Next Generation, season 4

FOUR-STAR EPISODES: 3
AVERAGE EPISODE RATING: 2.9
-The Best of Both Worlds, pt. 2 ***
A compelling resolution that loses one star for being a bit too easy. The Federation/klingon fleet is decimated by the cube (but why no klingon wrecks?). Riker is given a field command, and appoints shelby as his first officer. As the cube approaches Earth, the Enterprise re-kidnaps picard/locutus, then uses him to send a command to the collective, initiating a sleep cycle. Cube destroyed, the implants are removed from picard...
-Family ****
-written by ronald d. moore
-directed by les landau
Picard returns to the family home, a vineyard estate in France, while dealing with post-assimilation traumatic disorder. Old arguments with his brother (charmingly played by jeremy kemp - TOP SECRET!, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL) surface, ending in a muddy vineyard brawl...which ends in laughter, then tears. Seeing robert get under jean-luc's skin is poignant and startling. He also meets an idealistic young nephew for the first time. Will he leave Starfleet, to work under the sea? An already-good series plumbs new emotional depth, and sets up one of stewart's greatest acting moments in GENERATIONS. In the C plot, wesley views a holo-message made by his father jack crusher (the first of three appearances for doug wert - ROSWELL, EXCESSIVE FORCE II: FORCE ON FORCE), when he was born. The obsession with biological parentage is a bit 20th century, but it's touching. The B plot has worf's parents come aboard as the ship is repaired in orbit - it's two-star material, which makes this the most flawed four-star TREK ever. The richest performance by patrick stewart thus far, is simply undeniable. The only android-free NEXT GEN, no doubt to give brent time to prepare for...
-Brothers ***
Data mysteriously commandeers the ship, outwitting his shipmates effortlessly after he is subconsciously summoned by his creator noonien soong, who is not nearly so dead as advertised. The call also brings lore, whose reassembly was unknown to soong. He tells his children he is about to die. Lore fools soong with an identity swap, taking the emotion chip meant for data and leaving soong for dead. A superb three-character performance by brent spiner. As soong, he brilliantly avoids the vocal pitfalls of playing an ancient character. Wonderful.
-Suddenly Human ***
After rescuing an alien crew from a training mission wreck, one of them turns out to be a human youth who was presumed dead as a child. His adopted father soon appears, demanding the boy. Picard struggles with the moral question of where the boy belongs, and gets a knife in his chest for his troubles - this one may shake your faith in cultural relativism, as the telarians are brutal, xenophobic misogynists.
-Remember Me ***
A wesley warp field experiment creates a shrinking-universe effect to which only beverly is immune, or so it seems, as the size of the crew keeps shrinking but no one else notices. In reality, she's trapped in a warp field bubble to which her thoughts give texture. The traveler returns to guide wesley through his expanding awareness of time and space. The writing occasionally falters, but holds together.
-Legacy ***
Enterprise travels to tasha's home planet, where crashed Starfleet officers have been kidnapped. Tasha's sister (beth toussaint - DALLAS, THE RETURN OF HUNTER) is a helpful coalition member - or is she? Everyone falls for her story, because they want to believe...even data.
-Reunion ****
-written by thomas perry, jo perry, ronald d. moore, brannon braga
-directed by jonathan frakes
Searing. A franchise locked into the zone (the non-neutral kind). K'ehleyr returns on k'mpec's flagship, with a surprise for worf - a son. The chancellor is dying, and names picard the arbiter of succession. The candidates arrive: duras and gowron (hello robert o'reilly - THE MASK, DEEP SPACE NINE). K'mpec (thank you, charles cooper) dies after revealing that one of the candidates is in league with the romulans. An assassin's bomb goes off. Duras kills k'ehleyr. Worf kills duras. He sends the son, alexander, to be raised by his Earth parents. Deadbeat dad, or self-aware cat?
-Future Imperfect ***
A ripper. Will wakes up after an accident, having lost sixteen years of memory. He's Enterprise captain, with a motherless child (named jean-luc!). Peace negotiations with the romulans are coming to fruition, and admiral picard tells him that ambassador tomalak considers riker's participation indispensable. When the photos of "mom" are his holo-love minuet, will figures out it's all a romulan deception to gather intelligence...then he finally realizes that the deception is a deception too. Geordi without a visor is beautiful, and stewart is a perfectly dashing older admiral. Wonderful visuals, tight pacing, and a bouncy birthday scene that's the first and only broken-character shot to make it into an episode.
-Final Mission ***
Wesley's final episode as a regular, as he's off to the Academy. He and picard crash on a barren, blistering moon with an uncooperative, deceitful shuttle captain (nick tate - SPACE: 1999, HOOK) whose impulsiveness dooms him. Wes must keep a mortally wounded picard alive. Plus an hysterical (unintentional?) STAR BLAZERS nod, as they visit the Gamilon system. Gritty, tense, and poignant. Come back soon, wil wheaton.
-The Loss ***
Every so often, the show dips into pure sci fi. A two-dimensional life form unintentionally drags the ship toward destruction. Deanna loses her empathic abilities, and lashes out at everyone like a scared, petulant child. Will calls her out on her aristocratic attitude toward her humanity.
-Data's Day **
Data writes a journal to send to commander bruce maddox. The TREK debut of rosalind chao (AFTERM*A*S*H, DEEP SPACE NINE). Silliness abounds as she and o'brien get married...plus a vulcan ambassador who proves to be a romulan spy. We meet data's first cat, and beverly teaches him to dance (data, not the cat). The weakness of this one is in adhering to way too many 20th-century romantic cliches. Even assuming that marriage survives into the 24th century (a large assumption), the writing lacks deftness - for instance, data would generally say "mating" instead of marriage.
-The Wounded ***
A Starfleet captain (bob gunton - PATCH ADAMS, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) goes maverick, and his vengeance may trigger a renewed war. Can you hear that spin-off train a-moanin'? Domestic doin's with the o'briens and the introduction of the cardassians, with marc alaimo as gul macet (marc would go on to 35 DS9s as gul dukat). The showdown between the two most decorated Starfleet captains deserved sharp, brilliant writing - and didn't get it. O'brien served with captain maxwell, and has a touching scene with him.
-Devil's Due ***
A peaceful planet is in chaos, as ancient prophesies about the return of the devil appear to be coming true. Picard smells a con artist, and puts his soul (and servitude) on the line to out her. Marta dubois (TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY, MAGNUM P.I.) renders one of the most deliciously devious TREK turns ever. A charming teaser in which data plays ebeneezer scrooge on the holodeck.
-Clues ***
After passing through a wormhole, the crew suspects that they were inside far longer than the thirty seconds the clock shows. If data can't cover up all evidence of an encounter with a xenophobic alien race, the crew will be killed. Another silly slice of dixon hill...
-First Contact ***
Bebe!! Bebe!!! Riker is wounded while undercover on a planet on the brink of space travel. Picard initiates premature first contact, but the planet is still insular and heliocentric. A progressive leader (george coe - MAX HEADROOM, THE WEST WING) goes as far as he can, but must slow down the race to space. The space program's lead scientist (carolyn seymour - MR. MOM, CONGO) pleads to be allowed to stay on Enterprise...and is given permission. Quite touching. Ms. neuwirth (CHEERS, SAY ANYTHING...) is a doctor who engages in some inter-speciel intercourse with mr. riker. Unlike much TREK sex, which comes with averted eyes and sighs of i-must-resist-but-i-cannnnnn't, this is refreshingly bright-eyed. Bebe just wants to hump an alien, bless her. One of the most resonant touches of the episode is the parallel to how vulcans deemed FIRST CONTACT era humanity not yet ready for space.
-Galaxy's Child ***
Enterprise accidentally kills a space life form, and then must do a C-section to birth its unborn child...which imprints on the ship as its "mother", to dangerous effect. Geordi meets one of Enterprise's designers, a woman he previously turned into a problem-solving holoprogram (and proceeded to fall in love with). The real leah brahms feels violated...and is also married. Geordi's awkwardness is so real it dances on the border of creepy, which is an exceedingly fine line on which to have a lead character dance. Brilliantly written, maurice hurley.
-Night Terrors **
After a starship crew is found to have murdered one another, the Enterprise crew begins experiencing the same paranoid hallucinations, just as the ship become similarly trapped in a spatial anomaly. Dream deprivation is driving them slowly insane, and the only one who can dream is deanna, who has terrible nightmares which are in actuality a communication attempt by another trapped vessel. Picard puts data in command.
-Identity Crisis **
Geordi is infected with a long-dormant parasite that begins turning him into another species. He runs away to the planet where he was infected. There are lovely elements here, including a touching relationship with a former crewmate (maryann plunkett - THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, BLUE VALENTINE) also infected. It's hard to say exactly why it doesn't quite come together. A too-contrived solitary transformation for geordi? A too-easy resolve?
-The Nth Degree ***
After an accident with an alien probe, barclay's confidence swells and his intelligence expands exponentially, until he integrates his consciousness with the ship's computer and takes the ship instantly to the center of the galaxy, where super-beings are waiting to learn about them. The crew attempted to stop barclay's takeover of the ship, but are quite sympathetic when he is one of them again. It's all a lovely idea, but his ascension to super-being could have had a more human aspect, instead of being instantly aristocratic. And his romatic pass at deanna should have been more textured. Some lovely moments as barclay and crusher play characters in "Cyrano de Bergerac".
-Qpid ***
Vash shows up as a pseudo-member of an archaeological council, for which jean-luc is delivering a paper. The sparks still fly. Q interprets picard's feelings as weakness, and sends the gang to Sherwood Forest, as robin hood characters (with vash as marian). Nobody gets under picard's skin like these two - in the end, vash allows q to become her new intergalactic, time-traveling consort. An obvious (too-obvious?) nod to ANIMAL HOUSE, and a subtle nod to PRINCESS BRIDE...plus a rare moment of TREK sexism (trexism?) as the men fight with swords, and the women with flower pots.
-The Drumhead **
A retired admiral (jean simmons - SPARTACUS, GUYS AND DOLLS) holds onboard hearings to investigate sabotage and treason. When one guilty party is found, it becomes a witchhunt in which a crew member's career is ruined. The simplistic writing doesn't quite elevate to the premise, as it becomes about "good people vs. evil people". The one strong thread is in how worf's prejudices cause him to follow a misguided authority figure too far.
-Half a Life ***
David ogden stiers (THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, STARGATE: ATLANTIS) is lovely as an alien scientist facing mandatory age-euthanization, who falls in love with lwaxana. She spurs him into defying his culture's conventions, but he's not quite strong (or selfish) enough to see it through. The writing delivers all the right questions, with sensitvity and depth. Stiers' performance raises the level of everyone around him...with majel finally approaching competence as an actor, he has enough to work with. Michelle forbes' TREK debut as his daughter is clumsy...with two other leading ladies, stiers' performance might easily belong on the short list of greatest TREK guest turns ever.
-The Host **
Crusher falls in love with an ambassador, unaware he is a conjoined being. After a shuttle is fired upon, the symbiont needs a temporary host...will riker, come on down! Beverly is torn, but finally has a night of passion with the former mr. riker. The first appearance of a trill is notable for how different they'll become on DS9 - less a combining of host and symbiont, and more a takeover. At the end, three hosts are one too many for beverly to process. There are strong elements here (including some surprisingly realistic kissing), but it's a bit overwritten. A bit forced. Perhaps they were trying to take in too much for one episode.
-The Mind's Eye ***
During a shuttle trip to Risa, geordi is kidnapped and taken aboard a romulan warbird to be subconsciously conditioned into being a sleeper agent. He returns to Enterprise with false memories and prepares to kill a klingon governor and start a war. In a romulan holo-simulation, he kills o'brien. Fine turns are rendered by john fleck (ENTERPRISE, TRUE BLOOD) as a romulan interrogator, and larry dobkin (PATTON, BEASTMASTER 2) as a klingon ambassador.
-In Theory ***
A lieutenant on the rebound from an emotionally distant man begins a romance with data. After a classic progression of advice-seeking from all his friends, he initiates a romance program. Guest star michele scarabelli (ALIEN NATION, AIRWOLF) shines. In patrick stewart's directorial debut, the flaws are nearly negated by fine writing and a superb spiner performance - but for comedy's sake, data's naivete and ignorance are overdone.
-Redemption ****
-written by ronald d. moore
-directed by cliff bole
The debut of lursa (barbara march - THE GAMBLER RETURNS, GENERATIONS) and b'etor (gwynyth walsh - THE CRUSH, NYPD BLUE), leaders of the treacherous house of duras, plus the first visible appearance of sela (or her half-romulan daughter), as denise crosby re-returns from the dead. Gowron ascends to chancellor, only to face an implacable uprising. Worf takes a leave of absence to restore family honor. He gets kurn to commit his squadrons to gowron. Civil war begins. A kidnapped picard faces a sexually ravenous klingon. Worf resigns his commission, to fight at gowron's side. It percolates, it pops...