ST:TNG Season Five, Episode One "Redemption II"

ST:TNG Season Five, Episode One "Redemption II"
Production Order: 1
Air Order: 1
Stardate: 45021.3
Original Air Date: September 23, 1991

Sorry for the last post this week.


                               


So a recap, because season four ended on a cliffhanger:
Gowron is going to be made the Chancellor for the Klingon Empire (as per Picard's choice as arbiter for the Rite of Succession in the episode Reunion). However, the family of Duras objects, because they say that Duras had a secret son, Toral, who now claims the Chancellorship. Picard doesn't want to become involved again, but he looks at the laws anyway, and is like, "hell no, you're not Chancellor. You can't just claim leadership because your father wanted to do so. Shit doesn't work like that. Also, you're like 12? What honorable deeds have you done for the Empire? None, that's how many. GTFO of here with your claim."
So Toral's gang is headed up by his aunts, Duras' sisters, Lursa and B'Etor. They're pretty fucking fabulous, but also sketchy as Duras. Clearly, this crap runs in the family. Also in Toral's gang? Romulans. Including the Shadowy Commander from "The Mind's Eye."
Worf asks Gowron to restore his honor, now that he is going to be Chancellor. Gowron was unaware that Duras and his shit were behind the whole discommendation thing, and he's disgusted that it's gone down that way, but he can't do the thing: lots of people on the council still support the Duras family, and he needs their support.
Annoyed at not being able to establish a fucking 12-year-old as the head of the Empire, the Duras sisters, with backup from other petaQs who lack honor, attack Gowron's ship to take the Chancellorship by force.
Worf to Gowron: "My brother Kurn has a bunch of ships who could kick the ass of the Duras gang. My price is restoring my family's name."
Picard to Worf: "I know you were on leave to try to get your name restored, but you gotta come back to the E so we can leave. We can't get caught in a Klingon civil war."
Worf to Picard: "Guess I gotta resign my commission, bro. Gowron has a place for me on his ship."
Kurn and his gang show up. There's a small skirmish,  and the Duras family backs off.
Gowron is made Chancellor. He restores honor to the House of Mogh.
The Shadowy Commander is revealed.

Dramatic music! Let's get back into it!

Some time has passed, and now Worf has been assigned to Kurn's ship. We open in a battle that is going poorly for Kurn. Worf recommends retreating, but Kurn yells at him for not knowing his place. Instead, Kurn has the helm set to fly into the nearest sun.

Everybody on board: "WTF?"

Worf is yelling out computer specs: "Shields failing. Outer hull temperature exceeding design specifications!" Which is... unintentionally funny. 

Kurn has them fly hella close to the surface of the sun, close enough to kick up some solar flares, and because those two ships were riding their asses, they fly right into those solar flares, and die (dis)honorably in battle.
(If you die during a Klingon civil war, is your death considered honorable? Is it up to the victors to write your history, or is it still considered (somewhat) honorable because you died in battle? Do you go to Sto'vo'kor, with occasional visits from Fek'lhr? Do you join the Barge of the Dead to Gre'thor, but you get to sit in business class? Is there a Klingon Medium Place?)

Picard's Log 45020.4: "Went to a starbase to convince Admiral Shanthi to let us get involved with this Klingon thing."

See, this is where I'm #TeamPicard. He spent the last episode telling Gowron and Worf that he couldn't get involved, even though he knew he should, because he knew that just straight-up getting involved would not bode well. Here, he has a good plan, which he explains to Admiral Shanthi: that they go to the Klingon-Romulan border and form a blockade to cut off the supplies from the Romulans to the Duras family. Involved, but also not.
"But the Roms have cloaking devices," Shanthi argues.
"Yeah, but my chief engineer has a theory - each ship sends out a tachyon beam to the others, so we form this kind of net. If the Roms attempt to fly through it, they'll light up like a fucking Christmas tree."
Shanthi is hesitant to jump in (the Klingons are allies, but this is clearly an internal matter), but Picard convinces her that the Duras family, long thought allied with the Romulans, would destroy the peace treaty between the Klingons and the Federation.
She finally agrees to talk to the other admirals, and gives him permission to assemble a fleet.

Dramatic music! Opening credits break!

Picard's Log 45021.3: "Okay, so convincing Starfleet to do the thing wasn't too hard, but now getting ships is sucking hard."

Riker, La Forge and Data are in the ready room with Picard, helping him form his fleet.
"Kayso, there are only like 12 ships in this quadrant within a day's travel," says Riker.
La Forge adds that any others are in dry dock or in for repairs, and a lot of them don't have full crews assigned to them.
"Craaaap," says Picard. "Okay, we'll pull some of these ships listed for repair. Will, you're gonna command the Excalibur, and La Forge, you're gonna be his XO. Data, will you put together a list of experienced Enterprise crewmen that we could put on those other ships to round out those crews? I want a fleet ready by tomorrow, and it looks like we only get 20 ships or so."
They all agree, and Riker and La Forge leave.
"So hey," says Data. "You've said that there's a severe shortage of senior officers to command ships in this fleet, but you didn't assign me to lead a ship. Technically, my 26 years of service would mean that I am qualified."
"Oh. Um. I thought your services would be best suited here."
But Data cuts to the heart of the matter, "If you don't think that Starfleet is ready for an android captain, I can work on getting my shit up to snuff -"
"Um, actually the Sutherland needs a captain. I think you'll be awesome in that position."
"Cool."
Data leaves to compile his list, and Picard is left looking a bit sheepish.

Down on Qo'nos, Worf has entered some kind of social gathering (looks like a bar, but there is no physical bar? I think there are tables?). Everyone is drinking and arm wrestling and being rowdy, normal Klingons. Kurn introduces Worf to his drinking partner, Captain Larg.
"Larg flies for the Duras family, he tried to kill us yesterday!"
Kurn and Larg seem plenty cheerful, as well as kind of drunk.
"Annnnd, you're drinking with him?" asks Worf.
"Yeah, capital city is neutral ground, so here, we're not #TeamGowron or #TeamDuras, we're all #TeamWarrior!"
Larg leaves and Worf updates Kurn on how the repairs to their ship is going.
"Psht, that's duty shit," Kurn admonishes. "Have a drink and relax! Why are you so hung up on duty? I don't give a shit how repairs are going!"
Worf eventually agrees to have a drink.
Across the room, Lursa and B'Etor watch them and remark on how different the sons of Mogh are. They have designs on Worf.

Kurn and Larg are like Klingon Catskills comedians.
Trade a barb, laugh like hell. Repeat.

Data reports to the Sutherland and tells the XO, Lt Commander Christopher Hobson, that he'll be taking command, and to note it in the ship's log.
"Um, I'd like to transfer," says Hobson.
"How come?"
"I... don't think I'd be a good first officer for you."
That's... honest?
"Okay, why?" asks Data. "Your service records are good, seems like you'd be a good fit."
After dancing around the issue, Hobson finally comes out with it: he's automatonophobic.
Remember that word? I had to go looking for it to describe Lt Maddox in "The Measure of a Man," and it translates to "fear of robots." It basically means "people that treat androids like toasters." Toasters that they beat with baseball bats for fun, because why not? They're toasters.
"I understand your concerns," says Data in an almost soothing tone. But then because he's a cold motherfucker: "Request denied."

Lt Commander Meatbag Privilege

The fleet gets underway.
This is a pretty sweet shot.

"What class ships does the script call for?"
"Just pull out any Federation model that isn't broken."

Back on Qo'nos, the Duras sisters are concerned that their Romulan supplies aren't showing up quickly enough.
"It's fine," says Sela. "It'll be fine."
They get word that Picard has left starbase 234 with a small fleet of ships that are heading for Klingon space.
Toral jumps in, ever the eager beaver. "Are they entering the war? Can we attack them?"
"OMG, shut him up, or get him out of here," Sela barks.
Are you paying attention, Toral? All of these people are using you. If you live to adulthood, you should fuck them up.
Sela asks her assistant, General Movar, to go back to Romulus and rouse a bunch of ships, then to go to a set of coordinates she gives him.
Lursa is looking at the padd with the info. "Picard only has 20 ships? We should be fine."
"Don't discount Picard yet," says Sela.

I love the composition of this shot: Sela and Movar, calling the real shots;
Lursa and B'Etor, making secret plans without them;
and Toral, excluded in the corner, trying to see what's going on.

Worf and Kurn report to Gowron on how things are going. Gowron is unhappy that Duras seems to be getting additional help from somewhere.
"Maybe they just have better leadership!" yells a voice from the back. It's Kulge, some asshole that wants Gowron to know that he's a shitty leader.
Gowron is psyched - a chance to cut a bitch? Yaaasss!
"Y'all, really?" yells Worf. "Come on, we have a war to win. Fighting amongst ourselves isn't doing any good."
"Gowron has to face this challenge," Kurn hisses at him.
Gowron hops off the dais and they both produce knives, like this is Klingon West Side Story or something.
But this is not how Worf is used to doing things. He's used to being the too violent, too impatient, too suspicious Klingon among talky humans. Now he's the too cautious, too patient, too talky Klingon-raised-by-humans.
Gowron and Kulge go at one another.
"Seriously?" demands Worf.
He tries to get between them to break up the fight, but it only results in Gowron getting the chance to jam his d'k tahg between Kulge's ribs. He then gives Worf a kind of thank-you grin.

The fleet arrives at their spot on the Klingon-Romulan border and begins taking their positions.
On the Sutherland, a small problem has occurred: radiation is leaking onto decks 10-12 because the power couplings are overloading.
"Why are they overloading?" asks Data. "How come the back-ups didn't kick on?"
"We left the repair yard before we could test everything fully," Hobson replies.
 He immediately starts issuing orders to crewmembers to take care of the situation, which includes taking phasers and photon torpedoes offline.
"Uh, no," says Data. "You don't issue commands. You run that shit by me first."
And then Hobson pulls some straight BS, which is to then sarcastically say that he was trying to save some human lives by issuing those commands, in a tone that is clearly meant to be heard as "You weren't interested in the humans on this ship, and someone had to be."

STFU, Hobson. Like, are you actually automatonophobic, or are you mad that you didn't get to be captain? Both? Suck it up and quit playing games like you're some butthurt tween. Cuz you're acting like Toral, and at least that kid has the excuse that people are treating him like shit. Go sit in your quarters and write bad poetry if you're gonna be like that.
Hobson backtracks what he was doing, then goes to stand next to the crew. "You're right. What should we do, SIR?"
Data repeats the orders that Hobson gave, because those were in fact the correct course of action.
"Very good, sir," says Hobson snottily before they all scatter to do their jobs.
I wonder whose side the crew is on.
Probably Hobson's, since they all know him. Maybe he's less of a knob normally.

The tachyon field goes up. It's impressive-looking, but I'm wondering how large it actually is. Because, like The Tholian Web, it isn't connected to anything, so you'd have to make it big enough that going around is a huge inconvenience. Or over. Or under. We're working in three dimensions, here. The Romulans can travel on the Z-axis, yo.

The Roms see it immediately, and Movar asks Sela what they should do: the Federation will find them right away, regardless of cloaks.
"Let's start working on a way to break down the field," she says. "But until then, let's convince Picard to go away."
On the E, O'Brien (who has taken Worf's spot at tactical) tells Picard that a warbird is decloaking, and that they're being hailed.
So then Picard and all of those TNG Year Ones on the bridge make Surprised Pikachu Face, because Is That Tasha Yar?
"I'm Commander Sela," she says.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

"Get the fuck off our border within in the next 20 hours, or we're taking you down," Sela growls at Picard.
She cuts off communication, and Picard meets with Crusher and Troi in the Obs Lounge.
"She's not lying," says Troi. "She totes believes she's the daughter of Tasha Yar."
"But that doesn't make sense," says Crusher. "I checked Yar's medical records. She was never pregnant. She was also too young to have a kid. She'd be like, five years older than Sela."
"Maybe she's a clone," says Troi.
"Or surgically altered," offers Crusher.
"Eh," says Picard. "This is weird, but I'm not gonna change my strategy. Ball's in their court."
Crusher and Troi leave, and then surprise of surprises, Guinan comes in.
"So I heard the daughter of Tasha Yar is on the Romulan ship?"
"Yeah," Picard smiles. "I think it's a weird ploy to distract us."
"Cool, cool," says Guinan. "Hey, what do you know about the Enterprise-C?"
"Oh!" He was not expecting that question. "It was lost defending the Klingon colony on Nerendra III from the Romulans."
"Uh-huh, what about survivors?"
"There were rumors about prisoners taken back to Romulus, but probably not."
"Yeah, no," says Guinan seriously. "There were survivors. Tasha Yar was one. She wasn't a kid at the time, and I'm pretty sure you sent her there."
"That's... not possible. That was 23 years ago. And Tasha Yar died just a few years ago, before you came on board. You never met her." He's pretty angry now. "Is this some kind of intuition?"
"Yeah, and if it's true, then you're responsible for this situation."
Picard considers this. "Craaaap. I'm gonna need to meet this woman in person."

Worf and Kurn go back to the socialization place/probably a bar, and they get into a nasty argument about Gowron and Kulge. Worf thinks that Gowron should set aside any and all challenges to his leadership until the war is over. Kurn is pissed off that Worf isn't getting the whole Klingon thing, and is extra pissed off that he joined up with Gowron against his own wishes, and now Worf is bitching about it.
Kurn yells at him that maybe he should not have joined the war effort, and takes off. The second Kurn disappears, two other Klingons rush in and jump Worf, beating the absolute shit out of him. Once he is unconscious, they drag him off.

Sela stalks into the Obs Lounge, demanding to know what "very urgent" thing Picard wants to talk about. He invites her politely to sit. He seems mildly concerned, not the hard-ass he sometimes becomes when dealing with hostile people. Because what if he caused this? That would suck.
"We're not here to be aggressive," he tells her.
Sassy Sela Moment: "Uh-huh. And I should tell my superiors that there are 23 Federation ships on our border for what? Humanitarian reasons?"
"We're just here to keep outsiders from interfering in internal Klingon affairs," he replies.
"We're not doing any of that," she replies silkily. "But if we wanted to get into Klingon space, how would you stop us? You can't see us."
He smiles. "Then why don't you just do it?"
And a smile from her. "Let's cut the crap. I'm here because you want to know how Tasha Yar could be my mother."
And he does cut the crap: "Okay. I've heard that she was on the Enterprise-C when it was destroyed 24 years ago, that she survived, was taken back to Romulus, and had a child with a Romulan."
"But it can't be true, right? Because she would have been a child 24 years ago? But she wasn't. She was on that ship, sent there from the future by you."
She tells Tasha Yar's story:
Yar survived the destruction of the Enterprise-C, and the few survivors were brought before a Romulan general, who was going to execute them. But he was taken with Tasha, and they made a deal - he would spare the survivors if she became his consort. She gave birth to Sela a year later.
Picard asks if he can meet Yar, and she grows quiet.
"When I was four, she wrapped me up one night and tried to sneak me out of the compound. I realized that she was taking me away from my father and my home, so I screamed. My father gave her a home and a child, and she betrayed him. She was executed." Sela gets up angrily and goes to the window. "Everything that was in me that was human died then. I'm nothing but Romulan now."
"I don't really have any reason to believe you," he replies. "But either way, I'm not letting it affect our next encounter."
"You have 14 hours to GTFO," she barks before leaving.

B'Etor gets all up in Worf's business, doing the Klingon growl-purr-mating noise. Worf wakes up, fully ready to get it on with whatever dream girl may have popped out of his unconscious, but then he realizes that it's B'Etor, and his tiny warrior is no longer raring to go.
"Ugh, what do you want?" he demands.
Lursa is there, and she gets a Sassy Moment: "Same thing as you - personal honor, glory for the empire."
"Yeah, fuck you guys," sighs Worf. "Seriously. But not literally, gross."
"Our brother was dumb for making you an enemy," purrs B'Etor, who is still all over Worf. "We want to be friends."
"Then stop opposing Gowron," he answers simply.
Lursa gets down next to Worf. "Toral will be the leader of the council, everybody knows that. But he's still young, and he needs a father figure, someone with a strong hand to guide him. Which could be you, if you were mated to B'Etor."
"Ew, that's nasty." He pushes B'Etor off and stands up. "The kind of Klingon Empire you would have us rule is one where there is no honor, and all the shots are called from Romulus."
A little screen opens. Sela has obviously been doing a Zoom call to this room. "That's enough, he doesn't want in. Hand him over to the guard for now, we have more important shit to take care of. B'Etor can play with him later."
A Romulan guard hauls Worf away.

Picard calls Gowron. "If you attack now, Lursa and B'Etor will call for supplies, and the Romulans will try to run the blockade, exposing them."
"Support for their side will fall away once it's realized that they're working with the Romulans," nods Gowron. "Cool. Okay. Oh, also - Worf has been captured by the Duras. I hope he dies well."
"Yaaaay," says Picard.
Riker returns to the ready room on the Enterprise to talk strategy with Picard.
"So the Excalibur is gonna feign some engine trouble," Picard tells him, "and you're gonna fall back to these coordinates with these two other ships. It's gonna look like there's a hole in our tachyon net. But there won't be, because the E and another ship are gonna swing around and close the gap, trapping them."
"Sweet," grins Riker.

Movar goes to Sela with the news that #TeamDuras is being attacked in three sectors and they're failing hardcore.
"Fuck me," gripes Sela. "You mean "they were caught off-guard and are crying for help," right?"
"Pretty much," shrugs Movar.
"You figure out how to get around the blockade?" she asks.
"We think so. When we get close enough, we send out a tachyon pulse that should disrupt a big enough hole in the net for us to slip through."
They're looking at a live screen, and Movar notices that a ship is limping away, its warp drive failing.
"Picard is redeploying the fleet! He doesn't have enough ships to maintain the net. We can sneak through!"
Sela pauses. "No. That's what Picard wants. He tossed out some bait, and expects us to take it. Instead, let's use that tachyon pulse to disable the net where it's weakest... the ship with the android captain."

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

When we return, Picard and O'Brien have figured out that the tachyon net is down around the Sutherland and its surrounding ships. Picard checks in with Data, who is aware that his part of the net is down.
"Crap," says Picard. "Okay, tell the fleet to break it down, and regroup at Gamma Eridon. We're gonna set up the net there."
The call goes out, and Data acknowledges the change, telling his helm to set coordinates for Gamma Eridon. He pauses, then goes to the science station and does a long-range scan.
Hobson gets curious and sits beside him. "What are you doing?"
"I think when the Roms sent that tachyon disruptor signal out, they may have created residual halos of tachyon particles around themselves."
"But we have no way of detecting those?"
Up until now, Hobson was curious. But when Data calls for an all-stop, he gets a bit combative.
"We were ordered to go with the fleet to Gamma Eridon."
"Yeah," says Data, "but disintegrating particles don't last long, and by the time we get ready to move the fleet, there won't be evidence of the Romulans anymore. Bring the phasers back online."
"WTF?" demands Hobson. "That will flood three decks with radiation again!"
"And we'll do radiation protocol as soon as possible. Bring the phasers online."
"You don't care about the people working on those decks!" yells Hobson. "We're not machines!"
And Data feigns some emotion here, having noticed that a sharp tone will often get the CO what they need when there is resistance. "Bitch, did I stutter? PHASERS. NOW."
Hobson scoots to his station with his tail between his legs.

O'Brien reports that the Sutherland has stopped, instead of heading to Gamma Eridon. Picard asks O'Brien to hail Data.
"The Enterprise wants to know why we've stopped," Hobson tells Data.
Data simply asks Hobson for a sensor schematic on the viewscreen, and to overlay what kinds of tachyon emissions might be out there.
"Are you going to answer?" Hobson asks. He's following Data's orders, putting up the schematics as requested, but he's getting argumentative about it.
Data seems to have located four Romulan ships, and tells Hobson to reconfigure the photon torpedoes in a specific way.
"Those emissions could be anything -" Hobson starts.
"DO IT!" yells Data.
Picard finally breaks in. "Data, you were supposed to rendezvous with us at Gamma Eridon. Acknowledge."
"Fire the torpedoes," Data tells Hobson.
"Didn't you hear Picard?"
"I said FUCKING FIRE, you piece of shit!"

Hobson fires the torpedoes. And surprise, three Romulan ships light up like the Hindu festival of Duwali.

"Fuck," says Sela. "Reverse course back to Romulus, the whole fleet."
"But the Duras need these supplies," Moval argues. "What should I tell them?"
"They're on their own," says Sela. "We've been caught."

"Um, they're heading back for Romulan space," Hobson reports quietly.
"Cool," says Data. "Send a report to the flagship, take the torpedoes offline, and begin cleanup of decks 10-12."
"Yes, sir... captain."

Sooo... some shit's going down on Qo'nos.

Lursa and B'Etor burst into their quarters and tell Toral that they've been defeated, that their Rom friends failed to show up with supplies.
The Romulan guard hauls Worf in, and Lursa commands him to kill Worf.
"Fuck that shit," says Worf, promptly punching the guard.
They get into it while the Duras family watches, then Lursa hits a button on some little box, and she and B'Etor are beamed away. Without Toral. Who notices that he's been straight-up abandoned. Worf finally takes down the guard, just as Kurn and his guys walk in.
"Toral," taunts Kurn. "The next leader of the Empire. Gowron would like to see you again."

Swear to god she's smiling at Toral, making Lursa the galaxy's shittiest aunt.

Picard's Log 45025.4: "Sent the fleet back to Federation space, and we're now back at Qo'nos, where I'm gonna give the High Council a report on the Romulans."


Picard is in his ready room when Data comes in and says he is here for his punishment. He did not follow orders, and should be sanctioned.
"Yeah," says Picard evenly. "But here's the thing: Starfleet isn't necessarily looking for people to blindly follow orders. You analyzed the situation, and made some choices. Those choices did not follow orders, but you did a good job, and I've noted it in your record."

On Qo'nos, Picard gives the report to Gowron, who tells him that there is one last bit of business before he can go. A side door opens, and Worf and Kurn enter.
Then Gowron calls, "bring him," and two guards enter with Toral.
Gowron formally accuses Toral of treason.
"The Duras family will one day rule the Empire!" Toral calls out.
Kid, stop. Listen, for once.
Sassy Gowron Moment: "Perhaps, but not today."
"Worf," says Gowron, "this kid's family wrongly took your name and honor. I give you his life."
He hands Worf a d'k tahg. Suddenly, Toral has nothing to say. He's doing that "trying real hard to be a brave boy" face.
Worf approaches Toral slowly... then drops the knife at his feet.
Kurn comes up behind Worf. "What are you doing? Kill him!"
"No," says Worf.
"It's the Klingon way!"
"Yeah, but it's not my way."
Worf turns back to Gowron. "This kid hasn't actually done anything to me, and I'm not going to kill him for crimes committed by his family."
"Okay, Kurn can kill him," shrugs Gowron.
"Fuck yeah!" Kurn scoops the knife off the ground, and Toral looks twice as alarmed.
"No," Worf interrupts. "You gave me his life, and I have spared him."
Gowron: "As you wish."
He looks pissed. Kurn looks pissed.
"Request permission to return to duty, sir," Worf says to Picard.
"Granted," says Picard.
And they leave the hall like boss bitches.
YEAH, BOY.

I keep going back and forth on this episode.
First, I was slightly disappointed by it, mostly because I assumed that the second half picked up where the first half ended, and I thought, "Two skirmishes are not a civil war. Could I get an arc here, or something?" But then I read in Memory Alpha that some time had passed between parts one and two, and I thought maybe they had intended for the missing middle to have played out in real time, over the summer break. They evidenced this by noting that Worf was assigned to Gowron's ship initially, but had been reassigned to work with Kurn in part two. The idea of the war lasting several months worked better, with unseen battles taking place over that period of time. But when I ran the actual stardates, it came up with a total of ten days from the start of episode one to the end of episode two. Which is... less disappointing that the 3-4 days I originally thought it was, but more disappointing than the three months or so that was my second guess? When I think of civil wars, the length seems to speak of a longer struggle than ten days. I actually looked up the average length of human civil wars, and the answer came back at 7-12 years. (Trivia nobody wants: the shortest was the Anglo-Zanzibar War in 1895, clocking in at 45 minutes. The longest is ongoing: 72 years and counting, in Myanmar.) So I got ten days, and that's less than the arc I wanted, but I'll suck it up.

I have mixed feelings about Toral, more than I originally did in previous viewings. Sure, he's a cocky little shit, but he's being used by both his aunts and the entire fucking Romulan empire, and that has to suck. Then he's almost murdered by the House of Mogh, with approval by the Chancellor. That's a lot to take in for a kid.
Small, weird story: years ago, I went to an adult prom with my friend Teacup. We got all dressed up, and at the last minute, I found out she had invited her on-again off-again boyfriend. I anticipated being the third wheel that evening, but instead the boyfriend and I bored Teacup by talking Klingon politics. Namely, we debated whether or not it was considered honorable to kill Toral. It seems like, had he been just some kid, it would have been a wash. Toral had, at that point, done no honorable deeds, engaged in no battles. Has he even passed the Age of Ascension?  (He looks 12. The actor playing him was 15 at the time, but Hollywood frequently hires child actors that look younger, so they can work longer.) Being that his father had wronged the House of Mogh, and Gowron had captured and given him to Worf to kill, it may have been considered honorable to kill him. Worf did not think so. Gowron and Kurn certainly did.

Some things I liked: Klingon politics. Always a sucker for that. I hate human IRL politics, but give me some of that good Klingon shit any day. I liked Data being forced to confront more android discrimination, because frankly, he's going to get that his entire career, and they shouldn't shy away from it. He's different, he's going to be treated badly because humans are not always on the same page, and that journey should be shown.

I like the introduction of Sela. She's interesting, she has a great backstory, and she's here to fuck up your shit. She's also a bit of a mirror to Worf: living between worlds, but she chooses one world defiantly over the other. Worf has picked up more human traits than he realizes. Sela purposefully pushes away her humanity.

Sela leads to my favorite part of this episode, which is that the ongoing storyline of Romulans-meddle-in-Klingon-affairs ripples outward, across several seasons of this show, and into others. We'll see Sela, Gowron, the Duras sisters, Toral and Kurn again in different episodes, and in films.
All in all, a good installment.

Fun Facts:

- Denise Crosby came up with the idea for Sela. She enjoyed doing "Yesterday's Enterprise" so much that she began thinking of other ways she could return to the series. In her original idea, she toyed with he idea of Yar getting together with Castillo, and ending getting pregnant before being captured. The fully-human baby would end up being raised by the Romulans. The writers liked the idea, but when they got back to her about it, they told her it made more sense for Sela to be half-Romulan.
- Like "Best of Both Worlds," the second half was not written until summer break, and the writers had no idea how the story would end.
- Ronald D Moore noted that they had a hard time incorporating Sela into the story, but that he needed some kind of Romulan connection. They kept hinting at the Romulans having done terrible things, but it hadn't been shown much at all. This way, Romulans-acting-badly could been seen in real time.
- The effects on the surface of the sun were created by vibrating oatmeal on a light table, shooting it in negative, and tinting it orange.
- Christopher Hobson was named or a long-time friend of Ronald D Moore. Crewmembers of the Sutherland Keith and Terry were named for Moore's brothers.
- This arc and the upcoming "Unification" arc are the only two-parters to not include the word "part" in their names. ("Redemption II," rather than "Redemption, Part II").
- Footage of the Excalibur is reused from "Yesterday's Enterprise."
- Footage of the Birds of Prey were reused from The One With the Whales.
- O'Brien serves as tactical officer here, which makes sense, as he had served as tactical officer on the Rutledge.
- Uncredited credit: Cliffton Jones played the helmsman on the Bortas in the first episode, and Keith on the Sutherland in the second.

- Michael Dorn liked the episode, but felt like they tried to pack too much into the story. He felt as though Data's experience on the Sutherland deserved its own episode.
- Fans asked Brent Spiner about being emotional on the Sutherland when Hobson opposes Data, but Spiner assured them that Data was not exhibiting emotion, but copying the tone of voice he had seen other commanding officers employing when in similar situations.

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

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

Sassy Geordi moments: 0

To date: 

Sassy Worf Moment: 0

To date: 

Sassy Riker Moments: 0
To date: 

Sassy Picard Moments: 0
To date:  

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

Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 3
To date: 3

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

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

Why does Pie have Human Face here?

ST:TNG Season Four Review

Me: Quarantine! Okay! Stay home and catch up on projects and wash your hands and work on your blog while definitely not thinking about how you have no income and all of your loved ones could die.
Life and circumstance: We see you own a sewing machine. Your shitty, Ferengi-filled government has made it so healthcare workers lack proper equipment to care for people with a deadly virus. Make masks all day long to make up for the deficit.
Me: But... I....
Life and circumstance: Crippling guilt if you don't do so.

So this is my life now.
Masks.
And this is a real weird, raw way of saying sorry there haven't been any posts in the last two-plus weeks, but seriously...
... fuck all of this shit.
Fuck it sideways with a katana.

*******

Season four is one I always forget about, because most of my favorite episodes occur in season five, so I skip straight to those. But most of the season four episodes were fantastic. Let's take a look!

Yes, Please

The Best of Both Worlds and Family

These are two episodes, but count as parts 2 and 3 of the Best of Both Worlds storyline. In part 2, Riker is allowed to come into his own as captain, and writer Michael Piller wisely let the characters come up with their own solution, rather than having the Federation out-muscle the Borg. As a writer, I've found letting your characters write their own stories often results in a much stronger narrative. In this case, it was the truth of the matter. What's more, part 2 did not end happily. Tragedies of that nature never do, and it lends it self well to other off-shoot episodes (or, in this case, and entire series).

                           

In Family, Picard is shown attempting to pick up the pieces of his broken life, knowing that he unwillingly aided the Borg in their quest to assimilate his people. He is not okay, and it was a smart move to show that.

Bonus: we get to explore Worf's human family a bit, and Wes has a nice moment with a hologram that his father recorded for him when he was a baby.

                           

Brothers

Dr Soong activates a homing device in data, calling him and Lore back to some backwater planet where he has a lab. He tries to install an emotion chip in Data, but accidentally puts it in Lore. Soong dies. And impressively, Brent Spiner played all three parts, essentially spending 90% of this episode talking to himself.

                            

Reunion

Picard gets asked to oversee the Klingon Rite of Ascension. Hella Klingon politics. K'Ehleyr returns! Oops, she and Worf have a son together. K'Ehleyr is murdered by Duras, but then Worf gets an amazing Inigo Montoya moment, and fucking destroys Duras. We're introduced to Gowron, who seems only marginally better morally than Duras. I hate human politics, but give me that good Klingon shit any day of the week.

                           

Data's Day

A fun episode that's narrated by Data as he goes about interacting with friends, performing duties, and investigating a space mystery. Nice to see things through his eyes, and we get introduced to Keiko O'Brien and Spot the cat.

                              

The Wounded

This was a fucking great episode, where Miles O'Brien gets fleshed out into an actual three-dimensional character. Turns out he's racist against the Cardassians, but then must convince a rogue former captain and friend to stop hunting said Cardassians. Layered like a croissant. Yaaaasssss.

                            

Devil's Due

I love this light, comedic episode. Probably because I love a comedic con artist. And the fact that the con artist is a woman here made it that much better for me. She gets creepily rapey with Picard, and I did not love that, but overall a fun addition to this season.

                            

Clues

This was a pretty good episode, where the E accidentally encounters a race so xenophobic that they usually knocked people out and tow them a safe distance away, making it look like they went through a wormhole. But they hadn't bargained on an android officer, and Data makes a bargain with them to keep the secret. Unfortunately, they figure it out. A good Space Mystery with some sci-fi stuff tossed in.

                           

First Contact

Another goofy episode where we get to see how fist contact is handled, but more importantly, we get to learn how the Federation prepares for that first contact. Laugh-out-loud ridiculousness by the hilarious Bebe Neuwirth.

                           

The Drumhead

Conspiracies just keep piling up, and the woman in charge is determined to take down the whole of the E in this crappy kangaroo court that she set up on the ship while looking for one dude. Hitting a little too close to home at the moment, but a great episode nonetheless.

                           

Half A Life

This beautiful, haunting episode features Lwaxana Troi and David Ogden Stiers guest-starring as a brilliant scientist who is trying to save his people, but whose time-sensitive work must stop because his people euthanize those of a certain age to keep them from dying alone in "death-watch facilities." Lwaxana tries to convince him to refuse and run away with her, while confronting her own fears about growing older. This episode kicks off a Lwaxana Troi that is more thoughtful and given deeper storylines to explore.

                           

The Mind's Eye

I often forget about this episode, but it's pretty good. The Romulans kidnap La Forge and brainwash him into attempting to assassinate a Klingon governor. It kicks off a more involved arc with Klingons and Romulans, and actually features Romulans doing something shitty, other than the audience being told that Romulans do shitty things.

                              

In Theory

Another lighthearted Data episode, this one where a crew member falls for Data, and he decides to pursue a relationship in order to find out how these things go. He writes several programs for himself to handle different situations regarding the inclusion of a romantic partner, with varying success. In the end, she decides that they aren't a good match, and he deletes the programs. An interesting look into how Data thinks and reacts.

                            

Redemption, Part 1

Another amazing Klingon politics episode, this one featuring a continuation of Romulan meddling, Gowron's Rite of Succession, and the introduction of the Duras sisters, and Worf resigning his commission to possibly fight in a Klingon civil war. He gains back the honor of the House of Mogh, while Picard struggles with staying out of the fray.

                             

The Good Stuff: 14

No, Thank You

Legacy
Tasha Yar's sister is discovered running a gang on the colony that Tasha escaped from. She acts all friendly, like she wants to leave and start a new life like Tasha had, but instead she and her gang use the E to get the drop on a rival gang. The episode purposefully tries to get us to like Ishara, then punches us in the face at the end. Disappointing, but a happier ending would not have made it better.

                            

The Loss

Troi loses her powers and a bit of her sanity. The nice thing about this episode is that disabled fans thanked Marina Sirtis for making an episode about disability. The hard part about this episode is that it gave me compassion fatigue. I definitely don't choose this episode when I go looking to watching Star Trek because it's tiring to watch Troi cycle through some very extreme emotions so quickly (probably necessary for the story, but a lot to take in all at once). It's not a bad episode, just one I don't enjoy.

                            

Galaxy's Child
I liked the B-plot. That's it. Leah Brahms returns, but it's the actual Leah Brahms, and this episode is 55 minutes of cringe that feels like a week. I also don't think the real Leah Brahms would forgive La Forge for making a holodeck doppleganger of her to date. I just don't.

                              

Night Terrors
Creepy as fuck. Avoid avoid avoid.

                              

Identity Crisis
A planet's primary inhabitants reproduces by assimilation, and La Forge and his friend almost become two of them.
Also creepy as fuck.

                              

The Nth Degree
I like Reg Barclay episodes. But I do not like this one where he physically hacks himself into the computer system.

                              

Qpid
I love Vash, Q, and Robin Hood. I hate the combination of them together. Vash comes off as whiny and clingy instead of the cool customer she was previously. And Q is non-entertaining annoying.

                            


Ugh, Why: 7

I Wanted To Like It More

Final Mission

Picard takes Wes on one final mission with him before Wes leaves for Starfleet Academy. They get marooned on a desert planet with a mysterious fountain that kills people, and a jackass. Some emotional shit occurs. Picard almost dies. They share a nice moment near the end. It was lightyears better than Denise Crosby's exit, but still fell a little flat for me.

Wheaton and Stewart film "Final Mission"

Wish It Was Better: 1

What.

Future Imperfect

Riker wakes up sixteen years into the future with memory loss and finds, among other things that he has a kid and is captain of the E. It's a Romulan holodeck ploy! No, actually it's a ploy-within-a-ploy orchestrated by the kid, who is in fact a lonely alien abandoned on a planet by himself. I like the character development we get from Riker, and the idea of an illness that erases parts of your memory that can be gained back, but the double inception thing was confusing and clunky.

Why: 1

Lost in the Shuffle

Suddenly Human

A human teenager is found among some ship wreckage, and it's discovered that he has been raised by Talarians after his parents were killed in a battle. Picard attempts to show the kid human culture, and return him to his human family, but he ends up giving the kid back to the Talarians. Some good sci-fi elements, but viewers were on the fence about whether or not the kid should have been returned to the Talarians or not.

                            

Remember Me

The E gets stuck in a time-space bubble thing, with only Crusher inside. Because this episode is a solipsistic nightmare, her crewmates begin disappearing. Some good sci-fi themes, but you believe that the whole thing takes place in the same universe. The reality is that Crusher is in an alternate reality, and in act 3, we find out that the others are in another, trying to get her back. Bonus, though: return of The Traveler.

                           

The Host

Sadly, another Crusher-centric episode. In this one, she falls in love with a Trill ambassador whose host body is damaged during some negotiations. Riker must take over as host while they wait for a new Trill to arrive, and Crusher struggles to figure out if she loved the host or the Trill symbiont. There's some good sci-fi here and good moments where Crusher must figure out who she loved, but I keep forgetting this episode exists.

                             

What was that?: 3

Final Tallies:

The Good: 14

The Bad, Ugly, and Forgettable: 12

I hereby proclaim this season to be a good one. The numbers are pretty close, but the thing is, the good episodes of this season were really, really good. The writing was excellent, and the acting top-notch.

Picard's episodes this season were off-the-charts, starting out really strong with The Best of Both Worlds 2 and Family, where Patrick Stewart was able to flex his acting muscles in new and different ways.

Riker as well was given a meaty part in BOBW2, having to not only fly solo in a major way, but doing so with the full knowledge that he may kill his mentor and good friend.

Data was given some interesting episodes, ones where he explored family connections, romantic attachments, and lying (in a fashion).

The two Crusher-centric episodes turned out to be not as good, but I did enjoy moments from each where she explored her own sanity and romantic entanglements, so props to Gates McFadden.

La Forge's episodes were a bit all over the place. He was recovering from surgery in the early episodes of this season and didn't appear much. He received The Mind's Eye, which he did very well, but also Galaxy's Child, which is easily the most cringey episode this season.

Troi was also a mixed bag this season. The Loss involved a huge range of emotions, and Marina Sirtis seemed to handle them well, as well as the poor sleep patterns in Night Terrors. I didn't like either of those episodes, but they were both acted well by Sirtis.

Worf got some incredible storylines this season, thanks mainly to a burgeoning Klingon civil war and having to handle surprise parenthood. Though Worf sends Alexander away to live with his parents later, he'll show up again soon enough.

Following his announcement to leave to pursue more film opportunities, Wil Wheaton was offered "Final Mission," and although I didn't like that episode as well, it did give him more to work with than in previous seasons. His write-off was also handled so as to be able to invite him back for further episodes.

I feel like the real winners this season turned out to be Miles O'Brien and Lwaxana Troi. It had been decided this season that minor characters were not being utilized to their full potential, and so Wes, Lwaxana, and O'Brien received better parts. While Wes' part was cut short due to Wheaton's departure, O'Brien was given a much bigger part starting with Data's Day, where he gets married, and is shown exhibiting a wider range of emotions than just "guy who runs the transporter." In the very next episode (The Wounded), he is given battle-based PTSD, a racist attitude toward Cardassians that is powered by that PTSD, and must talk down a former CO from hunting Cardassians.

Lwaxana Troi, who had mostly been around for comedy relief and as a way to mildly torture Deanna Troi, is suddenly given a well-written story about euthanasia and the fears of growing older. Her parts will continue to get more in-depth while retaining a bit of that Lwaxana sparkle, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.  

Assholes in Space

The Borg

The Borg are a great villain species. Like the cybermen of Doctor Who fame, they have no fucks to give for whether or not what they're doing is right. They'll just assimilate you and move on. Like humans. Humans assimilate too, the creepy fucks.

Lore

Lore will never not make this list. Fuck this sociopathic bucket of bolts.

Ishara Yar

Tasha's sister makes the Enterprise crew like her so she can use them, like the manipulative lying bitch that she is.

Duras

This asshole murdered the fabulous K'Ehleyr. Then Worf killed his ass. Duras' murder created ripples and problems for the Empire, and so many awesome episodes for Trek viewers. So there's a silver lining to his existence, but mostly because this fucker is dead.

*spits on his corpse*

petaQ

Ardra

Funny con artist = a villain that I actually love. With a fabulous sense of fashion to boot. But man, she got really gross with Picard.

Minister Krola

This xenophobic asshole nearly killed Riker in an attempt to martyr himself, and frame Riker for it. When a doctor refused to wake Riker in the fear it would kill him, Krola had the doctor replaced with one who had fewer morals.

Taibak

This Romulan doctor/scientist/piece of shit tortures La Forge in order to alter his brain chemistry and get him to assassinate the Klingon governor. That's straight Nazi shit right there. Fuck this guy.

This season's numbers:

Red deaths: 0
Gold deaths: 1
Blue deaths: 1

Unnamed color crew deaths: 11,000
Obnoxious Wes moments: 1

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

Sassy Geordi moments: 9

Sassy Wes Moments: 0

Sassy Worf Moment: 5

Sassy Riker Moments: 7

Sassy Picard Moments: 15

Sassy NPC Moments: 1
Sassy Data Moments: 2
Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
Sassy Crusher Moments: 3
Sassy Troi Moments: 7
Sassy Guinan Moments: 3
Sassy Guest Star Moments: 5
Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 33

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

Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 10

Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 2
Picard Maneuvers: 22
Tea, Earl Grey: 12

Man, Picard got damn sarcastic this round. And do people not recognize that Data is an android?

Mona and Micelli