10 – Hide and Q

Grade: C

Summary

Q makes his second appearance in the series in this episode. This time, he tests Commander Riker by giving him the powers of the Q. Picard also makes a wager with him that if Riker passes the test, Q will have to stay away from the Enterprise forever.

Commentary

Ten episodes into this first season, we finally have one that was not a D or an F. The acting is still a bit rough, but the script is one of the best so far this season, and the storyline is a huge improvement over previous offerings. It is a very intelligent story, and the most thought-provoking by far.

If you were to make a list of the best Star Trek villains in the Next Generation series, you wouldn’t get very far before you’d get to Q. He’s certainly one of my favorites.

The main character in this episode is Will Riker, and that means Johnathan Frakes has to carry most of the storyline. By this time, he’s still learning how to play Riker convincingly and consistently. But he gives a pretty good effort here. The character development is by far the most important part of this episode, and it’s fun to watch how absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The main thing that brings this episode down is the ending. It really seems to drag a lot with about 10-12 minutes left. If it had finished with a bang, I would probably have rated it B+ or even higher.

Of Note

Picard makes the wager with Q that he’ll have to leave the Enterprise alone forever if Riker is successful. Though Riker ultimately fails, this wager is never brought up again – even after all the foolishness and mayhem that Q brings them in the future.