The Enterprise is assigned to take part in a battle simulation to hone their ingenuity, overseen by an alien master strategist named Sirna Kolrami. Riker leads a crew aboard the aging U.S.S. Hathaway, deliberately outmatched by the Enterprise to see what tricks he can pluck from his hat. But a Ferengi ship attacks in the middle of the scenario, and suddenly the Enterprise crew must come up with tricks of their own to save the people aboard the defenseless Hathaway.
This episode leads with the promise of starships battling, a rarity on The Next Generation, given the expense involved in the photography of the models. It largely delivers on that promise, too; though it's hardly an epic battle, there are enough fun and well-realized moments in it to make it a treat.
But what really makes the episode good are the outstanding character moments throughout. It's a great episode for Commander Riker (and Jonathan Frakes). From his bold declaration that "when I agree to do something, I do it" (already proven in "The Measure of a Man"), to his well-played manipulation to get Worf to join his team, to the zest with which he takes command, Riker is simply fun to watch in this episode.
And as much swagger as Riker displays, Picard displays authority in equal measure. Picard has a great scene in which he takes Kolrami to task for his prejudice against Riker, putting the visitor in his place and challenging false assumptions all while barely raising his voice. Just a few scenes later, he's giving an inspiring pep talk to Data, and is firm without being too stern. Patrick Stewart has a perfect command of projecting... well... command.
Most of the great character moments in the episode come from an interesting subplot. Kolrami is a master of a fictitious game known as strategema. (Side note: it seems a lot like some kind of Real Time Strategy game, I believe several years before any actual such game existed.) Riker has another good scene when he challenges Kolrami to a match he can't possibly win, just for the privilege of playing a grand master. But that's only the tip of the iceberg.
In a true display of "look who's talking," Doctor Pulaski becomes deeply invested in seeing the smug Kolrami taken down a peg. She volunteers Data to play against him (without asking Data first), only to be shocked when the android actually loses the game. Data subsequently withdraws himself from bridge duty, concluding he could have lost only due to some malfunction that must be diagnosed. Pulaski accuses him of sulking, which seems wildly off target for her character, since she's spent an entire season dogging Data for not having any emotions.
But while the situation leads to questionable material for Pulaski, it leads to some wonderful moments for Data and Troi. As Data is really the last person who should be in need of a counselor, he and Troi rarely have scenes together. Her attempt to counsel him here is a strong scene for both of them, as is a subsequent scene in which the two dissect Riker's possible battle strategies.
The good character moments extend even to the guest stars. Ubiquitous character actor Roy Brocksmith (who you might know from the original Total Recall) plays Kolrami with quirky flair. Armin Shimerman returns to play Bractor, his second Ferengi. And while his character here doesn't really pop, you may also recognize Glenn Morshower as a security officer; he'd play a more substantial "security" character, Agent Aaron Pierce, on 24.
What doesn't quite work here is the actual conclusion of the episode. The Enterprise pretends to destroy the Hathaway to deter the Ferengi, who are then chased off by an illusionary Federation starship conjured up by Lieutenant Worf. He did the same trick to the Enterprise during the battle simulation... because he knew the computer access codes to hack in and manipulate the ship's sensors. How he pulled off this same trick on the Ferengi without security access to their systems is both unexplained and unexplainable. In any event, if the Enterprise was capable of firing photon torpedoes, why not do so at the Ferengi ship rather than in an elaborate ruse?
Other observations:
- There are some nice nods to continuity in this episode. Picard agrees to the battle simulation in response to the threat posed by the recently encountered Borg. Also, when Riker gives a shipwide address aboard the Hathaway, the "bosun's whistle" sound that plays is taken from the original Star Trek series.
- Worf is shown building a model ship in this episode. It's a wonderfully ironic hobby to give him, something that requires tremendous patience. The episode humorously displays that he doesn't have the patience required.
- The Ferengi appear for the first time since season 1, when the writers decided they were an utter failure and completely unconvincing as a threat. They're actually well used here, getting the drop on the Enterprise for reasons that make sense. Actually, this makes two good appearances for the Ferengi (following "The Battle"), which makes me think that the dreadful "The Last Outpost" just gave them a bum rep.
- Composer Dennis McCarthy has some strong moments near the end of the episode, writing fun battle music for the simulation between the Hathaway and the Enterprise, and a short but compelling bit for Data's strategema rematch against Kolrami.
- Wesley usually walks the straight and narrow, but is surprisingly devious in this episode. He cheats the rules of the simulation, lies straight to Riker's face about his intentions to do so, and then disingenuously defends his actions after the fact. It's a good thing Riker is impressed by the deception, because Wesley could just have easily been reprimanded for this behavior.
3 comments:
And now? Torture.
[evil grin]
FKL
I guess the only possible explanation for the last scene is that the Ferengi ship was picking up the Hathaway coming back into sensor range. I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant that way but it would have been a decent explanation that would have made sense somewhat, assuming the Ferengi were not able to determine what kind of ship is approaching if it's just barely in sensor range.
What I always wondered though was; why did Picard not simply tell the Ferengi the truth about the battle simulation? I would think it's no secret that starfleets, whether Federation, Ferengi or whatever would perform battle simulations once in a while.
RE music, I think the entire battle sequence from this episode belongs to the top 10 cues ever composed by McCarthy.
First Officer's Log:
- When Picard confronts Kolrami in his ready room, there's a ship model on display in the back. It's the same model we've seen before, and we'll see it again (in the first episode of season 3, among other occasions). But if you look closely, you'll see it's a model of the exact same class as the Hathaway.
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