I'm not sure how this one rates in general, but it's always been one of my personal favorites. It's a break from weightier scripts and thrusts all of the characters out of their comfort zones and into new and different pairings. Episodes like this are necessary to blow off steam as it were.
It begins with a captain's log entry that explains that since the next mission won't begin for several days, everybody has some down time. You always know when it starts that way that it's going to be a "for fun" type of episode. This is the way character development is advanced. As we see, Miles and Keiko are getting ready to have a baby. They're in Ten Forward with Riker, Data, and an awkward (as always in personal situations) Worf. Meanwhile Beverly is in the cargo bay harassing Geordi into taking a part in her latest directorial pursuit, Pirates of Penzance. And on the bridge Picard is fulfilling an obligation to take the three winners of a science fair on a tour of the ship. It starts out light-hearted and comical. Miles and the gang are arguing over baby names before he has to report to the bridge; Geordi sings a little of one of the more popular songs of the play; and everyone is uncomfortable in the Captain's situation since he's not a kid person. Of course they want to see things like the Battle Bridge and the Torpedo Bay and Picard pours cold water on that. But they don't have long to be disappointed.
The ship shakes from a violent impact of some kind. Everything goes dark. The turbo lift that the Captain and kids are in starts falling. Most areas are completely closed off including the bridge. This episode is a tribute to the old time disaster movies and although it's pretty predictable, it never gets old to see the different members of the crew stranded in unlikely positions. But it's a great think piece too. They always have to deal with alien cultures and threats. This time, they're just set adrift after colliding with a quantum filament as O'Brien explains, which is something that is almost undetectable. Hurt and helpless, the threat is from within rather than from without.
Then the fun begins as the story shifts between all the scenes in play at the introduction. Ensign Ro is brought back for this episode. She climbs out of her turbo lift which stopped near the bridge. She and O'Brien start analyzing everything from the computer stations. Then they realize that Troi holds the highest rank on the bridge and is therefore in charge. This is a strange situation since Troi has never exuded a command presence of any kind. Even Dr. Crusher has shown she has the skill to lead in a crisis like this. One can really feel the discomfort that she shows when even an ensign knows more about what's going on than her. But she allows them to make suggestions appropriate to the situation. Meanwhile Geordi and the doctor don't seem too bothered in the cargo bay, only they can't open the doors. Then they discover a plasma fire behind one of the panels which leaks radiation and if the radiation mixes with the contents of the surrounding barrels it will cause an explosion. In Ten Forward Riker decides to assume the worst and arranges for he and Data to find a way to engineering while Worf takes charge of the lounge making it an emergency medical center. Like I said, it's all very predictable and some may not like that, but I think it's great. What do the doctor and the chief engineer ever normally have to do with each other? Mostly nothing. Usually it's Geordi and Data linked at the hip and Picard is required for solving the big problems, not Troi and two secondary characters so much. I like this episode because of the different character pairings as much as anything else.
Picard's progress is slow and his task is the most minor on the ship - to babysit some kids. His ankle is broken and he can't calm down frightened children just by asserting his authority, so he turns them into participants in finding a solution to the problem. He gives each of them a pip from his collar in order to ease their fear and make them more receptive to taking action. Ro continues as she was introduced as a rule breaker. She uses common hackery to get some power to an important console where they discover a slow containment failure that will lead to a warp core breach which sets up the big conflict for the episode. Beverly and Geordi are trying to move the barrels as far away from the fire as possible but it's only putting off the inevitable.
Riker and Data are stuck in a crawl space. They can't go back due to a coolant leak and they can't go forward because of an arc of electricity that can't be stopped at the panel. So Data offers to act as a buffer and absorb the electricity that would render him inoperable except for his head which Riker can then take with him to engineering. Geordi and Beverly realize that they need to open the cargo bay in order to suck out the fire and the containers and, of course, Keiko goes into labor while she's helping tend the wounded. She's no where near all of the bells and whistles of sick bay and Worf has to deliver the baby. All of these situations are laughably convenient to the story line as far as writing goes, but the solutions were unique and fun to watch from Riker having to remove Data's head to Beverly having to figure out how long they'd have to blow the hatch and be without air before they'd die and the Klingon security officer having to deal with the inconvenience of Keiko's labor. During this time Picard sends one of the kids up to the top of the turbo lift to see that one of the clamps is broken and they'll have to climb up the shaft before the lift breaks loose and falls. He can't make them go without him so he has to limp up the ladder with a broken ankle.
But there's an appropriate amount of tension at all times and especially on the bridge. Ro is all gung ho to separate the saucer section right away in order spare the lives in the saucer should the warp core fail. But even though there's no way of knowing if anyone is alive in engineering to fix it O'Brien and Troi want to wait as long as possible. Ro may know the workings of the ship, but she's still a hot headed ensign. The attitudes of everyone involved in this part of the scenario are believable and understandable. While the captain's turbo lift falls and they groan at having to climb even further than expected because the first door they come to doesn't open, Geordi and the doctor carry out their plan. The fire and barrels are jettisoned while they cling to a ladder near the controls that open and close the doors. Now, the obvious design flaw is that the controls that re-pressurize the cargo bay aren't on the same control panel as the door controls. I completely understand if people are annoyed with this, but the race to get to the right buttons before they passed out served to intensify the scene. Beverly gets to the panel to save their lives which I loved cuz I love Beverly which brings their scene to an end.
Troi stands firm in her decision and Riker gets Data's head to engineering to discover that there is a display that has been turned on that is monitoring the failure of the antimatter containment field. Data can stabilize it with Riker's help and they fix the problem at the very last moment to everyone's relief. Troi holds no grudge against Ro. The captain and the kids make it up to a door that opens into a safe corridor. Then there's this...
Clichéd? Oh my yes. But Worf is such a scream you can't not love this scene. It always makes me laugh so hard.
It comes to an end full circle back on the bridge. Troi brings the kids up again and she and Riker get a few jabs in about being in command and then the captain, much looser and more comfortable with at least these three kids comes out to accept their homemade plaque of thanks and promises to reschedule the tour starting with the Battle Bridge.
Look, it was just a fun episode and proof that fun could be done without being as absurd as their idea of "fun" was in the early seasons. It had exciting moments and lots of character development without resorting to the holodeck. Even though I've pointed out the flaws, I love it (and I went a little picture crazy, I know.) But I'm totally biased so I'm giving it five stars.
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