Not enough is said imho about Jonathan Frakes' turn as director on this episode, which was only his 4th opportunity at directing, after The Offspring, Reunion & The Drumhead. There is a deliberate effort on his part to take what is a basic bottle episode, with a ton of repurposed dialogue, that's shot over the same duration as any other, & attempt to use the camera itself to be the primary heightener of the suspense & sense of eeriness.
By uniquely shooting the same sets as they've been using for 5 seasons, & elevating the abstractness of the cinematography, as the episode moves along, he makes what could've been a rather pedestrian premise into a very mood filled mystery, through nothing more than how we see it. As well as giving us unusual perspectives of the cast, it also affords us fans with opportunities to see angles of the sets that haven't really ever been featured, like the floor of the briefing room, or the ceiling of sickbay. It takes our oh so comfortable starship home & makes it, itself, the very alien thing of the week. It's a stellar effort, (no pun intended lol) that shows us why he'd go on to direct more.
By uniquely shooting the same sets as they've been using for 5 seasons, & elevating the abstractness of the cinematography, as the episode moves along, he makes what could've been a rather pedestrian premise into a very mood filled mystery, through nothing more than how we see it. As well as giving us unusual perspectives of the cast, it also affords us fans with opportunities to see angles of the sets that haven't really ever been featured, like the floor of the briefing room, or the ceiling of sickbay. It takes our oh so comfortable starship home & makes it, itself, the very alien thing of the week. It's a stellar effort, (no pun intended lol) that shows us why he'd go on to direct more.
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