“Shades of Gray” is written by: Maurice Hurley,
Richard Manning, and Hans Beimler, from a story by: Maurice Hurley, and is
directed by: Rob Bowman. It was produced
under production code 148, was the 22nd episode of Star Trek: The
Next Generation Season 2, the 48th episode overall, and was
broadcast on July 17, 1989.
“Shades of Gray” is a clip show. It was made because the executives at
Paramount demanded a 22 episode count and allocated extra funds earlier in the
season. Season 2 of Star Trek: The
Next Generation ends on a whimper because of this. Clip shows do have a place in the history of
television, they serve as recap or even just remembering all the good times
when production gets stuck. “Shades of
Gray” struggles at least partially because the first two seasons of Star Trek:
The Next Generation are very much up and down, but also the wraparound is
Riker gets infected with a microorganism that starts to break down his mind,
Pulaski simulates emotions and memories to fix it. Troi is also there. The lead ins are quite literally explaining what
the emotion Riker is feeling is, such as happiness and sadness. There are three writers credited on this
including outgoing showrunner Maurice Hurley. The premise could work if there was any reflection on Riker as a character or if it really had anything to say except here are some clips. This is an episode with absolutely no effort put into it because it
needed to get out, so this review will now shift to discuss at least some of
the clips using excerpts from previous reviews on my thoughts as Riker as a
character.
The only characters who get a proper introduction is
Frakes as Riker, introduced over halfway through the episode on Farpoint
station. (“Encounter at Farpoint”)
Jonathan Frakes is honestly the only actor who seems
to be comfortable enough with sexuality on display and everyone else, even the
actors playing the Edoans, feel uncomfortable in the situations. (“Justice”)
The episode is also really strict in exploring gender
roles, to the point of coming across as subtly homophobic. Riker
puts on one of the men’s outfits for diplomacy’s sake and is ridiculed for it,
the implication being that it makes him less of a man. I say
homophobic because the outfits are clearly meant to be coded as queer, and
therefore lesser in what the episode is presenting. At least Riker
as a character is totally confident in wearing it, partially making it a shame
that explicitly making the character bisexual would not happen (he could have
been an icon). (“Angel One”)
Maurice Hurley and Robert Lewin just continually cut
back to Riker flirting with the holodeck program in a jazz bar, Riker playing
the trombone (though it’s clearly just a jazz track over miming Riker and the
trio backing him up when really they could have at least hired a jazz trio to
play or director Paul Lynch could have avoided us seeing any of the instruments
being played). The sequence is really just padding so the crew can
evacuate the Enterprise leaving Riker and Picard behind, and
it just keeps going. Once they leave the holodeck it doesn’t
actually take long to wrap up the conflict and get the big reveals of the
episode out into the open. (“11001001”)
Marina Sirtis as Troi who is stuck in the position of
damsel gets the more interesting performance in the immediate aftermath of
Yar’s death, she doesn’t see it happen but emotionally feels it, selling
exactly who she is to the audience quite well. (“Skin of Evil”)
This is an episode where there are several action
sequences where characters like Riker have to fight older characters and they
are shot at wide angles with stunt doubles. Bole really should have
setup shots to perhaps get close to the impact on Riker and not actually seeing
the older characters throwing punches. (“Conspiracy”)
Riker who is turned into a complete asshole because
someone potentially stole his woman. (“The Child”)
One of the central scenes between Riker and the
Klingon crew he works for is eating dinner, something that could easily have
been played for laughs in a culturally insensitive “look at these gross foods”
a la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, however, Riker while
occasionally being taken aback, isn’t ever framed as being tortured by the
food. Riker takes the food in his own stride, even if the Klingons
are aware of the lack of appeal of their food to the human palate. They
make jokes about Riker needing something softer, suggesting breastfeeding which
gives some insight into some of the toxicity of Klingon society (though the
episode also presents female Klingons as equally strong warriors, mixed with
tropes of the femme fatale). Those insights are not elaborated on,
but they are laying the groundwork for future Klingon episodes. Much
of the material is also elevated by Jonathan Frakes’ performance: from his
scenes with Michael Dorn to the Klingons to his scenes opposite Picard, Riker
feels like a fully developed character and impossibly amicable. (“A Matter
of Honor”)
Outside of this, however, the plot with William and
Kyle Riker is genuinely fantastic...Jonathan Frakes equally matches Ryan’s
performance, Riker continually attempts to be the bigger person when speaking
with anyone that isn’t his father…Plus Riker’s opportunity as captain is a
C-plot meaning that “The Icarus Factor” is the first episode of Season 2 to
feel overstuffed instead of being padded out. (“The Icarus Factor”)
2/10.
Bottom 5 Episodes of Season 2:
5. The Dauphin
4. The Schizoid Man
3. Shades of Gray
2. Up the Long Ladder
1. The Child
Bottom 5 Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation
So Far:
5. Justice
4. Up the Long Ladder
3. Angel One
2. The Child
1. Code of Honor
Top 5 Episodes of Season 2:
5. The Emissary
4. The Icarus Factor
3. Q Who
2. Elementary Dear Data
1. The Measure of a Man
Top 5 Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation So Far:
5. Datalore
4. The Icarus Factor
3. Q Who
2. Elementary Dear Data
1. The Measure of a Man
No comments:
Post a Comment