Peak Performance by: David Kemper and directed by: Robert Scheerer

 

“Peak Performance” is written by: David Kemper and is directed by: Robert Scheerer.  It was produced under production code 147, was the 21^st episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, the 47^th episode overall, and was broadcast on July 10, 1989.

 

It’s interesting that “Q Who” introduced the Borg and in doing so seems to have established a multi-season story arc, at least partially.  For Star Trek in the 1960s the continuity could best be described as loose, there are recurring elements certainly and some episodes had sequels, the characters largely remained static.  “Peak Performance” is the first episode to directly address the events of “Q Who”, mainly that it is the inciting incident for this episode.  That is at least until the final act twist of a Ferengi threat that while writer David Kemper uses it to tie the episode together in conflict, it is perhaps the weakest aspect of the episode.  Kemper characterizes the Ferengi as the capitalists Roddenberry wants them to be, but in terms of what they do in this episode as an ancillary plot point to practically everything else the episode is attempting to do.  It doesn’t cause problems such as say, turning the message of the episode on its head about being strategic and not necessarily going for the win as important for beating threats like the Borg.  As a conclusion, it works quite well and the B-plot of basically the entire Enterprise crew being at odds with the strategist sent from Starfleet to observe and note the war games at the center of the episode.  Starfleet is positioned in this episode as almost explicitly a military organization, something that Picard outright disputes although the military is very much a part of what Starfleet is.  It is an organization with a structure of leadership and discipline based off the military structures of the United States even if the primary mission of Starfleet is exploration, Gene Roddenberry envisioning the future as explorative without the imperialist/colonialist mindset.  Picard as a character being against the military aspect of Starfleet is actually an interesting idea, even if Kemper’s script here is only doing that by having Picard deny the military aspect of Starfleet entirely.

The trouble with that is that “Peak Performance” isn’t a Picard episode, it’s more an ensemble piece to explore how the crew works together in a crisis.  That is at least how Riker, Geordi, Worf, and Wesley work together.  They are the main cast members playing defense in the war game at the center of the episode.  The war game also allows some interesting nostalgia for the original series, the Hathaway sets are clearly redresses of Enterprise sets either left over from the original series or are from the films that would have been out at this point, with some additions to make them feel like a design in between ships.  This is also the second episode in a row where Michael Dorn as Worf might be given some of his best material, despite being a relatively minor character in the episode.  The same can be said towards Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher, he is able to use cunning to slip back to the Enterprise and give the Hathaway an advantage.  That trickery from Wesley and Worf in tandem being used against the Ferengi.  The big conflict does come partially from the fact that both ships have their weapons disabled throughout the episode, the war game itself is a computer simulation though that also begs the question as to why its two physical ships and not a complete computer simulation, or even a holodeck simulation.  Obviously the answer is that if it wasn’t the case of two ships, the episode wouldn’t actually happen.

 

The character of Kolrami, played by Roy Brocksmith, is a fascinating aspect of the episode.  The archetype being played with is one of smug authority, this is a man who thinks he knows exactly what is best for the Enterprise and Starfleet.  Brocksmith’s performance is both physical as he makes Kolrami have this specifically weird walk and way of speaking that just reads as the absolute worst.  He plays this game of Strategema against Riker, Riker knowing he is going to lose but wants to play against one of the best, and then Data, who is goaded into it by Pulaski who really wants to see Kolrami knocked down a peg.  He isn’t until the very end, but the B-plot does become one where Data’s sense of identity and competency is destroyed and Pulaski actually regrets goading the confrontation on.  Strategema as a game isn’t quite explained, it is shown from the perspective of the two opponents looking at two screens as moves are being made.  It’s like some sort of computer simulated war game, and the script understands to not have the exposition for the audience while the rest of the crew would understand the game’s inner workings.  This is one of those B-plots in the episode that thematically fits with the A-plot, something that Star Trek: The Next Generation that is slowly getting better at as the first two seasons have gone forward.

 

Ovearll, “Peak Performance” while not quite being peak performance is still a fairly strong episode.  The script is incredibly strong in the first two acts, though the final act with the Ferengi just kind of becomes a bland conclusion.  Part of that is that the Ferengi aren’t particularly great aliens, their appearances in the first season were very hit and miss while the teamwork of the Enterprise crew is just a more interesting dynamic for the episode to take.  7/10.

The Emissary by: Richard Manning and Hans Beimler from an unpublished story by: Thomas H. Calder and directed by: Cliff Bole

 

“The Emissary” is written by: Richard Manning and Hans Beimler, based on an unpublished story by: Thomas H. Calder, and is directed by: Cliff Bole.  It was produced under production code 146, was the 20^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, the 46^th episode overall, and was broadcast on June 26, 1989.

 

Being completely honest, seeing the credit of ‘based on an unpublished story by: Thomas H. Calder” is odd.  It’s not the only time a short story has been adapted into an episode of Star Trek, Star Trek: The Animated Series had quite a strong episode adapted by Larry Niven from a short story separate from Star Trek.  “The Emissary” may be another example of that, however, its author Thomas H. Calder is slightly more elusive than an author like Niven.  This is apparently his only credit and searches for the author bring up a Thomas Calder who debuted his first novel in 2021, indicating likely that this isn’t actually the same Thomas Calder.  It is certainly possible that Thomas H. Calder doesn’t actually exist and this is another case of someone using a pseudonym from production that was unhappy, it is the antepenultimate episode the second season and behind the scenes tempers were coming to a head, Tracy Torme would have left the show with the previous episode after disputes with Maurice Hurley, Hurley would leave the show at the end of the season, and the finale would have to be shot in basically a weekend.  Except that doesn’t quite work considering the actual script is credited to Richard Manning and Hans Beimler who would stay on well into the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, so it’s very possible that this was based on an unsolicited pitch and as the credit specifies an unpublished story, it is also very possible that it was a Star Trek short story or maybe even novella that is just being adapted into an episode of television to fill the run as “The Child” was an unused script for the unmade Star Trek: Phase II.

 

The episode is the second Worf centered episode of the season after “A Matter of Honor” and is actually the stronger of the two.  Now this is also an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that is tackling the experienced of people of mixed ancestry, and I am a white man writing about this so my opinions should not be taken as nearly the final take as to the biracial experience, or the experience of people of color.  This is an episode where a Klingon ship with a crew in suspended animation from the time at which the Federation and the Klingon empire were at war, an emissary is sent to the Enterprise to intercept this ship, and the conflict is how to interact with these Klingons to come to a peaceful resolution.  The emissary of the title is K’heylar, played by Suzie Plakson, a Klingon with a human mother and a romantic history with Worf.  The episode is essentially a romance of a woman torn between two worlds and trapped in her own cycle of self-loathing that Plakson plays brilliantly, K’heylar clearly has her own internalized racism against herself.  She is convinced that these older Klingons cannot possibly be reasoned with, that Worf’s romantic affections and nature as a Klingon wants to essentially own her, and that the anger she feels towards the world is in her nature to be shunned and suppressed.  “The Emissary” is fascinating and elevated because K’heylar’s damage isn’t actually fixed by the end.  Much of the interpersonal conflict is with the proposal of marriage between her and Worf, something that is left with the answer that she would, but is clearly not in the right place herself for marriage.  It’s a story of learning self-reflection and going onto the path towards acceptance, but not actually getting to the point.

 

The conflict with the Klingons is reserved for the final act, and part of where “The Emissary” doesn’t quite work is that it leaves the ending of the episode open with no guarantee that this plot thread will be followed up upon.  It is Worf who knows how to use trickery and bluff the Klingons into surrendering by masquerading as a superior officer, leaving the door open for K’heylar to become essentially a therapist to integrate them into the present.  This is also an interesting parallel to the opening poker game scene, Worf winning at poker precisely because he does not actually give away any of the game, claiming he does not bluff as a Klingon which is clearly in and of itself a lie.  It’s the additional complexity to a character who really only started on this show as a background player, never meant to be promoted to a main cast member and still already having three whole episodes of focus while other main cast members have yet to properly get at least one.  Michael Dorn as an actor clearly just took the part by the horns (or in this case forehead bumps) and ran with it, even in this episode going above and beyond what the episode probably even required.  Dorn is always playing it straight, the sequence in the middle of the battle and marriage vows in the holodeck could once again be a really silly scene of trying to write an alien culture.  Dorn sells it entirely and it is just elevated to be fantastic.

 

Overall, “The Emissary” may be an episode whose roots will never be quite known, but it’s also an episode that actually examines what it’s like to be different even if from the perspective of two screenwriters who are white.  It’s about that inner turmoil of not being able to achieve self-acceptance, feeling stuck in stereotypes that have been engrained as a false piece of biological essentialism.  It’s also one of the few episodes of Season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation that doesn’t feel padded with extra material to reach the runtime.  Shame it’s ever so slightly open ended, or else it would be a contender for one of the best of the season.  8/10.

Manhunt by: Terry Devereaux and directed by: Rob Bowman

 

“Manhunt” is written by: Terry Devereaux (a pseudonym for Tracy Torme) and is directed by: Rob Bowman.  It was produced under production code 145, was the 19^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, the 45^th episode overall, and was broadcast on June 19, 1989.

 

Let’s talk about a filler episode.  This is something that is largely a thing of the past for prestige television, as since the 2010s it has shifted from on average 20 episode seasons to if you’re lucky 10 episode seasons (though usually it’s an 8 episode order for your streaming show).  But Star Trek: The Next Generation is a show where each season had a 26 episode order, except the second season due to the WGA strike which reduced the order to 22 episodes.  Filler isn’t a bad thing, but it’s a type of episode where you know there isn’t going to be anything super important and we’re essentially getting up to the episode count.  This can lead to filler being terrible, but also you get episodes like “Manhunt”, an episode that writer Tracy Torme took his name off because of disagreements with Maurice Hurley, Hurley generally coming to conflict with the writing staff and at this point it would be coming to a head.  After “Manhunt”, there are only three episodes left to be produced, the finale being shot in a couple of days to fill the episode order.  This is this season’s Lwaxana Troi episode, but it’s also a semi-sequel to Torme’s “The Big Goodbye”.  In a way you could argue this is Torme’s one last hurrah, he would leave the show completely after this point.  Structurally, the entire thing is kind of a mess.  It’s bookended by scenes of Antedean ambassadors, one of whom is played by Mick Fleetwood under heavy makeup, because this is still an episode of the second season where there is at least five minutes of material.  Wesley Crusher gets a little dialogue about not judging by appearances that vaguely ties into things, but really the bulk of the episode is Lwaxana Troi entering midlife and because this is a Gene Roddenberry creation, needs to find a mate.  If she doesn’t, well nothing bad will happen to her, so there aren’t consequences, but really it’s an episode that just wants to let the camp kind of fly.  This does mean that ultimately it’s an episode that doesn’t mean much and likely will not make any of the best episodes of the series list, but especially after “Up the Long Ladder”, it’s quite fun.

 

Majel Barrett is the real star of the show here, she commands quite literally every scene she is in and forces basically everyone in the cast, even Patrick Stewart, to completely loosen up.  Barrett and Marina Sirtis also have a lot of really fun small moments, far more confidently written than they were in “Haven”.  Sure there is a brief conflict of Lwaxana going after Commander Riker, which feels slightly out of character since it’s obvious the writers are writing Riker and Troi as a potential couple.  Barrett also gets to reveal, quite literally in the closing moments of the episode, that the ambassadors are actually assassins and are lined with explosives, intending them to go off once they are beamed down to the conference.  It feels like a left hook to the face, but it’s played so wonderfully it is clear that Torme and director Rob Bowman mean it to be funny and not serious.  That’s a lot of what the episode does, humor.  Her manservant Mr. Homn is constantly in the background drinking alcohol as a running site gag to add to this point.  To get away from Lwaxana Troi, Picard retreats into the holodeck, back into the noir Dixon Hill novels from “The Big Goodbye”, which doesn’t go anywhere outside of some scenes of Picard being unable to relax because being the protagonist in a noir story is not relaxing (reading a novel is).  It has scenes in Hill’s office, a bar where Lwaxana falls for the bartender because she can’t read his thoughts, and doesn’t actually have any real conflict.  It’s just Picard becoming increasingly exasperated with his scenario and that’s honestly quite funny.

 

Overall, “Manhunt” is one of those episodes that’s probably not going to be for everyone.  The script isn’t structurally strong, it’s being completely bolstered by strong performances and an understanding that this is a story that is so over the top there’s nothing else to do.  It’d honestly be stronger than “Haven”, Lwaxana Troi’s previous appearance, if it wasn’t for how structurally messy it was and the decision to have Lwaxana Troi disregard her daughter at points that feel more cruel than the character has been established in the past.  But Majel Barrett still shines and I had a lot of genuine fun with this, plus unlike the previous episode, it’s all about being free spirited and that’s a plus.  6/10.

Up the Long Ladder by: Melinda M. Snodgrass and directed by: Winrich Kolbe

 

“Up the Long Ladder” is written by: Melinda M. Snodgrass and is directed by: Winrich Kolbe.  It was produced under production code 144, was the 18^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, the 44^th episode overall, and was broadcast on May 22, 1989.

 

It’s the final act of “Up the Long Ladder” that makes this just one of the worst episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Melinda M. Snodgrass’ third script for the season and series as a whole is one that doesn’t actually have any focus, the plot doesn’t introduce any conflict until well into the second act and the third act just ends with like “Samaritan Snare” the week before can only be read as quite awful.  The conflict is that there is this planet that has cast off all of sex, reproducing via cloning and that cloning has failed.  They are dying and need more genetic material, that they steal without consent from Riker and Pulaski.  So, the crew of the Enterprise blackmail them into taking on a group of space Irish stereotypes, quite literally Irish people who have been on the ship because they are a group of colonists from two centuries in the past.  The blackmail completely violates that own society’s consent to take on these people, and the Irish’s own consent if they even want to go there.  The Irish colonists are literally referred to as breeding stock and Riker mentions that this would be a shotgun wedding.  The episode then has the one female guest star who actually raises the consent issue mollified by the fact that she will be given three husbands, because she has an active sex life and clearly would want more, playing into particularly bigoted Irish stereotypes of being sexually promiscuous.  Again I feel as if I must emphasize that the stealing of genetic material from Riker and Pulaski is actively framed as a violation of consent, the clones in incubation are shot dead because as the ‘mothers’ in this anatomy Riker and Pulaski rightly have autonomy, Snodgrass’ script being explicitly pro-choice in this scene, and this scene only.  The rest of the episode is explicitly both anti-choice and comes to the conclusion that violating consent is totally fine when it’s for the greater good.  The cast do this with smiles on their faces, it’s played for comedy.

 

This is also quite literally the last 15 minutes of the episode.  The first 30 minutes are either time with the space Irish colonists and played more explicitly for comic relief, though practically every Irish stereotype except those involving potatoes are played into, or with genuinely nice character beats for Worf contracting essentially Klingon measles and connecting with Pulaski when recovered.  Barrie Ingham and Rosalyn Landor play the main father/daughter duo of the Irish characters, and while they are stereotypes they are at least having fun with the material they  are given.  In terms of being well written, it’s not, but it’s at least hammed up to the extreme that until the plot with the cloning colony begins the episode is only slightly offensive.  It reminds me a lot of “Mudd’s Women”, an episode that becomes equally poor in its messaging but has camp appeal, though “Up the Long Ladder” is explicitly worse due to the message being anti-consent.  It baffles me that this is a script that comes from Melinda M. Snodgrass, since “The Measure of a Man” was the polar opposite.  The only thing that would make sense would be that the script was rewritten by showrunner Maurice Hurley, something he was certainly known to do.  From cursory glances, Snodgrass apparently wanted to write an allegory for immigration, there are moments near the end where this does slightly come across, but like the Doctor Who episode “Kill the Moon”, this is an episode that may have had an interpretation in mind, but that is buried under a different, far more harmful message that permeates every seen (oddly enough similar messages against bodily autonomy).

 

Overall, “Up the Long Ladder” probably would be the worst episode of the season and contender for worst of Star Trek: The Next Generation if it wasn’t for at least some camp appeal in the opening act, though camp appeal through stereotype.  It wants to be progressive, Snodgrass is a progressive writer, but there’s this glee in the terrible things it advocates for.  2/10.

Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel by: Beth Revis

 

In fantasy and science fiction, when the great evil is defeated there is a tendency for all the underlings to just fall without a central leader.  It’s a rather unrealistic trope though is heavily associated with J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, though that is specifically due to the Peter Jackson film adaptations cutting essential portions of the wrap-up.  Beth Revis’ The Princess and the Scoundrel in a way is an examination of this trope and what happens after the Emperor is killed in Return of the Jedi.  The framing of the novel is the wedding between Leia Organa and Han Solo, being carted off on an intergalactic cruise for a honeymoon that leaves the both of them a little uneasy.  Of course there are remnants of the empire to be defeated, a woman with a particular vendetta against Han for unseen events at some point during the original trilogy.  That’s what is largely where the back half of the novel succeeds at doing, exploring this sense of uneasiness that the Imperial forces haven’t been defeated, the Emperor could not possibly be dead, and like any rebellious regime the reports could simply be propaganda.  It’s a great little idea though it’s also one that a single novel could never see to resolve.  Revis manages to do this by including several smaller characters who have their own arcs, Alicia Beck for instance, the novel’s ultimate antagonist, is a single person who has her own motivation for what she did as an Imperial.  Revis uses her to parallel Leia in a way while using a man called Kelad as a parallel to Han, Kelad being someone threatening Leia in the novel’s second act indirectly because of how the rebel disruption of the Empire has actually made things more difficult.  Revis is clearly aware that revolution is complicated, it disrupts on a massive scale and despite having the greater good in mind it does hurt people and their livelihoods.  The novel, however is just a standalone so Revis sadly cannot really have too much to do with resolving any of these ideas.

 

Where The Princess and the Scoundrel does succeed, however, is really giving so much time to the relationship between Han and Leia.  Revis doesn’t just replicate the chemistry between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, but instead delves deep into their insecurities leading up to their wedding, while not forgetting to celebrate the joy of defeating an empire.  The novel is structured through alternating perspective between Han and Leia, Revis switching her prose style from a very breezy style for Han and a very formal style for Leia which just adds to the characterization.  Leia is particularly fascinating because this novel starts in the immediate aftermath of Return of the Jedi, she is dealing with the revelation that Darth Vader was her biological father.  While Luke as a character in the films accepted this fact, Leia is explicitly characterized here as seeing Bail Organa as her true father.  It adds to the idea of found family that kind of drew Han and Leia together as a couple.  That’s a genuinely great little exploration because Leia’s sense of personal identity is questioned.  The novel has her always working, almost as a distraction from processing these emotions and the fact that her entire life has changed, only amplifying her own insecurities in identity.  Han, on the other hand, uses the mask of humor and flirting for almost the exact same insecurities.  His part of the relationship is this fear of stability which comes with a committed relationship.  While it is manifesting in a completely different way, as is fitting of the character, through signature snark, it is the exact same fear.  He is a man who has never seen himself as an authority figure, he is an outsider, but now he has to take up that responsibility for his wife.  The absolute best moments of the novel, however, is the actual lead up to and execution of the wedding between the pair.  Revis avoids any mention of the sequel trilogy, not including any foreboding of the fact that the pair will be separated by the time of The Force Awakens (this was written and published after The Rise of Skywalker).  That is for the best, it means this is a nice little romance of two people having fallen in love and making it work.

 

Overall, The Princess and the Scoundrel has some weakness when it attempts to examine the larger universe post-Return of the Jedi.  It is playing with ideas far too great for a single book, but when it is focusing on what its title sets out to do, it is a completely fantastic read.  There’s just something sweet about the marriage and the honeymoon in the shadow of such a long journey that really works.  8/10.

Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith by: Adam Christopher

 

Let’s talk about the concept of a fix-it fic.  It’s a particular type of fanfiction where a plot point in the ‘canon’ work that was poorly received for some reason is retroactively fixed through some sort of story be it adding context in an original story or even just a complete rewrite of the original work.  Shadow of the Sith in a way is a fix-it fic for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a film that unlike the previously polarizing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, had one response, negative.  This novel written by Adam Christopher sets out in the very first chapter to take one look at the mystery box set up by J.J. Abrams as to who Rey’s parents are, realizes that their identities don’t actually matter to her because people create their own destiny that Rian Johnson was playing with in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and square it with the revelations of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, that Rey is secretly the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine and fated to join him before eventually defying her name and becoming a Skywalker.  Thematically the two films aren’t quite incompatible, but the latter is one that does a lot to undo what the former was laying down.  So it’s up to Adam Christopher to try to do something with these ideas, plus all of the additions in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and make something coherent out of it.  There’s a lot from the film that is explored in the novel: the potential resurrection of Emperor Palpatine which protagonists Luke and Lando put their heads in the sand at the possibility of that, the Sith assassin Ochi’s pursuit of Rey’s parents, the idea of the Sith wayfinder, and the planet Exegol.  There is the trouble of the fix-it fic being commissioned as a canon novel for Star Wars, it has to be in line with the films that have already been released.  While there is a tendency to claim that tie in media to established franchises as ‘glorified fanfiction’, the pithy commentary (often dismissing both tie in media and fanfiction entirely) ignores the fact that these stories have to fit under often harsh editorial teams.

 

Shadow of the Sith has several chapters from the perspective of Rey’s parents, Dathan and Miramir, that plays out like a tragedy.  Christopher writes this plot thread very much with the audience’s expectation that the pair are going to die, they spend the entire novel running away from several Sith assassins, eventually including Ochi of Bestoon who will kill them.  The climax of the novel even brings everyone to Jakku so we can see the death of Rey’s parents, the plot fulfilling the tragedy of the novel.  Rey isn’t really a character in the novel, she is a six year old and Christopher positions her as the thing her parents are trying to save.  A lot of the novel is about trying to save one’s children: Kylo Ren briefly appears as Ben Solo as Luke’s Padawan apprentice, but more importantly Lando Calrissian as secondary protagonist is hoping to find his own daughter Kadara, having been kidnapped as a baby by the First Order.  It’s a bit odd that Ben Solo, the only male child here, is given really any personality and a small active scene in the plot.  Rey at least gets to be a scared child in places, but Kadara is only seen in flashback sequences.  The children and the next generation are the motivations for everyone involved in the plot.  The Luke and Lando plot is one that deals with Sith assassins, a Sith cult attempting to resurrect the Emperor using an ancient Sith mask of Exim Panshard, an ancient Sith that transferred their consciousness to live on.  It’s a great adventure plot, Christopher being very interested to show how terribly static Luke Skywalker as a character is, something that will eventually be his downfall and where he is seen in the sequel trilogy.  This does have a lot of the novel be a midquel between the end of the original trilogy and the beginning of the sequel trilogy, it’s telling a story and we have to know exactly where the characters are going to be.  The further knock on effect is that the most interesting characters are Lando, who was barely in the sequel trilogy (and Christopher goes incredibly far to not just make him Han Solo, but give him his own drive and desperation to redeem himself and find his daughter), and the Sith cultists, all original characters slowly taking advantage of the New Republic’s struggles to learn from what led to the rise of the Empire in the first place.

 

Overall, Shadow of the Sith is a novel that has issues in tying into the pre-established story, it is attempting to make justifications for why the plot of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is that way, but Adam Christopher has written a compelling story about finding the future and trying to build that up even if it’s something almost doomed to fail until after the sequel trilogy takes place.  It’s a novel that is marketed as a space faring adventure, but it’s really quite a serious tragedy about stagnation and the past, owing more to Star Wars: The Last Jedi more than anything.  8/10.