A Romulan scout ship charges across the Neutral Zone, pursued by an attacking warbird. Backing down from a confrontation with the Enterprise, the warbird departs, leaving a Romulan defector in Federation custody. He brings word of a covert outpost being built illegally in the Neutral Zone, but his story and the circumstances of his defection are suspicious enough that Picard must seriously weigh the claim. Is it worth violating the Neutral Zone and risking war to try to prove the accusations?
This script, a "Cuban Missile Crisis in the Neutral Zone" tale, is the second credited to Ronald Moore -- but he has said in interviews that his first draft was essentially thrown out and an extensive rewrite was undertaken with different members of the writing staff each taking an act. (He claims the teaser and Act 1 as his work.) The script holds together without showing the signs of its patchwork construction, though it does have another minor flaw which showrunner Michael Piller acknowledged in an interview of his own. It's a story with a solid opening and ending, and only a lot of talk in the middle.
It is indeed a hell of an opening. When the Romulan warbird comes screaming onto the scene, firing at the scout ship, it's the most impressive ship battle sequence the show has produced to date. And the mystery itself is compelling too. Who is this Romulan, and can his story be believed? The final reveal of the episode, that the entire scenario was concocted by the Romulans to test this defecting Admiral's loyalty, is a similarly compelling conclusion to the tale. But yes, the middle -- while by no means boring -- isn't as compelling.
Perhaps part of the problem is that no one main character is really the focus of the episode. The episode doesn't make the mistake of focusing too much on the guest star (although he is painted as a compelling character), but the story trades off a lot between characters. Data comes closest to being the central character, in that Picard asks him to be an impartial chronicler of the history that may soon be made, but Picard himself has just as many compelling scenes -- in particular the extended sequence in which he dresses down the defecting Admiral Jarok while only raising his voice once, briefly. At least if the whole crew is sort of sharing focus in this episode, they all come off smart. No one really seems to trust the situation; and they do indeed figure out how they're being deceived.
It's a good episode for guest stars. James Sloyan makes his first Star Trek appearance as Alidar Jarok. He gives an excellent, sympathetic performance; it's understandable that he'd be used again in a later Next Generation episode, as well as on Voyager, and in the important role of Odo's "father" Mora Pol on Deep Space Nine. Andreas Katsulas returns as Tomalak, and is once again a solid Romulan adversary. He's really an interesting foil for the Enterprise crew, and it's a shame we never saw him again on the series. (Not "for real" anyway; he appears as a hologram in the fourth season, and in an alternate reality in the series finale.)
And there's another "guest star" who might look familiar. The teaser shows us Data on the holodeck, performing a scene from Shakespeare's Henry V with two holographic actors. One is played by Patrick Stewart, who wears makeup and employs an unusual accent. It's not enough to keep him from being recognized, but since Picard himself is also in the scene, there isn't really any confusion.
The reason for Stewart's "cameo" here is more than just the show taking advantage of an accomplished Shakespearean actor in their midst; the scene was actually his idea. This opening teaser was originally written as a Sherlock Holmes scene, but then came a last minute complication. At the time the series made the episode "Elementary, Dear Data," the writers believed the character of Sherlock Holmes to be lapsed into the public domain. In fact, descendants of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle still retained a small percentage of the rights, and were entitled to financial compensation for the use. Paramount, having failed to secure those rights for the prior episode, were now in hot water over it. This delayed an actual Moriarty sequel episode until the sixth season of the series, and meant that a substitution had to be made for the opening here. With just two days to go until filming, Michael Piller went to Patrick Stewart as a sort of "resident scholar," who suggested that Henry V offered excellent parallels to this episode, both in the Romulan Admiral masquerading as a low-ranking officer, and in Picard's own wishes to know if the people under his command were prepared to go to war over this situation. Indeed, these connections add a lot to the episode, and you can sense that Jean-Luc Picard's enthusiasm for Shakespeare here is really Patrick Stewart's.
Other observations:
- Ron Jones delivers another excellent score. He continues to develop the Romulan theme he created in earlier episodes, and also delivers a nice blast of a Klingon anthem when their ships make a surprise appearance.
- Tomalak's presence in this episode isn't the only point of continuity with "The Enemy." Dr. Crusher references that opportunity to have learned about Romulan medicine, and gives Worf a meaningful, accusatory look for his actions then.
- Data gets to give a log entry in this episode (a follow-up on Picard's request to chronicle events).
- Despite the fact that the Romulan warbird in the opening cloaks as it veers off, Worf is somehow able to detect that it's returning to the Neutral Zone.
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