One of the best episodes of the series; one of my personal favorites. It took some flack for being too aggressive as far as military operations go, but I think it was wonderfully done and these kinds of episodes helped to support DS9 which made it such a good series.
It begins with Troi and Riker doing crew evaluations again in Ten Forward. They'd fit in lines about doing crew evaluations in several episodes up til now and usually something happens which displaces the event. In a way, it's no different this time but at least they're actually doing the job. They've obviously been at it a while and they're tired, so they jokingly decide to promote everyone including themselves. Across the room a group of ensigns sit at a table together watching them. One, Lavelle, is ambitious and doesn't see the humor in being evaluated on job performance. He also wants a promotion and is trying to will it to happen while his fellows laugh about it. His Vulcan roommate Taurik doesn't understand the humor of his desire to have a private room with a promotion and the girls, Sito Jaxa and Nurse Ogawa just want to have a relaxing evening. There was an excellent balance of characters in this episode. Ogawa is familiar already as is Sito from The First Duty, though one may wonder how she came to be there at first. The Vulcan has the typical arrogant attitude of that race, but he's also just a low ranking officer who's just starting out like all the others and every bit their equal while the Lavelle character is the type of person that we all know in our lives. It's because of this that the audience can feel immediately comfortable with so many new faces at once. There's also a civilian waiter roaming around serving both tables. He's likable too. The only problem I ever had with him was they way they dressed the wait staff of Ten Forward. Holy cow, what awful clothes! They wanted an observational perspective from someone who is unconcerned with things such as rank. I assume Whoopie Goldberg was busy, or that would've fallen to Guinan. But the waiter, Ben, is a good character too. He overhears Riker and Troi discussing who to promote to the Ops position - either Lavelle or Sito. So when the ensigns press him for information, he tells those two that their up for the same job. On the bridge the next day Riker is presiding over drills with Sito at tactical and Lavelle at the helm. She doesn't do as well as she could and Riker divulges a few tricks to help her. He gives a heading to Lavelle and stymies his overenthusiastic "aye, aye" (one aye is sufficient) but Picard comes in quickly and changes the heading to coordinates that are very close to the Cardassian border. He also calls for the senior officers to meet and discuss the new orders. But this time the camera doesn't stay with the main cast. It stays with Sito, who Riker orders to take over at ops, and Lavelle. Like anyone who's not in the know, they gossip curiously about what could possibly going on near the Cardassian border. And even though they're competing for the same post, there's no animosity between them. They encourage each other as Lavelle voices suspicions that he won't get the job because Riker doesn't like him personally.
This script is heavy on dialogue and crew interaction and that's always a challenge since there usually needs to be a focal point of action to keep the story moving. Mostly when they spend time on personal stories, it ends up being too much time and it either short changes the action, or it's too random and irrelevant to the franchise in general... In Theory, Qpid, Lessons, and Sub Rosa are good examples. But other times it's done right like Family, Data's Day, and this one. A lot of time is devoted to simply painting a broad picture of how the senior officers and junior officers view each other and react to each other with each group learning and growing from their interaction with each other. The story moves on to show a junior officer paired with a senior officer. Taurik is Geordi's responsibility. Taurik is an assertive ensign who is eager to try out experimental techniques to improve warp field integrity. As a Vulcan he has no ego,but he comes off as a little too ambitious to Geordi who has to gently curb his enthusiasm to maintain a sense of order and doing things properly. We've already seen a lot of nurse Alyssa Ogawa at this point so when she and Beverly are talking, her promotion is pretty much a given and they lapse into discussing Ogawa's boyfriend issues. This is the weak point of the episode for me, but not because of the content. They wanted to build another ground-up family like they did with the O'Brien's (except we never see Alyssa's man) and it begins with this conversation where she's wondering if he's serious about their relationship while Beverly is providing motherly counseling. The reason it makes me uncomfortable is because I've always disapproved of that much familiarity between supervisor and employee. From my experience it's not usually a good thing in real life, and I have to remind myself every time I see this episode that this isn't real life. Worf is Sito's mentor and she sits at the bar with him in Ten Forward reciting all of the different things she had to do at the Ops post that day. It's an insightful and creative list of job responsibilities that the audience doesn't usually think about, by the way. She doesn't understand why she's even being considered for the post and Worf tells her that he recommended her which is a great confidence booster for her that was necessary since the audience can see that she's not as confident as the other three. At a table nearby Lavelle is a little jealous of the way her conversation with her superior seems to come so easily. He marvels that Ben the bartender is on a first name basis with Riker and Taurik, after brooding over Geordi's lack of enthusiasm for his work, suggests that Lavelle try to have a friendly conversation with the commander about things they may have in common. The situation becomes completely awkward, of course, as he brings his full drink with him and orders what Riker is drinking and then tries to talk about Canadian family members without realizing that Riker is actually Alaskan. Will is cool towards him the whole time but when he finally leaves, he laughs to himself at the very obvious ambitious nature of the young ensign.
Then a dark cloud appears over the story as we cut back to the bridge for an intense moment as they've reached the Cardassian border. They search for and find an escape pod within the border and must scramble to find a way to beam out the person inside without crossing into Cardassian territory and before life support in the pod runs out. Taurik, being overly helpful to Geordi, takes it upon himself to identify what kind of humanoid the life form within is. Geordi stops him harshly which surprises him. In sickbay, Crusher orders Ogawa to leave after Picard makes special arrangements with her to receive the escape pod passenger. She runs into Sito just outside and and asks her if she knows what's going on. Sito only knows she was posted outside sickbay to keep everyone except the senior officers from entering. Picard arrives and gives Sito a peculiar look before entering sickbay. On the bridge Riker dismisses Lavelle's shift. He asks to stay on for more practice but Riker declines citing that it's not a good time. Lavelle is disappointed again. We then see Picard exit sick bay beckoning Sito to follow him. He takes her to his ready room and brings up the events that occurred in First Duty. He's uncharacteristically aggressive and unpleasant, calling her character into question and nearly harassing her about the part she played in the cover up and all apparently as a referendum on her recommendation to the Ops position. She tries to defend her character by pointing out that she persevered in spite of having become a pariah at the academy. But she's passive and her counter arguments aren't satisfactory to Picard so he dismisses her abruptly. It makes no sense to her or the audience. And the odd behavior of the senior staff continues as Geordi is ordering Taurik to fire on an Enterprise shuttle craft. He tells him that it's for mandatory stress testing, but Taurik knows better and mentions that the stress tests can be done without damaging the shuttle anyway. He also figures out that the fire pattern Geordi is ordering is intentionally making the shuttle look as though it's been damaged from escaping an attack. Geordi won't confirm it though and continues with the exercise. Meanwhile in sickbay Crusher recalls Ogawa and tells her that they have to prepare for emergency surgery and that she's not allowed to speak of what's going on to anyone. She looks over to see that their patient is a Cardassian.
We then spend time getting everyone's reaction to the situation in parallel poker games; one of the juniors and one of the seniors. In the lower decks, Sito is completely shaken over her interview with Picard. The others build her back up by defending her position, Lavelle most vehemently showing that even though he's obsessed with his career he's also a loyal friend. He's aware that he's only sour about Riker's attitude because he wants an excuse to fall on if he doesn't get the promotion. In the upper decks Beverly and Troi gossip about Alyssa's relationship problems while Riker expresses disgusted with the way Lavelle keeps trying to ingratiate himself with him to advance his career. He's immediately beaten back by Troi who reminds him that he was the same way in his youth and notes that he took up poker because it was the senior officers' game at the time. We see Riker winning his bluff while Lavelle gets called out by Ben and they decide to end the game after Geordi comes to ask Taruik if he'd like to work on the nacelle testing that he was eager to do at the beginning of the show. It demonstrates that Geordi was taking a lesson from their talk about ambitious ensigns as well. The guy that plays Taurik is a pretty good actor and nails being a Vulcan that appears happy without showing emotion. Ben retires to the senior officer's poker game to play with them. The next day, Worf is seen dismissing one of his martial arts classes. Sito is attending and he holds her back on the pretense of taking a test to see if she's ready for a more advanced class. He calls it the gik'tal. He blind folds her and tells her to defend herself. He repeatedly takes her down and is rougher with her each time until she finally stops the test and declares it to be unfair which seems to be the response Worf was after. She also knows that gik'tal means "to the death" and asks if such a test really exists. He tells her that there isn't, but that perhaps she won't have to suffer so much punishment before she protests being judged unfairly. It's obvious that he's talking about her conversation with Picard and in a bad cut the scene immediately switches to her talking to Picard again asserting her right to be judged fairly for who she is now not for the things that happened at the academy. I say "bad cut" because I think Picard should've initiated the conversation again and the scene splicing makes it look like she just barged in wanting an audience with the captain. The fact is, he probably did initiate the conversation again, but due to time constraints they had to compress these two scenes. Picard relents to her more confident attitude and tells her that he was assessing her ability to deal with a mission that would be more unnerving that being chewed out by her commanding officer. He also assures her that he asked for her personally on the Enterprise so that she'd have a chance to redeem herself of the incident at the academy.
They digress for a moment to wrap up Ogawa's filler story as Beverly calls her into her office to give her more relationship advice, but she's cut short when Alyssa tells her that her boyfriend proposed to her and that it's all going to be okay. Then they get back to business as Sito has been invited to a senior staff meeting. She meets the Cardassian they've rescued and, indeed, she's very unnerved by his presence. We all learn now that he's a Federation spy who had risked his life to bring them intelligence on Cardassian strategic intentions. Their plan to get him safely back to Cardassia is to send him in one of their shuttle crafts which appears to have been stolen and damaged while fleeing an attack. The process would go smoother if he had a Bajoran prisoner with him which is why they've considered sending her along. If the plan works, he would send her back across the border in another escape pod where they'll be waiting for her. Picard makes sure she knows that he's not ordering her to go through with this. This is the part that detractors of the episode don't like - that Picard would even be involved in military espionage. But, Sito volunteers and assures them that as a Bajoran she knows better than anyone how Cardassians treat their prisoners. Even the Cardassian, Joret, isn't entirely comfortable with her going along because she's so young. They send her to sick bay to be made up as though she'd been abused by her captor. She says goodby to Worf, optimistically telling him that she'll see him soon. On the bridge they watch the shuttle leave. She and Joret have time for a brief conversation about how she should act if there are questions and the touching fact that a Cardassian and a Bajoran are working together for peace, which drives to the heart of DS9 at this time. If it hadn't been for the DS9 connection, this may have been a pointless episode, but because of the connection it's a very powerful and moving story. As they approach the border he cuffs her to complete the charade and you can see how scared she really is. In Ten Forward, her friends speculate about where she is and if she's in the shuttle craft. Lavelle can see that Alyssa knows something but she refuses to tell them which is a testament to her character as well. Later, the captain's log indicates that they've been waiting at the rendezvous point for Sito's escape pod for 30 hours with no sign of it anywhere and they continue to scan.
Eventually they intercept a Cardassian communication that tells of a Bajoran prisoner that was killed while trying to make off in her escape pod. Picard makes a ship-wide announcement, using that attention whistle that had been mostly phased out of the show at this point. He announces that Ensign Sito was killed in the line of duty and praises her record while each of her close friends react. Even Taurik is moved. Later in Ten Forward we see that Lavelle has received another pip on his collar. He feels guilty about getting the Ops position wondering if he only got it because Ensign Sito died. Ogawa and Taurik try to comfort him and reassure him that she would be happy for him. Worf is also sitting at a table mourning alone. Ben comes over to requisition his table and indicates that there's room at the table with the Junior officers. Worf understands the gesture but feels that it's not appropriate since they were her friends. Ben lets him know that she thought of him as a friend too. So Worf goes over to share stories with the other and begin to heal.
It's a great episode that's serious and instead of being black and white moves within the shades of gray where war and peace is concerned. This is Star Trek at it's fully matured state. The actor that played Taurik would go on to reoccur on Voyager as Vorik and some of the literaturized material makes these two characters twins. I feel bad for the character of Ben because, out of all of them, he seems like the most obvious throw away character that was unique to this episode... even though it was like that for all of them except Ogawa. But I have no complaints otherwise. This is a brilliant five star episode. Definitely one of my top ten favorites.
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, J.K. Rowling. Also a part of
my Christmas haul were the original three companion pieces to the Harry
Potter series. They are all short stories, perhaps novelettes, which
supplement the world building of the HP universe so they don't take long
to read. They're all meant for comedy and you don't have to have read
the HP series to enjoy them. In fact, the first two were written before
the series was halfway finished and the last to augment the seventh
book. The first of the set is Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find
Them. It's designed to read as a non fiction textbook describing various
magical creatures, most of which don't even appear in the series. There
may even be a few missing creatures since it was published in the
middle of the series. The introduction is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek
bio of the "author" Newt Scamander and how he became interested in the
field of studying magical creatures. A few sentences in this
introduction regarding an unnamed disastrous adventure when he brought a
crate of creatures to America is the basis for the screenplay of the
movie which I've not seen yet. But the intro also runs down the history
of the magical world trying to separate beast from being in a humorous
manner. Then it goes onto an alphabetical listing of the fantastic
beasts of the magical world with a brief description, a Ministry rating
as to how dangerous or revered they are considered, and the value of
them or their eggs in the practice of potions and industry. Very
informative! 😂 Also very creative as some of them are original
inventions from Rowling's own imagination as well as adopted legends
such as the Yeti or the Loch Ness monster molded into a part of the
wizarding world via this concept. Occasionally there's an illustration
which I assume is one of her own doodles that she came up with when
writing this and all of the books. It's all very impressive and unique. Like
I said, it's very short and it's just a lot of light-hearted fun which
makes a nice break after reading heavier material. I knew I wouldn't be
disappointed with these.
Okay, this one was just weird. I'm kind of torn because although Gothic, supernatural romances aren't my kind of thing at all, I'm a huge Beverly fan-girl and I think her character handles the situation remarkably. But it's undoubtedly an apple that falls quite a ways away from the Star Trek tree and isn't popular except with women who enjoy Gothic or supernatural romance novel types of stories. I can only guess that perhaps they made this one to air around Halloween.
It figures that they'd bury their more tolerant script accents in an episode that a lot of people probably wouldn't want to watch anyway. The funeral of Beverly's grandmother is a Christian funeral which I'm sure offends a majority of fans, but to me it indicates that for all the brow beating religion has always gotten on this show, the most hated religion by the writers still exists in the 24th century and it's not the focal point of conflict. It's just there displaying diversity within the Star Trek universe. Imagine that. Anyway, Beverly is delivering the eulogy and calling attention to the fact that Felisa Howard was a renowned healer. That was mentioned in the first season so it's always satisfying to see them keeping with the continuity. After the casket is lowered, the surrounding crowd begins to throw in handfuls of dirt except for one classical looking man who throws in a flower. He and Beverly lock eyes before he leaves with the rest. We then set the backdrop as Picard walks off talking with the governor of the Caldos colony, Maturin. Maturin mentions that the Caldos colony is one of the first Federation terraforming projects and is trying to convince Picard to stay longer than planned to look over their weather control systems since they're so old. Picard doesn't need much convincing. He finds the place charming replica of the Scottich highlands. Maturin confirms that this was the idea when it was founded and confesses that the setting is what attracted him to live there. It's another nice moment that probably put some fans off without realizing why, but as you can see Maturin is an alien complimenting the beauty of Earth. One of the underlying themes of Star Trek has been to portray the Earth and humans as being ignorant, barbaric savages who are part of the problem in the universe as a parallel to the way America is portrayed as the biggest problem in our world by the left wing media, entertainment, and political engine. Granted, Scotland isn't America, but just showing a moment's appreciation for anything of Earth displays another uncharacteristic highlight of true tolerance in this script. At least to me it does. Beverly goes back to her grandmother's house with Troi. They look at a picture of Felisa and a few of her belongings. Troi takes an interest in an old lamp. Beverly tells her that it's a very old family heirloom that her grandmother kept lit all the time under the symbolism of the enduring Howard spirit burning within it. Troi suggests that Beverly keep it and she decides that she will. Troi then leaves so that Beverly can be alone. She finds her grandmother's diary and takes it upstairs to read. Later she hears a noise downstairs and goes down to find the cemetary caretaker named Ned Quint snuffing out the candle and trying to take her lamp. She stops him of course and with a thick Scottish accent he gives her dire warnings about the lamp bringing bad luck to her grandmother and her family all of her days. He begs to take the lamp again but Beverly orders him out so he washes his hands of any responsibility.
On the Enterprise Maturin is discussing the weather with LaForge and Data. There have been unusual tremors and Data is detecting unseasonable storms rolling in. They offer to check out a number of their systems to keep them dry. Beverly meanwhile finds Picard and tells him of the shocking news that she found in her grandmother's diary - that she had a lover named Ronin that was in his mid thirties and she's sure that she saw him at the funeral, thinking of the man with the flower. Picard lets her know that they'll be hanging out around Caldros for a little while longer looking into their climate control so she'll have plenty of time to put her grandmother's affairs in order. That night she falls asleep reading her grandmother's journal. The old lamp next to her bed lights itself and she is awakened by a voice that calls her name and seems to physically touch her in a sensually pleasing way. She tells Troi all about it the next day confessing that when she fell asleep she'd been reading a particularly erotic passage that her grandmother had made. Troi is intrigued even though it doesn't make sense. A ghost seems unlikely, so she doesn't think it's a dangerous, but a rather amusing distraction and jokingly encourages Beverly to read two chapters to extend the effect. But first Beverly goes to the graveyard to try to make up with the caretaker since she can see that he loved her grandmother and was simply trying to be protective. She offers him the post of keeping up her grandmother's house after she leaves but he turns it down. He tells her that it's haunted, that a ghost lives in her lamp, and it's the ghost that's bringing the storms. He continues to warn her not to light it. She tries to tell him it's the weather controls causing the storms. But he gets frustrated again and leaves her to believe what she wants. A big storm does come in in spite of their attempts on Enterprise to stabilize it. Beverly rushes to her grandmother's house to get in out of it. The house is filled with flowers like the one that the strange man dropped into Felisa's grave. She calls out to see if anyone is in there. When she looks in a small mirror she sees a face appear behind her but nobody is there. She then starts to threaten to send security guards down. At that point, the voice speaks intimately to her and a presence seems to rush through her body. The voice introduces himself as Ronin and continues with his history of having been born in the 15th century in Scotland on Earth. She doesn't believe he's an 800 year old ghost but he causes waves of pleasure to rush through her body as he explains that he's lived with and loved the Howard women all down her line through the years, moving where they've moved, and that he loves her like he loved Felisa before her. She continues to resist, while her body is thrashing about the place in ecstasy. He tells her that they are becoming one as he continues to invisibly overwhelm her.
Troi can sense a change in Beverly the next day. Beverly tries to pass it off as having met someone, but Troi presses her until she confesses that she's met Ronin and that she's never met anyone so passionate about her. Troi is a little taken aback by the odd nature of the relationship but is supportive. She tries to warn her that romances that begin after a mutual loss are often not the real thing. But Crusher brushes her off by saying that she's not in love, just intrigued. Things then take a briefly comic turn as fog begins to roll in on the bridge. Nobody can understand why it's happening so Picard orders that the power transfer that they'd been engaging in be terminated. Data can't do it from the bridge so they go to the weather station where they find Quint under a console trying to dismantle a power conduit. He tries to warn them that "he's" trying to kill us all which has no meaning to them. Just then a green power surge hits him and throws him to the floor dead. Data and Geordi conclude that his tampering with the power conduit caused his death. But when Crusher examines him she discovers a residue at the cellular level that has the same anaphasic signature as the problems they were detecting from the weather station leading them to conclude that whatever is causing the weather issues is the same thing that killed Quint. LaForge and Data suggest scanning the colony for more of the anaphasic signature. Crusher asks for Quint's body to be taken to the ship for tests but will not be running the tests herself to Maturin's surprise. Of course, Beverly's not stupid. She knows that Ronin has something to do with it and goes to Felisa's house to find him. He won't appear at first and she's very upset about Quint. Then he finally appears and after seductively caressing her face, he has her back under his control. He tells her that she must light the lamp and keep it lit or else he will grow weak. She remembers Quint telling her that he lived in the lamp, but she's no longer bothered with Quint's death. He tells her to go back to the ship and light the lamp. He will travel along the power beam coming from the Enterprise and they will then be together forever. She hurries to her quarters and lights the candle in the lamp and waits in an agitated state, like someone in desperate need of a drug fix. He finally appears and tells her that he's going to become a part of her as he had with her grandmother and all of the Howard women before that. She's eager for this to happen and he turns in to a green mist and melts into her once again. Shortly after, she changes into regular clothes and prepares to leave. Picard catches up to her just in time to ask her why. She claims that she wants to go to Caldros to be a healer like her grandmother and that she's resigning her commission on the ship. She's firm on her decision and brusque with Picard as she gives him no time to even say goodbye before she transports down. Troi tells Picard about Ronin and he wonders if he has a strong enough influence over her to make her leave like this. Since Troi could only ever sense her passionate feelings, she says that he could be influencing her or they could really be in love.
Geordi tells Picard that they've found the anaphasic signature coming from the cemetery. He orders them to go check it out while he goes to meet Ronin. Geordi and Data track down the signature to Felisa Howard's grave and determine that it's coming from under the ground. At the house, Ronin continues to merge himself with Beverly. He turns into the mist and envelopes her in erotic pleasure once more. Picard comes knocking at the door and she doesn't hear him. He walks in to see her sitting alone in a chair, quivering in rapture. He gets her attention and she snaps out of her trance. She's upset by the disturbance and not polite when she asks him why he's there. He says that he just wants to meet the man who swept away her and her grandmother. She accuses him of being jealous, but he calls attention to the fact that nobody's seen this guy except for her. At that point Ronin appears from a doorway to present himself and also ask Picard to leave. Picard asks him personal questions like how long he's lived there when they're interrupted by Data and Geordi reporting that they found what they were looking for in Felisa Howard's grave and request permission to exhume the body. Ronin becomes very angry and insists that they can't do it. Picard tells them to ask Maturin's permission and when Ronin threatens to go to the governor himself, Picard calls his bluff. He doubts that anyone knows of his existence and continues with the personal questions about his life on this planet. Ronin disappears. When Picard tries to take Beverly by the hand to lead her away, he's knocked down by the green energy surge that hit Quint. Beverly immediately rushes to his aide with her medical bag. Ronin appears and tries to get her to come with him to stop the others from exhuming Felisa, but Beverly is too upset at the thought of Picard dying. She pushes him away and he tells her that he's going to stop them himself. At the grave, Geordi and Data have the casket transported through the ground and begin to scan Felisa's corpse. She's full of the anaphasic signature at the cellular level just like Quint but they don't understand how since she wasn't there when he was killed. Suddenly, Felisa appears to come back to life. She sits up and touches each of them, sending green energy surging through them. Beverly catches up in time to tell Ronin to stop it. It's Felisa's corpse that first tells Beverly it's going to be all right.
Then Ronin leaves Felisa's body and apologizes but tries to justify it by saying
that they were trying to stop them from being together forever. And honestly, this final scene is why I can't help but like the episode. It's all because Beverly is so awesome. Even under extreme emotional duress (and physical addiction) she keeps thinking rationally. Just like in Remember Me when her very sanity was in the balance. Aloud, she works out the fact that he's not some kind of supernatural being but an anaphasic life form and that anaphasic life forms need an organic host because they're unstable. She also tells him that she examined the candle and found that it was plasma based so she knows that he's been using it as a receptacle as well as her and all the generations of women in her family. He continues to proclaim that he loved them all as he loves her and tells her to put the lamp down. He has to send another energy pulse at Geordi and threaten to kill him before she puts it down, but she then immediately grabs Geordi's phaser and destroys it. While he's in shock at losing the flame she takes Geordi's com badge and tells Riker to close off all the plasma conduits of the weather system. She then tells Ronin that he has nowhere to go, but he does and he starts towards her. She fires at him and it doesn't work so she turns the phaser up all the way and when he runs at her she fires again and destroys him.
So, everyone survives and it ends with Beverly discussing it all with Troi. She explains that he must have found that one of her ancestors was compatible with his energy matrix and that he likely took human form to seduce her. She's understandably disturbed by the family tradition she was getting ready to become a part of but she's also sad because as she read through her grandmother's diary she couldn't deny that he'd made her very happy.
And that's where I get off the train ride. Everything about it is too weird. Nobody thinks it's unusual that her grandmother had a thirty-something year old lover. And they said "lover" not companion to ensure that everyone understands exactly how intimate they were. And then Beverly falls for him herself. Okay, I understand that his hold on her was more like a drug addiction than any real feelings on her part but it's still just incestuously abnormal. Also, if her feelings weren't real, then neither were her grandmothers and she had to know that even as she sat there lamenting how happy he made her according to her journal. Then there are other holes such as never getting a clear explanation of how he picked a Howard woman down the genealogical line and why most of them kept their name Howard if they had kids and grand kids, etc. I still love Beverly and I still love the way she kept her head and made the hard choices to stay with Picard and to kill Ronin . Because of these things I'll always enjoy the episode personally, but I think I'm going to have to give this three and a half stars anyway for technical merit and the fact that the story isn't a good fit for Star Trek.
Another Worf episode that's kind of different since it doesn't focus on his Klingon heritage. It's kind of a shame that they waited until the last season to begin expanding Worf's character a little, but it's okay because he moved on to DS9 where he got to stretch some more. It's also interesting to see Micheal Dorn unencumbered by that Klingon forehead piece for a large portion of the episode. It's not the greatest episode ever but it's good and I think it's a much better take on observing primitive societies than Who Watches The Watchers.
The episode begins with a distress call from the planet Boraal II where Worf's brother Nikolai is posted as a cultural observer. The atmosphere is dissipating rapidly and the planet will become uninhabitable in eight hours. They don't understand why he waited so long to send the distress call, but this kind of atmospheric phenomenon is fast acting and Data figures that he didn't have much warning. The power grid for the observation post is still functioning but there's nobody there. There is a signal coming from some nearby caves resembling a deflector shield though. Worf is worried and wishes to go down with an away team. But Picard wants to keep the Prime Directive in tact, so he sends Worf alone and surgically altered to appear as a Boraalan. While Crusher is modifying his face, we learn that he and Nikolai have never gotten along well. Worf laments the fact that Nikolai didn't make it in Starfleet because he was never one to follow rules but admits that he's a natural charismatic leader. Worf beams down to the caves and begins to scan when he runs in to a crowd of Boraalan villagers that wonder where he came from. He then discovers his brother among them. He too is altered to look like the Boraalans who have only a different looking nose from normal humans. They're curious about Worf, who Nikolai introduces as his brother. Privately he admits to sheltering the village from the storms and knowing that the Enterprise was near when sending the distress signal. Worf rejects any notion of taking them in on the Enterprise as a matter of non interference, but Nikolai is determined to appeal to Picard personally. He feeds the villagers a lie about needing to return to the surface for supplies but that they shouldn't worry because Worf is a "seer" and has special knowledge of the movement of the storms. Worf reluctantly goes along with that and they return to the ship. Picard isn't happy when Nikolai briefs them on his actions; how he placed a section of land in an atmospheric bubble with the deflector shield to protect the villagers. He understands that the Prime Directive is designed for non interference, but he cites that they're also interfering in their development if they allow them to die. Crusher, as a doctor of course, agrees. And Nikolai presents a plan to save them without revealing their presence to them. He sums up the plot of the show very briefly as he explains that he intends to use the holodeck to simulate a journey they'll go on to a place where the storms don't exist while the Enterprise takes them to a different planet that they can survive on. Picard denies it without much soul searching. It's one of the down sides of the Prime Directive that they have to deal with. So Nikolai asks to link to the observation post to collect his data.
They return to the bridge to sadly watch the demise of the planet's atmosphere and honor the lives that will soon be lost. Nikolai informs him that he has made the link to get his data and excuses himself on the idea that he's offended at finding anything honorable about letting the people die. Data ticks off the minutes until the atmosphere is completely dead when they experience a plasma burst on the bridge and a sudden power drain. They track the power drain to deck ten where Worf finds holodeck 5 locked. He's unable to override it but before he can try anything else Nikolai emerges and tells him to follow him quietly. He's generated a system of caves and transported the Boraalans aboard. The plasma burst was a distraction. Worf is furious and after a brief argument over duty versus feelings, he leaves in disgust to tell the captain. Picard is also furious and informs Nikolai that he's ended his career. They all meet in Stellar Cartography to begin searching for a suitable planet to take the Boraalans since they now have no choice but to proceed with his plan. But Geordi has a problem. The energy surge that they experienced is making the holodeck matrix unstable. It's not a matter of if, but when the program will collapse. He'd have to shut all of the holodecks down and it would take hours to fix it. Nikolai declares that he'll return to them as a Boraalan to start them on their "journey" and Picard tells Geordi to monitor the holodeck carefully with an open com link. He orders Worf to go with Nikolai. He doesn't want to, but Picard doesn't want the people introduced to anyone new. Nikolai and Worf return to tell the villagers that their town was completely destroyed. Nikolai sets up Worf as their guide through the caves. They're very skeptical, especially when Worf tells them that the land will be different as well as the stars. But since he's been propped up as a "seer" Nikolai encourages them to trust him.
Almost immediately one of the subterranean pools flashes with an image of the holodeck grid lines and the people panic. They fear it's an omen but Worf covers by telling them it's a good sign and since he knows Geordi is listening he tells them that it's the sign of the LaForge and describes what he's seeing in the pool of water so that Geordi can work on it. You then see Geordi feverishly tinkering around to fix the problem. Shortly thereafter the lines in the pool disappear. This is one of my approved uses of the holodeck by the way. The scenario is creative and the problems are real. There was so much versatility with that thing. It's the best idea since transporters, and that's no joke. After the crowd of people move out, Nikolai moves to praise Worf and express delight that they make such a good team. Worf continues to be cold and accusing, but Nikolai feels no guilt or shame for what he's done though. Back in Stellar Cartography they've located two possibilities for a new planet. Data and Beverly share a conversation on the responsibility of a relocation like this to a strange environment and what kind of impact it'll have on their development. The closest is very close to the Cardassian border and subject to territory disputes. The best choice is more isolated and also 42 hours away, but that's the one they're forced to go with. Back in the cave while the group is at rest, Worf visits with the Boraalan that he first met and who was most skeptical of him. His name is Vorin. Worf asks him what he's writing on strips of wood. Vorin tells him it's the Chronicle of the village and wonders that Worf's village doesn't keep one. He touts the written and illustrated chronicle as being a better representation of the villages history than stories and songs. He's sad that some of it was lost in the storms and shows him his recent additions relating how Worf and his brother were leading them to safety. Worf is uncomfortable and insists on moving on. But Vorin has lost a scroll and wants to back track to look for it. Worf allows it and then is immediately distracted by an older man that needs help to move his things and wants to offer him his daughter in marriage. Vorin goes hunting for the scroll and finds it. He also sees the edge of the holodeck door sticking out of the rock face with lights blinking.
When he touches the rock it disappears revealing an Enterprise corridor. He steps out and wanders down it. People ignore him at first but when it's obvious that he's freaked out they start to ask him if he's okay. He manages to get cornered in Ten Forward where Riker and Troi notice him and order that everyone back off. They tell them that they know Worf and Nikolai and that he's safe. They get him to sickbay where they discover that they can't wipe his memory because his neurology is too different. Picard gently tells him the truth about what happened to their planet, where they really are now, and what is being done to transfer them to a habitable planet. He's devastated. In the holodeck, the party has left the cave system and emerged into a landscape similar to the planet they're headed towards. Worf takes Nikolai aside to tell him that Vorin has left the holodeck. Nikolai can't believe that Picard has told him everything and has given him the option to come back with that information. Worf rightfully tells him that he should've thought of this sort of thing happening before he forced the issue. They argue more about Nikolai's dangerously spontaneous nature compared to Worf's reserved and obedient nature. But this time when they part, Worf is approached by the woman that's been close to Nikolai since he met them, Dobara. Trek fans will recognize her as she later went on to play the reoccurring character of Cassidy Yates on DS9. She's now on The Orville, a Trek satire show. I first knew her as Beverly on The Larry Sanders Show. Dobara implores Worf not to be angry with Nikolai. She tells him she wants them to be a family as she unwittingly drops the bombshell that she's carrying Nikolai's child. It just adds more to Worf's amazement at Nikolai's spiraling rash behavior. He also understands his personal stake in saving the village,
They get to the planet and Geordi is still trying to work out some problems with the transporters as well as keeping the holodeck limping along. Meanwhile, Picard goes to see Vorin in his quarters to ask if he's made his decision about where to go. At first Vorin wants to go back to his people but he's not sure how to deal with this new information. He doesn't like the idea of being thought of as a mad man if he tells the truth but he doesn't think he could keep it a secret either. Picard suggests that he remain on the Enterprise to start a new life. Vorin is disillusioned because everything that made him and his people who they were is gone. He asks for more time to think. In the holodeck, Worf confronts Nikolai about Dobara. He's angry at Nikolai's choice to insert himself into this culture and mate with one of them. He accuses him of treating Dobara dishonorably but they never really get into what their customs are so it may be that a formal marriage arrangement isn't necessary. Nikolai stands firm in his decision to stay with these people and raise his child together with Dobara. He claims that Worf will have to kill him to get him to leave. Worf is fed up with his impulsive selfishness and they square off to fight. Just then the holodeck flickers. The villagers think the storms have returned and panic, thinking they'll all die. Nikolai calms them by telling them that Worf has power over the storms. Worf confirms it and tells everyone to get to their tents. Standing aside, Worf also asks Geordi to produce some storm effects to add to the illusion. They know that their tents won't protect them from storms, but Worf and Nikolai assure them that it's for the best. Once they're inside the Enterprise transports them all to the surface. When the sounds of the storm stop they emerge relieved to the peaceful surroundings. Nikolai credits Worf for saving them all.
We return to sick bay to see the sad fate of Vorin. He appears to have committed a ritual suicide being unable to deal with the pressure of his situation. Picard is unhappy and Beverly points out that he'd be dead anyway if they hadn't interfered. But Picard states that he wouldn't have died alone and afraid. He laments that he couldn't bridge the gap between their cultures. On the planet surface Worf catches up to Nikolai again, presumably after several hours of getting the group settled in. Dobara is worried as she saw that they were about to fight before, but leaves when Nikolai bids her to. Nikolai reiterates he will fight to the death to stay with these people but Worf has calmed down. He doesn't want to fight. Nikolai is contrite as well. He admits he should've been more like Worf growing up but Worf admits that if he had been these people would be dead now. Nikolai is proud to finally be taking responsibility with raising a child and starting a new chronicle. Worf remembers that he's never been good at drawing but Nikolai, displaying his spontaneous nature again, tells him that he'll learn fast. Worf asks to take one of the old chronicles with him which his brother grants. He then tells Nikolai that he'll have to explain all of this to their parents. Nikolai thinks they won't understand but Worf thinks they will since he's finally happy. They part in peace.
I can't deny there are a lot of holes in this one. The biggest one being that the events didn't have to be this intense - if they'd knocked them all out after they'd gone to sleep one "evening" they'd have had time to fix the holodeck so it wouldn't have been such a race. And I'm grateful it wasn't railing against religion like Who Watches the Watcher was, but there was no indications of what their beliefs were which kind of oversimplified things. Nikolai setting up Worf as a seer is one thing but claiming that Worf has power over the storms is a bit more of a stretch. What would that do to whatever their belief system was? That could be considered a worse kind of interference than moving them unknowingly to another planet. Vorin's death isn't surprising, but it's also devoid of deeper meaning for the audience since Vorin only appears to be mourning a planet when his people have no real concept of planets yet. But I can't complain. I'd rather it be a little vague in this area than see more atheist rants against faith. So, in spite of the holes, it was a good episode. A family episode. The dynamic between Worf's and Nikolai's personalities was well written and of course the cast worked like a well oiled machine that's why it was hard to have a bad episode to me towards the end unless it had a crazy liberal slant to it. Four stars.
