What was TNG's very best 'Mindscrew Episode'?

[Lance]

TNG had a good line in what I like to call 'Mindscrew Episodes'. You know the sort of thing, the ones where there's all sorts of weird goings-on and the viewer at home gets thrown lots of curve balls along the way. Literally screwing with the viewers expecations. Whatever our opinions about his later work, I have to give Brannon Braga his due: he was very good at writing these kinds of stories.

Contenders might include things like "Where Silence Has Lease", "Cause And Effect", "Parallels", "Schisms", "Realm Of Fear", "Genesis", "Violations", "The Game", "Remember Me", "Frame Of Mind". And no doubt many more than I can't think of off the top of my head. You get the idea of the sort of episode I mean, though.

Which of them would you say is your favorite 'Mindscrew Episode'?

For my money, "Frame Of Mind" is the king of them. An excellent performance from Jonathan Frakes is icing on the cake for a story where we, along with Riker, begin to honestly believe that Number One has gone insane. Still gives me chills every time I rewatch it.

 

[Use of Time]

Frame of Mind is probably going to be your winner. I guess you could include "Dark Page" to that list. It seems to be a lesser referenced episode but I though it was executed very well while letting L'waxana finally endear herself to the audience. I still get choked up when she has to relive the Kestra drowning. It was a very powerful scene and a wonderful performance by Majel.

 

[BillJ]

Night Terrors from season four.

 

[lurok]

Cause & Effect is one of my top five episodes (and I think I only have five. If that).

 

[Worf'sParmach]

Definitely Frame of Mind

 

[Melakon]

Frame of Mind here too. I have a liking for those kinds of stories, was disappointed DS9 didn't do more of them, and appreciated the ones on VOY.

Probably due to seeing Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner when it first aired in U.S.

 

[ALF]

I was going to say Frame of Mind, but Ship in a Bottle also did that job well.

 

[Falcor5]

Frame of Mind is my favorite!! Awesome episode!

 

[WillsBabe]

I love 'em all. It's hard to choose....

Probably The Game.

 

[Captain Picard.]

Cause & Effect is one of my top five episodes (and I think I only have five. If that).

Mine as well It is funny that other star ship was caught in the same loop for over 70 years!

 

[sonak]

another vote for "frame of mind"-very creepy, dark episode for TNG. Not just a good "mind-screw" episode, but one of the best Riker-centric episodes as well.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Frame of Mind definitely, but Schisms does creep me out.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

The scene in I Borg where Picard seems to revert to Locutus. That was a "put down the beer and sit up straight" moment.

 

[sadsquid]

I'd say Future Imperfect is another episode that fits the bill, I really enjoyed that episode too. Frame of Mind would be my top pick though. In my top 5 TNG episodes.

 

[Mojochi]

Face of The Enemy had me off balance for nearly the whole episode, right from the beginning. It was straight out of left field & I just had no idea how that would play out

Clues deserves some mention in this thread too

 

[Angel4576]

Another vote for Frame of Mind, but I also loved Dark Page.

 

[T'Cal]

I remember watching Cause & Effect for the first time with my wife and we were actually tempted to call the local network to let them know that they had started the episode over twice... D'oh!

In Second Chances, that they found a second Riker and then that they didn't kill off at the end surprised the heck out of me.

Face of the Enemy was a bit of a shocker in the teaser. It was a great Deanna episode, too.

 

[Nightdiamond]

Cause and Effect, because they didn't reveal what was happening until about halfway through, so you actual thought the Enterprise got destroyed in the first few minutes. Clever.

The last moments of Redemption when "Tasha" suddenly appears out the shadows wearing a Romulan uniform was a true 'wtf' moment.

"Parallels" where certain things seemed really odd and out of place until they explained why a bit later.

The best ones are where they wait until later to explain what's happening. The longer they wait, the better the suspense.

 

[Dale Sams]

No mention of Timescape?

I'm still not sure what happened. Some aliens took the form of Romulans, then beamed over to the Enterprise while the Romulans gave chase onto the Enterprise? Was that it?

edit: And yes, at the time I gave TNG a great deal of credit for having me saying at the 45 minute mark, "I have no idea what is going on!"

 

[Tora Ziyal]

For my money, "Frame Of Mind" is the king of them. An excellent performance from Jonathan Frakes is icing on the cake for a story where we, along with Riker, begin to honestly believe that Number One has gone insane. Still gives me chills every time I rewatch it.

Another vote for "Frame of Mind" here. Gives me such chills that I don't watch it any more.

I don't watch "Violations" for the same reason, but I don't think it's that good an episode anyway.