ST:TNG Season Three, Episode Eight "The Price"

ST:TNG Season Three. Episode Eight "The Price"
Production Order: 8
Air Order: 8
Stardate: 43385.6
Original Air Date: November 13, 1989

This week's mood board is all about Troi having a shitty day. You've had this day, too. Everyone is either an asshole or an idiot, and you're glad that it's over, but you're so freaking drained that you can barely muster the enthusiasm for being home.
She slunks in through the door of her quarters, and asks Majel for the mail.
"Some journal in Canada wants you to contribute something to them," says Majel. "Also, your mom called three times."
"Fuuuuuuck," says Troi, and she goes to her laptop to get those calls.
Same, Troi. It's the end of the day, and you just want to hang out with a cat and watch Netflix in your sweats, but some extrovert is all up in your Skype, and it's like "...why?"
Troi decides that if she has to deal with Lwaxana, then she's gonna get her something good in return, and sassily tells the replicator that she wants "a real chocolate sundae with real whipped cream."
"What the hell does that mean?" asks Majel.
"I don't want your fake-ass Splenda sundae that's secretly made of cauliflower. I want chocolate that's made from actual cacao beans and vanilla with an alcohol content."
"Lol, we don't have that," says Majel. "Only that crap from The Matrix that's been determined to be nutritionally adequate, but has been flavored to be the thing you asked for."
"Getting real sick of your shit, Majel," Troi starts. She's gearing up for a big argument with the computer. (And really, how satisfying can that be? You'll never win and spend every shower for the foreseeable future thinking up better comebacks for that argument.)
Picard calls.
She literally mutters, "now what?" before answering her comm badge in her best customer service voice.
And Picard is suddenly that friend who wants to go clubbing on a Tuesday night because they refuse to acknowledge that they're 35 and that 10 pm is Pajama Time.
"Come out with us!"

She tries to get out of it gracefully. "I'm not really dressed for that, sir."
"Just throw on any old thing! Come check out this wormhole!"
And because he's her superior officer and not some rando she can blow off, she agrees.
Sassy Troi Moment #2: "God forbid I should miss my first look at the wormhole."

"Please tell me there's some fucking chocolate at this dumb party."

Troi arrives in Ten Forward, and Picard introduces her to this week's guests stars. There's Adult Braces, Very Tall Guy, Hispanic Dude, and Hired Gun.

Through conversation, we glean some info: the E is orbiting a planet that's sitting next to the only known stable wormhole, which appears every few hours. Adult Braces, who lives on the planet, is auctioning off control of the wormhole to the highest bidder. Very Tall Guy is one bidder. Hispanic Dude represents the Federation. The guy Hispanic Dude refers to as "the best hired gun in the business" says his name is Divononi Ral, and explains that he's here repping for the Chrysalians (they'll never be mentioned again outside of this episode).
"Let's look at the wormhole," says Premier Braces Bhavani.
So they all go to the window, and it opens, and Troi looks at Ral, who is staring at her.

Dramatic music! Opening credits!

Picard's Log 43385.6: "So we're orbiting Barzan II, which has a stable wormhole next to it. It's totes a shortcut to the Gamma Quadrant. People are bidding to see who gets to control it."

Everyone is gathered in the Obs Lounge, while Premier Bhavani gives them all the exposition for this episode: her planet is hella inhospitable to other other species, so her people are pretty dependent on others for stuff. But now this wormhole has shown up, and while they don't have space travel yet, they feel like this is a good natural resource for them to exploit.
*raises hand*
Yes, hi. If you're pre-warp, why don't you fall under the Prime Directive? Did someone not from the Federation discover your people and introduce you around at parties, so you had already been influenced by the time the Federation showed up? Also, this is your only "natural resource," were you planning on just selling it, or charging rent each moth as well? How does that not make you dependent on someone else?

Anyway, she thanks Picard for hosting the bidding, as no one can go down to her planet.
Riker shows up and tells Picard that some Ferengi have popped up, demanding to be included.
"Were you expecting them?" Picard asks Bhavani, knowing that Ferengi are about as welcome as unsolicited dick pics.
"No," shrugs Bhavani diplomatically, "but if they want to join us, I'd be okay with that. They can bid if they want to."
Picard has O'Brien beam them directly into the Obs Lounge.
A trio of Ferengi appear and the one in the middle starts bitching without preamble about how they've been excluded.
Bhavani smoothes it over by telling them she didn't realize they were interested, and of course they are welcome to join in the bidding.
Dude in the middle introduces himself as DaiMon Goss, and his friends are Kol and Dr Arridor.

Picard introduces himself and says he is hosting.
"Good, get us chairs," replies Goss.
Picard is trying to be patient, and explain things, but Goss is all, "Fine, just have your Klingon servant get us chairs."
"I'm head of security," barks Worf.
"Then who gets the chairs?" demands Goss.
Picard starts to lose his cool, and it ends in a Sassy Moment. "Look, everybody else only has one rep here. I'll get your buddies some accommodations -"

He excuses himself, and once in the corridor, lets out the same kind of sigh as Troi earlier, because everyone on this ship is 1000% done with this shit already. This is clearly a week of Mondays.
In the Obs Lounge, Goss takes a bag from his departing friends, then announces that they can exchange pleasantries later, but now he'd like to do business. Ral rolls his eyes. Goss opens the bag. It's a shit-ton of gold.
"I'll match any offer, plus all this gold," he says.
There's been no fucking offer yet, Goss. What the hell kind of terrible businessman are you? At least get the feel for the room, idiot.

Troi is in her office, Googling Ral, and then he shows up. She lies and tells him she was going over personnel files to cover the fact that she got caught.
"I'd like to negotiate dinner," he says.
"What about your traveling companion?" she asks delicately, referring to the girl who was hanging off his arm earlier like a Bond girl.
"She's... traveling," he smiles. "I sent her home."
"Why?"
"You know why."
"Weren't you getting along?"
"Don't do "Counselor Troi"," he replies. "Who are you when you leave the office?"
And he suddenly kicks into apex predator mode, slowly circling her chair, leaning in to talk to her from above, sliding the headband from her hair, running his fingers through her hair in a suggestion as to how she should wear it, shushing her when she tries to protest.
"Oh, you never do leave the office, do you?"
She's super uncomfortable, and pushes him away, but he's just "Dinner at 8?" before leaving.
This guy is an abuser. Run, girl!

Serial killer music! Commercial break!

Picard is in his ready room with Data, Riker and Mendoza, the Hispanic dude who is repping for the Federation. Data explains that, because the Barzans don't actually have any kind of space travel, they sent a probe into the wormhole to check it out. The probe sent back info from BFE, Gamma Quadrant. Picard is impressed.
"It would take us a century to get there at warp 9," he muses.
Riker posits a future where the Ferengi win control of the wormhole and impose tolls to use it.
Mendoza thinks that the Ferengi don't have a lot to offer the Barzans, and Riker thinks they should watch out for Ral instead.
Mendoza thinks he's right, but asks how Riker figured that out.
"He was the most comfortable dude at that table."
Mendoza: "You must play poker, Commander."
Sassy Riker Moment, completely straight-faced: "Poker? Is that a game of some sort?"
"Lol, Riker hosts weekly games," says Picard, and Riker smiles.
Mendoza says the skills they share are similar.
The conversation switches direction, and they tell Mendoza that the wormhole may not end up being as stable as they hoped, as stable wormholes are virtually unheard of.
I'm really surprised that the Federation didn't do this much research ahead of time, then inform Mendoza of it before going to the negotiation table. You would think that in his job, he would want all of this info before bidding on what could turn out to be a total waste of time and money.
Picard uses the term "proverbial lemon," which Data starts to define, but Picard stops him.
Picard says that before they make an offer, he wants to do a full scan of it, then send Data and Geordi in to get a good look once they determine it to be safe.

The Ferengi are in their quarters doing something shady, because why not? The doctor uses a horse syringe to get genetic material from Goss, then mixes it with something, and pours the concoction back into Goss' palm. It turns blue as it dries. Dr Arridor explains that the mixture will produce a severe allergic reaction in Mendoza, though it won't kill him. (Because they want us to think of Ferengi as opportunistic dicks, and not cold-blooded killers.)
The plan is for Goss to shake Mendoza's hand, spread the mixture onto his palm, and give him a reaction that will knock him out of the running.
They laugh.

Ral shows up at Troi's quarters. She's wearing her hair down, and her dress is fitted and off-the-shoulder.
"Much better," he smiles.
I cringe.
Throughout this scene, Troi moves between uncertainty and deciding that she wants to impress him, so she's going to be forward and impulsive. It's kind of awful to watch. They kiss, she pulls away. He asks if he's moving too fast for her, and she says no, that she's moving too fast for her.
"Even better," he replies with a smile.
This guy's face is Martin Shkreli-level punchable.
They end up skipping dinner to have sex instead.
Ugh.

Mendoza weaves drunkenly through the corridors, then stumbles through the doors of sick bay, where he collapses on the floor. Crusher and her team spring to action.

In the ready room, the Ferengi are vociferously complaining to Picard about the "unfair advantages" that the Federation is taking with these negotiations. They've heard about Picard's intention to send in a manned ship to get information about the wormhole, and they're outraged.
"Bhavani approved the plan," says Picard, "and we plan to share everything we find with the other delegates."
"Liars!" shouts Goss.
"Then send in your own fucking probe," snarls Riker.
"We will!" yells Goss, and they sort of dance out of the room because they're the drunken gnomes of space.
Riker leaves, and Crusher pages Picard to sick bay.

Picard and Riker go to sick bay, where Mendoza is unconscious. Crusher reiterates that his illness isn't life-threatening, but system-wide. He can't go back to negotiations.
Picard and Riker leave sick bay.
Now that we've gotten rid of Mendoza, Picard tells Riker that he'll have to rep the Federation. For story's sake, Picard can't do it, because he's the host. Riker also has poker skills, which is what that set-up in the ready room was all about, with Mendoza praising said skills. The story wants the E crew to be involved with this wormhole thing, so they had to take down Mendoza so Riker could do it instead.
Riker protests that the stakes here are much higher than just a few poker chips, and Picard smiles and says that's when the game gets interesting.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

The wormhole opens, and Geordi offers to let the Ferengi go first.
"After you," says Dr Arridor.
"I don't like the idea of spending the rest of my life in here if something goes awry," Geordi tells Data.
"It's okay," says Data cheerfully. "If that happens, you'll have me to talk to."
I... think that was a Sassy Data Moment?
Geordi gives him a look that says yaaaaay, and they fly in.
The bridge loses contact with them after a few moments.

We go to the Obs Lounge, where they've decided to start negotiations without waiting for any data to return first.
Ral decides to be a Mean Girl.
"Wow, this must be so awkward for you, Commander Riker. Like, not knowing what to do or anything? Don't be embarrassed, you can totes ask me to explain anything you don't get."
"I think I got a good handle on it," replies Riker civilly.
"Ooh, starting out on the defence," says Ral. He uses this as a segue to talk about violent and war-faring the Federation is, compared to the Chrysalians, who have had peace for ten generations. He rudely turns off the viewscreen showing the Federation proposal. It's clear that Bhavani is eating this shit up.

The next scene starts with oily hands rubbing an oily foot, and we hear Troi and Ral talking. I guess he's giving her a foot massage, but we watch this shot of the foot massage for an oddly long time.

Going back to a shot of them, he's shirtless, and she's wearing some kind of shapeless shift that looks like it'll fall off at any moment. She asks him a question about himself, which he deflects by asking her what her Betazoid senses tell her.
"Not a lot, actually," she admits. "That's never really happened to me before. I can usually sense something, but my physical human emotions must be blocking it."
"I like that I'm harder to read than all of your other guys," he says.
GIRL:

He's fishing to see if you're seeing someone else, as well as being unnecessarily secretive.
"I'm not seeing anyone else right now," she says.
"What about Riker?" he asks.
After demanding who he's been talking to, Ral says he just sensed something between them. She insists that they were once an item, but they're not together anymore.
She circles around: "How come we're not talking about you? Why are we only talking about me?"
And his next deflection: "You have to listen to everyone talking about themselves all day. I thought maybe you'd want to talk about you for a bit. Who counsels the Counselor?"
Her confession: "When I first saw you, it was like I had been waiting for you my whole life."
GIRL, NO.
He decides to tell her something about him, but he makes a big deal about the fact that it's a secret, and she can't tell anyone else.
"I'm three quarters human, one quarter Betazoid. None of my other siblings were empaths, but I am." He decides to go all Vulnerable Vinnie on her. "I didn't really want the ability or need it, and it was overwhelming, so I left Earth. It's kind of isolating to tuck your heart away and feel nothing all the time, especially at the negotiating table, but you can't have a heart. I never thought I would need it, until I met you."
Dude. Spare me.
And she hugs him, because that's how sociopathic seduction works.

The wormhole spits the shuttle and the Ferengi pod out of the back end, and they turn around to go back so they can be ready when it opens on their end again. Geordi calls the pod to check to see if both Ferengi are okay.
"None of your beeswax!" spits Dr Arridor. "Fuck off!"
Sassy Geordi muttering: "Yeah, happy landings to you, too."
"So, hey," says Data. "We're not where we're supposed to be."
"We're at the end of the wormhole in the Gamma Quadrant, right?"
"Nope, we're in the Delta quadrant, like 200 light years from where we should be."
"Maybe the Barzan probe was wrong," says Geordi.
"Or maybe it was right, and the wormhole shifts," Data suggests.
"Um, VISOR's getting weird readings of the wormhole site," says Geordi.
"Yeah, the instruments are showing weird readings of other stuff, too."

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Crusher is exercising in some kind of small gym space when Troi hurries in, apologizing for being late. Then they fail the Bechdel test, as it's obvious that these women are friends, but all they talk about is guys. Troi admits that she's doing Ral, and that it's some kind of whirlwind romance, and that she fell for him instantly, and Crusher talks about doing the same with another guy, but that it took months for her to figure out how she felt about her late husband. Troi considers slowing down, but then they both echo, "nah."
Also bugging me about this scene: they're in tight work-out outfits, stretching, doing the splits, leaning over. Girl talk while providing eye candy for the male viewers in the audience who clearly don't want to hear about Troi's romances.

Ugh, Male Gaze in spades.

The camera pans across Ten Forward. Goss is at the bar, harassing female Starfleet officers. Ral is sitting with Leyor, the Tall Guy from Caldonia.
"Really surprised to see Caldonia here," Ral remarks, turning up the ol' Betazoid empathetic skillz. "You guys are super into research and all that, but man, think of the administrative bullshit you'd have to deal with if the wormhole is given to you."
"Oh, I've actually been more concerned about that as things go on," admits Leyor, who seems to not recognize that he's being played.
Does this guy not negotiate contracts regularly, or...?
"Yeah, probably a lot of red tape involved," nods Ral.

We cut mid-sentence from their convo to the Obs Lounge, where Bhavani is announcing that Caldonia is bowing out of the race.
Everyone is surprised except Ral.
Riker immediately breaks in, telling Leyor that the Federation wants to enter a trade agreement with Caldonia for some mineral the Caldonians have a ton of, which it would then add to the Federation's bid for the wormhole.
"Nah," says Leyor, standing up to leave. "I already made that trade agreement with Ral."
He leaves, and Riker politely accuses Ral of insider trading.
"Maybe they just didn't want to do business with the Federation," shrugs Ral easily. "Also, I want to add Caldonia's mineral supply to my bid."

Back out in BFE, Delta Quadrant, Geordi is arguing with Arridor over the comm system.
"Dude, I can see with my VISOR that this end of the wormhole isn't stable. It probably switches a lot. You can see on your own instruments that we are not in the Gamma Quadrant."
"I will neither confirm nor deny those findings," says Arridor smugly.
Ugh, I hate people like that, people who think that unnecessary secret information gives them power. Fuck those guys.
"We need to leave now," says Geordi. "I can see it getting worse."
"No, the wormhole isn't opening for another 40 seconds," Arridor insists. "We'll go then."
"I can guide you in, you just have to follow us -"
But Arridor hangs up on him. Frustrated, Geordi moves forward into the event horizon, and they enter the wormhole. Arridor remarks that the Federation panics under pressure, and congratulates himself on waiting.
The wormhole appears.
He keeps talking. "...right on schedule, just as I said it -"
The wormhole closes up and takes off like Wile E Coyote on rocket skates.
They make this face.

Troi and Ral are having dinner in her quarters, and she brings up the fact that he pretty much stole the Caldonian bid.
"Commander Riker didn't know how you did it," she says, keeping her voice light.
"He's the most dangerous man in that room to me," admits Ral. "He has some skills."
"But not your edge," she mentions.
What follows is actually a really productive argument about ethics. She accuses him of using his empathic powers to get a leg up on his competition because no one at that table knows he has them. He says that he doesn't tell people that he's an empath because it makes them uncomfortable.
"I think you keep it a secret because it gives you an advantage," she replies icily.
"You seemed okay with it when I was using my advantage to get ahead with you."
This is clearly not a thing that she wants to be reminded of, especially because she was sleeping with him before he told her. She let herself be seduced by him, then he told her to gain her sympathy. Dude wanted to get laid. But now that he's being called on his shit, he's gonna lash out at her.
"You're manipulating people by reading their inner selves!"
And now for his "everybody's doing it, why are you attacking me" argument: "People have been doing that for thousands of years, just by reading body language, or listening closely. I just happen to be better at it." Then, just to twist the knife in: "You do it."
"I'm doing it to help my crew," she argues. "And everybody knows that I'm an empath."
"Oh, yeah?" he demands. "Don't you use that to give your side an advantage? Do you tell the attacking Romulan that he's bluffing? Or do you just tell Picard?"
"I'm protecting my crew!"
"Yeah, it's a matter of life and death when you do it, but I deal in properties and exchanges. Nobody gets hurt when I do it."
Translation: "I steal little stuff from mom and pop general stores, but at least I'm not stealing AIDS medication from hospitals!"
Ral: "So you tell me, which one of us has more of a problem with ethics?"
*narrows eyes at Ral* You gaslighting fuck.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Riker is sitting by himself in Ten Forward, reading some little padd, when Ral approaches him. They're both putting on the cheerful, "hey, how's it going, buddy?" act.
Sassy Riker: "Bought out the Ferengi yet?"
"No, do you think I should?" asks Ral jovially.
"I think you'll try, either way."
"We both know it'll be just the two of us in the end," remarks Ral. "You're actually pretty good at this, better than you know."
Sassy Riker: "I'm hoping that I'm actually better than you know."

"I'm ready to bring out the big guns and make an offer before your guys come back with the information. Are you?"
Riker is silent. He plays a bit conservatively, as does the Federation. If he played that way, he could either win big or lose big.
"Oh, I guess not. Is that why you're second in command of this ship?"
Riker is looking less jovial and more annoyed.
Ral smiles. "You know, I feel responsible for you, in a way... related."
The hell?
"Deanna," he replies in response to Riker's confused look. Then he pretty much talks about how he's fucking Troi, and how Riker could have had her, if only he was willing to do more.
"And now I'm here," says Ral, " and I'm going to take her too."
A moment passes, then Riker grins. "Lol, you fucked up. If you can make Deanna happy, that would make me happy. You're really not a bad guy, minus the fact that you don't have any values. If you stay with Deanna, she may just be able to drag your sorry ass out of the mud. But only if you're smart enough to take it."

Riker swallows his drink. "Later, loser."
And he walks the hell out.

On the bridge, Worf tells Picard that Goss has left the E and is now moving his ship next to the wormhole entrance. They're also powering up the missile launchers. Picard calls Goss.
"Dude, what are you doing?"
"You guys have been working the back side of this negotiation, and you've signed a secret contract with the Barzans. You never considered us a serious bid."
There's some posturing between the two, and Goss fires a missile at the wormhole. Worf uses his phasers to blow up the missile before it reaches its target.

Bhavani is meeting with Riker and Ral in the Obs Lounge when red alert klaxons go off, and Riker calls Picard. Picard tells Riker about Goss, and says he needs to get to the bridge.
Ral pounces. "Wow, it seems like your wormhole might be used as a pawn in the power struggle between the Federation and the Ferengi," he says to Bhavani.
She looks alarmed.

"WTF?" Picard demands of Goss.
"If we can't have the wormhole, no one can!"
"Again: WTF? You can't blow up a wormhole with a missile," reasons Picard. "But if you detonate one near the shuttle or pod, you could kill them."
"Whatever," shrugs Goss.
Troi stands up. "Dude is lying. He doesn't mean any of this."
The doors to the corridor that leads to the Obs Lounge open, and Bhavani and Ral ask to enter the bridge.
Ral puffs up his chest and says that he's in a better position to fix this thing with Goss than Picard is.
Picard agrees to let him speak to Goss.
Ral moves toward the viewscreen and tells Goss that he's just reached an agreement with the Barzans that the Chrysalians get control of the wormhole. He offers Goss free access to it in perpetuity, in exchange for Ferengi convoy privileges.
"Cool," says Goss.

Bhavani addresses Riker: "Sorry you had to learn about it this way. But Ral represents a people who are peaceful, and the Federation isn't as peaceful as they are."
"Hey, Bhavani, I think you're missing a few pieces to this puzzle," announces Troi.
Everyone turns to look at her.
Sassy Troi to Ral: "I'm sorry, was there something you wanted to say?"
Get him, girl.
"Nope," says Ral quickly. "Just tense. The situation was tense. Missiles and stuff."
"Yeah, no," says Troi. "I didn't sense tension from you or Goss. I think that shit was made up."
Goss starts protesting how he was totally tense, and he was gonna super blow the wormhole up, blah, blah, and Picard shuts off the viewscreen.
"Pretty sure that was all an act." She turns to Bhavani. "Ral has empathic powers and was manipulating you, preying on your fear of conflict by highlighting the fact that the Federation has enemies. And I think that he set this little act up with Goss so that you would pick him over the Federation."
Ral gives Troi a death stare. She flings that shit right back.

"Beat it, fuckboi."

The shuttle comes out of space in front of them.
"Hey, just got back, by the skin of our teeth," Geordi tells Picard.
"Where's the Ferengi pod?"
"Trapped in the freaking Delta Quadrant," says Geordi. "I tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen. This end of the wormhole is stable, but the other isn't. It shifts locations. The Barzan probe wouldn't have had that info. Eventually, this end will become unstable, too. It's totally worthless."
Bhavani looks disappointed.
Worf tells Picard that Goss is asking where his men are.
Sassy Picard Moment: "Advise him to set his coordinates for the Delta Quadrant. He may run into them in 80 years or so."
Sassy Riker Moment: "Congrats on winning the rights to a worthless hole in space, Ral!"
Ral tries to cover the hideous previous ten minutes by saying that he takes risks and stands by agreements.
Oh, yes, good job. You can now offer the Ferengi a free trip to the middle of nowhere for as long as they like.

Troi answers the door to her quarters to find Ral on her doorstep. She invites him in, but I'm not sure why.
"I'm being called back to give explanations as to why I bought a worthless thing in space," he tells her. "They'll probs forgive me. They know the risks." There's a pause. "I had to do it, Troi."
Oh, not Deanna anymore? "Troi"?
"I had to do the thing," he says. "Bhavani was gonna go with the Federation."
"And you knew I couldn't let you do that," she replies.
"I asked you once to run away with me," he says. "I'm asking again. Run away with me. I want to change."
Bullshit.
"You can help me change, be my conscience."
Victim. She can be your victim.
"I already have a job as the ship's Counselor," she answers.
Translation: I'm not your private therapist.
He leaves, and she looks kind of sad.
I guess that was bound to happen. She escaped a sociopathic monster.

Okay, let's just get into this. I have no idea whether Ral or the show was more full of shit in that last scene. Ral is like, "I want to change," which is crap, because generally, older sociopaths don't think anything is wrong with their behavior, and are not interested in changing. That's just shit they tell their victims to get them to fall in line and come back so they can continue to victimize them. And "you can help me change"? Nope, that's another line, again to comfort that victim and make them think that everything will be alright, when really, said sociopath does not want to change.
But here's the thing: the show never admits that Ral is a sociopath. They set up all of the red flags that say "sociopath," but then end things in such a way that make him seem like some little lost lamb who just wandered down the wrong path, and can be lead into the light again, if only Troi will go with him. The show plays soft, sad music while he tells her that he's glad she outed him, because he doesn't like what he sees when he looks in the mirror. So, is Ral more full of shit, talking about how he wants to change, and how he can help her; or is it the show, pretending that Ral is some nice guy who was lead astray by his job? Either way, fuck off, show. You can't introduce that kind of character, and then whitewash over the shitty stuff he does. I mean, this episode was not going to end on a high note. Ral's comeuppance is that he bought a worthless hole in space for his bosses, but it's not like he won't go right back to it. He's not going to meet Troi in the future, and proudly tell her that he stopped manipulating people for fun and profit, and that he's now a puppy-raiser for Guide Dogs For the Blind. And yes, Troi was always going to be upset at the end. Whether the show admits to it or not, dude emotionally manipulated her. She was going to be upset if he walked away and never said another word to her, she was going to be upset if he said he wanted to be pen pals, she was going to be upset if he came to her and said "run away with me." Part of me wants to know how she managed to miss all of the red flags that surrounded this guy and his creepy behavior. Surely, she's encountered this before? At least in training to be a counselor? But then I start to wonder if people in that profession are more or less susceptible to people of that nature. Sociopaths need someone trusting to prey on, and certainly counselors are out to set up a trusting relationship with their clients so that the client will open up to them.
Before I get a bunch of people commenting on how he couldn't have possibly been a sociopath because he seemed so sincere in liking her: he absolutely benefitted from seeing her. Possibly at first it was just, "the counselor looks like a good lay," but it then it may have moved onto "it would be fun to mess with her," before becoming "ooh, she has info I can harvest concerning Riker!" I don't buy that he had sincere interest in her. He admitted to manipulating her.

And that brings me to something that I've been thinking about for a while now, and which the show has been kind of vague on before admitting it in this episode: having Troi on the bridge falls into the area of grey ethics. Ral is correct that it's a bit dodgy that she's constantly able to give Picard that leg up on other people. The crew knows she's empathic, but others do not. Would it be more ethical to not have her on the bridge at all? Probably. There actually isn't another reason for her to be there. She isn't technically a senior officer, but was added to the bridge crew at Picard's discretion... most likely because her empathic skills are so useful. She'll take the bridge officer's test, but not for several more years. She's just... handy to have around.
It also leads me to wonder if empaths are barred from holding certain jobs around non-empaths. Counselor seems like a good one, maybe doctor, medical in general, but then you have someone like Ral who doesn't divulge this talent to anyone. Do I believe him when he says that he doesn't do so because it makes others uncomfortable? Yes. It probably does. But I do I also believe that he hides it to give himself an advantage? Hell yes. Are there jobs out there like Ral's, where having an unfair advantage could severely screw things up? Where a person could take advantage of others in a nasty way? On Betazed, the natives all have the same talents (possibly with varying degrees), so any job would be open to them, but in the case where no one does but you, could this cause a problem similar to that of Ilia from The Motion Picture, where she is forced to sign a contract saying that she won't do certain things?
It's an interesting thought, and one we'll touch on a little further in the season.



Fun Facts:

- Think you've seen they guy who plays Leyor before? That's Kevin Peter Hall, and he played Harry on "Harry and the Hendersons," and the Predator on "Predator."

- There were several scenes cut from this episode: O'Brien having trouble with some girlfriend we never meet; Wes wanting to go to an overnight party on the holodeck; and more stuff on the Chrysalians.
- The Chrysalians never show up again, and the man they hired to represent them was human, so no one knows what a Chrysalian looks like.
- The Googling that Troi does on Ral reveals that he was born in the European Alliance, which means such a thing still exists in the 24th century. *cough, cough* fuck you, Brexit *cough, cough*
- The little gym where Troi and Crusher exercise is actually Engineering, with mirrors hiding the panels, and the pool table console removed.

- Michael Piller thought this was a great Troi episode and a good script overall, but thought the episode itself was less than fabulous.
- Prior to the episode airing, people were all up in arms over the fact that Troi has sex with Ral, but after it aired, no one complained, much like that infamous kiss between Kirk and Uhura.
-This was the first time that it was firmly established that the galaxy is divided into quarters.
- We'll see the Barzan wormhole again in Voyager. We'll also see Arridor and Kol again in that episode.
- This is the second time we've seen Troi's office.
- First mention of Troi's love of chocolate.
- First introduction of the Ferengi pod.

- Here, Troi says she sensed no tension from Goss. It will be later established that she can't read Ferengi.
- The Ferengi still think that gold is valuable in the Federation, as Goss offered a bunch of it up at negotiations, and expected the others to be impressed.


Red deaths: 0
To date: 0

Gold deaths: 0

Blue deaths: 0
To date: 1
Unnamed color crew deaths: 0

Obnoxious Wes moments: 0

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

Sassy Geordi moments: 1
To date: 8

Sassy Wes Moments: 0
To date: 0

Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 2

Sassy Riker Moments: 3
To date: 7

Sassy Picard Moments: 2
To date: 5

Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 1
To date: 2
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Troi Moments: 3
To date: 4
Sassy Guinan Moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 0
To date: 0

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 7

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 4
To date: 14

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 2
To date: 4
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 1
To date: 2
Picard Maneuvers: 0
To date: 13

Carol Brady the Pocket Cat

ST:TNG Season Three, Episode Seven "The Enemy"

ST:TNG Season Three, Episode Seven "The Enemy"
Production Order: 7
Air Order: 7
Stardate: 43349.2
Original Air Date: November 6, 1989

Not to be confused with the TOS episode "The Enemy Within," where Kirk is split in two by a transporter accident, and is accused of attempted rape of a crew member, but is completely upstaged by this alien dog-thing:

*******

Another week where we just jump into the action without any exposition first, and I'm really okay with that. The exposition openings are fine, and formulas are great when they work for you, but I like the shake-up every now and again. In this case, Riker leads an away team with Geordi and Worf to the surface of a planet that is nobody's idea of a vacation spot. The air is filled with electrical storms, and the wind is going pretty good. Yeah, it's kind of the visual version of "it was a dark and stormy night," but it works here. Riker drops a beam-out beacon on the ground and says they have less than 15 minutes to beam back up again, so you know they have to do this shit in windows. He asks Geordi if he can see any better than they can, and Geordi gives a positive version of "meh." Worf yells over the wind that the tricorders are only working about five meters out, and that communicators don't work. Riker remarks that it's a good thing they didn't bring Data, because this place would fuck him up good.

Okay, establishment set - why are we here?

Ah, an answer: they've spied some Romulan ship wreckage, and want to know why the holy hell the Roms are in Federation space?

Geordi looks at the wreckage with his special eyes, and predicts that someone blew up the ship after it crashed.

Riker decides that they should split up and move out in a 25-meter radius... and didn't Worf just say the tricorders wouldn't pick up anything outside of 5? Sounds like an excellent opportunity for something terrible to happen. He also throws a Ship-Disabler into the mix by reminding them that they have 12 minutes left in their window.

Worf goes around some rocks and stumbles onto an unconscious and bleeding friend.

Unfortunately, his manhandling of the guy and yelling to Riker wakes the dude up, and an injured, crash-weakened Romulan tries to choke out a healthy Klingon. Worf knocks him the hell out again.

Geordi, stumbling through the darkened storm, falls into a pit. It's filled with just enough water to not break his fall, but completely soak him to the bone. Just to add insult to injury, his VISOR falls off.

Worf and Riker carry the unconscious Romulan back to the beam-up beacon, but they can't find Geordi. 

Because Geordi is in a hole.

Four minutes left.

Geordi manages to find his VISOR and get it back on, but he can see that he's standing in a pit. He yells for his crewmembers and tries to find a way out, but the pit walls are deep and there isn't an easy exit.

Riker yells for Geordi for a few, but stumbles back to the beacon.

"I can't find him. We need to leave."

Worf makes to go back out again, but it's too late. A moment later, they beam out with the beacon and the Romulan.

Geordi sits on a rock in the pit and screams Worf's name.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

PIcard's Log 43349.2: "So we picked up this distress signal on Galorndon Core, a planet in Federation space, and we found a crashed Romulan ship that's been destroyed. The away team found one injured Rom, but now Geordi is missing."

(Dude, Galorndon Core is a cool name for a planet. Thanks for not calling it Psi 2000, or some stupid shit like that, show.)

Crusher rushes into the transporter room with one of those killer floating stretchers and a team of Blue shirts. They load the Rom on the stretcher and haul him off. Worf calls for Security to go with them and guard the Rom, but Crusher points out that dude is not going anywhere. Frankly, I think they both make good points.

Riker, who is clearly worried, takes out his temper on O'Brien, barking that he needs to find Geordi.

Ahh, the lovely feeling when a superior asks you to do something you all know is impossible, and you protest but they yell at you anyway.

Picard enters and Riker requests to lead another away team. but Picard turns him down. It's not safe to beam into that crap. Riker is told he can go down again when another window opens.

There's a nice segue here where we follow Riker and Picard out of the transporter room and down the corridors, talking about the away mission.

Sassy Riker: "The Romulan craft is a total loss. There's nothing there to salvage, unless you wanna use tweezers."

They try to reason why the Romulans were in that sector, as Galorndon Core doesn't really have anything to offer. Like, it's life-supporting, but kind of awful. The kind of place where you might have an unmanned mining station, or something.

"It might provide good cover for an offensive," reasons Picard.

Sassy Riker: "They certainly weren't there for the climate."

Damn, an eyeroll too!

We go back to Geordi, still in the pit. There's a cool moment here where he uses his VISOR to see some minerals or something under some mud. 

He digs them out, but then for some unknown reason, he has to take them into the light and wash them off to see them properly? Couldn't he just see them under the mud a moment ago? Did they add that bit in because we expect other humans to wash off dirty things in water and look at them in the light to see them properly?

Anyway, he clears some mud away from a little outcropping of rock, then uses his fingers to make a long, skinny trench. Then he lines up the minerals he found in the little trench, and hits them with the phaser, melting them into one stick-thing. I have no idea what he's doing.

Back in sick bay, Crusher tells Picard and Riker that she thought this would be more like working on Vulcans, but it seems like there were far more differences than she expected. Dude has some cellular damage in important areas, and he's in need of a transfusion. They can't replicate what they need because his molecules are too complex. She's gonna set up some testing of the entire crew to see if anyone is a match. In the meantime, he's having some head problems as well.

"Like an injury?" asks Riker.

"Nope, like the magnetics on the surface are fucking with the synapses," she replies.

"Is Geordi getting hit with that?" Riker probes.

She nods.

And now, for the old Hippocratic Oath vs Military Needs: they want to question him about what he was doing there.

She agrees to wake him up for a few seconds, but can't promise they'll get what they need. She hypos the Romulan.

When the dude wakes up, Riker treats him as a hostile witness, telling him where he is, and demanding to know what he was doing on Galorndon Core.

"Fuck you," replies the Romulan. He starts to fall unconscious again, and Riker shakes him awake.

"Who was with you?" he demands.

"I was alone," the Rom growls.

"Is there someone I need to contact for you? A mother ship?"

This time, the Rom falls unconscious, and Riker lets him.

"He just wanted to tell us he was alone," muses Picard.

"Which means he wasn't," fills in Riker. 

We go back to the pit, where we find out what those trenches and minerals were for: Geordi has made a pair of silver pitons, and uses them to haul himself up the twenty or so feet out of the pit.

Fuck, that's smart. And really, who else but Geordi and maybe Data might have been able to do that? Dude needed his VISOR to be able to see them under the mud in the first place, and to see whether they were strong enough in the first place to hold his weight. It's fine to test them, but to be able to see ahead of time that they had no or few structural weaknesses is pretty awesome.

This episode is apparently about showcasing how clever people can be, so when we go back to the bridge, and Riker is demanding for peeps to put their heads together to come up with a way to see if Geordi is still alive down there, Wes comes up with a plan.

"Geordi's VISOR can see neutrino pulses," he explains. "We can put a portable neutrino source on a beacon and drop it at the landing site. If he's alive, he can signal us by changing the beam."

Data backs up this hypothesis.

"That's hella smart," declares Picard. "Make that shit so."

 Wes rushes off to set his beacon.

"Hey, I'm getting a signal parallel to the distress call?" says Data. "It's from Romulan space."

They put the recording on the viewscreen.

It's a Romulan commander, Tomalak. He's calling the Pi, which is the name of the little scout ship that's on the surface in tatters. "We're entering the Neutral Zone and will be there in six hours to get you."

Dramatic music! Camera zooms in on Picard like always! Commercial break!

"Oh, hell naw!" says Picard. "Open the frequency!"

Worf does so.

"Hey, Roms! This is Picard of the Enterprise."
Radio silence.
"Totes open," replies Worf, as though Picard doubted it.
"Let's get specific, then - hey, Tomalak! We know you're there! Don't you set one green toe in the Neutral Zone!"
And there he is on the viewscreen, all smiley and used-car-salesman-like. "Heeey, friendos. Apologies! If I had known you were here, I totes would have called you before entering Neutral space. So one of our little ships had a navigational error, and went off-course. Just a mistake, no aggression intended."
This guy smiles too much. It's like some Romulan commander gave a TED Talk about how humans like smiling, and if you smile at them a lot, they'll be friendly to you. Tomalak attended this talk and took too many notes, it seems.

Rather than listen to this cover-up, Picard reveals that they have a survivor of the Pi.
Tomalak's smile fades. "You have him? And will you meet up with me in the Neutral Zone to give him back to me?"
"Noop, we have an away team on the surface," Picard replies. "Is there anyone else on the planet we should look for?"
"One-man craft," says Tomalak evasively. "We'll be at the Neutral Zone border in five hours. Be there."
He hangs up.
"He'll stop at nothing to complete his mission," says Troi.
Typical Worf: "We shouldn't give him back. Let's interrogate him instead."
Interestingly, Riker agrees in anger: "We have the right to hold him and question him about what they were doing here."
"Slow your roll," says Picard. "It's not that simple. If we fuck up here, Galorndon Core could be another Pearl Harbor, or Station Salem-One: as a preamble to war."
I love it when you do that, show. I love it when you give me two examples, and one of them is easily recognizable from the past, while the other is from the fictitious future.

In sick bay, Crusher tells an assistant to take the Rom off all of the drugs they have him on, because they aren't making any difference. She calls Picard to tell him that the Rom isn't doing much better than before, and of the humans she's tested, they've all come up too different. So have the Vulcans onboard, which is interesting, because they came from the same ancestors. For now, she's going to keep his fever down, and see if his body will heal itself.
Wes returns to the bridge, all smiles because the neutrino beacon is ready. They launch it.

Downstairs, Geordi is forced to climb across a rock face to avoid having to cross a body of water, but he's still getting wet because water is streaming down the rock face as well.
Sometimes I imagine the Post-It notes attached to these scripts:
Jonathan Frakes (Skin of Evil): "You're gonna have to swim in Metamucil and printer's ink here."
LeVar Burton (The Enemy): "You're gonna be wet and dirty for 99.9% of this episode."
Michael Dorn: (every episode) "You get to spend three hours in the make-up chair again."

We dash back to the bridge for half a second, just long enough for Data to report that the beacon has landed and the neutrino beam is broadcasting back to them.

On the surface, Geordi ducks into a tiny cave for a few seconds' reprieve, and he spies the neutrino beam. For some reason, he immediately guesses it's the work of Wes. Maybe this plan has "Wes" stamped all over it in a way that we don't realize? I dunno.
He starts making his way over to it, picking his steps among the rocks on the ground, and we drop to his feet, which is always a red flag that someone is about to grab your ankles or something. Nope, it's boots. Another set of feet fall in line behind Geordi, and while he's focused on the neutrino beam, a fist comes down between his shoulder blades and knocks him the hell out.
Oh, noes! It's a Romulan with bed-head!

Dramatic music with nostril-flaring! Commercial break!

When Geordi comes to, the Romulan has his phaser and his comm badge (which doesn't work anyway, so who gives a shit about that?). He sits up.
"Don't move!" barks the Romulan. "You're my prisoner!"
Sassy Geordi: "Right. Congratulations. Surely a strategic triumph for the Romulan empire."
The Romulan yells at him to hold still again, and he replies, "Fuck you, there's sand in my boots."
Then the Rom demands his name and rank, which Geordi begrudgingly gives while he empties his boots.
Sassy Geordi: "Don't think I caught yours."
"A Romulan ship will be here shortly, and you're going with me!"
"Yeah, no," bluffs Geordi. "We intercepted your transmissions, and the sky is full of Federation ships."
Not knowing the Rom's name or rank, he starts sarcastically calling him "Commodore." I'm gonna award him one Sassy Point collectively for all the Commodores.
The Rom accuses him of lying, and starts to monologue, but then there's a lightning strike above them, and Geordi jumps back while the Rom is pelted with falling rocks. Nothing huge, but enough to knock him down and maybe injure him a little. Dude will for sure have a bunch of bruises later.
Once the rockslide is over, Geordi hoists the injured Romulan to his feet, and helps him limp into a cave. But he foolishly didn't take the phaser from him, so as soon as they're safe and Geordi asks if he's okay, the Rom pulls out the weapon again and yells at Geordi to sit down.
Sassy Geordi, dumping sand out of his boots: "Are you fucking serious right now? Welcome to Galorndorn Core, where no good deed goes unpunished."

Worf reports to Crusher's office, where she tells him that he's the only match for the cells that the Romulan needs to survive. He stares at her.
"You understand that's what all the testing was for?" she asks.
"I didn't object to the testing," he replies coldly.     
She says that she understands his feelings toward the Romulans in general, but this isn't the time or place.
He reminds he that the Roms killed his parents.
"Point blank," she states, "if you don't donate, he'll die."
"Then I guess he'll die," he answers, stalking from the office.

Down in the cavern, the Rom is still holding Geordi at phaser-point, and Geordi is still being sarcastic as hell. The Rom mocks him for being afraid to die, and Geordi gives him a resounding "You bet I am! Who is isn't?"
Eventually, the Rom spouts some nationalist crap about humans going extinct and the Romulan Star Empire stretching across the galaxy.
"Sure, Commodore," Geordi shrugs.
Finally, the Rom growls that Geordi can address him as Centurion Bochra. They bicker some more, and Bochra starts coughing.
"What's wrong with you?" asks Geordi. "Your heart rate just shot up." When Bochra looks at him questioningly, Geordi taps the VISOR. "I can see all kinds of shit with this."
"But you're blind without it?" asks Bochra suspiciously.
Geordi nods.
"How did that happen?"
"Born that way."
"And they let you live?" asks Bochra in disgust.
"The fuck?" demands Geordi.
"No wonder your species is weak," mutters Bochra. "You waste time and energy on defective children."
Because of course the Romulans murder handicapped children.
Geordi's vision gets staticky, and he mumbles that the diagnostics say it's working fine.
"Your body temp just shot up another point," he says, alarmed. "I think this place is wreaking havoc on our nervous systems."  He struggles to his feet. "We need to GTFO."
"Sit down!" roars Bochra, still pointing the phaser at him and hacking up a lung.

On the bridge, Riker keeps looking over Wes' shoulder at the instruments and asking, "what's that?"
"He hasn't found it yet," says Wes, being pretty patient while Riker is buzzing around him asking "are we there yet?"
Worf reports that Tomalak is calling, even though they haven't reached the Neutral Zone border yet. But they're only 30 minutes away, which is close enough to know that the E hasn't shown up, or even moved yet.
Tomalak comes on screen. "Picard, WTF? We were supposed to meet at the border so you could give me my guy!"
"We're still waiting for a break in the storm to collect our away team," explains Picard. "Don't you go entering Federation space!"
"Dude, I already told you how my guy got there," says Tomalak. "It was a mistake, now get him back here before we start some shit together."
"Yeah, I don't buy your story," snarls Picard.
They get into a tiff about Tomalak being willing to risk lives (by entering the Neutral Zone or Federation space) for the sake of one life, which is interesting, because Picard is doing the same thing - he won't meet Tomalak at the border because he's waiting for a window in which to beam up Geordi.
Either way, they're both pissed off.

Downstairs, Bochra and Geordi are having a similar conversation from the other side. Geordi wants to go find the beacon so they can get the hell out of Dodge, but Bochra doesn't want to play prisoner to the Federation.
"Would you rather die for your ideals?" demands Geordi.
They decide that sometimes this is an okay thing, but maybe not today.
Bochra finally relents, and they struggle to their feet to find the beacon. But two steps in the right direction, and Geordi comes to a halt.
He is blind.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Worf goes to Riker's quarters. Riker grants him entrance, and Worf sees that he is watching something on his laptop and drinking. My guess is porn, or anime, or maybe both.
"You're busy," says Worf. "I'll come back later."
"It's cool," says Riker. "Just so you know, I get how you're feeling."
"Not possible," says Worf. "I hate all Romulans forever for what happened to my parents."
Riker asks if he thinks about the possibility that the Federation may one day make peace with the Roms, and when Worf declares this to be impossible, Riker points out that that, not so long ago, the Klingons and Federation said the same things.
"We couldn't be here now together if someone didn't didn't let it go," says Riker.

He makes a good point here: "If that Romulan dies, will his family carry on the tradition of hating Klingons?"

"Do you think I should do it?" asks Worf.

"My opinion doesn't count here."
Worf admits that he is struggling with opposing viewpoints: his Starfleet training, which says he should do it; and everything else in him, which says he should not.
Their convo is cut short when Crusher pages him to sick bay.

Worf goes to sick bay.
"He's dying," says Crusher. "You still have time to donate, though."
She walks back to her office, and he approaches the Romulan.
The conversation that follows is a series of sarcastic remarks, threats and dick-waving.
The shaky Rom tells Worf to come closer so he can die with his hands around Worf's throat.
Worf responds by saying that he could easily save this dude's life.
"You've come to hear me beg?" asks the Rom.
"Nope," says Worf.
"I would rather die that pollute my body with Klingon filth," rasps the Rom.
He collapses again, and you think maybe he's died, but I guess not.
Worf walks away.

Downstairs, our boys are back to moping on the cave floor. Bochra says his legs don't work so much anymore. Geordi reckons his "synapses have turned to jelly." Basically, the VISOR works fine, but it's not connecting to his brain.
"How do we find the beacon?" asks Bochra.
"We can't," says Geordi. "I can't connect to the VISOR, so unless you have some way of sniffing out neutrinos, we're up Shit Creek."
"You have a sensor device," says Bochra, meaning the tricorder. "Connect that to your VISOR thing."
"Dude, I'm BLIND," reiterates Geordi. "And that shit is touchy. I can't can't feel my way through it."
"I got working eyes," Bochra reminds him.

We go back to the bridge for two announcements: firstly, that Data predicts they'll have another storm window in less than an hour; and two, that Worf has seen that the Romulan warship has crossed the Neutral Zone border, and is heading straight for them.
"Red alert," says Picard.

Dramatic music and zoom-in on Picard's face! Commercial break!

In the cave, Geordi is walking Bochra through the process of connecting the two pieces of tech and making them talk. Bochra turns it on, and finds a heading, making me wonder how he's able to read whatever written language the Federation uses. Geordi practically throws a party at their success. They hear the storm breaking outside and Debbie Downer notes that he'll soon be the prisoner of the Federation.
He isn't walking well, so Geordi sort of half-carries him while Bochra tells Geordi which direction they need to go. I'd make a joke about the blind leading the lame, but it's low-hanging fruit, so... eh.

Picard is in his ready room when Worf enters.
"You know what this is about?" Picard asks.
"Yes," says Worf.
They talk briefly about how the Romulan is more valuable to them alive than dead, and how it could start something big if he dies at the hands of the Federation.
"I could order you to do it," says Picard.
"If you do, I will do it," says Worf.
"I don't want to," Picard explains. "I'm going out on a limb, and begging you to volunteer."
"I won't," Worf replies.
"Lieutenant," says Picard in an official tone.
Worf snaps to attention.
"Dismissed," he finishes, to Worf's surprise.
Worf exits.
Picard calls Crusher. "You can stop asking Worf to donate," he says sadly.
"Don't need to," says Crusher. "The Romulan is dead."

Downstairs, the boys stumble a few yards to the beacon, and begin altering the signal so the E knows that there's someone to beam up.

Upstairs, the Romulan ship has come into range, the window will be open for less than ten minutes, and the neutrino beam has not been altered.
Picard has Worf open the channel.
"Dude, you're in my space," warns Picard. "You're in violation of our treaty."
"Gimme my guy!" demands Tomalak.
"He's dead," says Picard.
"Then he's gonna be the first to fall!" roars Tomalak, hanging up.
He powers up his weapons. The E's shields go up. And of course that's when the beacon is altered. So once again, lots of danger all at once, and it'll come down to the wire. If they lower the shields to beam up Geordi, they risk being an easy target for Tomalak.
"Three minutes left in the window," announces Data.
Picard thinks, then has O'Brien lock onto whoever is at the neutrino beacon.
"Getting weird signals back," says Data, "but I think there are two life-forms on the surface."
They try calling Tomalak, but the Romulan is ignoring them.
"They don't know how good our sensors are," says Picard to Riker. "Let's bluff."

"So, hey," says Picard casually. "Found another one of your guys at the crash-site of your one-man craft. Gonna beam them up. Savvy?"
Tomalak does not answer. He's probably on his ship muttering "fuckfuckfuckfuck."
"We both have pretty big guns," Picard continues. "And we both have the ability to be the bigger man and lay down our weapons. Who will go first? In this case, it's me. Cuz I gotta drop the shields to beam those guys up. Of course, you could fire on me then, kill us all, and violate the cease-fire we have. Totally your choice."
And he has Worf drop the shields and O'Brien beam the pair directly to the bridge.
Geordi and Bochra appear, hella dirty. For some reason, Bochra is able to stand on his own, Geordi has his comm badge again, and his synapses seem to be working just fine, as he puts his VISOR back on.
"No one will hurt you," Picard says quickly to Bochra.
Geordi backs up the sentiment.
"Well?" Picard asks the open frequency.
Tomalak's face reappears. "If you fucking tortured my guy -" snarls Tomalak.
Bochra makes a weak salute at the viewscreen. "I haven't given them any information," he tells Tomalak, "and nobody mistreated me. Actually, this human saved my life."
"Oh," says Tomalak, surprised. "Well, um, that's nice."
"Yeah, you know what else would be nice?" asks Picard."You powering down your fucking weapons."
So Tomalak nods to some dude off-camera, and the weapons power down.
"Awesome, thanks," says Picard. "How about we beam your guy back over, and then we escort you back to the Neutral Zone?"
"Sounds good," says Tomalak, all smiles again. He signs off.
Geordi tells Picard & Co how he wouldn't have made it back without Bochra, and they kind of smile at one another like they're going to exchange addresses and be pen pals after this, but you know that's not going to happen. At best, Bochra will give TED Talks about how humans aren't so bad, and everyone will give him side-eye for years for believing such nonsense.

Geordi and Worf take Bochra to the transporter room, there's no discussion as to what happened with the body of the dead Romulan, we never find out what Bochra's mission was, and the two ships fly off in opposite directions, even though Picard just said he'd escort Tomalak back to the NZ.

I have two opinions on this episode, one of them probably unpopular.
The first: I think Romulans are a terrible villain. Not terrible as in scary, but terrible as in stupid. I dislike when a show tries its hardest to convince me that a certain person or race is a thing to be feared, but it's mostly the characters talking about the scary they are, and when they finally show up, they don't do anything worth being afraid of. To me, this is the Romulans. They show up in TOS, and everyone is gobsmacked because no one has interacted with one in years, and the myth has built up. Don't get me wrong, that was a great episode, but it went nowhere after that. The Romulans disappeared from the rest of the show. Then they show up again in TNG, and they're just space dicks. They blow a lot of hot air, and declare that "we're back" at the end of the episode, and everyone on the E collectively gasps, because Romulans are scary. And then? Nothing. They talk about scary the Romulans are every few episodes, but then nothing is provided to back up that claim. They show up, they talk trash, they do nothing. Space dicks. Which is a shame, because I love a villain who is an unapologetic asshole. The Cardassians are unapologetic assholes... but they do shit. The Romulans just talk a big game and go home, and everyone whispers, "wasn't that scary?" Fuck no, it wasn't scary. DO SOMETHING. That being said...
Opinion two: this is a fucking great episode. It's multi-faceted. The B-plot of "Worf needs to donate genetic material to a Romulan" doesn't feel like a typical "meanwhile, back at the ranch" B-plot, but a story that's just as strong as the A-plot. The title of "The Enemy" refers to not only Geordi's reaction to Bochra, but Worf's dilemma with the dying Romulan, Picard's dancing with Tomalak, and even Bochra's interactions with Geordi. These people have been pitted against one another for generations, and none of them is necessarily inclined to swim against the tide.
Geordi, and to some extent Riker, are willing to help the stranded and helpless Romulans, regardless of their current status with the Federation. They're open to the idea that this may not end badly for all involved. Geordi gets frustrated with Bochra, but is still willing to work with him to facilitate their escape. Riker willingly beams the other Romulan up to the ship to get him medical help, and then speaks sensibly with Worf when the Klingon seeks someone to bounce ideas off of. Both are okay with the concept that that they might not be so different, and in Geordi's case, he finds this to be true.

Picard is trapped in the unenviable position of having to be diplomatic with someone unpleasant. Tomalak keeps trying to be manipulative and secretive about his motives, and Picard likes to play a straighter game than that. One wrong move, though, and they could start an intergalactic incident. So he tries to get some info - ultimately failing - while returning what is essentially a POW. He doesn't really want to play this game, but has no choice. That being said, he came off as more aggressive than usual in this episode, and I'm not sure that tactic was necessary, especially after he had stated that they had to go carefully in this situation. Possibly he perceived that Tomalak would only respond to aggression? I'm not sure here.
Bochra's interactions with Geordi, and Tomalak's with Picard, are both based on their own people feeding them information about humans. Tomalak smiles too much, something that Romulans don't seem to do often. They're a bit slimy with their smiles, but being openly friendly is not a trait they're known for, and when Tomalak does it, it feels as though someone had told him that would be an effective way to talk to humans. It's also condescending, which is absolutely a Romulan trait. Bochra smiles too, but it comes off as crazy, and is done in his most manic moments. In Bochra's case, he also reveals that he thinks humans are weak, and then pulls confirmation bias from the fact that Geordi's parents opted not to kill him. They are taught that humans are not an adequate match for their battle prowess. In the end, Bochra is willing to set these things aside to work with Geordi, and seems to have changed his opinions of humans. (It happened a bit quickly, though I have to admit that, with time a factor, that was sort of bound to happen.) They didn't have "Enemy Mine" time. (Also a fabulous movie. Actually, you should stop reading this crappy blog and go watch "Enemy Mine" again.)

So Worf. Worf does not donate his material to save the life of the Romulan. This was initially not the preferred way that Michael Dorn thought the story should go, as he thought that making the donation would be the honorable way to go. But Piller and Berman both insisted that Worf was becoming "too human" and argued that Worf needed to have some morals that were Klingon-based rather than human-based. They guy is, after all, a Klingon raised by humans, and nature vs nurture will come up with him a lot, as well as vendetta issues surrounding the death of his birth parents. It was felt that Worf needed to stand firm on his convictions here, to be more Klingon that human. Michael Dorn would later come to agree with this course of action, and while I had wished he had made the donation initially, I feel like I also agree with this assessment. Being raised by one group of people does not mean that you won't fall back on the beliefs of the people who sired you from time to time, and Worf is very much a guy who has been in touch with his Klingon heritage.
Interestingly, the family of the dead Romulan is never brought up again. Riker's assertion that it might just fuel more hatred from the Romulans sort of dies on the E, as it seems that the Romulans never learned of Worf's refusal to save one of their own. Of course, it could just be a wash, as the Romulan refused to take Worf's material anyway, and they might have looked at the whole thing as a Romulan dying for his purist ideals. Too bad, though. Might have made for a good follow-up.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
Fun Facts:

- Troi was supposed to be trapped on the planet with Geordi in the initial script. She was written as having knocked Bochra. But when the script was rewritten, not only was Troi not on the planet, she had Christine Chapel lines. Marina Sirtis counted this as one of those times when Troi was underutilized.
- The launch of the probe with the neutrino device was stock footage from "Where Silence has Lease."
- This is the first time we see Commander Tomalak. He'll show up three more times.
- John Snyder, who plays Bochra, will show up again as a different character in the fifth season of TNG.

- Steve Rankin, who plays the Romulan who dies in sick bay, will later play a Klingon. He'll appear twice more in Star Trek beyond that.

- Dr Crusher has long hair in this episode. Oddly, she has short hair in both the episode before and after.

- Technically, all three of the officers who talked to Worf about the transfusion procedure outrank him, and could have ordered him to do it.

-Writer/Producer Brannon Braga cited this episode as being the one that convinced him that the show was good. He had tried to watch earlier episodes and had had been unimpressed prior to "The Enemy."

- Though not mentioned on-camera, the Romulan who dies in sick bay is named Patahk.

Red deaths: 0
To date: 0

Gold deaths: 0

Blue deaths: 0
To date: 1
Unnamed color crew deaths: 0

Obnoxious Wes moments: 0

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

Sassy Geordi moments: 4
To date: 7

Sassy Wes Moments: 0
To date: 0

Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 2

Sassy Riker Moments: 2
To date: 4

Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date: 3

Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Data Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Guinan Moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 0
To date: 0

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 7

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 1
To date: 10

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 2
To date: 2
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 0
To date: 1
Picard Maneuvers: 1
To date: 13

Harvey the Parkour Kitten is improving!
Two more weeks in this new splint.