39 – Time Squared

Grade: C+

Summary

Riker is making some eggs – apparently, it’s one of his specialties that he learned when he was growing up. Pulaski, LaForge and Data all think they taste terrible, but Worf says they’re delicious. Suddenly, the Enterprise finds a shuttle craft drifting in space with a lone human occupant.

Commentary

This episode is a much better effort than we’ve seen so far in this season, but it’s still not that great. The writing has improved in some places, but it’s still rather weak. But it seems the actors are finally settling into their characters, and this episode does appear to be like some of the episodes later in the series.

The acting isn’t great – just look at how Marina Sirtis overacts when she’s in sickbay, watching the other Captain Picard. It’s annoying. At one point, Pulaski says her patient is more coherent now, but only in the sense that he’s making sounds now instead of completely mute. Seems pretty stupid to me.

Near the end, Picard determines he has to shoot the other Picard so that the cycle will end. I’m not sure how he determined that, but whatever. He shoots him and then the Enterprise flies through the tornado in space, and all of a sudden, everything is fine. Reminds me of the mediocre film, The Final Countdown. Don’t watch that either.

There are some other examples of some decent scenes, but overall, this is just a mediocre episode. Not much to recommend here.

Of Note

One inconsistency I noticed in this episode is when Pulaski asked if Riker’s dad could cook. Then, in the very next episode, we find out Pulaski and Riker’s father were romantically involved. So she certainly should have known the answer to her question without asking Riker. I guess you could say the writers didn’t know yet that they would make Riker’s dad and Dr. Pulaski an item together, but I don’t buy that. After all, it was only one episode later. Seems like something they made up on the spot for that episode.