Next Generation, season 7

With DS9 in production and VOY and GENERATIONS in pre-production, the show was bleeding writers and energy. Despite bursts of brilliance, it ain't pretty.
FOUR-STAR EPISODES: 3
AVERAGE EPISODE RATING: 2.7
-Descent, pt. 2 **
Captured by lore's borg followers, picard, troi, and geordi try to convince data that he's being manipulated. In command of the Enterprise, beverly plays cat and mouse with the borg ship in the corona of a sun. Planetside, riker and worf plan a rescue with the aid of ex-drone hugh, who is leading a group of fugitives from lore's minions. Nice moments, but generally rushed, contrived, and flat. Hugh in particular is ill-used; the writing, makeup, and cinematography all fail to recapture the magic. There isn't even a reunion scene with geordi.
-Liaisons ***
Three ilarian ambassadors making first diplomatic contact prove more than a handful. One outchocolates troi, another baits worf, and a third (eric pierpoint - HILL STREET BLUES, FAME) fakes a shuttle crash, then morphs into a female to explore human love with picard.
-Interface ***
Ben vereen! Geordi interfaces with a Starfleet probe exploring a downed vessel on an inhospitable planet. After learning that his mother (madge sinclair - COMING TO AMERICA, ROOTS) may be dead, he starts getting visions of her on the ghost ship. Is it real? He disobeys orders, to return despite the growing danger to his nervous system. In a profound step toward humanity, data disobeys orders as well. Ben (ROOTS, ALL THAT JAZZ) gives a cameo as geordi's father.
-Gambit 1&2 **
Investigating picard's barfight death, riker is abducted by archaeological thieves - only to find jean-luc alive, and pretending to be part of a mercenary crew under the thumb of a captain (richard lynch - THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER, THE HAPPY HOOKER) who controls them with neural pain inducers. They're collecting artifacts of a vulcan psionic weapon. Will must pretend to not know picard. Robin curtis (STAR TREK III-IV, SANTA WITH MUSCLES) plays t'pol(!), a vulcan extremist pretending to be a vulcan agent pretending to be a romulan. And Laker hall of famer james worthy? Tallest klingon ever. Plus sabrina le beauf (FATHERHOOD, THE COSBY SHOW). Despite some lovely elements, there are too many sloppy scenes where people who should be maintaining a high level of secrecy just chat their way through the plot points.
LYNCHATHON
-Gun on Ice Planet Zero BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
-Vegas in Space BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY
-Gambit
-Phantasms ***
Tight, creepy. Data has nightmare images that spill over into his waking life, causing him to stab troi. Invisible parasites infesting the crew are discovered, which data was able to subconsiously perceive. Visits to sigmund freud on the holodeck (and in data's mind) lead to a solution. Ensign tyler (gina rivera - SHOWGIRLS, THE CLOSER) has an unwelcome crush on geordi - it's criminal this thread didn't continue.
-Dark Page **
Acting as ambassador for a race which communicates only mentally (a fascinating concept which deserved more attention), lwaxana falls into a coma. In the depths of her mind, deanna discovers hidden memories of a sister who died. We meet deanna's dad for the first time, too. With all that loss, it's easier to understand why lwaxana is so neurotic and needy. The flaw is that it's hard to imagine 24th-century grief counseling allowing anyone to repress such tragedy for so long. But is eleven year-old kirsten dunst (JUMANJI, MELANCHOLIA) adorable? Well, yes.
-Attached ***
A Federation applicant has a xenophobic minority nation who kidnap picard and crusher, and implant them with psionic sympathy-inducers, making them gradually be able to read each other's thoughts and feel physically sick if they are separated. A prison break occurs, and they go on the lam. The emotional walls that have been waiting seven years to come down, do so. Tender, touching, and deft.
-Force of Nature ***
Enterprise is disabled and boarded by two scientists who insist that warp drive is weakening the fabric of subspace. One of them sacrifices her life creating a warp core breach aboard their ship, in order to prove her point. In thoughtfulness and execution, this episode is the equal of any four-star entry. That it lacks four-star excitement is precisely the point, however - the producers must have known that it would never make any "best-of" lists, but greenlit it anyway, because it's everything TREK should be. It's rife with parallels to global warming and the unintended consequences of technology (and the political resistance to any criticism that might affect a society's "bottom line"). Geordi and picard try to come to grips with the news. The episode also takes more time getting into the crisis than probably any TREK ever - it's almost disconcerting. Yet the excellence is worth the build, despite the misgivings of some of the writers, who perhaps lacked the objectivity to see this one's strengths. Shows that always adhere to a structural formula can be excellent, but subconsciously at least, the viewer becomes aware of the formula. Occasionally bucking that formula can be a risk, but artistically it's riskier never to try. If you can relax on all that, it can be refreshing to watch an episode with well-written character work almost for its own sake.
-Inheritance ***
Data encounters a woman (fionnulla flanagan - TRANSAMERICA, THE EWOK ADVENTURE) claiming to have been dr. soong's wife (and data's "mother"). He accepts her as such, but gradually realizes that she's one of soong's androids. He created her after data as a copy of his wife, who had died tragically. Juliana is damaged in an accident, and data finds a holoprogram soong made which anticipated questions he might have if he were to find her. Data must decide whether to inform her of her true nature, after living for decades thinking she's human.
-Parallels ****
-written by brannon braga
-directed by robert wiemer
It starts slow, and builds to a second half full of fist-pumping and burst-out-loud laughter. Returning from a bat'leth tournament, worf finds himself bouncing from timeline to timeline. He and deanna are suddenly mated - with offspring! Alexander doesn't exist! Picard's dead! Wesley's back! Naked geordi is dead!
-The Pegasus ***
Riker's first captain, admiral pressman (terry o'quinn - THE WEST WING, LOST), is on a mission to retrieve their vessel, lost twelve years before during a mutiny over a treaty-breaking Federation cloaking device - will was a green ensign, and supported his captain. While searching an extensive asteroid field, Enterprise plays cat and mouse with romulans, with will under orders not to talk to anyone, even picard.
-Homeward **
In order to preserve a pre-industrial village from ecological extinction, worf's scientist foster brother (paul sorvino - OH, GOD!, GOODFELLAS) breaks the prime directive, and Enterprise suddenly has an unsuspecting refugee village on its holodeck. A villager (brian markinson - THE L WORD, CAPRICA) who discovers the truth commits suicide. It's a DS9 preview, as dorn shares the screen with penny johnson (THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW, 24). A game try, but a bit forced and unnatural.
-Sub Rosa *
The only TREK ever to make me ponder the addition of negative stars to the rating system - if you enjoy feeling violated, belly up to the bar. Fans of classic V will enjoy duncan regehr, as long as they don't mind doing so with jaws agape. If you know someone who loves NEXT GEN but hasn't seen this one, they probably won't believe it isn't some practical video joke. The plot? Let's just say it's about scottish ghosts, and leave it at that. The only way for it to be any more bizarre would be for beverly to get on a motorbike, jump a tank of naked toothsome evel knievels, and land in a threesome with pinky and leather tuscadero. Note the "McFly" on the tombstone. I swear, if ellen dow (THE WEDDING SINGER, WEDDING CRASHERS) had started rapping from within her coffin, it would have fit right in.
-Lower Decks ****
-written by rene echevarria
-directed by gabrielle beaumont
This one is so bursting, you'll scratch your head trying to reconcile the fact that it's only forty-eight minutes. The action bounces between the senior staff as they try to slip a cardassian agent across the border, and a group of ensigns facing promotion review. The social interactions (and poker games) are flawless. Shannon fill (THE SOURCE OF SUCTION, MOMENT OF TRUTH: CRADLE OF CONSPIRACY), reprising her sito role from "The First Duty", faces harsh tests of character from worf and picard. She absolutely steals every scene she's in, and her death may hit you harder than any TREK death ever. Patty yasutake (GUNG HO, STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT) is rewarded for twelve episodes of light nursing duty (with three more and two feature films to come), with a substantive part. Dan gauthier (MELROSE PLACE, SON IN LAW) hits the right notes as the overeager lavelle. As civilian waiter ben, bruce beatty (COLORS, DUNSTON CHECKS IN) inhabits his role like he's been there for years. VOYAGER's alexander enberg (PUMP UP THE VOLUME, THE SOURCE OF SUCTION) brings perfect balance to the chemistry.
-Thine Own Self ***
Collecting radioactive fragments on a pre-warp planet, data loses his memory in an accident. He is befriended by villagers, who believe him to be an "ice man" from the mountains. He starts displaying disturbing intelligence and strength. As people begin to fall sick, he races to find a cure before their growing fears end in tragedy. Frightening and touching, with some lovely ronnie clair edwards (THE WALTONS, GETTING WASTED). Aboard the Enterprise, deanna repeatedly fails her bridge officer exams, until she comes to terms with sending a subordinate to a likely death.
-Masks **
An ancient alien intelligence within a rogue comet infests Enterprise's computer system...and data. He manifests multiple personalities, as the ship around him begins to transform as well. It's bizarre, mayan, and builds compellingly (with some lovely spiner) until it drops off a cliff into a manufactured, unsatisfying resolve.
-Eye of the Beholder ***
A seemingly happy young lieutenant commits suicide. Troi uncovers an eight year-old empath-ensnaring mystery, and a murderer (mark rolston - ALIENS, FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON) at the Utopia Planetia shipyard. Uneven, but saved from two stars by the romantic blossoming between deanna and worf (even if it is only hallucination).
-Genesis ***
Data and picard return to the ship to find the crew de-evolving along different paths. Will is an australopithecene, deanna is a reptile, barclay is a spider, worf is...let's go with frightening.
-Journey's End **
Wesley is on vacation from the Academy, where his performance has taken a turn for the worse. He's sullen and disagreeable. The Federation cedes a planet with native indians to the cardassians. They refuse relocation and initiate wes into a vision quest, in which his father tells him to stop following. He turns his back on duty, and drops out of Starfleet. The indian who helps him turns out to be the traveler, and at a moment of crisis, wes stops time. Despite a too-easy resolve, dipsy wipsy spirituality, and too much non-support for wes from picard, the episode almost works...but wes's sendoff deserved better.
-Firstborn **
As alexander shows no interest in his approaching first ascension ceremony, worf takes him to a klingon festival, where they meet a family advocate who turns out to be alexander from forty years in the future, trying to convince his younger self to not turn his back on klingon ways. Worf realizes that alexander's adult struggles for peace are a noble cause, and that it's wrong to try to push him into a traditional path. If all that plus lursa, b'etor, and armin shimerman's only TNG appearance as quark aren't enough to make a good alexander episode, it's just never going to happen, my friends.
-Bloodlines ***
Ex-daimon bok is free from ferengi incarceration, and returns to kill the son (ken olandt -SUMMER SCHOOL, SUPER FORCE) picard never knew he had. It's a genetically-manipulated ruse, but there are touching scenes between the newly-introduced (and reluctant) son and father.
-Emergence **
The Enterprise begins acting strangely, as a train almost runs down picard and data during another shakespearean play on the holodeck. Is the ship's computer achieving sentience? Aboard a holo-orient express, different manifestations of consciousness inhabit the characters. There are lovely elements, but the overall feeling is ultimately flat. David huddleston (BLAZING SADDLES, THE BIG LEBOWSKI) plays a lovely conductor.
-Preemptive Strike **
Ro returns from advanced training, is sent undercover with the maquis, and finds herself torn between her loyalty to picard and her inherent sympathies. Lovely work between stewart and forbes, but the writing is depressingly simplistic.
-All Good Things... ****
-written by ronald d. moore, brannon braga
-directed by winrich kolbe
Tasha, o'brien, and ol' tomolak join the adventure as picard slips between past, present, and future. Three Enterprises try to solve a riddle from q, one that endangers humanity's very existence. In the future, deanna is long dead...and worf and riker have never forgiven each other. Beverly has her own ship, and a divorce from picard. Picard has the onset of irumodic syndrome, and to watch all his old shipmates struggle to see beyond his seeming senility, is subtle drama so tight it hums. This series finale is so satisfying that the closing moments fill you with a gentle rush of endorphins - as picard finally joins the poker game, one can't imagine anything else so just right.