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Review that episode!

Data has a recurrent dream about being dismantled. After consulting a holographic Freud, Troi and whatnot without success, Data starts behaving like a dement, stabbing Troi among other things. Turns out he's aware "on an unconscious level" of a mortal danger to the crew but for some incomprehensible and likely absurd reason is blocking that useful info from his conscience!!! Stupid but oddly watchable.

Masks:
 
One of my favorite episodes, Data's sub conscience picks up on out of phase bugs that are latched on to the crew. The delay they cause with the engines gets Picard out of going to the admril's banquet.

Gambit (Parts I and II)
 
Im sorry, I didnt see your post at firsts locutus101

An ancient civilization sends out a probe that turns the enterprise into a bunch of rock artifacts and gives Data multiple personalities, I think its a better episodes than most people give credit for lol

Gambit
 
I like it when TNG goes off the reservation with a good caper episode. And this sure fits the bill. The crew think Picard has been killed but it turns out he's on a pirate ship pretending he's an archaeologist-mercenary or whatever. He's spotted because Riker got kidnapped himself by these space pirates and is now on a rather obvious ruse to ingratiate himself with the non-too-bright pirate-captain by pretending he's a bad-boy officer, lol. Meanwhile Data is left on the ship running the show, doing his thing, overcoming a very obviously contrived "command challenge" from Worf who obligingly became very mouthy just in time for Data to showcase his rarely seen command skills.

But I complain waaay too much here - these are a fine pair of episodes rounded off by Riker being hawked off to the brig. And what's not to like about that? .

Captain's Holiday
 
A mediocre story of Picard on Risa, a woman named Vash and Rom's dumber lookalike (and that says something!!).... Barely entertaining.

The Vengeance Factor:
 
One of these TNG does diplomacy episodes. And if you like that kind of thing, you'll like this. The Gatherers are a bunch of unruly types that raid a Federation colony and so Picard goes to find out what-the-hell-is-going-on and to see if there's a solution to be had. Turns out the Gatherers are the one missing piece in a wider peace process following a broader civil war between factions and clans on this week's planet-of-the-week. So, after a sluggish response, Picard makes a concerted effort to herd the Gatherers into the fold and thus place a seal on an all round peace process. But of course, there's complications as Riker has fallen for the maid to the leader of the-planet-of-the-week who - unfortunately for everyone - also happens to be moonlighting as a sleeper-agent assassin. So can Riker get the maid-type to overcome her programing and win her heart or does he have to bite the phaser beam and turn her into toast. You'll have to watch it to find out!

This is a fine third season episode.

When The Bough Breaks
 
A cloaked planet reveals themselves for the first time in a century to the enterprise because they want to steal their children. Mid-tier episode for first season


Suspicions
 
A somewhat unusual murder-mystery episode mostly in flashback format starring Dr. Crusher alongside an ensemble cast of dodgy scientists all under the suspicion of the murder of an eccentric Ferengi scientist.

I suppose it's a competently executed enough episode but watching this with Crusher dominating the 40 plus minutes and giving voice-overs and the like I find is heavy going. I don't think most of the guest stars are particularly interesting either and they kind of need to be in order to make this episode truly work.

The Quality of Life
 
A wobbly start to the series, but it doesn't mean I haven't seen it several times. ;)

You can tell that the script was originally written as a shorter episodes, as many of the scenes drag. I did enjoy the introduction of Q though, even though he would have better episode.

All Good Things...
 
Picard exists in three time periods at the same time and he must save the quadrant... from himself! Q is there to mock him but apparently also to help him. It's good. Not the best episode of the series but definitely in the top 20.

Journey's End
 
An amazing(ly bad) episode in many senses as Admiral Nastypants sends Picard to evict some American Indians(lol) from a planet caught in space given to the Cardassians. It's all part of a give n' take treaty needed to preserve interstellar peace and all the rest of it...but y'know still...

Wesley returns for a holiday. But instead of being the happy go lucky kid we all know and love, he comes back in one heck of a cranky mood, pulls faces at Geordi and blows the whistle on Picard's actually really very nasty eviction deception. Of course Wesley "finds himself" with a "vision quest" where he mets his dad and the smug American Indian who guided him turns out to be...da-da!... "The Traveller" and off the pair of them go to do...whatever it is they are supposed to be doing.

The 7th season revisits some of the early season stuff but rather than reminding me of the traveller episodes, I'm slightly more in mind of Code of Honour watching this...with crude and apparently oblivious depictions of American Indians, complete with the stereotypical pop mysticism. I like Wesley blowing the whistle on the eviction stuff but while everyone is cool with WC "finding his own path" by the end of the episode, I don't think that character is really resolved in any meaningful way.

Thine Own Self
 
For a bifocal episode that could've gone completely off the rails, for how different & unrelated the two stories are, it's actually a pretty decent episode. It's an interesting notion, to have Data basically spend an entire episode blundering around & making a mess of things, & on the flip side, have Troi trying her damnedest to not do that, for once in her life, & actually prove herself of Starfleet quality. It's bold, & risky, & they pull it off. I don't recall too many episodes that so coarsely rip from one character's story to the other's, like they both belong together, sharing the same screen. Not since...

Birthright
 
A two parter and DS9 crossover. Bashir waltzes on to the ship without bye or leave bringing some daft contraption with him, which promptly electrocutes Data. Fortunately for us, instead of blowing Data's head off JFK style, it actually jump starts his hitherto unknown "dream program", so Bashir can skip off into the sunset knowing all's well that end's well. The dream sequences are effectively executed which makes this Data story work very well.

Worf is in a bind as James Cromwell, with his head is buried deep in a plastic alien prosthesis, says his dad is alive and for a "price" he knows where he is. So after alot of shoving, pushing and Worfesque harumphing, Worf finally agrees to go off to find this colony and sure enough they find it. Turns out, Worf has dodged a bullet as his dad is in fact dead (phew!) but there's this colony of Romulans and Klingons who agreed to escape the dishonour of getting caught and so they set up a colony where they now all get along.

Worf isn't for having any of this pacifist malarky at all. So he goes full revolutionary and starts preaching the old Klingon ways, stirring the hearts of the curious youngsters there, eventually culminating in split society and a tense stand off with the colony leadership. ,

This two parter - well the Worf part of it anyway - has received mixed reviews from fans. But I like it. Dorn plays the revolutionary well and his pleas for Klingon culture are persuasive. Educating the young Klingons on hunting are cool scenes too and I love a good sing-a-long. But it's a trying experience for Worf as he stumbles to make sense of the mixed heritage Ba'el. his love interest here. Equally, the colony that's been set up, is a very worthy peace project so there's a genuine and real tension as the two world's collide with both sides having a good case for themselves.


Haven
 
Another one of those Lwaxanna Troi episodes. Her presence typically turns any decent episode into something barely watchable but in the case of one that would have been mediocre at best without her, the whole ensemble becomes utter unredeemable dross.

Conundrum
 
This episode that blends in crisis, caper with a little bit of comic relief as our heroes have their memories wiped. Worf assumes command briefly because of his sash, Riker has a tryst with Ro whilst leading Troi on - causing a bit of tension when all is said and done - and the mysterious and dodgy McDuff makes his appearance posing as the XO to try to cajole the Enterprise into making some kind of attack; the plans of which are conveniently the only things left in the otherwise blocked memory banks of the ship's computer.

I do quite enjoy these kind well crafted novelty episodes that mixes things up a bit.

Hollow Pursuits
 
Call me crazy but I really like this episode. For one thing I am a fan of Barclay's and I find him funny as hell. This episode is a kind of parody but not in a stupid way as is often the case, and it works well.

Violations
 
Meh, it's a fair to midland episode, not a poor one any way, but the supporting cast really drags down the intensity, & the presentation of the actual effects of this mind raping thing seem rather whitewashed for family TV consumption, which makes it a hard to drum up the necessary emotional reaction from the audience. For its subject matter, it all just seemed sort of humdrum. I give this one a C+

The Nth Degree
 
Barclay at his best! A very enjoyable episode as far as I am concerned. It's funny. It's witty. What's not to like?

Home Soil
 
A kind of standard Trek trope that's done in every incarnation of the show is the whole thing where the Federation or Starfleet (this case a bunch of terraformers) intrude upon an unconventional species (some silicone species) which promptly bites back. The penny slowly having dropped that the species concerned is in fact intelligent, the "universal translator" kicks in and they hammer out a deal, the species concerned muttering about how uncivilised the Feds are.

That's this episode really to a tee. Not a clown episode OK but a standard and unimaginative one. This episode does have the late Walter Gotell as the head of the terraformers to commend it though.

Hero Worship
 
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