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