“The Mind’s Eye”
Written by Ken Schafer and René Echevarria
Directed by David Livingston
Season 4, Episode 24
Production episode 40274-198
Original air date: May 27, 1991
Stardate: 44885.5
Captain’s Log: La Forge is en route to Risa in a shuttle to attend an artificial intelligence seminar—and he’s arriving a few days early for some R&R. While he’s in the middle of playing a word game with the computer to pass the time, a Romulan warbird decloaks, drains the shuttle’s shields, and beams La Forge over. He’s strapped down to a chair on the orders of two Romulans—Taibak and a woman who remains in shadow. Another human who looks somewhat like him puts on a fake VISOR and is told by Taibak to try not to have too much fun on Risa.
Taibak removes the VISOR and plugs the chair right into the little doodads on La Forge’s temples that the VISOR hooks up to, enabling him to force La Forge to watch whatever he wishes. The idea is to condition La Forge to the point where he’s their slave, which can be done in a manner that is undetectable thanks to La Forge’s neural implants.
The female commander Taibak is reporting to remains in shadow, but speaks with a very familiar voice.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise is ferrying Ambassador Kell, an emissary from the Klingon High Council, to Krios, a Klingon colony that is rebelling. In the past, they’d just put down a rebellion, but the difficulties on the homeworld make that impractical. Granting them independence is an option—”conquer them again later, if we wish”—but the reason for this particular trip is because Governor Vagh is accusing the Federation of arming the Kriosian rebels.
La Forge’s conditioning continues. The Romulans re-create Ten-Forward in a holodeck. Taibak points to O’Brien, sitting and chatting with a couple of other guys, and asks who he is. “That’s Chief O’Brien.” “How long have you served with him?” “Almost four years.” “I want you to kill him.” “Okay.”
Sure enough, La Forge walks over to the table and—after a few seconds’ hesitation—shoots O’Brien, then sits down for a drink. Taibak is not pleased with the hesitation, and orders the equipment prepared for another session.
By the time the Enterprise arrives at Krios, La Forge returns in the same shuttle he was kidnapped from, and he remembers only that he went to Risa. Data detects E-band emissions, which are hard to localize. It might be from a protostar, though there isn’t one close enough.
Picard, Riker, and Kell beam down to Krios to meet with Governor Vagh. Federation medical supplies and phaser rifles have been found in rebel strongholds. The medical supplies aren’t actually a big deal, as they don’t restrict access to them, but the weapons are another matter. Picard takes one back to the ship to examine it (after trading swear words with Vagh).
After checking over engineering, La Forge goes to Ten-Forward. Kell is sharing a drink with Crusher and Riker, while O’Brien is sitting alone. La Forge orders a drink, walks up behind O’Brien, and deliberately dumps his drink on O’Brien’s right shoulder. La Forge immediately apologizes, O’Brien brushes it off as no big deal, and La Forge stands around confused as to why he just did that.
Data and La Forge examine the rifle Picard got from Vagh. It uses a terahertz energy source Starfleet doesn’t use—but 327 other systems use that type of feed. One of those 327 is the Romulan Empire. As Picard tells Vagh, while the Romulans have no direct interest in Kriosian independence, they do have an interest in driving a wedge between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, since that alliance is the only thing keeping them in check.
Another E-band emission is detected, one that is greater in intensity, which means it can’t possibly be a protostar. On Riker’s orders, Data continues to search for the source, since he’s now concerned that it’s a covert Romulan transmission.
La Forge performs a bit of sabotage on a cargo transporter, keeping the computer from finding any record of him beaming a container of weapons down to the surface. Shortly thereafter, Vagh contacts the ship spitting fire, as they intercepted the container. Picard knows nothing of this, though Data does detect an unauthorized use of a transporter—but they can’t even figure out which one. Vagh sends three ships to keep the Enterprise in orbit. Kell has convinced Vagh to wait to hear from the High Council, but that only buys them a few hours.
Data and La Forge (who has no memory of his own sabotage) try to figure out which transporter was used and how it was used without sensors detecting it. They find a replicator energy pattern that isn’t actually a replicator pattern, that traces back to Cargo Bay 4. There’s no indication that the transporter was used, and O’Brien says that the only way to do that is to physically mess with the chips at several different stations. Only four people on board would even know how to do it: Data, La Forge, O’Brien, and Lieutenant Costa. They all have alibis except for La Forge, who says he was in his quarters alone (ha ha ha). They continue to try to reconstruct what happened, including an attempt to determine whose access code was used, but it will take time.
Kell tells Picard that he will invite Vagh on board the Enterprise to observe the investigation himself. Then he returns to his quarters to enjoy a sumptuous repast; said repast is interrupted by the arrival of La Forge, whom Kell was expecting because, it turns out, he’s another Klingon—like J’Dan and probably Duras—who is secretly allied with the Romulans.
The ambassador tells La Forge that the investigation’s moving faster than expected, so he wants the engineer to assassinate Governor Vagh in the cargo bay in front of many witnesses, and claim he did it on Starfleet’s behalf in support of Kriosian independence. La Forge says he understands, then leaves. He goes back to his quarters to sleep, but wakes up from a nightmare and immediately contacts O’Brien—but can’t remember why he did so. He visits Crusher, concerned that he can’t sleep and wanting her to give him something for it.
Vagh and Kell beam on board, along with the governor’s staff. Vagh makes it clear that this is against his better judgment, but Kell convinced him. At Kell’s suggestion they proceed immediately to the cargo bay.
Data has traced the E-band spikes—twice they occurred on the ship, once on the planet’s surface. He also discovers that the E-band emissions bear a similarity to human brainwave patterns, and that a system designed to process the EM spectrum and carry them to the human brain could receive those signals. Data gets a shock of recognition, as that’s how La Forge’s VISOR works. He immediately proceeds to the shuttle bay to examine the shuttle La Forge took to Risa. While he can’t find any discrepancies in the navigation logs, he does detect submicroscopic stresses on the nose consistent with the application of a tractor beam—and there’s no indication that the shuttle ever was hit with such a beam on La Forge’s trip to Risa. He then examines the isolinear chips in the shuttle, only to discover that they’ve been replicated by a Romulan replicator.
Picard shows Vagh, Kell, and his staff how the investigation is proceeding. O’Brien verifies that the unit in Cargo Bay 4 is the only one that was tampered with. La Forge shows up, covertly armed with a small hand phaser, and is asked by O’Brien to check over something. After that, he just stares at Vagh.
Data contacts La Forge, but he doesn’t respond. The computer tells him that he’s in Cargo Bay 4, so he contacts Worf and orders him to take La Forge into custody. Worf moves to do so, but is stopped by Vagh’s bodyguards, so he cries out La Forge’s name, which forces Picard and Vagh to turn around just before he can fire. Picard is able to deflect La Forge’s fatal shot at Vagh, and Worf takes him into custody.
Then Data shows up and explains what happened. The only thing left to determine is who provided La Forge with his instructions—the E-band emissions that were sent to La Forge’s VISOR had to come to someone in close proximity, and the only people who were close enough to him each of the three times they detected an E-band spike were Picard and Kell.
Kell refuses to be searched by the Enterprise crew—and Vagh agrees, saying they’ll search Kell themselves. Kell nervously requests asylum aboard the Enterprise, which Picard says he’ll grant—after the ambassador’s been cleared of this crime. Vagh’s bodyguards grab Kell and they all beam down to Krios.
La Forge sits with Troi, frustrated, because he remembers every detail of his trip to Risa. She begins her work with him to restore his memories.
Can’t We Just Reverse the Polarity?: The fake phaser rifle matches a Federation rifle mostly—the energy flow from the prefire chamber to the emission aperture, rapid nadion pulse, beam-control assembly, safety interlock, beam-width intensity controls, and energy cell discharge are all normal. But the efficiency reading on the discharge crystal is above Starfleet specifications, and it turns out it’s using terahertz energy, which the Federation doesn’t use. That eventually leads them to the Romulans.
Thank You, Counselor Obvious: Troi sees La Forge upon his return from the Romulan ship, and views him as more relaxed than she ever saw him. She pushes him to reveal what he did on Risa, and La Forge lists a whole mess of things we know he didn’t do, like play chess, walk, swim, eat, and spend time with a woman named Jonek. Troi’s pushing for details on what he did comes across a lot more as a friend fishing for gossip than a counselor checking on a patient, which is actually kinda cute….
At the end, though, she’s entirely his counselor as she tries to get La Forge to remember what happened.
If I Only Had a Brain…: Data’s investigation of the E-band emissions eventually leads him to discovering La Forge as the saboteur. He also has an entertaining conversation with La Forge upon the latter’s return to the ship, as La Forge cracks wise, Data expresses confusion, talks through the comment to determine where the humor is, and then agrees that what he said was funny, prompting La Forge to grin and say, “I missed you, Data.”
There is No Honor in Being Pummeled: It always irked me that Data was the one who solved the mystery—though it had its basis in his detection of the E-band emissions, so it made some sense—but this is the sort of thing that should’ve been handled by the chief of security. Oh well.
Just as in “Reunion,” Picard refuses to let Worf’s discommendation get in the way of duty—this time, it’s him pretty much forcing Worf down Kell’s throat, as he’s the one best qualified to give Kell a tactical briefing. And then after all of Kell’s bitching and moaning about having to deal with Worf, the ambassador actually pays him a compliment, telling him that there are some on the High Council who are grateful to Worf for killing Duras, and that when he did so, he acted as a true Klingon.
What Happens on the Holodeck Stays on the Holodeck: Taibak uses a holodeck to re-create Ten-Forward to test to make sure that La Forge’s conditioning is taking effect. If they can get him to kill O’Brien, a friend of four years’ standing, it shouldn’t be any problem killing a total stranger in Vagh.
I Believe I Said That: “Your modesty is very human, Captain, I will excuse it.”
Ambassador Kell, not letting Picard get away with being demure.
Welcome Aboard: Larry Dobkin is appropriately gruff as Ambassador Kell—he was also the director of the original series episode “Charlie X” back in 1966—while Edward Wiley is appropriately cranky as Vagh. John Fleck plays the first of six Trek roles as Taibak—the magnificently voiced actor will return three times on Deep Space Nine, as a Cardassian, an Ornithar, and another Romulan (Koval, the head of the Tal Shiar), once on Voyager, and have the recurring role of Silik on Enterprise.
And sharp-eared viewers will detect the uncredited voice of Denise Crosby as Taibak’s supervisor, who will be revealed in “Redemption” to be Commander Sela, revealed in “Redemption, Part II” to be the daughter of the alternate Tasha Yar from “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” It was only Crosby’s voice, though—Debra Dilley, one of the photo doubles, stood in the shadows next to John Fleck.
Trivial Matters: This is the first of two occasions where La Forge’s VISOR will be used to sabotage the Enterprise—it’ll happen again in Star Trek Generations.
Some time between Generations and First Contact, La Forge went from VISOR to bionic implants, and the story The Insolence of Office by William Leisner, part of the eBook miniseries Slings and Arrows (edited by your humble rewatcher), chronicled how that happened: Starfleet ordered him to do it, or be transferred to a less sensitive post. Since the time between films was the height of paranoia over Dominion infiltration (as seen in contemporary episodes of DS9), the security risk of the VISOR was too much for Starfleet to be comfortable with. The events of this episode are at the top of the list of issues.
Although the bulk of the episode takes place on Krios, we won’t actually meet any Kriosians until “The Perfect Mate” in the fifth season; they’ll also be seen in the Enterprise episode “Precious Cargo.”
This episode establishes that Risa has a climate-controlled environment for maximum tourist enjoyment. That system will be seen (and sabotaged) in the DS9 episode “Let He Who Is Without Sin…”
This episode continues the political theme of Romulan sabotage of the Klingon-Federation alliance via sympathetic Klingons that started in “Reunion” (with a Romulan explosive used by an agent of Councillor Duras), and continued in “The Drumhead” (with J’Dan sending Enterprise secrets to the Romulans). It will come to a head in “Redemption.”
Although it’s never stated in the episode, one assumes that the Romulans learned of the VISOR and its vulnerabilities through reports from Centurion Bok’ra following the events of “The Enemy.”
This is the third time we see things from La Forge’s VISOR’d POV (following “Heart of Glory” and “The Enemy“), but this time there are modifications in the visual output in the form of Romulan script.
As with last week, this episode has a first-time directing endeavor from a long-time member of the tech staff—in this case David Livingston, who started as a unit production manager on TNG, and remained on the production staff throughout the show’s run. He’ll go on to direct more than 60 episodes of TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise.
Make it So: “A technique referred to historically, and somewhat inaccurately, as ‘brainwashing’.” An open tribute to the John Frankenheimer film The Manchurian Candidate, director Livingston even included some homage shots (and apparently tried to get someone from the film to make a cameo in the episode, but was unsuccessful). And it totally works. La Forge’s VISOR has been used to assist the crew on so many occasions, so it’s nice to see it have some vulnerabilities as well. It fits in perfectly with the occasional theme of the fourth season of a growing conflict among the Klingons, Romulans, and Federation, and just in general is a tight, intense episode.
La Forge is the perfect person for this, because they’ve spent four years establishing him as the affably dorky guy, so he’s the last person anyone would suspect of being an assassin. His casual “okay” when Taibak orders him to shoot O’Brien is chilling.
And the episode is beautifully structured. Just when you figure you know how everything’s going to go, Kell is revealed as the spy, which just adds an extra layer to the whole thing. Tension is nicely built as we intercut between Data gathering evidence that La Forge is the saboteur and La Forge heading to the cargo bay to perform his mission.
The only serious problem with the episode isn’t so much an issue with the story itself as it is TNG‘s structure. The show will continue for another three years (plus four feature films), and this incident will never even be referred to again. The final scene between Troi and La Forge is excellent—La Forge’s plaintive “But I remember everything!” is heartbreaking—but then it’s never talked about again. This is as damaging an event for La Forge in its own way as Picard’s assimilation in “The Best of Both Worlds” and Worf’s discommendation in “Sins of the Father,” but where those two are at least followed up on, this one isn’t, and that’s a shame.
However, that doesn’t detract from a taut thriller episode, one that nicely sets up the season finale two episodes hence.
Warp factor rating: 8
Keith R.A. DeCandido‘s latest novel, Goblin Precinct, is now available. A high fantasy police procedural (think Law & Order meets The Lord of the Rings), it’s the sequel to Dragon Precinct and Unicorn Precinct, and is available from Dark Quest Books. Go to Keith’s web site for info on how to get the book, whether an eBook or print book from an online dealer, or an autographed copy of the trade paperback directly from Keith.
Poor Geordie. Does anything nice ever happen to him?
“It always irked me that Data was the one who solved the mystery — though it had its basis in his detection of the E-band emissions, so it made some sense — but this is the sort of thing that should’ve been handled by the chief of security.”
Good point. I’ve often felt that ST tended to treat security personnel too much like soldiers and not enough like cops. And TNG’s tendency to caricature Worf as Warrior Guy only exacerbated that. (Which is part of why I’m convinced it would’ve been a much better show if, in season 2, they’d made Geordi the security chief and Worf the chief engineer. It would’ve made much better use of Geordi’s VISOR as an investigative tool and would’ve fleshed out Worf as more than just the muscle.)
The homage to The Manchurian Candidate actually made me expect someone like Kell to be the spy. It fit perfectly within the structure established by the original film (the Angela Landsbury Queen of Hearts scene). So it wasn’t all that surprising, but still entertaining. I never liked Geordi episodes, this one is an exception.
Overall, a great episode for Season 4. The one thing that always bothered me was they tested out the fake phaser rifle 3 1/2 feet from the damn warp core. Come one, fellas, you’ve got this massive ship with a ton of internal area, and you’ve got to check a phaser rifle right next to where matter and antimatter mix? Pick the empy holodeck set, pick a shuttlebay, or even pick the pitch-black phaser practice range. They did the same thing in Birthright Part 1 where bring the mystery object aboard and test it, right next to the warp core. Doesn’t SCE give out instruction sheets on how and where to test things? KRD, you need a new section for SCE Safety Violations…
@@@@@ #1 StrongDreams: Good point. LaForge is having a bad fourth season. He gets changed into an alien, then he suffers the humiliation of having a woman discover his fantasies about her, now he’s kidnapped and brainwashed by Romulans. Yeah, the guy got dumped on that year.
@@@@@ KRAD: “The fake phaser rifle matches a Federation rifle mostly…(but) the efficiency reading on the discharge crystal is above Starfleet specifications, and it turns out it’s using terahertz energy, which the Federation doesn’t use.”
–Shades of “Star Trek VI,” perhaps, where it looked like the Enterprise fired weapons that were actually fired by the (Romulan) ship right under it?
It’s interesting that this episode (and “Redemption,” and “Unification”) aired in this same calendar year as “Star Trek VI.” Nice bit of cosmic-political synergy…
Loved this episode but didnt catch the deliberate drink spilling on obrien. Now i have to watch it again.
@@@@@ KRAD: By the way, here’s a free novel idea: Write a novel where we meet multiple incarnations of the Klingon ambassador, and call it “The Book of Kells!” Or not…
Don: I already wrote another Kell — Legate Kell, a Cardassian, in The Art of the Impossible. :)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Not that I claim to be an authorty but wasn’t Koval head of the Tal Shiar? (The Obsidian Order is Cardassian if memory serves me right). Other than that, great rewatch. Having watched these episodes dozens of times I’m enjoying new insights.
Is it just me, or did Geordi’s converstion with the computer sound like a bit like a modern “Siri” commercial for the iPhone? After asking for a game to pass the time, I could almost hear Majel saying “Here, I found this game for you…”
That would TOTALLY sell me on the iPhone over my Droid.
@9: Yeah, I was just about to say that. Koval was the Federation Spy who headed up the Tal Shiar during the Dominion War as depicted in “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”. But it is very difficult keeping all of the double secret intelligence organizations straight: Section 31, Tal Shiar, Obsidian Order, Klingon Imperial Intelligence. All the backstabbing seems to run together after awhile.
@@.-@: “SCE Safety violations” would be frakking brilliant. I love it.
The thing that I always liked about this episode were the aspects of costuming we got a closer look at (as costuming is part of my bailiwick as a fan and actor), and we got closeups of Starfleet Boots when LaForge gets out of bed, as well as the fact that there are hidden pockets in the Hero Versions of the uniforms.
I also always found it odd that LaForge wasn’t taken into custody at the assassination attempt by Vagh, since the attempt almost went through. The second that phaser actually was fired, I’d have thought Vagh would want LaForge’s head, regardless if he was being manipulated. But I guess with the episodes being mostly self contained, a follow up with Geordi standing trial for the attempt would have been out of the question.
GAH! My brain hiccupped, confusing the two intelligence agencies (which were both jointly wiped out by the Dominion in “The Die is Cast”). Will fix……
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
This is one of those good, solid episodes that I always enjoy watching, but I’d never remember. So rewatching this one just now was like catching it for the first time, which is fantastic since I haven’t had that feeling with a TNG episode since I was… nine years old? Or so?
@@@@@ 6. LuvURphleb – I did catch the deliberate drink spill in Ten Forward, but honestly, I’m as confused as Geordie as to why he did it. What’s the significance?
@13: The drink spill is a final field test of Geordie’s conditioning/the mind-control mechanism–a non-lethal echo of Geordie shooting O’Brien on the holodeck.
@14 – Oh yeah! That totally makes sense.
@1 My absolute favorite manifestation of “Poor Geordi” syndrome is definitely in The Naked Now. It’s an awful episode, but how peversely hilarious is it that everyone else is enjoying the usual fun effects of “inebriation” — irreverent irresponsibility, sexy times, even just behaving in a pointlessly beligerent manner — yet Geordi is wailing about his lost sight and yearning to be like the others? Even in an episode where the whole point was acting silly, Geordi is a total buzzkill. God bless him.
But this is a good episode — despite it adding to his woes. And as the review points out, the character is perfectly selected. As much as I love all things Data, it was fun to have someone else be the unexpected baddie.
The idea is to condition La Forge to the point where he’s their slave…
I admit I was brought up short by this line, since LeVar Burton’s most famous role was in Roots, where he was also made a slave. Was this a deliberate reference to that miniseries?
I am a little behind in the re-watch, as we have been busy moving into a house the past week and a half. But, now we can watch Star Trek there :D
I enjoyed the episode, although a few minor things stood out to me:
1)Geordi telling Troi he spent the shuttlecraft trip getting ‘in the mood’ by ‘talking to the computer’. We know the context of what he means but, in light of other episodes, I found that unintentionally hilarious.
2)I actually think it is kind of interesting that the Klingons just take (for the most part) the Enterprise’s investigation for granted (they did examine the rifle themselves) – how do they know Data didn’t totally make all that stuff up about Geordi being mind controlled and then just plant an E-band transmitter on Kell? I guess you could say that about any investigation, and I suppose, presumably, they do their own investigations and find evidence of his corroboration with the Romulans.
Small correction – John Fleck didn’t play an “Ornithar” in “The Search.” His character’s name was Ornithar, but his species was Karemma.
(Aside, I hate when the writers create alien names that are obviously based off human words – “Ornithar” for example. That’s why I prefer to pretend that character was actually called Wanithar.)
‘Computer, what’s the weather like on Risa?’
‘I dunno, what’s the weather like on Earth?’
Excellent episode though.
Another one of my favorite episodes, of TNG in general. I always watch “The Host” before this because I have this one to look forward to after that. Exciting episode, enthralling every time I watch it. I never thought about them following up on this which, now that you mention it, is a serious missed oppurtunity. But other than that a great hour of suspense and drama, well played by LeVar Burton.You feel LaForge’s confusion and frustration at the end.
Krad, I just watched this episode two days ago on BBC America. Even though I knew what happens, it was still very cool. My only question is that I don’t think the Krios mentioned here is the same planet as in “The Perfect Mate.” The latter episode is somewhat like Helen of Troy being kidnapped by Paris, since the conflict Picard mediates is between two brothers who rule an ancient empire, both of whom love a woman named Garuth. One brother kidnaps her from Valt Minor which leads to an extended war with the other brother on Krios Prime. There’s no mention of Krios being a colony of the Klingons fighting for independence in the latter episode, which I think was a drop of the ball by the writers. Another reason to not like self-contained episodes.
SethC: Either that or “Krios” is like “Springfield” here in the U.S., and there are, like, a TON of planets with that name…………………… :)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I would really, really love to imagine that the two Romulan Spooks played by Mr John Fleck in THE NEXT GENERATION & DEEP SPACE NINE are one and the same person, using a different name each time because if there’s anyone likely to have more covers than the contents of a library, it’s your Romulan Cloak-and-Dagger type.
If nothing else the character(s) in question share a high degree of efficiency – need a Starfleet Engineer shifted over from ‘puppy dog’ to attack dog? WOOF WOOF GRRR! Need to blow the cover of some Federation wannabe master of shadow warfare? BOOM he’s dust on the breeze (I can’t resist the suspicion that the Sloan we see at the end of ‘Inter Arma’ is another agent surgically altered to cover up the fact that Section 31 got blown over like a tent in a hurricane by the Romulan Dirty Tricks brigade).
Also, poor old Geordi LaForge! If he ever does take a seat in the Captain’s chair, I hope that Starfleet assigns the Jack Bauer of Security Chiefs to USS Challenger – all the better to mangle anyone who tries to top the last round of “Let’s **** with LaForge!” (The Game writers and characters all love to play!).
I was always bugged that they never followed up on what happened to Geordi in this one; surely, at the very least, Starfleet should have serious reservations about him serving as Chief Engineer on the flagship until they can be absolutely certain that he is no longer under Romulan control; and one imagines that meeting Sela would trigger flashbacks.
…Actually, it occurs to me that he should have immediately recognised Sela as resembling Tasha Yar, since presumably standing in the shadows wouldn’t hide her from his VISOR.
Finally, with the revelation on Picard that Romulans have different names that they employ in different circumstances, I think that you could construct a plausible argument that Taibok and Koval are actually the same character. Taris and Toreth as well.
Geordi’s the latest TNG character to have his body and/or consciousness hijacked just this season — if you don’t count him as having already suffered that fate via being turned into a different species. Riker’s the only one to have surrendered himself willingly, to Odan in the previous episode, albeit not entirely knowing what (or whom…) he was getting himself into. Troi was possessed by the Paxans; Data went on autopilot following a signal from Noonien Soong; and of course Picard became Locutus of Borg.
This is also the third episode in a row to begin with a log entry other than the captain’s: Deanna’s, Beverly’s, and now Geordi’s.
Folks have noted that the show overall suffers to an extent from the nature of linked but largely isolated stories. I’ve been quite weirded out by that during my concentrated rewatch. While there are certainly recurring plot points and callbacks — Klingon stuff; Tasha’s death and her relationship with Data; Q, of course; Romulan stuff; Lwaxanna Troi’s visits; Geordi’s team-up with holographic Leah Brahms; Klingon/Romulan stuff — the reset button and lack of follow-up on so many impactful moments in the characters’ lives really stands out.
This is a strong episode and I’ve seen it at least 15 times before but something new jumped out at me when it came on Pluto TV tonight: Data REALLY waits a long time before telling anyone his suspicion that Geordi is the double agent. Geordi has been identified as one of a small handful of people who could be the double agent (due to his knowledge of the Enterprise D’s systems) and he’s in fact the only one without an alibi. I would think that the second that Data determines that the E band emissions mimic human brain waves and could be read by an electronic visual input device that connects to the visual cortex (or however the computer describes the VISOR without saying “VISOR”), he should order Geordi to be confined to quarters until everything can be straightened out. Waiting to investigate the shuttle to determine WHEN Geordi was brainwashed while letting a likely compromised officer wander around the ship with foreign dignitaries aboard seems reckless to me.
I understand the writers wanting to build suspense until the last moment when Geordi has a phaser in his hand, but this doesn’t make a ton of sense here.
Isn’t this sort of like the error Mendon makes in A Matter Of Honor… waiting to fully analyze the situation before advising his superior officers? While he waits, Picard is left to hang out in the cargo bay with LaForge and the Klingons and is forced to turn away Geordi’s phaser with his bare hands at the last second. I think the Captain would probably be annoyed with the chronology of Data’s investigation once he learned about it
This never bugged me before but it really jumped out at me tonight.
I just rewatched this, and that bothered me too. But we know Data lacks intuition. I remember a whole episode of that where he ponders “gut instinct.”. So, maybe it’s hand wavy of me, but perhaps this is one of Data’s limitations, to have to be sure.
#28
My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but wasn’t LaForge also instrumental in the investigation of the weapons being given to the rebels? That may be the reason to not confine him to his quarters. Picard and Data may have considered him too important in that matter. They were being threatened by Klingon ships, after all.