Closing out the two-part Spock episode in the middle of the fifth season with more surprises and political intrigue.
There's a lot of dialogue in this episode and a lot of necessary information is divulged in the opening scene. Both Picard and Spock wonder why the other is there. We find that Spock is on a personal mission to seek peace between Vulcans and Romulans based on his contribution to the peace talks with the Klingons (that's the plug for the sixth Star Trek movie which would be out a month later.) He refuses to come back with Picard who is only representing Federation interests. If Spock is captured he could greatly compromise Federation intelligence under torture. The torch is handed from TOS to TNG as Picard accuses Spock of "cowboy diplomacy." It's an old phrase to describe rogue political behavior, but the original series was also sold as a space western and of course Kirk had that reckless, shoot-em-up personality that lead the show. When Picard won't back down and leave him to pursue his course alone, Spock notes that Picard is equally as stubborn as another captain that he once knew. I'm glad this passing of the torch didn't happen in the first, second, or even third seasons. TNG had a lot of maturing to do before it was worthy to not only carry the Star Trek franchise, but also surpass the first show in creativity and credibility. There's an element of corniness to their conversation, but the show had more than earned it's place in this evolution. Picard also has to tell Spock that Sarek has died and relate to him the pride and love that Sarek felt for him. Spock waves it off as a symptom of his disease but Picard insists that his feelings were real. The conversation also reveals the details of Spock's mission - that there is an underground movement of Romulans that have shown an interest in Vulcan teachings and want to emulate the Vulcan way of life and reunify the Vulcan and Romulan races. He's under no illusions that it'll be easy, but his friend Pardek has asked him to Romulus because a new and young Proconsul may be receptive to this change. Since Spock won't leave, Picard decides to stay and see how it all plays out. Data returns to the Klingon ship to monitor the Romulan Central Information Net, and naturally K'Vada is uncooperative and scared of getting caught. But Data offers to share any intelligence gathered with the Klingons which makes him a little braver.
Now, everyone can see that this mission is unlikely to succeed and that Spock may even seem a little foolish for trying, so later on while they're waiting for Pardek to arrive a young Romulan boy approaches Spock and Picard to show them a book that relates the separation of Romulus and Vulcan centuries ago. It's a banned material and he shouldn't have it out in the open, but it gives the audience a chance to see that the underground movement is sincere and that there are enough of them to make a person like Spock seriously entertain the notion of reunification. Then Pardek shows up and tells them that the Proconsul that we met in the last episode who was on the lookout for Picard wants to meet with Spock. Of course, it's all too easy, but there's no reason to suspect anything sinister yet.
The thing I love about this two-parter and many that follow is the way the characters are divided into teams and the teams work independently of each other towards the same goal. Yes, the captain is in a dangerous place, but while the others are ready to ride to the rescue if necessary, they also have things to do. Riker needs information about the smuggler they blew up at the scrap yard so he tracks down one of his ex-wives. This is a fun little scene that lightens the mood and in the middle of the politics and science fiction just hearkens back to good, old fashioned detective work. Riker charms the four armed pianist into revealing that a contact of her ex-husband would arrive soon; a fat Ferengi named Omag. So Riker leaves Worf down there to wait for him.
Pardek introduces Spock to Proconsul Neral. Neral says all of the right things just like an accomplished politician, telling him that he's willing to publicly support reunification and even presents him with the Vulcan greeting. Spock's not stupid. You can see the apprehension in his face as he leaves. Even he can see that it's all too easy and clean. After he's gone Sela appears from a closed door and she and Neral are thrilled at having tricked the undergound movement into exposing themselves. Back in the cave Spock reports that there appears to be progress in the right direction but Picard is not convinced. When he first arrived he'd accuse Spock of being emotional and now he accuses him of being biased by Romulan emotions and both times Spock is reminded strongly of Sarek, assuming that Picard has been overly influenced by their mind meld. However, though Spock doesn't deny that this may all be a trap, he's still determined to see this venture play out.
Then the meeting that all the fans were waiting for... Spock and Data. As expected, the comparison is drawn between Data wanting to be more human whereas Spock has chosen to repress his human side. It's certainly not the first observation made like this regarding Data as he's had similar conversations with the likes of Q or his brother, Lore. But this conversation is another mark of the unification and transitioning of the shows from old school to new school. Back at the bar another throw away bit of humor turns, later on, into a big part of Klingon culture. Bored with waiting, Worf asks Amarie to play a line from a Klingon opera and he can't stop himself from singing along. When the fat Ferengi arrives, he and Riker question him with extreme prejudice until he reveals that he'd delivered the Vulcan ship to a Barolian freighter near Galorndon Core, which you will remember is the planet near the Neutral Zone from the episode The Enemy, although that episode isn't referenced directly.
Riker and Picard confer briefly and although Picard doesn't see what a stolen Vulcan ship has to do with reunification, he sends Riker to check it out anyway. Then on the Klingon ship they discover that the Romulans were communicating with a Barolian ship by Galorndon Core and the message read 1 4 0 0. They call Spock away from more of his hopeful talks with the idealistic young Romulan boy. When they tell him what they found out, he very coolly and logically deduces that Pardek has betrayed him since his reunification speech was to take place at 1400 hours the next day. This shows you that Spock is still Spock and not as affected by emotions as we are all being led to believe. At that point Sela reveals herself and announces that reunification will happen in the form of the Romulan conquest of Vulcan.
The rest of the plot is outlined by Sela. The Vulcan ships were stolen to send a Romulan invasion force to Vulcan disguised as a peace envoy. She writes a speech for Spock to give announcing the peace envoy and he refuses to give it. The look on her face is priceless. Really, she got so much better stuff to do after Tasha died. Unfortunately this would be her last appearance because, lets face it, Sela is a failure as a commander, first with the Klingon plan and now with the Vulcan plan, and I don't think the Romulans would just let someone like that stay in command or even alive for very long. It's a shame they couldn't find another way to work her in though. Anyway, she shows them a holographic Spock that she's made to give the speech for him and leaves Spock, Data, and Picard in the office together. They immediately start to hack into the computer network.
The Enterprise sees the three Vulcan ships leaving Galorndron Core and try to approach them but Sela sends out a distraction of an emergency medical situation that only the Enterprise is close enough to deal with. Meanwhile Spock and Data set up their own holographic simulation in the office, faking a rescue attempt and trapping Sela. Spock gets to be caught up in the action again, just like days of old. He also gets a few seconds of uninterrupted air time to begin a truthful speech about the invasion force before he's cut off. And Data gets to preform the Vulcan nerve pinch to incapacitate Sela before they escape.
To everyone's horror, the Romulans move in to destroy their own people on the Vulcan ships rather than allow them to be captured, but this is what makes the Romulans so solidly evil. The captain and company escape to a different set of caves the Pardek didn't know about and Spock vows to stay and go on with attempts at reunification. Picard then offers Spock the chance to meld with him so that he can see what was in his father's heart from the thought's Sarek had shared with Picard. This is where I'm disappointed with the balance of the two parts of the episode, because this important moment was too rushed and brief. Nimoy makes it count, but They'd devoted a lot of time to Spock and Sarek and their relationship and even though this episode was more exciting than the first part, they could've trimmed it a little to work in some more reaction from Spock after knowing his father's mind. It was the last best look into Vulcan culture we'd get for a good long while. But I guess you can't have everything.
I'm giving this one five stars though, because it was very well rounded and thought out. The plot was interesting and intense. The humor was well placed and not overdone. Put together with the first part and it's a really good episode.
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