The trailer I posted isn't one of the normal ones that ran on T.V. but a special one made by a fan to seem like a movie trailer. This episode deserves that. It's one of the best episodes in the series and one of my personal favorites.
It's one of the best uses of time anomalies I've ever seen and the teaser scene, which is a perfectly random portrait of life on the Enterprise and one to make the audience bond even more with Worf, is there to show you what will be missing. One of the biggest problems with time travel, and understandably so, is that the characters have a conscious knowledge that a time anomaly has taken place. They'd done something similar to this in the episode Time Squared in the second season. Except at the end of the episode, they know they've solved the problem when the dopple-Picard and shuttle disappear. Like I said, it's understandable because there has to be closure in a story and especially in a series like Star Trek where somebody has to keep track of all the changes in order for the day to be saved. What this episode does is take a more realistic approach to a change in a timeline. A strange wormhole appears and suddenly everything changes... and nobody notices. Suddenly there was never any Worf and all that has transpired for his character. And no Troi because her profession isn't required on a battleship. But then, there's Tasha, alive again!... but everyone knows it's not right. It's dark. It's war. The loss and gain without a word of dialogue is a breathtaking effect for the audience to enjoy.
I shouldn't say nobody because this is where a character like Guinan comes in handy. Since her character's race was never explained in detail and always a little enigmatic, she was useful as the person who knew something had changed, but not consciously so that the timeline-change part of the story isn't completely ruined. It was a smooth way to create a focal point that would help to shift the timeline back to normal. The writing in this episode is exemplary.
The Federation is still at war with the Klinons and the Captain's Log is now a military Log and they take note of the ship that emerged from the wormhole. It's the Enterprise C which was the model of the ship that came directly before this Enterprise. Captain Garrett tries to explain their situation but because their presence caused the timeline to change, the history the Enterprise D crew knows doesn't match up to the story Garrett is giving them about defending Klingons from a surprise Romulan attack. But the mystery is set aside for the sake of rescuing the crew and repairing the heavy damage they'd taken while Klingon ships are on the way.
So they put Guinan into effect by having her track down Picard to tell him that this isn't right and to set in motion the debate on whether or not to send them back to their own time when their deaths are pretty much guaranteed if they do. They spend a respectable amount of time on that philosophical point, but much of the episode is spent correcting the wrongs done to the character of Tasha Yar. She's seen doing her job expertly - Helping to update the old Enterprise's weapons and forming battle strategies. She gets to fall in love... something she didn't have a chance to do since her character left so early on in the series. It's a fast romance, but not unbelievable because they were in the middle of a war and a lifetime to cultivate a relationship is never a guarantee in such cases.
Although Guinan wasn't in the first season, when Picard first speaks to her in the second season, he speaks to her as if she'd been there the whole time. For that reason, it's okay to assume that Guinan would know that Tasha's presence is wrong. She tells her of the vague notions she has that she's supposed to be dead already by a senseless and pointless demonstration of power. This episode really solidifies Guinan's intuition as being very relevant and valuable.
After plenty of discussion and a revelation that the Federation will probably have to surrender in less than six months, Garrett chooses to go back and try to defend the Klingons from the Romulans that were inserting themselves into the situation back in her time. It is Data who notes that this could change the outcome of the war since Klingons value honor above all else. Still developing Klingon culture even when there's not one Klingon in the show... win!! As they go back to prepare, Captain Garrett is killed and Lt. Castillo, who Tasha has fallen for, is left in charge.
Her love for Richard and the knowledge of what her alternate fate was had the war not gone on this long propel her brave, warrior nature into transferring over to the Enterprise C in order to help give them an edge when they go back. Since she's supposed to be dead already and since her death if she returns with C is imminent, there would be no temporal repercussions from this decision.
And then the riveting climax - all is sacrifice. Enterprise D takes the full brunt of the attack so that Enterprise C can return through the wormhole. They can't survive, but after Enterprise C returns, so does the original timeline with Worf and Troi int their proper places. Guinan senses the change again, but knows that everything is back to normal. And more importantly, nobody else remembers anything unusual ever happened at all. But the audience knows. They lost Tasha again. But this time it meant something. It wasn't just done for shock in an episode about nothing. She ended up being a pivotal part of the Federation's peace with the Klingons in history. And although we later find out she survived the battle she went back into, for now we are satisfied with a happy ending and the hero's death that a character like that deserves. It was just brilliant from start to finish. Five stars all the way.
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