[One man. One exercise bike. One surgery. 138/178 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.]
“Captain, do you remember last week when you were being horribly tortured?”
“Hmmm…tortured. Tortured. Can’t say that I do. I feel fine.”
“Oh. Well, never mind. Let’s have a cheery episode about Sherlock Holmes!”
After spending a few days in Cardassian hands, you’d think Captain Picard would be a little touchy about being trapped anywhere, even the Holodeck with Professor Moriarty.
That said, I still love this episode. Simulations within simulations, theories about the nature of reality, tricks and ruses, a lifetime of faux adventurous reality for Moriarty and the Countess Regina Bartholomew…these are things I always enjoy in Star Trek. I mean, you can have a torture episode in almost any series (maybe not Sesame Street); Star Trek‘s for playing with your mind.
Both Daniel Davis as Moriarty and Stephane Beacham as the Countess really class up the episode; apparently with David Warner’s appearance in the last show, this was a week for putting British actors to work. And of course, Dwight Schultz as Barclay is always fun to watch.
My grade: A. I mean, this is what I show up to see.
[Time on bike: 20 minutes.]