Season finale of season 4. It was originally slated to be the finale of season 3, but they put it off to make room for Best Of Both Worlds. I think that was another fortunate turn of events since the long wait makes Worf's redemption that much sweeter.
It begins with the Enterprise en route to Qo'noS for Picard to finish out his role as Arbiter of Succession for the Klingon Empire. Some may wonder why he's still in this role since it was clear after the episode, Reunion that Gowron was going to be the head of the High Council by way of Duras' death. But I think it's actually very realistic. When we elect Presidents they aren't inaugurated for two months. Politics is slow. There's no way of measuring how much time passes between episodes and it could be that it took the Klingons some time to prepare for the formal ceremony that installs Gowron as the leader. There's also an indication early on that this episode will get serious about clearing up the whole Worf's discommendation business when Picard brings it up to Worf. Worf is still hesitant but he's also ready to have his honor back. Before they can discuss it further, they're surprised by a decloaking Klingon ship.
It's a two parter so it moves slowly at first. The Klingon ship claims to be sent as an escort although they'd heard nothing about needing an escort. It turns out that it's Gowron himself who came to explain how the family of Duras has amassed an army against him and that Duras' two sisters have arranged to challenge his leadership somehow. This was the start of something good. The Duras sisters would become wonderful reoccurring adversaries throughout the series. He asks Picard for aid but Picard refuses to mix up the Federation in his personal duty as Arbiter. When Worf escorts Gowron to the transporter, Gowron is predisposed to dismiss him as a traitor like all other Klingons up to this point. But Worf takes a chance and tells him the whole story of how his discommendation was arranged. This interests Gowron greatly since the Duras family is now threatening his leadership. However, he regrettably can't restore Worf's honor at this time since the majority of the Council is still loyal to Duras and he now has a potential civil war to deal with. Worf is frustrated and gets in some phaser range time with Guinan which persuades him to ask Picard for a leave of absence. Picard happily grants it knowing that he's going to pursue the restoration of his honor, which he was encouraging at the beginning.
Worf finds Kurn and discovers that he's actually ready to go against Gowron out of revenge. Worf convinces him, using the elder brother card again, to wait and offer his fleet in support of Gowron once he is inevitably outnumbered for the price of having their family name restored. Then we get to meet Lursa and B'Etor. In this episode they commit to the concept that they can't be on the High Council because they are women. Now, this is admittedly inconsistent with other Klingon Council members from the movies and even from the episode Reunion where Gowron offers K'Ehleyr a seat on the council as a bribe. But they wanted to make the sisters' presence more insidious as the ones pulling the strings of young Toral who is Duras's illegitimate son. It also makes a smoother connection to the real strings being pulled by Romulan conspirators which ties in with fact that Duras had been in bed with the Romulans the whole time. After causing a fiasco in the great hall by challenging Gowron's position, you see the sisters discussing plans with the Romulans and again, a shadowy Romulan woman speaks from the background as in Mind's Eye. She is clearly the true puppet master of this scheme.
Worf's plan is working and he and Kurn now have enough to offer Gowron so that he would be hard pressed to deny their request. He also requests of Picard that the Khitomer records be released to him to use as evidence. There are complications to kill time but ultimately Picard makes the records public to everyone for fairness sake. They're not really brought up again which makes the only weak spot in the show. Then Lursa and B'Etor invite Picard to a private meeting to try and sway his favor towards Toral. But Picard is too smart for them and, diplomatically of course, informs them that he knows what they're up to as far as the coup they are trying to pull against Gowron and he also gets in a subtle implication that they're conspiring with Romulans. Picard is so cool because this is the kind of honesty and nobility that we all wish politicians and people involved on the peripherals would show. He then doubles down on the position by denying Toral's claim on the very logical basis that he's just a boy with no experience or business being the leader of the High Council. Then Toral gives a speech about how he can show the Klingons true honor, asking the Council to join him. Most of them do and it paints a sadly accurate picture of the true ugliness and corruption that goes on in politics. Gowron leaves with the warning that they are violating Klingon law and a war to right this wrong will ensue. I wish it was always this simple and easy in the real world. That enemies of the nation/kingdom would proudly display themselves and the power struggle would be visible for all to see.
Gowron goes to organize his followers and Worf and Kurn move in to offer their support in return for Worf's restored honor. He's impressed with Kurn's fleet but wants Federation support. Worf tries to tell him that they will remain neutral, but they are suddenly attacked by Duras' forces. Worf steps in for the dead tactical officer and performs like the expert that he is. The Enterprise moves away even knowing that Worf is on the ship reinforcing the fact that they intend to remain neutral. But Gowron's ship prevails with Worf's help and they go back to the hall to finish the ceremony. Picard gives Gowron the Council leader's cloak as witness by the few Council members left and then Gowron restores Worf's honor to reward his loyalty. And it's only the first episode!
Worf brings Gowron aboard the Enterprise to formally ask for aide anyway using the Federation's Treaty of Alliance as grounds for this request. He also makes it a personal plea due to his own stake in it. Picard clings to neutrality since this is an internal affair of the Klingon Empire. He then formally recalls Worf to duty and Worf resigns his commission without a second thought. It seems like a tense moment, but Picard talks it over with him privately and completely understands that he has to be with his people now in this time of crisis. And really he does owe it to Gowron since he got what he wanted. Worf is sent off with honors Meanwhile the Duras sisters and the Romulans are celebrating the fact that the Enterprise is leaving when the mystery woman steps out of the shadows. We see a blond Romulan woman that looks exactly like Tasha Yar and she warns them not to discount Captain Picard. I guess we now know which species carries the dominant genes in this sort of pairing. This is the big reveal and the hook to make the audience come back for more at the beginning of the season 5.
I thought it was a great bombshell. It was an excellent episode. The pacing was a little slow, but Worf finally loses the "traitor" mantra that he'd been saddled with for a season and a half and there was more to come so that this wasn't something that was cut down and crammed into one episode. It also perpetuates the Klingon-Romulan hostilities which was great writing fodder for the series and certainly would've helped relegitimized in the mind of Roddenberry, if he'd still been alive, the presence of these alien cultures in the Star Trek universe. Normally these two-parters get five stars but I'm going to have to knock off a half a star for the detail of the Khitomer files. Presumably, all of the remaining Council had seen those records when Gowron reinstates Worf's honor so they knew he wasn't just getting a boon for choosing to support Gowron. But they made it a point to say the records were available to everyone, and that would've completely nullified Toral's challenge early on since everyone would've known Duras was the traitor. It seems that, realistically, even the Duras supporters of the Council would've dropped him like a hot potato to save their political careers... but I'm probably thinking in a "human" way. Still, it's a detail that bugs me. And even though I think simplifying the politics isn't a bad thing in this kind of show, it seems like it could've been handled better.
No comments:
Post a Comment