Another one of the best episodes ever. At least in my opinion. It was pitched as "Die Hard on the Enterprise." That's about right, I suppose, and it's the kind of thing they'd have screwed up in the first season. Of course, the hero is Picard and he's as cool as any muscle-man, action hero.
It opens with the Enterprise docked in what looks like a giant car port and preparing for a baryon sweep, a maintenance procedure that helps to purge ships of radiation that has built up in the hull during regular use. The baryon sweep is lethal to organic life, so the ship is busy with evacuation activity. We begin with a demonstration of why Picard is the captain of the ship. Anyone who's ever been a boss can relate to this scene. He's accosted by each member of the bridge crew who all need help of some kind to complete the tasks on hand before the evacuation. He suggests Troi reroute people to a cargo bay for transport to prevent a delay, tells Beverly who to get in contact with about storing some live specimens on the base, and assures Riker that they can continue the shutdown sequence as planned since Troi's delays are being dealt with. It then breaks the momentum with a little humor when he gets in a turbo lift with Data who notices that Picard has nothing to say, so he begins to make polite, random conversation. He is a little taken a back at Data's attempt to fill the silence, but when he moves on to alien weather patterns, Picard becomes a little alarmed. Data tells him that he's starting a new sub routine on how to make small talk and Picard tells him that if he wants to know more about that, he needs to watch a Commander Hutchinson at a reception that is being held later that afternoon. Back to business when he steps onto the bridge and Geordi and Worf begin to speak to him at the same time. He deals with them individually. Worf tells him that his authorization is needed to disable command codes, but he checks with Geordi first. They'll need twenty more minutes as Geordi has ordered more field diverters to protect the systems on the Enterprise, since their heavy use of warp means the baryon sweep will probably need to use a stronger beam. Worf asks to be dismissed from the reception and Picard grants it. You can tell that nobody, himself included, is looking forward to it and poor Geordi is denied when he tries to ask the same favor. You rarely see a smirk like that from Worf who has victoriously beat him to the punch. Picard goes to his ready room to confirm the time of evacuation with a man named Orton from the base they're parked at. When he goes back on the bridge it's completely empty. Then a work crew appears with Geordi's extra diverters and he reluctantly leaves.
This episode has such wonderful balance. The reception is a scream as we see the infamous Commander Hutchinson that everyone wishes to avoid. Not because he's a bad person, but he just seems to have no end of stamina for talking people's ears off. Data studies him and mimics him in the background. He practices on Crusher and Riker to a hysterical effect. Picard meanwhile has been cornered by "Hutch" and introduces Geordi and Troi as an attempt at escape but Hutch keeps him a part of the conversation until he mentions the horse trails on the planet. It isn't a lie that Picard is passionate about horses, as his time riding horses in the holodeck has been referenced twice before, but Picard insists on going back on the Enterprise to get his saddle and go riding even though the weather is bad. Troi and Geordi suspect he's ditching them as he claims that having one's own saddle is common to any serious rider but I can tell you that I know some horse enthusiasts around here and their riding equipment really is very personal to them. Still, riding in the rain is probably not something he'd normally do, so yes, he's looking for a way out. Next we see him walking through the corridors, dressed for a ride and carrying his saddle. He sees a panel in the wall opened and a line cut and stops to investigate. He then meets the workmen called Devor who claims to be doing some last minute maintenance before leaving. Picard is visibly suspicious but claims to believe him and turns to leave.
Devor attacks from behind since he knows that if the rider leaves the ship he'll probably tell everyone that something strange is going on but Picard throws his saddle at him. Devor is played by Tim Russ who would later portray Tuvok on Voyager, which makes his takedown with a Vulcan neck pinch all the more ironic. We have to assume that Picard learned the maneuver from mind melding with Sarek and spending time with Spock on Romulus. At any rate he gets the job done and takes his laser welder from him. The computer warning tells him that he only has six minutes until the baryon sweep begins and he races to get the transporter but has to stop and hide when two of the other supposed workmen cut off his path. He has to wait while they discuss bypassing other lines. Finally he gets to the transporter room, but he's too late. The power shuts down just as he gets on the transporter pad. At the reception, Data has cornered Orton and is making relentless small talk with him in spite of his short answers and annoyed countenance. Riker has been overwhelmed by Hutch and decides to introduce him to Data. This is exactly what Data had been practicing for and he has no feelings to get in the way of the experiment. They're perfectly matched as they begin discussing the decor. It seems impossible that this should be going on while Picard is now trapped on the Enterprise, but nobody ever considers it. They know he's not back but they assumed he went straight to the horse trails. Picard takes Devor to sickbay, revives him, and tries to interrogate him at phaser point. Devor points out the phasers are inoperable right now so Picard tries to threaten him with the laser welder. Devor only calls his bluff so Picard puts him out again with a hypospray and takes his communicator so he can listen in on the conversations of the other people while he moves through the ship.
He doesn't get very far when he's found by a red head named Kiros and taken to Main Engineering. On the base we get a final round of marveling at how Data and Hutch can talk so long about nothing when Geordi's VISOR picks up strange energy readings from under a table. He offers to look at it but another of the staff shoos him away. Riker comes over to find out what's going on and that's when Orton and the rest of the staff pull phasers and attack. Hutch is shot, Geordi is wounded and the room is secured with alarming speed. Now they are hostages on the planet as Picard is on the ship. Every time it cuts back to the ship you see the progress of the baryon sweep represented by the Enterprise being slowly engulfed in a green band of light which starts in the back at the warp nacelles and moves slowly forward. And on the ship we see in Engineering that a woman named Kelsey is in charge as she's bossing around a man named Neil. They have the entire engine core taken apart busy at some chicanery when Kiros comes in with Picard. He plays dumb and introduces him self in a bumbling way as Mott the barber. They still don't know where Devor is at this point so they don't regard Picard as a threat. She makes him sit and sets another man to watch him while they continue with their work which turns out to be stealing trilithium resin from the warp core. On the planet the scene is subdued. There's a covered body that is meant to represent a dead Commander Hutchinson but they don't make that perfectly clear and I'm glad they don't because Hutch was actually a likeable character and it would've been a little too sad, bringing down the mood. They ascertain that Geordi is alright. They also note that their captors don't seem to have any demands but are nervous that their schedule had been thrown off. Through brief whispers they plan to create a hypersonic pulse out of Geordi's visor that will knock everyone in the room out except Data. Since she's tending to Geordi, he can talk her through the steps necessary.
The man that is watching Picard is nervous about the trilithium because it's very unstable so instead of keeping a close eye on Picard, he's watching Kelsey and Neil squabbling. Picard takes advantage of this by taking the laser welder out of his pocket and fires at a sensor on the wall which causes the room to flood with gas. He knocks his guard back and as he leaves he fires on the field diverter which was keeping Engineering safe from the sweep so they all have to leave now. He escapes through a Jeffries tube to come face to face with the green light of the baryon sweep. By the time his guard catches up to him he sees only Picard's jacket covering a hole in the floor where he'd cut through to escape without turning back. Before he can do anything the baryon sweep comes through the door he's facing and gets him. You see Picard stop for a moment as he hears him scream. Picard is a badass, but luring people to their deaths isn't a game or sport to him. He makes his way through the ship to Worf's quarters listening to Kelsey talking to her team. Since Engineering is no longer safe, they have to rig up a way to carry the trilithium with them. The container Neil fixes up has a stabilizing unit on it, but it's still very dangerous. Picard warns Kelsey how dangerous it is to carry around the volatile material while he takes a crossbow and primes the darts with a tranquilizer. He also experiments with some chemicals making small explosions. It's assumed that he picked up these things from sick bay and various other places on his way. She knows he's not the barber because she found his communicator badge and they exchange a series of threats and promises while Picard works. It's all wonderfully written.
When Crusher is ready to put some finishing touches on the makeshift pulse generator, she needs a distraction so Riker decides to punch Orton in the face while a light flashes in the VISOR. It's an intense but humorous moment as well since Riker isn't trying too hard to win a fight and is knocked silly himself. On the ship, a man called Pomet is searching for Picard and as he rounds a corner he doesn't see Picard in the shadows holding the crossbow until it's too late. Extra cool! Picard goes to take the dart that he fired back but he's captured again by Kiros. Kelsey and Neil continue to move forward but slowly. Picard stayed a step ahead of them knowing that they wouldn't have much choice but to go to Ten Forward so he sabotaged the rungs of ladders in the tubes of the shortest route. Neil is as skittish as Picard's guard was and winces at Kelsey's rough handling of the container and she has very little patience for him. Eventually they get close to their goal though. Kelsey asks Neil how to unload the container and after he explains it to her she shoots him and goes on alone. Back on the planet Beverly activates Geordi's VISOR which emits a high pitch sound that knocks everyone unconscious. Data moves to disarm their captors and take control of the computer.
The green baryon sweep has almost engulfed the saucer section now. Kiros meets up with Kelsey on deck 10 and they continue on. Picard tries to convince them to go back for Pomet, but Kelsey has no interest in risking getting caught in the sweep. She also explains Neil's absence to Kiros by saying the sweep got him. She clearly doesn't care about anyone on her team but herself. On the planet the crew has the room under control again and Data notices a ship on the sensors. They suspect it is a getaway vessel of some sort and they discuss how to stop it. Above, Kelsey and company enter Ten Forward and at their feet you see the traps that Picard has laid in the path. He steps over the lines but the women step on them setting off the explosions he was testing earlier. Kiros is knocked out and Kelsey is knocked back. She and Picard begin to fight over the trilithium. The scene is gripping as the the potential bomb is dropped and pushed around. They both make a grab for the container but Kelsey is faster and holds Picard back with the laser welder. He then tells her who he is hoping that it would hold sway with the terrorists; that he could be used as a hostage for leverage. Kelsey explains that she's not a terrorist, but that she's selling the cargo to the highest bidder. So after sneering at the idea of doing things for profit, she's beamed over to her ship as the sweep enters Ten Forward.
Picard then concentrates on getting the baryon sweep shut off and hails the base repeatedly not getting any response at first. He's finally pushed himself into the rafter closest to the front of the room when the beam stops. Riker then contacts him to tell him that there's a strange ship nearby. He asks if he knows anything about it. Picard only says that it won't get very far. The ship turns to leave and explodes and we see that Picard pulled the stabilizing unit off of the trilithium container at some point during the struggle. Back on board Crusher is treating some minor scrapes from his fight with Kelsey while Troi and Riker report to a worried Picard that several decks have been searched and nothing has been found so far. They don't let the audience in on what they're talking about until Worf comes in with Picard's saddle which was found in a closet on deck 7. He is understandably confused since he missed all of what happened and they explain to him that every serious rider has his own saddle, laughing at their inside joke from the reception. Although he obviously doesn't see what's so funny, he just agrees, asking no further questions. It's kind of a corny ending, reminiscent of the early seasons, but the lighthearted ending was necessary and it wouldn't have worked if they'd decided to be more clear about Hutch's death so, once again, it's good that they left his fate vague.
This episode is just wall to wall action. Even the comic relief is fast paced and precise. It showcases Picard at his coolest. I don't have a bad thing to say about it. Even though it's a one-off episode, I still give it five stars because it was one of the best written and directed episodes and one of my personal favorites.
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