Favorite Season Two Episodes

[AdmiralScreed]

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.

That's a good point. I think the purpose of that scene was to show viewers the newly constructed Ten Forward set, but you're right, Pulaski's response to that was not particularly realistic for a Doctor.

I still loved the character, though. She added a little bit of conflict to the main cast and made things a little more interesting. She had a wonderful character arc, too. The way she came around to Data was great, and she had real chemistry with Brent Spiner and Michael Dorn when they were on screen together. I love the actor and everything she brought to the show, and it's a shame she left.

 

[davejames]

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.

Well supposedly what finally stopped the cycle was our Picard killing the time-displaced one. Before that, it would always end with Picard leaving in the shuttle (in order to draw attention away from the Enterprise, or so he hoped), at which point the Enterprise would get destroyed and Picard sent back 6 hours.

This time, Picard realized that the correct decision was to stay on the Enterprise. And since trying to escape the vortex wasn't working for them, the only alternative was to fly right into the heart of it.

Why that actually worked, who knows.

 

[I-Am-Prepared!]

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.

Well supposedly what finally stopped the cycle was our Picard killing the time-displaced one. Before that, it would always end with Picard leaving in the shuttle (in order to draw attention away from the Enterprise, or so he hoped), at which point the Enterprise would get destroyed and Picard sent back 6 hours.

This time, Picard realized that the correct decision was to stay on the Enterprise. And since trying to escape the vortex wasn't working for them, the only alternative was to fly right into the heart of it.

Why that actually worked, who knows.

Don't try and explain this episode - at the end of the day, none of it makes very much sense. But it *is* quite compelling, at least for the first 30 minutes or so.

 

[I-Am-Prepared!]

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.

It seems a little unfair to single out one moment in quite a poorly-written episode to dismiss the character out-of-hand.

 

[Lance]

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.

It seems a little unfair to single out one moment in quite a poorly-written episode to dismiss the character out-of-hand.

Agreed, I-Am-Prepared. Besides which, I've always found it kinda sweet that the first person Deanna feels she can 'fess up to about the harrowing experience is the one senior crewmember who hasn't been on the ship five minutes. "I've just been raped by a mysterious alien" not being the easiest sort of thing to come out to your friends about, Pulaski being a relative stranger (but still a senior member of staff) no doubt made it much easier to cope with.

Added to which, if anything, the scene actually emphasises Pulaski's more compassionate traits. She's thinking of Deanna's feelings above the safety of the ship, yes. But it also shows she's got heart.

 

[Mott the barber]

If this is a top five. In no order -

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

You know, I think I completely agree with you. Nice list!