ST:TNG Season Three Review

ST:TNG Season Three Review

Damn, you sexy, season three!
We started out pretty good this season, then got progressively better.
Let's check it out!

Now that's Good Watchin'!

The Ensigns of Command

Data is forced to take charge of an evacuation of a planet where the people do not want to be evacuated. The romance that is forced on the audience through a colonist who has a thing for androids is trite and doesn't work, but Data's parts were good, and Picard's solution to a tough situation was great.

Who Watches the Watchers

The E stops by an uncontacted planet full of proto-Vulcans to drop off snacks and fix the duckblind on a scientific study lab, but some stuff goes awry, and the proto-Vulcans end up deciding that Picard is God. A decent exploration of the development of cultures, and how things can go sideways with the Prime Directive.

The Bonding

A crew member dies, leaving her young son behind. A non-corporeal alien from the planet where she died shows up in the guise of the dead crew member, in order to take her son down to the planet, to raise him out of guilt. Picard must explain to this alien why grieving is a necessary process that humans must weather. In a really great scene, Wes tells Picard that he is angry that Picard came home and his father did not. Wil Wheaton does not disappoint here. Discussions about what it means to deal with death in Starfleet are good ones, and flesh out the Star Trek universe further. While the alien-caretaker thing got a bit creepy, the rest of this episode was a good one.

Booby Trap

While a follow-up episode will change how I feel about this episode, I do love the idea of Picard & Co getting stuck in a booby trap in space that's more than a thousand years old, and Geordi's idea to use the holodeck to recreate the draft room where the Enterprise was built in order to figure out who to best move the ship out of the booby trap. I even liked the joint decision between himself and the computer to recreate a simulation of the original designer of the Enterprise. Where it went sideways was in the computer choosing to initiate a romance with Geordi using the computer simulation of the designer. However, this episode will be brought up a number of times in canon regarding holo-addiction and the question of whether or not it's okay to recreate living humans on the holodeck.

The Enemy

I hate the Romulans, but this was a fantastic episode. Geordi and a Romulan are trapped on a planet and must work together to get rescued. The B-plot involves an already-rescued and dying Romulan in sick bay. Worf has tested positive as the only person on the ship who can give genetic material to save him, but he refuses, and the Romulan dies. Geordi and his Romulan gain a better understanding of one another as a species. Reminded me of the film "Enemy Mine."

Yesterday's Enterprise

Tasha Yar gets a better death thanks to some alternate-universe-inducing space anomaly. A difficult episode to watch at times, but worth it.

The Offspring

A lovely and heartbreaking episode about Data building a new Soong-type android, a daughter he calls Lal. Touches a bit on trans issues, and quite a bit on reproductive issues. When Lal dies at the end from cascade failure, it's hard not to ugly-cry.

Sins of the Father

The Klingon Empire frames Worf's father for treason in order to keep the Empire together, and they figured Worf wouldn't find out or even care that his family would bear disgrace for seven generations. Turns out the Empire is corrupt AF, and Worf has a secret brother. Well done, and the intrigue was excellent. TNG does a better Klingon Empire than TOS: fight me.

Sarek

A well-respected and well-liked character from TOS fame returns as a dignitary nearing the end of his esteemed career. But his well-meaning staff and wife are concealing the fact that he is slowly losing his control over his emotions, due to a disease brought on by old age. It's heartbreaking to watch, and features excellent performances from both Mark Lenard and Patrick Stewart.

The Best of Both Worlds

We finally get to addressing the fact that Riker seems ambitious, but keeps turning down commissions, and then BAM! Picard is a Borg, and Riker makes the decision to blow him up. A really fantastic cliffhanger that had viewers champing at the bit to watch the second half when the show returned for season four.

Not Too Shabby

Evolution

One that straddles the spot between Not Too Shabby and What Was This About Again. Our first episode of the season had some good, strong sc-fi elements and some great Wes moments, but tends to fall into the forgettable category. It's mostly saved by those sci-fi elements, which feature nanobots that evolve into a new species and must be set free.

The Vengeance Factor

I go back and forth between placing this episode in this category and I Wanted To Like It. I liked the story of the girl whose DNA is altered so that she may murder every last member of the clan that decimated her own, but disliked that the ending came about with Riker killing her to stop her from killing someone else.

Deja Q

Q loses his powers and is made a human because the Continuum thinks he needs to learn some humility. He requests to join the Enterprise crew and is paired with Data. Kinda cute, kinda funny, and we see the side of Q that makes him just a pest and less of a dangerous asshole. Bonus points: we get some background on the Q Continuum.

Captain's Holiday

Again, I'm not sure if this episode fits here, or in I Wanted To Like It. Picard goes to Risa on holiday and stumbles into an archaeology adventure. I like his romantic pairing with a woman named Vash, and the episode was light and goofy, but the alien smugglers from the future bothered me, as did Riker's insistence that Picard would love, love, love a sexy romp on his favorite fuck planet.

Tin Man

Good sci-fi elements, decent story. Troi reunites with an old patient who has some mental struggles, and is important to a diplomatic mission. A man finds his place in the universe.

Hollow Pursuits

You either love Lt Barclay, or you hate him. This episode, Barclay's debut, features the heavily-anxious new crew member living out his shower fantasies on the holodeck, to the detriment of his job. Some hilariously cringy moments when the crew discover that he's been recreating them as well. Briefly touches on holo-addiction.

(barclay holodeck)

What Was That One About Again?

The Survivors

The E investigates a planet where the colony was attacked and only left two survivors. But it turns out that the whole thing was destroyed, leaving one alien posing as a human, and his wife, who is actually just a hologram of his own making. Didn't really have any moments that make you think. Some okay sci-fi elements, but nothing memorable.

The Hunted

A planet wishes to join the Federation, but they're hiding a dark little secret: they altered soldiers to fight in their war, and when they had trouble integrating, they locked them in prison. Has some poignant points to make about not taking care of your soldiers and their PTSD, but often gets lost in the mix. Didn't really make much of a comment on PTSD, either.

The High Ground

Crusher is kidnapped by a terrorist organization to look after their soldiers, who are dying of a mysterious illness. This episode was based on the unrest in Northern Ireland, but doesn't actually make any comment on terrorism outside of "sometimes it exists." Missed the mark.

A Matter of Perspective

Riker is put on trial for the attempted rape of an alien, and the murder of her husband. He's cleared of both when it comes out that the alien's death was an accident. A Rashomon-style story with good sci-fi elements, but there were some weird plot holes in this one that kind of makes it fall by the wayside.

Alliegance

Picard is kidnapped by mysterious aliens who trap him and others in an escape room, and a doppleganger runs the Enterprise. It was okay, but not a favorite.

The Most Toys

Data is kidnapped by a space dude-bro who collects rare and unusual objects. Data ends up breaking one of Asimov's Laws of Robotics in an attempt to escape, though it was changed at the last minute to make Data seem as though he were lying about it when questioned.

Transfigurations

Poor Transfigurations. This episode had solid sci-fi elements and storytelling, but was sandwiched between two iconic episodes, and so often gets forgotten. Includes a semi-forgettable Beverly Crusher romance-that-never-became-a-romance.

I Wanted to Like It

The Defector

A random Romulan shows up at the edge of the Neutral Zone, begging the Enterprise to help him defect. He says he has information about an upcoming war that the Romulans are preparing to start with the Federation, but it turns out the Roms have been feeding him crappy intel, to see if he'd betray the Empire. All that to find out that the Romulans are assholes. Which we already knew. And then the defector commits suicide. I found this episode frustrating.

Menage a Troi

This episode features one of my favorite characters, Lwaxana Troi, pitted against a do-nothing race (the Ferengi) in a goofy sex romp. But it was too light a fare to follow the heavy "Sarek," and the lighter elements of the show were ruined for me by Lwaxana's manipulation of Deanna. The argument between Deanna and Lwaxana on board the E spoke of a more toxic mother-daughter relationship than we had seen before, and it was uncomfortable as hell. Some good comedy moments and great aesthetics were not enough to make me enjoy this episode.

Nope.

The Price

Troi starts seeing a negotiator who is secretly part Betazoid. He uses his empathic powers as an edge in negotiations, but doesn't reveal them to anyone. He's also skeevy AF and a complete sociopath. Frustratingly, the show doesn't actually admit to his sociopathy. They play it off as him being sad but also glad when Troi outs him later, because he didn't like who he'd become. He asks Troi to live with him and keep him honest, but she wisely walks away from that Dumpster fire. The whole episode was about the manipulation of Troi.

Space Assholes

Fajo

Shady AF, kidnaps androids, mutilates trusted associates

Admiral Haftel

Though he redeems himself at the end by helping Data try to repair Lal, Haftel spends 90% of the episode insisting that Lal is property of Starfleet and should be studied away from Data. Reminds me of ICE agents.

Nayrok

Insists that soldiers like being locked up, can't take care of his own shit, tells Picard that it's his responsibility to fix Nayrok's problems. Fuck off, Nayrok.

Divononi Ral

Sociopathic monster who tried to rope Troi into being his perma-victim.

Welcome Back!

Hooray, Crusher is back!

Her return is addressed and even expanded upon in the first episode of the season "Evolution," where she jokes about missing "two inches" of Wes, and asks Picard about how he is developing as a person. They didn't just drop her in, which I appreciate. They even reference the fact that Pulaski was on board in her absence, talking about the memory-erasing procedure that Pulaski performed on Data's little friend in "Pen Pal." I'm glad to see her back. She meshes well with the crew, adds another dimension to Wes' character, and leaves the door open for more will-they-won't-they moments with Picard.

Breaking it down, we have 16 that were either awesome or pretty good, and 10 that fell into the categories of forgettable, I Wanted to Like It, or Nope. The numbers this time around were better than season two anyway, and light-years beyond season one. And far fewer space assholes! I've found that the episodes that I like best of Star Trek (in general) are ones that add something extra to a character's personality or background, or ones that add to the things we know about the Federation or another species. It's perfectly fine to have fun little episodes where you're just looking for something lighter ("Menage a Troi"), but the episodes that seem to work best on their own and as part of the whole are ones where a character is expanded ("Best of Both Worlds," "Sarek," "Sins of the Father," "The Offspring," ect), or where we learn more about another species (most of the previous list, plus "The Enemy"). This season offers plenty of opportunity for both of these things, and then some. What's more, it ends on a high note: we want very much to see how Picard is going to get out being a Borg. 

Or will he?

Red deaths: 1
Gold deaths: 20

Blue deaths: 1

Unnamed color crew deaths: 127
Obnoxious Wes moments: 1

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

Sassy Geordi moments: 12

Sassy Wes Moments: 0

Sassy Worf Moment: 8

Sassy Riker Moments: 15

Sassy Picard Moments: 12

Sassy NPC Moments: 0

Sassy Data Moments: 6
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
Sassy Crusher Moments: 2
Sassy Troi Moments: 7
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 6
Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 28

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 28

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 5

Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 3
Picard Maneuvers: 38
Tea, Earl Grey: 8

Dead crew members: 149
Sassy Moments: 68
Did you know that Data is an android? Everyone does now.
Troi reacts a lot.
So many Picard Maneuvers.
Fewer cuppas than expected.

Roux and our first kittens of the season