167 – Lower Decks

Grade: A-

Summary

Shown from the perspective of four junior officers, the Enterprise takes part in a dangerous mission involving a Cardassian spy.

Commentary

Wow. This is a great episode. The last 10 minutes or so are just outstanding. When this series is at its best, it is extremely good. This is definitely one of those episodes that everyone can enjoy – even those who do not typically like science fiction.

The acting is also very good, which is great to see, considering that at least half of the episode has to be carried by four new characters plus Nurse Ogawa. All of these actors did very well in their roles. The storyline gets better and better with each scene – until its climax. As I wrote earlier, the last ten minutes are fantastic. It really is amazing, and you have to see it to believe it. I don’t believe Star Trek ever does better than these last couple of scenes.

But it’s not perfect. There are some missteps – like when Picard says the Enterprise will be “waiting here” to pick up one of the junior officers, but then later he puts it in his log that they’ve gone to the rendezvous point. Also, Ensign Sito Jaxa says the incident in First Duty was three years ago, but it was actually less than two years ago.

But other than that, this is a great episode, and one of the best of this season, and of the entire series.

Of Note

Alexander Enberg, who plays Vulcan Ensign Taurik, also plays a Vulcan on the Star Trek series Voyager. The characters are not the same, but they may as well be. It wouldn’t be the first time that this franchise used the same actor to play essentially the same character.