The Schizoid Man
At first, I wasn't sure why I was dreading this episode. As I watched it, it was mostly because of the inane dialog Wesley was given. He kept harping on "to know him was to love him was to know him."
Otherwise, this is another "not bad" episode enlivened by Brent Spiner's outstanding performance. Episodes like this are similar to original series plots that gave Nimoy a chance to step out of his usual persona and stretch a bit. Those were always noteworthy and this is no exception.
W. Morgan Sheppard, in his first but not last Star Trek appearance, is excellent at Graves, the man who "taught Soong all he knew" and is a spiritual "grandpa" to Data. This guy gets lost in the shuffle of the Data family lineage. So do we assume he's full of hot air? He's certainly a genius and can do what he says he can. Sheppard makes him entertaining in the short screen time he has.
Barbara Allyn Woods, so new to acting (this is only her second screen credit) is fine. Nothing special other than in her innocent beauty.
Props for giving the Star Trek universe Suzie Plakson as Dr. Selar. To be frank, she didn't do much for me in this role, but her best was yet to come. It was, however, nice to finally see a Vulcan crewmember with lines. She hit the right notes. What's weird is just how sidelined Diana Muldaur is this week. I'd understand if she wasn't in the episode at all, she wasn't an actual regular, but she's in the beginning and then given an excuse to be off screen and then comes back for the end, given Selar the center stage. Knowing Unnatural Selection (kill me) is next and the demands on her for that, I can understand that they gave her a lighter workload this week but still wanted to keep her involved.
They use the "tell me" feature when asking for Data locations for the first time in a while. And Picard cracks out another "grand" when talking to Graves/Data - they were still not ready to let that die.
The near-warp transport is, to be blunt, stupid. It usually takes them seconds to drop out of warp and go back in, so they couldn't spare a minute to let the away team beam down like normal? This felt like another one of those "weird filler scenes" and false risk.
Patrick Stewart is a fine, truly magnificent actor. But he can't do a reaction to a backhanded slap very well. That was one of the most unconvincing "knock out" scenes I'd seen in this series so far.
Still, overall, not a bad ride, but too many oddities for me to truly warm to it. Performances save this one more than anything else.
2.5/5
At first, I wasn't sure why I was dreading this episode. As I watched it, it was mostly because of the inane dialog Wesley was given. He kept harping on "to know him was to love him was to know him."
Otherwise, this is another "not bad" episode enlivened by Brent Spiner's outstanding performance. Episodes like this are similar to original series plots that gave Nimoy a chance to step out of his usual persona and stretch a bit. Those were always noteworthy and this is no exception.
W. Morgan Sheppard, in his first but not last Star Trek appearance, is excellent at Graves, the man who "taught Soong all he knew" and is a spiritual "grandpa" to Data. This guy gets lost in the shuffle of the Data family lineage. So do we assume he's full of hot air? He's certainly a genius and can do what he says he can. Sheppard makes him entertaining in the short screen time he has.
Barbara Allyn Woods, so new to acting (this is only her second screen credit) is fine. Nothing special other than in her innocent beauty.
Props for giving the Star Trek universe Suzie Plakson as Dr. Selar. To be frank, she didn't do much for me in this role, but her best was yet to come. It was, however, nice to finally see a Vulcan crewmember with lines. She hit the right notes. What's weird is just how sidelined Diana Muldaur is this week. I'd understand if she wasn't in the episode at all, she wasn't an actual regular, but she's in the beginning and then given an excuse to be off screen and then comes back for the end, given Selar the center stage. Knowing Unnatural Selection (kill me) is next and the demands on her for that, I can understand that they gave her a lighter workload this week but still wanted to keep her involved.
They use the "tell me" feature when asking for Data locations for the first time in a while. And Picard cracks out another "grand" when talking to Graves/Data - they were still not ready to let that die.
The near-warp transport is, to be blunt, stupid. It usually takes them seconds to drop out of warp and go back in, so they couldn't spare a minute to let the away team beam down like normal? This felt like another one of those "weird filler scenes" and false risk.
Patrick Stewart is a fine, truly magnificent actor. But he can't do a reaction to a backhanded slap very well. That was one of the most unconvincing "knock out" scenes I'd seen in this series so far.
Still, overall, not a bad ride, but too many oddities for me to truly warm to it. Performances save this one more than anything else.
2.5/5
