[One man. One exercise bike. One surgery. 140/178 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.]
The original title for this episode was better: “The Hunt for Green October.”
Troi is kidnapped and surgically altered to help Romulan defectors cross the Neutral Zone, and she must pretend to be a terrifying agent for the Romulan intelligence service to save herself and the defectors.
Aside from a few tense moments in which Troi barely holds onto her cover story and a somewhat clever means of getting the defectors aboard the Enterprise, there isn’t much to recommend this episode. It feels mailed in, though Marina Sirtis certainly earns her paycheck while everyone else goofs off.
There’s a weird tipping point here in this season when it seems clear that everyone is just tired and ready for this Star Trek shit to finally end. A few exceptions represent surges of creative energy, but I think it’s a little too apparent that this is all someone’s job by now.
Or maybe I’m just projecting.
My grade: D
[Time on bike: 25 minutes.]