The Hunted by: Robin Bernheim and directed by: Cliff Bole

 

“The Hunted” is written by: Robin Bernheim and is directed by: Cliff Bole.  It was produced under production code 159, was the 11^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, the 59^th episode overall, and was broadcast on January 10, 1990.

 

Sometimes an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation will be a perfectly decent episode with a good enough premise that only elevates itself with its ending.  “The Hunted” is one such episode.  Robin Bernheim only wrote this episode, intentionally drawing on the end of the Vietnam War, though 15 years after it ended, making it become a generic reflection on soldiers returning from the field traumatized and excluded from society.  This is something especially apparent when looking at the actions of Republican politicians towards veterans, pulling support to welfare programs, expanding military spending, and embroiling the United States in more overseas conflict.  These ideas would very much be in the mind of the production team of Star Trek: The Next Generation when making “The Hunted” because the allegory is there, and the ending is what really seals it as a great episode.  The ending of the episode is Picard actively denying support to a regime that created a race of super soldiers and then left them in prisons for committing no crime.  It is an internal matter and their application to join the Federation in the future will be considered based on how they actually deal with the veterans.

 

The script is a cold knife and the point where it’s most biting in its commentary, all through a single dramatic monologue that was partially missing the gravitas in a lot of the previous episode.  This issue does largely come at the hands of television standards and practices, as well as the budget allocated to each episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  The script clearly wants to go to the darker places of what happens when a large portion of a society is used, abused, and then thrown away.  The climax in production would have originally involved an insurrection leading to massacre and not a peaceful, if uneasy, resolution.  That original climax would likely have pushed the episode further than what ended up on-screen.  This is a problem that pervades the entire episode, lowering the stakes and with that the tension creating a knock on effect that drags the pace of the episode down.  The pace reads as if sequences are missing and stretching the scenes that are there has created that lack of urgency that pulls the episode down.

 

The main soldier character in the episode representing the plight of the veterans is Danar, played by Jeff McCarthy, is doing his best with material that has clearly been cut down in rewrites.  The character on paper is clearly meant to be a representation of post-traumatic stress disorder, the physical enhancements influencing his emotions to become more agitated easily and making violence unavoidable.  “The Hunted” does want to dwell on the emotions of veterans, Danar being paired through much of the episode with Troi who is able to make an emotional connection, though integral for making the episode work not a romantic one.  It’s especially nice that this comes after “The Defector” which was just as strong for Troi, making it seem at least like there are multiple writers on this show who understand the need to move away from pinning her into a sexual role.  “The Hunted” builds on her compassion towards Danar and his situation, despite the fact that the Enterprise do still have to return him to his planet because they are not really able to interfere with a foreign power.  Again this helps make that Picard speech at the end actually work quite well for the episode despite toning down some of the power the original ending would have had.  The episode also treats Danar’s drive to escape his capture by the Enterprise as something justified, once again putting the morality of the Enterprise crew slightly into question despite making what should be the correct decision in the end.  They support the bloodless takeover of the Angosian in the end, but that’s the big turnaround in terms of morality because the threat is completely external to the Enterprise.

 

Overall, despite undergoing some severe rewrites that weaken it “The Hunted” is at the very least bold for telling a story where an insurrection is seen as the proper course of action because a government is oppressing a minority group (though that minority being veterans isn’t exactly commented on).  It is made by the final act and ending when we get to the Angosians as their bureaucracy does come across as the right amount of insufferable and the insurrection feels nothing but victorious.  Plus Marina Sirtis once again gets something to do in the plot that is ever so slightly more solid than the usual material for her character.  7/10.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Temptation of the Force by: Tessa Gratton

 

Phase III of Star Wars: The High Republic interestingly has focused more than the previous two phases on the very human relationships between our heroes.  Tessa Gratton also has become a rather prominent writer in this phase cowriting Defy the Storm, a young adult novel that explores how defiance under occupation takes many forms, and being the sole writer on Temptation of the Force.  Temptation of the Force makes it easier to see what Gratton’s strengths as a writer are.  They are adept at balancing shifting perspectives and their character work is particularly excellent.  Themes of defiance find their way throughout the novel, the large strokes of the plot are about breaking through the Stormwall and into the Occlusion Zone through several almost insane schemes.  The perspective shifts quite a bit to essentially every character established by The High Republic on the side of the Jedi and Marchion Ro and Ghirra Starros on the side of the Nihil.  Gratton’s characterization of Ro is what readers should have come to accept by now: a megalomaniac with a penchant for the trope of the Xanatos Gambit where even when he loses he still finds a way to win.  While his chapters are entertaining, it is actually Ghirra Starros on the side of the Nihil that is more interesting thematically.  She has lost her daughter due to completely avoidable circumstances, her name being rejected and her motivation being self-preservation and financial self-improvement.  Her intelligence is never actually in doubt, but she is a collaborator of her own volition and for her betterment.  There is a complete sense that she underestimates the lengths Ro is willing to go for power, however, that is not really her personal flaw.  Her big flaw is that complete selfishness, something that is only shattered by the final words her daughter says to her in the climax of the novel, best described as a death knell.  She made her choice and poor Avon sees exactly what her mother has always been.  Avon for her part doesn’t actually play as much of a major role in the novel, but when Gratton does use her it is for this particular effect.

 

Also making choices is the ripped apart romance of Xylan Graf and Cair San Tekka, beginning the novel separate and building much of the story to their reunion.  As with many romances pulled apart early, the reunion is nothing but bittersweet.  The Nihil have left both of them scarred in their own way, they are only separated again because that is for the best.  Gratton’s dialogue for the pair is of this unlikely couple that is somehow married incredibly happily to each other, neither willing to lose the other but still having to say goodbye.  The dialogue knows how to shoot you directly in the heart.  Cair is also a man dealing with a new disability, losing a hand and yet not wanting to accept help from a prosthetics specialist.  The disability is now a part of him, something he must accept.  Gratton also just excels at writing this longing.  In a way that is the temptation the title Temptation of the Force is referring to as Graf and Cair aren’t the only romantic couple of the book.  As the cover boasts, the central relationship of the novel is between Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann.

 

The Star Wars prequel trilogy goes into the Jedi code involving the impossibility of attachment, in the mind of George Lucas conflating attachment with possession and unhealthy relationships.  In theory, it’s brilliant and what Anakin and Padme represent, though the audience largely took it towards the view of relationships of the Catholic Church’s priests: celibate and married to the job of being a Jedi.  Gratton (and other Star Wars novels I have read and reviewed) does not make them celibate or even dispassionate.  Both couples are incredibly passionate, that passion is really what made me like both Kriss and Mann more in this novel than any of their previous appearances in The High Republic, but both couples are struggling with that temptation of attachment.  Kriss and Mann as a couple are that perfect compliment to one another: they push and pull their patience and impatience together depending on the situation.  Action versus inaction in how to deal with the Nihil and Marchion Ro and the Nameless threat, how each of them reacts to each trial, and especially how they react to each other.  The thrust of the novel is how difficult it becomes to resist that temptation and give into the selfish, possessive love that if we’re continuing the Catholic Church metaphor would be more a concept of lust over love.  This means when they eventually work it out, both couples in their own way, the conclusion of the novel continues to be that big win.

 

While Gratton’s acknowledgements cite being asked to write essentially The Empire Strikes Back what they exceled at with Temptation of the Force is to create that multi-layered story to move everything forward.  While there are two couples at the center and plenty of exploration of the Nihil, this review didn’t even have the chance to really cover Bell or Burry or even some of the scenes of interfacing with the normal people living under occupation.  Gratton has written something quite close to a masterpiece, very much the strongest of The High Republic and one of the strongest Star Wars novels I’ve read.  9/10.

The Defector by: Ronald D. Moore and directed by: Robert Scheerer

 

“The Defector” is written by: Ronald D. Moore and is directed by: Robert Scheerer.  It was produced under production code 158, was the 10^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, the 58^th episode overall, and was broadcast on January 1, 1990.

 

“The Enemy” was a proper reintroduction to the Romulans for Star Trek: The Next Generation, positioning them far closer to the relationship the Klingons were to the original series.  “The Defector” comes exactly three episodes later for a second appearance that is nearly as interesting by once again presenting the crew of the Enterprise with a single Romulan to face.  As the title implies, the idea is that reflecting instances of the Cold War, the Romulan Admiral Jarok, played by James Sloyan, is defecting under a different name after the discovery of the Romulans installing a base in the Neutral Zone.  The conflict of the episode then comes with the Enterprise crew not quite knowing if they can trust Jarok or being put into a trap.  What’s fascinating about the episode is that it opens with a sequence that foreshadows essentially the entire episode in a way, a scene from Henry V (a play I have not read) of Henry coming among the common people.  It's a great scene, but it is a little odd that it’s included here in what specifically reads as the production team realizing they have Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart leading the show and haven’t really taken advantage of that.  It is not Picard in the role though, it’s a holodeck program, but again we needed to take advantage of Patrick Stewart.  Data is also present, the scene ending with discussions on the nature of performance and acting as a lead in to the episode proper.  Jarok introduces himself as Setal, a lowly logistics clerk that has come across information that he shouldn’t have spurring on the defection.  The entire episode is draped in deceit exactly like this, the question being if it is a question of deceit for the greater good, deceit for selfish reasons, or deceit for the inevitable betrayal.

 

Sloyan’s performance as Jarok is fascinating, the makeup team on this episode in particular has added some extra detail to the makeup job.  The features on Jarok seem just a bit more exaggerated in a way, making him look a little less human despite Romulans falling into the camp of humans with bits stuck on aliens that are easy to do on Star Trek.  It’s subtle differences and not a full scale redesign like the Klingons between the original series and the films/The Next Generation, but the subtle differences go a way to otherize Jarok.  Sloyan is also not acting through incredibly heavy makeup, he still has use of his face throughout the episode.  Jarok is defecting for the sake of his family, he has a daughter, he knows that war is very likely coming as the Romulans are encroaching the Neutral Zone.  And yet, he opens with nothing but deceit and is interrogated by the crew.  The interrogation scenes are particularly intense, Ronald D. Moore’s script for this sequence of events in particular doesn’t actually paint the crew of the Enterprise in a positive light.  Picard, Riker, and Troi are all fulfilling the duties of military officers, being inherently distrustful of Jarok and almost pushing into the realms of torture.  The interrogation is incredibly pressing, Robert Scheerer shoots it in a lot of close up, often keeping Riker and Troi shot from the back to make them faceless.  The episode is right to make you sympathize with Jarok, the final scene of the episode does have Picard opine about how one day there will be peace and they can deliver a letter from Jarok to his family.  For her part Marina Sirtis is actually given interesting material as Troi, using her empathic abilities to read the confusion in Jarok’s mind and to conform his statements to the crew’s own biases against him and the Romulans as a whole.  It reads like a defining moment to who Troi is as a character, someone who is willing to compromise ethics for the crew, she is allowed to be a fully complex character which has been an issue with her character throughout the series thus far.  The episode is building to the point where Jarok is not actually being deceitful on the whole, he is lying about who he is but he is the victim of Romulan deceit.

 

The Romulan incursions are false.  Jarok was given false information to lure a Federation ship into the Neutral Zone and start a war.  The only reason that this fails is because Picard is a strategic genius and has brought three Klingon ships along with him because he knew something was up.  This aspect of the conclusion is the weakest aspect of the episode, it reads almost as if Moore realized he was getting close to the end of the episode and needed a conclusion to resolve the twist and neglected to have anything setup.  Though using the Klingons as resolution is an interesting parallel to show how far they have come in terms of relationship with the Federation and how far it is for the Romulans to actually go.  Jarok’s ending is far stronger: as he has been lied to and has nowhere in the universe to go as the Romulans would execute him for defecting (which they caused) and the Federation clearly wouldn’t accept him after how they’ve treated him, he commits suicide.  That’s what prompts Picard to hope for peace with the Romulans and realize subtly that he and the crew have been wrong, his suicide note is what needs to eventually be delivered to his family.  It’s an incredibly powerful ending and almost makes up for the shorthand tricks used in the third act to get to that finale.

 

Overall, “The Defector” is a surprising follow-up to the reestablishing of the Romulans, further cementing them as having their own story arc that will hopefully be followed up on.  Ronald D. Moore’s second script for the series shows once again that he understands how to integrate even unrelated scenes into the larger whole of an episode.  It’s particularly nice to have the crew of the Enterprise be seen ever so subtly as villains, or at the very least not the squeaky clean outlook that much of what has come before in the series.  8/10.

The Vengeance Factor by: Sam Rolfe and directed by: Timothy Bond

 

“The Vengeance Factor” is written by: Sam Rolfe and is directed by: Timothy Bond.  It was produced under production code 157, was the 9^th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, the 57^th episode overall, and was broadcast on November 20, 1989.

 

“The Vengeance Factor” is an episode that has me slightly puzzled.  It’s an episode that excels in terms of showing off Captain Picard as the non-violent diplomat and Riker as a pinnacle of non-toxic, respectful masculinity, but it’s also an episode that while having commentary on slavery also makes the slave character the episode’s twist villain slowly working a master plan to kill not her masters, but an outcast group of pirates who are coming to the negotiating table for reconciliation and reparations.  Yes, “The Vengeance Factor” is an episode that is politically savvy enough to acknowledge the need for reparations to those oppressed in some way, yet the slave is a villain who apparently cannot understand her position.  It’s all because the reveal of the character’s villainy is actually a third act twist for the episode which reads as if writer Sam Rolfe wrote himself into a corner and needed a way to resolve the microvirus subplot that was a danger to the negotiations.  Yes, there is an assassin that is killing members of the Gatherers with the Sovereign Marouk, played by Nancy Parsons, leading the negotiations and as red herring.  Rolfe sets the Sovereign up as equally unreasonable as the Gatherers, and she should be the villain of the episode and not her assistant/servant/slave because the dialogue is certainly not clear.  The reason to bring reconciliation are also odd, it’s because the Gatherers are interfering and stealing from Federation outposts.  The conclusion of the episode is equally odd, Riker just outright kills the villain Yuta, played by Lisa Wilcox.  All of these elements just come together as particularly odd, and really don’t mesh well with each other to make the runtime uneven.

 

Timothy Bond directs his first of two episodes of the series and while his direction isn’t necessarily bad, it is quite standard for late 1980s television and there is a sense that it’s the direction dragging down the pace of the episode.  He is shooting it almost like a mystery, the script giving Riker and Crusher as characters investigative plots, but the audience already kind of knows what is happening with this episode when the conflict begins.  Getting the Enterprise crew involved also just reads as contrived, they feel like outsiders unofficially as the negotiators; they are pushing themselves in on these people and forcing their way of life for selfish reasons which is very odd.  It doesn’t violate the Prime Directive because the Acamarians as a people are technologically advanced enough that it doesn’t actually apply.  Rolfe’s script is also odd because while it has multiple subplots, none of them actually end up going anywhere and everything reads like setup until that particularly abrupt conclusion.  The Gatherers themselves are played mostly by men who are treated often as over the top comic relief but by the time you get to the third act they are all pushed to the background for the big reveal.  The ending of any given episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and any episode of television really, is important to tie everything together and “The Vengeance Factor” suffers because the ending leaves everything to fall apart.

 

Overall, “The Vengeance Factor” has some things going for it, Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard is particularly strong in the diplomatic role the episode gives him and Jonathan Frakes as Riker has some nice romantic scenes.  The message, however, is incoherent with an ending that leaves a main character a murderer and the reveal to the murder mystery someone who is already oppressed in her own existence.  It comes across as an underdeveloped script that is juggling way too many ideas for any of them to really come to the forefront leaving the episode both difficult to talk about in terms of anything interesting and a mediocre watch.  5/10.