This episode, the second of a two part story, opens where the previous part left off; the mercenary ship has fired on the Enterprise but have caused little damage as Picard had arranged for the weapons to 'malfunction' and fire at a lower setting. Sensing that Riker must have a plan Data lets the mercenary ship escape. Having scanned numerous artefacts Picard finally finds the one that the mercenaries have been looking for; something is odd though; all the other items were Romulan but this item appears to be an ancient Vulcan artefact. Soon afterwards the 'Romulan' mercenary identifies herself as an undercover Vulcan agent; she says that the artefact is part of an ancient Vulcan weapon that uses psychic power. Insurgents who believe Vulcan should become isolationist as contact with alien races is 'contaminating their culture'. There is one more part to collect from a Klingon courier before it is taken to Vulcan; then the mercenary leader plans to have Riker eliminate Picard.
This was, for the most part, a really good episode. The previous part nicely suggested that the Romulans would ultimately appear as the villains so it was a real surprise to learn that Vulcans are behind the crimes. It was a lot of fun watching Riker and Picard pretending to despise each other as they work to foil the mercenaries' schemes. It was also entertaining to see the Enterprise performing a 'health and safety' inspection on the Klingon shuttle that was transporting another part of the weapon. The episodes weakness was when the Vulcan weapon was actually used and we learn that to work it relies on the victim's own violent urges this gives us a hippyish 'love conquers violence' solution to the problem which was a little disappointing after all the good work before. After that we do get a rather funny prologue where Picard, who is officially dead, tells Data to throw Riker, who is officially a rogue officer, into the brig! Overall a good conclusion to this two part story.
This was, for the most part, a really good episode. The previous part nicely suggested that the Romulans would ultimately appear as the villains so it was a real surprise to learn that Vulcans are behind the crimes. It was a lot of fun watching Riker and Picard pretending to despise each other as they work to foil the mercenaries' schemes. It was also entertaining to see the Enterprise performing a 'health and safety' inspection on the Klingon shuttle that was transporting another part of the weapon. The episodes weakness was when the Vulcan weapon was actually used and we learn that to work it relies on the victim's own violent urges this gives us a hippyish 'love conquers violence' solution to the problem which was a little disappointing after all the good work before. After that we do get a rather funny prologue where Picard, who is officially dead, tells Data to throw Riker, who is officially a rogue officer, into the brig! Overall a good conclusion to this two part story.
