Penultimate episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In this we see the sad but not unexpected end for the character of Ro Laren who had been crucial in the early development of the Bajoran race which came to prominence in DS9. This is another episode that they could've devoted a little more time to as with the ending of the Wesely character. But it's a strong episode to have before the finale because it's not as flaky as some of the others in this season.
It begins with the Enterprise heading for a briefing on a situation in the DMZ. They also welcome back Ro, now promoted to Lieutenant. They throw a party for her in Ten Forward. She's more humble than when she was there last and uncomfortable that they'd gone to the trouble for her. She's also overwhelmed by the way they pile on her with small talk about her training and where her quarters are and what she's planning to do now. Picard slips out in the background and calls her to the bridge. When she leaves, she finds him standing there in the corridor waiting for her. He could see how suffocated she was feeling at the party and only called her away to give her a little breathing room. He congratulates her on graduating from her Advanced Tactical Training which we are to presume is a kind of special ops schooling for the most elite officers. She was able to do it on his recommendation and she thanks him for it. She knows her life is in a very good place now and she's sincerely grateful as he walks her up to the bridge and has her take over at the navigation while they find out what's going on in the DMZ. They have to attend to a Cardassian ship in distress. It's being attacked by Federation vessels, but they are not commanded by Starfleet personnel. When they zoom in on them they discover that they are the Maquis. They hail them to warn them that they're breaking the treaty with the Cardassians and that they are to stop their attack or the Enterprise will be force to engage them. They don't answer and nobody is happy about having to fire on Federation citizens to protect the Cardassians. When they get close enough, Picard suggest firing a spread of torpedoes between the attacking ships and the Cardassian vessel. It works as the Maquis are scared away. They bring the wounded Cardassians aboard to tend them. Gel Evek makes another appearance and he's naturally on his high horse about being attacked by Federation ships. All Picard can do is assure him that they were not provided to them by the Federation and when Evek pushes further, he points out that Federation ships have been subject to similar attacks from Cardassian radicals. Evek leaves with a threat to deal with the Maquis himself. Later, Admiral Nechayev comes back to talk to Picard about the situation. It's established here that the Federation people who ended up in Cardassian territory due to the new treaty in the Demilitarized Zone were being run off from their homes as in Journey's End. Instead of just defending themselves they've now organized into the Maquis. But she's more sympathetic this time since she also knows that the Cardassians have been arming its colonies in the DMZ. She feels that putting someone in under cover with the Maquis will help to stop them. The person she has in mind to infiltrate their organization is Lt. Ro. She's not even unpacked when Picard tells her of her new assignment. He explains that she was picked because of her new special training and because of her spotty record in the past that would lend credibility to the part she must play. She's uneasy at the thought of helping Cardassians but accepts the mission just to justify his faith in her. And she means it.
On another day, Ro enters an alien bar with a mixed crowd and chooses a table in a darkened corner. Worf and Data enter, Worf looking menacing. Ro hides from them by grabbing the man next to her and kissing him passionately. Worf asks the bartender if he's seen a Bajoran woman with dark hair who is wanted for killing a Cardassian officer. He also threatens to shut the place down if they don't cooperate. The bartender tells them she just left and they grudgingly leave. Ro pushes the man she's kissing away and goes to the bar to thank the bartender for covering for her. He wants to know if she really killed the Cardassian. She only hints that she might have wondering why he would lie to protect her. He tells her that there are people in the "Zone" that would appreciate more Cardassians being killed. She flippantly expresses a desire to meet them and the bartender stuns her. When she wakes up she's surrounded by three humans, a woman called Kalita, a younger man called Santos, and an older man called Macias. The old man is friendly but the other two badger her with questions about her past, learning about how she'd watched her father tortured to death by Cardassians, her court martial, and the enhanced version of how she ended up on this planet wanted by Starfleet. She asks them if they're part of the Maquis and expresses great interest in joining them. Kalita and Santos leave to check on her story while Macias gives her a tour of their current base of operations. He tells his own story of abuse at the hands of the Cardassians when his home fell into their territory and they end up bonding over a Bajoran dish that Ro's father used to make. Kalita returns to confirm that her story checks out but Macias claims he never doubted it.
As she stays with them, she learns that they've heard rumors that the Cardassians are arming their people with biological weapons. They want to make a preemptive strike on them to prevent this, but their medical supplies are running low. Ro jumps in and offers to steal medical supplies from the Enterprise. This scene in particular is why I think more time should've been spent on this story, perhaps breaking it into two episodes. Obviously time has passed and when she lures the Enterprise into a solar system that has heavy magnetic interference from an unstable star, the Captain's log even mentions that they haven't heard from her in weeks. And even though Kalita is skeptical the entire time it's still so condensed that it seems like she's earned their trust way too quickly. But, it helps that Macias has a fatherly adoration of her. He talks Kalita into going with her plan. They send out a distress signal and the only ship available is the Enterprise. There's so much magnetic interference in the system that they can't see Ro's ship. Ro maneuvers between the nacelles, penetrates their shields and transports out a lot of medical supplies. All of this is a showcase of her Advanced Tactical Training. The Enterprise does detect her, but Picard suggests that they allow her to get away with this theft to preserve her cover. They fire on a place that the ship had been before it leaves so that it seems convincing and finally Kalita is won over with Ro's incredible skills. They celebrate their little excursion later with Macias again mentioning that he's always known in his heart that she's one of them. The Captain's log breaks in again to tells us that Ro now has a ship and the freedom to move on her own, so she comes back to report on her progress. She tells him that they're worried about biological weapons. Picard thinks it's unlikely but decides that they should use a fake report of this nature to give the Maquis such a large target that they'll send as many ships as possible to attack it while the Federation waits in the shadows of a nebula to trap them. Ro is now noticeably disturbed at being asked to carry the false information and arrange the sting. Picard isn't happy that she seems unwilling but gives her the opportunity to let him know if she's got a problem with it. She notes that even if she does, it won't stop her from doing her duty. His attitude is stern and she genuinely doesn't want to disappoint him. She does a very good job of portraying the growing divide of her loyalty between Picard and people that are being bullied by Cardassians. She feeds them the false intelligence of a Cardassian convoy carrying legal medical supplies which, when combined, would create toxic weapons. They react with the desire to launch a large attack, but have to discuss it with other leaders first. Meanwhile Macias and Ro walk about the compound. She looks increasingly on him as a father figure since his interests parallel her father's so closely. She confides in him memories of her father and he talks joyously of the celebration they'll have when they finally teach the Cardassians that they can't drive them off their lands. At that point three disguised Cardassians enter and begin firing on people in the street. Macias is killed stating that when an old fighter dies, another steps up to take his place. Ro is devastated.
Ro next meets with Picard under cover at the alien bar under the pretense that she's soliciting him. She insists that the mission be aborted claiming that they didn't go for the bait. Picard doesn't believe her since the intelligence he's received indicates that the Maquis are anxious to expand their attacks. It's the only time when we hear her addressed correctly by her first name when he asks her what's going on. It's important since it's a distinguishing feature of the Bajoran race that would be carried on in DS9 and it's one of my favorite creative components, borrowing from east Asian culture in putting the family name first. She confesses that she's having second thoughts even though she truly doesn't want to let him down. He's not very patient with her though. Between the lines you can see instead of appreciating the fact that she still admires him so, he's more appalled that she could be on the verge of ruining the plan after all of the strings he'd pulled to help her career to take off. To me it's another display of the story being moved along too fast because it's uncharacteristic of Picard to be so worried about his image that he doesn't even notice the feelings of a crew member. He rather coldly reminds her of the kind of trouble she could get into for lying to him or if she should choose to sabotage the mission. He also decides to send Riker in undercover as one of her family members to keep an eye on her. (Yet, another thing that happens all too quickly as far as them trusting another new person in their ranks.) Riker pilots Ro's ship with her. The plan is to lead them over the border into the Federation trap while they slip off into a nebula to hide. The Cardassian convoy sees them and with only 30 seconds to go Ro suddenly sets off a particle beam into the nebula which will allow the rest of the Maquis ships to detect the Federation ships lying in wait. She holds Riker at phaser point to tell him that she feels like she belongs with the Maquis in a way she never felt like she belonged in Starfleet. They drift towards the Enterprise and Picard is prepared to take her into custody when she gets on board. But she arranges to have Kalita beam her over to one of their ships before leaving Riker to return on hers. She asks him to tell Captain Picard that she's sorry. He can tell she genuinely is and although Riker's let down as well he wishes her well before she's transported away.
Later Riker, still surgically altered to appear Bajoran, submits his report to Picard. He tells him that she seemed sure that she was doing the right thing but that she truly regretted letting him down. It ends with Picard fuming silently over her betrayal.
So they send off the character of Ro by releasing her back to the troubled waters they'd found her in. Like I said, sad but not unexpected since Ro was always
rebellious and untameable. It's a fitting end for her and a good episode, just
too quickly executed. Really, they could have combined it with Wesley's
end and made a fabulous two part episode or even three part arc that would've aided in giving Wesley a better send off. So other than pacing, I have no problems with it. It was another good connection to DS9 which only helped it to flourish even more.
They were also trying to set the groundwork for Voyager. When Ro first talks about the Maquis to Picard, she mentions that one of her tactical trainers deserted Starfleet to join them. This was supposed to be a reference to Chakotay which I think was later torpedoed in Voyager on a technicality of the date. But they'd originally wanted Michelle Forbes to reprise Ro as a main character on Voyager as a part of Chakotay's Maquis crew. It may have made the show more interesting, but she wouldn't commit so Torres was created to fill that spot. That and the fact that they couldn't work in Nick Locarno from First Duty (TNG) was just a string of bad luck for for that series that caused the weak birth of Voyager as opposed to the strong commencement of DS9.
Anyway, it's an excellent next-to-last episode for the series. Four stars. It may have been four and a half, but they blew through it just a little too fast for my taste.
Final holodeck episode of the series. It's another for-fun episode and more stretching of the imagination for Star Trek but it's also another demonstration of concept recycling. It's kind of like the episode Quality Of Life with the exocomps only on a larger scale.
It begins on holodeck with Picard observing Data as he enacts a portion of The Tempest, playing Prospero. It's too dark to see anything and Picard calls Data's attention to it. Realizing he had designed the set too literally, he increases the light and they begin to parse the character of Prospero and what his character signifies in Shakespeare's work. They're interrupted by a train headed towards them. At first Picard is only confused and asks if it's part of the program. Then Data realizes that it's not going to stop and pushes the captain out of the way. He's scratched up a little, which is alarming since it indicates the safeties are off, but he's more interested in finding out what that was all about than his scrape. Data checks the holodeck and determines that the train is from Crusher's Orient Express program. A glitch had linked the two programs together. He has Data shut all the holodecks down to be safe until it's fixed. He then goes to Sick Bay to get his scrape healed up and Beverly eagerly tells him about the historical significance of the Orient Express. She encourages him to take a ride on it sometime to meet fascinating people. He's only moderately interested and goes to the bridge at Riker's bidding to continue with a routine survey. Without warning the Enterprise jumps into warp speed. They appear to be on a random heading and they can't get control of the engines or the override controls. Geordi offers to do an emergency core shut down which will leave them without warp power for a week. It's inconvenient but they don't seem to have a choice so Picard okay's it. When the ship comes to a stop he compliment's Geordi's efficiency, but Geordi admits that the ship stopped on its own since he didn't have time to complete the shutdown. Later they discover another mystery on top of the this first one. If the ship hadn't warped away when it did, the warp core would've been ruptured by a distortion that had been building up around them. It was a distortion that the sensors weren't designed to detect, and the rupture would've destroyed the Enterprise. So Data and Geordi set off to investigate and as they're crawling through a Jeffries Tube puzzling over whether the warp jump was luck or not they open a panel and discover strange, brightly lit complication inside. It's a new kind of circuit node that is attached to the sensors and several other systems on the ship. They try to take it out of the panel but it generates a forcefield.
They discover that the nodes are responsible for the warp jump that saved the Enterprise from destruction. That was a good thing, but the nodes are spreading throughout the ship, protecting themselves with forcefields, and making it harder for them to control the systems. The connections all intersect at holodeck 3 so they decide to go down there to see if they can disable the nodes permanently. When they get there, they discover that a program is running in spite of the fact that the holodecks had been disabled. When they enter they discover at least seven different programs running at the same time. A strange assortment of people are riding on Crusher's Orient Express including a knight in plate armor cutting paper dolls, a farmer, and several gangster era people putting a puzzle together with a picture on it that resembles the nodes. A conductor comes through asking for everyone's tickets and they listen as they talk about their destination, Vertiform City. Data locates a large concentration of nodes behind a wall and they begin to depolarize the holodeck grid. At that point the conductor asks them for their tickets. He's aggressive when they don't have any and asks them to leave. An engineer comes out and tries to tell them that the strange people are only trying to help but he's shot by a gangster who claims that he's driving the train. At the same time a panel explodes at Geordi, overloading the navigation. On the holodeck, the conductor pulls a cord which causes the train to lurch and the Enterprise to jump to warp again. Data notices the train has changed directions and the conductor confirms that they're on the right track now. The gangster retrieves a gold brick from the dead engineer while they both urge Riker and Data to leave in a threatening manner. The safeties are off so they comply.
In the observation lounge they discuss how the nodes have taken control of most systems and that the ship is being controlled from the holodeck citing the evidence of the direction change corresponding to the warp jump. But it's more complex. The nodes resemble the make up of Data's positronic brain and are forming a rudimentary neural net on the Enterprise. Data explains that the ship is developing an intelligence describing it as an emergent property like consciousness - more than the sum of its parts. The sensors are the eyes, it talks with the communications system, etc. The holodeck is a processing center like the mind or the imagination as Troi likens it to and she volunteers to go in to see if she can find out what this new intelligence wants. Since there appears to be a new life form at stake, the priority now is to regain control of the ship without damaging the nodes. Data goes back with Worf and Troi. He asks them to distract the passengers while he works and they watch as the puzzle continues to form the picture of the nodes though nobody can say what exactly it's supposed to be. Pictures of the nodes also appear on playing cards. Troi is curious about the gold brick but the gangster tells her to keep away from it insisting that it's valuable and that he has to get it to Keystone City. When Data starts to make progress the conductor walks through again announcing that the next stop is Keystone City and once again ushering them off the train due to lack of tickets. The gangster takes the brick and gets off the train. They avoid more pressure from the conductor to leave since Troi wants to follow him off the train anyway to find out what's so important about Keystone City. They exit to an empty New York City street. I can't help but like this set. It has a touch of the cheesiness that I associate with TOS, but not overdone. It gives it a nostalgic feel. Data with tricorder out approaches a manhole that he can access the power grid from while Troi takes off after the gangster. Worf follows her. When Data attempts to start working on the grid a taxi appears around the corner and tries to run him down. Meanwhile Troi and Worf follow the gangster to a building that's still under construction. There is a brick wall with one brick missing from the center. The gangster places the gold brick in and it glows momentarily before blending in with the rest of the wall. His only explanation is that he's laying the foundation before he returns to the train. The laying of the brick causes activity in the cargo bay and Geordi goes down to discover a large node glowing in the middle of the floor.
Geordi suspects the replicator systems were used to form this thing. Meanwhile Data solves the problem of the attacking taxi cab by holding it steady while he works. Picard gives the order for him to begin depolarizing the grid which causes an earthquake in the holodeck and catastrophic failures on the ship causing it to lose integrity. So he stops and they regroup to discuss it some more. They ascertain that the ship was protecting itself again but that it was unaware of what's going on like an infant acting on impulse. Troi lists the different systems represented in the different personalities on the ship and confirms that their activity represents constructing or forming something. She wishes to go back to try and communicate with the intelligence on its own level to try and cooperate. They return with tickets this time which pleases the conductor. They also offer help so the conductor chooses Worf to come up to the engine and shovel coal so they can keep on schedule. His efforts to stoke the fire gets the warp drive working again and they discover they're headed for a white dwarf star. The ship modifies a tractor beam to collect vertion particles from the star, explaining why they call their destination Vertiform City. The object in the cargo bay begins to grow, but when the vertion particles are depleted, it starts to lose energy. On the train they're disappointed because this isn't Vertiform City like they thought. So the conductor changes directions again for New Vertiform City, causing the ship to pitch around violently. They can tell they're headed for another white dwarf star since white dwarfs are the only natural source of vertion particles. But the ship is also using up the life support to propel it onward. The star is 12 hours away and they only have 2 hours of life support left. Picard speculates with Geordi about creating artificial vertion particles. He finds a couple of choice spots along the way to launch a modified torpedo at and Picard leaves the decision of where to try it up to Geordi. In order to go where they want to, the crew members on the holodeck must gain control of the navigation of the train though. The conductor guardedly believes them when they assure him that they know a short cut to New Vertiform City and allows Data into the engine room to navigate the train. With his help they stop at a nebula Geordi was eyeing for the artificial vertion particles. They fire the torpedo which causes a stream of particles to flare out.
As the ship drinks in the particles, the systems begin to return to normal as the nodes deactivate themselves. Picard postulates that some species only exist to reproduce and that perhaps the only reason for the ship's intelligence was to produce this new life form. In the cargo bay, the life form glows brightly and floats up and away, flying out of the hull into space. In the holodeck the people on the train are celebrating with champagne and as Worf, Troi, and Data partake in the party the program ends. Later, Data goes to Picard to invite him to another Shakespearean performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream in which Miranda first has contact with other humans which he thinks is befitting of the situation. He notes that Picard took a substantial risk in allowing the Enterprise to finish completing the emergence of the new life form since it could be dangerous. But Picard is confident that since the experiences it drew from were human experiences, it has a good chance of being as honorable as they have been.
So, the Enterprise comes to life briefly to create a node creature and then, what, dies? That's kind of sad. You'd think the whole ship would cease to function if it wasn't "alive" anymore. I have to assume that being alive is what they mean by forming an intelligence. And it's equally confusing since it just spontaneously came to life after seven years. This is one of those episodes that you're meant to just sit back and enjoy and not think too much about it because it'll make less sense the more you do. And it is an enjoyable episode. The holodeck characters range from odd to funny and the crew's interaction with them is entertaining. The psychology of what's going on in there makes some sense. And the lighting and colors are pleasant to view. Although this episode is somewhat nonsensical I have nothing against it and the characters make it work as always. Four stars.
I'd been thinking back over the last few weeks to how many times I'd mentioned, while reviewing an episode, the indication that TNG was running out of ideas for stories as well as my inability to avoid glossing over the inconsistencies, flaws, and stretches of credibility. I then started taking stock and there are a lot of episodes in the seventh season that fit that bill. For the most part I've been forgiving and supportive because it's one of the best two series of the franchise and all of the characters had become endearing over the seven long years. But it also got me to thinking about why I dislike Star Trek Voyager so much. I've mostly blamed my animosity towards that show on the unlikable personalities of the characters and the propensity to make Janeway a "super hero" captain that overshadows and suffocates the others. It wasn't until I was writing my review of Masks that I realized that they'd positioned Picard in the same manner for that episode. It made no sense for him to solve that puzzle, but that's the direction it took. I had an epiphany as I saw the connection. Voyager is a continuation of the TOS and TNG model... that had run thin on ideas.
Like I said, I've watched a lot of it to try and give it a chance. And Voyager did have some original elements since they were trapped in another quadrant. But I saw a lot of episodes that had a familiar feel as though the stories could've easily been written for the seventh season of TNG. Not just because of all the time they spent on the holodeck (and there was a lot more of that in VOY) but also the ever sketchy transporter science fiction, murder mysteries, mind benders, etc. Voyager took bringing holodeck or mechanical things to life to a whole new level... to a point where they needed to have a human rights movement for holopeople. I could see TNG reaching that level of desperation if it had continued unchecked for another seven years. Voyager also just stuck with the Borg as an arch nemesis instead of creating its own unique conflicts like DS9. The Borg originated in TNG and were modified in the TNG movie, First Contact. Voyager chose to build on that modification and it diluted the impact of the Borg as a whole. All because the writers could only do so much with the formula of a single ship exploring the galaxy. Even the most creative minds run out of "strange, new worlds" and what not.
The same applies to Star Trek Enterprise except I liked the characters better. And they did at least create their own antagonists even though throwing the show into endless time travel story lines was unsustainable.
Because I disliked the Voyager characters, I had very little patience for the nonsense I liked at the end of TNG and tolerated in Enterprise. So, I guess my main beef with Voyager is still the characters, but I now wonder if I could've looked past that if the stories had been better. I didn't care for Captain Sisko for a long time and never did warm up to Jake, but DS9 was a phenomenal series nonetheless. Yes, there's a connection there, I think.
But I don't dwell on it too much so that I can't think too badly of the final season of TNG. It still has my heart.
Okay, I finished
Winter Night and I really loved it. I liked Autumn Twilight and stuck
to the positive aspects when talking about it, but I didn't want to
step on any toes by saying that I only thought it to be adequate, not
special. The layout of the narrative had an inelegant flow and it
seemed almost juvenile at times (a slight overuse of humor in
inappropriate moments) which is why I assumed these books were
targeted for tweenagers. I also had a hard time bonding with any of
the characters with the exception of Sturm so even though I enjoyed
it I couldn't honestly say I loved it.
Winter Night, however,
was amazing! Much more grown up with much more going on. I understand
now that Autumn Twilight was just an introduction and that together
they make for the kind of slow world building and development that I
love and appreciate. The story had better movement and was so much
more complex and layered. The old characters were developed in
earnest while new and fascinating characters were introduced. I
understand the love for Laurana now. Her slow growth and maturation
over the these two books is just how I like to see any "leader"
character develop. We didn't get to see Goldmoon's development
because it had already happened. We got the abbreviated highlights of
life's responsibilities being thrust onto her shoulders and by the
end of AT she was ready to retire from her life as a leader (nobody
to lead anymore) and settle down into a quiet marriage as an
ancillary character... as quiet as the life of any adventurer can be
I guess, lol. I could really bond with the characters in this book.
And, of course, the fate of my favorite character was almost expected
just because he was my favorite... irritating, but good for the
overall story so I ultimately approve. Guess Raistlin's my favorite
now , but with good reason. The new concepts and scenes were creative
and unique. The highs and lows were believable and touching. Like all
trilogies, the first book ends on a high note and the second book
ends on kind of a downer showcasing the realistic pendulum swing of
good vs. evil in epic trilogies. I was only moderately looking
forward to reading Winter Night after Autumn Twilight but I'm
wholeheartedly looking forward to reading Spring Dawning now.
Like Vash and Moriarty, I didn't think Bok deserved a follow up. It's actually not as much of a follow up as it is an improvement on the original concept from the first season... perhaps a much belated attempt to correct another first season lemon as they were prone to doing in the third season. I'll own that it's a much better episode than The Battle, but I could've done without it all the same. It was yet another story that could've been sacrificed to having Wesley in more than once to thoroughly delve into his Academy burn out.
It starts with the Enterprise approaching an unmanned probe that is drifting towards them. It hails the captain specifically and when they open a channel, they detect a power surge coming from it so they raise the shields. But they can tell it's a holographic transmission of some kind so they modify their shields so that it can slip through. It is a holographic projection of DaiMon Bok who Picard recognizes immediately. The message is directed at him as Bok starts accusing Picard of killing his son some fifteen years prior. He then claims that he has found a way to exact the perfect revenge by killing what he believes to be Picard's son, a young man named Jason Vigo. Picard orders that the probe be taken in for examination to determine where it came from. He also wants the Ferengi government contacted to discover why Bok is commanding a ship again. And since he'd already mentioned the boy's name, he orders them to find him via his mother whose name is Miranda Vigo. Riker reports later that the Ferengi officials can't be contacted right now. He tells him that Data has found that the woman he'd mentioned has a son named Jason as well as the planet they'd settled on. He hands him a recent picture and although he doesn't pry (a very mature improvement over seven seasons, I have to admit) Picard offers a brief explanation anyway describing a brief fling while he was on shore leave about 24 years ago. Riker then is free to ask if Miranda ever told him that she was pregnant. She never did, so Picard deduces that either Bok is lying or that she chose to raise the child by herself as per her independent nature. He's determined to find him anyway since Bok seems bent on killing him. They go to the planet that Miranda was known to be at and look for human life signs in rural areas since she was a botanist. They only find one male human that fits the age range of Jason Vigo but he's far beneath the surface with seismic activity about him. Assuming that he's in danger, they transport him up. We see while he's in the beam that he's dressed for recreational climbing and that he was in mid-climb when he was transported. He steps down unbalanced after he is fully materialized.
He assumes he's in trouble for climbing in that particular cave and when he finds out they're not there to police that activity he's confused. Picard explains to him that he's an old friend of his mother's and that someone is threatening to kill him because he believes that he is his son. He asks him if he wants to take a DNA test. The results quickly show that Picard is his father as Jason dodges questions about what he does for a living. Afterwards, Picard takes him to his own quarters. He shows him some of his artifacts including a rare but valueless Gorlan prayer stick. Jason is uninterested. He tries to assure him that if Miranda had told him that she had his child, he would've been a part of his life. He's not resentful, but he's not comfortable either and just wants to go back to the surface. Picard tells him of his history with Bok and advises against his return until the matter is cleared up. Meanwhile Geordi and Data are trying to track the path of the probe. The navigational systems were encrypted so they had to go by the deposits that accumulated on the hull, but they indicate a large number of possible systems. They are then contacted by a DaiMon from the Ferengi Alliance. He tells them that Bok is no longer a DaiMon and that he managed to buy his way out of prison two years ago. He mentions the system he was last known to be in but he's not very helpful. However, Geordi can narrow down the search for the probe's origins with that information and they head towards it.
Picard goes to talk to Beverly for parental advice. Jason is obviously pushing him away and he's thinking it would be wise to not force the issue. I happen to agree, but Beverly considers that by taking that route, Picard is just doing what's easiest for him. Troi takes it upon herself to talk to Jason, but he's only interested in making passes at her so she doesn't stay long but the audience does learn that he's had people out to kill him before and that the experience of meeting his father has left him a little "shaky." Later when the Enterprise comes out of warp, Picard is awaken in his quarters by Bok standing near his bed continuing to threaten Jason. He calls security but Bok disappears. I guess it's supposed to be psychologically tense, but even though the Ferengi had been improved remarkably, it's still hard to take them seriously in that kind of position. They have a new mystery to solve now since he shouldn't have been able to beam in through the shields. They bring up the mind control device from The Battle in order to rule it out and he puts this new development in the hopper of things to investigate. He has Worf assign a security detail to Jason. They follow him everywhere staying too close for his comfort. He gets them to stand back a little in Ten Forward so they don't see his hand start to shake before he puts his drink down. Picard comes in to update him on the latest changes with Bok. Jason is now starting to feel very cramped and irritated by the situation. So Picard tells him about how he can simulate rock climbing conditions in the holodeck and offers to show him. But Jason is very firm this time when he tells him that he has no interest in getting to know him better and insists on going alone.
DaiMon Bok sneaks into Picard's ready room again to taunt him and argue about the past while demonstrating that he can take Jason any time he wants with the transporter trick he appears to be pulling. Meanwhile Jason has seizures and needs to be taken to Sick Bay. He tells them about his hand shaking but that he's never had seizures before. Crusher diagnosis him with a rare neurological disorder that could leave him paralyzed if it goes untreated. It's also a hereditary disorder that she knows Picard doesn't have, however Jason's certain his mother never had seizures like this either. Crusher decides she'll check for the possibility that it was caused by a random mutation. Privately, Picard tells Beverly of his criminal record on the planet and expresses guilt for not being present in his life growing up and she recommends patience. Moving along, Geordi and Data are making progress with in explaining how Bok has been able to sneak aboard. They think he's using a subspace transporter but they can trace him when he uses it again to find out where he is. They can't think of any way to protect Jason except to keep a signal lock on him. So Picard goes to him once again to update him on the situation. He finds him in the holodeck and sends the security officers away before he free scales the rock face to reach the ledge he's sitting on. Jason is impressed enough to talk with him for a while this time. He tells him about his mother and the life they led on the planet. She'd taken in a lot of orphaned children that were products of the Cardassian War. She became a mother and teacher to all of them and was killed by muggers for the food she was carrying one day. Picard talks about his own estrangement with his father and offers again to find a way to connect with him. Jason tries to push him away again by telling him what a scoundrel he actually is, but is surprised to find that Picard already knows and doesn't care because he's interested in forming a relationship with him. Later, Beverly calls Picard to her office to talk about the test she ran on Jason. She gravely tells him that there's something he needs to know. On the bridge they detect Bok trying to use his transporter and call to Picard in Sick Bay. They can't prevent Jason from being beamed off the ship. But they are able to track down exactly where his ship is after Bok sends another taunting probe that explodes into a Ferengi communication of light patterns. It would still take a while to reach the ship, so Picard asks if they can use subspace transportation as well. Geordi says they can send him, but he doesn't know if he can get him back. Picard opts to go anyway.
Jason is trying to bargain for his life when Picard transports onto the ship. He disarms the other Ferengi officers by threatening to kill Bok, while Bok holds a knife to Jason in order to disarm Picard. That's when Picard reveals what Beverly had to tell him - Jason is not really his son. He discloses that Crusher discovered how Bok had resequenced Jason's DNA to make it look like he was his father. But his method was flawed and caused the neurological condition that Jason was suffering from. At first the other Ferengi officers sourly complain that Picard probably won't pay a ransom now, but Picard points out that there was never a ransom involved and that Bok was in this purely for revenge. He also informs them that he was stripped of his command. When Bok comes unglued and starts ranting, they realize that Picard is telling the truth and they take control of the ship from Bok citing that this is an unprofitable venture.
Later Jason is getting ready to leave. Crusher has reversed the disorder and the damage won't be permanent. Picard tries to get him to stay longer, but Jason wants to go back and make a sincere effort to sort his life out. Picard gives him the antique prayer stick as a memento and they part as friends leaving Picard feeling something of a loss.
This episode was an attempt to redo the episode The Battle and it has flavors of Suddenly Human sprinkled in it as well as far as seeing Picard attempting to bond with a son-like figure. That was an episode that also needed improvement and the impressions they gleaned from it mixed well with this story. And it reinforces the updated Ferengi model of being only interested in business profit rather than aggressive piracy or conquest. It really isn't a bad episode, but it's still hard to buy a psychopathic Ferengi even with the wonderful improvements of the writers and cast after seven seasons. I don't hate it but I don't love it. The character of Picard, as always, makes it worthy of a decent star rating though. Four stars.
