ST:TNG Season Four, Episode Twenty-Six "Redemption"

ST:TNG Season Four, Episode Twenty-Six "Redemption"
Production Order: 26
Air Order: 26
Stardate: 44995.3
Original Air Date: June 17, 1991

Picard's Log 44995.3: "Going to Qo'nos, to do the swearing-in ceremony for Gowron, who is about to become the new leader of the High Council of Klingons. Gonna suggest to Worf that he get his frickin' honor back."

Worf is practicing with his bat'leth in his quarters when Picard comes in. Worf is surprised, and says he can change back into his uniform, but Picard says it's fine: he's here as Worf's cha'DIch, not his captain.
"We're gonna be on the homeworld tomorrow, and I think you should take your honor back. Tell the council what complete assholes the House of Duras are."
Worf hesitates. "Nah, it's not the time."
"Why the hell not?" demands Picard.
Maybe he's tired of these discriminatory-ass Klingons refusing to work with Worf whenever they come on board. I know I am.
"People keep telling me that patience often gets shit done," Worf explains.
"Yeah, humans be like that," Picard says. "It's a good thing to practice. But seriously, that's not the Klingon way. Get your honor back. You're covering for humanoid shit-stains."
Worf considers it. "This does kind of suck."
Riker calls Picard. "Hey. A Klingon cruiser just showed up, the Bortas. They say they're an escort."
"We're not supposed to have an escort," frowns Worf.

Picard goes to the bridge, where the Bortas has called.
It's Gowron.
"Sup, buddy?" asks Picard.
"I need to talk to you," says Gowron. "I need your help preventing a Klingon civil war."

Dramatic music! Opening credits break!

Now in the Obs Lounge, Gowron lays that shit down: Duras' family is making waves, and they have a lot of friends.
"Bullshit," says Picard. "He died in disgrace, and his family should be disgraced, too."
Because seriously, if Worf has to carry that crappy luggage around, Duras' family should as well. Not holding the Duras family to the same standards is garbage.
Gowron agrees. "Honor will soon have no meaning. Right now, Duras' sisters are heading up the family. Lursa and B'Etor. They suck too."
"They want to take his place on the council?"
"No, women can't serve on the council," says Gowron. "But they have something cooking. They have three fleet commanders as their allies, and people are afraid of them."
"This blows, but how do you want me to help?" asks Picard.
"K'mpec picked you as arbiter of succession, because other Klingons were not trustworthy. You need to see it through to the end, support me as leader of the High Council."
"Yeah, no," says Picard. "Like, I was asked to do one job. It was messy, but I did it. I'm not getting involved in this. Not my circus, not my targs."
"Dude, what if they try to kick me out? You picked me!"
"I can only do what Klingon law says I can," Picard replies.
"Fuck me," says Gowron.

Gowron is leaving, and Picard asks Worf to escort him to the transporter room. Surprisingly, Gowron doesn't bitch about how he wants someone else to do it.
Picard tells Riker that Duras' family is making waves again, so they should be on the lookout for Romulan interference.
"Ugh, bullshit," groans Riker.

Once they get to the transporter room, Worf dismisses the Gold working there.
"I wanna ask you for a favor," he tells Gowron.
"I don't talk to people with no honor," sniffs Gowron.
Ah, G. I had such hopes for you, and here you are, breaking Wheaton's Law.
Worf proceeds to tell him the whole story, which Gowron believes, because why would he not? Duras' father was an asshole that begat more assholes. Gowron is then shocked to find out that the council knows about this and encouraged Worf to take the fall, but he shouldn't be, because politics is the same in pretty much every corner of the galaxy.
"Now that you know, can you fix this?" Worf asks. "It would be great if people could stop treating me like shit."
"You killed Duras, which was pretty fucking awesome. But I can't do anything about your discommendation. A lot of the people on the council are loyal to Duras, and I need their support to become Head of the Council. I can't do the thing. Suck it up, and deal with your discommendation like a Klingon."
So far in this episode, we have learned that being a Klingon is:
- being honorable;
- demanding that your honor be restored;
- accepting your dishonor for the good of the Empire.
 Worf, the Klingon raised by humans, who is trying to relearn what it means to be a Klingon, is getting nothing but conflicting advice.

Later, Worf goes to the phaser range to do some target practice, which is probably pretty therapeutic when you've been told that you're just going to have to continue to let people shit on you, despite not deserving it.
Guinan enters, and asks if she can practice with him.
"I practice at level 14," he says, possibly hoping to put her off.
"Yeah, I can come down to that level," she says easily.
They start the program, and Guinan immediately starts getting her shots in, hitting each one. She tells him conversationally that she has a bet with Picard that she can get him to laugh before he makes Lt-commander. He tries to tell her that Klingons don't laugh, and she corrects him: Klingons do, but he doesn't. They argue. She gets every shot in the meantime. He misses several.
She asks about Alexander, and he admits that his kid is struggling to adjust to life on Earth.
"Yeah, some day he'll want to learn about what it means to be Klingon, like you are now."
And she disappears just as she came.

Picard is having a snack in the ready room when Worf comes in.
"I request a leave of absence," says Worf formerly.
"Granted," says Picard. "Qapla'."

Quietly concerned music, commercial break!

Worf's Personal Log 44996.1: "Found the ship captained by my brother, Kurn. Gonna meet with him."

Worf meets with Kurn on Kurn's ship, and Kurn drops a bomb on him: no one likes Gowron. No one wants Duras' family in charge, either, but Kurn and his friends all believe that if Gowron becomes Head of the Council that the Duras family will take him down, and the Empire will get stuck with those assholes, anyway. Kurn wants to get rid of the old council and replace the current members. He's friends with four other squadron leaders, who will all follow him. Then he can restore the name of the House of Mogh.
Worf considers this. "No, Gowron completed the rite of succession. We need to back him."
"The fuck?" demands Kurn. "You asked him to fix this discommendation thing, and he refused! You still want to support this guy?"
"We're not getting our honor back by being dishonorable," Worf argues. "I'm the elder brother. I speak for the House of Mogh. Here's the thing: we're gonna trade for our honor. We won't stand with Gowron until the wolves have circled. Then we'll swoop in and back him, but only if he restores our family name."
Kurn's hands are kind of tied. He doesn't want to back Gowron, but Worf is the elder brother, so he has to go along with what Worf says. He says he will need to travel to another sector, to convince his allies to go with Worf's plan.

Picard's Log 44996.8: "Back in the hall of the High Council, doing the arbiter thing."

Picard, as arbiter, tells the council that Gowron has completed the rite of succession, and he should be Head of the Council. Gowron accepts, and Picard is about to place the ceremonial robe on him, when some tween interrupts, claiming to challenge Gowron.
"Who tf are you?" asks Gowron.
"Toral, son of Duras."

Gowron snorts with derision. "Duras didn't have a son."
And now, introducing my two favorite Klingons: Lursa and B'Etor, sisters of Duras. They are sooo thrilled to introduce the Council to their newly-found nephew. Oh, and also to challenge Gowron for the High seat. Toral is champing at the bit for the chance to fight someone (he looks about 14, and has chickenhawk-fighting-Foghorn-Leghorn energy), but his aunts tell him to cool his jets.
K'Tal, the guy running the show until the new Head can take over, announces that Picard will look into Toral's claim. The council gathering breaks up.
"Fuck me," sighs Picard.

Back at their place, Lursa and B'Etor meet with Romulan General Movar and Shadowy Commander. The Duras sisters tell their Rom friends that Picard is going to consider Toral's claim on the seat.
"We should just kill Picard!" says an over-enthusiastic Toral.
B'Etor backhands him. "Dumbshit, you want the Federation coming after us?"
"When the time is right, we'll deal with the Federation, and Picard," says the Shadowy Commander.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Worf talks to Kurn, who tells him that three squadron leaders will follow the House of Mogh, and one will not. Their "enemies" have seven squadrons, so the two sides are evenly matched. But most squadron leaders are swing voters at this point.
Worf is pretty sure they can pull the trigger on this plan soon. Kurn says he will meet Worf on Qo'nos.

Worf goes to the bridge of the E, where he asks Data for info on the Khitomer Massacre. Data, Research Librarian Extraordinaire, lists off all of the info they have access to here on the ship, but recommends that he contact starbase 24 for better records.
Picard catches them doing this, and pulls Worf aside to the ready room.
"Dude: this is a conflict of interest. You can't use your position as a Starfleet officer to bring about political change on your home planet."
"But those records prove my father's innocence!" Worf argues.
Picard pauses. "Okay, look - I'm gonna compromise here, and open those records to anyone that wants them, including Duras' family. We both know what info is there, and that it works in your favor to do so, but don't ask me for anything else, cool?"
Worf thanks him and leaves.
Riker pages Picard. "You've got mail."

Picard goes to meet with the Duras sisters. B'Etor immediately starts flirting with him, to the point that Lursa has to reign her in. They offer him tea ("Earl Grey, hot?"), clearly having done their homework. They start laying it on thick - their brother Duras was a dumbass, and deserved to die, and they don't want to be Picard's enemy, yadda yadda yadda.
Lursa asks if Picard has made up his mind about Toral, who has "the support of the people."
"And now we have to see if he has the support of the law," says Picard. "But here's what I see: if Toral's challenge is valid, you'll take over the council, and Gowron will turn up mysteriously murdered. If I reject Toral's claim, you'll accuse me of acting on behalf of the Federation, and use that to rally your supporters to start a war and overthrow Gowron."
"There's a third option," says Lursa smoothly. "You reject Toral, we win in a war against Gowron, and the alliance with the Federation will come to an end. And we don't want that."
"We want to be friends," purrs B'Etor.
"How Romulan of you," says Picard evenly. "I'm giving my answer at noon tomorrow. Thanks for the tea."
Which is Picard for Fuck You. He leaves.
Lursa and B'Etor exchange glances, because how much does Picard know?

 

High noon. The council has gathered again to hear Picard's answer, which he gives with Vulcan logic and Klingon law: Toral is Duras' son, but he is still a kid, and he has not fought for his people, or slain any enemies. Like, maybe he will someday, but as of now, he hasn't. Duras is dead, and his claim died with him. Gowron is still the guy for the job.
And Gowron is itching to put that robe on.
But now Toral jumps forward to monologue and plead his case to a council that is mostly in his corner. "Who is in charge here? The Federation, or the Klingons? Follow me!"
"Following you is a rejection of Klingon law!" protests Gowron.
But most of the council steps behind the House of Duras.
"WTF?" yells Gowron.
The council breaks up, the majority following the House of Duras out of the hall.
"Fuck me," says Gowron.

Worf goes to Gowron's ship to play his hand.
"Looks like you need some help," smiles Worf.
"Dude, you're some honorless Starfleet officer - what kind of help could you offer?"
"Bitch, I got four squadrons."
Suddenly, Gowron is interested. "How the hell did you get four squadrons?"
"They follow Kurn, my brother. His true identity was hidden to protect him."
"Okay, but... Kurn doesn't like me."
"I'm the head of the family. You know what I want in return."
But Gowron doesn't think four squadrons are worth restoring honor to the House of Mogh. He wants Federation support (still).
"Not gonna happen," says Worf. "You know they can't interfere."
Gowron decides that it's time for some manipulation, and demands to know if Worf is a weak little human, or a Klingon that hears the cry of battle.

But there's no time to answer. Gowron's ship, the Bortas, is under fire. They rush to the bridge, where crewmembers busily report damage. They were just sitting there in space, not expecting to take fire, so shields were not up, and damage has been done to the warp drive.

From the bridge of the E, Data reports that another ship is now firing on the Bortas.

Gowron's ship is kind of dead in the water, no engines and no weapons. Gowron puts out the call to friendly ships for aid.

Data now reports that the Bortas has shields down on the port side, that life support is failing.
"General distress call from them," notes Riker.
"Craaaap," says Picard. "We need to move away from here."
"That's Gowron's ship," Riker reminds him. "He's the legit leader, right? We should help him."
"Can't do it." says Picard firmly. "We can't get involved in a Klingon civil war."
"Worf''s over there?"
But Picard moves the E away.

Gowron gives the order to fire on the other ship, but Worf advises them to wait.
"They'll see us lock our weapons on them, and fire on us again. But if we wait until they drop their shields to beam over, we can fire on them then and destroy their ship."
Which they do. And the ship blows up, because Worf is fucking smart. Unfortunately, by the time they target and fire on the second ship, their shields have gone up. Ship #2 fires on the Bortas, and they take more damage. The Bortas' shields are failing.
But what's this?
A third ship, firing on ship #2!

Ship #2 turns tail and cloaks under the hail of fire.
It's Kurn, y'all! He's taken the Elder Brother thing to heart, and tells Gowron that he and his buddies are there to follow him. Gowron invites Kurn & Friends to the Great Hall, and then tells Worf to invite Picard and his friends as well. He's gonna get himself installed as leader once and for all.

Picard's Log 44998.3: "Gonna do the last part of my role as Arbiter of Succession."

Picard walks up to the dais in the Great Hall, and puts The Cape of Leadering the Klingons on Gowron. Then Worf steps forward.
"You have both fought as warriors," Gowron tells Worf, and he pops out a Klingon blade.
Is this a mugging?
Naw, it's that blade-grabbing thing.
"You were wronged, and I'm returning your honor," and he says it in such a way that you know the Council is gonna be whispering around the water cooler later. Cuz so many of them spineless bitches knew the truth and said nothing.
Worf pulls his hand away, leaving the contents of a watery blood pack on the blade.

Dramatic music ! Commercial break!

Gowron requests a meeting in the Obs Lounge. Picard, Riker and Worf are there.
"Lursa and B'Etor are amassing forces," Gowron announces. "Formally requesting assistance from the Federation against the enemies of the Empire."
Does... does Gowron not understand how the treaty works?
"This is still an internal affair," Riker reminds him.
"Yeah, but I'm leader now," Gowron argues. "I'm declaring them enemies of the Klingons. Go get 'em."
His attitude is reading as someone pointing out a spider to a reluctant cat. Like, he expects the Federation to crush the Duras sisters simply because he motioned in their direction.
"Come on, Gowron," says Picard, "you know we can't get involved."
"You're arbiter. You're already involved."
"No, I'm done. I put the cape thing on you, and I clocked out."
Now it's Worf's turn: "The Duras family is corrupt. We know they've conspired with Romulans before, and if they gain power and form an alliance with the Roms, it will shift the balance of power in this quadrant. We have to back Gowron, for the good of the Federation."

 Picard sighs. "Dude, you know we can't. We have a strict non-interference policy, and we have to stick by it, no matter what our personal feelings are on the matter."
Worf and Gowron turn to leave the Obs Lounge, disappointed. Or you know, whatever the Klingon version of disappointment is.
"Hey, I gotta recall you from leave," Picard tells Worf. "We gotta go."
Worf pauses. "Can I take extended leave?"
"No, that's supes inappropriate," says Picard. "A Starfleet officer, hanging out on Klingon ship during a civil war, doesn't look good."
Worf pauses, then resigns his commission.

Worf, now dressed in a Klingon military uniform that looks like it doesn't breathe as well as the Starfleet one, is packing his things in his quarters.
Picard swings by. "Hey, I hear you were offered a position on the Bortas."
"Yeah, as weapons officer."
"That's awesome. You have a lot of skill and experience in that subject, I'm sure you'll be really valuable in that position."
Picard clearly bears him no ill will. Probably because he might choose the same outcome if the roles were reversed. Worf had a crappy choice to make, but just because he didn't choose the one that would have benefited Picard, isn't a good reason for the captain to be salty.
But...
"Are you sure this is the right choice?"
"I've been around humans my whole life," Worf admits. "I was loved and raised by them, and I fought beside them. But I'm Klingon."
"You are," Picard agrees. "But I always thought you carried with you the best of humanity. The best of both humans and Klingons in one person. And I'm proud to have called you one of my officers."
Worf is not one of those "hug it out" guys, but he's clearly not feeling great about leaving.
They take the lift down to the transporter room deck. The doors open.

Jae sighting!

"Attention on deck," calls Picard.
Who let these fucking ninjas and their fucking onions in here?

This show hates me.

When he gets into the transporter room, he doesn't say anything. He just looks at them, as though quickly memorizing this moment, and his friends' faces. Then he steps onto the transporter pad.
Worf: "Permission to leave the ship, sir."
Picard: "Permission granted."
Picard: "Qapla'."
Worf:
Worf: "Goodbye."
He transports to the Bortas, and Riker dismisses everyone.

 Down on Qo'nos, a messenger enters some quarters being occupied by the Duras family and their skeevy Romulan friends.
One Rom reads out the padd: "Picard is not helping Gowron."
"It's because Picard is a coward -!" Toral begins shouting, because he's like 12, and just enthusiastic about calling everyone cowards and running into battle without looking twice. He's a tiny Leeroy Jenkins.
"Don't discount Picard," says Shadowy Commander. "He's a human, and humans have a way of showing up when you least expect them."
And she steps out of the shadows.

HELLA DRAMATIC MUSIC! END CREDITS!

*******

Y'all, I love this episode.
I love Klingon politics for the pomp and circumstance and their weird ceremonial things, and the crazy in-fighting, all of which are available here in abundance. (And truth be told, I probably love it most of all because it's fictitious, and I can enjoy that drama without having to ask, "is someone I know going to be harmed because these assholes can't pass proper legislation?" It's safe to watch.) I love that we have an already-contentious passing of the baton from earlier, and that the drama hasn't stopped simply because Picard picked a new guy to take over. I love that Picard was dragged into this because K'mpec couldn't trust another Klingon to pick his successor. I love that the shitty legacy of Duras lives on beyond his death, and that members of the council are still covering for that family to hold the Empire together. It'll all blow up soon, but in the meantime, let's make popcorn and wonder which of those assholes on the council still think covering that up is okay. I love that we have continuations of earlier story arcs, and I love that we are opening new arcs with the Duras family, with Sela and the Romulans, and with an upcoming Klingon civil war. I also really love that Picard is stuck smack in the middle of this shit: he didn't ask to be arbiter, took the job reluctantly, and just when he thought it would be coming to a close, Lursa and B'Etor threw him back into the fray with their sketchy claim. (And it is sketchy - you don't get to take over an office simply because your father was running for it when he died.) Now Picard is stuck in the weird position of knowing that if the Duras family takes over, they will ditch the treaty with the Federation, and form one with the Romulans. A civil war will start, and from it will stem a larger war that includes the Federation and its allies, but for right now, there is nothing he can do without interfering. That's good drama.

The rules and regulations of this stuff are a bit murky, though. We have Worf pulling the Elder Brother thing on Kurn in secret, and while Kurn seems to be his own guy, he's pretty quick to leave his adopted family behind and go along with what Worf says, switching alliances simply because Worf told him to do it. I am into the fact that a hesitant Kurn then has to convince his allies to switch sides with him, and that not everyone joined up - that seems pretty realistic. How exactly did he convince them, though? He was pretty anti-Gowron, then suddenly he was pro-Gowron? Was he telling his friends that he was actually House of Mogh, and that Worf had demanded that he switch in order to get them back into a place of honor? That's a long, complicated story, and we don't know how "out" Kurn is about his heritage. It gets to remain a mystery.
Worf's coup was pretty clever as well. He waited until just the right moment, and offered his help in exchange for Gowron's.
The thing about women not being able to serve on the council is something that's all over the place here. Earlier in this season, Gowron himself offers K'Ehleyr a seat on the council in exchange for her support. She turns him down, but how was he able to offer it in the first place? Was he willing to break the rules for her? In truth, it's just a continuity problem. The writers of this episode needed for there to be a reason why Lursa and B'Etor could not just take over the council themselves, but later on, we'll see examples both of women serving on the council, and not being allowed to do so. It's fine that they would switch it here for the sake of story, but if you're going to make something the new normal and it contradicts earlier canon, you need to explain it somehow, and then quit going back and forth.
While we're at it, who is this chick? Is she a council member? Security?

                        

The character growth for Worf was particularly fantastic for this episode as well. We get to see him applying human mores and ideas to Klingon situations and blend them together nicely with strictly Klingon moves. The fact that he's spent almost all of his time around humans makes him a man without a country, and when he's able to get his honor back by fighting alongside the new chancellor, he is shown as being accepted by Klingon society. Will he be accepted universally? Probably not. We gotta solve The Problem with the Duras Family first, and even then, there will probably always be a few people that bought that whole "Mogh sold us out" bullshit as true, and they'll hate Worf until their dying day for it. While he's obviously glad to have his honor restored by the Empire at large, he doesn't seem to give much of a shit for people who are going to stubbornly cling to the lies they were told about him. He proves to Gowron that he's a competent weapons officer, and cool-headed in battle, and it gains him new respect with the chancellor. Point in his favor, even if Gowron is not well-liked.
A side-note here: I was interested in how one's house is named, and did some digging. It turns out that it is up to the house members themselves to keep or change the name. It may be named after the most recent senior member (The House of Mogh, The House of Duras), it may be changed to reflect who is currently leading that house, or it may keep a name to honor someone that has passed long before. If you're interested, you might check out Memory Alpha on the subject.

And a weird question that I have often pondered when watching this series: does the word "humanity" work in this series when used as a virtue? They often talk about a character's humanity (meaning love, kindness, and/or social intelligence), but apply it to a character that is not human. Picard refers to Worf's humanity here, and it can be taken as literal, as Worf was raised by humans; but Kirk also uses it when speaking of Spock, who was a half-human, raised by one human and one Vulcan on a Vulcan planet. Do we need another term to refer to a collective set of traits that the human species values? Does it work to say that an alien species, or an alien character has "great humanity" when they are not human? Being that we currently have no contact with alien species, it is not necessary to have it now, but will it be in the future, should we come into contact with beings from other planets? I suppose it all ties back to the idea that this is a show made by humans, about other humans, and how they interact with non-humans. The show is human-centric, and that term is as well, so it makes sense that we should use it now, but will there come a time later when it will be inadequate?


- Fun Facts:

- The Redemption arc was originally meant to be the cliffhanger for the end of season three, but was set aside for "The Best of Both Worlds."
- This is the 100th episode of TNG.
- The costumes worn by the Duras sisters were labeled as "Klingon kleavage" by fans, and like Ricardo Montalban in Wrath of Khan, that shit's real.
- This is the first appearance of the Duras sisters, but won't be the last: as well as appearing in TNG, they also return in DS9, and a Star Trek film.
- This is also the first appearance of Sela, though she'll show up a few times in TNG.
- Troi, Crusher and La Forge only appear once in this episode, in Worf's farewell scene, and do not have any lines.
- Guinan actually did make Worf laugh once, in "Yesterdays Enterprise."
- K'Tal is described as "a man who has been on the council longer than anyone else and will probably still be here when the others are all gone." He does not back either Gowron, or the Duras family, but serves the Empire.






Red deaths: 0
To date: 0
Gold deaths: 0
To date: 1

Blue deaths: 0
To date: 1
Unnamed color crew deaths: 0
To date: 11,000

Obnoxious Wes moments: 0
To date: 1

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

Sassy Geordi moments: 0
To date: 9

Sassy Wes Moments: 0
To date: 0

Sassy Worf Moment: 0
To date: 5

Sassy Riker Moments: 0
To date: 7

Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date: 15

Sassy NPC Moments: 0
To date: 1
Sassy Data Moments: 0
To date: 2
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
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Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
To date: 3
Sassy Troi Moments: 0
To date: 7
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 0
To date: 5

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 0
To date: 33

Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 0
To date: 19

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
To date: 10
Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 0
To date: 2
Picard Maneuvers: 0
To date: 22
Tea, Earl Grey: 1
To date: 12

Bratty

Son of Isis

of the

House of Bratty

A Good Boi, a Complete Asshole, and an

Honorable Warrior

April 2, 1999 - March 2, 2020