Despite the campy reputation of the first two seasons, I sometimes prefer the high melodrama here to the soft-focus light drama of the later seasons.
This episode plays out much better than episode 2: the story contains true suspense as we watch Picard go from one failed solution to another, while sticking to the Prime Directive. There are a few stray ends, some good, some bad. Good: Data's attempt to understand human humour; the bad: Wesley.
One glaring flaw that has stuck with me for years is the first act cliffhanger: *spoiler alert* Tasha is kidnapped right in front of Picard, and his reaction is to calmly turn towards the camera and proclaim 'red alert'. It feels like a dry read through that they accidentally had the cameras on for. Wouldn't a close-up with a helpless reaction have been better? That one moment summed up for years one of the problems I always had with TNG: the lack of 'punch' that the original series had.
In any case, a good episode.
7.5\10
This episode plays out much better than episode 2: the story contains true suspense as we watch Picard go from one failed solution to another, while sticking to the Prime Directive. There are a few stray ends, some good, some bad. Good: Data's attempt to understand human humour; the bad: Wesley.
One glaring flaw that has stuck with me for years is the first act cliffhanger: *spoiler alert* Tasha is kidnapped right in front of Picard, and his reaction is to calmly turn towards the camera and proclaim 'red alert'. It feels like a dry read through that they accidentally had the cameras on for. Wouldn't a close-up with a helpless reaction have been better? That one moment summed up for years one of the problems I always had with TNG: the lack of 'punch' that the original series had.
In any case, a good episode.
7.5\10