5.8 — “Unification II”
Plot: Having discovered Spock on the planet Romulus, Picard and Data are drawn into Spock’s personal mission to bring about reunification between the Romulan and Vulcan peoples. Meanwhile, Riker tracks down a series of clues related to a stolen Vulcan freighter.
Thoughts: It turns out even Leonard Nimoy can’t save a bad script. There isn’t really any story to speak of here. I really like only two moments: Spock’s scene with Data aboard the Bird of Prey, and Worf singing Klingon opera.
The rest is missed opportunities. So many that you wonder whether teleplay writer Michael Piller or director Cliff Bole ever watched TOS. They certainly don’t seem to want to give us any good classic Spock moments. The character is written as being very emotional and unsettled for most of the episode. Even the Romulan characters seem dispassionate by comparison. Why not let Spock be Spock? That would have been better.
The ending undermines Spock even further by closing on an emotional grimace, which Spock would consider to be very undignified. Sigh. Even if you want to end on the father-son reconciliation story (I would have preferred the self-sacrifice story instead, exploring why Spock is driven, after so many years of service, to leave comfort, safety, and familiarity behind), Nimoy is a subtle actor, and there are so many better ways to approach this beat.
Annoying details are wrong. There is no earthly reason, at the beginning, why Spock would refuse to address Picard as “Captain.” He’s pretty good at saying it, and of all people he should respect Starfleet. Later, it doesn’t make sense for the Romulan youth to address him as “Mr.”, which is shipboard usage, not an appropriate title under the circumstances.
sunny jim pointed out that it would be more like a Ferengi to demand payment from Riker for the information he is seeking, not to just whimper and be bullied. Once acquisitive merchants, the Ferengi are now being treated more like foppish sex addicts. Because sex, I guess.
The biggest missed opportunity of all is failure to exploit the long history of Star Trek. The reference to Spock’s role in the Klingon peace process is meant to be a teaser for Star Trek VI. The only other reference we get is nonspecific and groan inducing: “In your own way, you are as stubborn as another Captain of the Enterprise I once knew.”
Sela is also wasted. This time they don’t even talk about her being related to Tasha. Her presence seems to serve mostly as a signal that some off-the-wall craziness is about to go down.
I feel like I should say something nice. The matte painting of Romulus is lovely.
2 of 5 clever Hologram tricks.
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