“Ensign Ro” is written by: Michael Piller, from a
story by: Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and is directed by: Les Landau. It was produced under production code 203,
was the 3rd episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5,
the 103rd episode overall, and was broadcast on October 7, 1991.
“Ensign Ro” opens with Captain Jean-Luc Picard getting
a haircut from an over-the-top alien barber.
This is a scene that has little to do with the rest of the episode
outside of being a lovely little character scene and bit of worldbuilding for
the Enterprise crew. There is
something inherently comedic in Patrick Stewart getting a haircut on the tiny
amounts of hair left on the sides of his very bald head. This is not a criticism of the scene, Michael
Piller’s script is intentional in this scene being comedic and frustrating, the
barber, Mot played by Ken Thorley, going on a rant of improvements that Picard
could make to his leadership of the ship, apparently in agreement with Riker
(who admits that when getting a haircut Mot does most of the talking). It’s these little moments that add to the
fabric of Star Trek: The Next Generation, making the world bigger.
The episode has nothing to do with Picard’s haircut,
instead this is an episode largely about dispossessed people in a fight for survival
and justice. “The Wounded” introduced
the Cardassians as antagonists, they are a people with their own empire and
conflicts that the Federation have been unable to interfere within as they have
not left their own borders. “Ensign Ro”
is the first episode that sketches out the conflict between the Cardassians and
the Bajorans. The Bajoran people are the
episode’s allegory for all displaced groups of people and people living under
occupation, pushed to terrorist actions under the pressure from said
occupation. This is an archetype of conflict
that rings true today as it did in 1991 when “Ensign Ro” first broadcast. Michael Piller is notable for not demeaning
the Bajoran people in this episode, while not portrayed as noble for the terrorist
actions are portrayed as acting understandably to the occupation and pressure
from outsiders. This position is one that
would be controversial were it aired on television today in a world gripped
from the ongoing and aftereffects of the war on terror, as it would not play well
to be showing any sympathy to a cause deemed to be one of terror. It is also integral to note that “Ensign Ro” does
not work as specific allegory, while modern viewers would likely see parallels
to Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinian people, there is nothing specific
that Michael Piller or Rick Berman, who contributed to the initial story idea,
included as part of that specific conflict.
The parallels are generic because “Ensign Ro” is exploring a conflict that
recurs throughout human history.
Much of the tension of the episode comes from the Federation’s
policy of non-interference to help the Bajoran people. The decision to keep the Cardassians entirely
off-screen, though often referred to in dialogue, goes quite a long way to position
them as an incredibly powerful state. They
are not in open conflict with the Federation, but the Federation’s inaction is
positioned as explicit in causing harm to the Bajoran people. Cardassian propaganda has also clearly become
an influence on the Federation, this is an episode where an unseen Bajoran is
portrayed through dialogue as having the proper reaction to the subjugation of
his people. This is explicit in the text
as a form of tokenization, he is explicitly a diplomat who is good at dancing
and is often seen at symposiums. This
is Jas Holza, a man who essentially has rejected his own culture despite being in
political exile from the occupied Bajor.
While he is a survivor of occupation, he is not influential. The Federation will not interfere so whatever
Holza may wish to influence, which is intentionally unclear as he is not a
character that appears in the episode, he does not have said influence. There is nothing he can do to change the
material position of the Bajoran people, and yet he is the type of Bajoran our
protagonists admire. When his name comes
up Piller’s script is excellent at portraying this darker undercurrent as it
reveals how the crew of the Enterprise don’t actually think of the
Bajorans as people. Holza represents the
termination of thought towards the plight of Bajor, there is a diplomat who has
no real power but by the label he can clearly advance their plight while in
actuality the opposite is happening.
The actual plot of the episode is a character study on
the titular Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran member of Starfleet who is assigned to
the Enterprise to commute a prison sentence connected to a court
martial. She is a Bajoran who has a
deeper connection to her culture, correcting Picard on the Bajoran naming convention
of placing the family name first and personal name second as well as being the pushback
against the ‘diplomacy’ Holza represents.
This particular aspect of the conflict is where “Ensign Ro” is most
clunky, Piller uses cultural aspects that existed prominently in 1991 and
Bajoran culture is really a vague sketch of intelligence and technological
advancement before occupation. She is
also not here to make friends, being clearly under the thumb of admiral
Kennelly who is offering her a chance at freedom for doing his own dirty work,
the twist of the episode being that he is directly working with the Cardassians
to profit from the subjugation. She is
played by Michelle Forbes who plays every scene she is in with this underlying
rage at her situation and the situation of her people. That anger is not presented as negative, the
only negative given is the resignation of Ro Laren to not attempt to bring
other people to her cause as that is the focus of the episode. The most interesting scene on the episode is Whoopi
Goldberg’s Guinan being the one to find understanding with the ensign, Guinan
also acting at least partially a displaced person though in very different
circumstances. It is the first moment of
solidarity and pushes Ro to fight for her people and to get the Enterprise
involved. The rest of the episode is forcing
Picard to interact with Bajorans, actually speaking with a so-called terrorist
who is revealed to not be a terrorist but, as with his entire people, are a
victim of the Cardassians. It’s integral
that this is not an episode where the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict is resolved
but it does allow the Federation to begin to interfere and at the very least be
aware of the fact of Cardassian interference actively in the Federation.
Overall, “Ensign Ro” is surprising as an episode that
takes some massive swings to subtly skewer the Federation, and by extension the
current governing body of the United States, for its policies of non-interference
when that interference would stop the subjugation of people, advocating that interference
be swift once. Ro Laren as a character
is the real highlight with the episode ending with the promise of future
developments and a clear direction to explore the Cardassian/Bajoran conflict
further. Stating the position in plain
language of standing with displaced people adds real weight to this episode in
what it succeeds at doing while having a script from Michael Piller helps,
emphasizing the characters as people who are allowed to be wrong and in need of
change in outlook. 9/10.
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