As this, the first part of a two-part story, opens Capt. Picard is relieved of his command and replaced by Capt. Jellico; a man with a very different attitude to command. Jellico has been given the position because it looks as if the fragile peace with the Cardassians is about to break down and he has experience of dealing with them. Before he can even think about dealing with the Cardassians he must mould the Enterprise's crew into the crew he wants; something that might be tricky given their loyalty to Picard and his way. Meanwhile Picard, Worf and Dr Crusher are preparing for a secret mission that will take them into Cardassian territory to investigate the possible development of an illegal biological weapon.
This episode is very much setting things up for a more dramatic second part but that doesn't mean it isn't an exciting episode; far from it. The end scenes where Picard and his team enter the Cardassian facility is definitely exciting. The make up of the away team is a little surprising at first but it is explained that Picard's prior experience on the USS Stargazer makes him essential and Beverly's medical knowledge makes her the logical choice to identify any biological weapons. Patrick Stewart showed that he could play a believable action-man and it was nice to see Gates McFadden's character, Dr Crusher, out of sickbay in a proper action situation. The events on the Enterprise are no less interesting; Ronny Cox's Capt. Jellico certainly contrasted with Picard; he is essentially a military man rather than an explorer. His style quickly rubs the crew up the wrong way leading to some interesting scenes and even one noticeable change Counsellor Troi is told to wear a standard uniform rather than her usual costume... to my mind an improvement! As the episode comes to a close the tension is high and Picard is captured I can't wait to see how the story concludes.
This episode is very much setting things up for a more dramatic second part but that doesn't mean it isn't an exciting episode; far from it. The end scenes where Picard and his team enter the Cardassian facility is definitely exciting. The make up of the away team is a little surprising at first but it is explained that Picard's prior experience on the USS Stargazer makes him essential and Beverly's medical knowledge makes her the logical choice to identify any biological weapons. Patrick Stewart showed that he could play a believable action-man and it was nice to see Gates McFadden's character, Dr Crusher, out of sickbay in a proper action situation. The events on the Enterprise are no less interesting; Ronny Cox's Capt. Jellico certainly contrasted with Picard; he is essentially a military man rather than an explorer. His style quickly rubs the crew up the wrong way leading to some interesting scenes and even one noticeable change Counsellor Troi is told to wear a standard uniform rather than her usual costume... to my mind an improvement! As the episode comes to a close the tension is high and Picard is captured I can't wait to see how the story concludes.