For the first time we get to see the other side of the first contact situation that is spoken about often in Star Trek.
It’s carefully put together, and the Riker sub-plot adds enough jeopardy to the situation to keep the tension levels up, while underlining the main theme of the episode.
One thing this episode did was present the best argument for the Prime Directive that has been shown so far: the right of planets to determine when they will face up to the aliens out there. But I don’t fully buy it – do we have the unreserved right to delude ourselves into thinking of the universe in a way that’s wrong?
One sour note: the nurse with the alien fetish just felt gratuitous. I also felt that the last scene did beat the ‘this is an analogy for Earth now’ drum a little too hard.
196 own, 541 to go.