ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Eight "Unification II"

ST: TNG Season Five, Episode Eight "Unification, Part II"
Production Order: 8
Air Order: 8
Stardate: 45245.8
Original Air Date: November 11, 1991

Just in case you forgot that Gene Roddenberry had died, this second part opens with an "in memorium" card like the first part.

Then there's a recap, and if you want a refresher, here's the review from the first part.

Let's jump right into it: Spock, at the entrance to the cave, asks Picard why he has come to Romulus, which is a good question. Recall that Spock packed a bag and just kind of fucking left, not expecting his employer to send someone after him.
You work for the government, Spock. You're allowed a certain amount of freedom, but hightailing it into enemy territory is not going to go unnoticed.
Which Picard then spells out for him.
"It's none of Starfleet's beeswax what I'm doing here. I'm doing a personal peace mission, and I'll tell Starfleet about it when I'm good and ready."
Again, no.

And then Picard says the line that fully sums up the difference between TOS and TNG: "Ambassador, with great respect for all that you've achieved on behalf of the Federation, this sort of cowboy diplomacy will not be easily tolerated anymore."
He's right. When you're the first to do something, you can write your own rulebook. But when it's 100 years later, it's no longer a question of "wagon train to the stars." You're now in "settlement of the stars," and there are rules to follow. Dumb, dumb, dumb red tape.
And Picard, ever the diplomat, chooses his words with care. He gets it. He understands that Spock wants to do this secret peace mission without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.
Spock repeats the phrase "cowboy diplomacy" as though it leaves a bad taste in his mouth.
"Look," says Picard, "you can't just fuck around with stuff that could have big-time implications for the Federation. You gotta talk to them. Or at least me. I was sent by them to find out what you're doing."
"Ugh," replies Spock.
"Okay, allllso? I gotta tell you something bad."
Spock kind of reads his face. "Sarek is dead?" He digests the information, then asks Picard to take a walk with him.

They go into another part of the cave, and Spock says that he is aware that Picard mind-melded with Sarek. They talk briefly about how Sarek was a great ambassador and voice of the Vulcan people, and Picard tells Spock that Sarek was very proud of him, and loved him.
Spock brushes it off. "That's Bendii Syndrome, messes with your emotions."
"No, it's true," insists Picard.
"I'm gonna level with you," says Spock. "I'm here because there's a growing movement toward reunification, and my friend Pardek thinks there might actually be a possibility of it taking hold."
Picard is surprised - the Vulcans and Romulans went their separate ways a long time ago. There are a lot of really big differences in those peoples now.
"Yeah, it does seem unlikely," Spock admits. "But what if I don't jump on this chance, and it goes away?"
Picard asks how Pardek fits in, and Spock tells him that there's some new young proconsul in the Senate who might be open to hearing about reunification. Pardek thinks the proconsul could be persuaded by him.
"Okay, legit," Picard agrees. "But why not talk to the Federation first?"
"You remember my part that I played in gaining peace with the Klingons?"
No.
"Of course," says Picard. "That shit went down in history."
It did?
"Naw, history left shit out."
You mean, like it always does?
"I got Kirk and his crew snagged into that mess, and I was responsible for how it played out," Spock finishes. "I didn't want more of that to go down with the Romulans in the same way."

At this point, the audience may be very confused. This two-parter, as discussed, was made to go along with the sixth movie. It was a cross-promotion. At this point, the movie was finished but had not been released. But they added in this allusion to the film as a teaser. The film takes place 85 years before this episode, so Picard knows what Spock is talking about. Fans of both TNG and TOS who have seen trailers for the film may know roughly what he's talking about.
(Here's a trailer so you can see how much they might have seen.)
For what it's worth, I barely remember this film because each time I sit down to watch it, I fall asleep and wake up to Kirk fighting himself. Though now that I've watched the trailer, I do vaguely recall the Klingon with the eyepatch, and Kim Cattrall's entirely unfortunate haircut.

So anyway, Spock doesn't feel great about that thing with the Klingons from when he was younger, and he wants Picard to go away so he can work his magic in peace.
"That's not logical," says Picard. "I think you're letting emotion cloud your judgement."
OKAY: can we stop using that whole logic/emotion thing as a weapon against Vulcans? It's OLD, and frankly, it's not clever. It also shows a lack of understanding (possibly intentional) against an entire race of people. Honestly, I'm disappointed in Picard for pulling that shit.
In return, Spock cocks an eyebrow, which is actually all the more that that comment deserves. "You sound like my father."

"No, I sound like a Starfleet officer, and I can't just walk away from this. You're putting yourself at risk."
Spock counters with "I was involved in cowboy diplomacy long before you were born."
I hate this whole conversation. Older doesn't automatically make you wiser, Spock. I know a lot of elderly dumbfucks, and quite a few younger people who have their shit together. It also doesn't make your plan better that you've been doing this longer than Picard has been alive. Old, bad plans are still bad.
"Still hanging out here until you're done with this self-imposed mission," Picard replies stubbornly.
Spock: "In your own way, you are as stubborn as another captain of the Enterprise I once knew."
No. Nope. No. Do not compare Kirk and Picard. They're not even a little bit the same.

Ugh.
Anyway, that was just the cold open. Dramatic music and opening credits and stuff.

Data and K'Vada enter the bridge of ... K'Vada's ship (name your ships, writers!), arguing: Data says that Picard needs to hang out on Romulus a while longer, and K'Vada is annoyed.
"I also need to use your computers."
"Not gonna happen," snorts K'Vada. "You can't have our access codes."
"You can change them when we leave Romulus," Data replies sensibly. "I want to try to break into the Romulan computer system."
"Also not happening. We've been trying to break into those for-fucking-ever."
"Are you guys androids? No? Plus, Picard says we can share any info I get with you guys."
Dangling the idea of secret Romulan information in front of K'Vada proves to be the correct bait, and he gives Data permission to do the thing.
"Cool," says Data. "And while we're chatting, we need to be able to contact the Enterprise from here."
"Are you high?" asks K'Vada. "They'll spot us in a second."
"Nah, we can piggyback our signal on a Romulan one, and it'll just look like background interference."
K'Vada is confused, and Data realizes that he has inadvertently used a human colloquialism. (Good for you Data, picking up bad habits from humans.) He gives a brief explanation, then tells K'Vada that he's been going over the specs for both Romulan and Klingon communication arrays, and says they're compatible.
K'Vada gives his blessing, and Data thanks him.
Overall, K'Vada seems like a fairly reasonable guy. Data just had to give him full explanations for things before he agreed.

Down on the surface, we follow one Romulan, who gives some orchids to another, who carries them back into that same restaurant that Data and Picard visited earlier. Picard and Spock are at a table, and the guy with the orchids puts them in some water and sets them on the table.
It's code.
"The senate let out," Spock tells Picard.
"Is this really a thing?" Picard asks. "Like, you know people who are into this movement?"
"Yeah, I've spoken to people in four provinces. They're underground, but all over. It's kind of a problem for the senate, truthfully."
They stop talking, because a woman (not the Soup Nazi from before) has shown up with their bowls. When she leaves, Picard says he isn't sure this is going to work. Spock says he thinks Picard is close-minded.
I have to object here. Being close-minded and being realistic are two totally different things. Picard will negotiate with anyone.
I'm finding myself annoyed with this Spock, which is weird, because I'm normally heavily pro-Spock. I think maybe I don't like the pairing of Spock and Picard? The things they are saying to one another both make some sense, but this Spock seems... combative? I guess maybe he's just miffed that he got caught. Or he's troubled by the death of Sarek. Both?
I do like the next exchange, though:
"We've been taught to mistrust the Romulans our whole lives," says Spock. "We need to set that aside, and see if there's a way that we can get together."
Picard nods. "I'll be the first to offer kudos if we can get rid of the Neutral Zone, but I don't think the movement is big enough right now to change the landscape of Romulan politics."
They're interrupted by a Romulan teenager, who Spock introduces as his friend, D'Tan. D'Tan has a little book with him that he's eager to share with Spock: a book about Vulcan culture that adults have been reading to him since he was a kid. Spock is surprised and pleased to see the book, but Pardek shows up and chides D'Tan for bringing the book out into public.
They decide that being in this public space isn't doing them any favors, so Picard and Spock walk away from untouched bowls of soup... again. Surely someone has noticed Picard continuously ordering food that he doesn't eat before leaving.

Pardek walks them through the streets (backstreets, though, no other people present), and he asks Picard what he thinks of the Federation's enemies.
"These people aren't anyone's enemies," says Picard fairly.
Pardek talks about how the Senate is kind of afraid of the reunification people, but how young people like D'Tan will eventually take over, and they won't allow the prejudices of older people like himself to continue being the status quo.
*cough cough* Greta Thunberg cough cough*
He also says that meeting Spock has only encouraged them more.
Spock says he was surprised to get such an enthusiastic greeting from reuni people.
"We're passionate," says Pardek. "I think the Vulcans will come to appreciate that in us. Anyway Spock, the proconsul wants to meet with you."
Eyebrow raise.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Riker's Log, 45245.8: "So we're still near the junkyard investigating the whole Vulcan-ship-parts-on-a-Ferengi-freighter thing, and our trial has lead us to this bar, and the ex-wife of a dead smuggler."
This space bar, y'all. It has hardcore Mos Eisley cantina vibes.

The ex-wife Amarie is a four-armed musician playing an organ-like instrument in the corner. Riker walks up and asks if she knows any blues songs. She plays a little Andorian blues and asks who he's looking for.
"You. I need to ask about your husband."
She's friendly and willing to talk. "Which husband?"
"The dead one. He was into some bad business and took the evidence when he went."
She sizes up his uniform and guesses that he's from the Enterprise.
"Do you know his partners?"
"Why should I help you?"
"Honestly? No idea."
She considers him. "Well, I mean you did kill my ex, which is a good start. Put some money in my tip jar, and that might jog my memory."
This is a problem. The Federation, and Starfleet by extension, doesn't believe in money. He proposes a trade: he'll teach her some Earth blues in exchange for info.
She picks it up quickly, and tells him to hang out for a few days. "Sooner or later, this arms dealer will show up, a fat Ferengi named Omag. He always stops here to get food and asks me to play Melor Famagal."

Pardek takes Spock to the proconsul's office, and Neral starts out being all charming, asking Spock to call him Neral, because he doesn't care for titles, then he throws out a ta'al, which Spock returns. Pardek takes his leave, but not before Neral asks if he will see Pardek and his wife at the state dinner the following evening.
"Looking forward to it," he says, walking out the door.
Neral remarks to Spock that Pardek is a bit too "man of the people," and is rarely invited to official functions.
They get down to brass tacks: Neral supports reunification, thinks it will come eventually, and that the old Senate leaders have lost the respect of the people. Spock is surprised to hear a proconsul speaking like a member of the underground.

"I'm prepared to publicly endorse reunification. Do you think the Vulcans will agree?" Neral asks.
"I think they'll be cautious," Spock replies. "There's been a lot of distrust over the centuries."
"You could lead the way," Neral suggests.
A secretary or someone pages Neral : the Senate is meeting again.
He asks to see Spock tomorrow, and when the ambassador agrees, sends him off with a Jolan Tru. Then he remembers who he is talking to, and gives him a "live long and prosper" instead.
Spock nods and leaves. After a moment, another door off to the side opens.
Oh, fuck me.

Back in the cave, Spock tells Picard, Pardek, and the others what he and Neral discussed. The underground are hopeful, but Picard is skeptical: Neral couldn't have become proconsul without the support of Romulan traditionalists. The others try to argue, but Spock agrees with Picard.
"It's not logical to think that he would support reunification now."
"He's probably looking to expose members of the underground by saying he agrees with you," Picard suggests.
Yeah, not what they want to hear.
"I bet the Federation has a problem with the Romulans and Vulcans forming an alliance!" yells one.
"Untrue!" Picard yells back.
Spock heads off the argument. "I came here to see if I could get the ball rolling on reunification, and I intend to keep going in that direction. I'm still going to meet the proconsul tomorrow."
He and Picard leave the cave.

Once out of earshot, Picard accuses Spock of allowing the emotions of the underground to sway his emotions. He thinks is not being logical in trusting Neral.
"You sound like my father," Spock says again.
"Look, that's the second time you've said that, said that his words are coming out of my mouth, but this is my own opinion," Picard argues.
"I hear him more clearly now that he is dead," Spock muses. "I may have brought my arguments with him to you. It's not intentional."
"Is it really that important for you to get the last word?"
"No, but I will miss the arguments," admits Spock. "That's all we had in the end. I looked beyond pure logic. He thought that was weak. He would have seen this mission of reunification as being worthless, but I don't think it is. Logically, I don't have a reason for why I think this is important. I just do."
"But what if it's a Romulan trap?"
"It could be. But either way, we have to find out what the trap is, if it is. So I'll go along with it."
This is something that Picard understands.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Upstairs, Data is working on the encryption key to get into the Romulan computer systems. Picard and Spock come in, and he tells them that he has not quite cracked the code. Spock offers to help him, as he has experience with this kind of thing. Data agrees, and Picard ducks out to take off his make-up.
"There's a 43-part cipher key in the Romulan code," says Spock.
"Yeah, I've got all but the 29th," Data replies.
Spock gives him the tiniest look like "STFU, you got 42 ciphers cracked?"
"It's weird," says Spock, "Picard is very Vulcan-like. I see why my father agreed to mind-meld with him."
"Huh." Data pauses. "I had actually considered the captain to be one of my role models in my quest to be more human."
They both think on this.
"You have great analytical skills, better than average physical skills, and no emotion," says Spock. "There are some Vulcans that aspire all their lives to be the way you were designed."
Another pause.
"You're half-human," says Data.
"Yep."
"But you've chosen to go with the Vulcan way of life. You've actually ditched what I've sought my whole life."
Spock glances at him, then says he has cracked the 29th cipher, and attempts to break into the proconsul's files.
Data asks politely if he can ask a personal question, and when he replies that he may, he asks if Spock has missed his humanity.
"I have no regrets," Spock replies.
Data nods in agreement, then points out that this is a human expression.
Spock thinks about this, then says quietly, "Yes. Fascinating."

Worf is hanging out in the Star Wars bar with Amarie (it's clearly his shift), and asks if she knows Klingon opera.
She replies that she doesn't get a lot of requests and may be rusty, but yeah, she can give him some Aktuh and Maylota. Worf sings along. Loudly.

"God, WTF is that shit?" yells a patron walking in. "You know what I want to hear!"
"Yeah, yeah." Amarie starts playing "Melor Famagal."
Worf looks around and spots Omag coming in, with a girlie on each arm. The Klingon hits his comm badge. "Hey, Commander. A fat Ferengi just arrived."
"That Malor Famagal in the background?"
"Yep."
"OMW," Riker replies.

A few minutes later, Omag has a plate of food in front of him, and is displaying the worst table manners in the galaxy, banging on the table and yelling for a waiter.
"There a problem?" asks Riker, approaching the table.
"Yeah, I need more napkins!"
Sassy Riker Moment: "Use your sleeve."
Omag: "What?!"
Sassy Riker again: "Use one of their sleeves. I don't care."
*snort*
Omag demands to know who he is, and Riker gives his name, rank, and ship.
"Am I supposed to salute?" demands Omag. He laughs at his own joke. The girlies fake-laugh at it.
Whatever. No Sassy Points for you. The joke has to actually be funny.
"We're investigating a Vulcan ship," says Riker.
"I don't deal in those. Vulcans are pacifists. I only deal in warships."
"We know you're tied to it," Riker replies. "Who would be in the market for a Vulcan ship?"
Omag makes another joke that the girlies fake-laugh at, and Riker is out of fucks. He dumps the food in Omag's lap, then strides around the table and yanks him out of his chair by his collar.
"You're gonna tell me what I want to know, or I'm gonna get your right of passage through this sector revoked."
It seems Omag is a coward. He tells Riker that he traded it to a Barolian freighter, and Riker has to shake him down for the location.
"Galorndon Core!" yelps Omag before Riker drops him in his chair.
Sassy Riker then grabs a napkin from nearby, wipes Omag's mouth, then tucks the napkin into his shirt. "Enjoy your dinner."

Y'all.
I just noticed that there are two spots at the tops of Omag's lobes that are worn down to holes, and... is that an oo-mox thing? Did... did he rub there so much, that there's no longer flesh there? Is there a Ferengi version of "you'll go blind" that warns of rubbing the flesh away?
Why did I notice that? Why?

Time for a Skype!
Picard and Data are piggybacking the Romulan carrier waves to talk to Riker and the others.
"The Barolian freighter at Galorndon Core makes me think of Romulans," says Riker. "It's right on the Neutral Zone border."
"Vulcan ships and Romulans," muses Picard. "The Romulans are talking to Ambassador Spock about reunification."
"That's a big deal."
"Yeah. Reunification is something that the ambassador wants to champion, even if there's a chance it will fail."
"How do these things fit together?" Troi asks.
"Dunno," says Picard. "But I think you should check out Galorndon Core."
They start to lose the carrier wave, so they say their goodbyes, and the E heads for Galorndon Core.

Back on Unnamed Cruiser, Data tells Picard that he's found something in Romulan subspace logs about Galordan Core and Barolian ships.
K'Vada, who would never drop some eaves, tells Data that the Barolians have a trade route near there, and that they trade with the Romulans, and it's probably routine.
"I don't think so," says Data. "There are Romulan intelligence codes mixed into the messages."
K'Vada is figuring out that if he keeps his mouth shut and his ears open, and just agree to whatever Data asks for, he may gain something.
"Can you figure out what the Intelligence code says?" Picard asks Data.
"Yeah, it's one-four-zero-zero."

Spock is walking through the street when he's approached by D'Tan, who puts some small, pyramidal dice in his hand. Spock is surprised. He tells D'Tan that the markings on the dice are the basis for the Vulcan language.
"Those were my toys," D'Tan tells him. "They've been passed down through the generations, teaching kids how to speak Vulcan for the time when we would be reunified."
Another member of the underground approaches, and tells them that Spock's Federation friends want to meet with him again, that he's alerted Pardek, and they'll all meet up in the caves.

Okay, I gotta pause here: Vulcans do not have the same forehead ridges that Romulans have, yet Spock is able to wander around Romulus as though he does. Nobody bothers this member of the dreaded Federation as he walks through the streets, talking to Senate members, ordering food and then eating nothing in cafes, and openly talking about reunification. He took D'Tan over near a building to look at his dice, but he just told the kid that the proconsul "spoke of nothing other than reunification" at their second meeting. The Romulans are set up as a people who will spy on your grandma for changing her pie crust recipe, yet they're letting Spock just hang out? Is this also something that Spock has accounted for, and will only be so secretive as to "play the part"?

 

Picard and Data meet up with Spock and Pardek, though interestingly, Picard and Data are wearing their Starfleet uniforms. I'm baffled as to why they would make this choice: not only do they not look like Romulans currently, they are openly wearing the bright-ass colors of the enemy. On a planet where muted earth tones are the norm. They couldn't have acquired or changed into other Romulan clothes? Or just worn the Romulan clothes they already have, but with the hoods up?
Anyway, our bright-ass Starfleet officers tell Spock and Pardek about the 1-4-0-0 code, and Spock says that that pretty much confirms that Neral is fucking him over.
The others are surprised.
"1-4-0-0 is 1400, the time when Neral is scheduled to make the reunification announcement tomorrow. It's tied somehow to the stolen Vulcan ship."
"How?" asks Pardek.
"You're about to find out," says Sela, stepping into the cave.
Romulan guards run forward and snatch phasers from the holsters of Picard and Data.

She welcomes Picard to Romulus and makes note of "that android I've come to respect in battle."
What's that now? Got your ass handed to you by a Machine Man? Yeah, you better recognize.
Pardek panics. "Someone betrayed our location!"
"Yeah," says Spock in resignation. "It was you."
The old Romulan flounders. "But we've been friends for 80 years!"
"Yeah, but you invited me here, and arranged for me to talk to Neral, and you knew that Picard and Data had come back to the surface with info. It's only logical that it was you."
"Your service to your people is appreciated," Sela tells Pardek.
Pardek looks very pleased with himself, and exits, saying "Jolan tru, Spock."
Yeah, namaste, you traitorous motherfucker.
Probably why he was suddenly being invited to state dinners again.

Sela then announces to the group that reunification will take a different form going forward: Romulus will be taking over Vulcan. And she has her soldiers lead the Federation members from the cave at disruptor-point.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

The E has arrived at Galorndon Core. Remember this place? La Forge and a Rom officer got trapped on the surface in an earlier episode.
Scans are not bringing up life signs on the surface, but they discuss the possibilities of cloaked bases here or nearby.
Worf gets another piggybacked Romulan message: "Stay at Galorndon Core, diplomatic mission going great, will advise."
"It had the right hidden codes," Worf adds.
Riker looks suspicious anyway.

Picard, Data, and Spock are all lead into Sela's office, where she is texting on some kind of small Romulan padd.
"Sorry," she says. "I'm writing a speech for you, Mr Spock. I do enjoy writing, but I don't get to do it very often in this job."
Data trying to be helpful: "Perhaps you would be happier in another job."

Is this her office, or Neral's? It's the same fucking office

Lieutenant Commander Data: Life Coach.
Sela hands the padd to Spock. "So you're going to give this speech alongside the proconsul, announcing the peace initiatives. It'll be broadcast on Federation frequencies as well, saying that a peace envoy is heading for Vulcan. We got three Vulcan ships to do it." She looks at Picard. "We've been following the Enterprise's investigation into the theft of the T'Pau, but what they don't know is that we have two more. Also, I sent them a message from you, saying they need to stay at Galorndon Core."
"Whatever," says Picard. "The E will overtake those ships the minute they hit the Neutral Zone."
"Yeah, they'll be busy with something else when that happens," Sela replies.
"The Federation will come to the aid of the Vulcans," says Picard.
"Yeah, but by the time that happens, we'll have taken over."
Spock has skimmed the speech by now. "Yeah, I'm not reading this."
"Then I'll kill you all," she states flatly.
"Psssht," replies Spock. "You were gonna do that anyway. So I'm not cooperating. The end."

"I fucking hate Vulcans." Sela rips the padd from Spock's hand. "Whatever. We have a holographic Spock who will deliver the speech. We really wanted an interactive, live Spock that could answer questions, but you make do with what you have."
She turns on the holo-Spock, who gives the first part of the speech about three Vulcan ships (the Nina, the Pinta, and the T'Pau) in the Neutral Zone, who are carrying the future of Romulus and Vulcan.
"Are you shitting me?" asks Picard. "That's not gonna fool anyone."
"I don't need it to," Sela insists. "I just need it to confuse people long enough for the ships to reach Vulcan."

Then she and the guards just... leave. Are they standing guard outside? We have no idea. But Picard, Spock, and Data are left alone.  I mean, even if you think your captives are particularly stupid, you don't leave them alone. And here we have a Vulcan ambassador, the captain of the Starfleet flagship, and a fucking ANDROID. Not even Pakleds would assume they're just going to hang out.
Immediately, Spock asks Data if the Romulans know that he has access to their systems. Data is pretty sure they don't.
"Cool," says Spock. "Let's make a diversion."

The E is sitting at Galorndon Core when the "peace envoy" rolls up from the Neutral Zone.
"They're Vulcan?" says Worf.
They all kind of look at one another in confusion, and Riker says to hail them. Worf reads off the message they get back: they're a peace envoy headed for Vulcan, and the E should listen to the subspace channels, because there will be a speech forthcoming! Hooray!
Riker narrows his eyes, and asks La Forge if any of those ships matches the T'Pau.
La Forge does a quick check. "No, but one of those might have had just enough changed on it that we couldn't tell if it was or not."
"We're gonna follow them," says Riker.
"The captain said -" Worf begins, but Riker cuts him off and says to follow anyway.

Sela and her guards return to her office to find it empty, and somehow, she's shocked. Is she really so narcissistic that she believes no one is as clever as she is?
And then -

Sela and her guards shoot at them while Riker repeats "drop your weapons, drop your weapons." The disruptor beams go right through Riker and those two Security Golds.
"Holograms," she huffs.
Then Picard and Spock literally materialize out of the walls and take down the guards before Sela notices. She turns to find a disruptor in her face.
Sassy Spock Moment: "I'm afraid I don't know much about disruptor settings."
She drops her own weapon, and it's revealed that several walls of the office were also holograms, when one disappears and Data is shown behind it. He switches off the Riker and Gold holograms.
"You're too late, anyway," snarls Sela. "The ships are on their way to Vulcan, and the speech will be broadcast any minute now."

Dr Crusher bursts onto the bridge and tells Riker that she just got a distress signal from Dilisian IV, that they're having a problem with the environment, and need emergency evacuation.
This is pretty fucking convenient.
"Are there other ships in that area?" he asks her.
"An archaeological ship," she says. "Not big enough for a really big evac."
Really, REALLY convenient.
Riker looks at La Forge.
"If one of those ships is the T'Pau, they hella wiped the fingerprints clean," says La Forge.
"Ships in the Neutral Zone," calls Worf.
Riker is about to order a course set for Dilisian IV, but Worf tells him that there's a subspace message coming through on all channels, so they toss it up on the viewscreen.

It's Spock.
Holo-Spock? Let's find out.
"By now, Federation sensors have seen that there are three Vulcan ships heading for Vulcan from the Neutral Zone. They carry Romulan invasion forces, and need to be stopped."
Real Spock starts to repeat the warning, but the message cuts out. Oops, Roms figured out they weren't broadcasting their Trojan Horse bullshit.
"Kayso, call Dilisian IV, and see if there's actually an emergency," Riker tells Crusher. Let's go after those Vulcan ships."

Back in Sela's office, Data reports that at least part of the message went out before being shut down, but he's pretty sure the gist was clear: take out those fucking ships.
Sela's all, "You'll never get out of this building," like she's a freaking Bond villain or something.
What, you got ill-tempered sea bass down the hall?
"While I was hacking your systems, I took a look at the schematics for this building, and we should be able to exit easily through the underground tunnel that's east of where we are now," Data tells her. "And I shut off a bunch of security shit while I was at it." He starts to walk away, then thinks better of it. "We can't let you warn the guards," he tells Sela. Then he drops her with a damn Vulcan neck pinch.

The E shows up to fly alongside the Vulcan ships, which have changed tack and are now high-tailing back to the Neutral Zone.
"Fuck THAT noise," says Riker.
A Romulan warbird decloaks next to the Vulcan ships.
"Hail those assholes," Riker tells Worf. "Tell them to get the hell out of Federation space, and leave the Vulcan ships."
Both the warbird and the E power up weapons, but then the warbird very quickly destroys the smaller ships and re-cloaks.
"Fuck," says La Forge quietly. "That was like 2000 Romulans they just killed."
They're all kind of startled.
"Um, Worf contact the Unnamed Klingon Cruiser, and tell them we want to know when the captain and Data are back on board safely."

Picard, Spock, and Data are lead into a new cave, which they are assured was never visited by Pardek.
Picard asks what the underground will do now.
"Continue to teach others," they tell him. "To prepare for the day when we can be reunified."
"The Federation looks forward to that day," Picard smiles.
Data tells Picard that they need to go to reach their beam-up site, and all three walk into an outer cave.
"Sooo, I'm not going with you," Spock tells the others. "This is still something I need to work on, and it's obvious now that it won't happen via politics and diplomacy. We'll get there, though. These people need a new philosophy, and it may take a long time, but I need to help them."
Picard smiles. "I don't think I can argue with you once you've made up your mind."
"I've actually found the arguments to be pretty useful," Spock admits.
"Sarek found your arguments equally valuable."
"You may know him better than I did," says Spock. "We never mind-melded with one another."
And as a parting gift, Picard offers Spock the opportunity to mind-meld and learn more about Sarek.

*******

Okay.

I... want to like this episode more.

I actually liked the B-plot better than the A-plot, which is kind of weird. The funny thing is, both the A- and B-plots in the first episode were stronger than in this one. And I'm not alone in that opinion - the writers and show runners thought that the second part of this two-parter was the weaker episode. Interestingly, the things I did and didn't like about this episode were mirrored by what the various writers and actors had to say:

- Michael Piller thought it was talky and too political after that two-parter on the Klingon Empire (Redemption I and II). He also wanted to provide more chemistry between Picard and Spock. While I don't dislike the talkier episodes per se, this one didn't feature much in terms of things that were going on. It did get a little flat, honestly. And I didn't care for the chemistry between Picard and Spock at all. I'm not certain why. Is it because they're very similar in nature? Is it because I like them mainly for their interpersonal relationships within their own shows, but do not like the cross-over? Once they had reached an agreement of "this is on shaky ground but worth pursuing," I liked the pairing better. Then, the outright bickering was less annoying and had more meaning.

- Cliff Bole thought Piller was being too hard on himself, but did say that he agreed with the "talky" thing, and wished they had had more action with the characters on Romulus. "We shouldn't have been in the cave so long." Yeah, I was excited at the prospect of seeing the forbidden Romulus, but then we spent most of the time in those caves, or in politicians' offices. I probably can't have it both ways here, because I did complain about Spock walking around in broad daylight but it would have been cool if they went to an underground meeting in someone's house?

- Brannon Braga liked the scene between Data and Spock. Same! Each show has had what's referred to as a "mirror to humanity character," someone who is part-human, or looks human, and has to find their humanity. Spock and Data were the mirror character for their respective shows, and the fact that one has pushed his humanity aside while the other seeks it out made for a great comparison. Each walks away with the other's viewpoint on his mind, and possibly alters his own perception a little.

- Leonard Nimoy thought that there should have been more to the story, and anticipated them calling him again to pick up the thread, but they never did. SAME SAME SAME SAME SAME. This is probably what disappointed me most: the idea of a species splitting off and becoming two people who war with each other, but later coming together (maybe not to be one again, but at least to be allies) is not only a big idea, but an interesting one that's worth exploring. So many facets. You could easily do a spin-off show based on reunification. And they just... left it. So frustrating. At least do an arc that's longer than 2 episodes?

Things I liked:
- Romulans. Actual Romulans that were not politicians, and not part of the military. We got to see some Roms that weren't assholes that were part of a giant evil conspiracy. I want to hug D'Tal, and his sweet optimism, and his excitement in showing Spock his toys. We saw a tiny bit of that with Jarok in "The Defector," but got to see more of it here.
- The idea of reunification. And Spock being excited about the prospect.
- Amarie. She was a fun character, but we probably won't see her again, because why would we spend more time in a space bar that isn't Ten Forward?
- The B-plot. It was a fun space mystery.
- K'Vada developing a respect for Data, and maybe deciding that helping Starfleet officers wasn't such a waste of his time.

Fun Facts:

- These episodes are only one of two pairs that same the same naming convention: Unification I and II, rather than "Parts I and II." The other pair is Redemption I and II.
- Leonard Nimoy wanted his son Adam to direct this episode, but the timing didn't work out, so Cliff Bole was tapped to direct instead, even though it wasn't his turn. (TNG directors worked on a rotation.) Adam Nimoy would later direct two other episodes of TNG.
- Because of scheduling, this episode had to be filmed before Unification I, though certain scenes from that episode were filmed during filming for this episode.
- Boom operator Bill Gocke briefly appears in the reflection of a glass pyramid on Neral's desk. However, when the episodes were remastered for Blu-ray release, Gocke was digitally removed.

- The blues that Riker teaches Amarie is "Freddie Freeloader" by Miles Davis.
- Leonard Nimoy said that filming these episode was "hectic but enjoyable" and reminded him of filming TOS, as compared to doing films, which had a slower pace.

- This was Nimoy's final appearance for nearly 20 years. He would next appear in the reboot film Star Trek in 2009.
- This is the third of five Star Trek appearances that Nimoy made without William Shatner: the unaired pilot "The Cage;" TAS' "The Slaver Weapon;" this episode; and the first two reboot films.
- Final appearance of Sela. I don't love Sela, but I do like Denise Crosby, so that's a bit sad.
- In the pilot episode of TNG, Data escorts a very old Leonard McCoy around the Enterprise, and tells Data that he reminds him of a Vulcan he once knew. Data finally gets to meet said Vulcan in this episode.
- First mention of Klingon opera.
- Data uses two contractions here when speaking to Sela.
- Data is only one of a handful of non-Vulcans to use the Vulcan neck pinch.
- "Unification I and II" were the highest-rated episodes since "Encounter at Farpoint."
- Some people felt that sela's plan to invade Vulcan with three ships was insufficient, but Michael Piller felt the only way to do it successfully would be via Trojan Horse.
- Amarie was played by four people: Harriet Leider was the actor in the make-up; Cindy White was her photo double and close-up on one pair of hands; Jerry Zimmer was the pianist and played the second set of hands; and when all the filming was done, it was decided that Leider's voice didn't work for the character, so Judy M Durand recorded her lines in post-production. We'll hear Judy's voice again, as she does the voice work for Cardassian ships and outposts, including DS9.
- This episode was nominated for an Emmy for Art Direction.




Red deaths: 0
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Gold deaths: 0
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Blue deaths: 0
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Unnamed color crew deaths: 0
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Sassy Geordi moments: 0

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Sassy Ro Moments: 0
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Sassy Worf Moment: 0
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Sassy Riker Moments: 3
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Sassy Picard Moments: 0
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Sassy NPC Moments: 0
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Sassy Guinan Moments:
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Sassy Guest Star Moments: 0
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Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 3
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Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 0
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Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
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Picard Maneuvers: 0
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Tea, Earl Grey:
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Mentions of the number 47: 0
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ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Seven "Unification"

ST:TNG Season Five, Episode Seven "Unification"
Production Order: 7
Air Order: 7
Stardate: 45233.1
Original Air Date: November 4, 1991

I realized this week that we are stuck in the world's longest bottle show.

No guests stars, existing sets only.

Just in case that's not depressing enough for you, TNG wants to remind you that Gene Rod is dead.

This isn't the first episode following his death, as The Game was aired four days after that, but it's probably better that it landed here: they may not have had the time to add the card onto The Game, and the first of a two-parter story arc where a major character from his first show is featured in a political plot enmeshed with his final show was probably more meaningful.

Picard's Log 45233.1: "We were scheduled to do a thing, but we've been recalled to a starbase instead, and Admiral Brackett wouldn't say why over subspace channels."

Brackett, now in the ready room, tells Picard that one of the Federation's most trusted ambassadors has gone missing, and nobody knew where he went. Then two days ago, he was spotted on Romulus.
"Do you think he defected?" asks Picard in surprise.
"We'd be fucked if he did," Brackett replies. "He has hella secrets."
She shows him some crappy video stills from Romulus, and then tells the computer to zoom and enhance, because this is the future, where you can do that.

Dramatic-Ass Music! Opening credits break!

Picard's Log 45236.4: "This is... kind of tough. Like, I mind-melded with Sarek a year ago or so, and now I have to use what I learned through him to find his son."

Riker joins Picard in the Obs Lounge to tell him that they're coming up on Vulcan, that Perrin has been told of their plans, and that she'll be beaming up to the ship to talk to them.
"What about Sarek?" asks Picard.
"Too sick to travel, she says."
"Fuck me," sighs Picard. "He's dying, and I get to be the one to tell him that his son may have betrayed the Federation."
"Have you met Spock?" asks Riker.
"Just the one time."
(Ugh, he's talking about when he mentioned that he had met Spock at his wedding. Remember that little slice of not-canon that Spock married Saavik, because she was pregnant with the kid that teenage Spock had squirted into her while going through pon farr on the Genesis planet from movie 3? For some reason, they left that crap in TNG even though they decided against making that the eventual outcome. Spock is listed on Memory Alpha as being divorced... from T'Pring.)
"Do you know a lot about him from the mind-meld?" Riker continues.
"Not a lot," Picard admits. "They had kind of a strained relationship..."
"Yeah, I get that," replies Riker.
Because he does.
"Oh, hey," says Picard. "Got a B-plot for you. Starfleet found metal fragments in a box marked "medical supplies" on a Ferengi ship. Looks like they're Vulcan. Starfleet wants us to look into it."

Later in the ready room, Picard gets himself and Perrin a couple cuppas of mint tea. She seems pleased until Picard asks about Spock.
"He didn't even say goodbye to Sarek," she says.
"Do you think he was kidnapped?"
"No, he left on purpose. He wrapped up all of his affairs before going."
Picard is struggling a bit. He feels the need to tiptoe, and knows he doesn't have the time.
"Okay, look: can I ask what happened between you and Spock?"
"Nothing between us," she insists. But it's crap. "Between Spock and Sarek. They always argued, and that was fine, but then when there was the question of the Cardassians, Spock came out in opposition of Sarek publicly."
"And Sarek was offended?" asks Picard.
"No, I was offended," she corrects.
So it is between you and Spock. Quit playing games, lady.
"I'm really protective of my husband," she replies. "Nobody sees him like I do. He's wasting away in his bed, whispering to himself. He wants to see Spock, and make amends."
"Can I see him?" asks Picard cautiously.
She pauses. "If anyone else asked, no way. But you're a part of each other."

Riker goes down to one of the cargo holds to see La Forge about those possibly-Vulcan metal fragments, and holy shit, didn't Picard say these were found in "a box"? WTF kind of box was it that could hold these huge metal fragments? Also, those are not fragments, those are ship parts. You say "fragments," and it conjures up archaeologists digging up pottery the size of your pinky nail.

So the Vulcans don't know what this was, but they've figured out that it was definitely theirs and definitely made for space travel, based on the kind of metal it's made from. Sounds like it was on the Ferengi cargo ship, then that ship went down in an asteroid belt.

Down on Vulcan, Perrin has brought Picard to Sarek's chambers, where the elder Vulcan is tossing and turning on an uncomfortable-looking bed.
Picard's face is very "well, shit."

"He's like this most of the time," she tells Picard. "All emotions, all the time. I'll see if I can get him to acknowledge you." She grabs Sarek's shoulder and shakes him, yelling his name. "Sarek! Picard is here!"
"Go the fuck away," he growls back.
"Okay, I'll leave you to it," says Perrin almost cheerfully to Picard. "He'll either talk to you or ignore you."
I want to like Perrin because Sarek liked her well enough to choose her, but I don't. Fuck off, Perrin.
She leaves, and now Picard is shouting at Sarek.
The guy is having emotional health problems. Nobody said that Bendii Syndrome leads to deafness.
"Sarek! It's Picard! I need to talk to you! About Spock!"
Sarek starts telling Picard to go away at first, but the magic word here is Spock.

He rolls over. "Picard? That you? On Vulcan?"
"Yeah." Fortunately, no one is shouting now. "I need to talk about Spock. He's been seen on Romulus. Do you know why?"
"No."
"Was he going to meet someone? Did he know someone on Romulus?"
Sarek wracks his emotion-addled brain. "Um, Pardek?"
"Who is that?"
"A Romulan senator? I think they met at the Khitomer Conference? He came home all excited because he thought maybe we could open and maintain communications with the Romulans, but that's nonsense. Pardek didn't have any support in the senate, and Spock was always impressionable. He never listened."
Picard is stoked. This is pretty good info. "You think he went to meet Pardek?"
But Sarek is no longer clear-headed. "Pardek? The Romulan senator? How do you know him?"
"I've... heard of him," says Picard. "What do you think they met about?"
Sarek starts rambling. "I dunno. He never tells me anything... he used to go into the mountains as a boy and be gone for long periods of time, and I'd ask him what he was doing, but he refused to tell me. I would forbid him to go, and he would ignore me. Then I would punish him, and he would just take it. Secretly, I admired him. Very stubborn."
Sarek lays back down, and Picard realizes that that's probably all he's getting.

"Hey," says Picard quietly. "I know you struggle with him, but I also know that you love him."
"Tell him," says Sarek quietly.
He tries to make the ta'al sign, but cannot. Picard helps him to shape his fingers the right way, and makes the sign back.
"Peace, and long life."
"Live long, and... and..." Sarek turns over and begins sobbing. "Spock... my son..."
"... and prosper," Picard finishes quietly.

This show hates me

Picard's Log 45240.1: "Okay, so I gotta go to Romulus, and to get across the Neutral Zone, I need a ship that can cloak. Gonna ask my buddy Gowron. I did him a bunch of favors in the Klingon civil war, so he owes me, right?"

The E has been hailing Qo'nos for three days without an answer. Gowron is ignoring them.
"Um, speak candidly?" asks Worf. "Gowron is rewriting Klingon history, claiming that his courage and prowess won the war, and that he pretty much did it singlehandedly."
"So us showing up would be a reminder that he had help," says Riker.
"Ugh, I don't give a shit," says Picard. "I just need a fucking ship. If he won't answer, Worf, get me someone who can, like someone from the High Council?"
Worf agrees, and goes back to his station to see if he can find Picard a ride.
Data calls Picard over to the science station: he has found video footage of Pardek, the senator that Sarek mentioned. Together, they do the zoom-and-enhance on the blurry photo of Spock and another person, and discovers that the other guy in the photo with Spock is definitely Pardek.
"Do we have info on this guy?" asks Picard.
"Yeah, he's been in the Senate for about 90 years." (Holy fuck, how about some term limits, Romulus?) "He's considered to be kind of a radical by the leadership because he advocates for peace. He's thought of as a man of the people."
Picard nods. Sounds on brand for someone Spock would be friends with.
"Where can we find him when the Senate is not in session?" asks Picard.
"He represents the Krockton Segment, and has a house there," replies Data. "Also, I did some extra credit homework: He has relatives in that sector, and the Senate does not meet on the third day of the Romulan week, so he'll probably be there on that day."

"I got someone on the phone?" says Worf.
"Gowron? Someone from the High Council?"
"Nope. He's the junior adjutant to the diplomatic delegation. His name is B'ijak."
Ah. An assistant with a title, an over-inflated sense of self-importance, and little to no salary. A gatekeeper.
And that he is.
"Hey, so, the Council and Gowron are both super busy right now."

"Yeah, we've been calling for three days," says Picard, irked.
"Still busy," says B'ijak. "If you want, I can give Gowron a message for you?"
You little shit.
"Cooool," says Picard. "So this is the message to take to Gowron, leader of the High Council of the Klingon Empire: Jean-Luc Picard, his Arbiter of Succession, needs a favor."
B'ijak is now curious, in spite of himself. "What kind of favor?"
"I need a cloaked ship."
And now B'ijak is laughing and being an asshole. "Uh-huh. And how would this benefit the Klingon Empire? Cuz you know he's gonna ask."
Whatever, B'ijak.
"He would earn our gratitude," says Picard smoothly. "And if he isn't able to do us this favor, then I can find... others in the Klingon Empire who would help out the Federation here, and then they would have our gratitude instead."
B'ijak looks uncomfortable.
"Also, please tell Gowron that I'm pleased to hear how well he's doing. Clearly, he's a great leader." And Picard smiles a "fuck that guy" smile.
B'ijak hangs up with signing off.

Down in sick bay, Crusher is taking scans of Picard and Data, to fit them with prosthetics so they'll look Romulan. She says altering Data's skin to be the right color shouldn't be a problem, as long as they can make him gold again later.
Riker comes in to ask Picard if he can spare a moment to see the progress that La Forge has made on those metal pieces, but Crusher tells him that it'll have to wait, because he and Data have appointments with Mott the barber to be fitted for Romulan hairpieces.
I really like this weird little scene of Crusher cheerfully measuring their heads and facial features while referring to herself as a tailor. We get to see the behind-the-scenes parts of Starfleet officers becoming spies.

It also segues nicely into Riker and Picard going back to the cargo hold.
"What we have here is what's left of a Vulcan deflector array," La Forge tells them. "It came from a ship called the T'Pau, which was decommissioned years ago, and has been sitting in a starship junkyard at Qualor II."
Worf calls: "There's a decloaked Klingon ship off our portside, compliments of Gowron."
"Oh, wow, how nice of him," says Picard. "Thank the captain of that ship and tell him that Data and I will be over shortly."
Riker says that he wants to take the E over to Qualor II to check out that B-plot, and that's how we part ways.

Picard and Data transfer over to the Klingon ship (no ship name given cuz they want to make my job harder), to meet with the captain, K'Vada. K'Vada is pissed off because he doesn't want this assignment, but would any Klingon? Really? They all appear to be pissed off to be helping the Federation, regardless of the assignment or timeframe.
"I wanna know what this mission is about!" K'Vada roars.
"Classified," says Picard cheerfully.
"You going after the defector?" he demands. "Ambassador Spock? Everybody knows he defected to Romulus."
"The mission is to take us to coordinates near Romulus," says Picard. "Can't say anything else."
"If the Romulans catch us, we could all be killed."
"Yep."
K'Vada gives the orders to start for Romulus, and I can't tell if he's still grouchy about the whole thing, or if he's been placated by the idea that they might all die playing spy games with the Romulans.
The Klingon ship and the E part ways in different directions.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

K'Vada shows Picard and Data around the ship, clearly intending for them to complain about the lack of amenities: they will be sharing quarters, as there is a lack of space.
"Cool," says Picard.
Picard's bed is just a metal slab, because Klingons don't "soften" their bodies with a pad.
"I like it that way," Picard replies cheerfully.
K'Vada seems disappointed. Clearly, he's never met Picard.
"You're gonna eat with us," he tries one last time.
"Sweet, fresh gagh! Been a long time," he smiles at Data.
Someone from the bridge calls to tell K'Vada that they're at the Neutral Zone, and K'Vada asks if Picard intends to follow through with this plan.
"Yep."
K'Vada cloaks the ship and tells them to head in. He seems confused as to how he feels about this little bald guy.

Picard would smile and tell anyone that their crappy accommodations are
presidential suite-level, because he's a diplomat. But here, he's straight-up
fucking with K'Vada.

Riker's Log 45240.6: "On our way to the junkyard at Qualor II. It's run by the Zakdorn. Trying to find out why the Ferengi had parts off a decommissioned Vulcan ship from this yard."

Worf tosses up an open line on the viewscreen, and it looks like they caught a guy off-guard, because he wasn't even looking at the screen when the line opened.
"Hi, I'm William Riker from the starship Enterprise," says Riker in a friendly voice. "I'm looking for info on a Vulcan ship, the T'pau, and I'm told it's here."
The guy turns to the camera. "Klim Dokachin, quartermaster of this surplus yard. Do you have an appointment?"

"Um, no?"
"Then you need to talk to scheduling." And Dokachin just closes out the chat.
Wow, this episode is gatekeeper-heavy.
Riker is taken aback. "Who does he think he is?" he asks Troi in surprise.
Troi is amused as hell: "The quartermaster of the supply yard with information you need."

Riker has Worf open the channel back up, and immediately mispronounces the Zakdorn's name. Good start, buddy.
"The reason I'm here is of the utmost importance to the Federation. We need access to your files and computers and things. My people can do it."
"Yeah, I don't let others into my computer system," says Dokachin stubbornly.
That's fair, I guess. If you hand your phone to your friend to show them a funny meme, and they start scrolling through your nudies, you'd be pissed too.
"Okay, your people."
"Oh. I really don't have people to spare for that activity. Wish I did."
Riker is annoyed. "Then what do you suggest?"
"Dunno. Call me back when you're in orbit." He closes out the chat again.
"Come the fuck on," sighs Riker.
Troi is still heavily amused. "He's king of his hill. You're gonna have to treat him like that."

....yaaaaay.

They hit orbit, and Dokachin comes on board.
He looks around and starts waxing poetic about how he doesn't usually get to see starships in condition this good, and they're always falling apart by the time he gets them.
"We really do need this info on the T'Pau," says Troi earnestly.
He turns and asks who she is, and she gives him her name and position on the ship.
He addresses no one in particular, and talks about Riker as though he isn't standing right there: "He probably thinks we don't get a lot of handsome women out this way, and that I'd cooperate more with someone like you... he's right."
Grins between Troi and Riker as Dokachin sits at the science station, where the E has been tied into the junkyard's computers. He locates where the T'pau is docked, and tells the helm where to go. Then suddenly he's all smiles, and asking Troi if this is her first visit to a junkyard, and how she'd be surprised at what one might find on old ships.

He starts telling her that he found a 14-foot eel in someone's locker in a freighter, and if she wants, and there's time, he'll show it to her, because he nursed it back to health, and is keeping it as a pet.
I like this guy. He's a little too full of himself, and a little too into Troi just cuz she's cute, but he did rescue an ailing animal and seems to be keeping it as a companion. Like, would I want to deal with him in real life? Hell no. But he makes for someone interesting to watch on television.
So they roll up on the coordinates, and... empty space.
"It's missing?" asks Riker.
"The fuck?" Dokachin starts frantically typing at the science station, telling them that he's never lost a ship. Also, he has each of his ships cross-categorized four ways, and he'll find that fucking ship if it kills him.
"Okay, think," says La Forge. "Was stuff stripped from the T'Pau when it came in? Things that could be used on other ships?"
Dokachin replies in the affirmative, and says that those things would be on the Tripoli.
"Great, because we have the T'Pau's deflector array laid out in pieces on our cargo hold floor," snaps La Forge.
Dokachin was not expecting this answer. He insists that he's never lost anything in the junkyard as they rush to where the Tripoli is docked.
Empty space again.
He's about to lose his mind. Up in here, up in here.
"But... we beam things to the Tripoli on a regular basis!" he splutters. "We beamed stuff here yesterday! We're supposed to beam stuff here today!"
"'kay, when are you beaming stuff to the Tripoli spot today?" asks Riker.
"Two hours?"
"Yeah, I bet someone will park themselves right there and pick up that shipment of stuff that you're beaming," guesses Riker. "Let's move into a spot nearby and shut down everything but sensors and life support so we look like a derelict."
Y'all're a pretty shiny derelict, but go on then.

Back on... K'Vada's ship, Picard and Data have reached a rest period, and Picard remarks that the Klingons probably thought it would be funny to put them both in the same quarters. Data responds that he doesn't need to sleep, so Picard should take the... shelf.
Picard lies down and turns on his side, but Data is just... standing there. The captain turns back over.
"What are you doing?"
"Going over the files I need to prepare to impersonate a Romulan."
"Oh."
But Data had turned to speak to him, so when Picard rolls back over, Data now appears to be staring at him.
"That's unnerving, Data."
"Should I stop going over the files?"

Picard simply gets up and tells Data that he doesn't need to rest, and they should just go over those files together.
K'Vada pages Picard to the bridge. When they arrive, he hands them a padd and says that they intercepted a message that might be of interest to Picard.
Picard reads off the padd to Data that Sarek has died.

Back on the E, the time has arrived for the transfer to the Tripoli.
"I see a ship on sensors," says Worf. "But they're riding without license plates. No way to tell who the hell that is."
It's fancy, too.

"It's hella loaded up with cargo," says La Forge. "Looks like weapons?"
The ship slides into the Triploi's spot, and the depot prepares to transfer stuff.
"Let's power up," announces Riker.
Lights and engines come back online, and the other ship powers up weapons, turning to the E.
"Hey," says Riker to the open channel, "this is Commander Riker of the Enterprise. You stealing Federation shit or what?"
No response. Instead, the other ship powers up phasers.
Normally, when another ship starts posturing, there's a certain sense of LOL involved, because the Enterprise packs bigger weapons, but here La Forge is like, "Um, they match us?"
Shields go up, and the E takes a few hits.
"Hit 'em with a phaser," Riker tells Worf, "but aim for their weapons systems. I don't want to do anything but knock the gun from their hands?"
Worf does as he's told, and La Forge reports that they've taken down the forward shields on the mystery ship, and one of their phaser arrays.
Then:
"Shit," says La Forge. "There's a bunch of little internal explosions, and with as much weaponry as they're carrying -"

Riker makes his best "fuck, who was that?" face, and because Picard is elsewhere, the camera does that swoop-in close-up shot of Riker instead.

Dramatic music! Commercial break!

Picard has put the Romulan prosthetics on himself and Data, and they sit to check out their handiwork. Picard has a little box of tools he used to do it, and I thought at first that prosthetics were done surgically, but maybe not? Is the surgery so simple that Picard was taught how to do it? Or are they glued on?
"You seem lost in thought since we got that message about Sarek," Data remarks.
"Yeah, the mission has kind of changed for me," says Picard. "I was just going to Romulus to ask Spock what the hell he was doing there, but now I also have to carry the message that his father has died. It's a weird position to be in. I know a lot about Sarek because of the mind-meld connection, and their relationship was tenuous at best."
"Won't it be easier for him, being Vulcan? I mean, won't he see it as the logical conclusion to life?"
"Not necessarily," Picard answers. "It's complicated, even for Vulcans, and recall that Spock is half-human. He's spent a lot of time wrestling with that kind of thing."

They're ready to go, but K'Vada has decided to fling some shit, telling them sarcastically that they look "sweet."
"Do you know what they'll do to you if they find out who you are?" he asks. He actually, literally hisses at Data.
"Yeah, we do," states Picard.
"Whatever. Just so you know, this assignment doesn't include rescue missions!"
They roll their eyes and follow him to the transporter room.

Hellooo, pretty matte painting!

Meanwhile, back on Vulcan...

Pardek walks into the pro-consul's office, and Neral (said pro-consul) shows him a pic of Captain Picard of the Federation and asks if Pardek knows him.

"No? I've never seen that guy before."

"I got word that he was coming here, and might be here already," says Neral. "I want you to circulate his picture around, and let the security forces know. He's probably disguised as a Romulan if he's here."

"I'm right on top of that, Rose."

Data and Picard are in the city, looking around at the buildings, and Data uses their surroundings to figure out where Pardek and Spock were photographed,the doorway to a legal intercessor's office. The name on the wall is close to Pardek's, and Data guesses that it's a relative. After knocking, then trying the door handle, Picard guesses that the office isn't open for business this early. Data's pretty sure that he knows Pardek's schedule well enough that Pardek will be there within a few hours, so they elect to go to the restaurant across the way to get something to eat.

So they go into the restaurant, and wouldn't you know it, Romulus has a Soup Nazi. She serves them some slop in a bowl and interrogates them, after Picard asks if she knows when the intercessor's office opens.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I need his services. He was recommended."

"I haven't seen you here before."

Holy shit, lady. He just told you he was in the neighborhood because he wanted to talk to the guy across the way. Like, I know Data and Picard are technically spies, but she seems overly suspicious for someone serving soup at a restaurant.

"We traveled here from Rateg," Data offers.

"You don't have a Rateg accent," she insists.

Data being Data, he starts telling her that it's a myth that people from Rateg speak with a specific inflection, blah blah blah, and Picard jumps in to stop him by saying they come from just outside that city.

"Or maybe you're from security forces, come to pick up that intercessor. Is he in trouble?"

Crap, what a vulture. She seems pretty excited about the idea that she might see some action.

"Yeah, we're not security forces," says Picard.
She switches tactics so fast I get whiplash.
"Doesn't matter to me. I don't know when he opens. Eat your soup, courtesy of a loyal establishment. Jolan tru."
Ugh. I want to ask wtf is wrong with her, but I know what's wrong with her: Romulans tend to be shitty, suspicious people who churn out more shitty, suspicious people. Remember Jarok, the Romulan who defected to the Enterprise to prevent a war that was never going to happen, because his own people had been feeding him false information the whole time?
Also, jolan tru is a greeting/exit term, like "aloha." It means "find peace" or "may your day be filled with peace," but the way she spit it out, clearly she didn't mean either of those things.

As soon as she leaves, our boys notice that there are a pair of Romulans watching them in military uniforms. Are they security forces? I don't know. Those are starship uniforms, and maybe they all wear the same thing.
"I don't think we can stay here for very long," says Picard quietly.
"It's cool," says Data. "Isn't that Pardek over there?"
It is indeed. They ditch the soup, and turn to leave, but now those uniformed assholes are all up in their faces with guns. I bet that Soup Nazi is just wetting herself with excitement, preparing to gossip to all of her friends and neighbors about how she saw two spies, who were claiming to be from Rateg, hauled off at gun-point, and didn't that just serve them right?

Our boys have no choice but to go with the gun guys, who lead them into a cave.
Pardek follows them in. "We had to get you off the street quickly, Captain Picard. Romulan security  knows that you're here. You're okay, we're friends."
The two gun guys start stripping the uniforms off, and it's clear that they must have nicked those uniform coats from actual security to pull off the ruse of taking Picard and Data off the street.
"I'm on an important mission for Starfleet," says Picard. "I have to find Ambassador Spock."
"You have found him, Captain Picard."
And this magnificent mofo steps from the shadows.

This is a great episode.
Maybe you're a fan of the old show but not the new, and you find out that a beloved character from the old show is going to be on the new one, so you tune in. Maybe you weren't a fan of the new show, but decide to give it another view after this episode.
Or maybe you're a fan of the new show but not the old, but still have some respect for those older characters. Maybe based on this arc, you decide to check out the old show.
It's a nice passing of the baton, even if it didn't completely make the fandom into a melting pot. They'll do it again with the films, in 1993. It won't create that fandom harmony there, either. There will probably always be divides in the Trek fandom, based on personal tastes. TOS and TNG have very different tones, and attract different audiences, though like Doctor Who, will always encourage fans of one or the other to give a fair shake to other parts.
But let's take a look at this episode: we jump right in, feet first, by announcing that Spock will be appearing. No doubt Star Trek probably announced this to the fans ahead of the episode coming out, either telling them that a TOS character would be appearing, or that it was Spock specifically. So right away, the audience is excited. But now the writers are tasked with maintaining that excitement, especially knowing that Spock will not appear on camera. What to do? Have Picard formulate a plan to go to Romulus, a place where the audience has never actually been, to play spy games. And have him check in with another beloved old TOS character, Sarek. We've already seen Sarek on this new show, and he's developed a horrible Vulcan disease. That episode was powerfully driven by Mark Lenard, and while he doesn't star in this episode, Lenard turns in another magnificent performance as the dying Vulcan struggling with Bandii Syndrome.
The similarities between Bandii and Alzheimer's are striking, with Sarek vividly recalling his son't childhood, 100 years or more ago, but failing to realize one breath after the fact that he had told Picard about Pardek. he shakes and mumbles to himself, at times incoherent, and his trembling on his bed, in his pajamas and bare feet, give him an air of a strong man crumbling. That Picard must help him form the ta'al is not only heartbreaking, but speaks volumes about Picard, aiding an old man in preserving some dignity. You know that Sarek must perish soon, but you want his outcome to be different.
You mutter "dammit" when he dies.
Picard's story continues to be interesting after this encounter: he must still find Spock, but must now also tell him that Sarek has passed. But what of Spock? Has he defected? What is he doing? Does this spell doom for the Federation?
What is Romulus like? Will he and Data be able to pass as Romulans?
When they arrive, it seems as though the common person is just as suspicious in general as the military members that the Federation has encountered over the years. Their whole culture is based on these ideas of "trust no one."
(Something that I really like: Memory Alpha states that one of the first things that the Romulans did when splitting from the Vulcans, was to ditch the Vulcan language and develop their own. Yet, both groups have a greeting/departure term that is the same whether one is coming or going, and both means "peace" essentially. Yes, yes - you're very different.)

Another part of this episode that I love is the B-plot.
Not all B-plots are created equal, but I feel this one is pretty strong. First, the mystery of the decommissioned Vulcan ship parts on the Ferengi cruiser, in a box marked "medical supplies." Then, the mystery of the missing decommissioned ship, followed by another missing decommissioned ship: where are these ships, and who is that taking their place? And why? When the new battleship goes up in flames, it kills the leads the E crew had of finding out what happened to the T'Pau. These are all compelling reasons to tune in for the second part, and while I'm not sure this B-plot was strong enough to stand on its own as an A-plot, it does make for a solid B. I'm glad they didn't wrap this plot up with this episode, and simply have another B-plot with the second half of this episode. I'm also glad they didn't skimp on the B-plot. There have been plenty of episodes where the A-plot was interesting, but I couldn't have cared less about "what everyone else was doing." A strong Star Trek episode is made stronger with a solid B-plot.
Writer Jeri Taylor was afraid that this episode would not be successful, as people would have to wait the entire episode for one shot of Spock at the end, but I think she hit it out of the park. Qa'pla, Jeri.





Fun Facts:

- Frank Mancuso Sr, who was chairman of Paramount Pictures, suggested the idea for this arc. 1991 was the 25th anniversary of Star Trek, and it was thought that a crossover would tie the two series together nicely. Rick Berman and Nicholas Meyer worked with Leonard Nimoy to insert TNG references into Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and Nimoy agreed to appear on TNG. Berman: "We structured a deal with him: he got very little, a little more than scale [union salary minimum]. But with Leonard as executive of Star Trek VI, what you had in essence was a cross-promotion. It made everybody happy."
- This was not the first Spock-on-TNG story pitched to Leonard Nimoy. In the second season, a two-parter was pitched to him called "Return to Forever," and would have been written by Tracy Torme. It fell through.
- Leonard Nimoy didn't like the idea for the first story pitched to him, and the idea of a Romulus and Vulcan reunification came up in talks between Nimoy, Berman, and Michael Piller. Nimoy liked the idea of a peaceful story arc rather than a warlike one.
- The inspiration for this episode came from the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990.

- To Michael Piller, the title also meant a unification of TNG and TOS, which he felt were separated in the minds of the fans. Rick Berman agreed: he felt that the fans saw TOS and TNG as competing entities.
- Once the story was in place, it was determined that it was too expensive to try to film as one episode, and split it, having Spock appear at the end of the first episode.
- Michael Piller wanted to write both episodes, but found that he couldn't. He gave her the first part to Jeri Taylor to write, and she remembered that part of the tough aspect of that first episode was keeping the audience's interest going when the reason they were tuning in was to see Spock, and he doesn't appear until the last moment of that first episode.
- Ronald D Moore, as a fan of TOS, gave Taylor insight into Spock, and especially the relationship between Spock and Sarek.
- A plot to kill Jeri Taylor via exhaustion: Pocket Books approached her about doing a novelization of "Unification." Wanting to break into novel-writing, she agreed. They gave her a 30-day deadline (WTF?), so she wound up writing the novelization at the same time as she was writing the script. All Unification, all the time. "It was like an endless finals week."

- Because of Leonard Nimoy's schedule, "Unification II" was filmed first.
- This was the first time that a recurring original series cast member died... permanently. Lots of main characters from TOS died, but were then brought back to life through weird sci-fi crap or life-saving measures. Here, Sarek just dies.
- Mark Lenard only read the part of the script where he had lines, and had no idea his character had died off-screen until he saw a viewing at a convention later. He wasn't thrilled, but Jimmy Doohan joked that, because it was off-screen, they could bring him back at a later date.
- Fran Bennett (Fleet Admiral Shanthi) was scheduled to reappear in this episode, but for reasons unknown, was replaced by Karen Hansel as Admiral Brackett.

- Though Brackett is labelled as a Fleet Admiral in the script, her pips seem to denote that she is a Vice Admiral instead. It is suggested that she is indeed a Vice Admiral, but calling her Fleet Admiral is about a position instead of her rank - she might actually be in charge of a fleet of ships.
- This is the first time a Star Trek episode visits Romulus.
- Sarek tells Picard that Spock would disobey him as a kid, and run off to the mountains on Vulcan. He's talking about "Yesteryear." And now I really want to binge TAS again.
- The Unification arc were the highest-rated episodes of TNG since "Encounter at Farpoint."
- Berman and Piller both thought that Part I was better than Part II. Jeri Taylor was pleased with how it turned out, saying that she thought that it might have gone sideways, as the audience was waiting "for the good stuff to happen [in part 2]." Moore thought the scenes with Sarek turned out well.
- Jonathan Frakes seems to be the dissenter here: he felt the audience was cheated, expecting Spock to show up the whole episode, and only getting that one shot at the end. He did, however, enjoy the comedic aspect of Data unintentionally staring at Picard while the captain tries to sleep.
- One of the shots of the Enterprise-D flying through a field of derelict ships is a recycled shot from "The Best of Both Worlds."
- This episode was nominated for an Emmy for Dramatic Underscore.
- The novelization of this episode by Jeri Taylor expanded on K'Vada's backstory: he was grouchy during this mission because he got into a nasty argument with his wife prior to leaving, and she had dislocated his shoulder. His ships' doctor had not done a good job healing the injury, and it was bothering him. He was also impressed enough by Data's abilities to consider mentioning to the Klingon fleet that they should think about adding androids to their ships.
- Malachi Throne (Pardek) played in three episodes of TOS, and was with Leonard Nimoy for both his first and last appearances on Star Trek television episodes: he played the voice of The Keeper on the unaired pilot "The Cage," and played Pardek in both parts of "Unification." Throne was originally offered the part of the doctor on that pilot, but turned it down because "he didn't want to play the third to the hero and his sidekick." He wanted to try out for Spock, but the part had already gone to Nimoy. He was finally offered the part of the voice of the Talosian Keeper. Later, when filming for the "envelope" portion of "The Menagerie" began, he was cast as Commodore Mendez. His voice-over work on "The Cage" was pitch-altered so that it was not obvious that Throne was playing both parts.

- Neral was described in the script as "a Romulan Bobby Kennedy." He was played by Norman Large, who will show up again as a different character in season 7, then as others in DS9 and Voyager.
- On DS9, Neral appears in a wanted poster in Odo's office, and it was made canon that he was now a wanted man. Why? Because they used his make-up continuity photo for a wanted poster.

- Neral will later be played by a different actor (Hal Landon Jr) on DS9, for reasons unknown.
- Erick Avari (B'iJik, the guy who can "give Gowron a message from Picard") has been in everything, but it's hard to recognize him under all of that Klingon make-up:

- Erick Avari will appear later as different characters on DS9 and Enterprise.


Red deaths: 0
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Unnamed color crew deaths: 0
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Sassy Geordi moments: 0

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Sassy Worf Moment: 0
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Sassy Riker Moments: 1
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Number of times that it is mentioned that Data is an android: 3
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Number of times that Troi reacts to someone else's feelings: 1
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Number of times that Geordi "looks at something" with his VISOR: 0
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Number of times when Data gives too much info and has to be told to shut up: 1
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Picard Maneuvers: 1
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Tea, Earl Grey:
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Mentions of the number 47:
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That's just rude, Pie