Star Trek TNG Attached

This is a good episode. They saved all of these teased romances for the last season. It's probably better that way, I guess. But the main reason I like this episode is that it's the best "fixing" of the concept of the B story from that horrible episode, The Lonely Among Us from the first season, which involved a planet applying to join the Federation that was inhabited by two species that despised each other. It was revisited to a certain extent in the episode, The Hunted, from the third season, but the circumstances weren't similar enough to call it correcting the flaws of the first attempt. This one does and still has humorous moments without being as adolescent as Lonely.

It begins with the now familiar setting of Picard and Crusher having breakfast together. She's gossiping about Nurse Ogawa's relationship issues making her late for work and she notices Picard is distracted. They're going to see a planet that's petitioning to join the Federation, Kesprytt III, and he's worried about accepting a world that isn't completely unified. This brings on some world building facts about when the Earth unified under one government as well as Picard's concerns that the separate nations of Kesprytt may not have worked out all of their political differences sufficiently to join. You may expect me to speak cringingly of the conversation as it turns to a point where they speak of the unified government of Earth since I'm not a believer in one world government but as in the episode, The Chase, I stand with the writing on this since Star Trek is a fictional universe. The only way for the Federation, as it's set up, to work is with planets that are globally unified (and pretty much homogenous.) Since there are no Klingons, Vulcans, etc in real life, I'm not fussed about them painting Earth as being under one world government by 2150. The conflict in this episode is a good example of why the Federation wouldn't work if worlds had two or more sovereign countries on them, so it works. Riker calls them to the bridge, ready to transport them down and Beverly promises Picard a mysterious Vulcan dish for breakfast the following morning. Worf beams them down and waits for confirmation from the Kes ambassador, but he says that they never made it. Picard and Crusher wake up in a dark cell with their com badges removed and remembering only that they'd been transported off the Enterprise. They assume they're in the place where they were supposed to meet Ambassador Mauric, but they can't imagine why he'd lock them up like this. They discover that they both have devices attached to the backs of their necks that are linked to their brain stems which is equally as baffling. Then three guards in full body suits with a woman in the lead come to inform them that they are prisoners of the Prytt for attempting to form a military allegiance with the Kes against them. Picard and Crusher try to correct that assumption, but they don't listen and promise that once the devices on their necks have calibrated they'll get the truth out of them and leave.

Data discovers that a tractor beam interfered with the transport and sent up false coordinates which caused the captain and the doctor to be beamed to somewhere in the territory of the Prytt Alliance. They are so xenophobic that they have no means of outside communication, so they will have to work through the Kes to attempt to communicate. In the cell Beverly and Picard are surveying their surroundings. They're both unusually jumpy. Picard thinks that she's staring at him when she's just trying to think of a way out as well. The door opens and a Prytt guard leaves a food tray while holding them back by phaser. There isn't any food in the tray, however, but a medical tricorder with a map leading to the Kes territory programmed into it and the key code to unlock the door. They hesitate wondering if it's a trap, but quickly agree that they don't have any other options so they set off. On the Enterprise, they've brought Ambassador Mauric aboard and ask him how to contact the Prytt. He's very unhelpful with his mind made up that they can't be reasoned with and has decided on his own to send a rescue party from Kes. Riker, contrary to his usual behavior, explains that they must try to find a diplomatic solution before they resort to force. It goes in one ear and out the other for Mauric who next requests a space on the ship to set up a base of operations, since he feels their communications must have been breached for this to have happened in the first place. He assigns Worf to help him. Worf is exasperated with Mauric's paranoid behavior as he shows him to standard guest quarters. He insists that Worf go in first, examines the room thoroughly, and turns down Worf's offer of assistance as head of Security. Picard and Beverly are shown underground having to navigate around natural flame spurts. There's another odd moment when Picard asks Beverly what she said when she said nothing at all. Data finds a way to hack into the Prytt communications network and they try to contact the Prime Minister. They are met with a member of the Security Ministry who demands to know why they are on this channel and if they have permission to be there. Riker has no time to explain anything before the man closes the channel. They are then contacted by the head of the Security Ministry, Lorin, who was the woman that visited Picard and Crusher in the cell. She tells them abruptly to stay off the communications channels or they'll take action against the ship. Worf tells Riker they aren't a real threat. Mauric enters to tell Riker exactly where Picard and Crusher are being held. He doesn't want to say more but at Riker's irritation and insistence agrees to tell him more. Only in his own quarters though since he considers nowhere else on the ship to be private enough.

Lost on their journey, Beverly answers Picard aloud when he thinks about being thirsty. They suspect the devices on their necks may be transmitting their thoughts somehow, but they decide it's a fluke when Beverly tries to think something to Picard deliberately and he can't hear it. They then find the opening that they are looking for high above them. Picard begins to scale and realizes that he senses her fear of heights and they know their minds are connected now. She follows reluctantly and they continue on. After Riker is scanned in the Ambasador's quarters and seeing all the equipment set up there, Mauric tells him that they have Kes operatives in Prytt country and that they've already been in contact with Picard and Crusher. You can tell he thinks he's being impressive. He tells him of the plan to lead them safely to a village which is almost completely under control of these spies and that they will take them safely out. Riker can't help but notice that this isn't the best plan he's ever heard, but Mauric talks down at him having more experience with the Prytt. Finally, Picard and Crusher escape the network of caves and emerge into daylight but are again unsure of which direction to go. Picard notices that one of them is hungry. They humbly acknowledge that they can't understand how telepaths can sift through all the random thoughts in each other's minds after becoming annoyed with each others random thoughts. It's obvious that their link is stronger so they decide that perhaps the connection would weaken if they were separated. They try, but every time they attempt to split up, they're overwhelmed with nausea and disorientation. They now realize they're stuck together and Picard picks a direction with confidence that Beverly recognizes as bravado and wonders if he always fakes his self assurance. Picard equally wonders if Beverly always has a sarcastic comment waiting on her lips. They have a more detailed discussion of Beverly's childhood and acknowledge how fascinatingly intimate this connection is.

They see what they assume is a Prytt guard on a ridge and hide from him. This makes them reevaluate the escape route and they choose not to go to the village on the map but to the border instead to avoid detection. Back on the Enterprise, Riker is getting fed up with Mauric's obsessive paranoia. He tells Riker that they didn't meet with the Kes operative at the rendezvous point and assumes that they're forming a secret military alliance with the Prytt against the Kes. He accuses their kidnapping of being arranged to this end but he also threatens to withdraw their help in finding Picard and Crusher as leverage. He's surprised when Riker boots him out and tells him to take all his junk with him. It's a good Riker moment. Evening falls on Kesprytt and Picard and Beverly find a place to camp. Through their connection she learns that he's not interested in all the exotic breakfasts she concocts, but just wants something simple. She agrees but wonders why he never told just told her. They enjoy the fire together but when she starts remembering Jack she notices that Picard is uncomfortable. He has to confess that he had romantic feelings to her while she was married to Jack and has always felt guilty about it. He explains that this is the reason why he didn't want her on the Enterprise in the beginning. That keeps with the continuity and is a subtle tie in of the first season to the seventh which brings a layer of closure in what is the final season. He acknowledges that he stopped having those feelings after a while and they've become good friends, but it's out in the open now as they lay down to sleep.

 Riker brings Mauric to the bridge and makes a show of contacting Lorin again. She ushers him off the channel once more, but that was what they needed to get a lock on her and beam her to the observation lounge. Riker takes Mauric in there and they're both outraged, of course. But he's determined to force them to talk it out until he can find out where his officers are. Meanwhile, Picard and Crusher are completely exposed now and have to go on the run in earnest. They are fired upon and are sent sliding down a steep bank on their way to the forcefield at the border of Prytt and Kes. The Kesprytt leaders can only accuse each other of using the Federation for treachery against each other, so Riker puts a stop to all of it by assuring Lorin that the Kes will not be accepted into the Federation. When Mauric objects he reminds him that he will give an unflattering report of the Kes that speaks of their paranoia and the fact that their political problems aren't as controlled as they've led the Federation to believe.  Picard and Crusher make it to the border with Prytt soldiers on their heels. Beverly is working fast to calibrate the tricorder to make an opening in the forcefield. A small opening appears and she pushes Picard through just as the Prytt catch up to them. Picard is safe on the Kes side and they take Crusher into custody on the Prytt side. After Riker puts Maruic in his place Lorin still refuses to give Crusher and Picard back, so he threatens her with the full might of the Federation coming down into Prytt territory and picking the place apart to look for them. That's enough to make her cave. When her men contact her to tell her that the woman is still on their side of the border, she orders them to release her. Riker then leaves them together in the observation lounge instead of beaming them back to their places immediately as he goes to attend to the captain and the doctor. It's a humorous moment of awkwardness.

Riker escorts Picard and Crusher to sickbay reporting on Mauric's determination to protest to the Federation. But they're still linked and begin laughing about something that Beverly thinks of. Picard agrees with her out loud and Riker is left to wonder what he's missed in the conversation. Later, Picard and Crusher have dinner. They're relieved that they aren't sharing their thoughts anymore, but they do have to talk about the discoveries made while their minds were joined. Picard suggests that now that they know they have these feelings that they shouldn't be afraid to pursue them. Beverly considers that maybe they should be afraid to pursue them and Picard is visibly disappointed, almost heartbroken. They do share a kiss but part as friends leaving Picard to reflect alone once again.

Obviously there are some small details that don't make sense in this episode... like why couldn't the Enterprise just find them to beam them out? I'm pretty sure they've done it without com badges before, but I could be wrong. The pacing is also a little different in this one. It's not entirely disagreeable, but things on the planet seem to be happening out of order with things on the Enterprise, like the Prytt guard giving them the tricorder before Mauric has set his base up in his quarters to arrange it. Of course, its plain to me that these things are happening closer together in the timeline, if not simultaneously, since there had to be some passage of time that took place between the transport to the prison cell ... the two of them had to be unconscious long enough to have the implants put on their necks and put in prison. But I could see that being a little confusing to someone who doesn't know the show well enough to keep up. At any rate, I loved this episode and I've always been a fan of Picard and Beverly being an item. It was much more genuine then the juvenile flirting their characters partook in during the first season and much more satisfying. Also, as I said at the beginning, it takes the subject matter of admitting a divided planet into the Federation more seriously than it did in Lonely and it was more creative and better executed as well. It's one of my personal favorites. Four and a half stars.