A few weeks to perhaps a couple of months have passed since the events of the last episode and the Klingon Civil War doesn't seem to be going too well for Gowron and the seated council as the Duras Family side seems able to out match the Empire at nearly every turn.
This hasn't gone unnoticed by Picard who appeals to the Federation leaders to allow him to step-in to some manner in order to expose what he assumes is aide from the Romulans along the Klingon/Romulan border. He proposes an idea that should expose any cloaked Romulan ships crossing the board and rendering aid to the Duras family.
In the war, Worf struggles to adapt to serving on a Klingon ship as he suggests fleeing from battles he assumes to have already lost, concerns himself with ship matters when off duty in a more casual setting and even shows some worry over the the opposing sides drinking together and celebrating glory together in a neutral bar. The Duras sisters take note of Worf's differences from his brother Kurn and other Klingons and hope to take advantage of this in order to convince Worf to their side in order to be a role-model for Toral. Worf declines their offer and finds himself imprisoned by the Duras sisters.
Picard commands a small fleet of ships to cast a detection net on the Klingon/Romulan border that should expose any cloaked Romulan ships, after expressing concerns over not being initially selected, Data is assigned to command one of the ships during the operation.
The fleet and tachyon net doesn't go unnoticed by the Romulans as the leader of this operation, Sela, confronts Picard about it, eventually leading to a meeting between the two.
Picard takes particular interest over Sela's resemblance to Tasha Yar and learns through Guinan's intuition that "he" had sent Tasha into the past aboard the Enterprise-C where she was apparently captured and had a child with a Romulan. A story that is supported by Sela's own word. Though Picard is not satisfactorily convinced. None the less he has no intent to remove the Federation fleet from the border before a deadline set by Sela where she intends to take more hostile action against the fleet.
Picard hatches a plan to fake a weakness in their net hoping the Romulans will take advantage of it where they'll be snared as the fleet re-adjusts to compensate for the falsified weakness. The Romulans will need to enter Klingon space to render aid to the Duras side after a series of attacks by Gowron's forces. Picard doesn't know, however, thar Sela and her team have developed a potential defense against the detection grid and intend to implement it.
They create a disruption near Data's ship, where he's constantly butted heads with his first officer, but Data ignores the orders given by Picard to implement his trap and devises his own plan to expose the cloaked Romulan ships. Data's plan works, earning him the respect of his first officer, and Sela and the Romulans withdraw from the area. Data later apologies to Picard for disobeying orders and offers himself up for disciplinary action. Picard tells Data that sometimes not obeying orders may be called for and Data showed himself to be a capable commander and notes so in his reports.
Now near defeat without the Klingon assistance the Duras sisters order Worf killed but Worf manages to overpower his would-be killer but not before the Duras sisters beam away leaving Worf, and Toral, behind.
The Empire manages to win the civil war as the Duras support weakened without the Romulan supplies and support for the Duras family weakened as the Romulan connection was exposed. Gowron offers the life of Toral to Worf as it was Toral's family that robbed Worf of his honor. Worf elects to spare Toral's life as the boy has personally done him no harm and requests to return to the Enterprise.
As far as the series' various 2-part episodes go that serve as season bookends Redemption 2 is perhaps the better Part 2.
It follows up on the various stories and plot points of Part 1 and ends them well while also introducing its own aspects and handling them well as well. (Almost, we'll get to that in a moment.)
The Klingon civil-war part is fairly minor in the grand scheme of things as it seems easily resolved (the war seems to have lasted only a few weeks to a couple of months which, really, isn't THAT much of a war.) You'd think even if the active battle front of the war ended quickly there'd still be a lot of political discourse and turmoil in the wake. Unless Klingons are *so* dedicated to honor and "friends outside of battle" ideas they're able to just admit defeat, shrug, and go back to business as usual.
I do really like the idea that off the battlefield the Klingons are able to drink together and trash-talk one another in the same bar as if they're not on opposite side of a war but, rather, opposite sides of a football game that just ended.
Worf almost seems to have something of an arc here as he seems to struggle with dealing with serving on a Klingon ship and lifestyle and continues to act like a Starfleet officer/human. It's not too much touched on as much as it should have been, though. I did like the idea of Worf sparing Toral's life and even fighting for it as Gowron offers Kurn the chance to kill Toral. I do wonder, though, how safe Toral is walking around town given his place in the war and his paternal roots.
The Duras Sisters continue to be a delight, really wish we had gotten to see them a lot more in the series.
I really enjoyed the interaction between Data and his first officer aboard the Sutherland and how it showed how capable Data really was as a commanding officer and even how he's able to convey emotion even if he can't feel it. He shows anger and annoyance towards his first officer, who challenges Data at every turn, to get him to obey.
Which, really, how is that guy in the position he's in? Okay, I get that accepting a "machine" as being a sentient being capable of everything a human is may not be entirely rooted into the human "perfection" concept yet. But this guy prefaces his request to being transfered that he accepts Data as an officer so you'd think he'd show some level of respect towards Data's being in command rather than making decisions on his own and challenging Data's orders in front of the whole bridge.
None the less, the story plays out nicely as Data shows how capable he is at command and even manages to convince his first officer of this since he calls Data, "Captain," in an almost respectful manner once Data reveals the cloaked Romulan ships.
One of the bigger plot points of this episodes centers around Sela and her maternal origins. I've said before I really liked the way Crosby was brought back again for the role and the idea of Sela, though I don't think the character was used very well here or in next appearance in the Unification two-parter later this season.
I like it because of the fluidity and twisting nature of time and how the events of "Yesterday's Enterprise" happened and did have a real impact on the "prime" universe. That everything that occurred in this episode, as suggested by Guinan, is Picard's fault and he doesn't even know how or why.
At the same time, that's kind of what is frustrating about this. Nothing ever becomes of it ever again. Seems like there really should have been another episode somewhere to expose more of this story and to reveal to Picard, and the rest of the crew, what happened in YE. Actually, it would have been nice if Yar had lived to "present day" and was able to speak with Picard and reveal everything that had happened in her universe's past.
We could also almost "question" what happened between Yar and Sela's father. If the relationship was largely a mutual one after the few years that passed between Yar's capture and her being killed trying to escape. You'd think "something" of a real relationship happened there (as has happened between cpators and the captured without Stockholm or a Slave/Master aspect needing to be in play) but instead it seems Yar played her mate for a few years before trying to escape.
It's just unsatisfying that the entire Sela thing is mostly shrugged off which why I'm partly annoyed by this aspect as it mostly seems to play to Crosby's need to re-install herself into a franchise she prematurely left and done out of any real dramatic need.
All the same, though, I think the two aspects still result in me liking the idea of Sela as a character but just wish it was executed and played out a bit better.
Again, a good episode that I really think is one of the better follow-ups to a season cliffhanger.
