[One man. One exercise bike. One surgery. 137/178 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.]
This episode is about as good as it gets: the interaction between Patrick Stewart and David Warner, their characters sparring intellectually and emotionally with the highest possible stakes of personal identity, makes this one a classic. It’s harrowing to watch in places, especially after dozens of episodes with Picard functioning so highly…all to see him almost broken by torture.
Of course, no one ever mentions this torture again and Picard cheerfully resumes his mission next week with nary an emotional scar. We see no counseling, no PTSD, no slow recovery. He doesn’t squint under bright lights, sit quietly in a corner of Ten Forward nursing a drink, or stick up for tortured people with any greater alacrity or moral outrage. With “The Best of Both Worlds,” we at least got “Family” to show us how Picard recovered from his Borg kidnapping. Here, we get no follow-up.
I think it’s a little disingenuous to do a big dramatic episode on the horrors of torture without showing what happens AFTER torture, without showing that it goes on in the mind long afterward. It’s one thing to “raise awareness” and another thing entirely to really face something and discuss it.
But then, this is Star Trek, and I’m grateful to the writing team for ramping up the emotional involvement of the characters in these last few seasons at all. These are episodes that matter to their characters, regardless of their science fictional content, and that’s the key to good storytelling.
Of course, consequences are important, too…
My grade: A-, judging on this episode’s merits and not the lack of follow-through.
[Time on bike: 20 minutes.]