The first real break out episode for Patrick Stewart as Picard, and also about as close as things have come to a good episode so far. There are some clumsy scenes (mainly due to writing), but Stewart’s performance more than makes up for it as he really starts to make Picard seem like a Captain rather than a grumpy old man.
Really, all this episode needed to do in order to make it a good episode was dump the Ferengi out the airlock. Imagine if this episode had been the Cardassians instead. But clearly the writers are stuck on their ‘oooh, evil capitalists’ shtick, which just makes the Ferengi laughable.
On the side: for the second episode in a row, everything would have been solved if Tasha Yar’s department knew how to do their job. They beam aboard something from an abandoned space ship and never so much as check it. It really annoys me when episodes rely on people not doing their job – it’s just bad writing, and something that Star Trek has almost entirely avoided until this season.
Oh, and another one: the Picard manoeuvre is just stupid. ‘Leap into Warp 9 and seem to be in two places at once’? No one has ever found a solution? OK, try this: shoot at the one that wasn’t there a moment ago.
114 down, 623 to go.