I love this episode. It's a different kind of Worf episode that's creative, technically good writing about a time anomaly since nobody around Worf remembers what went on in the end, and it was one of the best ways of teasing a Worf/Troi romance.
It begins with Worf returning from a bat'leth tournament in a shuttle craft recording a personal log. He holds up his first place trophy with pride and is contentedly looking forward to returning to his regular duties. Riker meets him and escorts him to his quarters briefing him about their return to the Argus Array telescope which has stopped transmitting data again. He notices that Worf seems fidgety and asks him what his problem is. Worf gently explains how he suspects that a surprise party has been arranged for his birthday. Riker is convincingly offended that Worf would accuse him of something like that and leaves him alone at his door. When he enters and places his trophy, there is indeed a surprise party which he is uncomfortable with. Riker returns to have a laugh about it and send Captain Picard's regrets for not being able to attend. They sing For He's The Jolly Good Fellow in Klingon and Beverly has him cut a chocolate cake. Data brings him a present of a painting he's made depicting a Klingon battle in an expressionist style that doesn't make any sense, but Worf is grateful and Troi hangs it with the attitude of giving the place a woman's touch. He turns to Geordi and has a slight dizzy spell. He blames it on Data's colorful painting as Geordi offers him yellow cake. Worf is puzzled because he thought it was chocolate and looks up to see Picard congratulating him. He says he wouldn't miss it for the world when Worf states that he thought he couldn't come and answers to the question of his age with "old enough" in frustration of the general situation.
The rest of his morning proceeds normally. On the bridge they're trying to figure out what's going on with the Array. Data says that it's still transmitting and Worf discovers that the transmissions are being redirected to an uninhabited sector. Later in Ten Forward he sits down with Deanna to have a serious talk about arranging for custody of Alexander if anything should happen to him. Their relationship has been close since the episode Ethics, the events of which are what have prompted his decision to ask Troi if she'd take care of Alexander in the event that he should die in the line of duty. Troi is honored and asks about how her role as his guardian fits in with Klingon tradition. He tells her that she would be the So-chim and by the nearest human equivalent it would make her like Worf's step sister. She jokes that this would make her mother his step mother which he finds alarming but humorous as well. In engineering he, Geordi, Data, and Picard are discussing all of the Federation outposts that the Array monitors. Worf suggests that perhaps the array has been modified to spy on the Federation and notes a Cardassian vessel nearby. Picard orders Worf to scan the Cardassians when he has another dizzy spell. When he opens his eyes he finds that Data and Geordi are on opposite sides of the control island and Picard is gone. He agrees when Geordi suggests that he go to sickbay. He describes his dizziness to Crusher who tells him that it's probably side effects of his concussion. Worf insists that he has no concussion and no memory of seeing her earlier about it. She tells him that short term memory loss is common with this injury and reminds him that he told her that he was hit in the head at the bat'leth tournament which caused him to lose. That lights a fire under Worf who insists that he won and takes her to his quarters to show her his trophy. When he gets there, he's shocked to find a different, smaller trophy. He's angry and thinks someone is playing a trick on him. When he pulls up his personal log from the beginning, he discovers his frustrated recording of how an illegal move caused him to finish in ninth placed as he holds up the turd-looking trophy that is now in his room. Beverly is convinced that his memory will sort itself out and tells him to come back for another hypospray if he needs one. Worf is confused and disturbed.
When he gets back to the bridge Data asks him if he's completed the metallurgical scan of the Array but he doesn't remember Picard asking him to do that. He warns of the Cardassian vessel approaching. Picard and the Cardassian Gul engage in a witty back and forth about the purposes of the array as the Gul Nador expresses his concern that they are using it to spy on Cardassians. Afterwards Worf reports that this is the ship that reconfigured the Array. This is the first time Picard has heard anything about and has no idea that he'd ever seen any sensor logs in engineering before. Picard orders Data to look over everything again, but both he and Riker are openly wondering about Worf's mental state. In his quarters he's trying to explain the constant changes to Troi, in a bright blue dress, who tries to talk to him seriously about how everyone's memory can be altered but his. Geordi drops in to tell Worf that they've been examining everything and they can't find any evidence that the Array was reconfigured. He's trying to digest this information when he's struck with another dizzy spell. The changes cascade now. He notices that Data's painting has moved to an opposite wall. He looks towards Geordi and Troi to tell them this and when he looks back it has changed into a painting of a Klingon ship. He's starting to panic because they don't notice anything unusual about the changes when he sees that Troi is now wearing her uniform instead of the blue dress. Once again, his friends are alarmed and suggest that he go to sickbay.
But he doesn't get a chance to. Geordi takes his arm and in the next moment he's on the bridge under red alert with Picard ordering him to raise the shields. When he looks down the tactical panel is different and he can't find the proper buttons to push. Riker takes over while Worf helplessly watches the Cardassian ship delving out heavy damage to the Enterprise before Riker can get the shields up. They are forced to retreat while the Cardassians destroy the Argus Array. They can't get an Engineering report from Geordi because he's been taken to sick bay with plasma burns. And Picard and Riker don't understand what Worf is talking about when he explains that he's had another memory loss. He asks to be relieved of duty, now thoroughly disoriented. He goes to his room to see a plant where his trophy was sitting. When he looks at the personal log, he now finds that he didn't get to attend the bat'leth tournament at all due to extra ship repairs. He wants to sulk alone and is grouchy when Troi rings his doorbell and thinks it odd that he locked the door. He tells her that he doesn't want to talk and is puzzled as to why she starts going around making herself comfortable in his quarters. She orders hot chocolate and goes to sit in his bedroom, beckoning him to join her. Her manner is very casual as she takes his hair out of its ponytail and begins to massage him. When she starts to kiss on him he is surprised enough to jump up and proclaim her behavior inappropriate. But she doesn't think it's inappropriate for his wife. This frightens him and he jumps up wondering what's going on. She's also a little frightened when he starts to tell her that he doesn't remember them being married. He recounts some of the changes that have happened in the last hours and is disheartened that nobody believes him. Troi is supportive though and takes him to Data to look for time anomalies. She's called away by Doctor Ogawa which startles Worf again and he asks Data how his marriage with Troi came to be. He tells him that they became involved after his paralysis (Ethics) and that he asked Riker's permission to court her. Data can find no anomalies but continues the conversation by asking Worf if he can remember when things first began changing. After getting as far back as the birthday party, he realizes that Geordi was there at each change. So Data agrees that they should speak to Geordi, but when they get to sick bay Dr. Ogawa has pronounced him dead.
They assume that Geordi's VISOR may have had something to do with his issues so they hook it up to a scanner and activate it. He has another dizzy spell and when he opens his eyes, he is in a command uniform with three pips on his collar and discovers that he's the first officer. Now, Dr. Crusher is present with him, Data, and Troi. He notes the differences to them (Beverly is bemused to hear him mention Dr. Ogawa) and asks Troi if they are still married. They are and Data has taken some readings on the VISOR that he needs to analyze. Later in the Ready Room, Data explains to Captain Riker about the many parallel universes that exist and that Worf doesn't belong in this universe because his quantum signature is different from everyone else's on the ship. Riker ascertains that this all started with a bat'leth tournament that he knows Worf didn't attend. But Worf insists that he did and they retrace the route he took back to the ship in his shuttle craft. He asks how long Riker has been captain and he tells him that he's been captain since Picard was killed in the incident with the Borg four years prior. Worf is amazed at how everything happened so differently in this universe. On the bridge, which is architecturally different, Wesley is back at tactical and reports that they've found a disturbance. Riker orders a Cardassian ensign to stop the ship while they investigate. It's an invisible quantum fissure in the space-time continuum which Data makes visible by enhancing the warp field. They discuss it further in the observation lounge. It appears to be a keyhole to the parallel dimensions and Data remarks that in theory, every possibility that can happen does happen in alternate universes. When Worf's shuttle came into contact with the fissure he began to shift into other realities triggered by Geordi's VISOR. Wesley comes up with the idea of scanning the fissure for Worf's quantum signature and it is readily adopted by the crew. It's probably the only time in the series that Wesley portrayed as a respected equal and not just a wonder boy. I liked this adult Wesley. In their quarters Troi expresses her grief at the fact that if they find Worf's universe that she may not get her Worf back. She can't believe there's a time when they aren't in love. She's hurt that he doesn't even remember that they have two children in this final reality and puzzled that he only remembers a son that she's never heard of.
On the bridge Wesley has sent a subspace pulse into the fissure to analyze the different signatures. It will take a while with 10 million possibilities eliminated already. A Bajoran ship approaches and attacks. Riker explains to Worf that they've become aggressive since they took over the Cardassian empire and had destroyed one of their telescopes only yesterday assuming that they were spying on them. The amusement on Worf's face is tangible. Their attack damages Wesley's pulse and destabilizes the quantum fissure. Alternate Enterprises begin to fill the sector. That runs the Bajorans off as this Enterpise begins to receive hundreds of thousands of hails. Riker asks Data how they can stop the incursion of Enterprises. Data suggests finding the one with Worf's signature and sending him and a shuttle from that Enterprise back into the fissure. Riker hails everyone giving them the information they need to determine if they have the proper quantum signature and they wait. They finally receive a message from Picard, who Riker is happy to see again, announcing that they have a shuttle with the appropriate quantum signature and that they're sending it over to Riker's Enterprise now as Picard's Data had come up with the same solution. In the shuttle bay Data modifies the shuttle to send out an inverse warp field that Worf will need to activate at the proper time to close the fissure. He notes that he may end up at a time a little before or a little after his initial contact with the fissure. Worf says goodbye to his wife, Troi explaining that while he's always thought of her as a friend, he's opened to the possibility of it being more than friendship. He takes off and Riker's Enterprise notices that the shuttle craft is under attack but not from the Bajorans. It's another Enterprise attacking that hails them. The Captain Riker of this Enterprise is disheveled with a long beard and in a state of panic on a collapsing bridge. He begs them not to send their ship back. In his universe the Federation is gone and the Borg have taken over everything. His Enterprise is the only ship left. The other Captain Riker sympathizes but can't allow this breach to continue. The crazy Riker's ship continues to attack so Captain Riker orders Wesley to fire on their ship. It's just a minor phaser blast but it's enough to destroy that Enterprise since it had already taken such heavy damage in its own universe. Worf enters the fissure and activates the inverse warp field. There's a flash and we see an overlap of many alternate Worfs doing many different things aboard the shuttle craft before it comes to a stop with Lt. Worf lying on the floor of the craft. When he wakes he's being hailed by Picard to ask him how the bat'leth tournament went. He looks over at his trophy, relieved, and confirms that he took first place.
Riker escorts him to his quarters again as he explains the strange events that had happened on his return. Riker says he's looking forward to his report as Worf stares ruefully at the door of his quarters. He tells Riker that he knows what he's planning and won't be surprised. Riker looks genuinely confused as he walks off. However, when Worf enters his quarters this time and places his trophy the only surprise he gets is Troi wishing him a happy birthday as she's moving Alexander's hissing beetle from one room to another. She tells him that she promised Alexander she'd feed it while they were both away. She's baffled when attempts to make sure that she doesn't live at these quarters but he is again relieved. She hands him a small present, tells him how she talked Riker out of a surprise party, and offers to leave him alone making a friendly joke about how he probably wants to celebrate alone by meditating or hitting himself with a pain stick. But he asks her to stay for dinner and she's intrigued when he orders champagne from the replicator.
I was in favor of the Worf-Troi romance. It's only looking back on it after his marriage to Dax on DS9 that it seems a little unrealistic. But at the time I liked the whole "beauty and the beast" type of pairing and I think it went over pretty well with everyone else since it was teased twice more before the end. However, that's not the only thing that makes this a great episode. I enjoyed the jumping between alternate universes and it was all the more special because they used Worf for it when, I think, they would've normally used Picard. Worf, who can't handle losing control over any aspect of his life, being forced into strange situations where he can't operate his control panel, where events are changing around him without his knowledge, where his family life is different, and there's nothing he can do about any of it. It was a good use of Wesley even though he didn't have many lines; a nice display of how they could've utilized him better. It's fun with a serious problem that needs to be fixed and the solution foreshadows the series finale. The pacing is wonderful, the situations are believable, and the twist at the end just adds to the story demonstrating that his first shift occurred when he entered the fissure and not again until Geordi was with him at the birthday party. It's one of my personal favorites but not one of the "greats" so I'll give only four and a half stars.
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