I don't have much for or against this episode. It was an episode that could be classified as "for fun." It was the first of many holodeck episodes and it wasn't bad for a first timer.
It was another push to make Picard the star in the same way Kirk was in TOS. They were giving all of the major new experiences to that character. But, it didn't suite the Picard that everyone came to love and respect. The moment in the Observation Lounge in which he's describing the realism of the holographic effects and interaction is much too personal, for example. Later when he needed to express how persons or events affected him personally it would be only to one other character usually... Troi mostly or Riker. Picard treating the entire senior staff like his best friends wasn't quite right yet. Picard engaging in horseback riding and Shakespeare was much more believable. Of course, there was no way of knowing this at the time though. They were still testing the waters at this point. And this episode is as good a test as any other.
It was kind of a shame the the mission part of the show wasn't being taken more seriously, as with The Lonely Among Us. However, the situation of a language barrier is revisited later on and done even better, so I'll call this good. And the humor of Picard surprising the crew by walking onto the bridge dressed in 1940's attire is better than most humor up to this point.
This is an important dry run of exended use of the holodeck though because there were definitely bugs to be worked out in the writing aspects.
The woman that Picard meets at the beginning notices his strange clothes. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen again in the show, and it only makes sense, because nobody in the holodeck programs (except Moriarty after a programming debacle) can see the entrance from the enterprise opening up in the middle of a street.
But one thing that did stick was the safety mechanisms failing. Lol, you'd think something could be done about that, or that people would stop going in there... but this is what made holodeck episodes fun. It can't really be explained any better than time travel, but neither me nor anyone else wants an explanation of why the bullets are suddenly real, we just want to sit back and watch the mayhem.
That being said, I think the strategy of trying to convince the holodeck characters that they didn't really exist was a little weak. Their reaction to a change in environmental controls was unique because of this and never done again either. But they revisited this concept as well later on with better results.
And of course, the characters should never have gotten this far out of the room anyway, but none of my complaints made with annoyance today.
But, fun is fun. And there were just a lot of fun and light hearted moments in this episode. From Beverly adjusting her hose and trying to look alluring like the woman she's sitting next to, to Picard enjoying his interrogation, to the way they're all amused at being held at gun point at first. After all, it's like a video game come to life and we'd all be just as exhilarated by it.
Even the use of Wesley isn't so bad in this one. Yes, it's still a little out of touch that he's studied all the holodeck technical manuals, but his presence isn't a joke about being smarter than the grown ups and he has a vested interest in the matter with his mother in danger.
I give it three stars, but only because it just wasn't one of my personal favorites, not because I have any real complaints about it.
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