This episode is all drama while neglecting the mission aspect of the story, but this one is actually good. It's also a second and more successful attempt at developing Klingon culture, so I'm prepared to waive the fact that the set up is pretty much the same formula as the last one and many of the others in the first and second seasons.
It begins with more character bonding over a poker game. You see that it's not always the same characters that play every time which is realistic and always adds variety to this plot device. It poses the question of whether or not Klingons bluff. Always entertaining and, of course, a tie-in to the end of the show. A subtle tie-in at that. The show was really starting to come together.
They get a message that they're on a top secret mission and they will be picking up a passenger that will fill them in. The passenger is K'Ehleyr, an Emissary for the Klingon empire and Worf's ex-girlfriend. The one-man converted probe that they transport her in is pretty cool although the idea isn't really ever used again. The challenge they face is that an old Klingon ship was dispatched to destroy a remote Federation outpost years ago when they were at war. The outpost was so remote that they've had to travel in suspended animation all this time and won't know the war is over when they wake up.
There are two things that make this a good episode. First, the base conflict of the Klingon ship T'Ong. In Heart Of Glory, the Klingons that they first create to breathe life into Klingon culture are fugitives that behave as though the war just ended a week ago and rag at Worf for being a sell-out during the entire show. Although I gave it a fair rating in my review, I made my points about how many ways that story was just wrong. And this one isn't perfect - I find myself wondering about the fact that the T'Ong has been traveling for 75 years. Even by 23rd century standards, it seems a bit long, but it doesn't irritate me as much because this, overall, makes more sense. These Klingons would be aggressive and beastly because they wouldn't know that the war was over in contrast to the Heart Of Glory Klingons who were basically just bored thugs. Secondly, of course, is K'Ehleyr. She only got two episodes, but she's a popular character and it's easy to see why. She's really pretty, I think. She's the only woman I've ever seen that can wear the make-up and be attractive too. Granted, as a half-human she didn't have to wear the teeth, but I think she could've pulled that off too.
You also get to see Klingon females as representing something other than kinky S & M sex. Before there was B'Elanna Torres, there was K'Ehleyr. In her brief two episodes we got to see the conflicting nature of her cross-specie breeding. Although she works for the Klingon government she embraces her human side more often than not in personal affairs. But she has a warrior's heart as well and a lot of natural aggression common to all Klingons. You see that the women are just as skilled and dangerous as the men at fighting and although women aren't allowed on the High Counsel, there's an equality amongst men and women on the Klingon home world.
She's there to advise them on what to do about the situation and her advice from the get go, oddly enough, is to simply blow them away before they wake up. It shows you that even though she doesn't hold to Klingon traditions in her personal affairs that she has obviously spent most of her life on the Klingon home world and is steeped in their kind of violent politics. Worf is the one that thinks there can be a better solution and naturally the captain orders them to work together to find a solution in spite of Worf's obvious discomfort.
Of course, they can't at first because Worf is uptight by nature and not happy with the fact that K'Ehleyr doesn't take Klingon culture very seriously. There's lots of good fighting. And then they end up in Worf's holodeck calisthenics program together wailing on those idiotic skull creatures together. (Argh! I hate the stupid looks of those things... lol!) Then they make up briefly and you get another teaser of rough Klingon sex, but it's more tasteful this time and there's follow up. Worf insists on marriage. It shows you that Klingons, though they're behavior is sort of barbaric like Vikings, they actually take romantic relationships very seriously. They're for life and flings are frowned upon. There's not as many Kirk or Riker antics on Q'onoS. This is something they stick to as the years pass, for the most part, making this a useful scene even if it's still a touch on the immature side.
Even though it appears to be the end for their relationship, Worf thinks of a great bluff (like poker- the big tie-in.) They address the T'Ong as though Worf and K'Ehleyr are captain and first officer of this Federation ship. Which is entirely possible now in the 24th century. I always wondered why they didn't just slip in a scene of captains or other high ranks in the Federation that happened to be not human or Vulcan. They had every color of human captain and almost every admiral Picard had to answer to was a woman. But this is a new century. All I'll say is that it doesn't surprise me with the Progressive mindset the way it is.
Even though it's actually a simple solution that shouldn't have taken so long for
everyone to arrive at and it adds to the over simplicity that's so
prevalent in these opening seasons, it's still a lot of fun to see it play out. Worf shames them for not double checking anything after 75 years before blindly carrying out their orders. Rightfully so. And he threatens to destroy them if they don't stand down which falls in line with Klingon politics making it seem as though the Klingons won the war. It all works out and it's great to see Worf in full Klingon battle gear.
K'Ehleyr transfers to the T'Ong to bring them up to speed but not before she admits that she's nearly ready to marry Worf, and so all is not lost for them either.
This was just a good episode and I really don't have any complaints other than the formula of being drama-heavy and saving the real conflict resolution for the last 10 minutes of the episode. In this case, there was actually something being accomplished with the drama that filled the episode. This is a much better first whirl at developing Klingon culture and it only gets better and better. Four and a half stars.
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