247. Face of the EnemyFORMULA: The Enterprise Incident + Unification + The Defector + A Matter of Honor
WHY WE LIKE IT: Troi as Major Rakal is ICE COLD!
WHY WE DON'T: The stupid blond Romulan sympathizer.
REVIEW: An excellent Troi episode, but once again, it may be because she's not quite herself. But the cold-heartedness she's able to pull off as Major Rakal IS in her somewhere. Though she has trouble dealing with Commander Toreth in early scenes, she quickly gets into character, and eventually even takes N'Vek by surprise. Thanks to her empathic powers, she can more easily manipulate people and/or react more appropriately to any given social situation, so why doesn't she? Here, she cuts loose and though her character is perhaps less sympathetic, I think it's an improvement. Troi can be hardcore!
Face of the Enemy is also a sort of sequel to Unification, visiting with Romulan politics and getting a sense of Spock's struggle. More than that, it's also our first look at life aboard a Romulan ship (not unlike what A Matter of Honor did for the Klingons). Commander Toreth, as played perfectly by Carolyn Seymour, isn't what you'd expect. She's no villain. To her, the Romulan thought police are the villains (and the Tal Shiar are a great idea, too long in coming) and the Federation is the enemy. She serves, but not blindly. Though more of a thug, there are shades of the noble Romulans from Balance of Terror here.
Aboard the Enterprise, there's less to do, though the crew reacts efficiently to Deanna's dilemma, and there's palpable outrage at DeSeve's defection to the Romulan side. Picard finally accepts his word when he explains his reasons were philosophical in nature. I think Picard is the only Starfleet captain we've followed with whom that would have had some weight.
LESSON: On Romulus, funny haircuts are mandatory.
REWATCHABILITY - High: Possibly the best Troi episode ever. The plot is interesting and full of tension and the characters are smart. Very rewatchable.
Comments
The episode itself is also pretty awesome. It makes up for years of "Captain, they might be hiding something" wishy washiness with a great performance from Sirtis. She more than anyone really benefits from the last 3 seasons of TNG. It's as if, after doing "Disaster", the writers thought "Shit, we've treated this character like a joke. Let's course correct that". She gets a proper uniform, gets to command the bridge, gets way more to do generally. Pity it had to wait until "First Contact" before we got to see how good she was at comedy, too.
So, yeah. I've just started season one of DS9 and I'd forgotten how good the characters on that show were, but TNG season 6 at this point really is on a great run of episodes. Providing we ignore Aquiel, obviously.