Favorite Season Two Episodes

[AdmiralScreed]

I just finished rewatching the second season of TNG. Wondering what everyone else's favorite episodes are. My favorites, from best to worst, are the following:

1. The Emissary: Wonderful guest character, great romance plot, all around a solid character drama.

2. The Icarus Factor: I loved the father-son settle old score plot, as well as Riker's promotion. It led to some great development for Riker. I also liked the way other cast members were utilized. Pulaski's connection to his father, Troi's sadness at the prospect of Riker leaving, etc.

3. Manhunt: An all around fun and fun(ny) episode.

4. Time Squared: A very dark, serious, and suspenseful mystery plot.

5. The Child: A great episode of firsts! Introducing Guinan, Ten Forward, and one of my favorite characters, Doctor Pulaski. I enjoy the main plot of this episode more than most, particularly the ending. Saying goodbye to Troi's son may have been super touchy feely, maybe even too much for most, but I can't deny it brought a tear to my eye!

What are everyone else's favorite episodes of season two?

 

[jimbotron]

1. Q Who
2. Contagion
3. Elementary, Dear Data
4. Peak Performance
5. The Royale

About a dozen of the episodes are thoroughly enjoyable, up from about 5 from season 1.

On the flipside, my most despised of season 2:

1. Shades of Gray
2. The Outrageous Okona
3. The Child
4. Pen Pals
5. Samaritan Snare

(Interesting, 4 of the 5 feature a lot of Wesley Crusher ) The Dauphin is #6.

 

[jimbotron]

I do give props to The Child for fitting in as much as it did though while keeping things mostly coherent. In addition to what you said, it also worked the loss of Dr. Crusher and how Wesley will adjust to that, and LaForge as new chief engineer into the script. I'm surprised they didn't mention Riker's beard while they were at it.

 

[AdmiralScreed]

I do give props to The Child for fitting in as much as it did though while keeping things mostly coherent. In addition to what you said, it also worked the loss of Dr. Crusher and how Wesley will adjust to that, and LaForge as new chief engineer into the script. I'm surprised they didn't mention Riker's beard while they were at it.

Yes! I neglected to mention those, but absolutely! I thought I was watching a brand new show!

 

[AdmiralScreed]

On the flipside, my most despised of season 2:

1. Shades of Gray
2. The Outrageous Okona
3. The Child
4. Pen Pals
5. Samaritan Snare

(Interesting, 4 of the 5 feature a lot of Wesley Crusher ) The Dauphin is #6.

Hmmmm......interesting.....I'd go:

1. The Royale: Cheesy, and frankly boring, I thought. (Worst)
2. Where Silence Has Lease: Not bad, just very slow moving. I'm not a fan of "ship gets lost in something they encounter in space and tries to escape" episodes.
3. Elementary, Dear Data: Had a hard time getting into this one...

I didn't think anything from season 2 was unwatchable, these were just my least favorites from the bunch.

 

[SchwEnt]

Season Two will always be the season that hooked me on TNG, in my mind where it all came together for reals. Still one of my favorite seasons.

Many favorite eps for me--

The Child, if only for the fantastic welcome-back opening fanfare intro.

Where Silence has Lease. I love great unknown space exploration in ST. Creepy scary, too.

Elementary, Dear Data.

A Matter of Honor.

The Measure of a Man.

Contagion.

The Royale. Hey, I thought it was fun.

Q Who?

Samaritan Snare.

The Emissary.

Peak Performance.

And the rest of the eps I didn't even think were bad, just not my faves. And these Season Two favorites rank as my favorites for the whole series. Great stuff here.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Q Who
Contagion
Elementary, Dear Data
Measure of a Man
The Royale

Those of the five most memorable, easy.

And, a complete list of 'Netflix skips':
The Child
The Outrageous Okona
The Dauphin
The Icarus Factor
Up The Long Ladder
Shades of Gray

The Child looks like it's more popular than I thought. But it isn't even a TNG episode, it's a Star Trek Phase II episode, and only existed because of a writer strike.

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

Favourites:

Elementary, Dear Data
The Measure Of A Man
Where Silence Has Lease
Time Squared
Contagion
The Royale
Q Who

Not so great:

The Dauphin
Up The Long Ladder
Manhunt

All the others I would rate somewhere on a scale of average to good/excellent.

 

[jimbotron]

I can't stand Manhunt. "Troi's mom comes on-board to marry something" should NOT have been a greenlit script.

 

[LitmusDragon]

Some of my favorites on this latest watch-through (no particular order):

1. The Measure of a Man. An intelligent, high-concept episode with a lot of relevance to present-day issues. A lot more of these would come in later seasons.
2. The Royale. Cheesy and kind of stupid, but fun. Reminds me of a pulp 1950s science fiction novel. Or an episode of the Twilight Zone.
3. Q Who? Good action-suspense episode. Q is a great character when he's used properly, as he is here.
4. A Matter of Honor. Good Riker episode, good Klingon episode.
5. The Emissary. Some great character development for Worf and the guest star is really good in the role.

 

[davejames]

I can't stand Manhunt. "Troi's mom comes on-board to marry something" should NOT have been a greenlit script.

Agreed, although between the Dixon Hill scenes and Data's hilarious attempt at dinner conversation, I still found it a lot more watchable than some other S2 eps like Samaritan Snare or Unnatural Selection.

 

[davejames]

After watching many of these eps for the first time in awhile...

Still love:
Elementary, Dear Data
A Matter of Honor
Measure of a Man
Time Squared
Q, Who?

Better than I remembered:
Loud as a Whisper -- a surprisingly thoughtful and intelligent episode
Outrageous Okona -- despite some iffy writing, I found Campbell charming as hell and fun to watch
Icarus Factor -- the father/son drama was fairly well written, and it was nice getting some more insight into Riker

Not as good as I remembered:
Where Silence Has Lease -- the crew basically just stands around on the bridge for an hour, and the "rats in a maze" twist is painfully obvious
The Schizoid Man -- usually Data is always fun to watch, but he doesn't do much here except act jealous

 

[AdmiralScreed]

I can't stand Manhunt. "Troi's mom comes on-board to marry something" should NOT have been a greenlit script.

I thought it was hilarious, but to each his own. The character drama episodes have been my favorites so far in my rewatch.

 

[TrekAlliance92]

Some of my favorites...
Where Silence Has Lease - Great exploration episode, creepy atmosphere, amazing music from Ron Jones
Unnatural Selection - Interesting medical plot, great use of Pulaski
Contagion - Awesome tech plot, great use of Romulans
Time Squared - Another interesting, great plot with some more creepy atmosphere and interesting take on time travel
Q Who? - Great introduction to the Borg, a great action episode and good use of Q
The Emissary - Love the probe retrieval scene, great guest character and an awesome solution to the problem
Peak Performance - Enjoyed the idea of wargames, an actual good use of the Ferengi in an action/drama role, fun Data moments

 

[MikeS]

If this is a top five. In no order -

Contagion
Matter of Honour
Peak Performance
Measure of a Man
Q Who?

 

[jimbotron]

There's one thing I didn't understand with Time Squared. If it's the same time-displaced Picard (and shuttle) that are stuck in the loop, how many cycles did they go through? Just one? We see the log where Riker sees the shuttle off, so I assume it was the first one. Otherwise both that Picard and shuttle would age infinitely until the loop is stopped.

Why was that Picard so intent on making the same decision again? How did the real Picard know to fly through the portal? The setup was great, but the payoff was confusing.

 

[Lance]

Almost all of them have something for me. I'm very nostalgic about Season Two, largely because it was the only one I owned in full on videotape back in the day, so I watched it over and over again! Of particular note I'd say I love Where Silence Has Lease (spooky atmosphere), Measure Of A Man (for all the usually stated reasons), Q Who (see previous entry), The Royale (again with the off feeling, love the bizarre mystery aspects), Peak Performance... I could go on. TNG Season Two struck just the right balance for me between the 'freshness' of Season One, and the more confident style that it would carry through to subsequent seasons.

Of course, I'm not blind to it's flaws. The Oirish one was terrible, and Shades Of Grey... well, I'd like to read a spirited defence of that one. I could never write such a defence, though.

 

[I-Am-Prepared!]

I love the second season.

Firstly, a bunch of standout episodes: "Q Who", "Contagion", "Elementary, Dear Data", "A Matter of Honour", "The Measure of a Man", "Peak Performance", "Time Squared" (although I think this one's overrated), "The Emissary", "Loud as a Whisper", "Samaritan Snare" (if only for the Picard backstory).

Secondly, characters! I love Kate Pulaski - a far more interesting character than Crusher. Was she a better fit for the TNG ensemble? No, and I'm glad that McFadden returned as Beverley in the third season. But Pulaski was a much better character - from her gentle, cynical prodding of Data, to her relationship with Worf, to her care and interest in Geordi's vision, and her general humour and strength, I thought she was wonderful. And, of course, Whoopi as Guinan added so much to the second season and the rest of the series.

Thirdly, much better characterisations! Especially Picard - who begun his evolution here from stuffy grump-face to erstwhile, diplomatic, thoughtful, unrelenting leader and father by the third season.

Oh, and Ron Jones was still around!

 

[Lance]

There are some cracking good episodes in there. And I never understood the Pulaski hate either.

 

[Jeyl]

And I never understood the Pulaski hate either.

Well, when a crew member unwillingly becomes impregnated by an unknown alien force, the first duty of ANY DOCTOR is to run diagnostics in the... Oh, no. She just takes the victim to the bar. And to add a cherry on top, Pulaski doesn't even inform the Captain what has transpired until he confronts her in person.

The only redeeming moment in her entire presence was when she voiced out against the prime directive in Pen Pals.