In this episode we learn just how powerful a starship captain is and that Troi might as well be somewhere else. Saying that the episode is fairly fun, Data is amusing and there's minimal Wesley, so things are looking up.
What Happens
Enterprise is picking up delegates from
warring species that both want to join the Federation, in order to take them to
the negotiation/peace-making planet called Parliament.* The delegates loathe
each other and try to start a tiny war in the corridors. There are various
wacky alien shenanigans for Riker and Lt. Yar to deal with.
The Enterprise passes through a strange space cloud
and Worf is attacked by blue lightning. The blue lightning goes into Dr Crusher,
then the helm, where it causes various malfunctions. The senior officers assume
there is a saboteur and Picard starts talking about crime fiction, especially
Holmes. Engineer Singh is killed by the blue lightning and Data starts
pretending he is Sherlock Holmes.
Troi realises Worf and Dr Crusher
were possessed and reports this. The blue lightning possesses Picard and takes
the ship back to the space cloud. The senior staff discuss the Captain’s odd
behaviour and dither. At the space cloud the blue lightning lifeform reveals
that it wants to go home and it’ll be taking Picard with it. Picard disables
the bridge crew by blasting them with Force Lightning from the consoles, then
transports into the space cloud.
After an hour of searching, Riker
is about to leave when Troi senses that Picard wants to return. Picard is saved
from the space cloud because his pattern was still in the transporter, but he
has no memory of being outside the ship.
Riker: lover,
adventurer, middle-management
Riker tries to keep the peace between the robed lizard
aliens and the furry-faced, bulbous-headed aliens. Along with Lt. Yar he ends
up babysitting them including taking away their weapons, telling them off and trying
unsuccessfully to get them to stay in their quarters. Basically he’s the
straight man of the comical B-plot.
Does Not Compute
Data is told about Sherlock Holmes in one staff meeting and
by the next one he’s found out everything there is to know about the fictional
detective and has adopted a Holmes persona. This includes smoking a pipe,
saying ‘elementary’ and being both hilarious and annoying. No deerstalker hat
though.
Counsellor Pointless
Troi’s job is to sense when stuff is weird. This is why she
has a chair on the bridge rather than being in her office ready to counsel
people. So far she’s able to tell when stuff is weird, but is absolutely no use
in actually coming to any conclusions based on this info. In this episode she
senses something’s up with Worf and Dr Crusher, discovers they were possessed
using hypnosis, and reports this to the senior staff. Then Picard is possessed right in front of her and she doesn’t
notice a damn thing.
Poor O’Brien
O’Brien is failing to escort one of the furry-faced,
bulbous-headed aliens back to their quarters, when a robed lizard alien comes
into the corridor and they end having a fight almost on top of him.
Security Breach
 |
| Captain Picard, Sith Lord |
Future Prejudice
While discussing the possibility of sabotage the senior
staff assume that one of the troublesome alien delegates could have done it,
and therefore must be in the pay of the Ferengi. I’ve not seen any evidence to
suggest that the Ferengi would do that, where’s the profit?
Staff Meetings: 6
1. Geordie reports to Picard about Worf’s accident.
2. & 3. Officers meet in lounge to discuss mysterious
malfunctions. The difference is whether Data is being Sherlock Holmes (and
whether Engineer Singh is alive).
4. Troi reports her theories about crewmembers being
possessed.
5. Senior staff discuss Picard’s weird behaviour, then fail
to do anything.
6. Riker and Dr Crusher express their concerns to Picard,
but don’t take any action, thus alerting the lifeform possessing him to their
suspicions. This leads to the bridge crew being Force Lightninged.
Death by Space
Misadventure
Engineer Singh is killed by the blue lightning lifeform. I’m
not sure why he dies since it had already possessed 3 people without harming them and later says it
didn’t mean to kill Singh. It certainly didn’t seem to gain from his death in any way.
At least Singh's family can be comforted by the knowledge that his death led to an android adopting a Sherlock Holmes persona in order to (barely) investigate his death. That’ll make the funeral easier for them.
At least Singh's family can be comforted by the knowledge that his death led to an android adopting a Sherlock Holmes persona in order to (barely) investigate his death. That’ll make the funeral easier for them.
The End
This is the first episode in the series which doesn’t end
with Picard or Riker ordering the ship to it’s next destination accompanied by
the uplifting sound of space trumpets.
Instead Picard humorously decides to let
Riker remain in charge for now after hearing that one of the alien delegates may have been
killed (and is soon to be eaten) by other alien delegates. Apparently this very
amusing.
*It doesn’t sound like any version of Parliament I’m
familiar with.
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