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Gambit Part II (3 out of 4 stars - good).
"How did that feel?"
- Riker, after slugging Galen (Picard)
Considerably less action-packed than part one. The various plot twists and
character revelations, however, manage to keep things interesting, demonstrating
a level of story complexity rare for a typical Next Generation episode. It
turns out the desired artifacts are piece of a powerful weapon called the Stone
of Gol, which the mercenaries plan to deliver to a band of Vulcan extremists who
advocate the isolation of Vulcan from the rest of the galaxy.
The revelations that Tallera (strongly played by Trek/Babylon 5 veteran Robin
Curtis) is an undercover Vulcan operative and later an actual Vulcan extremist
is a nice surprise. However, Picard-Galen's defeating Baran by reversing the
effects of the neural implant is hokey and too easy. There's also the
predictable butting-of-heads between Data and Worf, introduced in part one, to
help energize the Enterprise B-plot as the crew tries to track down the
mercenary ship's changing location. Comedic gems include a cameo by NBA star
James Worthy as an unshakable Klingon, Riker slugging his captain, and Data
throwing Riker in the brig in the episode's delightful coda.
Phantasms (11/2 out of 4 stars - bad).
"Ahh! Impotence on top of everything!...There might be a paper in
this.."
- Holodeck Sigmund Freud of his android patient
Space leeches are feeding on the crew and only Data's "nightmares"
hold clues to their destruction in this ridiculously incomprehensible sequel to
last season's Birthright. In that episode, also written by spookmeister
Brannon Braga, Data accidentally triggers an unused file in his brain, allowing
him to dream and explore symbolic imagery. This time around, Data suddenly
finds his dreams hold a more immediate and menacing purpose thanks to invisible
leeches infesting the ship.
This episode is more a collection of cute moments - Worf sneezing on Spot,
Picard trying to avoid an admiral's banquet, etc. They're funny scenes, but
can't salvage what is in effect a poorly realize story about Data exploring his
own subconscious. The episode's major failing is yet another alien menace that
provides little in the way of jeopardy, only an excuse for Data to have all
these spooky nightmares and hallucinations. Director Patrick Stewart drags out
the Steadicam to help things look spooky, but why bother? The symbols are
pointless, with Beverly sucking Riker's brains through a straw and Troi as a
cake...with mint frosting. The episode does have one of the funniest
scenes all season with Data bbeing counseled by Sigmund Freud, who concludes
that Data's psychological problems are the result of his repressed need to
possess his mother. Now that's funny! Though we do get around to the
Data's mother bit down the road with Inheritance...
Robert
Heyman
This article originally appeared in the December 1994
issue of LogBook: The Zine
Reprinted with the permission of Robert Heyman. © 1994, 2001
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