complete without you," he says.

It's a little cheesy rom-com for me, but that's really how Klingons talk, and the tone he uses makes it work.

She nods a little, in sad, quiet understanding, and he beams he over, then stands there wistfully before the credits roll.

So with the end, we never find out more about the T'Ong, what exactly their mission was, or how it was supposed to be carried out. Sure, it served its purpose, which was to create an emergency situation which would get K'Ehleyr quickly onto the E and the just as quickly off, but we've probably reached a point in the Klingon-Federation Alliance where stuff should be declassified, but we didn't get more. And maybe more background info on it would have distracted us from the Worf romance that was the A-plot, but some follow-up would have been nice.

How that convo probably went:

Federation: Hey Empire, we picked up this automated signal in this one sector, from a ship that's like, 75 years old. It's one of yours.
Klingon Empire: Oh, really? Um, yeah. Heh. Yeah, that's ours. Looks like we forgot about them.
Fed: What is it?
Empire: Nothing, just the T'Ong is all. It's a funny story, actually.
Fed: Funny-ha-ha, or Funny-how-we-started-another-war-with-the-Federation?
Empire: Nope, it's the ha-ha kind for sure. Um, do you remember when we weren't friends?
Fed: Vividly.
Empire: Okay, so.... back in the day... and this is hilarious, you're really gonna laugh your ass off at this one...
Fed: Please just tell me.
Empire: No, this story is great - really funny!
Fed: Empire.
Empire: It's so hilarious. Knee-slapping and stuff!
Fed: Empire!
Empire: Okay, soooo... when we weren't friends, we sent this ship out, and the crew had standing orders to blow any Federation outposts to smithereens, and the really hilarious part - you're gonna laugh so hard! - is that the crew has been in cryo sleep this whole time, so when they wake up, they'll think we're still not friends, and will attack the outposts nearby! Isn't that a hoot?
Fed: ....
Empire: Federation? Hello? You're real quiet.
Fed: You fucking morons.
Empire: Well, okay...
Fed: You knew about this, and you didn't do anything?
Empire: Well no, because... we forgot they were there. You know, they were asleep... easy to forget about. Like that girl in your stories who sleeps, and the spinny thing... we never really got that story, but I'm sure you understand.
Fed: *pinches bridge of nose and squeezes eyes shut* Why the fuck were they in cryo?
Empire: I...um... reasons.
Fed:
Empire:
Fed: So they're surrounded by unarmed Federation outposts, and will wake up and fire on them, is that it? Fuck, dude. Dispatch somebody to take care of that shit before they start another war.
Empire: Okay, so you're laugh really hard at this one...
Fed: WHAT NOW?
Empire: So we've talked to the P'Rang about hustling out there to take them home, but they're like, too far away. By like, days.
Fed: And?
Empire: Sooooo, you guys have a ship that's closer.
Fed: Ugh, what?
Empire: Your flagship is kind of near there... and there's a Klingon emissary at a starbase near you, she can probs help you out.
Fed: There are no ships at that starbase.
Empire: You can ship her out to you in a gutted probe. We don't mind.
Fed: ... so you created a problem forever ago, and now you want us to bail your sorry asses out of it?
Empire: Don't look at it like that! Think of it as one friend doing another friend a friendly favor... because we're friends. Friends, friends, friends. Space BFFs, even.
Fed: ... fine.
Empire: Sweet! Okay, we owe you one. Do you like gagh? We can have a shit-ton of Klingon grandmas make you pots of gagh. Or, we can get you a great deal on bits of shiny metal to put on your uniforms! Just don't ask where they came from, because... Ferengi.
Fed:
Fed: ... you're like a shitty roommate sometimes, Empire.


So I've found that I don't much care for Star Trek romances. There are characters that I ship, but when it comes down to a romance that the writers have come up with, I'm mostly left cold. It seems like they always mismatch the character, and we're dragged through the mud along with them, like some terrible sci-fi version of OKCupid.
But this pairing... this one I like. K'Ehleyr has a warmth and humor to her that pairs well with Worf. He obviously cares for her, but she frustrates him all the same. The same can be said of K'Ehleyr. It feels like their differences are complimentary. They'd be that old couple who bicker incessantly about nothing, but are together for fifty years because they can't stand to be apart for more than a few hours. We never learn what happened six years earlier, and while I kind of wish we got more hints about that, it isn't gnawing at the edges of my soul. It's okay to know that they got together in some way, then fell apart.
What's more, even though this seems to have been planned as a one-off, it doesn't finish that way.  This rock being tossed into the pond will radiate ripples for years, setting into motion stories and plot-lines that reach across years and other series. Worf's life will be affected personally, and professionally, and the Empire will go through an upheaval... all because K'Ehleyr Visited the E That One Time. That's the kind of continuity I like, friends. No person is an island, so when the writers ask "Didn't character once do X? Let's expand on that," we find that the world around them becomes richer as more people are affected by their past choices and actions.
That's good stuff, Maynard.
But right now, the episode is a stand-alone, so we'll look at that.
Firstly, our A-plot deals with Worf trying to coincide his past personal life with his current professional one. He tries to go all-pro, but she teases him. He accuses her of using humor as a shield to cover her true feelings. They end up taking a sex break, of all things. In the end, things work out for them professionally because they are able to work to their strengths, but they fall apart personally because the timing isn't right. (Recall that the same thing happened between Riker and Troi.)

Our B-plot is mysterious and intriguing, but mostly is there as an excuse for K'Ehleyr to be on the ship and gone again, and to bring in the other principal players on the Enterprise. It also exists to take small breaks from the A-plot, and to provide a logical end to this particular chapter in the book that is Worf and K'Ehleyr. For lacking a lot of meat, the B-plot was actually fairly satisfying. It didn't intrude too much on the A-plot, and there was just enough explained that the mysteries remained. Sometimes when too much is explained, it sucks the mystery from a thing and makes it less interesting. Here, there was just enough information given that that didn't happen. However, just so that I don't come off as being inconsistent,  I will add that revisiting the T'Ong's situation at a later date would have been welcome as well.
Overall, I feel like this is a good episode, and one of the better ones from season two. It was more character-based that sci-fi or political, but we need those every now and again, because Star Trek is nothing without its interpersonal relationships.

Fun Facts:

- The producers were so impressed with Suzie Plakson's performance as Dr Selar that they asked her back to play K'Ehleyr. We will most definitely see her again.
- Tracy Torme, who had written the episode that features Dr Selar (The Schizoid Man) had wanted to get Worf involved with Selar, but the idea was shot down, because The Emissary was already in development. Torme was disappointed, saying that he felt Worf and K'Ehleyr was "too obvious." He liked the idea of pairing a Klingon with a Vulcan instead.
- Director Cliff Bole invented the Klingon mating rituals seen in this episode.
- Shots of the Klingon cruiser were recycled footage from ST:TMP.
- The star chart from "Conspiracy" is used in the security chief's office.
- The office of the security chief was a redress of the courtroom set from "Measure of a Man," and the geology lab from "Pen Pals."
- The subtitles I was using for this episode could not figure out if K'Ehleyr traveled in a class-8 probe, or a class-A probe. Both exist, but K'Ehleyr's was class-8.
- Can't really prove it, but I'm pretty sure the same bellowing sound effect was used for the third creature in Worf's exercise program, as was used for Anya's scary transformation creature in "The Dauphin."



Red deaths: 0
To date: 2

Gold deaths: 0

Blue deaths: 0
Unknown color crewmember deaths: 18

Obnoxious Wes moments: 0

Legitimate Wes moments when he should have told someone to go fuck themselves: 0
To date: 1

Sassy Geordi moments: 0
To date: 6

Sassy Wes Moments: 0
To date: 1

Sassy Worf Moment: 1
To date: 5

Sassy Riker Moments: 0

To date: 7

Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date: 13

Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 13
Sassy Data Moments: 1
To date: 7
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Pulaski Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 3
To date: 5

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 1
To date: 21

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 2
To date: 25

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
To date: 2
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 0
To date: 13

Number of episodes left until we get rid of Pulaski:

Dorothy is a very naughty kitten.