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

Sassy Geordi moments: 0

To date: 

Sassy Worf Moment: 0

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Sassy Riker Moments: 0
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Sassy Picard Moments: 0
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Sassy NPC Moments: 0
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Sassy Data Moments: 0
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Sassy O'Brien Moments: 0
To date: 0
Sassy Crusher Moments: 0
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Sassy Troi Moments: 0
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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
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Picard Maneuvers: 0
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Tea, Earl Grey: 0
To date:

Why does Pie have Human Face here?

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
To date: 0
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