4.24 — “The Mind’s Eye”

4.24 — “The Mind’s Eye”

Plot: En route to a technical conference, Geordi La Forge is kidnapped by Romulans and brainwashed. La Forge returns to the Enterprise by shuttlecraft as it travels to the Kriosian system, where a Klingon colony is rebelling against the Empire. The Federation is accused of supplying arms to the rebels. What is the linkage between these plot strands?

Thoughts: Another crackerjack episode. This is been a good run of four in a row, to compensate for the weak run of four before that.

This action-packed episode is inspired by The Manchurian Candidate (1962). Credit for the success goes in part to the tight plotting and connection to the Klingon succession storyline, but credit must also be reserved for first-time TNG director David Livingston, who created many memorable visual setups. The semiotics of the camera pan down on Kell eating his Klingon repast made me think that the brainwashed La Forge was about to assassinate him. Instead, Kell is revealed to be a traitor, and gives La Forge instructions to commit another murder. The shots of Geordi afterwards, especially the fish-eye dolly shot as he marches down the corridor towards the intended assassination, are masterful and must have required some time to set up properly. Time is money, and it’s unusual to see this level of cinematography on weekly television.

This episode and the last one have wish fulfillment scenes–things that the writers think are cool, but that they can’t quite get away with under normal circumstances. Last week we saw Crusher get it on with Riker. This week, Geordi murders O’Brien in cold blood–but, you see, it was a Romulan simulation.

I like Kell’s Klingon look. Here’s an astonishing piece of trivia: the actor, Larry Dobkin, was the director of one of my favorite Original Trek episodes, TOS 1.2 “Charlie X,” in 1966.

At the end Picard should have granted asylum to Kell, on the grounds that Kell may be executed by the Klingons if his treachery is proven. Just so do allies of the United States across Europe, North America, and Asia refuse to extradite prisoners on capital charges to the USA without guarantees against execution. Consistency should require the Federation to take a similar stance.

I like TNG more and more recently.  Now it’s really a show I would watch even if it weren’t Star Trek. One moment I liked is when they trot out a “Data doesn’t understand humor” scene (something that has been comparatively rare lately), it has an edge to it. Data, though unfailingly polite, is visibly annoyed at having to contend with another “joke” that impairs his straightforward understanding of what is going on. 

On the heels of the best Beverly Crusher episode, I think we have the best Geordi La Forge episode (although “Galaxy’s Child” has its moments).

4.5 out of 5 isolinear chips with almost undetectable residue patterns in their subatomic structure.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Mind%27s_Eye_(episode)