4.20 — “Qpid”
Plot: Picard’s amorous reunion with Vash (from TNG 3.19, “Captain’s Holiday”) is interrupted by the return of Q, who is feeling guilty over his obligation stemming from the events of TNG 3.13, “Déjà Q.” Q responds to this feeling by plunging the crew into a simulation of the Tales of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest.
Thoughts: At its best, TNG is an inspired show. I look forward to the two-part season-ending cliffhanger, “Redemption I,” which will reportedly return to the story of Worf’s discommendation and the Klingon Civil War. I can’t wait to see upcoming episodes like “Darmok,” “The Inner Light,” and “All Good Things…” which are buzzed about as landmarks, and, in the case of the latter two, won Hugo awards. I am confident that TNG now has a good creative team in place, and is capable of producing very good work.
At the same time, I get the sense that 26 is a lot of episodes to churn out each season, and there’s a certain amount of turning the crank going on in episodes like “Qpid” and its several immediate predecessors. Hey, if the audience likes us, let’s do more of what we usually do. No new ideas? No problem, just bring back some old characters, maybe throw a couple of different ones together and call it good.
In a sense, you can defend “Qpid” as a decent, better than average episode. In fact, I’ll be a little disappointed if +Randi doesn’t do just that. But the thoughts in my mind are, I don’t watch Star Trek to play it safe and be comforted by familiar setups and scenarios. Original Trek episodes didn’t always work, especially in Third Season, but it never settled down to be a safe show, that would just give the audience what it expects. Some of that spirit still lives in the DNA of this show–but I wish it was more consistent.
Give me an episode that overreaches and falls flat on its face, like TOS’ famously bad “The Alternative Factor,” and I will usually be happier than with a episode that protects itself by playing it safe.
Is “Qpid” a good episode for women, or bad? You have a for sure strong female character, who in the episode’s best scene resolutely refuses to play the expected role of damsel in distress, as Picard ridiculously climbs in through her window. But then she… goes back to playing the damsel in distress. She’s a feisty damsel, to be sure, like Margot Kidder in Superman or Carrie Fisher in Star Wars, but not quite Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark, let alone Ripley or Clarice Starling or Scarlett O’Hara.
Crusher and Troi are not given swords, but get to bash the villains over their heads from behind with breakaway pots, as if this was being shot in 1941, not 1991. IMDB says “Director Cliff Bole defended his decision to not depict Crusher and Troi using weapons in the assault scene, saying that he wanted to keep the era historically accurate, and felt that the sight of women using weapons would have disrupted the time line.” Mr. Bole, if you want to find your lost timeline, I hope you’re a contortionist. You’re going to need a flashlight.
The clothes are funny! This isn’t the first time the art and production department have put out great work to compensate for a mediocre script.
2 out of 5 smashed mandolins.
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